Heroine-Saving System: Reborn In A Third-Rate Manga As The Protagonist-Chapter 90: Salamander’s Lair [II]
Rather, they would have if a protective barrier didn’t erect in front of them at the very last second, blocking the flames from reaching them.
"Koya-kun. Did you use a protective charm?" She asked while turning to him as the barrier protected them from the immense flames and blasted it off to the sides.
"Yes." He said though he was sure that it was that Maid that did it. ’I half jumped down here to see if she would follow me. Just how devoted is she to her mission to follow me around?’
However there was not much time to think about it. The flames were dying down and the barrier was already beginning to wane.
It was only a matter of time before they were completely left in the open.
"Okay once this barrier drops, I’ll turn invisible. Let’s try to get the jump on him." She said and Koya didn’t agree nor disagree.
The Salamander had raised its thick wings and right at the moment when the barrier fell, within that split second Ichinose was about to turn invisible, the dragon brought out its wings and out came a hurricane of wind.
Ichinose was blown off her feet immediately and sent flying backward while Koya remained standing.
’This level of hot wind is perfect for—’
The monster flapped its wings the second time and he was sent flying backward as well. Ichinose screamed as she fell through a hole through the wall and into another one in the ground and the drone followed her while he was thrown elsewhere.
...
Disguise Master tumbled through the air with the cloak swaying around her. That first blast had sent her flying into a cavern through different walls and one hole that led to the ground, a far different connection than Ichinose’s.
’Honestly if she dies there, I wouldn’t mind.’ At least she wouldn’t be able to try and steal her Master’s man. ’Besides, that fucker wanted to steal from him.’
She had seen many thieves and she’d seen Ichinose’s eyes linger on the Hereto Dagger far too long.
’For his sake... For Boss’s sake, he can’t be allowed to destroy her reputation.’ As she fell toward the ground and was about to grip the wall to prevent fall damage, she was scooped into someone’s strong arms in a princess carry.
"Sorry I’m late." Koya said as he landed on the ground, spreading steam everywhere.
Disguise Master didn’t utter a word. Using the cloak didn’t mean she couldn’t speak, but she chose not to... She blushed in his arms, thanking the White King he couldn’t see her expression.
’Why are his arms so strong?’ She had nice muscles from Order work but they couldn’t compare to his even his chest muscles pressed against her side.
Disguise Master freed herself from his arms, taking in deep breaths.
"You, you, fuck you." She didn’t know why she did it. "How dare you touch me?"
"If you didn’t notice, I was saving your life." Koya said and spread out his Sensory. It was clear that the Head Maid had a bad history with men... Though with the way some men were, he couldn’t blame her.
"Saving my—" She looked at her hand and her gloves were a bit burned. ’When did that happen?’
She’d been reaching out to grab the wall, but it was moving too fast... She looked at the hole they’d fallen from and where she wanted to grab was lined with lava.
’Oh.’
Before she could turn to face him again, Koya let out a sigh.
"Found her. It seems these places are an inter-connecting route." He said and looked ahead. He could sense several Salamanders coming to their direction. "If we kill the Salamanders and then take care of that boss, maybe I can get something for it."
The Dragon Egg was growing nicely though it had nearly sucked the elemental crystals completely dry. He needed fire-element mana cores as a new source.
"Don’t be insane." She spoke out. "The Boss is a silver class monster. You can’t beat it. You’re simply a four liner. If you were on the level of the Top Ten, I wouldn’t doubt it but—"
"I killed one of the members of the Top Ten though." Koya said as the Salamanders shot out of the ground with snarls.
There were about five of them and to regroup with Ichinose, he would need to take this pathway and take several turns too.
He only hoped that she could stay alive until he got there... at least for her sick sister.
"With Boss’s hel—" Her words were interrupted as Koya moved into Speed Blitz, becoming a blur.
The first Salamander tried striking him with its massive claws however he dodged to the right with precision and slashed through its head in one clean motion, letting it collapse against the ground with a heavy thud.
Blood sprayed from the wound and he used that momentum to flip backward, dodging a flamethrower from the second Salamander that melted the ground below where his legs had been moments before, leaving molten stone in its wake.
The heat was intense enough to make the air shimmer and then he closed the distance in an instant and stabbed the Hereto Dagger directly into the second Salamander’s brain through its eye socket. The creature’s body went limp instantly.
The third lunged from his blind side with a vicious snarl but he’d already sensed it with his Sensory skill.
He pivoted smoothly, letting its claws rake empty air where his torso had been, and drove his dagger up through its lower jaw with both hands letting the blade burst through the top of its skull.
The fourth Salamander tried circling around to flank him but he yanked his blade free with a spray of blood and threw it in one fluid motion. The dagger spun through the air with lethal accuracy and embedded itself deep in the creature’s eye socket and it collapsed mid-stride, crashing into the stone floor.
