Ch. 198
We were pushed along by the crushing water pressure, tossed around like laundry as we spun helplessly underwater.
[Gyahhh!]
“Bwuh! Huffblgh!”
“The goblet—save the—phah!”
I didn’t even have the strength left to help anyone breathe or stabilize them underwater.
All I could do was focus every bit of my remaining will on having Endairon ram the sealed door with overwhelming pressure, smash apart the rocks blocking our path like dust, and force our way back up through the tiny hole we’d fallen from—practically destroying it in the process.
The best I could manage was making sure no one got crushed to death by the debris as we went.
I couldn’t breathe either.
As expected, the worst obstacle was the hole we had fallen through.
It was nearly destroyed already, and for six adults and one wolf to pass through at once, Endairon had to break it apart and widen it by force while ascending. That was unbelievably difficult. Water spirits weren’t meant for this kind of work!
Every time Endairon shattered a layer of solid ground, I felt something inside me crack along with it.
I didn’t know how many times we were flipped, spun, and slammed around like wreckage inside the violently shaking water.
Judging from how badly my lungs burned, at least a full minute had passed.
“Kh—!”
Just when I was at my limit for holding my breath, I felt Endairon finally break through the hole and reach the bottom of the lake.
It felt like taking a breath of fresh air.
Water was a water spirit’s natural domain, after all.
How refreshing and natural it must have been for Endairon. Flowing upward against the lake’s current was child’s play for him.
As Endairon relaxed, I felt it too—and in the next instant, he hurled all of us up to the lake’s surface.
“Puaaaah!”
“Gah! I almost died!”
“Bleghh!”
Hauling his massive body out of the water, Endairon let out a long roar that sounded like a swirling maelstrom, then used the wave at the tip of his tail to push us all toward the shore where Undine was guarding the horses.
And the moment everyone touched solid ground, he collapsed back into the lake.
Endairon vanished instantly—Undine too—forcefully unsummoned. In my condition, maintaining even Undine was impossible.
Thrown onto land too violently, I rolled and tumbled until I nearly slammed into a tree—someone grabbed my collar just in time to stop me.
“Cough, cough!”
I’d swallowed a ton of water and had to vomit it up for a while before I realized the one holding me was Ash.
“Haa… is everyone… alright? We’re all safe, right?”
Even while gasping, he worried about the others first. So very Ash-like.
I finally lifted my head and checked. Rai was staggering sideways like he was dizzy.
[Holololo.]
“Ugh… my head…”
“Oh my god, one person’s missing! I only count five!”
“……We didn’t count you, idiot.”
“Oh… so… we’re all alive? Everyone lived?”
“Hooray! Land! Thank you, God! Spirit mage, you’re the best!”
Only noticing that now? I wrung out my drenched hair and looked around.
Everyone was soaked, dizzy, and bruised from suddenly being thrown onto land—but alive.
Thank goodness.
“My treasure! No! I had it in my pocket!”
“Argh! My business capital! Where is it?!”
“My necklace! My bracelet! My gold bars!”
Not my fault. I only saved your lives.
“What about the Goblet of the Golden Star?!”
“Riiight heeereee.”
Lox’s eyes were spinning in circles as he raised a hand from a bush where he had crashed.
His glasses were gone, but miraculously, he’d held onto the Goblet of the Golden Star.
The best thing he’d accomplished so far in his life.
Everything was chaos, but everyone was alive, and the goblet made it out with us. Good enough.
I forced myself upright.
My soaked clothes felt heavy. My dizziness was so intense it took time just to stand.
“Are you okay, Geenie? I can—”
“I’m fine. I can stand on my own.”
“But your hands… they’re shaking.”
As I pushed Ash away, I finally noticed that I was swaying.
I lifted my palms—trembling violently—and they were smeared with blood from scraped skin.
My knees throbbed, and when I looked down, my tough leather pants were torn everywhere.
I’d been too overwhelmed to even feel the pain.
“I’m fine. What about you? Are you okay?”
Bruises would heal. What bothered me was the dizziness—like anemia.
My vision was blurry, the sky looked yellow, and everything flickered. My stomach churned violently.
But this wasn’t something anyone could fix for me.
Pain was personal. I’d always thought that.
Mine alone to endure until it faded.
That thought wavered only when I saw Ash’s expression—filled with something like despair.
“You…”
His big wet hand trembled as he wiped my mouth.
I blinked at the blood on his fingers. Right—my own hands had blood too. I’d assumed it came from the water I threw up, but maybe it was blood instead.
