NOVEL NEXT Chapter 162 [Resuscitation (1)]
T/N: This bonus chapter is sponsored by Wolfwoodrade (5/5). For more bonus chapters, see my Ko-fi.
“Urgh! Gulp, blub!!”
As soon as Water Walking’s duration ended, my body sank into the lake.
My body, which had never learned to swim in either my previous life or this one, quietly began to sink towards the bottom of the lake.
‘AAAAAAGH! SHIT! SHIT!!’
I desperately flailed my arms and legs, trying to somehow survive, but my limbs merely cut through the water futilely, as if waving in the air.
I felt a chilling sensation creeping up my spine as my body slowly sank downwards.
Until just moments ago, I had already given up on this life once.
Perhaps because the relief of survival had just entered my mind, my attachment to life became even more desperate.
‘S-save me….’
However, regardless of my wishes, the stream of light from underwater towards the surface only continued to narrow.
Having already used up all my mana on that single Mana Blast, I had no way to ascend to the surface. [Only on Galaxy Translations! / Axiomatic]
Just as my consciousness was fading while reaching out a meaningless hand into the air…
Grab!
Along with a dark shadow covering my view, a somehow familiar hand grasped my wrist.
That was my last memory underwater in the lake.
Island of Knowledge. Somewhere on the lakeside path.
Splash!
“Hah, hah, cough, cough, hack…”
A man who had barely emerged from the deep waters of the Lake of Knowledge coughed out several painful, wet coughs.
His completely soaked hair covered part of his eyes and face, and his water-logged clothes clung tightly to his body, looking like a drowned rat.
On his shoulders was a black-haired woman in a red dress, carried piggyback style.
The man had first lifted the woman on his back onto dry land before himself and urgently called out the name of the woman who had lost consciousness and collapsed on the ground.
“Lilith! Wake up! Lilith!!”
“……”
Despite shaking her shoulders and slapping her cheeks, Lilith showed no signs of regaining consciousness.
As he desperately called out her name, the young master of the Blackwoods was increasingly consumed by despair.
Not long after the pair emerged from underwater, a group of people began approaching their location.
“Here! Over here!”
“There, we found them!!”
“Young Master Ethan! Miss Lilith! Are you alright?!”
The Saint of the Aurelian Church, the Hero, and even the Third Princess of the empire.
Some of the most important figures in the academy were hurriedly approaching where Ethan and Lilith were.
Among them, Ethan’s expression momentarily relaxed upon seeing the Saint’s face.
‘Thank goodness…’
Although he didn’t know how the Hero and Saint had appeared just in time where they were, Ethan had no desire to question such details right now. [Only on Galaxy Translations! / Axiomatic]
As soon as the two approached the collapsed Lilith, Ethan desperately pleaded to Saint Seriste.
“Are, are you alright?! Were either of you injured by the Kraken…?”
“Saint!”
“Y-yes?!”
“Lilith won’t open her eyes! Please, save her somehow!”
“A-alright! I’ll heal her right away!”
Although she was a ‘Fake Saint’ created by the church, that position was given to her because she was the most capable among girls her age as a priestess of the church.
Seriste’s divine power had the ability to save virtually anyone as long as their heart hadn’t stopped.
…Unfortunately, even with her abilities, she couldn’t restart a heart that had stopped beating.
“Uhhh, ummm…?”
“What’s wrong, Saint?! Quickly, Lilith’s-“
“It’s no use…”
“What?”
“Her he-heart… Her heart isn’t beating anymore…”
At Seriste’s despairing response, Ethan felt as if his own heart had momentarily stopped.
Why did such things only happen to him?
He had just finally felt like he could shake off the despair of losing his mother in childhood.
Why was Lilith leaving his side like this, too?
For the first time, Ethan felt despair at the seemingly tragic fate that befell only him.
“Wait a moment! Are you saying Miss Lilith’s heart isn’t beating?!”
