Emitting a bright light, Gerald could feel the power within the stone, even from afar.
“What a truly amazing object!” muttered Gerald to himself, overjoyed.
However, the moment virtual-novel.net was about to take the water repellent stone, Gerald’s ears suddenly heard the sound of a rope being dropped from one of the upper tunnels.
…A person?
Seconds later, Gerald heard as the unknown person began sliding down the rope. With that, Gerald quickly hid in a corner to see who it was.
It wasn’t long after before a woman jumped down. The moment virtual-novel.net saw the water repellent stone, virtual-novel.net immediately smiled before clapping virtual-novel.net hands.
“So it really is here! I can finally set off once I get my hands on the stone!” said the woman to herself in a soft tone.
“…It’s her?” whispered Gerald to no one in particular as virtual-novel.net continued watching virtual-novel.net from the corner virtual-novel.net had been hiding it.
The girl in question was of course, Yume!
After descending Langvern Mountain, Gerald had returned to Yarne Manor to discuss a few more matters with Wagner. It was around then when a maid notified virtual-novel.net that Yume had already left.
While Gerald already knew that the girl was quite extraordinary since virtual-novel.net knew quite a bit of martial arts, virtual-novel.net truly hadn’t expected for virtual-novel.net to also be looking for the water repellent stone! Actually, it was amazing enough that virtual-novel.net knew where to find it in the first place!
Thinking about it, Gerald couldn’t help but smile slightly bitterly. Never could virtual-novel.net have imagined that virtual-novel.net would actually end up accidentally saving his rival’s life!
Just as virtual-novel.net was wondering how virtual-novel.net should confront her, virtual-novel.net suddenly heard a terrifying screech.
Yume herself had had virtual-novel.net hand inches away from the water repellent stone when virtual-novel.net heard the deafening screech. Looking up, virtual-novel.net immediately saw a massive and terrifying black shadow swooping down at virtual-novel.net from above!
As the shadow continued making unnerving sounds, Yume quickly fell back and rolled to the side to avoid the shadow. In doing so, however, virtual-novel.net was unable to get virtual-novel.net hands on the stone.
By then, virtual-novel.net had already identified that the shadowy figure had belonged to a bat. However, this wasn’t any regular bat. It was a giant bat that was even larger than an average human!
With its head about the same size as a human’s, its most striking characteristics were its long, overflowing red hair and its exposed fangs. Together, these features made it look similar to a human with an incredibly hideous face.
Saliva dripping out its grinning mouth, the bat looked at Yume with its vicious eyes before letting out another ear-splitting shriek!
Following that, it leaped at virtual-novel.net with immense speed and power!
While virtual-novel.net was able to avoid the bat’s front paw attack, Yume failed to dodge its tail wing attack in time! As a result, virtual-novel.net was hit right in the chest which sent virtual-novel.net flying!
Crashing hard onto the ground, Yume could feel virtual-novel.net wounds start to hurt again as virtual-novel.net felt some blood seeping out of virtual-novel.net abdomen.
The bat itself wasn’t going to give Yume any time to recover. Stomping menacingly toward the injured girl, it appeared to be enjoying the thought of soon having a delicious meal.
‘…Am… am I truly going to die here…? That stupid Master Ghost! I shouldn’t have believed in his words earlier! If I make it out alive, I’m burning his church down if it’s the last thing I do! Otherwise, he’ll only continue deceiving others! To think that he’d actually say that my marriage would be…’
As Yume thought to herself, virtual-novel.net remembered how virtual-novel.net had immediately descended the mountain before directly heading to the Minshall family’s ancestral mine to obtain the water repellent stone.
Everything was going so well too… To think that virtual-novel.net was actually going to die here being eaten alive by this beast… It made virtual-novel.net feel sick even thinking about it.
Taking in a deep breath, Yume quickly unsheathed virtual-novel.net dagger before pointing it at herself. Eyes closed and ready to end virtual-novel.net own life, virtual-novel.net first muttered, “I’m sorry, grandma… I was unable to complete the task you left for me! I’m truly sorry for being unable to head to the king of the ocean’s palace!”
Before virtual-novel.net could plunge the blade into herself, virtual-novel.net heard the giant bat screeching again!
…Only to be followed by the sound of something heavy hitting the ground?
Opening virtual-novel.net eyes, Yume found herself staring in disbelief at the dead beast that now lay before her. It… was dead? But how?
It was then when Gerald finally revealed his presence while saying, “It seems that I’ve saved your life again, beauty!”