Ending Maker Chapter 48
Ending Maker Chapter 48
Chapter 13 - Sunflower Herb #3
"Giddyup, giddyup! Run, run!"
When Cordelia, riding on Yuder's back, shouted cheerfully, Yuder's eyes narrowed.
"Ma'am."
"What is it, Dolsoe?"
"Have a conscience and at least dangle a carrot in front of me before telling me to run."
"Carrot my ass. More importantly, how about a whipping? Don't you think I'd be good at it?"
At Cordelia's words, Yuder briefly imagined Cordelia wielding a whip.
The outfit was a little risqué, but with Cordelia's natural beauty, it actually suited her surprisingly well.
"Hey, you're imagining something weird, aren't you?"
"No way. More importantly, Princess, Daddy didn't raise you to be like that."
"Then how did he raise me?"
"Like Princess Maker?"
"Congratulations. You got the Queen ending. A queen who's very good at whipping. The time has come to be punished for living in luxury off the money you made your daughter earn through part-time jobs."
"We're here."
"We're here."
As always, they traded nonsense back and forth, and before they knew it, they were at the power room.
Yuder adjusted Cordelia on his back once more and then asked.
"Can you stand?"
"I can, but since you've carried me this far, carry me all the way back to camp."
"Fine."
She was speaking cheerfully, but Cordelia's complexion was pale.
It was because she had overexerted herself in various ways.
When Yuder made a worried expression, Cordelia smiled brightly and tapped Yuder's back again.
"Hurry up and go. Giddyup."
"Neighhh."
Yuder, playing along, hurried his steps.
And then, about another minute.
Cordelia sprawled out on the cot and suddenly let out an awkward little laugh.
"Why?"
"No, it's just that we only stayed a few days, but I feel as relieved as if I came home."
"So you really are a homebody. You were born for it."
"Says you."
Cordelia giggled, stretched her body once more, and then forced her closing eyes wide open.
Because the incident at hand was too serious for her to fall asleep comfortably.
"Sisiot."
"The Blade Demon. Wind attribute. A close-combat specialist, but once its seal is released, it's a monster that unleashes devastating sword energy."
Originally, it was a demon encountered in the mid-game, during the direct confrontation with the Devil's Hand.
But right now, it was still the early game.
Looking at it coldly, it was not an enemy that Yuder and Cordelia, who still fell short of Paragot in terms of stats, could face.
"It's one mountain after another."
They had just taken down the White Snake relatively easily, and now after Paragot came Sisiot.
Yuder gave Cordelia a bitter smile meant to reassure her and said,
"Still, since we know its true name and the sealing ritual—more precisely, the binding-control formula—we do have a chance. And if my prediction is right, we should have allies outside the gate too."
"The Count Hraesvelgr Household."
"Right. Given the circumstances, Paragot must have destroyed the Great Gate's seal."
The Great Gate had a large seal installed by the Count Hraesvelgr Household.
In the original work as well, most monsters could not penetrate into the interior of Frost Anvil because of the seal and the Great Gate.
Only some that discovered side paths or hidden routes managed to rush in.
But this time, the situation was different from the original work.
The Devil's Hand, who were not supposed to come to Frost Anvil, had appeared, and they had completely destroyed the Great Gate's seal.
"If a seal of that level breaks, the mage responsible for it would know immediately. And because it is a seal that important, they will definitely send troops to investigate what happened."
Moreover, this time, the incident of Yuder and Cordelia's lovers' elopement was also mixed in.
From the Count Hraesvelgr Household's perspective, they would also have to consider the possibility that Yuder and Cordelia had destroyed the Great Gate's seal, so either way, they had no choice but to send troops.
At Yuder's words, Cordelia's expression became serious.
It was not because she was worried about getting entangled with the Count Hraesvelgr Household again.
"Sending a few rangers just for investigation will only increase the damage."
Because the enemy was the demon Sisiot.
When Cordelia worried about possible victims, Yuder shook his head and said.
"It's fine. House Hraesvelgr would have noticed the monsters' abnormal migration too. They should have sent a reasonably large force."
"Would they...? Then that's a relief."
When Cordelia smiled as if a weight had been lifted, Yuder smiled along, but inwardly he thought something different.
'The damage is probably already considerable.'
Even then, it would probably amount to only a dozen-odd rangers.
And with a force of that size, they could never face Sisiot.
A reasonable estimate put the likely casualties at more than ten already.
If they met the Count Hraesvelgr Household's forces outside the Great Gate, it would be the second dispatch unit, not the first.
