Chapter 186: A Man's Fight - 6
Chapter 186: A Man's Fight - 6
"Kh...."
Jiha, who had been about to follow Lungtao, spat blood from the corner of his mouth.
Despite Sirel's emphatic warnings, he'd ignored her and fought once more, and now his body was screaming in protest.
As he ran, Lungtao channeled Mana through his entire body, scattering droplets of blood from every joint.
Boom!!
The tiger soared in a leap that squeezed out every last drop of Mana, with no thought for what came after.
A bound barely distinguishable from flight—in a single breath, he shot straight toward Narsha.
"......."
No, it's a trap.
Watching, Jiha realized it reflexively. But before he could speak, he saw Lungtao's back and understood instinctively.
Lungtao knew it was a trap too.
He'd gone anyway.
Thwack!
Lungtao landed in front of Narsha and swung his arm wide.
The moment the Shade was destroyed... a dark-blue spear erupted through Lungtao's chest.
It had been positioned out of Narsha's reach—a provocation aimed at drawing Lungtao in from the very start.
A breathless, silent stillness fell.
Not a single breath could be heard, even among tens of thousands.
"Ah...."
As if unable to believe what was unfolding before her eyes, Narsha's mouth hung open blankly.
"Aaaaaah!!"
With her scream, Lungtao's body collapsed.
Seeing the man fall far in the distance, Jiha clenched his teeth and walked forward.
His body was a wreck, but he had to go now.
"I'll help you."
Leticia, who had apparently returned after fetching Sirel, quickly moved to support him.
Jiha forced his body under control and headed toward where Lungtao had fallen.
The spectator stands.
As Jiha climbed up, supported by Leticia, people silently cleared a path for him.
Lungtao lay on the ground with his eyes closed.
Asira, who had rushed over after grasping the situation, was urgently casting healing arts on Lungtao's body.
Standing beside her, Narsha was blinking blankly, her pink eyes wet with tears.
Jiha asked curtly.
"How is he?"
"......."
Asira's face clouded over.
Narsha spoke in a trembling voice.
"What's this, no. Right? Demon Knight, isn't that right? Hurry up and treat him properly."
"Shut it, kid."
When Jiha cut her off sharply, Narsha glared at him as if she wanted to kill him.
Lungtao opened his eyes and said solemnly.
"You two should get along."
Jiha quickly signaled to Leticia with his eyes to clear away the onlookers, then sat down beside Lungtao.
"How are you?"
"Time's nearly caught up with me."
"......."
Lungtao's calm voice showed he was prepared.
As Asira poured Mana into him, sweat beading on her face, Lungtao shook his head.
"You can stop now. It's no use."
"What do you mean no use!"
Narsha cried out, enraged.
"If you dare die, I'll never forgive you! You useless tiger!"
"Hey."
Jiha shot her a steely glare, and Narsha's expression asked what he was going to do about it.
Lungtao smiled softly.
"You two suit each other quite well."
"Did you hit your head or something?"
Jiha made a deliberate effort to mock him as he examined Lungtao's condition.
The strike that had pierced his chest was clearly fatal... but why wasn't the healing art working at all?
Asira was even breaking out in a cold sweat, but it had no effect.
As if Lungtao's body were rejecting the healing art, the wound refused to close and continued to bleed.
Her face drenched in sweat, Asira said.
"......It's no good. We'd need a doctor here."
Doctors existed in Warsland too.
There were diseases that healing arts couldn't touch, and races that rejected them.
But no matter what renowned physician came now, they wouldn't be able to save Lungtao.
Lungtao spoke suddenly.
"Jiha, I have something to say, just the two of us."
"What?"
"That's enough treatment. Narsha, step back for a moment, please."
Asira glanced at Narsha to gauge her reaction.
Narsha's trembling lips seemed to want to say many things, but then she stood up and turned sharply away.
As if she couldn't bear the sight. Or as if she lacked the courage to face what had happened right before her eyes.
Asira also stopped her healing art, stood up, and stepped aside.
