Chapter 170
Chapter 170: Azure Flames Consume the Moon, Blood Stains the Royal City (Part 4)
***
I stumbled and ran toward the blood pool.
All I could see were raging flames, like the forked tongues of venomous snakes, lashing wildly through the small room.
The air itself felt like it was boiling.
Charles had already gone silent and still.
The fire burning on his body billowed black smoke, gradually spreading beneath him, catching the corner of Elle's clothes. I rushed forward, grabbed Elle and the small boy by their feet, and dragged them out from under Charles. My right palm released wisps of ice mist, snuffing out the flames on Elle's body. Then I hooked one child under each arm, lifted them both, and quickly backed away.
The fire crackled as it burned, swallowing Charles's body whole, spreading relentlessly deeper into the room.
Black smoke filled my vision, devouring what little oxygen remained in this place.
"I'm sorry..."
I stared at the flickering firelight ahead, at those hazy, charred silhouettes, my voice slipping out in a choked murmur before I could stop it.
No one answered me.
I lowered my head and looked down at Elle's dirty little face.
She was tucked sideways under my arm, her small head drooping, eyes staring up at me without blinking. Those pretty eyes that had once been so full of life had lost their luster, trembling now with a faint, unmistakable fear.
I forced myself to blink and gave her the most reassuring smile I could manage.
"Don't be scared, Elle... I'm right here."
I had to get these 2 children out.
But...
I swept my gaze around the room.
The stone brick walls were already beginning to glow faintly red under the intense heat... The fire was too fierce. Even the spine bones in the blood pool had caught fire, turning blacker and blacker in the blaze before cracking apart with a sharp snap.
I had retreated to the edge of the wall section I had been thrown into earlier. The flames hadn't reached here yet, but it was only a matter of time.
...Just charge through.
Thinking that, I slowly set the 2 of them back down, picked up Captain Grey lying quietly at my feet, and with blood-stained fingers, pulled the trigger at the base of the handle with a trembling hand.
Click. Click. Click.
Captain Grey split apart once more, shifting into its scythe-and-chain form. I looped the chain twice over my shoulders, securing Captain Grey firmly to my body with the sharp scythe blade hanging across my chest. Then I crouched down again and scooped up the 2 frail little bodies, holding them tightly to each side.
Probably because of their age, and their poor nutrition. The 2 children were featherlight. Together, they still felt like they weighed less than Captain Grey.
Even so, carrying over 150 kilograms on my body still made me feel just a little strained.
I took a deep breath and fixed my gaze on the fire raging ahead, growing fiercer by the second.
My mind raced.
If it were just me, getting out would honestly be simple.
I could just shield myself with a layer of cold ice mist and charge straight through with Moon Step. These flames would mean nothing to me. But right now I had 2 weakened children with me. They couldn't survive the temperature of the ice mist, and they definitely couldn't withstand the brutal force of Moon Step.
What do I do...
I'll just have to gamble.
I brought my focus to its sharpest edge, then slowly condensed a thin layer of mist around my body.
"Elle, don't be scared..."
I tried to make the mist as thin as possible so it wouldn't give Elle or the other child frostbite... That was easier said than done. The temperature was nearly impossible to judge by feel alone, because I don't feel "cold" myself. I only ever feel cool.
I could only keep releasing the ice mist while watching Elle's face anxiously, listening to whether her breathing stayed even.
She looked okay... I could push it a little colder... alright, that should do for now.
This level of cold should be enough to keep the 2 children safe from the flames.
...Let's go.
I flexed my ankles, lowered my body, and broke into a run toward the exit. A few strides in, I plunged into the fire.
A wave of unbearable, scorching heat washed over my whole body... The flames burning along the floor only barely reached my waist, but the temperature was far worse than I had imagined. Thankfully the room wasn't large. At my running speed, it took less than 2 seconds to break through the ring of fire and reach the exit.
Outside was also a sea of flames.
The brick walls had been scorched to a glowing red, already beginning to show signs of melting. The ground beneath my feet had started to shudder. It wouldn't be long now... before this place collapsed.
"Cough, cough."
The scorched air was becoming hard to breathe. I watched Elle's face gradually drain of color, and the urgency clawing at me only grew worse.
No more time...
I kept running forward without stopping, plunging back into the burning fire once more. That small body wrapped in ice mist cut through the firelit cellar at full speed.
Fortunately, there wasn't much flammable material here.
Even though the Fire of Sin burned hot enough to melt rock, the actual flames it produced weren't especially large, and the smoke it generated wasn't particularly thick... For my purposes, that was enough.
I did my best to maintain a steady, measured output of ice mist as I ran through the corridor into the main hall, past the pile of corpses burned to ash, past what remained of Tanis, past the toppled statue, and into the narrow passage.
By this point the fire had died down considerably, barely reaching 20 centimeters off the ground... More or less that level. The air was still searing hot, though, the oxygen thinning out fast, each breath growing more labored.
All I could do was keep running forward, keep running forward...
Suddenly, I felt Elle, tucked against my side, give a faint tremor. My heart dropped. I turned my head in a panic and found her face had gone a terrifying shade of white. Her hair and eyebrows were coated in glittering frost, and white puffs of vapor were spilling steadily from her mouth... She was getting frostbitten.
The small boy on the other side was the same. But...
But the ice mist I was producing now was already the bare minimum I could manage.
"Elle!"
I called her name in a fluster, completely at a loss.
"We're, almost there! Elle, hold on just a little longer. Please, just a little more..."
...No. In her condition, even if she held on long enough... she'd probably suffer permanent damage.
Why...
My power is this strong, so why can't I even do something as simple as saving someone... Why...
"Elle..."
No. I can do this.
I am powerful. I can... do anything right.
Just like Carlos.
"I will definitely, cough cough, get you out of here..."
I drew a shallow breath.
Keeping up my running pace, I suddenly drove force through my core, raised my trembling arms, and lifted both children high, hoisting them up over my head.
My strength is great.
These scattered little sparks... I'm not afraid of them at all.
The next moment, the ice mist that had been wrapped around my body dissolved.
The tongues of fire crept up, swallowing my feet and shins in an instant.
Crackle... Hiss...
It doesn't hurt.
This is nothing.
"Ngh... ngh..."
My teeth broke through my lower lip, and blood dripped down my chin, dissolving into the flames at my feet.
I don't feel pain...
Not even a little...
"Ugh... Ugh, AAAAAH—!"
What am I even screaming about... Honestly.
I... I'm the Abyss that everyone fears... I am... an immeasurably powerful monster... mere Fire of Sin... I'll be healed by tomorrow.
In the narrow passage, a girl in a tattered dress held her arms raised high, clutching 2 frail children, mouth open wide in a hoarse cry, plunging into the blazing red flames against a tide of heat, still running.
Her leather boots had burned away. Sparks caught on the hem of her skirt. The leg armor that clung like stockings had been scorched a vivid red by the fire, fusing to the skin of her shins, tendrils of smoke curling upward from it.
Even so, she did not stop for even a single moment.
The exit should be just ahead.
Nothing to be scared of... Sylvia... hang in there...
"Cough cough! Ugh... Sob..."
Run faster.
Faster.
Come on, go faster... because if I don't...
"Hah, hah... Ugh, ugh..."
...I can't take it anymore.
I can't take it, I can't I can't I can't...
It hurts so much, it hurts so bad!!!
Plip.
A droplet of water landed on my face.
...Elle?
Are you crying... You're still awake... Thank goodness.
"Don't cry, Elle... ugh... I'm here... nothing's going to happen to you..."
The exit is right up ahead.