But Yuder kept those thoughts to himself.
He did not want to worry Cordelia unnecessarily.
"Anyway, there's one thing we have to do right now."
Yuder deliberately kept his tone upbeat, and Cordelia smiled as she replied.
"Making the restraint formula?"
"We have to do that too. But before that, we need to finish the power-up first."
Because they had not yet absorbed all of the Sunflower Herb's essence.
At Yuder's words, Cordelia, even while lying down, thumped her own chest and said.
"I'll keep you safe again this time. You can count on me."
"Sure, but this time, you have to do it too."
"Huh? Me too? Do I eat the Sunflower Herb too?"
When Cordelia blinked as if asking what he meant, Yuder impulsively pinched Cordelia's cheek and then said.
"No, you're doing something else."
What in the world was he talking about?
Cordelia first pinched the hand of Yuder, who was pinching her cheek.
* * *
"It's the White Snake's magic stone. If I had to name it, Snake Heart?"
"Snake Heart sounds kind of weak, so let's just call it a magic stone."
"Sure."
Yuder and Cordelia were looking at a red stone in front of the heart located at about the one-fifth point of the giant White Snake's corpse, that is, the part of the body close to the head.
It was the White Snake's magic stone, taken out from its heart.
"It used up almost all the mana it had stored for a thousand years, so there isn't much left... but this is still the magic stone carried by Leviathan's magic beast. For Cordelia at her current level, it'll be almost like a fortuitous encounter."
"But didn't the original work say this couldn't be used?"
"Right, because it's a demon's magic stone."
No matter who you played as, not just Lucas, you could not obtain the White Snake's magic stone.
"A demon's magic power is no different from poison to an ordinary human of the mortal realm. If you absorb it, you may develop serious abnormalities in your body... or in the worst case, you may undergo demonification and become a servant of the demons."
"It's amazing every time I see it. How do you memorize all that?"
"Anyway, just like Companion A says, ordinary people normally can't absorb a magic stone. That's why it didn't even appear as an obtainable item. But if I'm right, Cordelia, you should be able to absorb it. Because..."
"Because I have witchification."
Cordelia, who completed Yuder's sentence, nodded.
Lately, Cordelia had been offloading more and more of the thinking onto Yuder, but that did not mean she had stopped thinking altogether.
The power of a witch, which could be called the origin of witchification, ultimately stemmed from demons.
If she was in a witchified state, it seemed possible to absorb the energy of the magic stone.
"Still, just in case, if something feels off, stop immediately. Got it?"
"Yes, Dad. Don't worry."
Following her answer, Cordelia nodded as well and carefully placed her hand on the red stone, which was the size of a person's head.
She could clearly feel the rough mana pulsing inside it.
"Alright, it's hard right now, but as soon as I can witchify, I'll try it right away."
"Okay, then I'll go back to the lodging and finish absorbing the Sunflower Herb's energy. If it goes as I expect... I'll probably open my eyes again tomorrow morning."
"Then will the Nine Yin Meridian Blockage finally be completely cured this time?"
"I'd like that too, but probably not. I stopped once in the middle and am absorbing it again now. I needed to ride the momentum and break through all at once, but I missed that chance."
"Ugh, what a shame."
"Still, I should end up close to fully cured. So even if you're impatient, hang on a little longer, okay? Princess?"
"I'm not impatient, okay? And I'm not a princess, okay?"
Cordelia huffed, but her face was full of regret and apology.
So Yuder deliberately put on an upbeat smile and changed the subject.
"Anyway, let's meet again tomorrow morning then."
"Sure, come back stronger."
"Yes, ma'am. Look forward to it."
They ended the conversation with smiles and each got to work.
And that night.
No, dawn.
The time when morning was approaching.
Yuder sat cross-legged, reciting the Nine Heavens Nine Gates formula as he absorbed the Sunflower Herb's essence. Then, at some point, his eyes snapped open.
He understood.
This was as far as he could go right now.
Half of the Sunflower Herb's energy.
Thanks to it, more than seventy percent of the major and minor meridians that had been blocked by the Nine Yin Meridian Blockage were opened, and his dantian had also grown in size several times, allowing him to possess internal energy nearly three times greater than before.
And there was one more thing.
A voice that rang in his head, just like when he obtained a title.
"Yin-Yang... Body?"
In Hero Legend 2, there existed several special physiques.
The Heavenly Martial Body, the incarnation of martial arts bestowed by heaven.
