Chapter 269: Kidnapped by Your Own Partner! — Part 2.
Johnn didn’t just rush in blindly. Despite his panic, his training kicked in. He knew that hacking Jdirectly at the center might slice Maddy instead of the monster. He widened his stance, his tonfas spinning with a rhythmic, metallic whistle until they were nothing but a blur of wood.
"Whistile Strike!"
He threw a powerful, concentrated punch into the empty air. The sheer force of the blow compressed the atmosphere, sending a high velocity shockwave of slicing air toward the vine-ball.
Inside her mossy "prison," Maddy felt the pressure wave approaching.
"If this idiot clips me with his clumsy air pressure, I’m going to make this ’monster’ slap him into the next nation," she thought, her fingers twitching with the latent command to retaliate.
But Johnn’s control was surprisingly precise. The air blade danced around her silhouette, surgically shredding the vines that bound her wrists, mouth, and ankles without so much as grazing her skin.
The "stomach" of the Giant Creeper was torn open by the gust, and the structural integrity of Maddy’s make believe beast collapsed perfectly.
Maddy felt the support vanish. She played along with gravity, allowing herself to slide down the muddy side of the vine-clump and land softly on the damp soil.
She slumped there, purposefully trembling, her breath hitching in a way that suggested a near death experience. She looked up at Johnn through her messy bangs, her eyes wide and watery—the perfect picture of a traumatized F rank adventurer who had just seen her life flash before her eyes.
"Johnn..." she whimpered, her voice a fragile reed. "You... you actually did it. I thought I was gone. Now... FINISH IT!"
Johnn didn’t wait for a second. The desperation to secure her safety fueled a burst of speed so intense he seemed to blink out of existence. He reappeared instantly in front of the massive, undulating vine ball. With a roar, he crossed his tonfas in a gleaming ’X’ pattern, channeling every ounce of his remaining mana into a singular, devastating execution.
"Dual Strike Cross!"
The air screamed as the twin strikes tore through the heart of the "monster." The Giant Creeper, Maddy’s own magical construct was shredded into a million harmless green flecks that rained down like confetti.
The moment the threat vanished, Johnn spun around and collapsed to his knees beside her, pulling her into a fierce, crushing hug.
"I’m so sorry, Maddy! I’m so sorry I let that happen," he breathed, his voice thick with emotion. "I let those disgusting vines wrap all over you... I should have been faster."
He held her tightly, his head buried in her shoulder. As the seconds ticked by, Maddy’s initial "traumatized" expression began to sour. She could feel the heat radiating off him and noticed the way he was pressing into her, lingering just a bit too long and a bit too close to her chest.
"He’s getting dramatic," she thought, her eyes narrowing as she felt his grip tighten. "And he’s definitely taking advantage of this ’hero’ moment to get a feel."
"OW!"
Johnn yelped, suddenly recoiling as Maddy’s fingers found a sensitive patch of skin on his side and delivered a sharp, agonizing pinch.
"Who told you that you could hug me like that?"
Maddy snapped, her "fragile" voice replaced by a cold, sharp edge.
"Ow! Hey!" Johnn rubbed his side, looking at her with wounded, puppy dog eyes. "I literally just saved you from being digested by a Giant Creeper! I thought a hug was the least you could do for my hero effort!"
Maddy didn’t offer a word of thanks. She simply stood up with an effortless grace that didn’t look like a girl who had just been "terrorized," brushing the dirt and imaginary sap off her clothes with clinical efficiency.
"You did your job," she said flatly, her gaze drifting toward the path ahead. "Now, unless you want to spend the rest of the day hugging the scenery, we have a deadline to meet. Move."
Johnn watched her walk away, completely baffled by how quickly she had recovered.
"Wait, Maddy! At least give me a ’thank you’!"
"NO, YOU PERVERT!"
Johnn scrambled to his feet, grumbling under his breath about the lack of gratitude in F rank adventurers, unaware that the "monster" he had just "slain" was already being reabsorbed into the very woman he was chasing.
He had barely taken three steps, still muttering about Maddy’s icy attitude, when the ground behind him didn’t just tremble—it purred.
A sudden, dazzling eruption of light burst from the very spot where the "Giant Creeper" had been slain. It wasn’t a flicker; it was a blinding, holy radiance that bleached the colors of the forest into pure white.
Johnn froze. Every hair on his arms stood on end, his skin prickling with the sheer, overwhelming mana density radiating from the soil. It felt like standing next to a miniature sun.
He slowly turned around, shielding his eyes with his forearm. There, amidst the shredded remains of the vine-ball, sat a flower of impossible beauty. Its petals were a translucent, glowing white, emitting a steady pulse of light that seemed to harmonize with the heartbeat of the forest itself.
"The... the Bloom," Johnn whispered, his voice cracking with awe. "It’s really here. The Special Bloom... we found it, Maddy! The giant ball of vines was guarding it!"
Maddy turned back, the cold indifference on her face softening into a subtle, knowing smirk as she watched Johnn scramble toward the flower like a man who had found salvation.
"Our little play was... a success," she whispered internally.
[Confirmed, Maddy,] Lucy’s voice chimed in with a tone of clinical satisfaction. [By weaving your ’Active Forest Art’ to manipulate the local flora and saturating the core with your ’Absolute Light’ element, we have successfully created a biological anomaly that perfectly matches the client’s description. You have manifested a myth into reality.]
Maddy watched Johnn carefully reach out toward the glowing plant, his face filled with a pure, heroic joy. She hadn’t just completed a quest; she had manufactured a miracle.
"He’s happy, the client gets their cure, and I get to keep my cover," Maddy thought, her eyes glinting. "Sometimes, to save a man, you have to lie to him with the light of a goddess."
