The rocky river appeared to flow shallowly between the stones toward the lower city.
Hellraider, who stood some distance from the riverbank, was still looking at me as if he disliked my presence here. He began to breathe deeply and rapidly, visible from the movement of his chest.
"Yooouuu…!!! why are you still following me all the way hereeee…?!?!?!" Hellraider said in an irritated tone.
Honestly, every time I met Hellraider personally, without Gruzhnil around me, he always began with that same question. I started to feel that if I kept answering with the same template replies as in our previous encounters, he would grow even more irritated and most likely attempt to harm me.
Yet again, if that happened, I already knew a "matching" way to stop him.
I truly did not want to torment him, even though outwardly he seemed invincible by any means, because that would only add more hatred within him toward me.
I then walked a little toward the river and sat down on one of the stone seats. I bent my legs and wrapped my arms around them while looking at the flow of the river.
"I just want to enjoy this river's flow; it's so calming for my mind and heart," I said with a smile.
Hellraider looked even more startled, then he ground his teeth.
"WHAAAT DO YOU WAAANT FROM MEEEE…?!?!?! ANSWER QUICKLY… ANSWEEERRR…!!!" Hellraider shouted, his tone growing more agitated and angry toward me.
I turned my head toward him.
His body was slightly hunched, both hands clenched tightly with his elbows bent. His anger and the bulging veins on his head were clearly visible.
I only looked at his face with my faint expression of pity.
"I was trapped with you in hell and then in this foreign world. I don't know whether I can ever return to my own world. That's why I follow you—to see the end of all this," I said.
Unexpectedly, Hellraider stepped forward toward me. Both of his hands reached out toward me in a grasping position.
I was extremely startled and immediately crawled backward.
"YOU WILL END HERE RIGHT NOOOWWW…!!!!" Hellraider shouted loudly.
I had already suspected that all of this would be in vain.
He still did not accept me at all, no matter what I did, and he tended to want to eliminate me forever.
It seemed I would have to stop his action in that inhumane way.
Just as I was about to say it, suddenly Hellraider stopped and collapsed into a crouch. Both of his hands immediately clutched his head, his eyes bulging to the extreme.
"AAAAAARRRRRGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHH….!!!!!!!!!" Hellraider screamed in pain.
I was utterly confused as to why this was happening again. Why did this seem to occur only when there were just Hellraider and me?
If Gruzhnil were beside me, the likely outcome would be that Hellraider would remain silent, or Gruzhnil would fight him to the very last drop of blood just to protect me from Hellraider's brutality.
After the pain subsided, Hellraider lifted his head again, panting, and glanced toward me.
"WHYYY… WHYYY AM I LIKE THIIIIS….?!?!?! EXPLAAAINN… EXPLAAAINNNNN…!!!!!!" Hellraider shouted, venting his rage while pounding the rocky ground.
I then stood up. Hellraider looked utterly frustrated by what was happening to him. Honestly, I did not know what else to say. I felt it was impossible to simply leave him alone.
"That happens because you always try to erase meee…!!! I was forced into the world you brought, where you keep fighting against it, yet you consider me a part of it! I am no one with power, so I want to take shelter with you from the cruelty of this world! I have no intention of replacing you! I'm not your enemyyy…!!!" I shouted at Hellraider.
Hearing that, Hellraider shook his head back and forth, looking extremely confused, but his face immediately showed anger again.
He looked around at the ground nearby and grabbed a stone that was plentiful there.
I wondered what he intended to do with that stone.
Unexpectedly, he did something completely beyond reason.
Hellraider swallowed the stone whole.
I was utterly shocked by his behavior.
Not stopping there, he searched for another stone and swallowed it as well.
I immediately ran toward him.
"Stooop, siiiir…!!!! That could harm your bodyyy…!!!" I shouted loudly in panic.
Hellraider glanced at me and shoved me away, sending me tumbling down to a seated position.
He continued swallowing stone after stone, to the point I could not count how many.
Then something even more shocking happened.
As Hellraider swallowed another stone, he suddenly began choking, clutching his throat.
One of his arms flailed as if asking for help. His face began to turn blue as he could not breathe.
I immediately stood up, wanting to give first aid.
I knew how to handle a choking person from my past training at the restaurant. But I could not use the abdominal thrust technique due to Hellraider's much larger body and his crawling position. I immediately used the technique taught for children—back blows.
As I struck Hellraider's back several times, my hand immediately began to hurt. It felt like hitting a steel plate. He was still choking, and I could see that he would soon lose consciousness.
Oh nooo… I didn't want him to die from something this foolish! He could kill all demon lords and gods in his game. I could not imagine Hellraider died just because of a handful of stone.
I quickly thought and began striking Hellraider's back with my right elbow. I kept hitting his back even as my elbow began to ache.
In my mind at that moment, there was only one thing—to keep trying to save Hellraider's life.
After several elbow strikes to his back, suddenly Hellraider violently spat something out. The stone could be seen exiting his mouth.
He immediately took quick breaths.
"Thank goodness you're alright, sir… I was so worried you would die from lack of air," I said with great relief.
After taking several rapid breaths, Hellraider looked back toward me again. Saliva was still scattered around his mouth. The blue color on his face had faded.
But suddenly, he shoved me hard again, sending me falling once more.
Hellraider immediately stood up and ran away from me toward his house.
I remained still for quite a while in the same position.
Why did all the effort I had made to save his life feel so utterly meaningless?
Perhaps I thought that Hellraider's heart was truly closed—not only to me, but to everyone around him.
A man who could no longer feel empathy or gratitude because of the worlds that had shaped him that way.
I returned to the barracks at dusk. I cleaned myself again, changed clothes, and sat silently at the edge of my bed, recalling what had just happened.
A soldier invited me to the hall to prepare for dinner. Several soldiers who shared my room were already there.
They noticed that I looked very downcast, unlike yesterday when I was cheerful and often smiling.
One soldier asked why I seemed sad today. Another joked that it was because I had just been scolded by the instructor during training earlier.
I really did not want to appear like this in front of them.
Then I began to say that I had just met Hellraider, simply to see him and try to talk. But I fabricated the incident, making it seem as though he had yelled at me to leave immediately or else he would strangle me. The soldiers immediately understood and felt relieved by my reason for being so gloomy.
"You're really brave, young man, to approach someone like that. If it were us, our legs would be shaking and we'd want to leave him immediately," one of the soldiers said.
I only smiled. What happened earlier was something that should be known only between Hellraider and me.