Chapter 409
Chapter 409
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 409
Chapter Title: 2-32. Disaster from the Future (5)
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#32
"...The giants' progenitor king?"
Orse frowned.
He was leaning against a pile of debris, gazing around with a dazed look in his eyes.
I grabbed his shoulder.
"Yeah. We have to go deep underground in the headquarters. If my guess isn't wrong, it's still there."
"What the hell are you... Hek, talking about... They're all gone."
"Damn it, stop nagging and get up. I'll explain on the way!"
"You bastard...! You think I don't want to get up? My body won't move... Khek!"
Orse vomited blood again.
He seemed far more injured than I'd thought.
He was never one to whine, even after pulling off something reckless.
But this was a moment we had to push through.
I was pondering how to snap him out of it.
Orse suddenly pushed himself up as he stared at the sky.
"Navardoje...?!"
"Shit, you scared me."
His long legs were trembling.
This guy, huh? Can't move, my ass?
Orse's gaze lingered at the center of the sphere Akasha had conjured.
Every time flames sporadically erupted, the shadow of a massive dragon flickered into view.
It was Navardoje locked in fierce combat with Akasha.
Suddenly, four wings burst open from Orse's back like an explosion.
"Krgh!"
"Oh?"
The wings were in horrific shape.
Torn membranes hung in ragged shreds here and there.
The blood dripping steadily had already formed a puddle.
I wouldn't know firsthand, but if wings had nerves, the pain would be unbearable.
"Graaak, grraaak!"
Yet Orse moved with an obsession bordering on madness.
He kept flapping even as he spat up blood clots, poised to launch himself at any moment.
I urgently threw myself forward and grabbed his waist.
"Hey, where do you think you're going?!"
"Let go! Navardoje has to die by my hand!"
"What?"
Veins bulged across his forehead.
There was a limit to stupidity, and this pissed me off.
Kwachik!
I hoisted him up by the waist and slammed him into the ground.
"Ugh, you dare..."
"Is that the bullshit coming out of your mouth right now? You know what sis is fighting?!"
"That's none of my damn business. Get out of my way!"
"You little shit...!"
My grip tightened on his collar.
I couldn't comprehend it.
I'd thought he was decent at heart, manners be damned.
Orse, who had been helplessly shaken, suddenly bared his teeth and shouted.
"I'm saying Navardoje can't die right now! I haven't even repaid what I owe her yet!"
"What?"
Orse's pupils narrowed into slits amid his extreme agitation.
Intense killing intent, fiercer than ever, poured from his broken horn.
I was about to say something.
The surface of the sphere hovering in the sky exploded, a fragment breaking off.
It was a tiny mass compared to the whole—like a mere droplet.
"That's..."
We whipped our heads around almost in unison.
The severed fragment shot westward at high speed.
It headed for a barren place devoid of life.
Amid the icy waters drifting with icebergs, the roots of the baldies we'd left as monuments protruded.
The moment the black, rounded shape vanished beyond the sea...
A black wall surged along the horizon.
"What."
"Shit, everyone down!"
I shoved Orse's head down as I yelled.
The people nearby panicked and flattened themselves to the ground.
Kwaaaaaang-!!
The belated roar of the explosion unleashed a shockwave that ravaged the area.
"Kwaaaak!"
"S-save me!"
The dust cloud blooming over the headquarters vanished in an instant.
Trees were ripped out by the roots, rocks hurtled through the air.
Orse slipped free of my restraint, his body swelling rapidly.
The storm of fire and darkness stabbed deep into the sky before gradually dissipating.
"Shit... Cough, cough!"
I staggered to my feet.
A glance around revealed a hellish scene.
The root had vanished without a speck of trace.
Only the now-ferocious waves rampaged where the white hand had been.
Thinking of Navardoje, I bit my lower lip.
"Sis."
It was a power unlike anything I'd witnessed before.
Not even the giant king's bombardment had matched this.
Groans began rising from those around us.
By some miracle, no one had died or suffered critical injuries.
Orse had reverted to his original form and shielded them with his wings.
"You...!"
His wounds had multiplied, but he paid them no mind.
He had no time to worry about such things.
Orse simply craned his long neck, staring fixedly at the sphere that had engulfed Navardoje.
"Huh?"
Orse let out a hollow laugh.
It wasn't hard to grasp what he meant.
This was before we'd relocated the headquarters.
Navardoje had dragged her dying body every day to pour life force into Seniel.
She'd claimed it was a secret from everyone, but it clearly hadn't stayed perfectly hidden.
"...Is that what this is about?"
"Who's dying, you moron? Don't jinx it."
I smirked faintly and spat on the ground.
That's the problem with males.
They treat acts of kindness or affection like something shameful.
I leaped onto Orse's head as he heaved ragged breaths.
Then I thrust my index finger toward the pit where the headquarters had once stood.
"No one's dying. Let's go."
"Don't you trust me?"
No further explanation was needed.
Proof? I'd already given plenty.
Chwaaak!
Orse's wings burst open explosively.
The moment I seized his horn, the massive form rocketed forward.
"Over there!"
We plunged into the enormous pit below.
It didn't take long to spot the passage.
A door barely wide enough for one person was set into the steep inner wall.
Orse frowned.
"It's wide inside. Blink right before impact."
Orse growled.
As he adjusted his wings, our trajectory shifted.
His massive head was about to smash into the rocky wall.
Pung! Orse and I dissolved into particles and scattered.
Our darkened vision returned.
A vast ice cavern stretched before us—wide enough for everyone except Navardoje.
"Long time no see. Really."
First time since I'd come with Father.
