Chapter 275
Chapter 275
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 275
Chapter Title: A Strange Despair (7)
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***
“……”
When I lifted my head, my eyes fell upon a strange being.
A being that radiated an even stranger darkness from within the shadows. It seemed to have concealed its form, shrouded in a still denser fog.
Despite this, the sinister violet glow of its eyes was clearly visible.
And so, strangely, it looked human.
Something that couldn't possibly be human had taken a human form...
"Ah."
A creaking sound escaped my lips.
And then I felt it.
The strange darkness I was looking at now. It was the exact same darkness that had pierced through Karite's chest just moments ago.
Yes, that darkness was what... to Karite...
Amidst the sensation that everything in my sight had frozen.
"So, this is the end for you, too."
A clear voice carried from the strange darkness.
The apostle spoke in a human tongue. It wasn't merely speaking; its tone was so natural it sounded completely human.
This made it different from the apostle I had just killed.
*Step, step...*
As I watched the strange darkness slowly approach, I glanced down at the hand gripping my spear.
*Tremble.*
My arm was still shaking. And it wasn't just my arm.
My whole body was trembling violently, as if it couldn't accept what had happened.
—I couldn't protect Karite.
Watching the strange darkness draw near, my gaze drifted blankly to Karite, cradled in my arms.
‘Why... did it turn out like this?’
This wasn't supposed to happen to Karite.
Suddenly, the words I had spoken came back to me.
‘Was I wrong?’
I shouldn't have told her not to leave my side.
Those words I said to Karite now felt like they were tearing my heart apart.
If I hadn't said that.
No, if I hadn't chosen her for my team in the first place... we wouldn't have ended up in this worst-case scenario.
With her skills, Karite could have survived even among the frenzied gargoyles.
It was because I tried to act with her that Karite was now...
"Han Cheon-seong."
My head snapped up at the sound of my name.
The strange darkness shimmered ominously as it approached me.
"It seems this is the end for you as well."
Even the voice that reached me was profoundly odd. It sounded as if the apostle was appraising me.
As if it had known me for a long time, as if it knew this was how I would end up...
But I only watched the strange darkness for a moment.
Even though I sensed the strange darkness was the apostle's true body, my attention turned to Karite in my arms.
"..."
...My vision blurred.
I had faced the deaths of others before.
In lucid dreams, and in reality, I had faced the deaths of cadets caught in sudden accidents.
But now... my heart felt so different.
My mind, which had tried to accept it and respond calmly.
I just couldn't do that anymore.
"......."
Slowly, a strange emotion began to fill my heart.
Hate, rage, murderous intent, regret, self-blame... a mixture of emotions so tangled I couldn't even identify what I was feeling.
But this was different from the emotions I felt when I saw the apostle eating a human corpse, which had sparked my killing intent.
‘Something…’
It felt as if this surging emotion would swallow me whole.
As if I would no longer be myself... it was a sensation I had never felt before.
My mind felt like it was melting into a thick, sticky swamp of emotion.
“...!”
Then, suddenly, my eyes shot open.
*Thump...*
Though very faint, I heard the sound of a beating heart.
The sensation I felt from holding Karite in my arms was no illusion. It was an undeniable fact, transmitted to my ears, to my body.
Karite's heart was still beating; her life was not yet over.
She wasn't dead.
My frozen thoughts began to return with a rush.
Still, she was in critical condition. If I didn't treat her right away, it would be dangerous.
‘I have no potions.’
I used the last one to heal myself just a moment ago.
There was no immediate solution.
*Grit!*
I bit my trembling lip so hard it bled, instantly erasing my agitation. I forced my seemingly halted thoughts back on track and remembered what I had to do.
Gently.
I carefully laid Karite's form down amidst the darkness.
There was no more time to waste. No time to even think like this.
Just as I felt time, which had stopped, begin to flow again.
*Splash!*
The moment I set Karite down, I was already kicking off the darkness and launching myself forward.
—!
With my step, the surrounding darkness erupted like an explosion. But the tremor in my vision, my arms, and my legs—nearly all agitation—had vanished.
The mind that had been melting into a swamp of emotions had now transformed into a single resolve.
*Shaaaa...!*
As the fierce will that filled my heart like a blooming flower was channeled into the spear shaft, the aura of the Asura Spiral Spear, manifested in an instant, began to rage with enough force to shatter the darkness.
My shattered mind began to instinctively figure out what I needed to do.
How to thrust the spear,
to kill that strange darkness.
I instinctively felt that this apostle was stronger than the frenzied one. I didn't know what kind of power it possessed, or what type of apostle it was.
But I had to finish it in a short amount of time with the most threatening attack I could muster.
*Shwiiik!*
As the strange darkness shimmered ominously in response to the spear's trajectory tearing through the air, I suddenly stomped hard on the darkness, twisting my ankle, and lowered my upper body until it was almost touching the ground.
*Thud!*
My vision was abruptly filled with darkness as I shot forward, almost crawling along the floor.
Abandoning my original target, the heart, I instantly angled the spear's path downward.
*Puk!*
The spear, its trajectory now altered, was able to pierce completely through.
In that instant, the initial burst of aura didn't significantly disrupt the darkness. Nevertheless, the spearhead had clearly pierced it.
*Ssssk...!!*
I forced my body, which had been accelerating by stomping on the dense darkness, to straighten up.
