CH 251

Chapter 251 – Release

As I rode on Oremia’s back, I felt relief wash through me. The plan had somehow worked.

“WAHAHAHA!! Hey, look, Bouchi! Look at that stunned look on Galafegorn’s face! You were exactly right! This is the best!” (Oremia)

Oremia spoke while laughing heartily. He was looking at Galafegorn’s expression with delight.

As I looked at Oremia, I thought back to the strategy that I thought up.

If we simply fought head-on, we wouldn’t be able to take down Galafegorn. But it was easy to enter the iceberg on his back. Since I had already set foot inside once, I could just use a [Teleportation Crystal].

However, once inside the iceberg, we would surely be noticed and dealt with. If things went poorly, we could even end up encased in the ice as well.

But we had to go inside. Once we were in, we had to buy enough time to rescue Oremia.

That was why we needed to divert Galafegorn’s attention away from the iceberg, if only for a little while.

In the meantime, we extracted Oremia from the ice, explained the current situation, then escaped together. Against an S-Rank opponent, it was a pretty risky operation.

We didn’t want to make any sacrifices. So even though it wasn’t preferable, we ended up using the [Copy Dolls] in a pretty extravagant way.

I also had Shiki use his shadow clones, which were then disguised as Sol and used to attack Galafegorn. The clones had no attack power on their own, so they couldn’t hurt Galafegorn. However, Galafegorn’s attention would be drawn to the sky.

Meanwhile, I had the [Copy Dolls], disguised as Killer Turtles, approach from underwater. But naturally, I predicted that Galafegorn would be able to deal with this.

And sure enough, Galafegorn spun his body around, causing a whirlpool which eliminated the [Copy Dolls]. This made him realize that he also needed to watch out underwater too.

This meant that his attention was forced to be split between the sky and the sea. On top of that, I had a [Copy Doll] positioned off in the distance, which took on Galafegorn’s form. Of course, it couldn’t attack Galafegorn, so it could only sit there.

Nevertheless, Galafegorn’s attention was now diverted in another direction, towards land. And since it was the appearance of another being that looked exactly like himself, his attention would be drawn there. After all, it would be the most dangerous opponent for him.

After that, Shiki’s real body was teleported into the group of clones via [Teleportation Crystal]. Then, he used [Exploding Shuriken] to attack and returned the clones to himself.

However, even if his attacks were to hit Galafegorn, it wouldn’t do much damage. Thus, h e chose to intentionally miss to throw Galafegorn off.

By launching an attack that made no sense, it would make him think that his opponent was up to something. With this, I could guide his train of thought.

At that moment, I used the opportunity to use the [Teleportation Crystal] to teleport into the iceberg, where Oremia was.

There wasn’t much time left at that moment, so I quickly took out something that I had purchased beforehand.

[Sealing Destroying Incense].

It looked like a mosquito coil, but naturally, it was a fantasy item. As the name suggested, it had the effect of destroying any sealing power.

The smoke generated by igniting the incense would shatter any seal exposed to it.

Before going through with the operation, I appraised the iceberg on Galafegorn’s back one more time. It turned out to be called <Ice Turtleshell Cage>, and it apparently had a pretty extraordinary ability.

It was capable of extracting energy from beings trapped in the ice, and Galafegorn could manipulate that energy at will.

It was even more frightening because the targets that had been hit by Galafegorn’s attack could be trapped in his iceberg. If Shiki had taken a hit from his attack, he might have ended up trapped in the frigid ice too.

But apparently, there was a time limit. After hitting the target, it was necessary to trap the victim in ice within a short time frame after the attack. So Shiki would be fine.

From this, I could tell that the special characteristic of this <Ice Turtleshell Cage> was ‘sealing’.

That made things simple. All I had to do was break the seal. Fortunately, the <Shop> sold such products.

When I lit the [Seal Destroying Incense], the smoke rose and billowed up against the ice that Oremia was trapped in.

The ice that came into contact with the smoke began to crack and crumble like a house built on sand.

I was glad that we were able to rescue him. But when Oremia emerged from the ice, he fell forward.

Of course, I panicked. I wondered if we were already too late.

“Oi, wake up! Oremia!” (Bouchi)

I called out his name while softly touching his head, which was far bigger than any ordinary bird’s head.

Then, his eyes opened.

“…Who… are… you…?” (Oremia)

“Thank goodness! You’re still alive! I’m Bouchi Hiro. Belzedor asked me to come and save you.”

“The old man… did…?” (Oremia)

“Yeah, that’s right.” (Bouchi)

“Then… tell that old man… I… won’t… make it…” (Oremia)

He was extremely weak at the moment. It wouldn’t be strange for him to die at any second. He was trapped in the <Ice Turtleshell Cage> and constantly having his energy sapped from him.

It was already on a fatal level. He knew that his time was coming.

“I’m sorry, but I can’t let you die here.” (Bouchi)

“…What can… a tiny guy… like you… do…?” (Oremia)

“Don’t look down on me. I may look this way, but there’s a lot I can do. Of course, I’m going to save you. In fact, I just saved you after you were trapped by Galafegorn, didn’t I?” (Bouchi)

“No… way…” (Oremia)

“You don’t believe me? Then I’ll make you believe it. But in return, you’ll have to listen to me.” (Bouchi)

“…Do… as you wish… No matter what… it won’t… work… If you can… somehow… some way… then I will… lend you my power…” (Oremia)

“Keep your word.” (Bouchi)

I immediately took out an [Elixir・Mini] and poured it into Oremia’s mouth.

His massive body began to emit a dazzling glow. His emaciated, spiritless figure regained its vitality at a speed visible to the naked eye.

“―?!” (Oremia)

Realizing that he had been restored to his full strength, Oremia’s eyes shot open with a look of astonishment.