I wiped my mouth with the back of my hand. Knowing the cause, I didn’t react much.
“This happens sometimes. Don’t you guys cough up blood when you overdo it?”
Maybe sword users didn’t. Judging by Ash’s horrified face, probably not.
Summoning Endairon so recklessly was the cause.
Skipping the chant and forcing the summon—of course my insides would take the damage.
If a human body was a vessel, mine could comfortably hold Undaine but was still far too small for Endairon.
Chanting temporarily stretched that vessel to withstand more power—this was true for mages as well.
If you pour something massive into a tiny container, it spills or breaks.
Like me right now.
“When I push myself, this always happens.”
I muttered while wiping my mouth.
Thankfully, the vessel healed on its own.
“It’s fine. Relax your face. I’ll be okay if I eat and sleep well.”
Ignoring nature’s flow always had consequences.
Water was water. Earth was earth. Defying that balance only multiplied the burden.
Using Endairon as a tunnel drill was something I shouldn’t do twice.
I did have a strange way of using spirits, so I’d coughed up blood during training before.
After the fight with Rovenin, it had become recurring—if I went too far, blood came up first.
I wiped my mouth again, but—
Suddenly—
A surge of blood poured out in a single violent rush.
“Geenie!”
“Huh… maybe I’m… not fine…”
Damn. This much blood… I hadn’t done this since the fight with Rovenin.
I tried covering my mouth, but the amount forced its way through my fingers. I let my hand fall limp.
The sight of blood streaming from my lips made the air go still.
“……!”
[Master!]
“You…”
“Uh… uh…!”
They all stared at me, shocked beyond words, faces twisted in horror.
Suddenly I felt embarrassed.
Of all times to show them this… disgraceful!
“Ugh, what? First time seeing someone cough blood? I’m not gonna d—”
No. That was it.
I couldn’t even pretend.
My legs buckled and I collapsed forward, but Ash and Chad grabbed me before I hit the ground.
Rai had already rushed forward to catch me too. I pushed the guys away and flopped onto Rai instead.
Ahh… cold metal. Perfect.
“Geenie! I’m sorry! Because of us…!”
“Lox! Get medicine!”
“I—I don’t have anything for internal injuries…!”
“Ugh, don’t shake me—damn it! This is all because you weaklings forced me into this! Go die somewhere!”
“……S-sorry.”
Yelling felt great. My mood instantly improved.
Enk handed me a handkerchief, practically bowing as he offered it. My head still spun violently.
I collapsed back onto Rai with a groan.
[Don’t die, Master!]
[Rai… don’t reveal my death to the enemy…]
[Uwaaaah! Nooo!]
Idiot. Rai really was stupid. And I was stupid for being his master…
I glanced at the five of them one by one.
Ash looked like someone had died, hollow with despair. Chad’s expression was so serious it looked like he’d been stabbed.
Enk and Gale—who had definitely seen blood before—looked like orphaned ducklings, panicking with nowhere to go.
And Lox… wriggling pathetically in the bushes trying to escape them.
I glared at each of them in turn and said:
“You will repay this debt.”
Then I lightly tapped Ash’s cheek like a pat.
Satisfied, I let consciousness slip away.
I only fell asleep from exhaustion—absolutely not fainted.
I was Geenie Crowell, after all.
—
When you overuse your power, you always pay the price. The familiar heat and stomach pain struck again.
Not long ago, I’d suffered something similar after dealing with that garbage Grak—too contaminated to recycle—and this time I knew it would last longer.
I struggled badly.
Heat boiled from my head, breath ragged, my hand gripping my core, spasming over and over.
Of course, nothing improved by doing that.
I only endured the tangled, chaotic pain swirling inside me, groaning and waiting for it to pass.
This wasn’t the first time. I knew my consciousness was fading in and out.
The worst episode I’d had lasted about a month.
During the fight with Rovenin. Recovery took that long, though I was bedridden only a week—it was humiliating enough.
Back then, I was unconscious for two days.
I wondered if that was happening now—just as my vision flashed white.
I drifted in and out, fainting and waking, suffering nausea in the darkness of half-consciousness, then falling asleep again in feverish heat that made my body feel foreign.
Eventually, drenched in sweat, I opened my eyes. My throat was dry.
I wanted to summon Undine for clean, cold water, but I knew I couldn’t. Using mana now would only prolong this agony.
Even maintaining Undine would break me right now—truly the worst.
“Geenie, are you awake?”
My body and mind were torn to shreds.
While I lay there barely breathing and blinking weakly, Ash somehow noticed I was awake and came to me.