Chapter 90
Chapter 90
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 90
Chapter Title: Illusions of the Past
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[Dirty mercenary scum!]
[Kill that bastard!]
Shouts vowing to kill me echoed from all directions. They had familiar faces, but their bodies weren't quite right. They glared at me with eyes full of murderous intent.
[You filthy hunter bastard! Who took in a stray like you?!]
[I'll kill you!]
Well, well. Even my old wife and father-in-law had shown up. These were people I hadn't given a single thought to in ages, and yet here they were again.
"Where'd you crawl out from to die? Come on out here?"
[If you hadn't abandoned us!]
These things—illusions or whatever they were—must have figured my father-in-law and wife could take me down, because they had the two of them grab my collar. Big mistake if they thought that.
"You never should have cheated in the first place, you damn bitch."
Crack!
One punch shattered the head of the wife as she spewed curses nonstop and yanked a dagger from her bosom. Her headless body dissolved into dust and scattered everywhere.
[My daughter! My daughter!]
My old father-in-law's illusion screamed at the sight of his vanishing girl. And yet he still drew an axe from his coat—this was straight out of a slasher flick. One where everyone but me was the killer. Or maybe a horror movie was more like it.
"Illusion or spirit, I don't care—you're pissing me off right to the bitter end."
A bone-crunching sound rang out as the father-in-law's body crumbled to dust. I glanced at the horde around me. Up close, some looked vaguely familiar. That one in armor... yeah, he was from the Sarisa war, the guy I'd crossed blades with...
So that's the gimmick? All the bastards I'd killed coming back to finish me off? Fine. Time to grant these undead illusions or whatever eternal rest.
"Come on, then. You couldn't beat me back then—doubt you'll do better now."
[Kill him!]
[Arrogant prick! I've been waiting to see you again!]
I swung my sword in a wide arc, and the ones caught by the blade screamed as they turned to dust. A few wore armor, but laughably, my sword sliced right through it.
Impossible under normal circumstances. Cutting steel like that. But in my mind, their bodies and gear were all made of the same flimsy stuff.
"Yeah! Bring it all! You worthless shits who can't even rest in peace!"
Worse than a bunch of skeletons. Every swing scattered them screaming in all directions. The only issue? Their damn numbers.
No matter how many I cut down, more poured in endlessly. Me swinging away in the middle had to look like a breakwater smashing against endless waves.
[Graaa!]
[Monster!]
"Huff... huff..."
Even as they faded, these things pointed fingers at me. Despite all the fighting, their numbers hadn't thinned at all—but I had figured something out. These weren't the guys I'd killed. No chance.
I'd been in plenty of scraps over the years, sure, but not this many. It felt less like they'd recreated my kills and more like they'd manifested everyone I'd ever laid eyes on... just laced with extra hostility.
"This ain't ending at this rate."
I muttered it while staring at the ones still encircling me.
Brute-forcing my way out wasn't gonna cut it. At this rate, they'd keep spawning forever. Hell, next it'd be some random city passerby number one. Or maybe they'd just recycle the dead ones.
Stuck between a rock and a hard place, I went with breakthrough.
"You damn coward! Quit hiding and sending your minions—face me yourself!"
I figured smashing ahead would flush out whatever was behind this. Right then, the encircling bastards started collapsing.
[Curse...]
[You...]
They melted like sludge, forms crumbling and oozing to the ground along with the landscape. Through the disintegrating scenery, a familiar darkness came rushing in.
"Where...?"
Lenia gripped her sword tight as the people around her vanished in an instant. With the torchlight and Oliver's flames gone too, darkness swallowed her vision.
But she knew right away where she was. After all, this was the basement of her old family home—a place whose name had long since faded from memory.
"An illusion."
She'd been in the dungeon moments ago, so this had to be one. With that thought, she took a step forward. But...
[Ren!]
[Reeen!]
The voices—tied to her family's name, ones she'd all but forgotten—made Lenia's calm pupils tremble. The housekeeper, butler, and maids from back when she lived there. Nightmares feed on imagination, growing ever more vivid.
[Ren! You damn bitch!]
[Where the hell you been hiding?! Time for a whipping to knock some sense into you!]
The voices took on form, and Lenia backed away at their savage faces. Not true terror, just an instinctive defensive move.
Truth was, she couldn't say if these were the real people from her childhood. They were built from her memories alone—maybe just figments of imagination. But that hardly mattered now.
Whipcrack—thwack!
[Can't even do this right!]
