Chapter 216
Chapter 216
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 216
Chapter Title: Souls, and Souls (16)
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“Kraaaaaaaaah!!!!!!”
Red moonlight identical to the crimson moon poured from Daoud’s mouth. The light was so intense that Daoud looked as if he were burning alive while still whole.
“Daoud!”
I called his name and leaped toward him. I had seen the mana in his body surging as though it might burst at any moment. If I left him like this...
‘...!’
If I left him like this, what exactly would happen?
Daoud was nothing more than a puppet, with Fabio pulling the strings. But now that Legion had killed Fabio, who exactly was overseeing this ritual?
-Thunk!
Daoud repelled me with a terrifying strength that didn’t seem human. No—saying he threw me would be more accurate. It was a force that would have shattered the ribs of any ordinary person. A searing pain, like fire, bloomed near my ribs where his hand had touched. I instinctively realized it was the power of the “red moonlight.”
“Theodor-nim!”
Before I could tumble across the ground, Calisto caught me steadily. I rose to my feet with her support.
“I’ll kill him.”
Calisto charged at Daoud without a moment’s hesitation. But her bold declaration lasted only a moment—Calisto was flung back just like me. Looking more closely, it wasn’t Daoud who had repelled her directly. Before she could even touch his body, the red moonlight pouring from him formed a powerful barrier that bounced us away.
“Kraaak, kraaaaaak!!!!!!”
Daoud’s horrific screams continued to rend the night sky. Yet the red moon simply hung there silently, bathing his head in its light.
-Thud!
Daoud dropped to both knees and began clawing at his chest as if desperate to rip it open. His movements made it seem like he wanted to pry apart his ribs and yank out his heart. The grotesque sight of him thrashing under the red moonlight felt like it had silenced the entire forest.
And then.
-Fwoooooosh!!!!!!!!
The red moonlight bursting from Daoud’s eyes and mouth flared like an explosion, painting the night sky. I looked up, and there...
“...Gasp!”
The moon was gone.
-Grrrrrr...
The red moonlight had vanished as well. Darkness—pure, utter darkness—gaped open as if to devour the hushed Sequoia Forest. No birds sang, no insects chirped, not even the rustle of branches or leaves.
-Tzzzzzzt!!!!
In an instant, the silence shattered. The sound of something tearing, of wind being slashed, like the screams of hundreds or thousands assaulting my ears. And the sky...
“...!”
It was as if a swath of cloth had been ripped, a sheet of paper punctured, a scab peeled from a wound. The sky held...
‘Nothing.’
That’s right.
Literally, ‘nothing.’
This was utterly unlike the night sky’s darkness veiling my vision. There was truly nothing there.
A void.
Nothing but void.
No one dared speak in the face of that overwhelming spectacle. Even if someone had, a mere wisp of that void would have swept their voice away. We all held our breath, staring into the void. No one moved. Or rather, no one could. This was nothing like the shock of facing an overwhelming being like a god, demon, or dragon. This was a deeper, more primal terror.
-Thud!
The sound of someone dropping to their knees. It was El. I knew without turning my head. Of course it was. He was still so young.
“...Don’t look, El.”
“Huff, huff, heuk, heuk!”
El bowed his head as I instructed and began gasping for breath. Hearing that sound somehow steadied my mind. My thoughts cooled. They sharpened.
-Krurrrr...
As if it had been waiting, something began to emerge from within the void. Light identical to the red glow Daoud had emitted started seeping out bit by bit from inside the void, forming a stark boundary with the night sky. I watched that light with a composed expression.
-Krurrrr...
And then, ‘it’ appeared.
“...!”
A fragment.
The thing emitting red light from within the void was a ‘fragment.’ The one known by names like ‘power’ or ‘greatness.’
Fragment of the Origin God.
I recognized it instantly.
‘It’s broken...!’
And I realized this Fragment of the Origin God was different from the previous one. The fragment radiating red light had a shattered corner, as if chipped or torn away. From that broken edge flowed an especially thick beam of light, streaking toward Daoud’s heart like a thread. As if they were connected.
