Acting as a Slit-Eye Chapter 277

Chapter 277. As an Older Brother (3)

Gradually, my vision began to flicker. My body was protesting that continuous battles in such poor conditions were harsh, but I found it truly frustrating that I couldn't comply.

"Again?"

I thought to myself, filled with complex emotions. Is it happening again?

Experiencing the brink of death has now beco too frequent to describe with words.

It's not as if I lack the experience to be swayed by these situations.

However, I began to think that confronting the enemy without 'armor' was occurring far too often.

"Haaa."

What can I do? My fate has started to twist in this way.

"Any last words?"

Ariam, with a gaze stained with anger, looked at

while staring at Aihan's dead body.

Holding a bow in her left hand and an arrow in her right, she was ready to shoot at any mont.

"Please deliver this ssage to Sir Aihan."

Watching her add unnecessary words, I gave a bitter smile.

Pain and mana exhaustion.

My stomach hurt as if my insides were twisting, and the world swayed with dizziness, yet I wanted to sneer.

"Your swordsmanship was so poor, it made

yawn."

A disposition akin to a disease. I already knew what kind of outco would occur if this were revealed to the world.

Swish──!

Ariam imdiately shot an arrow at .

Normally, deflecting an arrow slicing through the wind with a sword would be convenient, but I held no weapon now.

If I had known this would happen, I wouldn't have broken the sword. No, I shouldn't have thrown the Moonstone Sword!

With wavering legs and waist bent as much as possible, the arrow narrowly missed my head.

"Ugh."

Now I felt pain even in the act of bending my knees. However, I knew that arrow was rely a prelude.

"Stop struggling unnecessarily and die!"

No matter how sluggish my body had beco, following Ariam with my gaze was not difficult.

She drew the bow again. I could see faint mana flowing at her fingertips.

She had intentions of doing sothing. Feeling this, I managed to lift Aihan's fallen body.

"You cowardly bastard!"

What's so cowardly?

Not only did you gang up on

two-to-one, but you also used the power of a "holy relic."

As I threw the lifeless Aihan towards Ariam, the arrow flew off in a strange direction.

It seed she changed its trajectory in a hurry.

'Now's my chance.'

Given my current condition, prolonging the battle wouldn't lead to anything good. No, it was a situation where losing was inevitable.

"I have to finish it this ti!"

Thanks to blocking that one attack with 'Aihan', the distance between

and Ariam had noticeably closed.

If the distance was closed, even without a weapon, I could do sothing.

If only the distance was closed.

"Aaargh!"

Just as I felt so hope, searing pain spread through my body as if a hot iron was branding .

"D'you think I wouldn't know what you were planning? Did you think you'd automatically win if you got up close?"

Suppressing the burning pain as much as possible, I slowly raised my head and noticed the "Mirror of Isaac" in Ariam's hand.

"I was waiting for that! For the mont you closed the distance!"

Muttering in a furious voice, Ariam gradually approached . As the reflection of

in the mirror grew larger, 'Angelica' inside of

started to stir.

"A monster growing a demon inside you!"

Shut up.

"Bring my brother back!"

Why are you yelling at ?

'Ugh.'

A surge of nausea. At this rate, I felt like both the 'mana vein' and my whole body would burn away to nothing.

I don't want to die.

I hated it more than anything. I tried to move my legs to retaliate sohow, but my feet, heavy as lead, didn't budge easily.

Gradually, I was brought to my knees.

"Uuugh!"

Then, with a pitiful shout, a silhouette lunged at Ariam from the front.

'Who?'

The effect of the holy relic made

lose my composure.

Still, since soone intervened to block Ariam, the "Mirror of Isaac" didn't turn toward .

As my flickering, blinking vision finally began to stabilize, I saw Herand.

The figure that appeared before my refocused eyes was none other than Herand. Rushing at Ariam, he grabbed hold of the mirror and was now wrestling with her.

"Let go! Are you insane!?"

"Yulian...! Run away, hurry!"

With a voice strained by despair, Herand attempted to snatch the 'mirror' from Ariam, though it was apparent that he was physically outmatched.

"Let go, you bastard!"

"This ti, I will not let go...!"

Ariam's kick reached him, but Herand clung to the mirror in an undignified posture.

"I'd rather die than let go again...!"

"Is that so!?"

Thanks to Herand buying so ti, I barely managed to muster the strength to stand again.

"Then you might as well die."

With an indifferent voice, Ariam drew an arrow from the quiver.

My body was slow, and my consciousness hazy, but there was an ominous feeling about Ariam's actions.

Sohow, in desperation, I pushed off the ground. At the sa mont, the arrowhead Ariam held pierced Herand's neck.

===

?? Emotions have reached a peak.

?? Trait, 〈Open Eyes〉 has manifested.

===

My vision blinked.

It wasn't the process of losing consciousness, but the unveiling of my 'subconscious'.

Before I knew it, I found myself directly in front of Ariam.

"You, you...!"

Startled, Ariam tried to retaliate, but I overpowered her, slamming her to the ground.

