Chapter 48: Sir Guardian, You’re So Beautiful!

As the little angels circling the moon began to blur, a large shadow fell over me.

Before I could turn my head, the one-armed creature landed directly on my chest. My back was driven harder into the icy ground, forcing the last bit of air from my lungs.

The creature opened its enormous mouth and tried to reach my face. As it squeezed my throat with its only hand, it dug its long claws into the gash across my chest and began tearing apart Umbrella’s damaged armor.

"Get... off me..."

I tried to push it away with my right hand, but my strength was fading fast. When its claws slipped between the armor and reached the wound in my chest, my vision turned white from the pain.

Foul-smelling breath washed over me from the creature’s open mouth. Just as its sharp teeth were about to reach the armor covering my face, I focused on the sections of Umbrella covering my back and right arm.

The black armor suddenly moved.

Black matter rose from my right shoulder and transformed into a long, thin spear that pierced the creature beneath its chin. The tip punched through its skull and emerged from the top of its head, causing its white face to suddenly go still.

I swung the spear to the side and threw the creature off me. After sliding several meters across the ice, the one-armed monster began losing its color.

Just as I planted my right elbow against the ground to push myself up, my instincts screamed again.

When I raised my head, I saw the rusty sword descending toward me.

Without thinking, I gathered Umbrella in front of my right arm. The black matter expanded and transformed into a thick, round shield.

When the broken sword struck the shield, a terrible shock ran through my entire arm. Although the attack didn’t completely break through the armor, I felt as if every bone from my wrist to my shoulder was about to crack.

The shield was forced down against the ice, trapping my body beneath it.

Gritting my teeth, I rolled to the side and escaped from beneath the rusty sword. Since my left arm was still useless, I had to place all my weight on my right side.

The creature didn’t wait for me to get back on my feet.

It raised its sword and brought it down on me a second time.

I reshaped Umbrella into a shield and blocked the attack, but this time, I hadn’t had enough time to prepare myself. When the rusty sword struck the black surface, my feet left the ground, and my body was thrown backward.

After rolling across the ice several times, I crashed into the base of a collapsed wall.

A high-pitched ringing filled my ears. The gash across my chest wouldn’t stop bleeding, and my broken ribs dug into my lungs with every breath.

Even so, I knew I wouldn’t be able to block the next attack if I stayed on the ground.

I grabbed the edge of the wall with my right hand and pulled myself up. My knees trembled, and my vision faded in and out, but I eventually managed to stand.

The creature had already reached me.

It thrust its sword forward.

I saw the attack coming, but I couldn’t dodge it.

The rusty blade pierced the damaged armor over my left shoulder and entered my body just beneath the bone. When the creature lifted its sword, my feet rose from the ice.

"Ahhh!"

With my entire weight hanging from the sword embedded in my shoulder, I couldn’t hold back my scream. Even the smallest movement caused me pain.

The creature’s face moved directly in front of mine.

Its mouth was open as wide as possible, watching my suffering with a smile far too large to belong to a human. As it raised the sword a little higher and kept me suspended in the air, its other hand reached toward my throat.

I grabbed the arm holding the sword with my right hand.

The creature tilted its head.

Blood seeped between my lips as a weak smile formed on my face.

"Got you..."

The black surface of Umbrella covering my right hand flowed onto the creature’s wrist.

Thin black lines slipped beneath its white skin and began traveling up its arm. The creature noticed the danger and tried to pull its hand away, but I refused to let go.

"Let’s see if you can copy this too."

The moment the black lines reached its shoulder, I clenched my fist.

The first spike burst from the creature’s arm.

Then dozens more erupted from its entire body at once.

The black spikes tore through its arm, chest, and head from the inside. As its faceless body was suddenly covered in spikes, a muffled scream that hurt my ears escaped its mouth.

As the monster’s body began losing its color, the white substance that formed it scattered across the snow in pieces.

When the arm holding the sword shattered, the force keeping me in the air disappeared as well.

My body collapsed to the ground.

