Chapter 44
Chapter 44
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 44
Chapter Title: Logos
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Elena couldn’t get her slumped body to rise. Her legs still had no strength, her body felt utterly hollow, and her head was spinning.
Was this because her soul force was depleted? Or... Elena bit her lip hard.
‘Yuri.’
Yuri was fighting. Against an old demonic head whom even Elena, pouring out all her magic, and Ha-ryeong of the 5th Tier had failed to bring down—Yuri was fighting him.
“No... no...”
That murmur slipped out unbidden. The longer the battle dragged on, the more blood sprayed from Yuri’s body. Given the opponent, it was inevitable. The more blood sprayed, the more Yuri’s form wavered.
Ha-ryeong, slumped a short distance away, was gasping for breath as she tended her wounds. Elena still couldn’t cast spells. But she couldn’t just keep watching any longer. Elena bit her lip and forced her body up. The wand gripped in her trembling hand felt impossibly heavy; she could barely hold it steady.
‘Please... please...’
She barely managed to aim the wand and pleaded with her mana. At this rate, Yuri was going to die. If Yuri died, Elena and Ha-ryeong would follow—but right now, Elena didn’t care about that. All that mattered was that Yuri didn’t die.
‘...’
Yuri?
Was that really Yuri? She didn’t know. Up until the Blood Fiend appeared, Yuri had just been Yuri. The Yuri she knew. The one she’d met in Oldor and spent half a year with.
But this Yuri now...
She didn’t want to think about it. She’d have to someday, but not now. Please. Elena pleaded with her mana again. She begged for a spell that could turn the tide.
“Ah... ah...”
But the mana wouldn’t budge. Her depleted soul force couldn’t form the ritual to draw in the abundant mana around her. In this moment, there was nothing Elena could do. A mage who couldn’t cast was the epitome of helplessness.
If only I were stronger.
Strong enough that Yuri wouldn’t have to step in.
A dark thought writhed deep in her chest. A rotten, loathsome one she couldn’t face head-on. Elena gasped for breath and dragged her feet forward. The resentful mana offered no response. Then... then with her body at least...
-CRUNCH.
She’d barely closed the distance when the sound rang out.
The battle was over.
Incredibly, it was the Blood Fiend who lay dead.
“Y-Yuri?”
Once again, Elena called the name without thinking. Even as doubt crept in that she shouldn’t call it that, no other name would come.
“Yuri... Yuri? Yuri...!”
Her feet dragged. The Blood Fiend lay sprawled with its chest smashed in, and atop it slumped Yuri. No, no way... Ominous thoughts flooded her mind, horrifying her.
Her legs, unable to walk properly, gave out. She didn’t even slump; she pitched forward. Her nose stung from the impact, blood trickled down. Dirt stuck to the blood in her mouth, turning to sticky mud. She ignored it all. Elena crawled forward, scraping the ground with her hands amid terrified gasps.
“Miss.”
A voice came. It was Ha-ryeong. She stood clutching her abdomen, her face pale as a corpse.
“Crawling like that, you look just like a slug.”
This woman was cracking jokes even now? Elena lifted her mud-smeared face and glared at Ha-ryeong. Under that sharp gaze, Ha-ryeong shrugged one shoulder—her left side hurt too much for more.
“Don’t glare like that. It’s such a wretched, gruesome situation; I was just trying to lighten the mood with some silly banter.”
“...”
“I can’t believe it. Miss Elena, I’ve always been pretty confident in my sense of humor, but your face is making me doubt myself.”
“Yuri?”
Elena spat it out, tuning her out. At those words, Ha-ryeong stared at her with impassive eyes for a moment.
“He’s alive.”
Elena’s expression shifted at the answer, but Ha-ryeong didn’t miss the other emotions mixed with her relief.
“What will you do?”
“...”
“You have many flaws, Miss, but you have clear strengths too. I think you’re clever, even if not wise.”
“What... are you trying to say?”
“If you order me to kill him, I’ll obey.”
Elena’s cheek twitched at the words.
“Truth be told, I don’t want to, but if my employer commands it, I have no choice.”
“Ha-ryeong, what are you saying?”
“If you don’t want him dead, will you subdue him instead?”
Ha-ryeong glanced toward the fallen Yuri.
