Entsy 8

When I approached the door, I heard the sound of someone sobbing.

I hesitated—should I go in? In the end, I knocked.

From inside, I heard hurried, flustered sounds, as if someone was trying to hide something.

"Come in."

Her eyes were clearly red.

Looking down, I noticed new stones that hadn't been there before, now growing on her legs. Her feet appeared to be fused together.

She wouldn't be able to walk like that.

She hid her petrified legs beneath the blanket.

"Coming to a lady's room at such a late hour is quite a serious matter... You're leaving this town in about a week, I hear."

Lina spoke with a slight tremble in her voice.

"Where did you hear that from?"

"Taro's quite careless. Even I have friendly maids. Most of them have been looking after things since my mother's time..."

I thought I was being careful, but apparently I'm quite easy to read.

"Many doctors have come here, only to say they had to return to the capital for research, citing the limit of their stay, and never came back....Taro-san, that's enough for today."

She had completely given up. She seemed to have lost all hope.

"I see. Indeed, I must leave this town soon. Then, may I try one more thing before I go?"

"Go ahead, do as you please. My life won't last much longer—just get it over with quickly."

"It might still be too early to give up."

Saying that, he pulled out a large quantity of degraded magic stones.

"Why would you use something like that?"

He spoke as if resigned, yet showed interest in each individual action.

"Please, just watch."

Saying that, he pressed the degraded magic stones against his body. Starting with his left arm, where the magical corruption had progressed significantly—beginning from the spiky protrusions that had grown out.

Honestly, I don't know what else might happen. But if something does, I've chosen to target areas where the magical petrification has already taken hold—places that should be easier to destroy.

He lifts his left arm.

According to her, the sensation seems to be gone already. The magic stone fused to his arm is more than three centimeters thick. The spiky protrusions sticking out resemble blades.

A reddish magical stone lamp radiates light throughout the room. The magical stone adhering to her, illuminated by the lamp's glow, seems to reflect as if alive.

I press the degraded magical stone I brought toward the part of her body that has turned into magic.

While imagining the degraded magical stone releasing its power, I envision a force field—like a gravitational equation—pulling everything toward a point in space behind the hand holding the stone.

It's a highly complex image, but this is the most effective method.

I feel a resistance, as if power is overflowing from the degraded stone.

It's the same.

The same sensation I confirmed during the experiment. It's fine, everything's going well. I can feel the movement as I draw the spirals of mana through my hands.

What I'm holding now is a fire mana stone commonly found in this town. Once used, it will just become a fragile, cold stone.

Yet I felt a faint warmth in my hand. The degraded mana stone had become active again. In contrast, the mana stone attached to Linna's body crumbled to dust where I held it.

Rina stared at the sight, her eyes widening in shock, frozen in place.

"Are you feeling any pain or fatigue? Headache, perhaps?"

I fired off questions one after another.

? No response. It seems I was still too early to use this on a person! I waited, then looked at Rina's face.

Rina quietly let out a single tear. Another tear followed. Soon, tears began to overflow, streaming down her face in increasing numbers.

"So hard, nothing can break it, even if forced, it hurts terribly, barely chipped at all, yet so easily... like this..."

Rina's words grew more and more frantic as tears streamed down her face.

"There's no pain. Even if there were, I'd endure it, as long as it's being worn down by the wind like this."

"Don't endure it in silence. Tell me if it's too much. If it's not a problem, I'll keep going."

Press the next degraded gemstone against the worn area, imagining the flow of spiritual energy being drawn out even further.

Even though I'm only absorbing spiritual energy, I feel fatigue.

My arms feel tight and strained. This method really does impose significant exhaustion on the caster—it's as if I'm struggling to withstand the pull of my own magical power.

Sweat begins to form gradually.

The light crystal powering the room's lamp suddenly ran out of magic, and the room gradually grew dark.

The degraded crystal fully activated, causing the crystal attached to her to shatter. Eventually, all the crystals on her left arm broke apart, revealing an arm that had become unnaturally pale and slender.

Good! I managed to remove just the crystals without injuring my arm.

A faint red mark remained where the magic stone had been attached.

When touched, there was no sign of pain. I had worried the stone might still be embedded under the skin, but her skin felt soft and delicate, like that of a woman.

My left forearm had become immobile because the magic stone covered about seventy to eighty percent of the wrist joint.

Lina kept repeatedly moving her wrist, as if savoring the sensation of movement after so long. Then, once again, large tears streamed down her face.

"Is there any issue with the movement of your wrist? You seem fine... If you keep crying like this, by the time your whole body is done, your tears will have run dry."

"I can't stop it. I'm fine. There's no pain. Please continue with the others without hesitation."

Listening to her words, he proceeded to destroy the petrified parts of her body one by one, using deteriorated magic stones. She didn't seem to feel any pain, nor did she appear fatigued.

Next, her legs.

The magic stones in her feet are fused together. Though they might still be separated with force, it would undoubtedly be extremely painful.

First, separate both feet.

Her long legs made it quite difficult. After separating both feet, she gradually broke apart the magical stones attached to each foot one by one. By this point, nearly half of the deteriorated crystals she had brought had become reactivated. Light and fire crystals were usable again, and although few in number, water crystals were also present.

She carefully cleaned the crystals attached to her feet over the course of several minutes.

Her legs were slender—so thin they looked like they might snap at any moment.

Can your legs move well enough?

Yes, thank you. Please continue with the full body as well.

Saying that, Lina sat on the bed and skillfully undressed, leaving herself in only her underwear despite the cold winter, or rather, just a thin piece of fabric wrapped around her naked body.

"Woah, why are you taking it off? It'd be better if the woman who taught me this method did it..."

I can't wait for someone like that! What if someone else can't find the method you discovered? If they can destroy the magic stone embedded in this body, being naked is no problem at all!

"But... I mean..."

"If you care about me, just do it all at once."

So noble...

Saying that, she turned her back to him. Her back, hidden by long hair, was flawless and clean, unmarred by even a single blemish. Yet most of it was still covered by a pale, sickly magical stone. Calmly considering it, how on earth had she managed to live like this, so completely encased? It was utterly beyond imagination.

Prepare the next deteriorated magical stone.

Press the magical stone against the surface, channeling the image in the same manner. The magical stone, generated by illness, gradually lost its color and crumbled away. The magic stone lamp that had illuminated the room had completely vanished, leaving only moonlight to brighten the space. It was a full moon tonight. Surprisingly, the room was quite visible.

I managed to completely break apart all the magical stones on my back. The area remained remarkably clean; the parts where the stones had adhered were slightly reddened from congestion.

"Next, please... could you also from the front? I'm a bit shy, so could we keep the lights off and just continue like this?"

Yes... I understand.

Following instructions, I began removing the magical stones stuck all over my body. Relying on their faint outlines and texture, I avoided looking at them too closely.

It was somehow soft.

"Phew... I've removed most of the magic stones attached to my body, as far as I can see. There's just... one more..."

The head.

I haven't done a thorough investigation, but I've come this far. Now, suddenly, I'm starting to fear that maybe there really is nothing wrong after all. I need to check once more.

Is it really okay to just go on like this?