The rusty sword was still lodged in my shoulder. As my vision darkened, I grabbed the weapon’s hilt with my right hand.

"Damn it!"

The moment I pulled the sword from my body, an uncontrollable scream tore from my throat. Blood poured from the open wound as I threw the rusty weapon as far away as I could.

I remained on my knees for several seconds.

My entire body was trembling, and breathing was becoming more difficult. My left arm was now completely useless, and I couldn’t even feel my fingers.

"I can’t die yet..."

I planted my right foot in front of me and forced myself up. Although I managed to stand, I staggered after only a few steps and had to grab the collapsed wall for support.

Focusing on Umbrella, I tightened the armor around my left shoulder and chest. The pain grew worse when the black layer squeezed my body and applied pressure to the wounds, but at least the bleeding slowed slightly.

White Serpent was trying to heal my injuries. Unfortunately, the regenerative power of a two-star ability wasn’t enough to repair my broken ribs and sword-pierced body in such a short time.

At this rate, I could die from blood loss before finding the Nexus Node.

"You’re amazing, Sir Guardian!"

My shoulders tensed at the cheerful voice behind me.

The little girl emerged from behind the collapsed wall. The blue tips of her white hair moved in the cold wind, and her completely white eyes shone with admiration. Her light blue pajamas were stained with snow, and one of her feet was still covered by the black shoe I had formed from Umbrella.

She looked excited, as if she hadn’t just watched me nearly die a few seconds ago.

I opened my mouth to scold her, but the wound in my chest throbbed, making me grimace.

"I told you to hide, kid!"

"I did!" she immediately replied. "I never came out from behind the wall you showed me."

"You watched me throughout the entire fight."

"I only stuck my head out a little."

"That isn’t hiding."

The little girl looked around for several seconds. When she saw the shattered remains of the white creatures, the worry on her face quickly disappeared.

"But it’s safe now, isn’t it?"

I didn’t answer.

My ribs hurt a little more with every word I spoke, and blood continued to gather beneath the armor. When my vision began to darken again, I leaned against the wall and tried to remain standing.

When the little girl noticed the expression on my face, her cheerfulness gave way to concern.

"Are you badly hurt?"

"Just a few... scratches."

Considering that blood was still pouring from the hole in my left shoulder, this might have been one of the worst lies I had ever told.

The girl immediately brought both hands to her neck. When she pulled out the thin silver chain hidden beneath her pajamas, a transparent crystal the size of my thumb appeared at the end.

A pale blue light swirled inside the crystal.

When the girl held the necklace in her palm and closed her eyes, the crystal began to shine. A small, round opening appeared in front of her, and a glass bottle emerged from inside it.

The bottle contained a blue liquid.

I stared at her in surprise.

I had read about items with dimensional storage before, but this was the first time I had seen one being used. The fact that such a small necklace could hold other objects seemed almost as strange as Umbrella’s transformations.

"What is that?"

The little girl tilted her head in surprise.

"A healing potion."

She said it as if it were the most ordinary thing in the world.

"You’re hurt, aren’t you?"

"Really?"

I was about to reach for the bottle when my hand stopped.

Why would a child her age have a dimensional necklace and a healing potion? How could I be sure the bottle really contained what she claimed?

The liquid might have been made for a completely different purpose. Besides, drinking something from an unknown source could be just as stupid as touching the first creature disguised as a child.

However, I didn’t have much time to think.

My vision was growing darker. White Serpent was working constantly, but its level was far too low to heal injuries like these. If I remained like this for a few more minutes, I would lose consciousness.

I took the bottle from the little girl’s hand.

"If this is poison, I’ll come back as a ghost and haunt you."

"It isn’t poison," the little girl said, puffing out one cheek in a pout.

I removed the cap and drank all the blue liquid at once.

The potion had a cool and slightly sweet taste. A few seconds after the liquid passed down my throat, warmth formed in the center of my chest and spread throughout my entire body.

I felt my broken ribs move back into place as the shattered bone in my shoulder knitted together. The pain grew so intense for a moment that I had to grit my teeth, but immediately afterward, it disappeared completely.

