At last, the dust settled.
The fox sprinted over at full speed. In the final stretch, she even extravagantly activated her emergency escape skill, blinking straight to the front and hugging—well—the Yamata no Orochi.
She was so fast that Allen almost thought this idiot had gone insane and was about to perform some dangerous "lift-you-up-high" move on him. Out of sheer pride, he was ready to refuse immediately. But just as Allen prepared to fly away, he realized he'd misunderstood the situation. He froze for a moment, then let out a long sigh of relief.
Thankfully—he was still a head shorter than the fox right now. Being lifted would've been way too humiliating.
After解除ing his transformation, Allen saw that the fox had already pulled an unknown short blade from her pocket. It gleamed brilliantly—probably something crafted by fairies. She went straight to work on the fallen serpent heads, carving them open.
The lifeless snake heads were as fragile as tofu under the blade. Even stranger, wherever the blade passed, not a single drop of blood flowed—it was completely sealed. Moments later, from the four massive heads, she dug out three glittering orbs. They were identical in shape to the one she had swallowed earlier, just slightly smaller.
The fox could barely suppress her "presenting treasure" grin. She ran over a few steps and handed two of the orbs to Allen.
"Here—yours!"
...
Did this idiot actually get beaten stupid?
What was with this offering-like behavior? Where was the fox who could coolly negotiate with him before? Why did it feel like the entire art style had changed?
With lingering confusion, Allen took the orbs. The system's reaction to them was weaker than its response to a single Galleon—which meant these things were completely useless to the system.
Allen knew they were extremely valuable, but since the fox had risked her life as well, he couldn't just hog all the benefits. He shook his head, about to say something—
—when the fox suddenly stepped back warily, her ears standing straight up. She'd gone all out in the fight, so her transformation was naturally still active.
"Let me be clear!" she said. "I had a share in this fight! Even if I didn't contribute much, I still got part of the loot! Don't even think about taking everything!"
...
Do I really look like the kind of person who would monopolize the spoils?
Allen casually tossed the remaining two orbs over. The fox yelped in fright and hurriedly used magic to freeze them in midair.
"Are you insane?! These are serpent orbs—the most precious thing there is! The refined essence of the Yamata no Orochi! Most of those powerful magical artifacts earlier were probably made with these! Even used alone, they can break bloodline limits! Aren't you afraid you'll break them?!"
Allen couldn't be bothered to argue with this idiot. He placed his hand directly on the heavy greatsword embedded in the serpent's heart and approved the system's impatient absorption request.
As his hand pressed down, the entire corpse of the Yamata no Orochi was engulfed in blue light. The glow expanded rapidly, eventually wrapping around the entire mountain, forcing the fox to retreat to Allen's side.
Once the mountain was fully enveloped, the serpent's body began dissolving from the bottom up. The blue light spread along with the vanishing flesh, flowing back inward. When it reached the heart, it met resistance. The blue glow flared intensely, and a phantom yet incredibly agile snake shadow was forced out—
—only to be instantly erased by the light.
Behind Allen, the fox's mouth fell wide open.
Unfortunately, before she could say anything, the Yamata no Orochi had already been completely devoured. At the same time, a system prompt rang in Allen's ears:
"Hero Fragment acquired. Upgrade now?"
Isn't that a stupid question? Of course he was upgrading! What else had he fought half to death for?!
What he didn't expect was that an overwhelming, uncontrollable surge of power would explode outward from the point where his hand rested. His body went numb instantly. Every muscle was flooded by a scorching torrent of energy, and under that impact, he couldn't even move a finger.
And as if that wasn't bad enough—things went from bad to worse.
The spot where Allen had been standing just happened to be on top of the Yamata no Orochi.
Now that the serpent had been swallowed by the system without the slightest discount…
Naturally—
Allen thud! fell straight down.
The fox fell with him.
She desperately cast magic on both of them, but it barely helped. The fall was too sudden, and her magic reserves were almost depleted. Slowing their descent to a safe speed was no longer possible.
The only good news was that with a few lingering life-saving spells still active, they wouldn't die.
The bad news?
They were absolutely going to be half-dead.
Guess you really shouldn't get too smug in life… karma hits fast.
Allen closed his eyes and did his best to adjust his posture.
As long as I don't die, I can heal any injury.
BOOM!
A heavy impact slammed into him from below. At that speed, his spine probably should've snapped, Allen thought bitterly.
Then he realized—
He could move again.
The fox was extremely close to him, just a little off to the side. His heavy greatsword created less air resistance, so he'd fallen faster.
Instinctively, Allen stretched out his arm and caught her.
Only after doing so did he realize that, aside from intense pain, his arm was perfectly fine.
He yanked the fox toward himself—
—and she smashed hard into his body.
What the hell did I just do?! Acting as a human crash pad like that could get someone killed! With magic around, heavy injuries were still treatable—but why did my body just move on its own?!
Yet after the pain passed, Allen didn't lose consciousness. He didn't cough up blood either.
Instead, he stared blankly at the fox pressing down on him.
What… was going on?
He moved his hands—fine. His legs—also fine. His chest hurt a little, but there was no metallic taste, no internal bleeding. He tried to stand—
—no problem at all.
Too easy.
When his hand pressed against a nearby rock, there was a crack. The stone snapped off effortlessly.
Allen didn't get up.
He subconsciously shoved the fox instead.
She wasn't injured and had been staring right at him.
SPLAT!
A new silhouette appeared on the nearby rock wall. The fox spat out a mouthful of blood, though it clearly wasn't serious—because she immediately exploded in rage.
"Are you an idiot?! Are you trying to murder me?! I know your bloodline gives you a tough body, but showing off like this is insane! You might as well not have caught me at all!"
…Yeah. Her anger was justified.
If Allen put himself in her shoes, he'd be pissed too. Even if severe injuries had turned into minor ones, being slapped into a wall by your own teammate—hard enough to cough blood—was not something to be happy about.
And the real culprit?
The system, which was still flooding him with messages.
"Power of Demacia—Garen unlocked. Steel Legion. Indomitable…"
A long string of notifications followed.
By now, Allen had unlocked Garen's inheritance five times—far more than any other inheritance. And the biggest benefit of that lineage was a robust physique.
At this point, "robust" could safely be replaced with "terrifyingly strong."
Allen even had the illusion that he could wrestle a giant barehanded.
Well—an illusion, of course.
If he actually tried, he'd quickly discover—
The giant wouldn't stand a chance.