The Absolute Sword Sense, the sword-demon talent possessed by Lucas and Kamael.
The All-Weapon Divine Body possessed by the true protagonist Maximilian—its name sounded odd, but its effect could only be called insane, granting understanding of every kind of weapon.
Among the Playable Characters, there was no one born with the Yin-Yang Body physique.
But if you expanded the scope to all of Pleiades, there was one more person born with the Yin-Yang Body.
'Archbishop Manuela.'
Landius's goal and a powerful enemy who exerted strong influence throughout the entire Hero Legend series.
Manuela freely wielded mutually opposing powers that normally could not be used at the same time.
In particular, the Grand Annihilation Spell, which used extreme yin and extreme yang together to trigger dual annihilation, was Manuela's signature and one of the strongest spells in the entire Hero Legend series.
'Yin-Yang Body.'
A body that could freely wield the powers of extreme yin and extreme yang.
He did not have a feel for it yet, and he would need to study how to use it, but a smile kept spreading across his face.
'Anyway, it's a trait possessed by a final boss-level enemy.'
And wasn't it an unwritten rule of RPGs that the traits of final boss-level enemies were utterly broken?
"Good."
The Heavenly Martial Body and the Yin-Yang Body.
He felt a little sorry for Lucas, but stealing the Sunflower Herb event had paid off.
'Did Cordelia do well too?'
Yuder, now curious, quickly turned to look at Cordelia's cot placed on the opposite side, but it was no different from yesterday. It seemed she had spent the night outside altogether.
"Cordelia?"
Yuder, who stepped outside while calling her name, was able to find Cordelia right away.
But instead of calling her name again, he simply stared with a blank face.
The spot where the Sunflower Herb had bloomed.
Cordelia sat beautifully in the spot where the Sunflower Herb had bloomed, as if she had taken its place.
Her black hair rippled like waves, and a faint blue glow enveloped her entire body.
A relaxed face with a faint smile.
There was a goddess-like elegance about her, somehow reminiscent of both a witch's soul and a Fairy Queen—something impossible to imagine from the usual Cordelia.
How long had Yuder been staring at her like that?
The goddess opened her eyes.
Then she spoke in a cheerful voice rather than an elegant one.
"You're awake?"
"Yeah, I'm awake."
When Yuder answered somewhat awkwardly, Cordelia tilted her head, but soon smiled brightly and stepped forward.
And at that moment, the witchification was released. The color of her hair returned to a vivid red, and the blue light enveloping her entire body also scattered.
The usual Cordelia.
No, she was not.
Yuder could feel the difference.
"Right, I've changed."
Cordelia said it too. Yuder's eyes widened at the faded magic stone lying where she had been sitting.
"Wait, don't tell me you absorbed all of it?"
"Yeah, it was a bit hard at first, but as I kept going, it started flowing in smoothly."
When Cordelia smiled bashfully and spoke, Yuder blinked again.
"Why?"
"Because I feel like I'm looking at a broken character."
"That's what I want to say, you know?"
Because Yuder's memory was a cheat no matter how you looked at it.
But Yuder's words were not wrong either.
Cordelia was not only born with talent for combat.
No, to be more precise, the combat talent belonged to Cordelia's previous life, Yellow Storm Hong Yu-hui.
What Cordelia had been born with in this life was extraordinary sensitivity to mana.
Thinking of those two talents combined, Yuder could not help imagining the same thing Paragot had.
'Just how much of a monster will she become later?'
Of course, the more of a monster she became, the better.
'Because Cordelia is our monster.'
Yuder nodded to himself, satisfied with that conclusion, and Cordelia frowned.
"I won't ask because it seems like you're imagining something weird. More importantly, when are we leaving?"
"After breakfast and a short rest, right away."
"What about the restraint formula?"
"I'll draw it after breakfast."
At Yuder's answer, this time Cordelia made a displeased expression.
"Why?"
"Because I feel like I'm looking at a broken character."
Because she was a mage, Cordelia could tell.
The magic circles Yuder drew as casually as if it were routine were not things anyone could reproduce through memorization alone.
What was needed along with memorization was understanding.
Despite not even being a mage, Yuder understood all the formulas of those complex magic circles.
"Well, the more broken we are, the better in our current situation."
Cordelia muttered that under her breath and nodded as if convinced. Yuder chuckled.
"Why?"
"No, nothing. Anyway, let's eat first."
"Yes, Dad."
And that afternoon.
The two, who finished their last meal at Frost Anvil, reached the first-floor lobby.