“Personally, I recommend that. As I said, I don’t want to kill Yuri.”
“...”
“But even if it’s unpleasant, I think we need to restrain him. You’re exhausted right now, and my internal injuries are severe. I don’t know Yuri’s condition, but if he wakes up violent, I can’t guarantee I’ll protect you absolutely.”
“Violent...? How violent? You think Yuri would attack us?”
“There’s always that possibility.”
She wasn’t joking.
“You’re clever, Miss; you know it. Yuri is a Possessor. I didn’t hear it directly, but the circumstances confirm it. Nothing else explains this.”
Elena bit her lip, unable to reply.
“There are countless cases of Possessors exposed and turning on those around them before vanishing.”
“Yuri isn’t like that.”
“I think so too, but everything we’ve seen of Yuri so far was a lie, wasn’t it?”
“Stop.”
She knew, so she didn’t want to hear it. Elena shook her head fiercely.
“I’m not killing him... and I’m not subduing him.”
“Understood.”
Ha-ryeong nodded readily. She’d only suggested it for Elena’s safety; her reluctance was genuine. The Yuri she’d seen ‘up until now’ wasn’t the type to rampage in a situation like this.
If he did... it would be simple. Everything up until now had truly been a lie, and she’d been forced to misjudge. In that case, Ha-ryeong would honestly be impressed. If he’d invested that much in faking his personality, admiration was only polite.
“Hm.”
Ha-ryeong examined the fallen Yuri and the dead Blood Fiend. She’d been closer than Elena, but... she couldn’t comprehend how Yuri had killed the Blood Fiend at the end. To her, it had just been a punch.
That punch had shattered both the Blood Fiend’s protective aura and its chest. Using aura at the 4th Tier was absurd enough, but piercing protective aura with a mere punch? Even for a Possessor, this was beyond comprehension.
“He has lots of minor wounds, but his internal injuries aren’t too severe. Looks like he burned through all his internal energy and collapsed.”
Ha-ryeong took Yuri’s left hand and inspected it. The wrist, grabbed by the Blood Fiend at the end, was cleanly broken. If more force had been applied, it might’ve been crushed to pulp or even severed—thankfully, the Blood Fiend died before that.
“Hm.”
She rummaged through the Blood Fiend’s robes next but found nothing valuable. There might be more in some hideout deep in the mountains—but it wouldn’t be easy to find. Ha-ryeong stomped on the blood-soaked face of the Blood Fiend a few times while prodding her own side.
She’d taken medicine, but her guts still throbbed. It would take a bit more time for full recovery. Still, with time passed, she could move much better than before.
“Then, let’s head down.”
No more incidents seemed likely, but lingering in these monster-infested mountains was worse than forcing their way down. Ha-ryeong hoisted Yuri onto her back, pulled bandages from her pack, and bound him securely to her.
“You alright, Miss?”
“Yeah, I can walk now.”
Elena’s face and clothes were still caked in mud. Her mind was too unstable to even think of washing it off. Ha-ryeong let out a short sigh, then tucked the Yuri on her back under one arm against her side.
“Miss, don’t be stubborn. Come here.”
Normally, she’d get called out for such insolence, but Elena just blinked her dazed eyes without a word. Her condition was poor.
‘Can’t blame her.’
Even Ha-ryeong had been shocked to learn Yuri was a Possessor—how must Elena feel? Ha-ryeong approached the stunned Elena and scooped her up without asking.
“I can walk on my own.”
“You walking would be slower than me carrying both of you and running.”
“...”
“What a pain. I didn’t train in martial arts to haul people around, but here we are.”
No response came. Ha-ryeong didn’t swallow another sigh; she just let it out.
“What a cursed life.”
Muttering with her sigh, Ha-ryeong broke into a run.
*
Before blacking out, he’d thought:
If I pass out like this, what’ll happen to me? Where will I wake up? He’d confirmed the Blood Fiend’s death, but worries still swirled.
“...”
He might not wake at all, or wake up bound somewhere, imprisoned... He’d imagined all sorts, but when he actually opened his eyes, it was nothing much.
A ceiling came into view.
The inn room in the lower village of Logos. Yuri stared blankly at the ceiling and wiggled his fingers. Not bound, but moving his left hand brought a stinging pain.
