Chapter 32
Chapter 32
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 32
Chapter Title: The Bound Boy
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Jade tilted his head to listen to the demon's conversation. It sounded like there was a puddle where the stream fell from the cliff. And judging by how close the sound of water crashing was, the cliff probably wasn't all that high. Of course, sound alone couldn't tell him how deep the puddle was, and there was no way to check.
He had no choice but to jump.
The moment he leaped off the cliff, the light from his hands had already faded, leaving true pitch blackness.
'Will my feet hit water or stone? What if there's a jutting rock halfway down? Even if I land in water, if it's too high up, it'll be the same as hitting solid rock.'
The fall felt impossibly long, swarming him with wild fears. In reality, it was less than five times his height, but it felt like a mile.
When he finally hit the puddle, the impact was so massive he couldn't tell if his feet had struck water or stone. As his body plunged into the depths, it felt like his lower half shattered.
The water was freezing cold, choking off his breath. Submerged, he couldn't distinguish up from down.
'Yesterday sand, today water. What's tomorrow's poison? Assuming I live that long.'
Jade flailed his arms until he finally surfaced. As expected, there was nothing to see but darkness. He knew how to swim, but in a moment like this, it was all just frantic splashing.
Swimming blindly in some direction, his hands touched bottom.
Jade dragged himself out of the water. Somewhere in the chaos, he'd lost his bag. Keeping hold of the book was fortunate enough.
He had no time to calm his pounding heart and ragged breaths. Things were splashing into the puddle behind him, one after another.
Plop!
Plop!
Splash!
Then came their voices.
"Kaoook. Cold."
"Kuoook. Cold."
Jade wiped the water from his face and scrambled to his feet without a second to spare.
The demon dismissal incantation required seeing and reading the text directly. Even reciting it right before, like moments ago, was useless. Memorizing it ahead of time didn't work either.
Years of hundreds of experiments had yielded the same result. He had to see the words and chant them inwardly for the light to appear.
'It's over.'
The moment he lost the light to read by, Jade had completely lost his weapon for fighting.
"Huh?"
At that instant, he realized he could faintly make out his surroundings. Not enough to read by, but he could vaguely see the walls' outlines and his own dripping hands glistening.
'What is it? Sunlight couldn't reach this deep.'
Jade ran toward the mysterious light.
His waterlogged clothes weighed like lumps of iron, his lungs burning as if about to burst. He tripped over rocks multiple times, bashed his knees on protruding stones, sliced his palms on sharp edges when steadying against walls. Still, he didn't stop.
The splashing footsteps grew closer.
Soon, he spotted light leaking between two massive boulders. A faint glow that would go unnoticed outside, but in this stifling darkness, it shone like salvation.
Splash splash.
Pat pat pat pat.
The sound of Jade's soaked footsteps overlapped with the demons' pursuit, echoing through the cave. Neither side pulled ahead or fell behind.
The closer he got to the light, the darker his surroundings seemed.
'Lost too much blood. Haven't slept since yesterday. Or was it the day before?'
The gap between the boulders was just wide enough for one person.
'What lies beyond? Maybe it connects outside? Or is another demon luring prey with the light?'
Just like the cliff jump, he had no choice now.
Jade squeezed through without pausing to peek. As he shoved his body inside, he glanced back the way he'd come.
The black demon, with its little ones, filled the surroundings with darkness, closing in fast. For a split second, the entire cave's gloom seemed part of it.
Jade threw every ounce of strength into burrowing into the crevice. The darkness trailed him, something tearing at his shoulder.
Gritting his teeth, he pressed on. The rocky gap stretched about ten steps, ending at a faintly glowing source.
'What is that?'
Jagged rock fragments obscured it.
It looked humanlike, or like a doll.
Jade twisted and contorted to keep advancing.
'Formless thing like that can slip through easily. Can't stop.'
The moment Jade thought that and looked back, the black mass thrust into the crevice.
He jerked his head back in shock. Falling backward, his clothes tore on sharp stone, skin slicing open. In his startle, he dropped the book.
A massive black horn shoved into the gap. It halted just short of Jade, then slithered back.
Jade snatched up the dropped book.
For some reason, it didn't press further. It could have turned to smoke and entered like before, but now it just glared from beyond the rocks, yellow eyes glinting.
Then something bit his ankle. One of the little demons had caught up.
Jade kicked it off and swiftly opened the book with one hand. Another latched onto his shoulder.
No time to scream—he found and read the passage for banishing lesser shadow demons, then thrust out his hand. The one on his shoulder shattered on touching the white light. The next one got blasted back through the crevice.
The black demon, unable to enter, kept sending in the small ones.
Jade scraped his face and forearms raw on the rough rock but kept crawling forward.
A distance of three or four steps felt endless this way. Then his hand, reaching for the wall, swiped empty air, and he pitched forward. The walls blocking left and right were gone.
Jade had reached a round chamber, ceiling twice his height, maybe twenty paces across. It looked naturally eroded or artificially smoothed.
In the center knelt a figure, head bowed, long red hair cascading down over bent knees.
The hair was so long it resembled a massive red furball. Without the pale, slender limbs peeking from beneath, it would have taken longer to recognize as human-shaped.
'The wingless angel who lost a bet to the dwarf in the story.'
The shackles fixed to its limbs matched the tale, as did the chains anchored to the floor.
