When Your Secret Crush Wizard Took a Love Potion - Chapter 12

But my calculations were off.

I had never used Wind to run this frantically before, so I didn’t realize that running through the air felt like trudging through deep snow. Instead of moving swiftly, we were sinking with every step, slowing us down significantly.

What I thought would be a quick escape was anything but.

Panic surged as the reality hit me. The basilisk chasing us had disappeared from view, so I decided it might be better to run on solid ground. As soon as we touched down, I realized my mistake.

“Kyaaah…!”

I hadn’t known that basilisks could slither across the ground so quickly. We had only gained a bit of distance, but the cunning serpent monster had been waiting for the moment we landed. Its massive jaws snapped around Edgar in an instant. Seeing my teacher in a position where he could be swallowed whole at any second, a sharp scream escaped me.

My brief lapse in judgment had led to this disaster. It was my fault. My past experiences of having Edgar as a steadfast pillar of support had dulled my fear of the basilisk.

“Edgar…!”

Though my teacher had been a powerful wizard, the current Edgar was not.

“Master, Master! No!”

If he was to die because of my mistake…

Nobles and commoners. Farmers and adventurers. Wizards and knights. Death spares no one, and its end is always empty, but Edgar should be different. He couldn’t die so senselessly.

As I called his name frantically, a calm yet clear voice pierced through the distance and reached my ears.

“Don’t panic, Chloe. You are my one and only student.”

Through tear-blurred eyes, I saw the blond man lift his lips into a smile. Strangely, despite the distance, his expression was vividly clear.

A composed smile with no trace of agitation.

“I taught you, didn’t I?”

Every living creature has a vital point. Intelligent beings like humans or other races often cover these vital points with durable armor. However, monsters, no matter how beautiful or sturdy their natural defenses, lack the concept of forging and using tools. They just instinctively protect their vital points.

These points are often hidden in secret places or beneath the most prominent parts of their outer layer.

[Shining Arrow!]

As the wings near its ribs fluttered, I saw the concealed core of the monster. Aiming for the gap, I pierced through its tough scales with an arrow of light.

The basilisk, which had been ready to devour its prey, let out a sharp scream and collapsed.

When the core of a monster is destroyed, it doesn’t die like a typical creature with a severed neck or a stopped heart; it completely disintegrates. The imposing basilisk soon turned to a handful of ash, blown away by the wind.

“Edgar, are you okay?”

I didn’t have a moment to savor the joy of defeating my first monster. All my attention was on Edgar’s well-being. I used the wind to cushion his fall, lowering him gently to the ground.

Rushing over to check his condition, I felt a large hand pat my head.

“Well done, Chloe.”

He had praised me like this before. Seeing his unchanged smiling face reminded me of the truth I had momentarily forgotten.

Despite being unable to use magic and likely the most unsettled by this fact, he remained calm, perhaps because he trusted me that much. I had tried to see him as a different person, thinking the potion had made him crazy, but he was still my teacher.

My eyes grew hot with emotion. I felt ashamed for having treated my teacher like a useless fool incapable of anything but perverted acts.

“Are you hurt anywhere?”

I suppressed the surge of emotion and asked calmly. Edgar pointed to his thigh.

“I got bitten.”

He wasn’t lying. The clear bite marks and the blood seeping from the wound were evident. Basilisk venom isn’t highly contagious, but it’s potent enough to kill an elephant instantly if it enters the bloodstream.

Seeing my teacher, who had always seemed invincible to me, wounded left me dizzy with panic.

“What should I do?!”

In that moment, the shock of Edgar potentially dying clouded my mind, making me forget that his body could withstand even the most lethal poisons.