Hard Carry Support-Novel

Chapter 91 - Iluna's Unexpected Event (1)

Radiette took a deep breath.

Now that he looked at her closely, it wasn't just the face that was similar.

The girl wore clothes very similar to those she'd worn until the last moments.

‘Did she really come back to life…?’

For a moment, Radiette thought about some things that didn't make sense but soon began laughing bitterly while shaking his head.

'There's no way.'

A human that had died 200 years ago couldn't return to life.

The person over there fighting the monsters was someone who just happened to be very similar to her.

'Nothing will change…'

Radiette tried to ignore her, but he couldn't.

Suddenly, the girl received an attack from a giant monster and ended up rolling on the ground.

At that moment…

Radiette, who had decided to turn away his attention, was suddenly moving toward the surface.

Whish-! The moment the Heavenly Being went into action, the ground froze.

Silence…

Save for one place, cold air seemed to envelop the entire world.

"…"

The girl… No, Ain, was looking at Radiette, who had suddenly appeared.

「I've forgotten… What was next?」

「What you're good at, fight!」

「Oh yeah, that's right…!」

Once again, just like Hyun had told her, she began acting.

Fwoosh-! Ain activated «Efreet's Claw» and charged toward Radiette.

It obviously didn't work.

A Heavenly Being was someone that was just under a Transcendent.

There was no way a user who had just completed the first job ascension could face one.

Ain's attack, which had been slaughtering giant monsters, whipped the air.

Although she had used «Latent Potential Increase», she couldn't even touch the tips of his clothes.

Radiette dodged the attack while twisting his body a little bit as if he were walking.

He didn't even counterattack.

"It's useless."

After discovering that normal attacks didn't work, Ain changed her attack pattern.

Ain faked moving back; then rushed back in.

«Steps of the Incarnate».

The new skill she'd learned after the job ascension let her reduce the distance between her and a target that was within 30 meters.

The moment she charged in, she used «Efreet's Claws» to smash him!

Even Radiette couldn't dodge that attack.

"I told you that it's useless."

Radiette grabbed Ain's giant claws with a very calm expression on his face.

Tsss- The claws that’d been burning as if they were lava suddenly cooled down.

"Tsk…!"

Ain quickly disabled the attack and then activated it again.

At the same time, as if one had poured oil into a fire, heat began coming out from the claws.

—But it went off immediately.

Radiette had grabbed the claws and covered them with cold air.

「Hyun, use those!」

He understood Ain's words and immediately used his skills.

«Invisible», «Acceleration».

As the two skills activated, Ain's figure became invisible.

Oof… But Radiette sighed and closed his eyes.

"Okay, if you aren't planning to stop, then just do as you wish."

Radiette stood still and received all of the attacks.

Pow Pow Pow- In just a few seconds, tens of attacks hit him.

Thanks to the combined effect of «Latent Potential» Increase and «Biorhythm Acceleration», it looked like Ain was moving at the speed of light.

[You've received 319 damage!]

[You've received 304 damage!]

Surprisingly, every time Ain attacked, it was she who received the damage.

The heat of the flames seeped into Radiette's protective shield and turned into nothing.

Every time she hit the protective shield, the cold air ended up burning Ain's hands.

[You've received 299 damage!]

"It doesn't matter what you do. It's just going to hurt you…"

A few moments later, the effects of «Invisible» and «Acceleration» deactivated, but Ain kept attacking.

—She was moving and attacking just as Hyun had told her.

The reason why she was suddenly attacking Radiette was because of event footage he'd seen while playing Asra.

The Heavenly Being and the Duke…

The first encounter between the two was just like this.

Hundreds of years ago, Radiette had once stood still and received all of the attacks of a woman.

—Until that woman got tired.

"Oof…"

Ain, who was just harming herself, kept attacking until her HP had almost plummeted.

Hyun frowned at the slight sense of pain.

Inside the game, the pain you felt was reduced to almost nothing, but if your HP plummeted to the bottom, you started feeling sore.

Ain stopped attacking, and then, finally, Radiette opened his mouth again.

"Are you satisfied? Return. There's no need to fight in this place, girl from the Abyss who controls the fire."

Fire and Wind were elements of the Abyss.

Radiette had said that because Ain was covered by fire and a bloody-red light.

Ain corrected Radiette's misunderstanding.

"I'm not part of the Abyss."

"What do you mean…?"

"Do you want to check it out?"

The moment Ain took off one of her gloves, a rune that belonged to the Heavens appeared.

That rune, which was more defined and had stronger Magical Power than the normal ones, was one that represented the Heavenly Beings.

Radiette, known for being always calm, was surprised, and his eyes widened.

"A… Heavenly Being?"

Radiette's confusion deepened.

Since the girl had used fire to attack him the moment she’d seen him, he’d thought that the girl obviously belonged to the Abyss's Forces.

But if she wasn’t a member of the Abyss, then why did she attack him?

His confusion was soon cleared.

What Radiette heard next was something he’d never expected to hear.

"I wanted to know how strong a Heavenly Being is."

"What…!"

The girl's answer matched the voice of that day hundreds of years ago.

In the past, Radiette had heard that same answer to the same question.

How did the girl in front of him know about that?!

'I should be the only one who knows about that day…'

No one knew the details of their past.

There was no chance that she had told others what had happened.

Radiette's eyes began notably shaking after a girl who resembled her started to talk as if she remembered that moment.

Only after calming down could he open his mouth again.