‘Right, it was broken.’
The pressure suggested it was wrapped in bandages. The rest of his body ached too.
“You’re awake.”
A voice came from beside him.
“As you can see, this is the village inn.”
“...”
“I went through hell. You passed out, and Miss Elena couldn’t walk properly. Ever run down a mountain carrying two people?”
“...”
“First time for me too, and it wasn’t fun. I don’t sweat easily, but hauling you two had me drenched.”
Yuri didn’t turn to look. He was afraid to. More than the Blood Fiend’s gaze or blood-red palms, he dreaded seeing Ha-ryeong’s and Elena’s faces beside him.
“Fortunately, we ran into other adventurers on the way and got help. Wasn’t free, of course, but better than carrying you both farther—I handed you over for extra coin and just carried Miss Elena down.”
Ha-ryeong wasn’t alone beside him. He sensed Elena’s presence too. But she hadn’t said a word while Ha-ryeong rambled.
“Oh, you wouldn’t know, Yuri. That old monster who attacked us is called the Blood Fiend, a demonic head. Meeting him was pure bad luck, but in a way, good fortune too. Ten years ago, he was one of the Demonic Cult’s Seven Evils.”
Yuri’s shoulders twitched at that. The Seven Evils were on par with the Lord of Infinite Extremes—the 7th Tier.
“You’re reacting. Good, your ears are working.”
“...”
“Well, that was ages ago. The old monster took a blow to his dantian, fell into qi deviation, and his tier dropped. Looking back coldly, his skills were more like a flawed 6th Tier at best.”
Even just a stable 6th Tier would’ve been a massacre, but the Blood Fiend had been unstable in every way. His internal energy wasn’t profound, his meridians weren’t intact—he couldn’t have lasted long.
‘We got lucky...’
Yuri agreed. Landing the Holy Flame Force Emission in the Blood Fiend’s chest at the end was sheer luck. If it hadn’t allowed close-quarters brawling. If its arts had been spear-based instead of fists. If it had tried to kill him outright from the start. If it had stopped at grabbing his left hand without exposing its chest...
“Lucky or not, we nearly died. If you hadn’t stepped in, Ha-ryeong and I would’ve been chewed up in that stinking Blood Fiend’s jaws and reunited in its gut.”
He couldn’t keep staring at the ceiling out of fear forever. He’d stepped up to avoid regrets, already resolved by then. Yuri clenched his fist under the blanket and sat up.
He saw Ha-ryeong. Her face was a bit pale, bandages on her limbs, but she looked fine.
Beside her was Elena. Her clothes were clean, no visible injuries. At the sight, Yuri let out a relieved sigh without thinking.
“Yuri.”
As their eyes met, Elena spoke. Yuri stared into her eyes without responding.
“There’s something I want to ask... no, something you have to tell me. You must... answer.”
Of course. Yuri nodded slowly.
“No lies... either.”
Elena’s eyes wavered. Her voice trembled. She was asking, but Yuri thought she didn’t want to hear the answer. But she couldn’t avoid it. Ignoring it now would just let it fester into poison later.
She’d already seen. Already knew.
“You’re... a Possessor, aren’t you?”
So Elena had to ask.
Yuri’s lips parted. But no voice came right away. He’d thought himself resolved, but facing it, his voice wouldn’t emerge. He didn’t want to speak.
He considered lying. A Possessor? What’s that supposed to mean? Nonsense. Hiding internal energy? What are you talking about? When did I hide mine? Tier? Watching you and Ha-ryeong fight clicked something in my head. Enlightenment, right? Lady Full Moon Play said my talent was amazing. Aura... yeah, more enlightenment. Didn’t know if I’d live, didn’t want to die.
Didn’t want you to die.
“Yeah.”
He couldn’t lie. Didn’t want to say it. He’d wondered if a day like this might come someday. He’d tried not to get caught, but the world was unpredictable.
That’s why he’d planned to leave Elena’s estate. Putting distance should avoid exposure.
“Since... when?”
He’d imagined Elena’s face upon discovery. Rage, maybe. Hatred. Calling him liar, evil spirit, monster, trying to kill him.
It wasn’t like that.
Elena looked ready to burst into tears.
‘Ah.’
He hadn’t wanted to be found out.