Ending Maker Chapter 46
Ending Maker Chapter 46
Chapter 13 - Sunflower Herb
Leviathan, the Overlord of Destruction who drove Frost Anvil to ruin, summoned a giant white serpent as his final gambit.
The white serpent possessed scales so hard they deflected any weapon of the ancient dwarves, poison so potent that merely being near it could melt one's body, and even an Evil Eye that paralyzed anyone who met its gaze. It was the very end of Frost Anvil itself.
Countless ancient dwarves lost their lives.
But they did not simply die helplessly. They drove the white serpent into the deepest power chamber of Frost Anvil and chose to die together with the wicked magic beast.
'May our deaths have meaning.'
The ancient dwarves overloaded the mana furnace and destroyed Frost Anvil's temperature control system itself. As a result, Frost Anvil became a frozen land ruled by extreme cold, true to its name.
"And then a thousand years passed. Over that long stretch of time, the white serpent weakened. Its hide, once an invincible shield, was no longer what it had been, and centuries of starvation had severely weakened both its stamina and its mana. And... Frost Anvil itself was no longer as cold as before."
Frost Anvil a thousand years ago had truly been a frozen hell.
The ancient dwarves who had overloaded the power furnace would have become ice statues without even a moment to feel pain.
"The white serpent."
Leviathan's magic beast, servant of the Overlord of Destruction.
The end of Frost Anvil.
A genuine monster with a body length reaching dozens of meters.
"But now it's just experience points for me."
In front of the white serpent, its head half blown apart, Cordelia hummed and nodded before stretching out her left arm to take a selfie.
It was a portable magic camera of the ancient dwarves that she had found on the way here.
And Yuder, who had been watching the scene, spoke.
"What are you doing?"
"Commemorative screenshot. Wanna take one together?"
"It's not new, but you really do have a strong stomach in weird places."
A girl taking selfies while acting cute in front of a giant monster with its head half-destroyed.
But screenshots were important.
Yuder nodded and quickly went over to Cordelia to take a selfie together.
"It came out well. From now on, we should take one every time we catch a boss."
"Hmm, how should I put it. It reminds me of poachers who pose on top of a lion they killed."
"Looking at it broadly, isn't this also poaching?"
Since they had caught a wild snake.
When Cordelia nodded as if unexpectedly agreeing, Yuder was momentarily at a loss for words and simply nodded back.
"Anyway, let's eat."
"Yes, Dad. What side dishes do we have today?"
"Snake side dishes."
"It's always snake!"
"Our princess, you can't be a picky eater. Okay?"
"Hey, eating only snake every day is the real picky eating, you know?"
"It can't be helped. There's nothing to eat but snake."
The monsters that existed between the 3rd and 6th floors were mostly humanoid types like snow goblins.
If there had truly been nothing else to eat, that would have been one thing. But monster or not, eating something humanoid was simply too much.
In the end, Cordelia let out a long sigh and walked with Yuder toward their tent, their little home, and asked.
"Yuder, Yuder. When exactly does the Sunflower Herb bloom?"
"Tomorrow...... to be exact, it'll bloom at midnight tonight."
Since several days had already passed after catching the white serpent.
At Yuder's answer, Cordelia turned her head and looked at the large flower situated in the center of the power chamber.
The Sunflower Herb with its bud tightly closed.
In the original, true to its name of sun, it had been a yellow and red flower, but now it was a purple close to blue.
"I hope it blooms soon."
"Yeah."
"If you eat that, your Nine Yin Meridian Blockage gets cured, right?"
"Probably. It should be close to a full cure."
"Just you wait until you're cured."
"What are you going to do if I'm cured?"
"I'm going to collect on everything you owe me."
Cordelia, humming, quickened her pace as the tent drew near.
Yuder's tent, reinforced with all the materials he had gathered on the way, was a tent in name only. It was practically a house.
'Because it has a dining room and a bath.'
It was nothing new, but Yuder really was good with his hands.
"My nickname was Korean MacGyver."
"Who's that?"
"There is one—the protagonist of a classic American TV series that foreigners love. You've probably at least heard the theme song."
"Song?"
"Da-da-da da-da-da~ da-da-da~ da-da-da-da-da-da-da~ la-la-la~ la-la-la~ da-da-da da-da-da~ da-da-da~ da-da-da~"
"What are you even saying?"
"Well, yeah."
When Cordelia's expression turned sulky, Yuder, who had gotten carried away without realizing it, opened the dining room door with an awkward face.
Since all of Frost Anvil was basically one giant refrigerator, it was a kind of greenhouse built to keep food warm.
"Anyway, let's eat."
"Yes, Dad. It's not much, but enjoy your meal."
"Hey, I'm the one who prepared it?"
"So reflect on that. Wake up. I said wake up."
"If I get sick, I'll die."