"You were wondering how strong a Heavenly Being is…? Aren't you one yourself?"

"I'm a user."

"User…?"

"Yes, I became a Heavenly Being by pure chance… I'm not a real one like you."

Radiette's eyes began shining after hearing Ain's answer.

Translator - Daniel Shin

Proofreader - ilafy

* * *

Although he had been cut off from the world for hundreds of years, he knew about the prophecy that said that users would appear.

They were basically people from another world.

If she was a user, maybe she could see the world from a third-person perspective, one that was inclined towards neither the Heavens nor the Abyss.

Radiette asked her a question he'd been wondering about for a very long time.

"Let me ask you something…"

Nod-

"Do you think the Heavens and the Abyss can live in harmony?"

'I'm already doing that.'

That was the first thought that crossed Ain's mind.

Since Hyun was currently «Assimilated» into her, they were, in a sense, harmonizing.

But she couldn't tell him the details of «Assimilation», so after thinking about it for a while, she answered in another way.

"It doesn't matter if you're part of the Abyss. Although it isn't common… Many users collaborate and play with other users that belong to the opposing force."

Although at first glance it may sound like an answer that didn't tell much, that was enough to surprise Radiette.

He also thought similarly, nut back then, even mentioning that was a sin by itself.

"On the other hand, there are people from the same force who fight against each other."

The Heavens were the absolute good, and the Abyss was the target they had to eliminate.

This was how Radiette thought long ago, and he had never questioned it.

It was the Archangel who had designated the Abyss as evil, and there wasn't any human or Heavenly Being that could go against the will of a Transcendent.

But users thought differently.

An Angel was just another NPC.

The oracle's messages weren't different from those from an event.

The habitants of Asrian couldn't easily understand the users’ way of thinking.

But the one NPC who thought similarly to users was Radiette.

"Does that mean that the Abyss is fundamentally different from evil?"

"There are bad people everywhere; it's the same for the Heavens. And there are many good people that belong to the Abyss, too."

At Radiette's repeating question, Ain answered immediately.

She didn't even need to think about it.

The Knight Ain had killed during her job ascension quest was someone that was being hunted for being a killer.

There wasn't something like absolute good or absolute evil.

'He's suddenly asking weird things.'

Ain tilted her head after hearing the questions.

After she'd revealed herself as a Heavenly Being, Ain wasn't answering as Hyun had told her—she just spoke her honest thoughts.

But that ended up moving Radiette.

Radiette, known for always remaining calm, couldn't even hide his tremble.

"I see… So this is how a user thinks."

After thinking for a while, nodding, it seemed like he'd understood something.

"There are a few more things that I want to ask you. It may take some time… Is that okay with you?"

「Hyun, is it okay?」

「Yes, it doesn't matter.」

As Ain nodded, Radiette activated a magic.

As a light covered them, they were teleported to somewhere.

—It was a resting place on top of the Giant's Forest.

Radiette's house was hanging on the branches of a tree just as if it were a bird cage.

It was a shabby home for an existence like a Heavenly Being to live in. However, it was a quiet and cozy place.

Radiette and Ain talked about quite serious topics there.

He asked various questions, and from a certain point, Hyun began answering them.

"After listening to your stories, I wish I could experience your world… It seems like a world that has been blessed," Radiette mumbled while smiling.

A Heavenly Being was someone who belonged to the sky.

In general, they didn't harmonize with humans, and neither of them listened to the other's opinion.

The reason why Radiette was able to talk about his honest opinions was that Ain resembled his ex-lover, and that made his mental barrier crumble.

From a certain point, the conversation moved away from topics related to the Heavens and the Abyss.

"Are you still wondering about the strength of a Heavenly Being?"

"No, I'm okay."

"Fu, users really do as they want."

The topic of the conversation changed constantly.

He also asked her how she was able to get the Rune of a Heavenly Being.

There was no reason to lie, so Hyun just told him the truth.

This Heavenly Being, probably someone rare, had a way of thinking that was very similar to a user's.

'Is it about time?'

While talking, Hyun tried to get the conversation to a certain topic.

Two hours had passed when Radiette finally asked Hyun the question he wanted.

"Is there any place you want to visit?"

"I want to go to Iluna," Hyun quickly answered.

At that moment, Radiette's expression darkened.

"For what reason?"

To tell the truth, he wanted to go there because of Louise's quest, but he thought that it was better not to mention that.

"I… Just want to visit it."

"It's better if you don't go there right now."

"Why?"

Radiette thought silently for a while but then began explaining.

"Do you know that Iluna can't be seen…? The reason for that is because the sun can’t reach it."

The reason why Earth's Moon shone was that it reflected the sunlight.

On the other hand, Iluna couldn't be seen, even at night.

"However, Iluna's outline began appearing a few days ago, which means that the orbit of the eclipse is off. This is proof that an unexpected event is about to happen on Iluna."

"Unexpected?"

Although Hyun was bad at science, he understood what Radiette wanted to say.

Iluna's Unexpected Event…

When Hyun heard those words, he remembered something about Asra's history.

According to the history of the previous game, Iluna was usually a quiet and peaceful place.

But because of an incident, that peaceful land had become hell.

'Don't tell me… Is it that event?'

At the same time, a certain face came to Hyun's mind.

'Louise…!'

If by “Unexpected Event”, he was referring to that… Iluna would soon become a dangerous place.

Since they were the words of a Heavenly Being, he couldn't just dismiss them.

Hyun's heart started to beat faster.