Chapter 217
Chapter 217
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 217
Chapter Title: Soul, and Souls (17)
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-Thud!
In that instant, someone grabbed me firmly.
“Theodor! No!”
It was Calisto.
“That place is the ‘Void.’ No one knows what will happen if you go in there!”
Calisto was right.
If I entered the Void just like that, no one knew what might happen.
“Maybe not.”
That was exactly why I had to enter the Void.
If Dawood vanished into the Void, the fragments would unite. And if the Crows obtained the completed fragment and its proxy...
“That’s why I’m going.”
I knew all too well what would happen then.
-Whoosh!
I whistled, and Isla charged at Calisto with incredible speed. Bam! A massive collision rang out, and Calisto floated into the air. She spun lightly once before landing perfectly.
-Tzzzzz...
At the sound of the Void sealing shut, I started running again. Dawood’s body was now slowly rising into the air. I had to grab him. I ran with everything I had toward the Void, which the tree giants were forcibly holding open.
“Master!!!”
From afar, I heard Elle, who had come to her senses, shouting. In that moment, it felt like this might be the last time I’d hear that voice. But I couldn’t stop. I mustn’t stop. With the wind’s help, I leaped high.
-Thump!
As I jumped high, I managed to grab onto Dawood’s body. Grab might not be the right word—it was more like clinging on. At the same time, I used [Plant Binding] to make vines sprout and wrap around my ankle, pulling me back. To keep from being dragged into the Void.
-Snap, crack!
But that wasn’t enough. The power of the fragment connected to Dawood’s heart was stronger. Damn it. Cursing, I clung to Dawood’s torso with all my strength. His body sagged a little, then slowly began to be pulled back into the Void.
“Legion!”
I hadn’t wanted to involve Legion, not knowing what the Void might do to it, but there was no choice. With a desperate voice, I called Legion’s name. As if it had been waiting, the black lizard burst from my inner pocket and leaped into the air.
-Grrrrr...
In the blink of an eye, it transformed into a massive dragon. Then Legion unleashed a ferocious black flame toward the torn Void.
-Roooaaarrrrr!!!!!
The power of the black flames was immense. Even without direct contact, the heat pierced to my bones. But no matter how powerful the black flames, they couldn’t burn nothingness. Swallowing the flames whole, the Void remained a Void. The red light connecting Dawood’s heart and the fragment didn’t break either.
“Theo.”
“Pull, Legion! Pull!”
Legion, tasting helplessness for the first time in its life, called my name in confusion, but I had no time to soothe it. I shouted at Legion. It immediately extended its claws to grab me and Dawood, but the red moonlight enveloping Dawood repelled Legion just like before. In its urgency, Legion grabbed my waist, where the vine stems had been torn away and dangled limply.
“Theo. Let. Go. That.”
With a tense voice, it urged me on. Legion seemed to instinctively sense the fragment’s power. It looked ready to abandon the worthless human Dawood, who meant nothing to it, and save only me, its godfather.
“Theo! Let go! Theo! Let go!”
Legion’s claws tightened gradually. Yet it was careful, fearing it might hurt me with its talons. Pulled between holding Dawood and being yanked by Legion, my body felt like it would tear in half.
-Tzzzzzz...
Even amid this, the night sky was moving to seal itself again. The tree giants held it, but how long they could last was anyone’s guess.
“This won’t...!”
At this rate, Dawood would be dragged away, and the Void would close.
“......”
No helping it.
Unlike Legion, I could grab Dawood probably because I too possessed a ‘fragment.’
In that case...
‘I...’
I took a deep breath and exhaled.
‘I just need to go in with him.’
If I couldn’t stop Dawood from being pulled into the Void, I’d enter the Void with him and retrieve the fragment.
I was someone who stood one step outside this world’s rules. So I’d find a way somehow.
Having made up my mind, I shook off Legion’s claws.
“Theo!”
With Legion’s voice as the last thing I heard, I threw myself into the Void with Dawood.
* * *
“Theo!”
-Whoosh!
