novelraw Chapter 49 49: Thank you
Chapter 49 49: Thank you
After a few more minutes, Leon flicked his hand in a short, sharp motion and activated Darkness Manipulation again. The shadows at the feet of the next group of shambling corpses obeyed instantly, rising into thin, precise spikes that punched through their skulls almost simultaneously, cutting off what little movement they had left before they could get any closer. Their bodies slumped to the ground with a dry, hollow sound.
[Essence Record – Kill Confirmed]
[Target: 12x Normal Zombie (LVL 5)]
And that was when the real problem finally hit him.
Not the zombies.
But mana.
Leon realized quickly that his biggest weakness right now wasn't a lack of Strength or Agility, it was mana control. He'd never had to deal with it like this before. He'd never needed to ration it, measure it out in small doses, stretch it over time. Up until now, every fight ended either in a quick win or in one massive strike followed by… nothing.
If he wanted to burn a huge amount of mana on one overwhelming blow and ignore the consequences, that was easy.
But if he needed to fire off dozens of weak attacks while spending as little as possible?
That got messy fast.
To put down twenty weak zombies, he was burning around thirty mana. And with his pool still not fully recovered after the Crimson Horned Boar, that meant his reserves were draining at a terrifying pace.
"Fuck…"
Leon cursed under his breath as another wave of corpses emerged from behind the ruins. With no real choice, he spent another ten mana to erase five of them before they could close the distance. When their bodies dropped, he frowned, because the numbers in his head were forming a very ugly picture.
[Essence Record – Kill Confirmed]
[Target: 5x Normal Zombie (LVL 9)]
At this rate…
He wouldn't last even an hour.
The thought slammed into him full force. Frustration surged so hard it stole his breath, and instead of casting again, he clenched his fist and drove it into the floor beneath him. The tiles shattered into fragments as a snarl ripped out through his teeth.
"I beat a First Order entity…" he hissed. "And now I'm supposed to die to some damn walking corpses?"
His teeth ground together with pure, helpless fury, the worst kind, the kind that didn't come from lacking power, but from wasting it.
Valeria's brows, already knitted in concentration, lifted slightly. Her gaze slid in a specific direction, as if something had just confirmed what she'd suspected all along. Then she looked back at Leon with a small, almost amused smile.
"Looks like," she said in a lightly sweet tone, "you're a lot more appreciated than you thought."
Her eyes drifted again toward the direction the zombies kept coming from.
Leon stared at her, visibly confused. He had no idea what she meant, or why there was that hint of amusement in her voice. But Valeria didn't explain. She simply stood there, wearing the same faint smile, watching the pharmacy doors like she knew exactly what was about to happen.
A moment later, Leon followed her gaze, and in the same second, he felt a distinct shift.
The temperature inside dropped several degrees. The air, already cold, turned sharper and drier, almost biting his lungs with every breath, like someone was slowly sucking the warmth out of the room.
From outside, sounds of combat reached him, but not like before.
No screams. No frantic struggle. No messy impacts.
Just dull, clipped noises. Short zombie growls that cut off almost immediately. Heavy, lifeless bodies hitting the ground one after another, in a steady, almost rhythmic tempo, like someone was methodically clearing the area, leaving no space for chaos.
Maybe five minutes passed.
Leon counted heartbeats, trying to understand what was happening, when the silence beyond the doors suddenly became absolute, unnaturally clean. Two final zombies that had been about to enter the pharmacy collapsed right at the threshold. In the backs of their heads were fist-sized wounds, completely frozen over, coated in a thin layer of ice.
Then Leon heard it.
The sharp, dry click of high heels.
He looked up, and saw Natalia standing in the doorway. Her blue hair hung loose down her back, stark against the pale, cold light spilling into the pharmacy. She wore a tight white outfit that looked neither practical nor battle-ready, yet she carried herself with calm certainty as she stepped inside, slowly, like she was walking into a ballroom, not a room full of blood and corpses.
For a moment, Leon could only stare. His expression turned… complicated. Surprise. Relief. And the reluctant awareness that someone had just solved a problem he was starting to lose control of.
Natalia stopped a few steps away and stayed silent, studying him for a long moment, his condition, the blood on his clothes, the pallor in his face, the tension in his muscles, the way he was barely holding back a grimace.
At the same time, Valeria's gaze dipped, settling on Natalia's feet.