The fifth and final Salamander opened its maw wide to breathe fire, its throat already glowing orange from the heat building inside but Koya was already moving before the flames could erupt. He retrieved his dagger from the fourth corpse’s skull with a wet sound and channeled mana into his legs, launching himself forward with explosive force.
The flames erupted behind him a split second too late, scorching the stone where he’d been standing. He appeared beside the Salamander’s head and drove the blade down through its skull with enough force to crack bone.
The creature shuddered violently once and went still with blood pooling beneath its body.
Within moments, he’d taken out all five and before Disguise Master could even speak to him, he had burst into a run, leaving her alone underground.
"Make your way to the top."
"Fuck." She muttered under her breath.
It was getting hotter around here by the second and sweat was beginning to form even through her Order training.
She tapped a symbol on the cloak and her body immediately cooled down as the enchantment activated. "I feel much better."
The heat had been getting to her head, making her thoughts sluggish... now that it was better and her mind was clear again but she couldn’t help but think how durable this cloak was.
The Cloaks had been built for them to be able to survive falling into a volcano or something like that as long as they covered their whole body in it.
Disguise Master didn’t know what a volcano was... it some kind of mountain that produces lava, apparently but it sounded extremely hot.
She narrowed her eyes and looked at the insides of the cloak, revealing a selection of items carefully stitched into hidden pockets.
"I have five more protection barriers, and a few more attacking symbols. I guess I could protect him." She burst into her own run though she wasn’t as quick as Koya, her legs pumping as she navigated the treacherous underground terrain. ’I’m definitely not doing it because he saved me, but rather, Boss will be angry if he dies. That’s the only reason. Nothing else.’
...
Ichinose pressed her back hard against the cavern wall as a Salamander was directly in front of her with its throat bulging dangerously. She could see the orange glow of flames building inside its mouth.
There were multiple wounds scattered over her heat-resistant suit that had been cut open by claws and flames, and now the intense heat was making her lose her mind and her vision swam from heat exhaustion.
"Fuck." She muttered desperately under her breath.
She couldn’t even read stream comments anymore as her hands trembled.
’Save me... Someone save me.’
The flames burst forward violently to consume her completely in a wall of fire. She would have dodged but she was too tired, her legs wouldn’t respond no matter how hard she tried to move them.
However the flames didn’t reach her. The Salamander suddenly fell over dead and the flames died down harmlessly, dissipating into smoke in front of her face.
Ichinose looked up weakly at the person that saved her... Her view was blurry from the heat and sweat in her eyes but it was Koya, she could recognize his distinctive blond hair anywhere even through the distortion.
"Uh, Koya-kun." She hadn’t even noticed earlier through her exhaustion but corpses of multiple Salamanders were scattered on the ground all around them. How fast had he killed them all? "I’m fi... uph!"
He suddenly shoved something into her mouth without warning and cold water shocked her senses back to life. She held the can desperately and drank the water continuously, gulping it down until it was completely finished.
After that, she let go of the empty bottle with a gasp.
She could see properly again and Koya was staring down at her with what looked like genuine worry in his expression as he took back the bottle and stored it away.
"Are you, uhh, good?" He looked at her flushed face. "The heat is a bit too much. I’m starting to feel it here too."
His face was slick with sweat and it was spreading to his muscles too. It even dropped onto his abs, highlighting all of them and she couldn’t help but blush. She was a sucker for muscles.
「OMG THOSE ABS」
「I need him to save me like that」
「The way he just shoved water in her mouth was so hot??」
「He looks kinda mid tbh, below average」
「 We know it’s because you look average Izana lmao」
「 Ratio + L + Izana coping」
"Yeah, we should probably get out of here." Ichinose said while glancing at the top corner and her breath caught again.
She had 1.8 million viewers right now and she had received 100,000 crowns worth of donations.
In fact...
「You have received a donation of 100,000 crowns from YetiKing」
「Please complete the raid... it won’t be fun if you leave now」
She clicked her tongue silently and hoped Koya would agree to stay.
"I’m actually staying. I want to take out that boss." He said while turning around. "You should probably head to the surface. Most of the Salamanders are coming this way so I’ll lead them right to where the Boss is and you can escape."
"No." She reached out and took his hand. "We’re a team. We can do this together."
He gave her a once over. She was really wounded and blood was seeping out of those wounds... There was no together in this.
"I’m telling you now, run away and get those wounds treated." He said while backpedaling. "If you come along, I won’t forgive you."
With that he went into the makeshift hallway and waved at the rampaging Salamanders coming this way before running the other way, successfully drawing all of them to him.
As the first one passed by, she turned invisible and waited for the rest to pass by as well. After that, she reappeared looking very distraught.
’What do I do?’ She had a lot of viewers and they were probably expecting her to run after him, however he’d warned her he wouldn’t forgive her. ’If he doesn’t forgive me, we won’t be able to stream and I can’t generate these viewers alone.’