In the blink of an eye, the Void closed, and the night sky returned to normal. Stars scattered across the carpet of darkness, stars and more stars. The sounds of insects chirping, owls hooting, and tree branches and leaves rustling in the wind began to fill the silence once more. At that unbelievable sight, Legion shot toward where the ‘Void’ had been, swift as an arrow.
“......!”
But all that remained was the night sky. The Void that had swallowed Theodor was nowhere to be found. Because it was a Void.
Unbelievable.
My Theodor, gone.
Unbelievable.
That thought alone burned into Legion’s mind like a brand. Theodor! My Theodor! Soon, an inexplicable rage boiled up from its heart and overflowed. Legion’s chest swelled, light gleaming between its scales...
-Krrrrrrrrr!!!!!!
And it erupted from its throat.
Fiercer and more overwhelming than ever, the black flames shot toward the night sky as if to incinerate it. Endlessly, enough to make even the stars flee.
“L-Le, Legion!”
Elle. The familiar voice of the human female called its name, but it wasn’t the voice Legion wanted. Legion kept spewing black flames without stopping, and more. To the point it felt like it would vomit its heart.
“Theodor!”
“A-Aaah!”
“Ugh!”
-Squeak! Squeak!
Unrefined Dragon Tongue drives all life except dragons mad. Dragon language freely manipulates the mana inherent in any living being. A single word could wring out all mana and kill, or boil mana in every cell to fry them alive. The great and perilous Dragon Tongue was still beyond the young Legion’s control.
No, it ‘hadn’t’ controlled it properly.
Dominating Legion’s body now was the sense of loss and rage from having its human ‘taken away.’ Legion unleashed those raw emotions, and the Dragon Tongue carried them fully.
If Legion had cried out ‘pain’ or ‘death’ instead of ‘Theodor,’ every life in the Sequoia Forest would surely have met its end.
The party knelt from the agony shaking their bodies, but Legion spared them not a glance and opened its maw again. Black flames filled its throat once more, blanketing the sky.
-Roooaaarrrrr!!!!!
After expelling all the heat that had filled its heart—no, every vein—its blood slowly cooled. Legion turned its eerily glowing red eyes toward the spot where the two trees holding the Void had collapsed.
And...
“∴∩¡∑∂.”
It spoke.
“∴∩¡∑∂.”
A single tear like molten lava traced down its black scales amid rising smoke.
“∴∩¡∑∂.”
Then, amid the starless sky, a sharp slit appeared, cut like with a knife.
* * *
“Theo!”
Theo, Theo, Theo...
Legion’s final voice echoed in my ears for what felt like an eternity. Legion! I wanted to call its name too, but my body was frozen solid, unable to move an inch.
Not frozen like stone... more like iced over. No, not iced—like time had stopped. Yes, that was the most accurate. Time halted, making it feel like playing freeze tag, unable to move until...
‘Move, move...!’
I couldn’t wait for another kid to yell ‘safe’ and free me from tag. Like someone escaping the scissors in rock-paper-scissors, I desperately tensed every part of my body. Eyebrows, bridge of nose, fingers, toes...
“......”
No use. Maybe expected. I wasn’t just pinned by scissors.
‘Change tactics.’
I exhaled deeply and focused my mind. Then I felt the flow of mana emanating from my dantian. My own pure mana spreading through my veins, the purified mana from Linshaka, and finally the special mana shared through soul-bonding with Legion...
“......Hah!”
After focusing on the mana flow for a while and mapping my body’s boundaries, my breath suddenly cleared, and I could move. I snapped my eyes open and looked around.
‘......!’
And I nearly blacked out.
...No, I didn’t actually faint. Just shocked that much. For someone like me to only be stunned means it was mild; a normal person might faint or go into shock from the sight.
-......
-......
Nothingness.
True to its name, the Void held nothing. No matter where I looked, nothing existed. That was true terror. A space-time where nothing existed.
I’m screwed.
My first thought. Because I’d clearly jumped into this Void with Dawood, yet now I was alone here.
“......”
I squeezed my eyes shut to ignore the anxiety and fear creeping in late. Deep breaths. That’s what you do to calm down. Panicking helps nothing. Haah, whoosh. Haah, whoosh. After deep breathing for a while, I opened my eyes again...
-Creeeak...
In the midst of the empty Void, a familiar door appeared.