Chapter 14
Chapter 14
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 14
Chapter Title: Gaslighting
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Thousand-Faced Ghost.
The creature known as a ghost bearing a thousand faces carried one peculiar curse.
To explain it simply:
The moment any one of its eight hands touched you, your face vanished.
But unlike the simple explanation, the curse's effect was notoriously horrific.
Your nose and mouth disappeared, leaving you unable to breathe.
"Mmph! Mmmph!"
Just then, one of the apprentice knights fell victim to the Thousand-Faced Ghost's hand, his face erased in an instant.
Unable to speak without a mouth, he could only emit a few guttural vibrations from his vocal cords before clawing at his empty face and dying.
There was no way to survive without an antidote right at hand.
"Charge!"
Unlike the apprentice knight, however, Belokin and the other knights were claiming victory.
For a 3-star World Erosion master, the Thousand-Faced Ghost was strong—but not a match for Belokin and his knights.
"Kiiiiieeeek!"
One of the Thousand-Faced Ghost's arms was incinerated entirely by Belokin's Ignis.
Enraged further within the unquenchable flames, it wildly flailed its remaining limbs.
The Thousand-Faced Ghost's strength could crumple a human body with ease.
Even Expert mid-tier knights couldn't block it head-on, forcing them to roll desperately out of the way.
Boom!
But Belokin was different.
He blocked the hand straight on—then slapped it aside.
Seizing the opening from the staggering beast, Belokin's sword struck once more.
Whoosh!
"Don't fall back! I'll make an opening!"
The knights' morale surged again before his overwhelming prowess.
And once more, the name Valheim etched itself into their hearts.
Even something as primordially terrifying to humanity as a World Erosion could be stopped if the Valheims were there—that thought filled their minds.
"Follow Sir Belokin!"
The knights shouted in anticipation of victory as they rushed the Thousand-Faced Ghost.
Watching them, Belokin felt his sense of superiority swelling once more.
That's right. This is me.
This is Belokin Valheim!
A proud smile crossed his face in that moment—then suddenly, he thought of Krash.
The boy wasn't among the knights.
Could he have been killed by the Thousand-Faced Ghost's hand?
If so, this mission would be all the more worthwhile, he mused—until he spotted Krash in the distance and felt a pang of regret.
But it was still fine.
As long as the boy felt the gap in their power and trembled in fear of the World Erosion, it was a success.
Yet the Krash in Belokin's eyes wasn't trembling in terror.
He was simply staring quietly at something.
And it wasn't a gaze directed at him.
What is it?
What the hell is he looking at?
Doubt flickered in Belokin's eyes for a split second.
Drip!
Suddenly, a sound like something oozing from the Thousand-Faced Ghost's faces echoed.
Belokin whipped his head around at the noise—and what he saw froze him solid.
Black blood was pouring from every facial orifice on the Thousand-Faced Ghost simultaneously.
The moment Belokin realized the abnormality and tried to pull back—
Crackle!
Black sparks raced across the creature's entire body.
Belokin's eyes shook wildly at the unprecedented phenomenon.
But he immediately raised his sword.
He had to kill the Thousand-Faced Ghost right now.
"Kill the Thousand-Faced Ghost now!"
Belokin bellowed the order and swung down at the beast.
Splat!
But his blade failed to cleave the pitch-black body.
Even infused with aura, it wouldn't cut.
As Belokin glared in shock, the Thousand-Faced Ghost's body began to bulge and writhe grotesquely.
Seeing it swell rapidly, Belokin panicked—then realized there were no follow-up strikes from the knights who should have been behind him.
"What are you doing?!"
He was about to roar at them—surely the Valheim knights weren't scared of the Thousand-Faced Ghost?—when he glanced back.
Every knight there had blank, faceless heads.
They simply stood rigidly in place, empty-faced. As Belokin's pupils dilated in horror—
"Urk?!"
He belatedly noticed one side of his vision had gone dark.
He hurriedly groped his face—bare flesh where his eye should have been.
The realization hit that he'd been cursed at some point. Then a pitch-black shadow loomed over his head.
As his remaining eye lifted slowly, there stood the Thousand-Faced Ghost—now enormously larger than before—its arms demurely clasped, staring down at him intently.
Kaboom!
Lightning crashed across the sky.
And the foremost of its pale faces split cleanly in two with a crack.
White teeth and a lolling tongue gleamed from the fissure.
"Kiiiiieeeeeeeeeek!"
The roar that erupted shook the swamp.
And in its wake, torrential rain poured from the heavens.
Belokin realized it then.
Despair had descended within the World Erosion.
"Agh, aaaaah!"
Belokin kicked off the ground and bolted.
The swelling swamp from the downpour had already submerged his legs halfway, but he had no time to care.
I'm going to die.
I'm going to die!
That thought consumed his mind.
With his balance shaky from the missing vision, Belokin just ran.
It had seemed so quick coming in, but no matter how far he fled, the swamp's end never appeared.
Rain blurred his sight relentlessly.
The sticky mire clung to his legs.
Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud!
Meanwhile, the slow-approaching footsteps of the Thousand-Faced Ghost from behind tightened around his sanity.
Within the World Erosion, Belokin felt himself shrinking infinitely.
Thoughts began bubbling up unbidden.
He was Belokin, born to the Staron Kingdom's strongest house, Valheim.
So what the hell was this disgrace?
The knights he'd brought were wiped out in an instant, and now he—a Valheim—was fleeing like a madman from a World Erosion master.
Surely.
Surely the Valheims are the strongest.
