Chapter 273
Chapter 273
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 273
Chapter Title: Bloodstained Despair (5)
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***
*Stab! Stab-stab-stab!*
Crimson thorns plunged mercilessly into fragile human flesh.
The resulting spray of blood was like a bizarre spectacle.
So when I saw Han Cheon-seong standing before me, blocking the way…
…no thoughts came to mind.
It was as if the world had frozen with a final, desperate scream.
‘Why…’
Truly, why?
The reality I saw through the scattering blood was profoundly unreal.
The slowly drifting blood… what had happened felt so horrific, it was like a dream.
A dream I never wanted to have. The worst kind of nightmare.
And beyond him… the completely shattered wall of water came into view.
The barrier I believed could block the Apostle’s crimson attack had split into dozens, hundreds of pieces, scattering in every direction.
Perhaps the Apostle’s power was even stronger than I had anticipated.
Yes… that must be why Han Cheon-seong, who had blocked that power for me, was in such a terrible state.
The ghastly sight of red, blood-like thorns piercing his skin…
It was like a chaotic mess of protruding spikes.
The forms of the thorns, jutting out after tearing through his cadet uniform, had stopped right before my eyes as if in a lie.
They had effortlessly pierced the water wall I created, pierced Han Cheon-seong… and then the ferocious thorns had stopped right in front of me.
“……”
A sharp aura that felt like it would pierce my eyes.
The terror of imminent death.
And the fact that Han Cheon-seong had suffered an unbelievable accident in my place.
All sorts of emotions washed over me with vivid clarity.
My eyes registered that Han Cheon-seong was grievously wounded.
And I could see the fleeting moment as he coughed up blood, his body swaying as if about to collapse…
“……”
Suddenly, it was as if I heard a voice.
*—You can move forward. I can promise you that much. No matter how anxious or tired you are right now, you are more than capable of moving forward.*
That was from my first meeting with Han Cheon-seong.
That brief moment when we talked at the cafe, back when everyone else avoided me.
When I’d felt a small measure of peace, talking with someone for the first time in a long while.
I didn’t know why Han Cheon-seong had approached me back then, but he had always said the most curious things. And every one of them was filled with hope.
He had shown curiosity about my past, asked gently about my current state, and offered words of encouragement.
That’s why Han Cheon-seong had told me I could do it.
*—It’s possible.*
That it was possible for me to stand on my own two feet, like everyone else… to grow my Trait.
*!*
As I slowly raised my hand in what felt like frozen time, I saw a stream of water erupt from my right hand, naturally tracing a path through the air.
Even that seemed to move in slow motion.
Then, another voice echoed in my mind.
*—Because I want to. Because you’ve caught my attention.*
That was the answer I heard at our next meeting.
He had no reason to meet me, no reason to show me such special kindness.
And because I wanted to know, I had asked him directly.
*—…How can you treat me so normally?*
To that, Han Cheon-seong had met my gaze and spoken in a firm tone.
That he was meeting me because he wanted to…
“……”
My vision grew strangely blurry.
There was no reason for it to blur, yet my eyes became hazy, like looking through a window streaked with heavy rain.
And the time that had been flowing so slowly began to reclaim its pace.
*Thump.*
I barely managed to catch Han Cheon-seong as he started to fall to the ground.
*Tremble.*
My arms and lips were shaking, and though I needed to say something, no words came out.
The sight of his cadet uniform being soaked in blood… it was horrifying.
I didn’t even know how I was supposed to deal with the crimson thorns embedded in Han Cheon-seong’s body.
“…Karite.”
Only at his faint voice was I finally able to speak.
“Y-yes… H-Han Cheon-seong.”
My voice trembled as I spoke.
As I carefully used water to support Han Cheon-seong’s body, it wasn’t just my arms and lips that were shaking.
The trembling seemed to spread throughout my entire body, making me shudder uncontrollably.
“I’m… al… right.”
But the words that followed felt like they tore my heart to pieces.
There was no way he was all right.
I could see it clearly with my own eyes.
*Clank!*
A sound drew my gaze, and I stared blankly.
It was his spear shaft.
Planting it on the darkness-shrouded ground, Han Cheon-seong was trying to right himself with the spear he clutched.
At that, I shook my head violently and cried out without thinking.
“H-Han Cheon-seong, you can’t move right now. I’ll… I’ll figure something out… so please…”
I spoke urgently, feeling as if my body was floating.
And I couldn’t bring myself to say the next words.
‘Don’t die…’
I couldn’t let Han Cheon-seong move.
The crimson thorns embedded in his body. They looked like something that would destroy him more and more if he tried to move.
It would definitely put an immense strain on his body.
So, before I even realized it, I was already standing in front of Han Cheon-seong.
Supporting him with the power of water, I stood protectively before him.
“…Karite.”
His weak voice reached me, but… it felt like time stopped and started again, over and over.
“……”
Between my ceaselessly trembling lips, through my blurred vision, a strange phenomenon continued to unfold.
And memories of the past rose and vanished in a chaotic jumble.
