Chapter 46
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 46
Chapter Title: The Ugly Princess's Escort Knight
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"Did we get it?"
"?! Lieutenant Lawrenceki! Shut your mouth!"
The legendary spell said to even revive the dead.
Lawrenceki, who had been relieved at the sight of Amaterasu with a massive hole in the center of its chest, belatedly realized what he'd said and clamped both hands over his mouth.
But it was already too late.
Crunch crunch crackle.
"Tree branches..."
"...are wrapping around the wounded area."
Since it was a humanoid enemy, they'd deliberately targeted its heart.
No matter how strong an opponent's abilities or regenerative powers, as long as it was a living being, piercing the source of life—the heart—would kill it.
But this...
"Can't we kill it?"
"No. Rather than that, it just means its heart wasn't there to begin with."
"Or maybe a heart that regenerates the instant it's destroyed..."
Either way, the first ambush had ended in perfect failure.
Instead, that blow seemed to have convinced Amaterasu no longer to view the insignificant bugs before it as mere bugs.
Crackle crack.
The void giant tore off its own recklessly extending branches and shrank its size of its own accord.
Its massive frame contracted down to something vaguely human-sized—not quite giant anymore—but the three watching could only swallow hard.
'Power...'
'is concentrating in one place!'
'This is dangerous...'
Its uselessly enormous bulk had been for instilling terror in humans, who were no more than bugs.
Conversely, this body—barely different from a human's—was for a select elite.
The form Amaterasu reserved for humans worth killing. Its own twisted form of recognition.
And so, Japan's strongest and worst monster returned to its convenient evil god form.
Boom boom bang!
Shing.
In that brief moment as it trimmed itself down to shrink.
Lawrenceki and Lancelot leaped to either side of Amaterasu, palms exploding and holy swords at the ready.
But.
"Drivel."
Branches shot out from Amaterasu's body in an instant, skewering the pair who'd tried to slash and explode it.
"Sir Lancelot! Immortal!"
Speeds neither could even react to.
At best, their honed reflexes let them dodge vital spots.
"Guh...?!"
"My strength..."
The branches were forest predators, devouring all life force where they rooted.
Amaterasu's tendrils began harvesting the vital essence from the bodies they'd pierced.
"...!"
"L-Lee Jin-ah!!"
Lee Jin-ah, moving from behind to rescue them, locked eyes with Amaterasu—like a lie.
The moment those inexplicable words hit her ears.
Slash.
"......Huh?"
In the next instant, Lee Jin-ah's head sailed through the air, severed by a branch swung faster than blinking.
"P-Please... put me down now..."
"No way! If I do, Branch Chief Lee Jin-ah will kill me!"
The amusement park's exits were sealed by sprouting giant tree trunks.
In this half-jungle hell, Yoo Si-hyun dashed with Kurumi princess on her back, seeking any shelter.
But only for a moment.
"Stop... just stop already!!"
Kurumi princess, arching back to drop herself off while carried.
"P-Princess!? What dangerous stunt are you pulling?!"
"That's what I want to know!"
She shoved off Yoo Si-hyun's arms as he tried to hoist her again, yelling firmly.
"Please, just let me go! I want to die!!"
"...!"
She could die.
Finally, she could die.
Escape this life of agony, vomiting guts from the slightest touch.
Yoo Si-hyun, clinging to her regret-free existence, was just an obstacle to Kurumi.
So she snapped in earnest—even hurling harsh words, begging him to leave.
But.
"No."
"...Pardon?"
"I said no. I swore to the execs I'd make you our company's ad model. If I drag back a dead princess corpse, who'll hype me as next chairman?"
"Th-That's your problem and..."
"Exactly. My problem!"
As if to say deal with it.
Yoo Si-hyun hoisted the limp, unresisting Kurumi back onto his back—meekly submit as my ladder to success.
Dashing through the park for hiding spots, he continued his selfish spiel.
"And don't spout crap like dying so casually!"
"......"
"Ordinary extras? Maybe. But we're special! Special people don't croak pointlessly here!"
"I'm... not special... I'm my family's disgrace..."
"Absolutely not! That's what makes you more special!"
Yoo Si-hyun panted, tiring out.
But he didn't stop.
"Disgrace of a hunter family? What title screams 'special' louder?!"
"I'm... special...?"
"Yes! Totally! Way more appealing than those fake-humble normie screws pretending to be ordinary around me! Unique! That's proof you're special already!"
Mid-speech, Yoo Si-hyun tripped on park rubble.
"H-Hey!"
Kurumi princess tried pulling away for real this time—it's over.
But he clung tight to her back.
"And! You don't actually wanna die, right?!"
"...!"
"No regrets in life? Kids who truly wanna die don't ramble like that!"
Yoo Si-hyun struggled back up somehow.
Kurumi had to retort—stop lying.
