Chapter 132
Chapter 132
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 13
Chapter Title: The Moon, the Sun, and the Earth
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Rophuk's battle with the Finger ended quite one-sidedly. In the end, he overcame even his own limits and subdued a divine being.
Depending on how you looked at it, it was an achievement worthy of respect. The monster straight out of some horrific myth—the Finger, the Guide... knelt down at last, gasping before death.
The vomit and black blood it spewed rotted the floor. It was already a miracle that it could move at all. In this moment, the Guide suffered a complete defeat at the hands of some mortal who had come from the cosmos.
"Joo-ho, did you really know what this bastard was while carrying on a conversation with it all this time? You didn't? I didn't tell you everything, did I? No need to answer—I can tell. This guy's always been a filthy sort who survives by deceiving and swindling others."
Rophuk shook off the repulsive fluids clinging to his spear with disgust.
There was no courtesy or mercy for the defeated. In their relationship, such formalities were nothing but extravagance.
"Hey, should I explain it for you? Don't you want a chance to defend yourself? Ah, right. Not in any shape to talk now, are you?"
Rophuk jammed his spear deep into the Guide's throat once more, twisting it viciously inside to inflict agony. It was a gruesome sight, hard to watch.
"Fine, I'll tell you. Joo-ho, listen up—there's no second chance. This is a history lesson you couldn't buy anywhere."
After toying with it to his satisfaction using the spear, Rophuk kicked away the fallen Guide's grotesque tentacles with the tip of his boot. Once wasn't enough to vent his irritation, so he kicked them four or five more times, irritably.
"This is the curse that the dead sun scattered across the entire planet! The sun intended to wipe out the whole planet—all life on it. Isn't it ridiculous? Most women pray to the sun for mercy every day, but the sun actually died after spreading this curse."
I met the eyes of the Guide as it lay powerless, dying. Its blackened, rotting sclera quivered, struggling to focus on me.
"Want to know one more thing? Joo-ho, you've wondered why only females are born on this planet, right? It's all because of this bastard. The curse isn't anything special. It's a loathsome monster that pollutes the entire planet and even alters the genetic makeup of all creatures... That's exactly what it is!"
The Guide offered no resistance to Rophuk's merciless beating. It lacked the strength—or even the will.
"In a way, us getting dragged into this mess? It's all this thing's fault! Ever since only females started being born, that moon began drawing males from across the universe. And yet those women beg it to save them—what a joke!"
Kwachuk!Krunch!
The Guide gazed at me as it slowly died.
One of its trembling tentacles reached toward me,
touched the glass wall quietly,
lingered there as if caressing me for a moment,
then finally dropped to the floor with a thud.
"Hey now! Not a chance. I'm not letting you use this poor boy. Not while I'm watching with both eyes wide open."
Rophuk reacted with revulsion, as if something filthy had touched it, and wiped my glass tube clean once more. The black, sticky blood left by the Guide washed away completely.
"Joo-ho, time to open your eyes. I'm giving you a new choice. A solution just for us, one that can free you from the sun and moon, the planet and the curse... If you cooperate with me fully, nothing's impossible."
Now, there was no one left to stop him.
Rophuk peered into the glass tube imprisoning me,
and finally made his long-delayed, serious proposal.
"What'll it be, boy? If you refuse, I can start production right now. How long could it take? I've had the basic framework ready for ages—three days at most?"
I had no other options.
I couldn't just stay trapped here, watching everything perish.
I had to do something. For now, escaping this nutrient fluid and biding my time seemed best.
Until now, the Finger had bought time by stepping in directly,
but from here on, I would have to delay Rophuk's work while watching for an opening to escape.
"...If you agree, just nod. Of course, it's all your choice. I won't care either way. If you refuse, I'll shed a tear and bury you along with the planet."
So I nodded.
Only then did Rophuk throw his arms wide with a beaming smile, showing me his magnanimous side.
"Good. I knew you'd see reason."
Whoosh!
