Chapter 217: Residents of a Ruined World (13)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 217: Residents of a Ruined World (13)
The Hero’s Party was strong.
Not only had every individual among them surpassed the “Wall,” but they were also veterans accustomed to taking down enemies far more powerful than themselves.
Even if they had lost their lives and been forcibly resurrected as restless corpses, the fact that they were the Hero’s Party remained unchanged. In a way, their strength was only natural.
They were a collective perfected for the sole purpose of hunting down powerful individuals. In some respects, they were the worst possible matchup for Sun Wukong. However, even though they had shifted from fighting as individuals to a coordinated party, the tide of battle did not flip in an instant.
-To be honest, I was a bit surprised at first.
It would be more accurate to say the scales had balanced, reaching a tense equilibrium where previously I had held a slight advantage.
-But I’ve been through my fair share of battles. I’ve faced crises like this countless times.
If they were a group designed to handle a powerful individual, the one currently inhabiting my body was an individual capable of shattering groups.
Despite the desperate struggle of the Hero and his companions, the battle remained a stalemate. We weren’t losing ground.
The problem was…
From their perspective, a stalemate was more than enough.
If the one fighting them right now were the real Sun Wukong in her own body, there would be no issue. But as long as she was fighting through my body, the penalty of Synchronization drained my stamina, and every moment she used Reinforcement, it consumed my life force.
In other words, the longer this dragged on, the more disadvantaged I became.
From the enemy’s point of view, I probably looked like a boss monster that would naturally weaken if they just held out long enough.
Beyond the creeping anxiety, that thing finally reared its head again.
-If you hesitate any longer, it’ll be too late. Why not just do it yourself right now?
Shut up.
-If you fall, do you really think the others can handle that monster?
I told you to be quiet.
-Everyone will die. They won’t be able to overcome this. You’ll fail to protect them again. Do you want to live with that regret?
This was all just an auditory hallucination.
It was a damn compulsion—a mental illness that insisted on surfacing the moment I felt even slightly insecure.
-Did you make a promise? That you wouldn’t overexert yourself anymore? You know you can’t keep that. You don’t want to see those people get hurt again, do you?
No, I know now what it means to those people when I get hurt.
-Do you still not realize how cold this world is? What happens when you let your guard down? Oh, I wonder who you’ll lose this time before you start regretting it. First, it’ll be the ones who came to this dungeon with you, right?
For a split second, I imagined it.
The sight of them falling one by one, unable to withstand that aura, made me feel physically ill.
-The Professor who loves you will die. Her specialty is close-quarters combat, so she’ll probably be the first to go.
-Oh, it might be easier if she resented you, but she’ll probably just smile. She’ll tell you it’s not your fault. She’ll say she’s fine.
-And then what? Are you going to wail and flip the world upside down again? Wouldn’t it be better to act now, while it might not be too late?
-Besides, if you can save all of them with just your life, isn’t that a bargain?
-Once they find out what you’ve done, they’ll all leave you anyway.
-Wouldn’t it be better for them to remember you fondly for the rest of their lives?
It was cold.
I tried to shake off the familiar, wretched chill, but it relentlessly sapped my warmth, trying to force me into overexerting myself once more.
It urged me to freeze harder, colder—telling me that if I was going to melt into a puddle, I might as well stay sharp and shatter instead.
I didn’t want to. If I pushed myself, everyone would be hurt again.
I didn’t want to betray them.
I had decided to try.
I really didn’t want to do it…
But the thought of those people getting hurt seemed even worse.
-There is no need for that.
If not for the voice that rang in my head just as my wavering heart was about to tip over, I likely would have repeated the same mistake.
-I’m not sure if I should praise you for holding out this long or scold you.
Sun Wukong?
-You probably think I’m going to lose. I understand your anxiety. It’s not unreasonable for this to look like a losing battle. Well, it might sound like an excuse, but honestly, your body hasn’t completely left the human realm yet, so there’s a limit to the tricks I can pull.
Sun Wukong began with a somewhat dubious admission, as if to get the facts out of the way first.
-But even so, believe in me. Because I can win.
-Believe? On what grounds? It’s obvious we’re just dragging this out until we get taken down.
-I don’t know what kind of voices you’re hearing inside, but if you truly want to move forward, you have to learn how to trust others instead of trying to solve everything alone.
-No, trust is just an invitation to be betrayed. It’s nothing more than an irresponsible evasion of accountability.
-Trust doesn’t always provide the answer. But if you don’t trust, nothing ever begins.
My head was spinning. I couldn’t tell whose words were right, or even whose voice was whose anymore.
-Just pretty-sounding nonsense.
-I believe you can overcome this.
-In the end, you always had to solve it yourself, didn’t you?
-You’ve never actually given up and truly reached out to someone else, have you?
-Don’t try to run from your responsibility.
-Trust me.
-No one can do it but you.
-Everyone will gladly stand with you.
-You’ll all fall together.
-Even a great ordeal can eventually be overcome.
Even as the familiar, wretched chill pierced through me, I endured.
It was terrifying to rely on the voices I heard, but I gritted my teeth and held on.
Just as the compulsion and confusion reached their peak, making me feel like I might lose my mind just to find some peace—
-You did well to endure.
