Chương 67: Glimpse Into The Past

The hyper-speed botanical assassin completely closed the distance in the blink of an eye, its long, unnaturally long limbs unhinging as it reared back its razor-sharp wooden talons to aggressively rearrange June's royal facial structure. Our resident aristocrat was officially out of options and out of time.

As the shadow of the monster loomed large over her, her pristine royal mask shattered completely, leaving behind nothing but a look of sheer, unadulterated panic in her wide eyes as she stared death right in the face. Realizing that her unparalleled genius wasn't going to magically save her from becoming compost, I threw all remaining logic completely out the window. I pushed off the damp earth with a desperate, lunging spring, launching my entire torso through the forest air like a heavily armed sack of laundry.

I collided with June right as the talons descended, my momentum successfully slamming both of us sideways onto the dirt and throwing her entirely clear of the lethal trajectory. But the universe wasn't about to let me off the hook for my heroic intervention. Before I could even congratulate myself on saving a royal pain in the neck, a sudden, blinding wave of pure agony completely erupted across my spine. I was slashed.

The physical impact felt like an angry lumberjack had just taken a massive, jagged chainsaw directly to my Padded Gambit Jacket, the sheer force of the laceration leaving me completely breathless as we hung in the middle of our airborne trajectory. As I floated there groaning, my vision blurring from the sharp sting of the midair wound, the next thing I saw through the leaves was a small, familiar shadow cutting straight through the upper atmosphere right above us.

It was the distinctly tiny, airborne silhouette of our favorite hyper-anxious berserker, who was currently flying dynamically through the empty air with her arms completely empty. Out of thin air, Aiko channeled her raw, inner panic into her inventory while still completely airborne. With a sudden flash of light-absorbing black-iron, she instantly summoned her monstrous Spine-Breaker's Reaver right into her tiny hands before her feet could even touch the dirt. She didn't even hesitate.

Driven by a terrifying blend of polite manners and imminent violence, her petite frame violently brought the massive, jagged step-blade down in a catastrophic vertical arc mid-flight. The black-iron sword connected with a low, haunting whistle, slamming into the center of the vine monster with such an absurd amount of physical force that it completely ignored its agile composition.

The heavy blade sliced the Rot-Vine Creeper perfectly in half midair, sending smoking chunks of blackened wood and purple ichor flying across the forest floor as its vitality pool instantly hit flat zero. Blinking in genuine disbelief at the sudden tactical rescue, I quickly traced the trajectory of her grand flying entrance back toward the main clearing.

I looked across the brush to see exactly where our berserker was supposed to be standing a second ago, only to find Dimitri frozen in a spectacular, highly dramatic follow-through pose. His massive, Rough-Hide Gauntlets were still fully extended toward our position, looking exactly like a legendary Olympic shot-put champion who had just aggressively yeeted a tiny, anxious Japanese girl clean across the crowded battlefield to save his friends.

But our burly savior's glorious moment of triumph was cut tragically short the exact second he let go of her. The absolute distraction of fast-pitching our berserker left his own defenses completely compromised before Aiko or I could even impact the forest floor. Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator. Down in the clearing, the remaining, health-bloated Fungal Shamblers immediately capitalized on the opening.

Their blind wooden faces unhinged with absolute hostility as they surged forward as a synchronized pack, violently piling their massive, trunk-like bodies directly on top of Dimitri's trapped frame to drag our favorite vanguard down into the damp dirt. The high-velocity airborne trajectory finally concluded as we slammed heavily onto the hard, unyielding forest floor, the momentum sending both of us rolling across the damp moss and sharp pebbles like a couple of very uncoordinated logs.

By the time our frantic spinning finally ground to a halt, we ended up pinned in a thoroughly awkward, highly compromise-heavy position where I was sprawled directly on top of her. The sudden, violent cessation of movement immediately sent a brand new, excruciating wave of pure, unadulterated agony ripping straight across the fresh laceration on my spine.

My face was buried right against the soft curve of her neck, my breath coming in short, ragged gasps as I tried to blink away the tiny white sparks dancing across my field of vision.

"Son of a weed whacker," I wheezed directly into her collarbone, the words escaping my lips as a pathetic, pain-filled groan that completely lacked my usual charming composure.

"Arthur? Good heavens, are you injured?" June asked, her thick, hyper-aristocratic British accent cutting through my internal fog. The typical, heavy layers of condescending royal grandeur and narcissistic majesty were completely missing from her tone, replaced instead by a voice that was unusually, shockingly softer than usual. I slowly pushed myself up just enough to look down at her, and I found her pristine features completely filled with a genuine, overwhelming look of deep concern.

The sheer, terrifying proximity of our situation meant I could see every single detail of her expression, given that our faces were literally inches apart, sharing the exact same pocket of chilly forest air. But despite the surprisingly touching display of basic human empathy from our resident princess, the searing hot poker currently digging into my back meant I absolutely could not hide my monumental, statistics-shattering frustration.

"What in the name of the system was that absolute circus act? Why did you perform that bizarre little panic dance!" I barked right into her face, my voice cracking under the weight of my pure, unadulterated exasperation.

"You were shuffling your legs around like you only just unpacked your lower extremities from a shipping container five minutes ago! Seriously, were you a literal, motionless houseplant back on Earth before you spawned in here?"

"I... I..." June stammered, her voice completely cracking as the words failed to clear her lips. It was a truly monumental milestone in our relationship, considering it was the absolute first time I had ever heard our resident, hyper-aristocratic princess stuttering like a malfunctioning clockwork toy. The usual thick, impenetrable wall of her flawless British accent was completely gone, leaving behind something fragile and terribly exposed. She didn't actually say a single word out loud to explain herself.

She didn't have to. The exact second our eyes locked from mere inches away, the sheer proximity allowed me to read the unspoken truth written deep within her pupils like a highly tragic open book. In that fleeting, hyper-focused pocket of time, I saw everything. I saw a life previously spent locked away inside the stark white walls of a sterile hospital room.

I saw someone who couldn't even stand up on her own two feet, completely robbed of the basic freedom to go where she pleased or do anything she actually wanted. I saw a terrified girl constantly weeping in absolute isolation, utterly crushed by the cruel weight of her own physical limitations. All of it... I saw the whole heartbreaking picture in a single, devastating flash. An immediate, suffocating wave of profound guilt violently crashed over me, courtesy of my own incredibly stupid, unfiltered mouth.

It was a spectacular social blunder on my part, and to make matters significantly worse, June watched the realization dawn across my features in real-time. She saw the exact moment the regret hit me. It wasn't the harshness of my initial, clumsy words that truly pierced through her royal defenses; it was the sudden, pity-filled look I helplessly gave her the very instant I pieced together the tragic reality of her life before she ever spawned into the realm of Eteria.

"You happen to be incredibly heavy, you know. Remove yourself from my presence this instant, you utterly brainless idiot," June suddenly huffed, her thick British accent desperately scrambling to piece her pristine royal mask back together. The softer tone was gone, replaced by a sharp, defensive snap that lacked any real venom as she stared directly up at me.

I scrambled off her body with the grace of a startled crab, immediately picking myself up off the dirt and awkwardly shifting my gaze toward the thick undergrowth to give her some space. My face burned beneath my tight Squint-Guard Bandana as June sat up, her cotton-wrapped hands frantically brushing and tapping against her Faded Linen Tunic to rid her garments of the dried leaves and forest grit.