God's an Adventurer: Volume III

Chapter 20- Eep!

『 [Pyro Resistance] leveled up to 3! 』

『 [Burn Resistance] leveled up to 2! 』

The notifications made no difference to her all she was focused on was managing to stay awake and the burning inferno surrounding her. Her HP kept going down and up, like a rollercoaster ride without an end. How long had it been, an hour, two, or just a few minutes? Time felt short and yet so long, how could that be?

It came to her as a surprise then that the flames suddenly stopped, and the suffocating heat and excruciating pain came to a halt. Her legs trembled ready to give out and as she raised her hand and arms to see her burnt skin slowly healing and returning to normal a numbing sound caught her attention.

It was coming from outside the barrier, her hearing felt numbed, and her vision was all too blurry. It took her a bit to realize that this was likely because she was on the verge of fainting. Still, with the healing springs beneath her and the fire no longer overwhelming her senses, her mind started clearing and with it what was happening.

Hiromichi stood on the other side, hands wrapped around Kami's collar, holding him up with an enraged expression. He was yelling loudly, as he usually did, but she still could not make too much sense of it.

'W-what's going on?'

Her eyes drifted to the side, where she saw both Thief and Himari starring back at her. Their expressions where somewhere between shocked and horrified. Thief clapped her hands over her mouth for some reason while Himari's expression softened when their eyes met but there was still a lingering look of fear behind them.

What where they so worked up about?

She stumbled forward and pushed her hand against the barrier ever so slowly mumbling meekly. "Guys... what's wrong?" Her own voice sounded raspy and dry. It sounded nothing like she remembered, even in this new body she inhabited. It was almost like a corpse was talking.

They continued to stare without answering her question, but she noticed Hiromichi angrily pointing over at her while Kami looked over without much as a spec of emotion on his face. She could see much clearly now, and so when she stared at Thief and Himari she noticed that they were scanning her. It clicked that something was not right.

She looked down and was horrified at what she saw. Her clothing was long gone, likely burn to ashes by the flames. That was not the reason though why they were reacting that way.

Her skin was mostly nowhere in sight, instead you could see exposed parts of her muscles and tendons. In certain areas most of that was gone and part of her bones were revealed. She was burned to asunder and was only shocked at one thing, the fact that she was still even breathing. Still she saw as her muscles regained their natural color, and eventually her skin grew back in place, it was a slow process that entranced her at the realization that she might have looked like a walking corpse for a moment.

The barrier came down as the last bit of her skin regrew and almost instantly she felt a large cloth wrapped around her and Hiromichi's barking voice came into full.

"-explain! The hell do you think you were doing?! You better have a good explanation for this cause this is f'ed up man!"

'Oh...'

Yes, in truth this probably all looked awful, painting Kami in some dark light. Even with her wavering strength she mustered a few more words. "Hiromichi, leave him alone..."

"E-eh?!" he looked back at her dumbfounded. "Did he burn your brain to a crisp or somethin?! You were being tortured and you defending him right now?!"