“Y-yes…! N-normally, I should be able to heal someone as long as their heart is beating properly, but my divine power isn’t entering at all…”
“It hasn’t been long, CPR could still…”
If only he hadn’t invited Lilith on a date today…
Even if they had gone on the date… if only they hadn’t come out for a walk near the lakeside…
If only he hadn’t created an atmosphere to confess to Lilith, making her flustered…
Perhaps then he wouldn’t have lost Lilith so meaninglessly.
Ethan’s mind, filled with guilt and despair, was wracked with terrible pain as if his brain was being stirred with a fork.
…In the midst of this, he suddenly noticed a man’s hand approaching Lilith’s body.
Reach.
“……!!!”
“We can’t just stand still! We need to act quickly…”
Grab!
“What do you think you’re doing…”
“…What?”
“…With those hands, you dare to defile Lilith’s body one last time before my eyes…”
“What are you saying?! I told you we can do CPR! We can still save her!”
“…C-CPR?”
That’s right, the Hero is here, too.
Come to think of it, the Saint wasn’t the only one here with mysterious powers.
The Hero, having received divine blessing from the goddess Aurelia, must also possess one or two mysterious abilities.
It wouldn’t be strange if one of those powers could revive the dead.
“How do you intend to save her? Is it one of the Hero’s powers?”
“It’s not the Hero’s power, it’s cardiopulmonary resusci- Ah, damn. People here don’t know what CPR is…”
“…You say it’s not the Hero’s power?”
“It’s applying pressure with your palms near the heart in the chest area to make it beat again. If we can force it to beat like that, then Seriste’s divine power can heal her from there.”
“……”
So he was trying to put his hands on Lilith’s chest to save her, after all. [Only on Galaxy Translations! / Axiomatic]
Although it sounded understandable when explained, Ethan still couldn’t shake his suspicion about another man’s hands touching Lilith’s chest.
He met the eyes of the man who was about to perform this ‘CPR’ or whatever on his Lilith and spoke.
“Hurry! The longer we wait, the more dangerous…”
“…I’ll do it.”
“What?”
“From your explanation just now, this resuscitation can be done by someone other than the Hero, right?”
“…That’s right.”
“If it’s just applying pressure to the chest area to make it beat, I’ll do it.”
Suspicion, possessiveness, jealousy.
Though it was brief, Gyeongmwajogyegigwat, the Hero, could read many emotions in Ethan’s eyes.
Judging that it would be better to teach Ethan briefly rather than trying to persuade him to hand Lilith over, the Hero began by instructing the young master of the Blackwoods to place his hands vertically together.
“…Place your palms on the center of Lilith’s chest like this. Make sure the firm part of your palm is directly on the center of the chest.”
“…Alright.”
“From that position, apply pressure to the chest using your body weight. Do it firmly, multiple times.”
“……”
Press, press, press.
“Harder! We can fix broken ribs, but we can’t restart a stopped heart!”
“Huff, huff, huff!!”
Press! Press! Press!!
Ethan’s body moved up and down as he placed his palms on the center of Lilith’s chest.
Although he himself was nearly exhausted from pulling Lilith out of the lake, he continued the CPR according to Gyeongmwajogyegigwat’s instructions without stopping.
Not only was his desire to save Lilith’s life more desperate than anyone else’s.
If he collapsed from exhaustion here, that Hero’s hands might touch Lilith’s chest.
Even in this situation, Ethan didn’t want to hand Lilith’s body over to another man.
“…Miss Agnes, could you use your fire magic to keep their wet bodies from getting cold?”
“…I’ve already been doing that.”
And so, after about five minutes of desperately compressing Lilith’s chest to save her…
Some hopeful news came from Seriste, who was closely observing Lilith’s condition.
“J-just now! It beat for a moment just now!”
“…What?”
“…Is, is that true?”
“It, it really…!”
“Ethan! Don’t stop! It’s not over yet!”
“S-sorry!”
Even though a commoner Hero was shouting at him as if scolding, Ethan’s heart began to beat joyfully as if seeing hope.
After that moment of seeing hope that Lilith could be saved, Ethan’s CPR continued for several more minutes.
However, her intermittently beating heart was still not quite enough to accept Seriste’s divine power.
Ethan didn’t miss the Hero’s muttering that suggested a next step was needed.
“…I guess we have no choice but to do artificial respiration as well.”
