Chapter 113
Chapter 113
The Reverse Butterfly Dream - 1
****
Kwoong!
The massive body that would be recorded in history as a towering mountain finally collapsed.
Unlike the grand body that would be recorded, the battle was easily wrapped up.
Looking down from above at the beast, its joints severed like a failed assembly-kit robot, I found myself sinking into a strange sentimentality.
Perhaps it’s the feeling that my humble beginning is undergoing a grand transformation.
Well, I didn't know if the end of that process would also be grand, but the fact that the once-frail Han Tae-jin, who had struggled to even draw a bowstring, had now grown enough to defeat the super-giant monster Chimera was something I could feel a sense of pride for, even if it wasn't worthy of self-praise.
Of course.
‘It was an incomplete Chimera.’
In any case, the crisis was over, so that was what mattered.
Setting aside the premature sentimentality for now, I borrowed Roque’s back to descend to the ground and first checked on the well-being of Na-yeon, Hye-seo, and Ercia.
Fortunately, no one was seriously injured.
Aside from minor scratches and looking like they had survived a pit of dust, everyone was safe, and ending the battle with the super-giant monster Chimera with only such injuries was something to be thankful to heaven for.
“The more I see you, the more amazing you are, my dear student. You’re not secretly taking some kind of elixir without me knowing, are you?”
Pat, pat!
Na-yeon said as she approached and dusted off my shoulders.
She didn't seem to notice that her once glossy black hair had been bleached hazy by the dust storm.
“Incredible. That final rain of arrows was a true spectacle.”
Hye-seo murmured, not yet having escaped the afterglow(?) of the battle, as she looked at the collapsed body of the Chimera.
Likewise.
Without noticing that her once pure-white hair had turned greyish-white in the dust storm.
To Hye-seo, who was just staring at me with a dumbfounded expression, I smiled sheepishly and said.
“The joints between each part were its weakness. It seems they hastily unveiled an incomplete product.”
Hye-seo narrowed her eyes, as if she had an inkling of something.
“I knew it…. A year ago, we received intelligence on the Chimera Project. It was delivered by my senior. At that time, it was just in its beginning stages… It certainly feels early.”
“Do you have any idea why they would deploy an incomplete product?”
Hye-seo shook her head without hesitation.
Even I, who knew the original story, had no idea, so it was a natural answer.
It’s simply the combined result of the butterfly effect and the balloon effect.
A trivial choice I made led to a big event, and dealing with that big event created another big event.
Since the original story had been properly derailed, like Choi Do-han, God R'hell’s choices had also changed significantly… but I couldn’t fathom the reason he played his final card now.
Or perhaps.
‘Could it be that the timing of its appearance was predetermined to match the ending of the newly unfolding story?’
The Chimera, which was highly likely to have appeared in the latter half of the original work.
A rough estimate would put its appearance at least a year from now.
But my growth rate had far surpassed the original, and so the flow of the story was proceeding accordingly.
In other words, the fact that the Chimera’s appearance was moved up so much could have other reasons, but it could also be an implication that the end was approaching.
As if to prove it.
“To think the Chimera would appear already….”
The Apostle of Eternity, and our apostle, Ercia, muttered as she looked at the Chimera’s corpse.
Pretending not to know.
“Do you happen to, uh, know anything? Ercia?”
I asked.
As a 52-time regressor, she would definitely know about the Chimera.
She must have experienced it countless times.
And it wasn't likely that something that didn't exist for 51 regressions suddenly appeared in the 52nd.
Ercia looked up at the massive body and said softly, so only I could hear.
“This is the Chimera that appears about a year from now and brings a great crisis to this planet. I know it is Illusion’s final card and its ultimate masterpiece, which they put a lot of effort into… but I don’t know the reason why it was deployed a year early. This kind of development didn’t happen in the 51 regressions…”
“As I thought….”
So it was a creature that appeared only at the end of the story.
And the fact that it brought a great crisis to the planet meant that the Chimera didn't just appear in this Cheollihyang Village.
Right now, a war to protect the barriers might have begun in each city.
Just looking at this place now.
‘…It’s no different from a battlefield.’
Then, Na-yeon called me.
“Ah! Tae-jin?”
“Yeah?”
“Renia? What happened to Renia? Is she safe?”
Ah.
Right, I had forgotten for a moment.
I turned my upper body and cast my gaze to the south of the village.
I wasn’t worried about Renia.
She wasn’t weak enough to be defeated by villain and monster minions.
However, if she was carrying Yu-ra on her back, I couldn’t be sure.
I had to hurry and run towards the south of the village.
“T-Tae-jin!”
Na-yeon’s urgent voice came from behind me.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
Since the evacuation route led to the south of the village, there was a high probability that Renia and Yu-ra were somewhere in the south.
-Kirreuk!
“Kehaha! Die, all of you! The era of Illusion has arrived!”
“Shut up.”
Kwaang!
“Keoheok-!!”
For the villain bastards who were running rampant without even knowing the tide had turned, I gave each of them a shot of a flame-flavored arrow.
The treatment effect was immediate.
I started to roam everywhere, weaving through the guys dying violent deaths, to find traces of Yu-ra and Renia.
“Praise Lord God R'hell-! Now Illusion will rule the world-! Kehaha-!”
…A line that truly suits a third-rate villain.
I wonder if there’s a book published that collects such B-grade sentimental lines.
I tapped the shoulder of the guy standing tall in the center of the plaza from behind and asked.
“Hey. Have you seen a kid in a fluorescent hoodie?”
“What? Since when!? You bastard-! Keoheok!!”
If you haven’t seen her, you get an arrow shot, what can you do?
‘Hmm, the traces definitely lead this way. Huh?’
As I crossed the plaza and headed south, a few pieces of mechanical debris scattered on the ground caught my eye.