They were mostly memories of Han Cheon-seong.
Moments from the time we spent together.
Besides those, countless phantom voices rang in my ears, and I could clearly feel them trying to swallow me whole, just like before.
I knew it was all the remnants of Leteia.
Something that would follow me for the rest of my life.
And yet, all of it…
It didn’t matter.
“…”
My vision was now filled with a single, overwhelming sight.
Seeing him from the front… Han Cheon-seong’s condition was even more wretched than when I had seen him from behind. With his entire body stained crimson from the spreading blood, ‘critical’ was not a strong enough word.
*!*
Streams of water erupted from my entire body, forming a bizarre current that I saw through my hazy vision.
The Apostle, in its demonic form, was writhing.
Its widely torn mouth and crescent-shaped eyes made it look as if it were smiling.
…Why.
Why in the world was it smiling?
I wondered blankly, an incomprehensible emotion welling up inside me.
What could possibly be so amusing?
It had been like this from the start. This demon before us had spoken and acted as if something was incredibly entertaining.
Then, my emotions were strangely colored.
Like something that once had color was being drained of it, becoming nothing at all.
…And I thought I knew what that was.
It was the feeling of dying.
“……”
My blurred vision slowly returned to normal, and I looked at the streams of water enveloping my body.
Just a few days ago, I had manifested these same streams of water and boasted to Han Cheon-seong about my achievement.
About how much I had grown my Trait. But this much was clearly not enough.
Because my weakness had led to this outcome, because Han Cheon-seong was so gravely injured.
My previous feeling that there was no answer became meaningless as a clear answer emerged.
“I… must kill it.”
I have to kill the Apostle and escape this space to save Han Cheon-seong.
Yes, that was the answer.
The moment I thought it, the power Han Cheon-seong had unleashed while driving back the Apostle flashed before my eyes.
The strongest power I could conceive of right now. The understanding and application of the power he wielded.
Principles I had felt were completely incomprehensible were suddenly understood in an instant. It felt like my head was about to explode.
My blocked thoughts expanded, as if teaching me the one correct action I needed to take.
“Kekekek! This is what humans are. This is what it means to be human! I knew you would do this…!”
…
Hearing the grotesque sound, Karite momentarily raised her hand and pointed at the Apostle.
“…Die.”
With her completely emotionless voice, streams of water erupted from Karite’s entire body and began to surge violently, as if to blast away the surrounding darkness.
***
—It was red.
Through a vision stained crimson with blood, Cheon-seong understood what had happened.
By releasing the power of the Spiral Asura Spear he had imbued in his spearhead, he had been able to convert it into overwhelming speed.
That was how he had managed to reach the Apostle’s attack first.
Somehow… he had been able to protect Karite, who should have died.
He felt relief before the pain that wracked his entire body.
And he realized that the Apostle’s power, which he had thought was weaker than expected, was not weak at all.
…It was simply that his relentless, one-sided assault had prevented the Apostle from revealing the true nature of its power…
The power the Apostle manifested was like something that pierced through everything.
It tore through any gap in an opposing force. He had seen that clearly in how it had ripped apart the wall of water.
…
As his thoughts continued, the scene that met Cheon-seong’s eyes was profoundly unreal.
‘How is Karite…’
He didn’t know how she was trading blows almost evenly with the Apostle.
The streams of water erupting from her body were on a completely different level from the water pressure he had felt before.
…It was, in a word, a violent force.
Countless jets of water shot out chaotically from her entire body, changing angles unpredictably as they surged toward the Apostle.
The pressure from what had to be hundreds, thousands of streams immediately began to overwhelm the Apostle.
The sight of the water jets reflecting the faint light that pierced the darkness was nothing short of overwhelming.
Even so, the Apostle repeatedly dodged the countless streams.
But the streams it couldn't avoid blasted away at its skin, and the Apostle’s pained screams echoed unnaturally through the space.
In the midst of it all, the Apostle shot out its crimson thorns just as before, but…
*Whoooosh!*
A massive stream of water in front of her, unlike before, formed a spiral that twisted the thorns’ trajectory, sending them flying in all directions.
“…”
*Grasp.*
And then, I finally managed to reach it.
My last remaining potion.
…Even breathing was agonizing, but I found myself feeling relieved without realizing it.
Relieved that I had chosen to save Karite rather than kill the Apostle.
*Slide.*
…Just moving my arm while holding the potion felt like the pain would drive me insane.
Yet, there was a change. The crimson thorns embedded in my body were losing their form, slowly fading away.
It seemed that as the Apostle continued to exert its power, the previously manifested thorns were losing their shape.
‘I can do this.’
I can… kill the Apostle.
Karite was currently displaying a power that far exceeded my expectations.
Even if she couldn’t land a fatal blow on the Apostle, the fact that she was fighting it so evenly gave me time to recover.
*Stab!*
Blood erupted as I forcibly pulled out a thorn.
“…!”
Amidst the excruciating pain that stifled even a groan, I planned to pull out the thorns and drink the potion.