The light guiding Jade came not from the boy but from the chains and shackles—mysterious, beautiful metal that stole his gaze even now.
'That must be the unbreakable shackles forged by the dwarf craftsman.'
Jade couldn't tell yet if this was the angel from Danell's tale, a demon in league with the black smoky one glaring from the crevice, or something else entirely.
"Um, excuse me, are you the angel?"
Jade's words came out awkwardly.
Suspicion it might be a demon kept him from approaching easily, but he had no time to deliberate.
"Can you hear me?"
He took a step closer and asked again. Nothing else came to mind.
'Right. I still haven't figured out what to say if I meet an angel. "Wanna go look for the Holy Grail if you're bored?" Yeah, no.'
Jade mumbled low, still searching for words, when the red-haired "thing" lifted its face.
He braced for a skeletal corpse, a horrific demon shape, or something beyond human imagination.
After all, five hundred years imprisoned, per the story! But it looked exactly like the boy in the tale.
Not filthy at all—smooth nose, big eyes even seeming cute.
"Me..."
The boy finally spoke.
"...did you come to free me?"
The tone fit a foul-mouthed fourteen-year-old.
Demons screeched behind him, but Jade focused only on the boy's voice, tuning them out. The earlier plunge still dazed his ears anyway. His eyes stung, vision blurry; breathing came hard.
"Yes. I came to free you."
Jade managed.
"This... you can undo it?"
The red-haired boy raised his hand slightly. The chain rattled lightly, like a silver necklace—not heavy iron.
"Unlocking this requires angelic magic. The reverse incantation for binding light shackles. Humans can't pronounce it. But you can?"
The boy asked.
"Oh, that..."
Jade lifted the book, then hesitated.
'Wait, page 144 won't cut it. Need a different passage. Never learned this?'
The boy spoke with mild irritation.
"Can you or can't you?"
Jade froze. Hundreds of memories with Priest Danell flashed by, thousands of their conversations.
"Hey!"
The boy called.
Jade answered in a just-woke voice.
"I can."
"Then hurry up already!"
Jade glanced back. Yellow eyes in writhing black smoke glared mercilessly. Little demons had reached the crevice base, heads cocked like vultures awaiting a fallen meal.
Fortunately, the glowing chains filled this round chamber, barring entry.
"If I free you, will you protect me?"
Jade asked.
The boy eyed the monsters behind.
"Once I'm loose, trash like them won't touch me. I'll protect you."
Jade opened the book to the final chapter. One passage heralded world's end—but reversed, it undid light shackles.
Like opening and resealing the temple's hidden wall, he'd theorized and practiced this for years. Recalling it perfectly now wasn't easy.
'Come to think of it, Danell drilled wall-opening endlessly, but skimmed chain-unlocking. And too many things like that.'
Jade grasped a chain with his glowing hand; one anchored to the floor popped free with a thud.
The boy raised his freed hand.
"Good. One wrist, two ankles left."
The demon outside bellowed. The roar shook the chamber, ears numbing.
"You fool! What are you doing? Stop now!"
Jade read the second passage and touched the next chain. It yanked free with a thud, scattering stone dust.
"Stop! I said stop! Do you even know what you're freeing?"
The demon raged on, but Jade ignored.
Third passage, third chain; fourth, fourth.
"Strange. There's a fifth phrase, but no fifth chain..."
Jade said.
The boy pointed to his neck with a freed hand. A silver shackle gleamed where none had been.
"Hid the collar. Humiliating to wear one."
Jade read the last, pulling the neck chain free.
All chains undone. Suddenly, strength drained from Jade's body; he collapsed.
Touching demons after banishing always hurt there and fatigued him, but never all at once like this.
The red-haired boy rose slowly. Five hundred years chained, yet he just stretched his waist like after an hour kneeling.
He swept back his dangling hair. Chains clinked against the floor following his hand.
The chains' glow dimmed slightly. Enough for them to see each other's faces.
The demon's voice fell silent. Looking back, the black smoky demon and little ones had fled.
The boy met Jade's gaze, boasting.
"Hmph, they ran. Scared of me, naturally."
He spoke to Jade in a clear, bright tone.
"Now, time for me to keep my promise."
Jade nodded, thinking it meant protection.
The boy flashed white teeth in a smile. Innocent, yet momentarily terrifying and cruel.
"I've been trapped here five hundred years. Roughly—can't count without light, and I was half-asleep, half-awake."
He approached the slumped Jade. Long chains dragged, eerie scrapes on stone.
"First century, I'd thank anyone freeing me, repay the favor."
He leaned close to Jade's face.
"Next, thought I'd apologize to angels and dwarves once out."
Five hundred years without brushing, yet his breath smelled fresh fruit. Like expensive Springpay peaches.
"Next century, serve whoever freed me as lifelong servant. But no one came..."
His voice rose in anger.
"So next century, I changed. Revenge on angels. On dwarves. But still no one. So I changed again. Last century, only one thought."
Red light kindled in his eyes.
"Once out, kill my liberator first! Then end the world. I'm no angel anymore—I'm a demon."
He seized Jade's collar, hoisting him.
"From now, 'fallen angel' will be my name."
He demanded of choking Jade.
"What's your name? Least remember my first kill's name."
He raised a fist.
Then Jade rasped not a name, but something else. And blacked out.
Jade thought he'd died. Faintly, the boy's annoyed voice.
"What the hell does that mean?"