“Huff, a-artificial, respiration…? What, what do I do for that…?”
“Compressing the heart alone may not be enough to revive her. At times like these, we need to directly blow air into the lungs to make the circulatory system function.”
“Directly blow air into the lungs… Is, is there anyone here who can use wind magic…?”
“It’s not done with magic. You have to do it directly, and I’ll only explain once, so if you want to save Lilith, do exactly as I say.”
“…A-alright.”
Having already seen a glimmer of hope through CPR, Ethan’s trust in the Hero had increased slightly.
Moreover, there seemed to be no other option besides listening to him.
Even in his exhausted state, Ethan listened earnestly to Gyeongmwajogyegigwat the Hero’s explanation of this thing called artificial respiration.
“First, grab Lilith’s jaw and open her mouth wide.”
“Okay, then what?”
“Pinch her nose with one hand. So air can only pass through her mouth.”
“…Okay, what’s next?”
“In that state, completely cover Lilith’s lips with your own lips.”
“Right, cover Lilith’s lips with my… What?”
For a moment, Ethan looked at him with a confused expression, wondering if the Hero was making fun of him, but Gyeongmwajogyegigwat’s expression was utterly serious as he explained artificial respiration.
Seeing Ethan’s hesitation, he explained artificial respiration once more, this time with a slightly irritated tone.
“Don’t think about it awkwardly. It’s a method to save a life.”
“…Is that really true?”
“If you really can’t do it, hand her over to me. I’d probably have a better chance of saving Lilith than you, at least.”
“…No, that’s unacceptable.”
Thinking that Gyeongmwajogyegigwat might take Lilith’s lips from him if he spoke in such a serious voice, Ethan quietly pressed his lips to hers, offering a brief apology to Lilith in his heart.
After sealing their lips together without any gaps as the Hero had instructed, he waited for the next direction.
‘I’m sorry, Lilith.’
“Inhale through your nose, and exhale through your mouth to blow air into Lilith’s body. Think of it like inflating air into a paper bag. You don’t need to suck the air back in once you’ve blown it in; just repeat inhaling through your nose and exhaling through your mouth.”
“Inhale, exhale. Inhale, exhale…”
“Yes, just like that. Keep going without stopping…”
I want to save her.
Somehow, I couldn’t let her die here.
I didn’t need an answer to my confession, or anything else.
Please. I just wanted her to stay alive by my side…
“Inhale, exhale. Inhale…”
“Cough, cough, hack?!”
“…Huh?!”
Suddenly, while their lips were still pressed together, Lilith’s body moved with a cough.
Startled by the reaction, Ethan hurriedly pulled his face away from her.
After coughing up some water she had inadvertently swallowed, Lilith slowly opened her eyes and looked around.
“Hack, cough, cough… Uh, um…?”
The deep underwater scene she last remembered was nowhere to be seen, replaced by a clear blue sky and the gazes of several faces surrounding her.
It was only after hearing Seriste’s words that Lilith finally realized she had died once and come back to life.
“She-she’s alive! Her heart is beating properly!”
“She’s alive! It’s the Hero’s miracle!!”
“Lilith, how do you feel? Are you too cold or…”
Amidst the commotion surrounding her, it was difficult to guess exactly what had happened while she was unconscious.
Nevertheless, realizing that she had died once and come back to life, Lilith could only mutter a single phrase in a dazed state.
“…I can’t believe I survived this.”
T/N
Hello! Axiomatic here.
Why didn’t I see this coming? What a seamless transition!
Also, I’m publishing this chapter as a break from my reviews. I’m not ending my break yet, but I might post some chapters once in a while. I don’t want to keep you guys waiting forever, and I’m personally missing my daily habit of TLing two chapters, so I’ll set a condition for everyone to benefit from.
Currently, we have 163 total reactions for this novel on the GalaxyTL Discord, which is useful as I ping the role it gives every time I release new chapters. For every 20 new reactions for this novel (#novel-roles-f-j), I’ll post a new chapter. See the link to join the server at the pinned comment at the homepage of this novel.
Thanks for reading, see you after 20 new reactions!