The Lowest-Ranked Hero Has Returned

Chapter 170: Blessing of the Frost (3)

Whoooosh!

A blinding snowstorm raged.

Anything the blizzard touched—trees, rocks, the ground—froze solid in an instant.

"Da-Dale!"

"Dale!"

Iris and Yuren called out to me, their faces etched with urgency.

"Ugh…!"

I had been attempting to approach Lanez, but the storm swirling around her forced me to stumble back.

\'This is insane.\'

The Blessing of the Frost, a power that once turned half the continent into a frozen wasteland in my past life, was now too overwhelming, even for me, with the Primordial Flame burning within me.

Crash!

Shards of ice materialized mid-air and shot toward me like projectiles.

"Dale!"

Clang!

Yuren unsheathed his sword and deflected the incoming shards aimed at me.

"What the hell is going on?!"

"It\'s a long story!"

Dodging the relentless hail of ice, I retreated for now, biting my lip as I gazed at Lanez at the eye of the storm.

“Abandoned, abandoned, abandoned, abandoned, abandoned…”

Crouched on the ground, she repeated the same words like a broken machine.

\'She\'s completely lost it.\'

It was clear at a glance—reason was beyond her now.

“For now, we need to subdue Lanez.”

“…How?”

Yuren frowned at the raging blizzard encircling him.

Even with his recent rapid advancement in strength, the intensity emanating from each swirling snowflake was unmistakable.

“By any means necessary.”

I gritted my teeth and began drawing on my mana.

“Flare up.”

Whoosh!

Ash-gray flames ignited.

Gray smoke seeped out from my pores, curling around me.

“Dale! I’ll try to block the blizzard while you approach Lanez!”

Iris’s irises transformed into a shimmering rainbow hue as a radiant barrier of white light erupted around her.

“Oh, divine beings! Shield your child!”

The white radiance unfurled like a vast curtain, holding back the raging storm.

\'This….\'

A barrier strong enough to hold against the Blessing of the Frost?

\'It’s not just Yurina who’s been growing rapidly.\'

Iris, being support-oriented, hadn’t seemed as prominent, but now, watching her withstand this tempest, I realized she’d achieved growth equal to Yurina’s.

“Ugh… Dale! I can’t hold this for long!”

But no matter how much she’d grown, her opponent was the Witch of the Night, who had frozen half the world in my past life.

The barrier wouldn’t hold for long.

“Just a little longer!”

Wreathed in ash flames, I leaped forward.

“No, no, no…!”

CRASH!

Lanez screamed, clutching her head.

Ice pillars erupted from the frozen ground.

“Hah!”

Ashen Sword, Second Form.

Inferno Slash.

A fiery arc from my blade shattered the rising ice pillars.

Scattered shards of ice.

An unbearable chill seeped through my body.

Grit.

I braced against the cold and took another step forward.

Lanez, still clutching her head, slowly lifted her gaze.

Her empty eyes locked onto me.

“Ah…”

Whooooosh!

The blizzard intensified.

“Ugh… Dale! I can’t…!”

CRACK! SHATTER!

The protective barrier Iris had been struggling to maintain shattered into countless fragments.

The blizzard surged forward like a tidal wave.

It looked like a colossal monster made of snow, its maw wide open as it surged toward me.

“Dale! Watch out!”

Yuren shouted desperately, leaping forward.

He swung his sword to block the incoming storm.

CLANG! CRACK!

“Ugh!”

But the storm overpowered him, knocking his sword away.

The clash lasted less than a second, but frost crept up Yuren’s hand, turning it a pale purple.

Shivering, his frostbitten hand trembled.

Gritting his teeth, Yuren glared at his frozen hand.

“This won’t stop me…!”

He tore off the pendant hanging around his neck.

Hum!

As a radiant glow enveloped him, his golden hair turned silver.

Returning to her true form, Yurina gripped the hilt of her sword with her frostbitten hand.

“Haaaah!”

A brilliant surge of mana erupted from the Stigma engraved on her chest, enveloping her in a silver aura.

The aura unfurled like wings, filling the air with countless sword lights that swam like schools of fish.

The shimmering lights traced a circle.

It was as if a full moon had risen in the middle of broad daylight.

“I’ll protect Dale… no matter what!”

CRASH!

The "full moon" split the blizzard in two.

“Well done, Yurina!”

I dove into the gap in the storm.

Whoosh!

With ash flames blazing in my hands, I grabbed Lanez by the shoulders.

“Lanez!”

Did my voice reach her?

“…Dale?”

Light returned to Lanez’s once-empty eyes.

“Wh-what’s happening… to me?”

Her expression filled with confusion as she trembled, her gaze falling on the blood seeping from my wounds, caused by the earlier ice shards.

“I… I hurt you…”

Her face turned pale as she stumbled back.

Just as the light in her eyes began to fade again—

“Get a hold of yourself!”

I grabbed her shoulders with both hands and shook her roughly.

The fading light reignited in her eyes.

“Ah…”

She bit her lip, staring at the swirling storm around her.

“Stop… please…”

She reached out her hand toward the blizzard.

“I’m begging you…”

Her trembling voice was filled with desperation.

Tears welled up in her eyes, streaming down her cheeks.