So I, as a Valheim, should be the strongest too.
This can't be right. It just can't.
In that instant, Charlotte floated vividly in his mind.
His half-sister, Staron's brilliant star of talent.
What would she do in this situation?
Would she run away like him?
Would she take up her sword against that monster and cut it down herself?
Such thoughts kept surging within him.
He was terrified.
Terrified of the scolding he'd face back home if he returned like this.
Terrified that the unbridgeable gap with Charlotte—whom he could never catch—would widen further.
That his place in Valheim would vanish, and he'd be remembered as a loser overtaken by his three-years-younger sister.
Terrified that he couldn't keep the promise he'd made to his late mother to become great.
Those shackles drove Belokin mad.
Then shadow fell over his head once more.
His steps had slowed in the swamp now up to his waist, and the Thousand-Faced Ghost had caught up.
The moment he realized it and desperately raised his sword—
the beast's arm, far larger than his entire body, lifted high into the sky.
"Ah."
A brief sound escaped Belokin's lips.
Kwaaaaaaaaang!
The descending arm shattered the swamp, sending water exploding skyward.
Waves churned across the mire, rocking violently for a time.
Belokin was nowhere to be seen beneath it.
Only the pouring rain filled the spot where someone had passed.
Belokin didn't open his eyes again for a long while after that.
His body felt heavy.
His condition was a wreck.
His ribs stabbed at his lungs with every breath, and his body temperature was so low his mind felt dim.
On top of that, his clothes, soaked through with swamp water, weighed like lead.
The thick garments he'd worn against the cold had backfired.
I survived, somehow.
His body must have dodged the Thousand-Faced Ghost's strike by a hair.
Of course, he hadn't escaped unscathed—the waves from the impact had swept him away, knocking him unconscious.
A moment later, he realized someone had slung his arm over their shoulder and was carrying him through the swamp.
His blurry vision swept the surroundings, revealing how terribly small those shoulders were.
Like a child's.
And soon, he recognized their owner.
"Kra-Krash?"
The moment he called the name, the boy's head turned toward him.
It was Krash.
His hair a drenched mess in the pouring rain just like Belokin's, he wore an expression of relief.
Belokin's mind, filled with thoughts of the Thousand-Faced Ghost and Charlotte, belatedly registered that Krash had come along too.
"Brother, you're awake?"
"How are you... No, how are you alive?"
"Yes, I was watching from a safe distance like usual, since it's dangerous."
So that's what happened.
That must be why he avoided the curse, unlike the knights.
But somewhere in Belokin's heart, he didn't like this situation.
The fact that Krash was supporting him gnawed at him relentlessly.
His pride had been utterly shattered during that flight.
And now, to receive help from Krash—someone he'd always assumed would stay beneath him—felt like it crushed his last shred of dignity.
"Enough. I'll walk on my own."
Belokin pulled his arm from Krash's shoulder and took a ragged breath.
Something internal must have been damaged in the impact; his breathing was uneven.
His aura felt off too.
But it wasn't so bad he couldn't walk.
And even if it were, he had no intention of relying on Krash.
"Brother, your condition isn't normal. Please, let me—"
"I said enough!"
Belokin snapped at Krash, who tried to support him again.
How dare you try to help me? he fumed, shoving the boy away.
Krash relented, letting go with a helpless shrug.
Belokin glared at him while catching his breath.
That's right. That's exactly your place.
You couldn't do anything here anyway—just feel that helplessness.
As Belokin thought that and moved to step forward—
Thud!
A footfall echoed through the entire swamp.
Belokin reflexively shrank back at the sound.
Because its owner was none other than the Thousand-Faced Ghost.
"K-Krash, how far have we gotten out?"
Belokin asked to gauge the situation.
But Krash scanned their surroundings with a grave expression.
"I don't know. We've come quite a way, but with no end in sight, the World Erosion might have sealed shut."
Belokin's face drained of color at Krash's words.
If true, they couldn't escape until the Thousand-Faced Ghost was dead.
Thud!
Another distant footfall resounded.
"Damn it, damn it."
"Brother."
As Belokin grew visibly agitated, Krash called to him.
"I have one idea."
"An idea?"
Belokin looked up, displeased that Krash of all people had a plan—but survival came first, so he suppressed it.
"Yes. You heard I fought Anix Graiza, right, Brother Belokin?"
Of course he remembered.
Belokin still doubted it, but the rumor of a draw was real enough.
"The reason I could do that was because I learned a secret art from Sis."
Belokin's body twitched.
He instantly knew "Sis" meant Charlotte.
"...From Charlotte?"
Krash nodded again.
Would Charlotte teach anyone?
The thought crossed his mind, but she and Krash were from the same mother.
Maybe she favored him secretly.
And if it was her secret art that let him draw with Anix, it started to make sense.
Belokin knew her genius all too painfully well.
"That secret art can take it down?"
"No guarantees, but it's worth trying over just running out of stamina and dying."
Belokin bit his lip.
He didn't know the art, but Krash had seen the Thousand-Faced Ghost up close.
And he still called it worth trying—that meant it was something special.
"...You're telling me this because you need something from me, right?"
"Your Ignis can ignite flames anywhere, right?"
"Yeah. So?"
"Light a flame in my aura for me."
Belokin finally understood Krash's intent.
He planned to combine the secret art with Belokin's flames to take down the beast.
"I know you don't trust me."
Krash spoke again to his hesitating brother.
"But you trust Sis's skills, don't you?"
Those words were enough to end Belokin's hesitation.