Suddenly, the cold vanished, and the voice—no, Sun Wukong—answered.
-Now, as a reward for your endurance, it is my turn to repay that trust.
I didn’t know what kind of exchange had taken place, but the battle was already reaching its conclusion.
A blonde woman stood alone, holding a crimson-stained Ruyi, facing the Hero’s Party shrouded in death.
-Watch closely. You probably thought there was a time limit, that the longer this went on, the worse it would be for us.
The Ruyi pointed toward them.
-But in this world, there is no power without a price. Especially for those who haven’t yet perfectly reached the rank of transcendence.
Only after hearing those words did I notice the state of the Hero’s Party.
They weren’t exactly in tatters… but something was wrong.
Their perfect formation had crumbled. Their movements, though still sharp, had lost the edge of their previous precision, even if they lacked reason.
While I was struggling with my mental demons, the Hero’s Party had become something that used to be the Hero’s Party.
Even the Hero, the only one who seemed to have maintained his consciousness, was gasping under the weight of death energy, his unfocused eyes staring in our direction.
-Power can keep growing, sure. But…
“Ugh… Argh…!”
-Enduring that power is a different matter entirely. You were anxious, but your opponent could be just as anxious. Combat—fighting—is always relative. Knowing how to hide that fact is a crucial element of battle, so keep that in mind.
Then, Sun Wukong gripped the crimson Ruyi and threw it toward them as if delivering the final blow.
-Erase them. Ruyi.
The hunk of metal, radiating intense heat and devouring life force, flew toward the Hero’s Party.
* * *
The fallen hero, Siegfried, was starting to feel a sense of panic.
He had never been pushed this far before.
No matter how strong the enemy, once his companions joined the fray, things were usually settled.
So, when he first encountered this situation, he had initially thought he could finally die. He had been ready to let go of everything, one by one.
Even when the strengthening power of death began to eat away at his mind and forcibly slowed his companions’ movements, he thought it would finally be the end.
He had mocked the death that struggled until the very last moment, looking forward to a sweet defeat.
However.
Once he was truly on the verge of death, he realized something.
Death—the entity he had contracted with—was a truly persistent and wretched thing.
And it had absolutely no intention of letting him go.
As he was struck by the heat-laden staff, his body, which should have been obliterated, was forcibly held together by something.
As if even that wasn’t enough, death eventually created a new shield.
All the lives he had taken until now rose up as white bones.
While they blocked the attack in his stead, the contract coiled inside him took over his body.
The Spirit of Death he had contracted with—no, the thing he had thought was a Spirit of Death.
Perhaps because it had manifested its true form, its desires became even clearer.
…Ah, I see. So I alone wasn’t enough for you?
You found someone more to your liking, so you just have to have him?
A manifested form of death, the shape of death imagined by the humans of a single world.
It was the moment the God of Death descended, possessing the Hero’s body.
* * *
Sun Wukong was taken aback.
It was no easy feat for a transcendent being—especially a god from another world, not even a god of this one—to interfere with the world.
Though he didn’t know the specifics, that entity must have paid a massive price.
Its contract with its cherished Hero would weaken, it would lose the faith it had accumulated, and furthermore, as a god of a ruined world, it risked being demoted if it couldn’t gain new faith.
In other words, the thing was willing to risk all of that just to claim this boy.
Well, it was certainly attractive. A soul that had understood death while still alive—it was understandable why the entity would be obsessed.
But still. He couldn’t just say, “Oh, is that so?” and hand him over.
He had told the boy, who had only just begun to trust people, to believe in him. He had to take responsibility.
The cracks in the Ruyi, which stood blocking death, widened further.
-You look pathetic. Normally, you wouldn’t have lasted a second against me.
Yet, the more it cracked, the more brilliantly red it glowed, the Ruyi radiating even more heat.
It sought to push back death, to go beyond mere resistance.
The crimson light drove the death away.
And as a price for continuously surpassing its limits, the sturdy artifact began to crumble, its surface riddled with fractures.
“…Wait, hold on.”
At that point, Kang So-hyun finally became aware of the situation.
He vaguely realized what would happen if things continued like this.
* * *
What is this?
He told me all that stuff about trusting him, about not sacrificing myself.
This isn’t right.
You’re telling me your grand plan was to break yourself in my place?
I tried to bolster the Ruyi’s durability with Multiple Reinforcement, but the rate of corrosion was faster than the increase in durability.
I didn’t know exactly what that thing possessing Siegfried was, but the total volume of death it possessed was clearly more vast than the life I held.
It’s going to break.
If this goes on any longer, the Ruyi will definitely snap.
Then what happens to Sun Wukong, the residual thought dwelling within it?
I tried to forcibly break the Synchronization, but Sun Wukong refused to give me back control of my body.
Instead, as if showing a final burst of Terminal Lucidity, he burned even redder, even more intensely, fueling my anxiety.
-Ha, I look quite pathetic for someone who was talking so big.
The sound of metal rending.
-But still. Even though this was an unexpected accident…
Finally, with a loud crack, the artifact that had always protected me split in two.
-It seems I’ve bought enough time.
At the same moment Sun Wukong’s body, maintained as a clone, vanished—
The weakened death reached its hand out toward me.
“Get your hand off him…!”
A voice rang out.