Jiha knelt on one knee beside Lungtao and looked down at him.
Lungtao smiled faintly and then tapped the chest area of his armor.
As if that were a command, the chest section smoothly peeled away, revealing Lungtao's bare chest.
"......."
Seeing the red jewel embedded in the very center of his chest, Jiha furrowed his brow.
A tiger beastman wasn't the sort of race born with a mineral embedded in its chest.
"It is the source of my Mana."
"Is that a magic stone?"
Lungtao nodded.
Jiha had heard that magic stones were used to summon people from Earth to Warsland, but this was his first time seeing one in person.
"After the experiments... it ended up like this. There are various side effects, and if I use it beyond its limits, my life ends."
"......."
Lungtao wasn't dying simply from his wound.
The wound was severe, but his life force had been exhausted because he'd forcibly used Mana that was never meant to be used.
That was why the healing art wouldn't work.
"You knew."
That using Mana was shaving away his own life.
He'd known that using it beyond a certain degree would kill him.
Knowing that, he'd still fought back-to-back with Jiha, and at the end, he'd thrown his body while burning all his life to save Narsha.
Knowing it was a trap.
"You did it knowing full well...."
That was all Jiha could say.
Knowing what kind of heart had driven Lungtao to make this choice, he could say nothing more.
Lungtao smiled contentedly.
"Narsha is a good kid. I vouch for her."
"A tiger shouldn't be spewing a dog's nonsense."
"Boss."
Lungtao spoke solemnly.
"I leave Narsha in your hands."
"......."
"She seems rough around the edges, but she has her circumstances. Don't judge her just by how she treats me."
Lungtao's voice was heavy with sighs.
Like a father worried about a wayward daughter.
"I have no regrets now, but Narsha is the one thing that stays on my mind."
Lungtao looked steadily at Jiha and made his request.
"Will you become Narsha's Helper?"
"I was planning to do it my way even if you hadn't asked."
As Lungtao nodded with satisfaction, Jiha spoke brusquely.
"I'm telling you now, I'm doing it my way. So...."
"......."
"Don't worry."
His throat ached so much it was hard to speak.
Lungtao laughed silently, then tapped his breastplate again to conceal the magic stone.
Their eyes met, and Jiha nodded wordlessly.
Given that Lungtao had deliberately cleared people away to show this, the magic stone embedded in his chest must be a major secret.
A secret that others must not know.
"Narsha."
At Lungtao's call, Narsha came back and looked down at him.
With a brusque expression, she placed her hands on her hips and asked coldly.
"What is it?"
"This man, Jiha, is your Helper. Treat each other with care and live happily."
"What? Are you insane? Have you totally lost it?"
Narsha glared at Jiha with utter disgust.
Then Lungtao calmly admonished her.
"I know Dirga culture, but treat Jiha with courtesy and respect. I am asking you this."
"Don't make me laugh. Who are you to decide my Helper...."
"We promised."
Lungtao's voice was weighty.
"That I would stay with you until you found your Helper."
"......."
"I am keeping that promise."
As Lungtao smiled, Narsha's lips quivered for a long while before she finally said.
"......I already forgot a promise like that. I don't even remember it."
"Hey."
Jiha had intended to stay out of it as much as possible, but he couldn't help but interject.
But instead, Narsha directed her fierce glare at Jiha.
She seemed to find it easier to get angry at Jiha than to deal with Lungtao.
Lungtao spoke slowly.
"Narsha, this is as far as I go."
"......Who gave you the right?"
"I wanted to see you build a happy family...."
"Who gave you the right to die, you idiot tiger!!"
Narsha screamed at the top of her lungs.
In contrast to her vicious shouting, her face was a mess.
Her wavering eyes and trembling chin revealed her true feelings.
"You were just going to use me in the end anyway! You were going to put me forward and gather a ton of men! You said you would make an army! You haven't finished making it yet! So why are you dying! Why!!"
"Things turned out this way."
"No, this isn't right. This isn't right...."
Narsha shook her head.
Her once-ferocious gaze contorted.
