Chapter 332: Her Hesitation

High in the sky, off the east coast, by the sea, battling a giant beast, Stardus floated in the sky, barely breathing.

“Hmph, hmph…”

[K̴̤͛r̴̪̽̓̋r̶̤̠̓̌̒ŕ̵͉̊̚r̴̲̖̒͝ř̸̨͉̫̀ķ̴̠̻̎̎ã̷͙̺͛͘r̷͖̅̓̆r̷̺̆͐̅r̵̛͕e̵̱̓̈̀ȑ̷͖́̓r̸̲͚͆̀͆͜ȓ̷̰̤̄̌͜j̸̡̢̛͙͊̇!!!!]

“Ugh…Ha.”

Her blonde hair fluttered in the sea breeze.

She covers her ears as  if she’s tired of hearing the sounds of the sea monster.

…Every time she heard that bizarre sound in the middle of the fight, it made her head hurt like crazy.

With that thought, she dodged the flying tentacles, her fists glowing once more, and lunged at the creature’s torso.

Again, and again, and again.

As she fought, she realized something in her gut.

Ah. This was going to take a while.

This was a tough fight but it didn’t look like she was going to lose.

However the problem was, that the monster was too big and she didn’t know how long she was going to be able to attack him.

Especially since she kept hearing the bizarre noises the creature was making, her head was pounding, and her fatigue was building in the middle of the fight.

With that thought in mind, Stardus steeled herself and fought on, dodging tentacles and flying back and forth across the sky.

Hours passed.

~Back to the present~

Now visibly exhausted, she clenched her fists, dodging tentacles as they flew by.

…It was a formidable foe.

Especially unlike the other monsters that had fought against, which felt like they could punch her and barely make a dent.

Plus, its giant tentacles, wrapped in that strange black aura, were cursed with some sort of curse, and the slightest touch made the area burn like fire.

…She didn’t know how long she can go on.

With that thought, she clenched her fists again and lunged at him.

-Wham.

In an instant, she was flipped sideways in midair, dodging a tentacle that suddenly shot out from the side but that was what the creature had intended.

“Ah.”

In the spot Stardus had dodged in midair, another tentacle came flying at her.

It was too late to dodge, and she was going to get hit right in the face.

Her arms crossed over her chest, her eyes squeezed shut, and the last thing she remembered was that…

In times of danger like this, he would appear out of nowhere and save the day.

Smiling, like he was just passing through, like it was nothing.

…She didn’t realize it then.

How much he meant to her, how many times he gotten her out of trouble.

But now…

-snap.

Just before the tentacles hit she thought silently.

Now, he’s not coming.

No. Now that he’s avoiding her, he can’t come.

…Why is he avoiding her, anyway?

She wanted to ask, but she couldn’t.

…Afraid, actually, of what he would say. If he said he hated her, she wouldn’t be able to bear it.

‘Haru, just tell him how you feel the next time you see him, and be honest with him.’

I will.

Maybe Seola is right.

Come to think of it, he’s been coming on to me all this time… I never made the first move.

Maybe that’s why he left first.

But

I should have gotten the chance to talk to him in the first place.

Now he won’t even come to me.

That’s when she squeezed her eyes shut, waiting for the shock that was about to come.

‘….?’

She didn’t feel any shock.

On the contrary, it was as if she was being held by some kind of cozy foam. She felt the air around her change.

The air around her changed.

Stardus opened her eyes, gently and before her eyes.

“Kulk… Kuluk, kuluk. Egostic…?”

“…Haha. Good evening, Stardus.”

There stood a figure she hadn’t thought she’d ever see.

Egostic…he had come….for her.

***

“Whew…”

-Thump, thump.

~In the forest, some distance from where the beast was rampaging~

Stardus felt mixed emotions as she watched Egostic set her down and dust off his clothes.

“You can rest there. I’ll take care of the rest.”

Smiling to himself, he said.

He was the one who always bailed her out of trouble like this.

He looked like his usual self, but she, an expert in Egostic, knew that he wasn’t his usual self.

If it was him, he would have been more talkative by now. Something about how she needed to be saved, or that he had other reasons for helping…some excuse but he didn’t.

In the first place, he didn’t want to talk to her at length.

Watching him turn to leave Stardus remembered her advice in an instant.

‘Speak your mind while there is time, before it is too late. Speak your mind now, before it’s too late.’

