Holy Night: My Husband is Definitely a Paladin - Chapter 305
TL: Elphie / PR: Marm
Clang! Clang!
The sharp clang of metal striking against something solid echoed through the darkness.
Irene kept moving her arm, even as the pain turned into a numbing ache.
How many times had she swung the dagger?
Hundreds?
Thousands?
Tens of thousands?
No matter the count, one thing remained true. The blade had yet to activate.
At first, the Impossibility had trembled with fear at each strike, desperately trying to escape Chomp-chompâs restraints.
But now, it hardly seemed afraid. It had stopped struggling altogether, letting out the occasional mocking laugh instead.
The Impossibility was convinced that, sooner or later, Irene would give up.
And honestly, it wasnât unreasonable to think so.
Irene grit her teeth and raised the dagger once more, bringing it down toward the Impossibility.
Clang!
Sparks flew as pain shot through her hands. Her grip faltered, and the dagger slipped from her fingers.
It clattered to the ground at her feet.
Irene bent down to pick it up, but her body swayed. Before she could stop herself, she collapsed to her knees.
[Your Majesty!]
Chomp-chomp, still restraining the Impossibility, quickly extended another tentacle to support her.
“I’m fine… So just… keep holding onto it…”
From within the darkness, a soft, mocking laugh echoed.
The Impossibility was laughing at her.
At that sound, Chomp-chomp bared its fangs, sharpening the ends of its tendrils before clamping down on the Impossibility with a crunch.
Perhaps because they were of the same rank, the Impossibility seemed to actually feel the damage.
There was no other explanation for why its laughter had finally stopped.
And yet, he had never stopped.
Irene gripped the dagger tighter, her breath steadying.
The Impossibility could not escape. That much was certain.
Chomp-chomp’s relentless assault ensured it remained trapped, its vibrating hums of protest growing weaker with each attack.
[You little bastard! I swear I wonât let this go!]
Biting alone wasnât enough. Chomp-chomp morphed its tendrils into sharp thorns and began stabbing at the Impossibility.
Still, the cursed thing did not flee.
Irene rubbed her sore wrist before lifting the dagger once more. She forced herself upright.
She knew, instinctively, that this place was disconnected from time itself.
So she would not tire. She would not sleep.
She could keep attacking forever.
Though, frustratingly, her body still felt the exhaustion.
Her limbs ached, her muscles burned, and yet she refused to give up.
Every time fatigue crept into her mind, she forced herself to remember. Michael, standing alone, cutting down monsters for what must have been an eternity.
He had swung his sword countless more times than she had. And he had never stopped. Not until he found her.
No matter how strong he was, in the world created by the Impossibility, he was bound by the limits of his mortal body.
In that world where he had discovered the ring of Infinite Healing, had he not lost his sight and collapsed in solitude?
There was no way it hadnât been painful.
Perhaps there had even been moments when he wanted to give up.
And yet, even if he had, no one would have blamed or resented him.
Not even Ireneâshe would never have held it against him if he had chosen to stop searching for her.
Until the moment of her death, she had been alone. And after she died, she had believed she would simply vanish from the world, forgotten by all.
But she had been wrong.
There had been someone who had gathered her remains and laid her to rest.
Someone who had called her name every night, longing for her.
Someone who remembered that she had been born, that she had lived.
The one who she had thought despised her the mostâhe had grieved for her.
And in the end, against all odds, he had brought her back into existence.
The one who had made all these impossibilities possible.
How could she ever repay a heart like that?
A renewed light filled Ireneâs eyes.
It was a relief that this place existed outside the bounds of time. She wouldnât grow old and die here. Sooner or later, she would inevitably bring about its destruction.
As Irene raised her hand once more and struck down at the Impossibility.
Pow!
A blinding light burst forth from the tip of the dagger as it clashed against the Impossibility.
[Th-this is!]
âŚâŚ!
At the reaction, both Chomp-Chomp and the Hand of Appraisal flailed in shock.
âThe daggerâŚ!â
Irene gasped in astonishment. She understood.
A miracle had happenedâfar sooner than she had ever expected.
The daggerâs ability had finally activated.
Crack!
Irene tightened her grip and drove the daggerâs blade toward the Impossibility.
At first, she thought she had pierced it. But as her eyes adjusted to the light, she realized that the tip of the dagger was hovering just above the Impossibility, not quite touching it.
Crackle! Crackle!
Flashing light enveloped both the Impossibility and Irene.