The sword wound stretching down to my stomach closed before my eyes.

The torn muscles joined together, the bleeding stopped, and within seconds, my skin returned to normal. As feeling returned to my left arm, I realized I could move my fingers freely again.

I touched my chest in disbelief.

My clothes were still torn and covered in blood, but there wasn’t a single scratch left on the skin beneath them.

"Whoa..."

I moved my arms and checked my ribs. Only a few seconds ago, I had struggled to breathe, but now there wasn’t even the slightest pain anywhere in my body.

I turned toward the little girl.

"Oiii, kid! Why do you have something like this?"

Instead of answering, she stared at my face with her mouth slightly open. Her white eyes shone with admiration, and a faint blush had appeared on her cheeks.

I frowned.

"What are you look—?"

Only then did I realize that I had pulled back the section of Umbrella covering my face so I could drink the potion. My blue hair and face were now completely exposed.

The little girl clasped her hands in front of her chest.

"Sir Guardian, you’re so beautiful!"

I pinched the bridge of my nose with two fingers and took a deep breath.

"Look, kid. Just so you know, first, I’m a man. Second, you’re going to forget that you saw my face, and you won’t tell anyone about it. Understood?"

"Okay!" she replied cheerfully.

Her answer had come a little too quickly, but we didn’t have time to argue about it. I spread Umbrella over my face again and reformed the black mask.

"Now tell me why you have a necklace like that and a healing potion."

The little girl proudly held the necklace between both hands.

"My dad gave it to me. He said I should always carry it with me."

"Who’s your dad?"

"My dad is a Guardian too!" Her white eyes lit up with excitement as she began gesturing with her hands. "He’s a very powerful Nexus user. He enters Overlaps and rescues the people trapped inside. Sometimes he doesn’t come home for days, but when he returns, he tells me about the places he visited."

She couldn’t hide the pride on her face as she spoke.

"He gave me this necklace to use if I was ever in danger."

Because of his profession, her father must have wanted to make sure she was prepared in case something like this happened. Giving such an expensive storage item to a child might have seemed excessive, but considering that it had just saved my life, his precaution had clearly been the right decision.

As I looked at the necklace, another possibility came to mind.

I could feel my eyes beginning to shine.

"Little one... is there any chance you have other things like enhancement potions in that little necklace?"

The girl nodded cheerfully.

"Yes!"

She took the crystal into her palm again. Then she began pulling out bottles one after another and lining them up on the snow.

Within seconds, potions filled with blue, red, green, and golden liquids had formed a small pile in front of us.

As I looked at the bottles, I felt like a villain trying to rob a child.

None of these potions were cheap. From what I knew through the other Noctis’s memories, even the lowest-level healing potion cost more than an ordinary person could earn in several years.

Enhancement potions weren’t very useful for truly powerful Nexus users. The dense Nexus energy in their bodies suppressed the effects of low-level potions, making the strength they gained almost unnoticeable.

However, there was no Nexus inside my body to interfere with their effects.

For me, they were perfect.

I picked up one of the bottles filled with red liquid.

"What is this?"

"A strength potion."

I pointed at the green one beside it.

"Speed."

"What about the golden one?"

"Endurance."

I looked at the little girl.

"Can I use these?"

"Of course! My dad said I could use them if I was ever in danger. You’re in danger too."

That was enough to silence what remained of my conscience.

I opened the red potion first and drank it. Then I took the green and golden bottles and finished them one after another before the little girl could change her mind.

Three different waves of warmth spread through my body.

New strength filled my muscles, my movements became lighter, and the exhaustion from the battle disappeared completely. When I opened and closed my fingers beneath the armor, I could feel that my body was much stronger than it had been only a few minutes earlier.

The little girl smiled cheerfully as she watched me holding the empty bottles.

My gaze had already shifted toward the other potions sitting in front of the necklace.

I reformed the spiked baseball bat and rested it against my right shoulder. Then, as I looked at the little girl, a greedy smile formed beneath my mask.

"Little one, I can already tell that you and I are going to get along very well."