Seola words of advice rang in her mind so Stardus called out his name without realizing it.

“…Egostic!”

“What?”

And at her words, Egostic turned around.

His eyes met hers, and Stardus realized that…

…For a moment, she was speechless.

‘…How do I tell him?’

Now that she thought about it, she didn’t really know what to say.

No, she couldn’t just blurt out her feelings to him, not in this situation.

…And, to be honest, she was embarrassed to tell him her true feelings. To tell him in words that she, the hero, values him, the villain, so much.

That’s why she hesitated at the last moment.

“…It’s nothing.”

That’s it.

Under the circumstances, that was all she could say.

“Well… Okay, then!”

And with that, after a moment’s pause, Egostic teleported away.

Left alone, Stardus could only sigh quietly.

…not realizing that she wished she hadn’t hesitated.

***

“Phew… What the hell.”

~Above the Sea of Japan (East Sea)~

I sighed as I stood there, my cloak flapping, watching the beast below.

…Three minutes after I vowed to stay away from Stardus, my body took over and I unwittingly saved her, but I’m still glad I got away without incident.

I was a little nervous about what she was going to say when she called me at the end, but I’m glad she didn’t say anything….The longer I talked to her, the more my resolve to stay away wavered.

Anyway, for now, it was time to get rid of this horror below me.

[ȓ̷̰̤̄̌͜j̸̡̢̛͙͊̇ą̵̢̖̆ȑ̵̭͉̟͝r̷̼͔̜̒̕r̴r̴̲̖̒͝ř̸̨͉̫̀ķ̴̠̻̎̎ã̷͙̺͛͘r̷͖̅̓̆r̷̺̆͐̅r̵̛͕e̵̱̓̈̀ȑ̷͖́̓r̸̲͚͆̀͆͜ȓ̷̰̤̄̌͜j̸̡̢̛͙͊̇ą̵̢̖̆ȑ̵̭͉̟͝r̷̼͔̜̒̕r̴̳̒̅͘!̸̨̨̝̐̿!̴͕͝!̶̜͇̩̇̂!̵̡͓͑̽!̸̣͓̑͒!]

“What are you talking about?”

I floated away, lost in my thoughts, ignoring his rant, which I could barely hear thanks to the headphones I’d worn to block out the noise.

I nicknamed this monster that escaped from the depths of the ocean and came to Korea out of many countries K-Tulu.

This black creature with an octopus-like face with multiple eyeballs and a squid-like body wielding tentacles looked funny, to be honest, except his head was bigger than an amusement park Ferris wheel.

‘That’s how strong he is.’

I remembered what Atlas had told me about him.

He said that he and his fish-human army constantly fought off the invaders of his underwater city from the depths of the ocean. They must have been pretty strong, because he even brought his entire army to fight them.

Of course, Atlas says that the strategies he’s learned from fighting them over and over again make them much easier to catch now…

‘…but even that’s a bit of a struggle.’

So I thought to myself.

If it’s a variant of the Moon Beast, as I suspected, it must be weak to the power of the sun.

Then, shouldn’t the angel, the theoretical weapon of our Sun God, be quite strong against it?

With that thought in mind, I called out to our angel.

“Halo!”

“…You called, my lord?”

Before I could even finish my call, she burst out of the sky.

I pointed to her as she spread her great wings in the sky, pointing to the one pummeling the city below me.

“I want you to kill him.”

“Yes. Master.”

And with that Halo reached out, and summoned a giant golden ring from thin air.

At that moment, from that golden, circular ring a laser, a pillar of pure white energy, more powerful than anything I had ever seen before, shot out of it.

And with that, the beast was struck squarely in the head.

[K̴̤͛r̴̪̽̓̋r̶̤̠̓̌̒ŕ̵͉̊̚r̴̲̖̒͝ř̸̨͉̫̀ķ̴̠̻̎̎!]

With a gaping hole in its head, it exhaled its final breath and collapsed into the sea.

“……”

“Dealt with, master.”

Halo said, putting the golden ring that had appeared out of thin air back away and bowing to me.

I, for one, could only roll my eyes.

…Hmm. My angel, you’re quite strong, aren’t you?

Anyway, after that was settled, I turned my head and spoke to Halo.

“…Uh, well done, let’s go.”

“Yes, master.”

I said, and left.

…I hurried back to the house, avoiding Stardus’ approach from behind.

This was my last major non-terrorist event before my villainous retirement.