And taking in the scene before me, I kicked off the ground again.
The strange darkness enveloping the apostle wavered ominously.
*Thud!*
As I traversed the space with near-divine speed, I noticed the apostle's body rapidly regenerating.
The darkness in the space was filling the hole pierced by my spearhead.
Still, I was not shaken.
This time, keeping my upper body steady, I thrust the spear in a diagonal, upward slash.
‘This isn't enough.’
The first exchange was a surprise attack, angling the spear's path downwards.
So this attack must also be changed into something the apostle would find difficult to counter.
Naturally, my thoughts turned to varying my speed.
*Thud!*
Before even entering the spear's range, I focused the aura into the leg I had planted on the ground.
And the moment I unleashed that concentrated aura with my next step.
———!!!
As the darkness expanded, brushing past my eyes, I shot forward like a beam of light.
*Shaaaa—!!*
Even though the aura of the Asura Spiral Spear erupted first, trying to erase the strange darkness, the darkness enveloping the apostle did not disappear.
Through the faintly shimmering darkness, I realized just how high the apostle's level was.
Still... it didn't matter.
*Thrust!*
After piercing the darkness, I once again righted my body, which had been sliding through it.
The distinct sensation from the hand gripping the spear. The feeling of piercing flesh was clear.
There was no counterattack from the apostle.
I had no time to even think about what the apostle was aiming for.
‘I have to end it right now.’
In an instant, my body was dashing through the darkness again.
I can feel the spearhead piercing it. That means my attacks are working.
Even now, I could see the strange darkness shimmering, filling the body pierced by my spearhead.
I completely changed my way of thinking.
‘If it's going to keep regenerating endlessly…’
I'll pierce its entire body and kill it.
I had to kill it so it couldn't regenerate.
***
*Puuuk…!*
The sound of the spear piercing flesh echoed through the darkness as if resonating.
A sound that should have ended with a single thrust instead rang out repeatedly as the spear pierced the body countless times, creating an utterly strange noise.
As Cheon-seong unleashed countless thrusts, he produced a myriad of variations.
Sometimes the power in the spearhead changed, other times he altered the speed of the thrust or the target of the spearhead with uncanny precision.
The aura contained within the spearhead did not diminish in the slightest.
No, in fact, it seemed to be growing even stronger as the short time passed.
*Thrust! Rip!*
The explosive aura erupting from the spearhead made the strange darkness shudder violently.
It was Vermian, who had revealed his true form earlier.
“……”
While taking the barrage of thrusts that tore through space, his eyes were fixed on the one wielding the spear.
—Han Cheon-seong's change.
By pushing Karite to the brink of death, he had intended to witness the change Han Cheon-seong would show.
He knew that no matter what pain or ordeal was inflicted upon Han Cheon-seong himself, he would shine brightly and manifest his will time and again.
That was why he had targeted Karite this time.
The human heart breaks easily.
No matter how brightly it shines, it cannot endure when the damage spreads to those around it.
And this was the result.
His will seemed to break, and he was engulfed in despair. The sight of him trembling all over while holding Karite was just as he had expected.
But then, he suddenly changed.
■■■!!
He unleashed a ferocious assault incomparable to the momentum he'd had when driving back the other apostle.
His two golden eyes, glowing ominously and filled with killing intent, were completely different from the Han Cheon-seong he had observed.
It was like looking at a completely different being.
He tries to incorporate change into every attack.
He isn't just mindlessly attacking, swept up in murderous intent; he perceives my subtle reactions and aims for what he deems to be the weakest point.
How should this be described?
The will he thought was broken had suddenly risen again.
He comes at me, trying to kill me with even greater intensity.
[She is not dead.]
Hearing Leteia's thought, he narrowed his eyes.
*Puuuk…*
There was no sensation from the spearhead piercing his entire body.
And Leteia could only be talking about one thing.
His eyes fell on Karite, lying collapsed in the darkness far away. He could feel no presence from her.
He had clearly aimed for her heart.
He had assumed his darkness had pierced her heart, and this was the result.
But for some reason, Karite was still alive.
"I see. So she is not yet dead."
He had wondered why a heart that should have broken had risen again, but the reason was incredibly simple.
Because she wasn't dead.
"...!"
At that moment, he twisted his head without thinking.
■■■■!
He saw a storm-like aura suddenly swallow the space where his head had been.
*Ssk.*
As he gently increased the distance, his eyes took in the sight.
Facing Han Cheon-seong's face—lips burst and bleeding, transformed into something like a demon—his thoughts changed without him realizing.
‘I see.’
He vaguely understood why Han Cheon-seong had seemed like a beacon of hope.
One can never become hope by being merely soft and gentle.
One had to be able to stand up on their own, even in the face of insurmountable crises, adversities, and despair.
The face of Han Cheon-seong, having risen from a half-baked despair, was one he had never seen before.
“...”
As if…
He were a demon that had devoured a human.
His eyes, filled with killing intent, looked as if they could have killed him dozens of times over with a mere glance.
‘Good.’
And for some reason, he liked it.
Yes, if he was hope, he had to rise even higher. And I had to confirm whether he could rise even from complete despair.
*Ssk.* Just as he gently raised a hand to completely snuff out Karite's life.
"...Release."
A gruesome sound, as if tearing through flesh, reached his ears.