"Don't die."
"......."
"Don't die. I'll do anything. I'll make you as many weapons as you want. I'll make you anything. Okay? I'll listen well. I won't do things like whipping anymore. I won't get angry either. I'll do whatever you tell me to do. Please, okay?"
Narsha poured out words in a frenzy.
As if speaking could somehow alter the reality before her eyes.
Futilely.
"Jiha will take care of the details from now on. Trust him more than you trusted me, and follow him more."
"No, not someone like him, I need you here. Okay? Okay? At the start it was just the two of us. We started with just the two of us and made it this far. We did well, didn't we!"
The tiger slowly pressed down on Narsha's head as she pleaded tearfully, lamenting that they could no longer be together.
"It's alright. Even without me, you will do well."
"No, I can't be without you. I can't. How can you do this? This is wrong. This isn't right...."
Having repeated herself, Narsha swallowed her tears with effort and said.
"Don't just die as you please, Lungtao."
"Narsha."
"No, I won't listen. Don't speak. Don't speak."
As Narsha shook her head violently, Lungtao regretfully stroked her hair.
"I am not dying because of you. Don't blame yourself."
"......."
"My body had problems for a long time, and that time has come. Rather, I am happy that I could protect you at the very end."
Narsha's face crumpled as if everything she had believed in had collapsed.
Lungtao looked at Jiha with worry.
"I leave what comes after to you."
"Understood."
Though the words were short, a man's promise is heavier than gold.
Lungtao addressed Narsha again.
"Jiha is a finer man than anyone I have ever seen. He is strong yet understands loyalty, seems cold yet is passionate, and is manly toward other men. He is a man who will surely change this world, so trust him even more than you trusted me."
"You, you promised you would protect me...."
Narsha wept openly and complained resentfully.
"You said we'd always be together, that you at least would definitely always be with me... Are you abandoning me too?"
"I'm sorry."
Lungtao apologized in a low voice.
As Narsha clung to the hem of his clothes and couldn't say a word, Lungtao spoke slowly.
"Even so, I was happy to have walked alongside you, Narsha."
"I, I was too...."
The moment Narsha barely managed to speak, Lungtao gave a long sigh and closed his eyes.
And then he did not move.
"Ah...."
As if unable to believe what had happened before her eyes, Narsha just swallowed her sighs.
"This isn't real, right? You're joking, right, Lungtao?"
Narsha shook Lungtao's body and tried to force a smile, but her gaze eventually softened, and as emotion surged, she didn't know what to do.
Having held it in and held it in, she let out a scream.
"Don't die, Lungtao!!"
Along with her tears.
Jiha silently watched Lungtao and Narsha.
Lungtao was dead.
In Dirga culture, a father doesn't exist.
Chewing over those two facts, Jiha closed his eyes.
A whirlwind raged in his heart.
But tears did not come.
When a woman cries, a man does not. That's just how it should be.
A man who has buried another man's death in his heart takes action.
"Enril."
When Jiha called quietly, the sound of footsteps approached.
"Yura, Asira."
At his call, two more sets of footsteps approached from behind.
"Leticia."
The elf summoned last took her place behind him.
Without looking back, Jiha only gazed upward.
The sky was blue.
"A mysterious assailant appeared during the Summoning War and threw the match into ruin. Waris cannot overlook this fact, and until the truth is uncovered, the Summoning War is suspended. We will devote our full effort to revealing the truth."
The time had come.
"Whether it's Blue Seal or Purple Liberation, it makes no difference. We will not forgive whoever brought this city to chaos."
The time had finally come.
"The executive officers of this Fact-finding Committee shall be the four of you."
If four Uniques were the executives, no one in Waris could oppose them.
Jiha turned around.
Behind the four tense women, he could see the people—tens of thousands of bewildered faces, clueless about the situation.
Looking beyond them, picturing in his mind's eye the hundreds of thousands spread across all of Waris, Jiha declared.
"The chairman of the Fact-finding Committee is me."
The time had come to reign with authority.