「You have received a donation of 250,000 crowns from MisoQueen22」
「Follow him」
The instant she saw that, her legs moved on their own and she ran-limped in the direction Koya had gone, following him and the Salamanders downward.
Koya took a deep breath as he ran through the winding underground passages, his footsteps echoing off the stone walls.
’They’re following me.’ He thought with a mixture of annoyance and concern. He didn’t understand why these women didn’t listen to simple instructions.
Didn’t they prioritize their own safety at all? In this scorching hot place deep underground, it was obviously better to head back to the surface where it was safer.
Nevertheless, he looked back at the Salamanders that were gaining ground behind him and made a decision. He summoned about eight mana surge pills from his storage ring, the small capsules appearing in his palm.
’Alongside several magical supplements from Saeko’s vault.’ He thought grimly.
The woman made powerful supplements after all, it was just that they had a higher drawback than normal potions.
This particular combination would cause an immense pounding headache after use for about five minutes... however he would simply use Pain Resistance to negate the worst of it. It was good training for the skill anyway.
He popped all eight pills into his mouth at once and swallowed them dry without hesitation.
’Anyone looking at me right now would probably think I’m some kind of drug addict.’ He thought with dark amusement.
Since he wasn’t a Blue liner with naturally massive mana reserves, he had to make up for his lack of raw power somehow through external means.
The sensation was addicting though as mana was forcefully sucked from the surrounding air and fueled his lungs completely, flooding his system. The glow in his eyes increased dramatically to an almost eerie brightness that lit up the darkness.
"Let’s test it out." He pointed his hand backward and triggered a burst of fire. Flames shot out almost instantly and converged on each Salamander, burning them to crisps.
Their scales cracked and peeled as the blue fire consumed them and the sheer power made Ichinose at the back raise her hands in front of her face.
’Where did this new heat come from?’ She caught sight of the blue wisps. In an instant, Koya had killed all the Salamanders chasing him, leaving their mana cores glowing in charred corpses.
Koya leapt through the rocky opening at the side and now he was above the King Salamander... He’d specifically scouted this position for easier targeting.
He pressed both hands together and blood flowed into his hand. As the King Salamander looked up with burning eyes, he released it.
"Blood Convergence." He grunted as a fast beam of blood shot outward in a shockwave, piercing through the monster’s head and causing it to fall to the ground like it was dead.
He landed in a small crater and analyzed the corpse warily.
’That was a lot easier than I expecte...’ He looked at the monster’s eyes and they glowed red.
In the next instant, the monster’s tails were all converging on him in all directions, ready to destroy him however they were stopped by Darkness Manifestations that appeared like black walls.
"I already expected that you were faking." He moved out of the way and the tails smashed the ground where he’d been standing, blowing caution to the wind.
Koya was meters away in a fighting stance holding the dagger. "So how about we have a real battle, just me and you? The winner takes all."
The Salamander seemed to understand as it perked its wings up and took its own combat stance. Ichinose had just arrived and the pod got a good look at them while Disguise Master was leaning off the wall and looking at them.
’A honorable duel. I didn’t expect those words to escape this man’s mou—’
There was a pinging sound and within that instant, there was an explosion beneath the Salamander King. The force of the explosion swallowed it up completely.
It was clear that Koya had planted bombs from the start.
’What did I expect?’ Disguise Master let out a sigh.
The smoke and debris filled the entire chamber, obscuring everything in a thick gray-black cloud and Ichinose’s drone struggled desperately to capture anything clear through the thick haze that swirled around. The heat intensified even further, making the air itself seem to ripple then the smoke began to clear gradually, dispersing into the upper reaches of the cavern.
The Salamander King stood proudly in the center of the blast crater, its scales scorched completely black but somehow still intact.
Steam rose from its massive body in thick clouds. Its five tails writhed violently behind it, flames burning even brighter than before with white-hot intensity ahe creature’s burning eyes locked directly onto Koya with absolutely pure, undiluted rage.
Koya stood calmly on the opposite side of the clearing ahey stared at each other intensely across the smoke-filled cavern, neither willing to back down.
「OH SHIT IT SURVIVED」
「This is about to be INSANE」
「2.3 million viewers」
「FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT」
The Salamander King roared deafeningly and its entire massive body suddenly ignited with brilliant white flames that seemed almost blinding.
The temperature in the cavern spiked so dramatically that even the stone began to crack.... and then, in absolutely perfect synchronization as if they’d rehearsed it, both burst forward with explosive speed.
Koya activated Speed Blitz at maximum output while the Salamander King launched itself forward with all it’s tails propelling it like powerful rockets.
They closed the massive distance between them in less than a single second, Koya’s dagger raised high above his head and the King’s massive burning claws extended and ready to tear him apart and the entire underground cavern shook violently as they finally met in the center with devastating force.