They were definitely Yu-ra’s.
This unique turquoise paint was the same as Yu-ra’s signature color.
She really does like fluorescent colors.
After picking it up, I immediately activated the [Detection] trait.
Hoping that this broken piece of machinery would also be judged as Yu-ra’s ‘possession’.
⚙ System Notification ⚙
[Trait: Detection is activated.]
[Identifying the object in the user’s hand.]
…
…
[Detecting the location of the object’s owner.]
[As a Level MAX perk, map display and route search will now commence.]
Fortunately, the scrap of machinery was also judged as a target for detection, and right after, a translucent hologram map appeared in my field of vision.
At the same time.
-Kieeeeeek-!!
-Kyaak!
Along with that map, a woman’s scream, buried under a monster’s shriek, was heard.
The source of the sound was about 100 meters in the southwest direction.
It was the same as Yu-ra’s location marked on the map.
“Damn it-!!”
Without thinking twice, I started running towards that place.
Because the unsettling monster’s shriek was definitely not an ordinary roar.
And because the woman’s voice buried in that shriek was definitely Yu-ra’s.
“T-Tae-jin-! Let’s go together!”
Na-yeon’s urgent voice came from behind me.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
“Haah, haah….”
She blocked it.
She had succeeded in breaking through the distance she thought she couldn’t reach, to block the attack she thought she couldn’t block.
The monster’s poisonous stinger tail was severed, and green liquid scattered in all directions.
-Chijik….
It was a tail containing a powerful acidic poison.
If that poisonous stinger had touched Yu-ra’s body, it would have left a scar that could never be erased.
But she blocked it, and Yu-ra was safe.
Following that, a woman carrying a newborn baby crawled out from under the roof.
Everyone was safe.
The only one who wasn't safe, no.
The only one who wouldn't be safe was that monster.
She would hold it accountable for the crime of daring to harm the young lady’s precious body.
Hwoooong—
Renia stretched both her hands forward, and from them, an immense amount of violet mana began to rise.
-Kieeeek!
The monster, whose tail had been cut off, let out a shriek like a roar.
But,
-Kiek?
Before the shriek could even end, it floated up into the air.
The violet mana that had surrounded the area at some point had formed a ‘subspace’.
A subspace where the influence of gravity, the providence of nature, and the laws of matter are distorted.
A moment later.
As Renia’s hands clenched, the mana subspace began to condense.
《Kkiek!》
The monster struggled within the mana subspace that had even swallowed sound.
But the gradually compressing subspace began to crush it without mercy, and soon, it was annihilated.
BOOM!
Along with a small mana explosion.
“Haah…. Haah….”
Renia released her mana and let out the breath she had been holding.
At the same time, she staggered greatly.
She tried to shift her center of gravity using her heart-tipped tail, the edges of her vision were already beginning to darken with a murky dark green hue.
She lowered her head.
And she pulled out a single poisonous stinger that was stuck in her abdomen.
It wasn't lodged deep, so her life wasn't in danger, but the poison injected by that stinger had begun to spread rapidly through her bloodstream.
“Keuu….”
Renia turned her body, trying to steady her vision, which was growing dizzy as if she were drunk.
And, she met Yu-ra’s frightened eyes.
“I’m… glad… you’re safe. Y… oung lady.”
Her tongue was stiffening, and her senses were starting to dull.
Yu-ra gasped in surprise and covered her mouth.
“R-Renia-Unnie?!”
Two horns, a long tail, violet hair, and heart-shaped pupils.
Those were definitely not Renia’s things, but Yu-ra could feel it instinctively.
That she was Renia.
“Hehe, you… recognized me.”
Renia smiled.
Even though it wasn’t a situation to smile in, she smiled.
She was happy.
That she had been recognized.
“U-Unnie?! Is that you, Unnie?! How on earth…! Are you okay?!”
Plop!
Before Yu-ra could even support her, Renia collapsed on the spot.
And she leaned her body against the collapsed debris.
Soon, her limbs would be paralyzed.
The poison’s concentration might not be lethal, but it was sufficient to cause non-lethal effects like hallucinations, coma, and a vegetative state.
Poison was always designed to torment its target.
Normal poison uses its unchanging, inherent properties to physically break down the target.
Like paralysis of the body, organ failure, or necrosis.
But the poison of the monster Kelkaton was different from such normal things.
It was for the purpose of neutralizing its prey by inducing a comatose state, and then ‘ripening’ the prey through an infinite ‘dream’.
In other words, prey captured by Kelkaton would not die, but would ‘ripen’ while in an infinite slumber in a dream, and would be eaten when the ripening was over.
And that dream.
Was known to interact with the individual’s strongest desire.
It was a heinous poison with no special antidote or cure, and it was like a safety rule to wear special light armor on all parts of the body to defend against the poisonous stinger attacks when entering a Kelkaton habitat during a raid.
Therefore,
“Slee… py….”
Leaning against the wall, Renia had to look around with her hazy vision.
In her dazed vision, which seemed to be searching for something, a blurry image of Tae-jin was captured.
Only a blurred form and faded colors were visible, but Renia could tell.
“Tae… jin….”
That it was him.
《Renia—!!》
That blurry figure drew closer.
But with his voice fading as if submerged in water, Renia’s eyes finally closed.
《No—!! Renia!!!》
<w:pgmar w:bottom="1440" w:top="1440" w:left="1440" w:right="1440" w:header="720" w:footer="720"><w:pgnumtype w:start="1"><w:r w:rsiddel="00000000" w:rsidr="00000000" w:rsidrpr="00000000"><w:rpr><w:sz w:val="28"><w:szcs w:val="28"><w:rtl w:val="0"><w:t xml:space="preserve">The infinite slumber had begun.