The riding crop lashed across Lenia's body. She could have blocked it easily—it was just a normal person's strike—but she let it land and staggered.
"Ugh... Why?"
Why hadn't she blocked? The thought crossed her mind, but her trembling hands betrayed her, dropping the sword she'd been clutching. Unthinkable for the usual her. Letting go of her blade.
[Damn bitch! No food today!]
Lenia. She hated the darkness. Hated the beatings. That era was nothing but pain—a bleak life of constant torment.
Sleeping in a sunless basement, waking to hunger-induced hallucinations.
"I thought I'd forgotten all those memories..."
The more she thought, the faster her breathing grew. After catching the Count's eye. No—after that one man saved her—she'd thought those memories buried. But now they were devouring her mind.
Darkness, basement, starvation, violence. The trauma buried deep in her subconscious clawed its way out, dragging forth the old "Ren" and starting to possess her body.
As the curse consumed her, the dark basement swelled larger, her body shrinking smaller.
"No! Please!"
How much time passed? In the timeless dark, Lenia shuddered at her fading memories. But the vicious curse had burrowed into her fragile human heart in seconds.
In the end, Lenia forgot even her own name. She wasn't Lady Cligrove Lenia of the Count's house anymore. She was just the slave Ren.
[Ren!]
[You trash bitch!]
[Starve today too!]
Her once-radiant golden hair lost its luster, turning dull gray. The turquoise eyes everyone praised as beautiful grew hazy and vacant.
No trace of her former self remained anywhere. In this cruel illusory curse, she was nothing but a small, pathetic slave named Ren.
"Ugh... Mom!"
"Brother! That time, I didn't mean to..."
"Master! Forgive me just once! I was wrong!"
The open plain vanished, replaced by a chaotic cave interior. The mercenaries—not to mention Oliver—were lost in panic, yelling at thin air.
Small mercy: no undead from before showed up here. One skeleton, and we'd have been wiped out.
Slap!
Figuring I'd wake the mercs first, I picked one and slapped him. The guy who'd been crying for his brother stared up at me in a daze.
"Wha—! Bro... no, my lord? Just now..."
"Illusion. Wake the others."
"Y-yes, sir!"
The mercenary rushed to rouse the rest. Whatever it was, one hell of a nasty curse. Caught everyone without a clue.
"Sorry... sorry..."
Meanwhile, Lenia was curled up tight, repeating "sorry" like she was trapped in some vision. Looked just like the old her.
"Lady. You need to wake up."
"Sob... I did wrong..."
"Lady!"
I shook her, slapped her cheeks a few times to snap her out, but damn if she wasn't deep in it. Just kept trembling and mumbling apologies.
"Ugh... How'd you break free? If the others hadn't woken me, I'd still be stuck!"
Oliver staggered over, finally coming to.
"Just a bunch of shitty bastards showed up. I steeled myself to smash 'em all, and poof—out of the illusion. More importantly... Lady's not looking good. That happen too?"
"Hmm... My lord... looks like the Lady's trapped in past memories."
Oliver glanced at Lenia and said so. People deep in past-based illusions are a nightmare to wake.
"Any way to snap her out?"
"If it's past trauma, need a keyword or person to shatter it. Something she liked from those dark days, for instance..."
That clicked. The one closest to her back when she was still "Ren."
"Clear out the others. I'll wake the Lady."
Hated the idea of rumors, so I sent the mercenaries back first. But Hilia, who'd woken early, stuck by my side.
"Didn't hear me say fall back?"
"Still... need a guard... at least one..."
"Then do me a favor—keep your mouth shut no matter what happens here."
As the Duke's daughter, her tongue wasn't the lightest. Rather than pry her off by force, a firm warning did the trick. Now to wake this one...
"Sorry... the cleaning..."
"Wake up! Ren!"
Started with her old name. Felt awkward after all this time, but her face brightened a bit. Good sign.
I could guess the illusion. Her worst pain from the past—before she met me. The endless abuse heaped on that little girl.
"Ren!"
I'd save her again, right here.
"Brother..."
She reached out like a baby bird begging for food at my voice. I took her hand and whispered.
"Yeah. It's brother. The Johnny brother you've been looking for."
The man you'd been searching for was always right there beside you. I'd planned to tell her that when we were on equal footing someday, but...
"Brother... Johnny... brother..."
Muttering my old name over and over, Lenia slowly opened her eyes. Even in the dark, her turquoise gaze locked perfectly with mine.