NOVEL NEXT C4
“Kraak! Kak!”
The hobgoblin swung its axe to deflect the ice spikes, but it was impossible to block all of the nearly twenty projectiles. The ice spikes, created from mana, easily pierced through the monster’s thick skin.
“Kaaak!”
The hobgoblin, with spikes embedded in its waist, screamed and twisted its body. Iberis didn’t give it a chance and drew up more mana. White smoke began to rise from the spikes stuck in the reddish-brown skin, and the hobgoblin’s body started to freeze.
“Keuruk, kieuuu…”
The hobgoblin staggered, suffering from the cold spreading inside and outside its body. It smashed the spikes embedded in its body with its axe, but it was too late. Iberis’s mana, which had infiltrated its body, was freezing the hobgoblin from the inside out. No matter how strong a monster was, it couldn’t withstand its heart stopping.
Kuuung!
The battle ended in an instant. The hobgoblin didn’t even feel its breath stopping. As its heart froze and ceased beating, its movement stopped abruptly, and it collapsed to the ground.
Even after defeating the hobgoblin, Iberis remained focused until the end, not letting his guard down. Finally succeeding in freezing the entire massive body, he lowered his hand. At that moment, a cough erupted.
“Cough!”
“…Major!”
Snapping to attention at the sound of Iberis’s cough, Brenda jumped up and ran to him. Her eyes were filled with worry as she looked at Iberis.
“Are you alright?”
“Don’t make a fuss. It’s just a cough.”
Iberis, covering his mouth with his hand, glanced at Brenda. The fact that he was terminally ill was a secret between just the two of them. He understood her concern, but it wasn’t good to show such weakness in front of the squad members.
“You’re not alright. Your complexion is terrible.”
“It’s because I used my ability.”
Iberis answered calmly. Side effects from using abilities were a problem all Espers faced. He bit his lip, feeling his fingertips trembling. The intensity was worse than he had expected.
“Stop making a scene and manage your expression. Before everyone starts thinking something’s wrong.”
Iberis warned in a low voice that only Brenda could hear, then took out a sedative from his pocket. While he hadn’t noticed during the battle, the chill was gradually rising. He needed to take the medicine to calm his raging mana before it got worse.
“Wait. Don’t take that, I’ll call a guide right away.”
Seeing his hand shaking as he held the medicine bottle, Brenda’s face hardened. In that state, a sedative wouldn’t be enough. Making a quick decision, she stopped Iberis.
“It’s fine.”
“What do you mean it’s fine? Do you know what you look like right now? You look like you’re about to collapse.”
Brenda raised her voice, grabbing Iberis’s wrist. She knew it could be seen as insubordination, but she couldn’t hold back anymore. She gritted her teeth, feeling the cold emanating from Iberis’s body. The combat uniform in her grip was ice-cold. The continuous flow of cold from his body meant his mana was out of control.
To be in this state just from a hobgoblin…
Brenda swallowed a sigh, feeling devastated. Although using abilities always had repercussions, in the past, defeating a hobgoblin wouldn’t have caused such side effects. Iberis’s physical condition was much worse than she had thought.
“At least hold onto these for now.”
Side effects vary for each Esper depending on their ability. For Iberis, an ice ability user, the side effects included frostbite and hypothermia. If the cold she felt through his hand was this intense, the chill Iberis was experiencing must have been beyond imagination.
Brenda took out three or four heat packs from her pocket and forcibly placed them in Iberis’s hand. A few small heat packs couldn’t thaw his entire body, but it was better than nothing.
“Nine! Rebecca!”
Seeing Iberis fidgeting with the heat packs, Brenda called for the guides who had come with them.
“I told you not to do that.”
“Major, please stop being stubborn.”
“Lieutenant.”
“I know better than anyone why you refuse guiding, Major. But right now, you need to think about your own body first.”
Brenda spoke emphatically, word by word. She could easily guess why Iberis was reluctant to receive guiding. It was impossible not to know.
As one of only about a hundred S-class Espers worldwide, Iberis was a difficult Esper to guide. The higher the Esper’s rank, the harder it was to find a guide with both compatibility and a high matching rate, and Iberis was no exception.
Numerous guides had come and gone, but none could withstand the cold Iberis emitted. Even A-class guides struggled to guide Iberis, let alone lower ranks. Several guides had been injured attempting to force guiding.
Given this situation, all the guides in the unit found Iberis difficult and avoided him. Iberis, in turn, chose to isolate himself. Extremely averse to others getting hurt because of him, he managed his mana with medication unless he was on the verge of overload.
Naturally, this wasn’t a good choice. Unlike guiding, sedatives, purifiers, and recovery medicines couldn’t be a complete solution. The damage to his body from using his ability, mana contamination, and the aftereffects of repeated side effects from each mission gradually deteriorated Iberis’s body. The result was his terminal diagnosis.
“Even a few minutes of guiding is more effective than taking a sedative.”
For Espers suffering from mana overload or contamination, there’s no better remedy than guiding. Although Iberis said medication was enough, Brenda didn’t believe him. Being an Esper herself, she knew well the pain of not receiving proper guiding.
“Please, Major. I beg you…”
Brenda’s tone changed to pleading. Since learning about the severity of Iberis’s condition, she had been plagued by guilt for not properly supporting him.
While medication might have been sufficient when he was healthy, it wasn’t enough anymore. Iberis must know this too, but she couldn’t understand why he was being so stubborn. Guiding was the most direct way to calm the raging mana inside him.
“…Fine.”
Unable to ignore Brenda’s plea, Iberis let out a short sigh. As he gave his permission, Brenda’s face lit up. She turned her attention to Nine and Rebecca, who were watching the two closely. They needed to start guiding quickly before Iberis changed his mind.
“Sergeant Nine, the Major doesn’t seem to be in good condition today. I think guiding would be better than taking medication. Start the guiding immediately.”
“M-me?”
“Who else would do it? How many guides do we have here?”
“But I might not be able to guide the Major sufficiently…”
“I’m not asking you to do it alone. Do as much as you can, then switch with Corporal Rebecca.”
Brenda cut Nine off mid-sentence and issued her order. She had no time to indulge her subordinate’s whining. She felt sorry for Nine and Rebecca, but Iberis needed guiding.
“I’ll be in your care.”
Iberis approached Nine and slowly extended his hand towards him. Nine swallowed hard as he looked at the outstretched hand. He never had the option to refuse in the first place.
“…Then I’ll begin the guiding. Please remove your gloves.”
“No, just do it like this.”
“But we need skin contact…”
“If I take off my gloves, it’ll be harder for you.”
Iberis spoke with certainty. At these words, Nine’s face darkened as he recalled an incident from a few months ago. He had once suffered frostbite while trying to guide Iberis when he was on the verge of overload. Instead of calming the raging mana, he had been overwhelmed by it. The thought of experiencing that pain again filled him with fear.
“I’ll do it like this.”
Nine hesitantly grasped Iberis’s hand and stiffened. The military glove was ice-cold. Biting his lower lip, Nine slowly channeled his mana into Iberis. In response, Iberis’s mana surged.
“Ugh!”
Nine let out a small groan as he felt Iberis’s mana rushing at his own as if attacking it. The cold emanating from Iberis made it feel like his palm would freeze. Nine focused his mind, resisting the urge to let go of Iberis’s hand immediately. Through their joined hands, he could feel the tangled mana.
Nine calmly proceeded with the guiding, as if unraveling a knotted skein of thread one by one. However, before long, Nine’s face began to turn pale. His mana was being rapidly drained. He could have endured just that, but the problem was the cold emitted by Iberis’s mana. His body trembled from the chill seeping into his skin.