Dark Fantasy: Super Coward Mode

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With a thunderous crash, a shockwave rippled outward. I immediately shielded the Princess, protecting her from the blast.

The frozen snow scattered into countless shards, colliding with the ground and pelting against my protective gear with sharp clattering sounds.

Oko, who stood at a relatively safe distance, stared at the scene in a daze.

The ice shards, flung into the air, lingered briefly like a cloud of rising smoke.

"T-Tanthan…."

"Ah."

If it had been any ordinary debris, I might have laughed bitterly and told her to hurry up and crawl out.

But the ice in this place was under the Second Princess’s influence.

It wasn’t just ordinary material.

And a chunk of that ice had fallen directly onto Aphta’s head.

Aphta, who took the hit head-on…

I clenched my teeth.

A draining sensation, as if every ounce of strength was leaving my body, hit me all at once.

It was my fault for not paying closer attention—

A wave of anguish surged within me, and with it, a desperate scream:

"Aphta!!!"

"Yes?"

A voice.

Startled, I whipped my head toward the sound—

And there, peeking out from beneath the ice, was Aphta, brushing the frozen chunks aside as if pulling off a blanket.

I collapsed on the spot, legs giving out beneath me.

Her face, absurdly calm for someone who had just been crushed under a massive block of ice, was utterly dissonant with the scene.

Tilting her head, Aphta looked at me with innocent confusion, as if wondering why I had reacted so dramatically.

"Aphta, are you okay?"

Only then did I realize why Oko hadn’t looked the least bit worried.

Seeing Aphta nod to Oko’s question, I let out a long, exasperated sigh.

"Are you really okay?"

"Yes. As long as I define, ‘This ice cannot affect me,’ it won’t."