Chapter 122: Why I chose you

"Meow..." A weak voice and half-shut eyes.

She felt a unique warmth wrap around her body.

The inside of her throat was warm, her stomach was warm, and while still difficult, she was slowly opening up her eyes.

"TURRRRR!"

"...!"

She was trying slowly but the strong roar from the creature jolted her eyes open as she instinctively hugged whatever was holding her right now.

"Ugh..." But as she did that, she heard a familiar voice and an even familiar groan.

He was covered in blood as well.

"MEOW?!"

{ "Master?! What happened to you?!" }

She had momentarily forgotten what was going on but the moment she felt the powerful winds all around her, she knew what was happening right now.

"TURRRRRR!"

The creature that was screaming so loudly it could tear their ears off, was trying to kill them right now.

Though it was notable that it wasn’t actually using all of its powers even after deploying its domain.

They did not know the reason behind it: maybe it was a test, or maybe it was just trained to do it this way.

Whatever the case may be, they were fighting a creature that could very well destroy them in an instant but was still lowering its levels to their potential and was using powers that they should have been able to deal with.

However, with Felix down way to early into the fight, he knew he couldn’t do this on his own.

"Shuuuu. Recover as much as you can while I stall for some time."

-Swish!

With the golden strings of energy creating a complex net around whatever structure was remaining here, he was avoiding the incoming attacks of the Imugi.

-Swiiiiiiiiiiish!

The blades and bomb were constant but, as time passed, the creature was making more and more lethal moves.

They were in the palm of his hand, dancing like little dolls.

It was humiliating but they were the weaker ones here. There was no denying that fact.

"Meow!"

"Don’t worry about me! Just stay there for a little longer!"

Sam had already fed her the best healing potion he had right now.

They made it from the glittering stars of the Hyperumbric lily that they had managed to bloom completely, and it will finish healing her above the critical stage soon.

She will be able to help him at that time, but for the time being, he needed to protect her.

Like he had done all this time, he needed to protect her so that she can help him later.

{ "Master..." }

It was there once again.

The uttlerly heartbreaking helplessness.

"Ugh!"

-SWIIIIIIIIIISH...!

He was getting cut all around his body.

The sharp winds were not completely avoidable in the first place. These attacks were dangerous and could not be avoided with his limited range of motion.

-Splash!

There was water covering the ground.

This entire area would have drowned already if the Imugi wasn’t holding the entire place with its domain.

It was a powerful creature and even with the mercy it was showing them, they were helpless against it.

Felix, especially, had been of little use to him all this time.

Yes she saved him from the threats in the ocean, yes she was useful when it came to dealing with humans and things that had a dumb head, but of what use was she in a situation like this?

How was she supposed to protect the master that was trying his best to save her?

"Meow..."

He promised her he would show her the pretty world.

There was so little they had seen until now, and there were so many times that he had almost lost his life.

He was too careless with his life.

He may be living a new life, but he had died once and he could die once again. And this time, it would be without achieving pretty much anything.

’You have so many things left, you dumb master...’

At first she used to call him Sam but along the way, she started respecting him for who he was.

He was never afrid of the dangerous beasts that even she, as a creature of nature, could not approach.

He loved the creatures. Even when he was inside this deadly dungeon, he never once tried to kill the creatures that did not have to be killed.

He could have used her powers to make the golem scorpions destroy each other or kill off the snakes.

But he cared for her enough to let her rest whenever she was tired.

He took everything upon himself.

His survival, her survival, the survival of his people, even the survival of the people that meant nothing to him. He was not some main character in a fairy tale.

’You’re a damned human!’

She was frustrated.

She was crying in his arms as he waited for her to get better.

There were several more cuts all over his body. His blood was mixed in the water pooling the ground.

"TURRRRR!"

She was not healed yet, but, she was utterly fed up right now.

She wanted to help him.

-Oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooong!

She wanted to help him defeat that damned snake.

In fact, she wanted to kill the snake.

"Felix?"

Her immence desire to help her master, along with the legacy she had already inherited in the Sungrade treasury, found a resonance in a moment unexpected to them all.

"Turrr?"

The Imugi felt something in that instance.

-ZAAAAAAA!

Whatever it was, the thing he felt scared the creature visibly.

-SWIIIIIIIIIIIISH!

The draconic creature increased the attack output exponentially.

"What is happening?!"

The cat that he was holding right now was glowing with a strange gray light.

The bronze necklace she was wearing was also changing shape.

-Swish! Swish! Swish!

It almost seemed like the creature, the Imugi that had been calm all this time was going haywire. It did not make sense to him for a moment, but, when he felt a strange sensation deep inside of him, he understood what was going on right now.

"TURRRRRRRRRRRRR!"

He knew Felix was the most vulnerable she had ever been. And he knew exactly what he needed to do right now.

"ARGHHHHHH!"

He gathered all the golden energy inside him and created enough threads in his path to go to the furthest place in the stage.

"TURRRRR!"

He did so while predicting all the attacks that were going to come his way, choosing the most optimal path with the least damaging attacks.

He knew he could not avoid most of them if he wanted to rech that relatively safer area, but he still gave his all.

And once he was at the furthest spot untouched by the deadly winds, he deployed all the protective barrier scrolls he had in was carrying in his storage ring.

-OOOOOOOOOOOOONG!

Which, to the legendary beast’s surprise, number a solid hundred and eleven.

"TURRR!"

It wasn’t going to be difficult to get through those thin barriers, but, they would buy him enough time.

At the very least, it would buy him enough time to take a breath and strategize for the next few minutes...

He needed to stall enough time for her to finish what she was going through right now.

Just like any other creature, this was the most important moment of her life until now.

She must go through this without interruption or she will die.

’I can’t let this happen.’

No matter what.