After exchanging the same nonsense as always, the two sat facing each other at the table Yuder had made and began their meal.
And that night.
Yuder and Cordelia, who had even taken a nap beforehand, crouched in front of the Sunflower Herb and waited for the moment of blooming with sparkling eyes.
"Not yet?"
"It's almost time. Want to count down?"
"It feels like waiting for the New Year's bell."
Cordelia giggled for some reason, looked at the second hand of the pocket watch Yuder held out, and at some point opened her mouth again.
"5."
"4."
"3."
"2......."
And a few seconds.
The two, who had been staring at the Sunflower Herb with pained expressions, opened their mouths again and shouted.
"1!" they shouted together.
The bud of the Sunflower Herb unfurled.
The purple petals gradually turned yellow, and a soft glow like moonlight began to radiate from the flower itself.
"Wow......."
It was beautiful.
It could not even be compared to the blooming of the tulip she had watched all night in elementary school to write an observation diary.
The sight of the soft light growing ever more intense and illuminating the surroundings was just like a sunrise.
"It's pretty."
When Cordelia, her eyes sparkling, smiled brightly, Yuder, who had been looking at Cordelia instead of the Sunflower Herb, also smiled.
"Alright, then shall we fix that Nine Yin Meridian Blockage?"
"You're going to eat that?"
"To be precise, I'm going to absorb its essence. You know from the original, right?"
"I know, but...... it feels like a waste."
"It's a flower that wilts in three days anyway."
"Still."
Even while they exchanged words, the blooming of the Sunflower Herb continued, and when it finally reached full bloom, the entire power chamber was filled with warm heat.
"The flower of the sun."
The essence of extreme yang, blooming amid extreme cold.
After taking another deep breath, Yuder walked toward the Sunflower Herb while Cordelia stayed where she was and watched him.
"Cordelia."
"Hm?"
"Once I absorb the essence of the Sunflower Herb, I probably won't be able to move for a while."
"Are you telling me to draw on your face?"
"......I'd appreciate it if you could refrain if possible...... but anyway, I'm counting on you."
"You can count on me. I'll keep you safe."
When Cordelia thumped her chest, Yuder smiled and extended both hands toward the Sunflower Herb.
"I'll trust you, Cordelia."
Yuder's two hands touched the bud of the Sunflower Herb. And at that moment, the yang energy of the Sunflower Herb concentrated into Yuder's two hands.
The Sunflower Herb's yang energy reacted to the extreme yin energy of the Nine Yin Meridian Blockage.
"Ahh, ahhh......!"
The moment Yuder let out a breath filled with rapture, light burst forth.
The warmth of the Sunflower Herb surged through Yuder's entire body at once. He went limp and collapsed, and blue and yellow energy mixed together and began swirling around him.
"Extreme yin and extreme yang......."
It was a phenomenon created as the extreme yin energy that had been slowly melting through the Sun's Necklace tangled together with the extreme yang energy that had rushed in all at once.
'Even if it looks dangerous, just leave it alone for now. It's part of the healing process.'
Cordelia recalled what Yuder had told her, swallowed hard, and stood watching him.
And how much time passed?
Around the time Cordelia, growing bored, crouched down and began scribbling on the floor.
'Beeeeep-!'
A warning sound rang in her head.
It was clearly the sound of the alarm magic circles that Yuder had installed in the various passages leading to the 7th floor.
Cordelia, who snapped her head up, thought.
Who could it be?
They had practically wiped out the monsters that existed from the 3rd to the 6th floors.
Was it one that had been hiding?
Or was it someone completely unexpected?
This was no time to agonize.
A new alarm rang. It was proof that the intruder was approaching this place.
"Yuder."
Blue and yellow light were still mixed and swirling. She could not even guess when it would end.
Cordelia closed her eyes and steadied her breathing. Then she kicked off from where she stood and charged forward.
She would protect Yuder.
Whoever it was, she would not let them even approach the power chamber.
Cordelia, armed in the yellow work clothes of the ancient dwarves, gripped Moonlight.
She began to run, following the sound of the alarm.
* * *
Paragot did not die.
He had lost all of his combatants and his comrade, the witch Vilkeil, but he was still alive.
It was thanks to a moment of quick thinking.
At the moment the magical flames burst, he used Vilkeil as a shield, mustered all of his remaining strength to destroy the magic circle, and in the safety zone he had barely created, absorbed both the remaining mana and soul of the dead Vilkeil.
Of course, it was far too little to fully restore his strength. So he also turned the combatants who had barely survived inside the magic circle into nourishment.
'It's not the ancient dwarves.'
They were not traps built into the surrounding terrain from the design stage. Someone had laid new traps using magic circles.
Since Sisiot was likely rampaging outside the Great Gate, Paragot moved further inward for now.
And then he discovered it.
