Kays Translations

Chapter 38: Flames Dancing in the Snow

Ren placed one foot on the suspension bridge, then the other. Fiona followed him onto the wooden boards.

Until recently, she had spent most of her life confined to a sickroom. She could never have experienced anything like this.

(I hope she’ll be all right.)

The remaining adventurers, knights, and students entered the bridge behind them. Nervous voices drifted through the storm from both directions, but Fiona, holding the back of Ren’s coat, made no sound.

Ren looked over his shoulder.

“What is it?” she asked.

“You don’t seem frightened at all.”

“I’m fine. An adventurer is protecting me now.”

Then her expression softened into a faint, self-conscious smile.

“I used to fall asleep every night without knowing whether I would wake again. Compared with those days, this is nothing to fear.”

As she spoke of her former life, the fabric of Ren’s coat slackened. Fiona had moved closer to him.

The bridge creaked continuously beneath the travelers. By the time Ren and Fiona reached its center, some members of the leading group were already nearing the opposite side.

Ren suddenly stopped. Fiona halted behind him.

“What was that?” she whispered.

“The wind?”

A freezing current and a wave of heat had brushed their cheeks almost simultaneously, like remnants of two opposing forces colliding. Both raised a hand to their faces in the same motion.

The people behind them drew closer as the procession compressed near the center.

Ren was the first to see the red glow beneath the canyon.

His throat tightened.

“Take my hand.”

Fiona did not question the urgency in his voice. She placed her hand in his, and he gripped it firmly. This time, no violet spark came from the Demon-Destroying Necklace.

Ren broke into a run.

“Run! Everyone, hurry!”

The knights and adventurers ahead and behind turned in surprise. The moment they saw Ren’s expression, they began running as well.

Then a wave of heat surged up from the canyon.

It mixed with the snowstorm and struck their faces while red light flooded the underside of the bridge.

“Move! Something is wrong!”

“What is happening? You adventurers must know something!” a student cried.

“We don’t! If you know it is dangerous, stop asking and run!”

The bridge shook—not from the blizzard, but from something moving below.

Fiona’s ragged breathing reached Ren’s ears.

“Is this part of the final examination?” someone shouted.

“Never stop! Keep moving!” a knight ordered.

No student worried about pride or the view beneath the boards now. The heat, the crimson glow, and the unnatural trembling drove everyone toward the far side.

A spiral of flame rose from the canyon.

It twisted through the air like a living creature, scattering sparks as it approached Ren and Fiona. More fiery currents appeared around it.

“Freeze!”

Fiona thrust out her free hand. A blast of cold air struck the flames. Their force weakened for an instant, then returned almost immediately, larger than before.

Ren stared at their movement.

(They aren’t aiming at both of us. They’re aiming at Fiona.)

Every tongue of fire curved toward her.

There was no time to consider why.

“Faster!” an adventurer roared through the storm.

Ren and Fiona ran until their lungs burned. The end of the bridge was close, and several people ahead had already reached solid ground.

Then an invisible pressure tore between their joined hands.

“Ah—”

Ren had not relaxed his grip. Even so, their fingers were wrenched apart.

A red wind swept between them, carrying a will of its own. Fiona was lifted over the railing and hurled into open air.

At that same moment, an explosion sounded from far below and lava shot upward.

Ren sensed something inside the eruption—an evil presence more vicious than even Yelquq’s final transformation into a True Man-Eater.

“Fiona!”

“A-Adventurer—!”

Their fingertips brushed, but Ren could not reach her from the bridge.

He did not hesitate.

Ren vaulted over the railing and threw himself after her.

His first thought was to use the Wooden Magic Sword’s Nature Magic. Then he saw flames closing on Fiona from above, below, and both sides. Any vines he sent toward her would be burned away before they could pull her to safety.

Instead, he summoned the Shield Magic Sword.

“Forgive me for this!”

Ren caught Fiona in his arms and activated the sword’s power. A barrier of magic formed around them just before the vortex struck.

“Please—freeze!”

Fiona released another burst of cold air, suppressing the flames battering the shield.

They continued to fall, the bridge rapidly receding above them.

“Ren!” a knight shouted.

There was nothing anyone on the bridge could do. Ren glimpsed the adventurers and knights driving the students toward safety while he fought to preserve the weakening barrier.

(I took the Steel-Eating Gargoyle’s charge head-on with this shield.)

Yet the flames were breaking it.

They were not ordinary fire.

At last, the vortex weakened and the crimson glow below dimmed. Ren immediately summoned the Wooden Magic Sword as well.

He only needed to extend a vine and pull them back to the bridge.

“Adventurer!”

“Damn it—!”

The remaining flames struck the section of bridge from which they had fallen. The explosion split the bridge in two.

Both halves dropped against the canyon walls. The few knights and adventurers still on the boards clung desperately to the ropes. Fortunately, every student other than Fiona had already reached one side or the other.

(The flames would burn through a vine before it reached the forward half.)

Ren could not pull them toward the side where most of the group had gathered.

He looked back toward the half connected to the fort. It was farther away and lower, but no flames blocked the space between them.

(I can reach that side. Once the vine catches, I can do the rest.)

If another vortex appeared, he would deal with it then. Falling into the lava was not an option.

“Fiona!”

“Yes!”

“I will get you back safely. I promise!”

“I’m leaving everything to you, Adventurer—”

Before she could finish, they both looked around. Swirling fire and lava thrown up from the canyon dyed the entire world red.

Ren swung the Wooden Magic Sword while holding Fiona tightly with his other arm.

“Reach!”

A vine shot toward the broken bridge.

Ren worried about the knights still clinging to the ropes, but his first duty was to keep Fiona from falling. When he looked down at her, she had pressed herself firmly against him. Her lips were tightly closed, yet she did not cry out.

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