Nostalgia prickled at the bridge of my nose.
The ice blanketing every direction—up, down, left, right—must have been about as ancient as this planet.
Kwarurung!
Suddenly, the entire cavern shook violently.
The ceiling ahead collapsed, sending house-sized ice boulders crashing down.
"Keep going!"
Another fragment from the sphere must have dropped.
I steadied myself and swung my sword.
Kwajangchang!
The ice shattered into fragments and exploded outward.
Orse accelerated after punching through.
We couldn't stop.
The twisting passage delved incredibly deep.
Vibrations hammered us nonstop throughout the descent, with the ceiling and walls crumbling down.
"Shit, cut it out already!"
Every time, I swung my sword.
Orse even tapped into his eggshell-breaking reserves to blink.
It felt like riding the world's most perilous amusement ride.
How much time passed like that?
We finally arrived before a massive stone door.
"Turn human now. No point trying to break it, so don't blink."
Orse did as told.
A strange emotion welled up as I gazed up at the stone door.
It was in my memory.
The specially treated surface blocked most attacks, magic included.
Even now, when it should have been completely gone, the bald race's shimmering mana leaked from beyond.
'It has to still be there.'
I rubbed my palm against the blade, drawing blood.
Then I swung my arm.
Blood sprayed in a fan shape across the stone door.
Kugugugung...!
The door slowly parted, revealing the interior.
"Same as ever. Damn it."
An indescribable stench wafted out.
Even on the second visit, it was impossible to get used to.
With the source destroyed, the shimmering mana was noticeably diminished from before.
We advanced along the corridor for about ten minutes before a vast open space unfolded.
The clearing was so immense it was hard to take in at a glance, dominated by a single massive ice block protruding upward.
It was so enormous it resembled an iceberg adrift in the Sea of Specters, transplanted wholesale.
Orse glanced around and raised an eyebrow.
"How...!"
"Haa... Thank goodness. You're still here."
I let out a sigh of relief.
A pristine, glossy white colossal bald head was half-embedded in the ice.
Its body, limbs, wings—everything but the head had vanished entirely.
"This is where it all began."
The memory of carrying Father here on my back was vivid, as if from yesterday.
I leaped onto the ice and approached the head.
Up close, I could confirm it.
The head wasn't fully intact either.
The portion below the neck, trapped in ice, was gradually dissolving into particles of light.
Orse spoke up.
"......Explain."
"It's the progenitor king of the giant race I told you about before. He fought Seniel in the distant past, died, and crashed here. The preservation conditions were good, so unlike the other baldies, he didn't vanish right away."
"What kind of nonsense is that? Seniel—that's the rock, isn't it?"
"Exactly."
Puk.
I drew my sword and thrust it into the lightless pupil.
A single trickle of sapphire blood oozed out with effort.
The purest blood in this world—the essence that had transformed my once-ordinary-boy father into an immortal.
'It won't be pristine.'
I took a deep breath and dropped to one knee.
I remembered the time I'd drunk its blood before.
The essence, second in intensity only to the sphere in the sky, had incinerated every curse lingering in my body.
Father had definitely said this:
Don't even joke about drinking more.
The curse acted as a buffer—that's the only reason you're still alive.
"Who'd have thought a day like this would come for me?"
A involuntary chuckle escaped my lips.
I extended my arm to catch the blood.
The liquid pooling in my cupped palm was astonishingly hot.
Orse, who had been watching with bated breath, cried out in shock.
"Wait. What are you doing? Why that...!"
"This is the only way right now."
"Hold on!"
I ignored Orse's attempts to stop me.
The blue blood flowed down my throat.
Hot, as expected.
The vile liquid clued me in on the exact shape of my esophagus.
The moment the last drop vanished into my stomach...
"Ah."
My vision suddenly spun.
My legs buckled, and my butt hit the floor.
I could hear Orse calling my name from afar.
"Huu... Huuu...!"
Now I understood why Father had said what he did.
It was more nauseating than my first taste of alcohol.
I wanted to stand, but I couldn't.
Something seemed to pulse inside me, yet I couldn't sense it properly.
"This is... Huu, just shitty..."
Still, I had to get up.
Using my sword as a cane, I forced myself upright and spoke.
"Let's... head up."
Orse was already supporting me.
His dark body swelled.
He retained his human form, but horns, tail, and wings sprouted forth.
In quarter-dragon mode, Orse hoisted me onto his back.
He was about to take flight toward the stone door.
"Not... there..."
"No time... Everyone's suffering out there... The dead don't come back......"
Dizziness was setting in.
I barely knew what I was saying anymore.
The nauseous sensation morphed into pain like my veins were aflame throughout my body.
Anger surged.
Pain never becomes familiar, no matter what.
I knew that.
Even so, I had to shake it off.
This was my duty.
Something only I could do.
"Huuuup...!"
Staggering, I swung my sword at the empty air.
A straight line sliced across the ice ceiling.
Silence fell.
It didn't last long.
The moment the sword, having fulfilled its role, returned to my hand...
The line in the ceiling split open, red light pouring through.
Kwaaaaaang-!!!
The darkness blocking my vision cleaved in two.
Orse's eyes widened.
A cross-section of the earth unfolded on either side of the gaping ceiling.
A distant night sky came into view.
The sphere dominating the heavens had transformed into something entirely different from its last appearance.
The roiling mass of power—green, blue, and gold intertwined—evoked the image of this planet viewed from space.
I had no idea why it looked like that.
That was something to figure out from here on.
I swallowed the blood rising in my throat and murmured.
"Let's go up. Shit."