Let’s Block the Ruined Route in Advance Chapter 81

Eileen kept her mouth shut as Felix carried her down from the sky. Her face was so red she thought she was going to scream.

 

“Oh, no.”

 

Once her feet touched the ground, Eileen quickly covered her burning face with her hands. She felt like she was dreaming for a moment, and Felix, who was looking at her like she was adorable, was about to say something again when Eileen shouted.

 

“I’m going to the terrace to rest!”

 

“Really? Do you want to come with me?”

 

“No! I need to cool off. I’m going to cool off by myself.”

 

Her eyes glazed over, she finished her gibberish and hurried away. Felix watched her for a moment, wondering if her shoe would come off, and when she was out of sight, he covered his face.

 

“I said it…”

 

His hands were flushed beneath his trembling fingers. Apparently, Felix was going to need a long time to cool off, too.

 

 

***

 

 

‘Aaaaaah.’

 

Eileen screamed inwardly, and with quick steps, she headed for the terrace.

 

‘Crazy. Crazy.’

 

Her off-the-shoulder dress made the redness up to her neck all too visible. She seriously considered going back to her dormitory instead of the terrace, but stopped when she spotted a man standing in a secluded spot by the terrace.

 

“Huh?”

 

Black hair with an indigo tinge, blue eyes. It was an unfamiliar color, but Eileen knew the man.

 

“The Hero?”

 

He usually covered his face with an eye patch, but having seen his bare face in the future, Eileen could easily recognize him in costume. He was staring in one place, his face pale and weary, as if he could disappear at any moment.

 

Eileen turned her head toward the direction of his gaze, and her mouth opened slightly. At the end of Aire’s gaze was Cordelia.

 

Cordelia, who had been turning down men’s dance requests with an annoyed look on her face, spotted Eileen and turned toward her, her face brightening.

 

As Cordelia approached the terrace, Aire moved as if to move away.

 

“Hey, hey!”

 

Eileen called out to him.

 

‘What am I doing?’

 

Eileen bit her lower lip hard.

 

As she approached, Aire’s face went blank, like someone who was about to disappear, as he stared at Cordelia with desperate eyes.

 

Eileen’s mind raced furiously as she tried to think of something to say, afraid of the emptiness that had taken over his face in an instant.

 

“Eileen, what are you doing here?”

 

Cordelia asked Eileen as she quickly approached.

 

“Oh, Cordelia.”

 

“You’ve been dancing a lot, and you’re very red.”

 

With that, Cordelia turned her attention to the man in front of Eileen. Eileen saw the interest in Cordelia’s eyes.

 

“You’ve been watching me since earlier, haven’t you?”

 

Cordelia asked, and Aire opened his mouth in embarrassment.

 

“I apologize. I didn’t mean to offend you.”

 

“Then why were you watching me?”

 

Aire replied with a hollow smile that looked as if it could burst into tears at any moment.

 

“I don’t know.”

 

His voice quivered slightly as he said it.

 

Cordelia wondered about the man. She wondered why he was looking at her like she was about to cry when it was obviously the first time they’d met, and why he hadn’t spoken to her first.

 

But at the same time, she felt strangely familiar with him and didn’t dislike him, so she impulsively opened her mouth.

 

“Then I’ll forgive you for watching, but why don’t you dance with me? I’m really tired from all those people asking me to dance.”

 

The man’s eyes widened at that, and with a small shake of his head as if he had heard something unbelievable, he asked again.

 

“A first dance with me?”

 

“No?”

 

“No!”

 

The answer came out with such urgency that it almost sounded like a beep. Aire cautiously extended his hand to Cordelia.

 

“Would you like to dance with me?”

 

Cordelia didn’t answer, but took his hand and led him into the hall. She followed him with a dreamy, dazed look on her face, and when he placed his hand on her waist, her eyes came alive with a sense of reality.

 

With each turn, his expression loosened, until it finally gave way to a shy smile. Eileen watched silently as his ears turned a familiar color: the ears of a boy in love.

 

Eileen’s expression slowly hardened as she stared at him for a moment.

 

“Huh?”