The glass tube opened limply. What had seemed unbreakable to me was nothing more than a simple [invention] that Rophuk could control with a few manipulations.
Finally free, I slipped out of the cozy nutrient fluid and spilled onto the floor like a newborn. Coughs wracked me without the oxygen injector.
"Come on, let's go."
Rophuk casually lifted me up, covered head to toe in sticky nutrient fluid like a newborn babe.
He even held out a clean towel right in front of me.
"Welcome to the team, boy."
Far from actual comrades,
I was reduced to sitting beside Rophuk, merely observing his inventions.
He was probably wary I'd interfere with the work. If he was truly worried I'd wreck something, he could've just left me sealed in the nutrient fluid.
What an annoyingly burdensome ally. And yet, Rophuk chatted away, spilling all the stories he'd accumulated during his lonely years.
"Ember amplifies the energy fed into it internally. So the key is how to store as much energy as possible inside the ember and then release it all at once."
He bombarded me with information, one-sidedly. Mostly knowledge about the embers he'd created.
I just crossed my arms, glaring at Rophuk and his inventions to swallow my anger. No point pretending to be friendly—it wouldn't restore our old rapport anyway. I didn't bother faking it.
I half-heartedly responded to his talk while pondering an escape. How could I break away from Rophuk? Were Jenny, the succubus, and Nephyr safe? What was Amy doing right now?
Was Arachne getting along with Aria? Had Isaac woken up? Was Alraune taking good care of him?
"To gather enough energy to intercept the moon, handling massive ember crystals without variables is crucial. Once an ember absorbs energy, it becomes unstable right away, instinctively trying to amplify and discharge it outward."
Even as I brooded, Rophuk continued his lecture nonchalantly. I still couldn't grasp the reasons behind his emotions or actions. No idea why he explained so enthusiastically.
Just having me there must stress him out plenty. We were enemies pretending to be allies, each plotting to ruin the other's plans.
And yet Rophuk never stopped talking.
It almost felt like a master's teaching or a parent's concern.
"You think the moon will just sit still?"
I let out a deep sigh and tossed him a simple question. Even if Rophuk had deceived me and planned to destroy the planet, his kind explanations and shared info were undeniably useful.
"If those unfinished demon sisters went to the moon and snitched... it probably knows two men are holed up in the temple, scheming something. But that changes nothing. It can't dodge it."
"Why not?"
"It's bound to the planet. No way it'd abandon this place and run."
Rophuk dropped lines like that now and then.
The moon serving as a satellite being tied to the planet seemed obvious, but when Rophuk mentioned it, it felt like hearing an ancient myth.
"Joo-ho, just because they're greater beings than us doesn't make them incomprehensible. In the end, they're just a kind of [living creature] with flesh and mind. Incredibly huge ones with immense, hard-to-control power, sure—but still shackled by their own principles of action and unable to escape their past."
Amid the threatening launch platform,
in the delicate movements of Rophuk assembling the ember cannon,
a new tale sprang forth.
Sparks flashed as metal fused together,
and stray embers cooled, scattering across the floor.
"They say back in the beginning, this planet and sun lived together just like that moon still breathes. This temple was full of murals depicting those times. Of course, now the Guide's [curse] corruption has rotted them all away."
Only Rophuk's voice orally preserved the temple's wall paintings.
I sat cross-legged,
silently observing his work and listening to his stories.
"...The boiling deserts are the sun's domain, the frozen ridges the moon's. On the beautiful earth, sun and moon rise in turn, yet what she truly longs for is the sun alone."
We built a weapon to kill everyone,
sharing ancient myths in the somber air.
"Now a [monster], the moon rises alone in loneliness, forever awaiting mother earth—for someday, she will surely return."
Surely,
she awakens from her deathlike slumber and returns to our side.
Perhaps even now, she wanders close by. A woman's heart is hard to fathom, so I cling to vague hope, praying her warm presence lingers in the world.
If I end up dying and rotting away completely, soul and all, there'll be no one left to care for her. I pray the moon's ugly desires never reach her.