The heels were high and slender, formed almost entirely from ice. But they weren't crude blocks. They were intricately shaped, transparent and elegant, cold in a way that felt deliberate, as if someone had carved them from pure, condensed mana. Their surface shimmered faintly, not melting despite contact with the ground.
Valeria raised her brows slightly and murmured, almost soundlessly, "Terrifying luck… to get something like that at this stage."
Nearly a full minute passed with the two of them watching each other in silence, each carrying completely different thoughts, until Natalia took a few steps forward and stopped directly in front of Leon, looking down at him with her pale blue eyes.
She paused right before him, and there was no concern in her gaze. Only cool, almost clinical curiosity. Then she spoke, calmly, clearly quoting his own words, each one delivered with perfect timing.
"I'm going alone."
A brief pause.
Then, with even more irony, she tilted her head slightly.
"Really don't have to worry about my safety. I'll be fine."
Her eyes swept over him slowly, from his blood-smeared face, to his tense shoulders, to his burned legs and feet.
"So…" she asked softly. "This is what 'everything will be fine' looks like to you?"
She let out a light sigh, as if she was genuinely trying to understand.
"You know," she added after a moment, "I had a slightly different definition of those words. But what else could I expect from someone who isn't exactly blessed with intellect?"
Leon felt his teeth grind even harder. His stare sharpened, almost aggressive beneath furrowed brows, ready to fire back with something just as vicious…
But Natalia only curved one corner of her mouth and leaned in, closing the distance.
Her face was only a few centimeters from his. As she bent, her chest shifted slightly, unconscious, casual, and the look she gave him was cold, bordering on contempt.
"This is how it ends," she said quietly. "When people don't listen to me and decide to run off on their own. But hey…" She gave the smallest shrug. "What could I have expected from you?"
Leon didn't know whether she was about to finish him with words, or something much worse. Instinctively, very slowly, he let mana stir inside him. The shadow beneath Natalia's feet flexed faintly, responding to his will.
She didn't notice.
Instead, she sighed again, like the whole conflict had simply exhausted her, then suddenly crouched beside him. The movement was so abrupt, so out of place after all that tension, Leon froze for a beat.
Without a word, she slid an arm under his shoulder and held him steady, helping him up, and in that one moment, the tension between them, stretched tight like a wire, simply snapped.
Leon was visibly startled.
He hadn't expected that.
But he reacted immediately, pulling his will back, deactivating Darkness Manipulation. The shadow calmed, returning to its natural shape. He reached for his backpack and the plastic bags, grabbed them with both hands, slung the pack over his right shoulder, and with Natalia's support, slowly forced himself upright.
The instant he put weight on his feet, pain exploded again, so intense he had to clamp his jaw down until he tasted blood, his lips splitting under the pressure. The itching beneath his soles turned into a burning, pulsing heat.
He didn't make a sound.
Not a single groan.
When Natalia realized he hadn't even flinched, hadn't let out so much as a hiss, she glanced at him from the corner of her eye. Then, without speaking, she led him toward the exit, steady and calm, neither speeding up nor slowing down, forcing him to keep pace but not pushing him past his limit.
The moment they stepped outside, Leon froze in pure disbelief.
The courtyard and the area around the pharmacy were carpeted with bodies.
Dozens, then he realized it was nearly a hundred, zombies scattered chaotically among the ruins, along the walls, on the steps and sidewalks. Every single one had been killed by one perfectly precise blow. Their heads were shattered and completely frozen over, covered in thick ice, like death had come for them suddenly, without warning.
Slowly, Leon lifted his gaze to Natalia, trying to make it make sense.
Why was she here alone? The others were supposed to search the dorms. He'd been sent for medicine. There was no logical reason for her to show up here, right when things started slipping out of his control.
Especially since he was almost certain of one thing:
Natalia didn't like him.
She didn't like his decisions, his methods, his stubbornness, definitely not his obsession with doing everything alone. He remembered that clearly. So her presence here, by herself, so decisive, didn't fit the plan they'd set earlier.
It didn't make sense.
And yet, regardless of the sharp words, the contempt, the tension that had hung between them from the very beginning, Leon had to admit one uncomfortable truth to himself.
If not for her, he probably wouldn't be alive.
His mana was draining too fast. His legs were failing. The waves of zombies weren't stopping.
The thought hurt almost as much as his burned feet.
For a long moment, he stayed silent, walking beside her, breathing hard, gathering what was left of his pride.
Finally, without looking at her, in a voice barely above a whisper, he said:
"…Thank you."