Chapter 219
「Gooooooo! Lightning!!」
Io released two lightning magic at the same time .
A humanoid lizard monster equipped with a shield and a swordーーthe lizardman was hit by lightning twice and was charred black .
A different lizardman attacked her from the side . She somewhat blocked its sword using her staff and was sent flying .
Her hands were numbed and she felt pain to her stomach, but Io desperately mustered her magic powers and chanted her spell .
「Lightning!」
She activated the spell the instant she landed and it turned out to be a counter blow towards the lizardman that chased after her .
The monster was hit by lightning and was charred black .
「Damn it!」
「Sidox-san!」
She heard the voice of her party member .
He was fighting against the last lizardman .
Io mustered her magic powers and shouted to her party member that was losing “for some reason” .
「Get away from it, Sidox-san!」
At the same time shouted, she released her Lightning .
It directly hit the lizardman . The man was slow at retreating so her lightning grazed his shoulder .
「Sidox-san!」
「What, don’t worry . It’s just a scratch」
Io was relieved .
「Thank goodness……」
「It’s all thanks to you, Io . You’re amazing, defeating three lizardmen」
「Not at all……I’m far from Sidox-san’s level」
「Well! I’m B-Rank after all」
Sidox grinned with a crooked smile .
☆
Io Akos continued to train and became stronger .
And at the same time, she experienced being in many parties, but all of them did not last for long .
For some reason, no matter where she went, no one would let her fight properly .
Strong adventurers would treat her as a baggage and kind adventurers would protect her light a lovely critter .
All of them did not treat her the way she wanted .
Io wanted to be of her allies’ help, she wishes to fight with them side by side .
She thought of that as she trained and become stronger .
☆
At night, Sidox and Io faced each other with a fire in between at their camp .
「Really, Io-chan’s amazing . You defeated those damn lizards easily . I think you defeated ten just today?」
「It’s nine . I didn’t defeat that much」
「Is that so? But it’s fine with ten too . It’s really strange that that amazing Io-chan is nameless even now」 It’s been a long time since you entered the Guild right?」
「Yes……a lot of things happened」
「I see」
Io glanced at Sidox .
Sidox’s party recruitment that was shown in the Guild’s recruitment board .
Io believed that since he is a high ranked, B-Rank adventurer, she would be treated as baggage, but she still joined .
Io is not that afraid of failures .
She does not hesitate when it comes to asking adventurer parties to let her join .
She would be refused more than ten times the cases she would be allowed to join a party .
But even so, Io was not discouraged . She did not fear failure and continued to ask parties to join .
And right now, she is in a party with Sidox .
Normally, B-Rank adventurers would not party with nameless adventurers such as Io, but he listened to her story, and after giving Io a good look, he accepted .
He took Io with him, telling her its a test after receiving a lizardman subjugation quest from the Guild .
Io felt thankful to Sidox .
Although it was a test, it was the first time Io was able to fight properly .
It was actually really her first time experiencing a real battle .
「Thank you very much」
「What’s up, so sudden?」
「U〜un, it’s nothing」
「Is that so? Well then, let’s go to sleep . Let’s sleep early and depart after the sun rises」
「Yes!」
Io laid down and used her arm as her pillow beside the fire .
Nevertheless, she is only half asleep .
As a result of wishing to become stronger, she continued to train with all of her heart, and as a result, she is not able to train her magic naturally even while she is sleeping .
She is increasing the magic powers she could muster as if it was breathing . Even when she is on a quest, even while on the camp, she continued to do that .
When she was circulating her magic powers around her body while laying down, suddenly, she felt something over her .
She opened her eyes and saw Sidox’s face at a very close distance .
She tried to escape, but she noticed that she could not move .
Sidox grabbed her hands and pinned her to the ground .
「S-Sidox-san?! What are you doing?」
「What, you say? It’s not Io-chan’s first time so you should know right?」
「Ehh?!」
「There’s only one thing a man and a woman would do at night . Rather, you followed knowing that it will be like this right?」
「I-I don’t know! I don’t know this!」
Io resisted . She felt that Sidox suddenly changed and felt disgusted with the lewd expression he had on his face .
「Let’s enjoy it together . I’m not boasting, but I’m confident in my technique」
「Stop, please stop!」
Sidox’s face approached and Io desperately tried to turn her face away .
Looking away, she saw her magic staff .
Io desperately resisted and was able to take her hands off from Sidox’ and grabbed her staff .
*Bomp!*
She swung it with all her strength and felt a dull feeling .
Sidox’s eyes turned to its whites and collapsed over Io .
「Hiii!」
Feeling an even stronger disgust, Io shoved him away .
Sidox was pushed away but did not make any movements .
Io ran away . She desperately runaway with only the light of the stars on her path .
She desperately ran, ran, and ran .
When the night is about to end and the dawn coming, she fighting returned, now able to see the town .
Seeing it, she felt the exhaustion come at once . Io fell to the ground .
Tears fell from her eyes .
It was not because Sidox tried to rape her . Everything that happened until now just suddenly came and pushed out her tears .
“I did my best, I work so hard . ”
“I wasn’t treated as a proper party member who could fight, and king parties would protect me as if I’m a mascot . ”
“But when I was finally allowed to fight, it was a disgusting man who aimed for my body . ”
Io cried and choked, feeling so sad .
The sun has come up and she returned to the town’s Guild with a miserable face .
Io recovered .
She does not fear failure, because her life was full of it . Just another failure would not make her fall down .
However, there was no doubt that she felt desperate .
「Hey, they said Alex got injured」
「”That” Alex? What happened?」
「There’s a huge amount of undead appearing from the forest, and they say he got injured there . The monsters continue to appear, so the Guild’s recruiting lots of adventurers」
What Io heard when she returned to the Guild, was a crisis since the establishment of the Guild .
She heard their conversation and found that it was a quest filled with great amount of danger compared to her own rank .
Even so, she thought that she will be able to fight a real battle, that she will be able to fight in a place where purely power is required .
Io went there, she went there pushing her exhausted body .
「I’ll do my best!」
☆
A hard-working girl .
A diligent girl who is pure and unchanging .
The fateful encounter that would make that girl who had desperately sprinted through rocky roads step on a high-speed one-way road .
It was only seconds away .