“I don’t… want to hurt Dale… anymore…”

Whoooooosh…

Had her plea been heard?

The ferocious blizzard began to calm and gradually flowed back into Lanez’s body.

“Ah...!”

Lanez winced, letting out a pained groan.

As she staggered, the blizzard surging into her body flared violently once more.

I grabbed Lanez’s shoulder and patted her back gently, as if soothing a crying child.

“It’s okay. I’ll never abandon you… Don’t worry.”

“Ah...”

Her eyes rippled with emotion.

Gritting her teeth, Lanez shifted her gaze to the turbulent blizzard.

“Return.”

It wasn’t a weak, trembling plea but the commanding tone of a queen addressing her subjects.

In an instant, the raging blizzard quieted and was completely absorbed into her body.

“Haa... haa... haa!”

After absorbing all of the blizzard, Lanez collapsed to the ground, panting heavily.

“What was that just now...?”

Staring down at herself in trembling disbelief, Lanez suddenly lifted her head as if recalling something forgotten.

“D-Dale! Are you okay…? Kyaa!”

As she tried to rise in haste, she lost her balance and stumbled.

I caught her hand and helped her to her feet.

“It’s fine.”

“I-I don’t understand what just happened…”

“I said it’s fine. Don’t think about it right now—just rest.”

“…Dale.”

Lanez’s eyes quivered as she lowered her head and began to sob.

“I’m sorry... I’m so sorry. You… you saved me, but I...”

As I gently patted Lanez’s back while she cried, voices called out to me.

“…Dale. What in the world just happened?”

“That blizzard earlier… it came from Lanez, didn’t it?”

Iris and Yurina approached me, their gazes now filled with caution as they stared at Lanez.

“Sorry. I’ll explain everything later. You don’t have to worry about Lanez.”

“Sigh. Okay.”

“If you say so, Dale, I’ll trust you.”

Despite their uneasy expressions, Iris and Yurina nodded reluctantly.

Lanez, still sobbing with her head bowed, turned to them and bowed deeply.

“I-I’m sorry! I don’t really understand what happened, but… I swear I never intended to harm either of you! Really!”

“…”

Iris, who had been glaring at her, let out a deep sigh and placed her trembling hand on Lanez’s shoulder.

“Okay. Lift your head.”

“Sniff… I’m sorry… so sorry.”

Wiping away her tears, Lanez turned her gaze toward Yurina.

“Yuren, I’m sorry too… Wait, huh?”

Lanez’s eyes widened in shock as she looked at Yurina.

“Yuren… is a woman?”

“Ah.”

Realizing she wasn’t currently in her “Yuren” disguise, Yurina bit her lip.

“Well… since Dale says it’s okay, I’ll tell you.”

Yurina began to reveal her true identity to Lanez.

The more she spoke, the wider Lanez’s eyes grew.

“So all this time… you’ve been pretending to be a man with a transformation artifact?”

“Yes, that’s correct.”

“…”

Hearing Yurina’s story, Lanez looked at her with sorrowful eyes.

“That must’ve… been hard for you, huh?”

Lanez knew well the pain of having to hide one’s true self.

“No, I’m fine. I have Dale with me, after all.”

Yurina smiled warmly as she turned to look at me.

“With Dale…?”

Noticing something in her smile, Lanez glanced back and forth between Iris and Yurina before stammering out a question.

“W-Wait a minute. Don’t tell me… both of you… are dating Dale?”

A chill ran down my spine at her words.

‘No way!’

If she found out that I was simultaneously dating not one but two women, who knew what kind of chaos might ensue?

I moved quickly to stop Yurina from saying anything, but—

“Yes, that’s right. I’m dating Dale too.”

With a confident smile, Yurina glanced at Iris.

Lanez stared at us, her jaw dropping in shock.

“Then… Dale has two girlfriends?”

Murmuring in disbelief, Lanez seemed dazed.

I clenched my fists, closing my eyes tightly.

‘This is bad.’

Although I had managed to bring her back to her senses earlier, another outburst from the Frost’s Blessing would leave me with no way to handle it.

In the worst-case scenario…

I might have to end Lanez’s life with my own hands.

“Haha...”

Laughter leaked from Lanez’s lips.

Bracing myself, I slowly opened my eyes.

Her face—

“Ahahaha! Really? Is that so? Then Dale isn’t… just sticking to one person?”

—was radiating pure happiness.

‘What?’

Why was she happy?

“Ehehe… That’s a relief.”

Lanez beamed brightly at me.

Faintly, I heard her mumble something to herself.

“Then I still have a chance, too.”

“…”

Only now did I fully understand why she had lost control earlier.

‘It wasn’t because I have a girlfriend… but because she thought I might abandon her.’

Now, knowing I didn’t have just one lover, she must have realized there was a possibility she could become the “third.”

‘In other words… summing up the situation—’

Thanks to me being in a relationship with two women, I had prevented a witch’s awakening.

“…”

What was this feeling?

I had just averted a catastrophe that could have frozen half the world.

I had saved countless lives—tens or even hundreds of millions.

‘So why do I feel like such garbage?’

[PR/N: Simple. You’re trash. Pure trash.]