Only then did the full picture snap into place. What Fabio had planned. How it had all unfolded. And how I could bring this to an ‘end.’
‘...He succeeded with the ritual.’
Yes.
From the start, Fabio hadn’t swung that blade to attack me.
The ‘tentacles,’ and the ritual’s completion.
He had slit his own throat, releasing the black worm he’d nurtured inside his body. The blood gushing from his severed neck became the ritual’s opening sacrifice.
His body—etched with spells and brimming with accumulated mana over long years—was a sacrifice of such quality it could substitute for half the mercenaries. Thanks to him, the blood ritual reached perfection. And so, the red moon bestowed its ‘fitting reward.’
‘Damn it...’
Whatever had happened before, it seemed the Crows had obtained only one corner of the ‘fragment.’ That piece alone wasn’t enough to claim the Fragment of the Origin God’s immense power, so they’d prepared the blood ritual to locate the rest, complete the fragment, and seize that power.
‘That’s why he threw away his life...’
Just as in the Dark Forest and the Silver Mountains, the Crows never used the Fragment of the Origin God directly. It destroyed its wielder. Naturally so. No being in this world could withstand such power. I could only speculate that I managed it because I wasn’t originally from this world.
The Crows created ‘proxies’ for the fragment, like Pebble or Aquila’s father. They pretended to grant the proxy’s wishes through the fragment, but that was a lie. The proxy was merely a ‘safety glove,’ bearing the fragment’s dangers. The Crows used that glove to pursue their true aims with the fragment.
Daoud was undoubtedly the proxy they had chosen. They had stoked the desires buried deep in his heart, letting him claim the ‘fragment.’ Then they planned to harness the fragment’s power through him to unleash chaos upon the world.
Even without Fabio, the other Crows would control Daoud. That was why Fabio had sacrificed himself so willingly. The ‘fragment’ was within reach.
-Kaboom!
In that instant, a vibration shook my body—no, the entire land, the whole world. A shockwave originating from the fragment. At the same moment, Daoud—who had been kneeling as if on the verge of collapse—sprang to his feet.
“...”
His heart was linked to the red light streaming from the fragment within the void. Daoud began to move, slowly. But not of his own will. His motions were unnatural, like a marionette dangling from strings. His joints twisted at grotesque angles, as if he might topple over at any second. As if someone were puppeteering him. Yes—that red light tied to his heart! To become a complete fragment once more, the severed corner was maneuvering Daoud’s body back to its original place.
Daoud was slowly being ‘dragged’ toward the void. Like a fish on a line, the red thread tugged at his heart. Daoud’s soul still lingered within his body. Was that soul instinctively thrashing? His legs began to creak and grind. Yet the fragment refused to release him.
-Tzzzzzzt...!
The torn night sky began emitting that bone-chilling sound again, as if mending itself shut.
Yes. Time kept marching on. If Daoud were swallowed into the void like this—if the fragment became whole—who knew what calamity would follow.
‘Now—move now!’
I forced my body into motion with desperate resolve. The void’s crushing pressure bore down on me, but I shattered it, shook it off. I clasped my hands over my dantian and steadied my breathing. And then.
“...You, silent green guardian. Awaken to Linshaka’s call, uproot your roots. Walk the earth. Move the forest...”
As the incantation took hold, pale green mana spread through my body, converged back in my dantian, then surged outward—beyond my fingertips and toes, far into the distance. And then...
-Krurrrr...
-Craaaaaack...
The ground trembled. The winds howled.
Two colossal sequoia trees wrenched themselves free of the earth, roots and all, and began to move. Like green giants.
[Forest Giant].
Perfect timing. The mana drain was immense, but I could bear it. I focused my mind, syncing my breath with each tree giant.
-Thud!
-Kaboom!
Step by step, the two tree giants advanced on the void. The rent night sky was knitting itself closed, like a wound sealing. Slowly but with unyielding, resolute strength, the tree giants seized the sky, prying its maw wide to keep the ‘void’ from shutting.
While the tree giants held the void open, I sprinted toward Daoud. Cold sweat trickled down my back. My tremors intensified. Even so...
“Daoud!”
I didn’t stop.