Book 16 Chapter 18

Episode 83

Rista is looking for me… and she's so angry she could collapse the underground.

What could be the reason?

I think logically. Have I done something wrong? Yes. I pretended to be kidnapped.

- Lin.

If that's the case…

- Get down and give me push-ups, I'll give you 3 seconds.

In the terror of that day, when my arms felt like they would fall off and break, cold sweat poured down like rain.

I have to run away.

Right now, immediately.

Perhaps wanting to live, Sbal froze part of the restraints as planned, allowing me to easily break them and regain my freedom of movement.

"Earth attribute magic, 3rd star! Gejidan (Stairway to Earth)."

It's a 3rd-star magic that makes the ground rise sequentially with differences in elevation, literally forming stairs.

I decided on a spiral shape.

If I keep running upwards, I should eventually find the underground waterway I used to infiltrate. I'll hide there and escape once her anger subsides.

"Sbal, let's run!"

However, perhaps fearful of punishment as an accomplice, Sbal completely hid his presence and disappeared somewhere into my body.

This rascal…

They say you shouldn't keep white-furred beasts, but this guy abandons his owner so easily? I tried to run up the stairs like crazy, but it didn't go as planned.

"What an amazing magician!"

"The Archmage has returned!"

"Ugh, to think I'd live to see this day!"

This was because people conscripted for labor were running up the stairs ahead of me, weeping.

"You rascals, where are you going?!"

"Keeheehee, everyone step back!"

"These stairs are ours now!"

Even the small fry came forward, completely blocking the way. I screamed at the top of my lungs.

"Get lost, right now, from in front of me!"

"Is this really crazy?!"

"I said get out! Do you want to die? Do as I say! Hurry! This is advice from a fellow seeker of bucket list romance!"

As if my desperate roar for life hadn't reached them at all, the small fry couldn't avoid the 'real monster' and met their end.

"Lin──────!"

The monster found me in an instant and landed with a roar right in front of me, precisely where the three small fry had harmoniously turned into dried shredded squid.

My whole body is trembling madly.

Could the literary expression of trembling like an aspen tree actually happen to a human being?

"You're hiding something from me, aren't you?"

"No."

"Honestly tell me what you're really thinking! Now, if it's now, even though it would really break my heart, I'll just understand everything!"

Don't talk nonsense.

If I tell you, you'll kill me, damn it!

If I say I was kidnapped because I wanted to play the 'Strongest Mage' game, she's the kind of person who would make me do push-ups for a whole week and then some.

"I can't say!"

"Why can't you?!"

"I just can't, anyway!"

I started running, extending the path with Earth magic toward the spiral staircase, and Rista immediately chased after me.

"Stop right there!"

I vertically transformed the passage I had passed through into a defensive barrier, but Rista shattered all of it with her fists and pursued me. Just Like a wild boar!

"Tell me what you're really thinking─────!"

The deadly game of tag (if caught, really dead) began that night. In that moment, I spoke my true feelings more honestly than at any other time in my life.

"Kyaaak! Save the strongest mage!"