'Traces of a fire.'
Traces that seemed to show someone had camped remained here and there.
Leftover food scraps.
Half-burned firewood.
A single long strand of red hair found in a safe zone built by piling up various objects.
"Heh heh...... heh heh heh......."
Laughter escaped him without his realizing it.
Because there was only one conclusion he could think of.
He did not know what trick she had used, but Cordelia had already entered Frost Anvil.
After even installing traps on the 1st floor, she was moving deeper and deeper in search of the Sunflower Herb.
'Then there is only one thing for me to do.'
Capture Cordelia.
Kill Yuder, who would be with her, and absorb his power.
If the Sunflower Herb had bloomed, absorb that as well while he was at it.
Paragot moved along the traces.
From the 3rd floor to the 6th.
Finding his way inside the cold and dark Frost Anvil was not easy.
But Paragot did not rush. After advancing patiently over several days, he finally reached the 7th floor.
And at this very moment, he faced her.
"Cordelia."
A beautiful girl with vivid red hair, just as he had seen in the footage.
Paragot smiled with satisfaction again.
It was time for the hunt.
* * *
She was not on Yuder's level, but Cordelia also knew a great deal about Hero Legend 2.
Because of that, she could tell the moment she faced him.
'Demonic Human Paragot.'
The strongest among the lower-ranked Demonic Humans of the Devil's Hand.
Despite the cold, cold sweat ran down her back.
Even without the game knowledge, her instincts knew. Every sense she had was warning her.
'He's strong.'
Yuder and Cordelia had defeated as many as three Demonic Humans so far, but in truth, the only one they had properly fought was Demonic Human Minos.
And even Minos would have defeated them if not for Bellastin's Magic Circle, which was practically a cheat.
What if she fought now?
It would not be easy either.
No matter how low-ranked they were, a Demonic Human was a Demonic Human.
Tactical weapons created by the Devil's Hand by combining humans and demons.
Moreover, the Paragot before her eyes was stronger than Minos.
He seemed badly exhausted from coming all this way, but as the saying went, class was permanent.
'But.'
She still had to fight.
She had to lure him far away so the aftermath would not reach Yuder, who had to remain completely still.
Then where should she fight?
Paragot's build was large.
On the other hand, Cordelia herself was slender.
So how about fighting in a place with many obstacles?
Rejected.
Paragot was a close-combat specialist Demonic Human who possessed overwhelming strength.
Flimsy obstacles would be smashed in an instant, so a cramped place would only restrict her escape routes.
A wide place.
A place where Cordelia herself could make full use of her mobility.
Cordelia did not reason it out.
Instead of reasoning like Yuder, she intuited all of this.
And because of that, unlike Yuder, she needed no time to reach a decision. The instant intuition struck, she moved.
"Where do you think you're going!"
Paragot shouted loudly and kicked off the ground.
At the same time, Cordelia cast Haste on herself again, stacking its effects.
Witchification was still too early.
If she used Witchification, which consumed a lot of mana, from the start, she would not be able to buy time properly.
"Kahaha! You're like a rabbit!"
Paragot's mana grew stronger.
Cordelia did not look back, but she knew.
Horns had probably sprouted from his head—the demon transformation that Demonic Human Minos had shown.
The state in which a Demonic Human drew out their true power.
While running, her back went cold.
Paragot's intense mana and malice seemed to stab at her back.
Cordelia did not stop.
Like a deer fleeing a predator, she ran without stopping.
The map of the 7th floor.
Yuder was ridiculous for having memorized the whole place inside and out.
But Cordelia could also remember a hunting ground she had passed through once.
A large room situated in a corner of the 7th floor.
She did not know what it had originally been used for, but it was a vast open space.
She entered.
It was dark.
But the darkness was not a problem.
And the same was true for Paragot.
"Kahaha! A dead end!"
Paragot, who had been charging like a tank and smashing the ground beneath him, laughed loudly as his eyes shone even brighter.
They were the eyes of a Demonic Human that could see through darkness.
Cordelia let out a breath. Instead of cowering in fear, she activated Witchification.
Fwoosh-!
A violent wave of mana rose like a storm around Cordelia.
Her hair turned black, and a blue gleam rose in her eyes.
A slight crack appeared in Paragot's smile. It was because of Cordelia's mana, which had explosively increased the moment she activated Witchification.
"Bring it."
Cordelia spoke, and Paragot laughed again. He charged at Cordelia with terrifying speed!
Boom!
A thunderous sound erupted.
The floor and wall broke.
He missed by a hair.
Paragot's fist, which had passed by Cordelia as if grazing her, carved a large crack into the wall, and Cordelia cast Haste once more.
Triple stack.
Setting aside whether her body could endure it, it was something most mages would not even attempt.
The reason was simple.