Once, stagnant water surged like a wave. Within it, Ariam's terrified face ca into view.

Above her head, the "Color of Fear" was faintly visible.

Although her expression showed complete loss of will to fight, I reached for her quiver without hesitation.

Grabbing the last remaining arrow, I imdiately drove it into Ariam's chest.

"Ugh..."

A handful of blood trickled from her mouth as her lips trembled, looking at , her emotion shifting from 'fear' to 'anger'.

But that was it. Her quivering lips ceased movent, and her eyes, which had been filled with fury, lost all life.

"Elder brother Herand."

After confirming Ariam's death, I approached Herand. An arrow from Ariam was embedded in his neck.

"Elder brother Herand!"

I called out, but Herand did not answer. In fact, he didn't even react. Kneeling, I examined Herand's complexion.

Blood flowed continuously from his neck where the artery had been pierced.

His face began to pale, appearing as if he was crossing an irreversible river.

"Please, get up."

A wave of guilt crashed over

like the tide. If I hadn't brought Herand along and had simply driven him away as usual, this wouldn't have happened.

If even he were gone, I felt like there would be no one left in this world to hold

to 'family' by blood.

"Please."

If only I had remained numbed by the habit of being 'Yulian', perhaps I wouldn't feel such guilt.

"Ugh."

Hmm?

I looked down. Then I saw Herand's face, which had paled, gradually regaining life.

'What...?'

As I examined the wound at Herand's neck, I noticed sothing pitch-black wriggling.

Angelica.

It appeared that it was sewing up Herand's wound, taking on the role of the damaged artery to so extent.

'You...'

Wasn't it unable to exert its power because of the 'Mirror of Isaac'?

― Grurrr.

Angelica let out a scream akin to a groan. It too was moving with all its might.

'For a demon.'

Thank you.

***

"Uhmm."

With a groan, Herand sat up. Absentmindedly, he placed his hand on the ground, feeling the soft texture of a bed beneath his fingertips.

"Where... agh."

His whole body was too sluggish to move properly, yet the pain distinctly coursed through Herand's nerves.

'Why am I here?'

As he regained consciousness, Herand slowly started to piece together his mory.

The first thing that ca to mind was visiting Yulian to ask him to take the position of 'Head', and then following Yulian until reaching the underground canal.

'Ah.'

A horrifying scene also surfaced in his mind.

He had rushed in to stop Ariam, only to have his neck pierced by her arrow.

Herand hurriedly touched his neck. Pain surged from the pierced wound, indicating that indeed, it wasn't a dream.

Creak.

As Herand struggled to comprehend the situation and felt bewildered, the door to the entrance opened, and a servant entered.

"Sir Herand!?"

Upon seeing Herand up, the servant looked at him with wide, surprised eyes.

"Oh, oh..."

Just as he was about to ask what had happened, the servant hurriedly dashed outside.

Left feeling awkward, Herand let out a small laugh.

"Elder brother Herand."

After the servant left, Yulian was the one who imdiately entered.

"Yulian... urgh."

Herand grimaced. When he opened his mouth, pain surged from the wound in his neck that hadn't healed yet.

"It would be wise not to speak for a while. Focus on recovery now."

As usual, Yulian approached with an unreadable eyes and smile. Pulling a chair closer, he sat down in front of Herand.

"Thank you for saving , elder brother Herand. If it weren't for you, I wouldn't be here now."

Though it was definitely the usual atmosphere, the tone Yulian used contained an air of respect.

Rather than rely pretending to be polite, Herand felt he was facing 'Yulian' as a person, a genuine human interaction.

"Oh, no. It was only..."

A bout of coughing followed, showing that his neck wound was still far from healed.

"It seems there is no one else but you, elder brother."

Suddenly, Yulian uttered sothing strange, and Herand suppressed his cough as he looked at him.

What was he saying?

Herand's gaze silently asked Yulian who, in response, deepened his smile.

"As for family head. No matter how much I think about it, soone like

doesn't suit the head's position, but you do, elder brother."

"No, I think..."

"I will not change my mind."

Even though Herand spoke up, enduring the pain, Yulian cut him off with his words.

"Even if I die, I have no intention of playing the head of Cryphart. Should anyone other than Sir Oben to beco the head, I wouldn't care for the Cryphart family for the rest of my life."

Inside, Herand's heart began to churn with anguish. He couldn't find any sound argunt against Yulian's decision.

There was intense resentnt towards the 'Cryphart family' in his words. He understood. It was a legitimate feeling.

After all, it was the Cryphart family that had made him this way.

The emotional rift was so deep it seed impossible to discern its end. For Herand, to plead with Yulian further seed to offer nothing but trouble, just as it would be neither more nor less than a bother.

"I'm sorry."

"But if you beco the head, elder brother, I will fulfill my duties as a family mber."

Herand raised his gaze to et Yulian's once again.

Clacky's Corner:

My heart dropped when I thought that Herand would die. I didn't know I would care for him that much.

We started the story with Herand fearing Yulian.

Now they have finally gotten closer.

P. S.

23 chapters left.