Turning-Chapter 842

“Got it. Thank you, Gakein.”

“No, I was sure I couldn’t do it, but I actually did... because of what you said...”

Gakein’s tired yet slightly flushed face lit up with a smile, brighter and more alive than before.

“This was something only I could do. I pulled it off, just as much as you needed, right?”

“Yes. You did. Well done.”

“Haha.”

Seeing Gakein filled with pride and joy over what he had managed, Kurga shook his head.

“You’ve totally caught the Cavalry Disease...”

‘...Cavalry Disease?’

Yuder didn’t know what that was supposed to mean, but given the situation, he didn’t ask. Instead, he opened and closed his shadow-bound hand a few times, then swung his arm to make sure it wouldn’t easily come loose. Satisfied, he turned to Kishiar.

“I’m heading out. Will you be all right?”

Kishiar nodded and reached out. Yuder felt an invisible power wrap more densely around him and his surroundings.

“Go.”

“Return safely, Commander!”

“Yuder, I’ll help you from here with the shadow barrier, however I can. So don’t get hurt. Be careful...!”

With Kurga and Gakein’s voices behind him, Yuder began running. He had barely moved a few steps before their voices were completely swallowed in silence.

Now, all that remained was the warmth of Kishiar running close at his side, the heavy, ominous pressure swallowing the space, and the pitch-black darkness of the shadow barrier.

Faint, formless illusions circled like wind around Yuder as he ran. They clawed at the barrier, trying to tear through the protection Kishiar had erected—but not one managed to pierce it, and they were flung away again and again.

You’d think they’d grow weary after doing this dozens of times, but the illusions showed no signs of fatigue. The more Yuder ran, the more their numbers grew. It was certain now that Naham was in this direction.

—Uuuu... uuuu...

—Useless Omega Cavalry Commander...

—Kill that traitor...! Cut off his head and hang it ten walls high...!

—Yudrain... Yudrain...

Within the chilling wails and screams, voices from his past life occasionally slipped through. But Yuder no longer gave them the slightest attention. His focus remained solely on the wrist bound with the shadow thread, and on Kishiar beside him.

Kishiar, too, ignored the faint illusions clinging to him and stared only ahead. Outwardly calm as ever, but his complexion looked even more pale than before.

Given how the illusions only buzzed faintly in Kishiar’s ears, Yuder figured his own illusions likely weren’t reaching the other man [N O V E L I G H T] clearly either. There was nothing left he needed to keep secret from Kishiar, but even so, Yuder was relieved by that fact.

Knowing something and having it manifest in front of you are two very different things.

Then, the shadow wrapped around his wrist pulsed and suddenly twisted toward a different direction. It meant Naham had changed position.

“He moved?”

Kishiar turned sharply, sensing it.

This translation is the intellectual property of Novelight.

“Yes. He’s still on the move. Judging by the speed... it seems he’s begun regaining some clarity. Be careful.”

Yuder changed direction. The vibration from the shadow grew stronger and stronger, until he no longer needed to look at it to know where to go.

And the closer they got, the denser the illusions became—so thick they could barely see. The overlapping of so many illusions made the black shadow barrier blur like mist spreading through the air.

The feeling of a massive rampaging power choking the breath from your lungs.

An endless, quiet tide of deep, dark hostility.

It was as if all the rage Naham had ever carried was now twisted and amplified dozens of times, packed into every corner of this place. Yuder’s nerves bristled from head to toe.

Even after encountering so many rampaging Awakeners in his past life, he couldn’t help but grimace.

‘This is... intense.’

Had they come this far without Kishiar’s power, it would’ve been—however reluctant he was to admit it—nearly impossible to proceed.

As Naham’s power surged, the strength of Kishiar’s shielding grew thicker in kind. Sweat now beaded visibly on the brow of the man who had kept up a calm front, and invisible force flared, repelling the illusions around them.

“How much farther to Naham?”

“We’re almost there. Very close.”

In this suffocating darkness, even a few steps away made it impossible to see each other. Especially now, as Naham’s rampaging energy was trying to devour them whole.

Yuder narrowed his eyes, scanning the darkness, then opened his mouth.

“From here on, I’ll handle this. Please fall back, Commander.”

“...”

“Commander?”

When he turned his head at the lack of response, he saw Kishiar drive back an incoming illusion with a swing of his hand, then sigh deeply, his expression relaxing.

“No need to be so impatient. I’ll fall back. But... let me insist on something too, just this once. May I?”

“...What?”

Before he finished speaking, golden mana surged from Kishiar’s hand.

“What... Commander!”

With a complicated set of gestures and murmured incantation, the bracelets on his wrists, the brooch on his uniform, and even the gem embedded in his sacred sword’s scabbard all shattered at once—at least ten magic stones, destroyed in an instant.

At the same time, a complete golden barrier wrapped around Yuder like a cocoon, glowing briefly before becoming transparent.

The pressure that had been suffocating him vanished. He felt like he could breathe again. A soft golden force surrounded and protected his body. Yuder didn’t know much about magic, but even he could tell this was something extraordinary.

But Kishiar’s face was pale. Not since he’d used a taxing spell to block the explosion of the Red Stone during the underground experiments with Thais Yulman and Alik had he looked this dangerous. The sight made Yuder’s heart drop.

“Don’t! There’s no need to go this far—!”

“I just didn’t think I could move from here without feeling sure you’d be even a little safer.”

Kishiar, having lowered his arms, murmured with an unreadable expression and a faint smile tugging at the corners of his lips.

“...So that’s why.”

“...”

“If you’re angry, save the scolding for after everything’s over.”

As he said those words, the mana crumbled and dispersed like dust.

If he had simply ordered Yuder not to get hurt and come back safely, maybe this feeling wouldn’t have hit so hard.

But even if the words sounded similar, what they meant was entirely different. Hidden within that smile was the raw, quiet weight of feelings Kishiar had been suppressing this whole time—honest, fragile, and impossible to ignore.

This chapter is updated by freēwēbnovel.com.

Ah.

Only now did Yuder finally feel he understood what Kishiar had meant with those words earlier.

“How could I refuse after hearing that,” he’d said.

And Yuder...

His lips parted slowly after a long silence.

“How could I...”

How could I possibly protest after hearing that?

Only after that faint voice escaped did Kishiar finally, truly smile.

Yuder was suddenly seized by the powerful urge to reach out and caress his cheek.