Because they could not adapt to the speed of a triple-stacked Haste.
Because it was a speed that an ordinary human could never handle.
But Cordelia did it.
And she adapted.
Tap-tap-tap-tap-tap-tap!
Cordelia moved at terrifying speed.
Paragot, as a physical-type Demonic Human, also increased his speed further and targeted Cordelia, but he could not land his attacks.
Cordelia was not simply fast.
She was reading Paragot's attacks.
'How?!'
It was an ultra-high-speed battle.
Predicting the next move by watching Paragot's own minute movements was close to impossible.
And in reality, it was.
Even if it were Yuder, he would not have been able to read the next attack instantly in a fight against Paragot at this very moment.
But Cordelia could.
Because she had not calculated in the first place.
An intuition that surpassed reasoning.
A talent that reached the result directly.
Cordelia felt it.
Paragot's attacks.
She intuited what attack would unfold next.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The shockwaves from his punches shattered the walls, ceiling, and floor.
Amid the fist pressure surging like a storm, Cordelia danced like a butterfly.
A precarious dance that looked ready to snap at any moment.
She looked so fragile that even a single hit seemed enough to shatter her.
But Cordelia did not break. She continued the butterfly's dance within the storm.
"You insolent little—!"
Paragot's mana grew even more violent.
And he thought.
He would change tactics.
If he could not hit her, he would widen the range of his attacks. Even if he missed, he would catch her in the shockwave.
An attack aimed not at a point but at an area.
Cordelia felt it.
And she interfered with Paragot in a way that only Cordelia could.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
The sting of a bee joined the butterfly's dance.
As she performed her breathless three-dimensional maneuvers, more than a dozen Magic Missiles joined the dizzying dance and hammered Paragot from every direction.
"Crazy?!"
Paragot was astonished.
It was not because of the damage from the magic missiles.
She was dodging him while simultaneously casting more than a dozen Magic Missiles?
And it was not simply firing them.
Cordelia was controlling the magic missiles.
Paragot felt goosebumps for a moment.
A shudder ran down his spine.
Her talent was insane.
Even apart from her value as a high-quality sacrifice, Cordelia herself was priceless.
If this girl grew as she was.
If that absurd combat talent were paired with powerful magic.
"Graaah!"
This was no time to be admiring her.
It sounded crazy, but in the current battle, Cordelia was growing stronger.
She was actually doing something that belonged in a heroic tale.
"Hah!"
Paragot shouted loudly.
It was an area-wide sonic attack.
It was indeed effective, and Cordelia's dance was interrupted for a moment. She staggered, and Paragot did not miss the opening.
"Die!"
Capturing her alive was already gone from his mind.
A full-power strike closed in on Cordelia.
She could not dodge.
Blocking was out of the question.
Cordelia knew it too.
That was why she kept her eyes wide open and faced the fist head-on. Then she passed straight through it. As if she had turned into a ghost, she charged through Paragot himself!
'How?!'
Paragot could not understand.
But Cordelia knew.
No, she had been aiming for it from the start.
Yuder was paranoid, after all.
On top of that, he was extremely rational and obsessed with efficiency.
'You're wearing it.'
Because he could not move while absorbing the essence of the Sunflower Herb.
Because it was far more efficient for Cordelia, the only one who could fight, to use it.
'Fairy's Footsteps.'
Cordelia, who had passed through Paragot, spun beautifully. She extended both arms toward Paragot's empty back and released all of the remaining mana of Witchification at once!
RUMBLE-BOOOOM!
A vivid red wave of mana swept across not only Paragot but nearly half of the open space.
Its power was so great that even Cordelia, the one who had fired it, was pushed back significantly.
"Hah...... hah...... hah......."
Cordelia barely kept herself from collapsing, sweat streaming off her as she panted for breath.
The red wave and dust mixed together and obscured her vision.
With Witchification released, she could no longer see through the darkness.
But Cordelia could tell.
Because of that, she squeezed her eyes shut.
"You wretch!"
Paragot, his entire body covered in blood, let out a roar.
He had detonated his mana while taking the hit, canceling part of Cordelia's attack and somehow enduring it. Now he charged at Cordelia, who was barely able to stand, drawing back his fist.
He would smash her.
He would shatter that slender body.
Paragot laughed madly, relishing the thought of staining pristine snow.
And Cordelia raised her head again. She smiled without realizing it.
Boom!
The wall broke.
With terrifying power, cracks spread not only through the wall but also the floor and ceiling.
And that was all.
Cordelia did not break.
Paragot's fist pierced only empty air.
"I said I'd hold you, right?"
Cordelia's eyes went wide at the teasing voice, but then she laughed.
She wrapped her arms around the neck of the man who held her in his embrace.
And at that moment, it activated.
Nine Heavens Nine Gates, Second Gate.
No further explanation was needed.