CH 75

「The bond between body and soul is weakened. Recovery mode is activated.」

「Recovery progress: 1%」

「Time remaining until completion: 23 hours 04 minutes」

After being poisoned by Ergo and losing consciousness, Cadel entered the space of nothingness. Being unconscious due to physical damage was different from falling asleep, but instead of appreciating the stories of the knights, he had to look at the same system window day and night.

“Is the speed of recovery crazy? 1% per hour?”

You want me to sit in a dark room with nothing and watch the clock tick away until I reach 100%? I'm going to go insane.

Cursing under his breath at the injustice of it all, Cadel jumped to his feet. He felt like he was going to lose his mind if he didn't do something.

‘I can't believe I have to lie down doing nothing for a day. What about Lydon? The villagers of Baskin Village?’

After pacing and biting her nails, Cadel soon decided to give exercise a try. He didn't know if the subconscious exercise would work, but it was better than sitting still. As he started doing sit-ups, he could definitely feel his muscles flexing.

‘Ergo must have taken Lydon. ……He hasn’t eaten him yet, has he? No, it can't be. Although Lydon’s condition when I last saw him.……. He's not going to sit still, so let's not get ominous.’

By the fifth rep, he was tired and switched positions. Cadel's arms shook as he attempted the next set of push-ups.

‘If the full 24 hours pass, I'll have about 10 hours left to complete the main quest. Is it possible to save Lydon and defeat Ergo in that time? We've lost Lydon who can detect the scent of demons. How much time will be spent tracking them down…….’

After six reps, his arms were weak. Deciding that enough was enough, Cadel laid down. He was unconscious yet he was gasping for air.

“Ah…… What should I do…….”

His face was half in a daze as he stared into the black void. A powerful despondency dominated his mind to the extent that his will to fight faded.

「External intervention detected.」

「The recovery speed is dramatically increased.」

With each successive system window, the recovery progress, which was only 1%, began to steeply rise.

“Uhh…….”

Cadel slowly lifted his eyelids. Blinking a few times to clear his blurry vision, he saw an unfamiliar ceiling somewhere and felt a soft, cozy warmth wrap around him.

‘Bed……? Ah, yeah. Looks like reinforcements have arrived.’

The fact that he was not lying on the ground meant that the reinforcements had found him. Did they find Raidon? And Ergo?

“Is this what you guys doing?”

“What…… Pardon? What, excuse me?”

Words didn't come out properly. Could it be that he was asking if Cadel and Lumen were in a relationship in which they ‘sucked each other off’? Cadel didn't even want to ask the question of what he would suppose to suck.

Cadel's breath caught in his throat at the kind of humiliation he'd never experienced before. Just a few moments ago, he'd been wondering what he could do to earn Garuel’s favor, and he'd given him a giant f*ck right out of the gate.

Cadel instinctively touched his forehead and took a deep breath. He felt that if he didn’t calm down, murder would happen.