Chapter 131
Chapter 131
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 13
Chapter Title: Conclusion
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Joo-ho, open your eyes.
Now, only the three of us exist here. Those hands that wish to help you and me are so very far away, so isn't it finally time for me to step forward myself?
I intend to have a final reckoning with that bastard. Your harsh journey can't end like this. I'll buy us a little more time.
Forgive me for not stepping up for you until now. Buried in this earth, unable to even end my own life, I had to be exceedingly cautious for this last chance. I couldn't afford to repeat the same mistake.
Joo-ho,
This is the end.
Now your mind senses me,
and with black eyes, you see my face.
The conclusion draws near.
Joo-ho, you're ready to accept me. The small seed I planted in you when I first laid eyes on you has finally sprouted fully, so use me as fertilizer and press on.
I have grown old, rotted away, and become a body capable of nothing. So I want to give you everything I have left.
Child who came from the far edge of the universe.
Do you believe in
love—
or curses?
It's warm.
Beyond my closed eyelids, I feel the rippling solution. My eyes won't open easily.
My body is submerged in the liquid, but I don't need to struggle for breath. The respirator covering my mouth and nose pumps in air at the perfect ratio.
"Joo-ho, can you hear me?"
Rophuk stands before me. But a single transparent glass tube stands firmly between us, so no matter how much I reach out, I can't grasp him.
"You're conscious. Good, what miraculous recovery. Stay put for now. In this situation, there's no safer place than in there."
Rophuk sits facing me and begins repairing his own broken body parts. With not a single intact spot left, he has to assemble and connect entirely new components.
I press my hand against the glass wall and look down at him. I want to scream at him right now.
Stop it. I don't know what you're planning, but please, just stop.
"You look like you resent me, huh?"
But Rophuk ignores it and keeps crafting new inventions. He's hand-making parts to attach to his body one by one, preparing for any potential battle.
"If anything, I should be the one resenting you, Joo-ho. I've poured my heart and soul into helping you all this time, yet in the end, you turned the weapon I gave you against me."
Rophuk leaves no gaps. He's deadly serious about everything, with thorough preparedness that anticipates even the tiniest variables.
Especially against living beings, he's gearing up for close-quarters combat with sturdy armor. This is to fend off the potential rescuers—[Snake Lady], Nephyr, and her allies.
"It's fine. I don't resent you for it. Know why? I understand it was unavoidable from your position. If you didn't stop me, all the values you hold dear would crumble."
Astonishingly precise handiwork,
flawless technique and speed without waste.
"But as your senior, one piece of advice. Joo-ho, if you die, all those values turn to dust. What values you held in life, what dreams you chased... none of it matters anymore. When you die, it's all over."
Rophuk soon stands on his own two legs.
He looks like he'll wield considerable combat power. He's remade himself so strong that he's been reborn as a hulking war machine.
"Isn't that right, boy? When you die, it's all over."
Rophuk shoves his expressionless face up to the glass and speaks. His lenses stare straight at me, clicking away.
"How can I help someone who can't even grasp this obvious truth? Boy, if you won't join my side, just watch the end of everything from in there. I'll handle it all. Then we'll see—whether to send you back to that homeworld despite your betrayal, or grind your bones to ash for a funeral like the other men."
I glare at him as fiercely as I can to threaten him, but trapped inside the glass tube, it just comes off as cute posturing.
"Let me say it again—this isn't resentment. I just want to show you how precious life is. You're too kind, so maybe it'd be more merciful for me to end it here rather than let you live in this world and get hurt."
But,
Thud-!
A sudden vibration echoes from far away. Both Rophuk and I turn our heads toward the source at the same time.
"...Snake Lady? Earlier than expected."
He immediately readies for battle. He slams his fist into his chest and yanks a long cord—his red engine roars to life like it was waiting.
"Wait, doesn't seem like Snake Lady. Joo-ho, looks like we'll have to pause our chat."
Just as Rophuk says,
the massive vibrations and noise shaking the entire underground don't feel like Nephyr's doing.
Probably—
Crunch-
The inner wall shatters in an instant. From the massive crack that appears with the impact, a giant hand emerges and clamps down hard on Rophuk.
"What the—now what's this?"
Even through the rising dust, I can clearly sense what's happening. Rophuk, gripped by the [Finger], heats up his red engine and prepares for full combat.
"Hey, friend. If you were alive, couldn't you have said a few words? I've been waiting over a hundred years—must've been tough, huh?"
Overwhelming size difference.
The inescapable terror ingrained at the genetic level in all living things.
Seeing a living ancient god isn't exactly pleasant. The rotten flesh of the [Finger] spews black clumps everywhere as it thrashes wildly.
Yet Rophuk calmly revs his engine. Even seized by a being of another realm, he shows no panic.
"Rophuk—"
A rotten vocal cord utters Rophuk's name. The finger—no, the Guide—clutches Rophuk in both hands like it means to crush him, bellowing long-suppressed rage.
"You must die. Right here, with me!"
But red light slowly seeps from the clenched fist. Like hot flames rising, Rophuk's battle engine scorches and explodes the Guide's palm.
Crack-!
With the explosion, rotten flesh rains down like confetti. The Guide screams in agony and lashes out with countless tentacles sprouting from its body.
But Rophuk stays composed. If anything, the massive ancient entity seems more desperate.
It's hard to believe this thing was once in the same [living being] category as me. Rophuk's mechanical, ice-cold demeanor pushes reality to its limits.
"Aaah—!"
Rophuk slices and burns the Guide's tentacles, gaining the upper hand. The Guide's exploited shell can't withstand this Rophuk after decades or centuries of abuse.
Especially his new [Ember Equipment]—it's bold enough to challenge a god. Watching this fight, I instinctively know every plan Rophuk described was no bluff.
Endless high-output energy turns Rophuk into a slaughter machine. He swings his superheated blades without pause, grilling the Guide's tentacles.
"I was talking to Joo-ho! I got nothing left to say to a disgusting corpse like you!"
Rophuk crafts countless weapons from ember fragments. Some pierce flesh and explode like grenades; others unleash wide, powerful lasers that bore massive holes in the Guide's body.
"Aah..."
In the end, the Guide collapses. With no intact bones or muscles left, it groans, hollow eyes alternating between me and Rophuk.
"Rophuk, you're the real monster. Your little brother died cursing you. Surely..."
But the mood shifts in an instant.
The moment the Guide mentions [little brother], Rophuk freezes, stows his weapons, and draws a [classic weapon].
Stab-
A massive skewer-like thing plunges straight into the Guide's rotten face. Rophuk doesn't stop, gouging its eyes and inflicting unimaginable agony.
"Scream louder. More ember for both of us, right?"
Screeech-
An ear-splitting, filthy wail shakes the earth.
Even writhing in pain, the Guide keeps its mouth open, provoking Rophuk.
"That won't bring your little brother back... Joo-ho's different from your brother... All that's waiting for you is a lonely, pathetic death."
"Oh, really? That's a nice perspective."
Listening to their exchange from inside the nutrient bath,
it's nothing but vile truths I've never heard before.
"Of course, you haven't forgotten this is all your fault, right? Why, the [Incarnation of Death and Curses] who even killed the sun—shouldn't you handle something like reviving one dead boy? If you can't, you might as well not deserve to live!"