But.
"Princess, sleep well?"
"I only drink once a week."
"My little sis is actually a hunter."
"Sob... sniff...!"
She did have them.
New regrets, but endless—overflowing.
Enough to fill the world.
"O... sake!"
"Someone lonely... I wanna help..."
"I'll protect you with everything I've got!"
"Hold hands? Sure, gladly!"
"With you? It's my honor."
"They exist... they do..."
"See? When push comes to shove, you don't wanna die after all?"
"Y-Yes...! I wanna live...! Survive! I have someone I must meet...!"
She knew she was a burden, but wished he'd stay till her last breath.
Mourn her death together.
Marry her knowing her terminal life, plant love's seed in her belly.
Be with Shin-woo till eyes close.
But.
Thud!
"Eek?!"
"Amaterasu...!"
Why call wishes "wishes" not goals?
Simple.
People call deep desires "wishes" because they're unattainable despite wanting them.
Kurumi spat fury—as living proof.
Before her and Yoo Si-hyun landed nature's evil god: wooden deer antlers sprouting.
Blood droplets like battle scars on branch tips; faint blast marks on skull head.
No real damage, though.
"...! Pink-hair fool! Ditch me and run—now!"
"I-I want to but... l-legs wo-won't...!"
Faced with this transcendent being's true form, mere-bug Yoo Si-hyun just trembled.
A casual arm swipe sent her flying alone, bouncing limp like dead.
"N-No! Amaterasu...!!"
"Why... why me!! What did I do wrong!!!"
She hated this thing about to kill her before her eyes.
For the first time, Kurumi unleashed rage at the god within—unchecked.
Thief of her normal days.
Creator of victims like her for 2000+ years.
Why?
Why do this?
Why leech off one descendant under complex terms, still sealed by her clan?
Her outburst demanded answers.
Because. Humans. Are fun.
"...What?"
And. Delicious.
Truly trivial reasons.
No—once worshipped as a god, but monster is monster.
You. Will be. Bred. By me. Forever.
Monster-worthy logic.
"Shin-woo, I..."
Facing inevitable death helpless, the princess reached story's end...
"Raaaaagh!!"
...or so she thought.
"Wha—?!"
Just as Amaterasu reached to embrace and absorb Kurumi again.
Not giving a damn about untouchable existences, something dashed past it, scooped up Kurumi princess, then tripped.
「...?」
Amaterasu tilted its head, déjà vu.
Meanwhile, locking eyes with the one collapsed atop her—eyepatch dislodged in the fall—Kurumi's eyes brimmed endless tears.
The man above: her sole lingering tie, one she'd never see again.
"Shin-woo..."
Why come to this deadly place?
No help—just trauma and leave.
Even scraped his forehead bloody from that fall. Utterly ordinary human.
Below even her hunter clan, let alone E-rank hunters.
And yet.
"Princess. I came to save you!"
He beamed down at her.
"Why... did you come...? I'm... gonna die... soon anyway..."
Words she'd never hear from anyone.
"I came to save you"—what she'd craved most. Kurumi couldn't stem her tears.
Even knowing useless Shin-woo changes nothing, why did being near him make her so selfish?
"Save... me...!"
"Yeah."
"Save me! Save me! Save me save me save me save me!! I don't wanna die! I wanna live more! With Shin-woo! I finally made a friend for the first time! We even drank together!"
"I know."
"So much I wanna do! Marry! Have kids! Live in a happy home... with the one I love... together!!"
Kurumi finally bared her hidden heart.
Like a fairy-tale princess throwing a tantrum at her sole knight.
She should tell him to flee.
Use her as bait quick.
But seeing him ignited survival lust—truth spilled.
And atop her head, a warm hand.
"Princess."
"Sniff... sob..."
"Promise me one thing from now on."
"P-Promise...?"
"Yeah. A promise."
The void giant loomed behind to toy with fresh prey.
Shin-woo ignored it, focused here.
"Everything from now on is top secret. Got it?"
"Secret...?"
"Then I'll save you. Drive off that jerk, make it cough up every stolen year of your life."
"!? How could you Shin-woo...?"
Meanwhile, right behind Shin-woo's back.
Directly above Kurumi, Amaterasu raised one arm high like a guillotine blade—poised to crush the bug before it.
The princess screamed danger.
Even tried shoving Shin-woo aside to die in his place.
But next instant.
"RAAAAAAAAAAGH!!"
A black storm erupted from his body.
Simultaneously.
Splat!
Amaterasu's main body—pierced by an obsidian-black fist—split clean upper/lower halves and hurled backward.
Before the ancient evil god stood no trivial bug needing judgment.
This: a peer at least—worthy to clash.
The one serving the bastard-born ugly princess.
Equally ugly.
"RAAAAAAAAAAA-!!"
An escort knight born not even human—but pitch-black monster.