 

A chill of anticipation flashed through Aire’s dreamy eyes.

 

“Why does it seem like he’s always known Cordelia?”

 

Eileen knew how tender the feelings Aire had for Cordelia were. But that was in the original story.

 

“They’ve never even met.”

 

Just as her thoughts reached that point, Eileen felt an excruciating headache.

 

“Chew!?”

 

Star, who had been a bit of a recluse lately, rushed over to check on her. Eileen squeezed her eyes shut, unable to look away from Star, who was clinging to her leg, and endured the pain.

 

A relentless headache plagued her, preventing her from thinking further.

 

“Eileen, are you okay!”

 

Lucian, who had seen her in the distance and was approaching, asked worriedly when he realized how badly she looked. Eileen opened her mouth, barely able to control her still-stinging head.

 

“…I’m fine, I’m just a little tired.”

 

“You look very sick. Let’s get you to the infirmary.”

 

Lucian leaned down to support her.

 

[aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!!!!!]

 

“Ah!”

 

A scream she’d never heard before pierced her ears. The scream, which resembled the shattering of glass, the grinding of metal, pierced Eileen’s soul and went on and on. She finally covered her ears and sank to the ground.

 

“Eileen? Eileen, are you okay?!”

 

Eileen’s eyes fluttered in agony as she struggled to take in her surroundings. Lucian’s expression showed nothing but concern for Eileen, as if the horrific scream was only audible to her.

 

“What’s going on?”

 

“Eileen, what’s wrong?”

 

“Oh, my God, a cold sweat.”

 

The others, noticing the commotion, came toward her. Even Aire and Cordelia had stopped dancing and were pushing their way through the crowd toward Eileen.

 

“Wait. No.”

 

Eileen realized that the bizarre screams were getting louder as they approached.

 

“No…”

 

“Eileen, what?”

 

Lucian asked in disbelief, but even his voice was now drowned out by the screams, unable to reach Eileen’s ears.

 

“Eileen! Eileen, what is it?!”

 

“Are you okay?”

 

Aire cautiously opened his mouth as he approached. A bitter wind that resembled the smell of blood engulfed Eileen in a memory.

 

A world in ruins.

 

It was a familiar sight to Eileen.

 

‘The Final Chapter…’

 

A bloodied Cordelia lay in the center of the wreckage. Her haggard, lifeless face made it easy for Eileen to tell that this was the moment after her death.

 

‘The ruins of Cordelia’s rampage. Why suddenly, at this point?’

 

The death of Cordelia, the heroine, would have been the end of the story. It was the worst possible future that Eileen had worked so hard to prevent.

 

Once again, a chilling roar swept over the ruins.

 

Then, a grotesque woman, wrapped in black threads, raised her head from the ruins.

 

“…What is that?”

 

It was more like a black thread of condensed energy than a human being, writhing as it tried to take shape.

 

From a distance, it was vaguely human in shape, but far too massive to be human, with no eyes, no nose, and only a gaping mouth on its icy surface. From its enormous mouth leaked an unrelenting, tortured scream.

 

Eileen couldn’t comprehend what was happening. She knew that Cordelia, pushed to her mental breaking point, had gone on a rampage, causing damage to the Empire. But a future in which she died and a mysterious entity arose was a future she had never seen before.

 

“If this is real, then stopping Cordelia’s rampage wasn’t enough to stop the destruction of the Empire.”

 

Eileen stared helplessly into the future in shock. The ominous presence that seemed untouchable was lunging at her like a thunderbolt.

 

“AIRE!!!”

 

The hero swung his greatsword. It was the struggle of a man who, just moments before, had lost the woman he loved more than life itself.

 

“This isn’t over yet.”

 

The man’s small murmur was clear in Eileen’s ears. With each blow, his body was dripping with blood, but he never stopped, blindly clinging to the enemy in front of him, focused only on destroying it.

 

Already, the one he loved was no longer in this world, but the hero was willing to jump into the fire for the mission he had been given.

 

The look on his face was so gut-wrenching and anguished. In Eileen’s eyes, it looked like he desperately wanted to die.