Chapter 99
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 99
Chapter Title: And Yet, We Move Forward (4)
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Liz's eyes wavered.
The black mana was gradually turning blue.
It felt as if the sky itself had descended.
Anyone—not just Liz—would have done the same in that situation.
“You're not the one in the wrong.”
“...”
“But I'm certainly not saying you did the right thing. You just wanted to live, didn't you?”
Faced with parents who tried to kill her because they couldn't handle her growing power, the young girl didn't have many choices.
With a swing of my sword, the spirits protecting Liz were cleanly sliced away.
A small, cute puppy appeared in front of Liz.
*Woof, woof.*
The puppy barked at me, as if wary.
Liz reached out her hand to the puppy.
Liz took the trembling puppy into her arms.
“What on earth are you so angry about?”
“You know.”
“That's impossible...”
“Have you even tried?”
The Sky Sword slashed across Liz's chest.
Blood poured from where the sword had passed.
It was red, a crimson deeper than anything in the world.
*Thump.*
Liz's body collapsed forward.
The puppy nuzzled its cheek against the back of Liz's hand.
It looked as if it was worried about her wounds.
“You know, if...”
“There are no 'ifs.' But I'll listen to your last words.”
“Forget it.”
“I said I'd listen.”
“Even if I do... ugh, nothing will change.”
*That's true.*
Sheathing my sword, I looked down at the fallen Liz.
As her mana dwindled, the puppy beside her began to turn transparent.
*If she's not going to say her last words, I might as well say them for her.*
“You've been through a lot.”
“A lot... I don't know if I deserve to hear that.”
Once the puppy had completely vanished, Liz closed her eyes.
I looked down at Liz, dead with her eyes closed.
Her limbs were rotted and festering, her face grotesquely disfigured, yet her death seemed incredibly peaceful.
Liz must have known.
That what had started as an act of survival had, at some point, spiraled out of control like a train with no brakes.
She wanted someone to pull the brake for her.
“That's all it was.”
So there was no need to understand her, no reason to pity her.
“Hah, I wonder how much time has passed outside.”
I had a feeling it was going to be a close call.
I hoped I wouldn't be late for the raid.
Deciding to wrap things up quickly and leave, I looked toward Lee Eun-hee.
“Keuk...!”
An inverted triangular horn flew at me from behind.
I barely managed to draw my sword and block it, but I couldn't avoid the impact.
I was sent flying into a collapsed wall, covered in dust.
Lee Eun-hee ran over, and we both looked in the direction of the dead Liz.
“Hah.”
“What? What is it? Hey, what the hell is that?”
Liz's corpse floated up, as if someone were pulling it by invisible strings.
As the last of her blood dripped to the floor, her body turned black, and the bones throughout her body twisted.
It was not a pleasant sight.
A skein of black thread emerged from her body, wrapping around her.
The surrounding trees and ground were withering.
*'I'm almost out of mana.'*
I'd helped Lee Eun-hee and even fought Liz.
My mana was already scraping the bottom of the barrel.
“You've recovered a lot of mana, right? You were secretly chugging something.”
While I was fighting Liz, Lee Eun-hee had been diligently drinking mana potions.
Seeing how frantically she drank them, they didn't seem very effective.
“What do you mean, chugging?”
“Let's fire another Meteor Shower.”
“What's that?”
“That thing from before.”
I glared at Lee Eun-hee's bow.
“Stop naming other people's skills whatever you want!”
Lee Eun-hee grumbled, looking dumbfounded.
With my mana depleted, Lee Eun-hee's Meteor Shower (流星雨) was the strongest attack we had.
Seemingly realizing the danger of that thing, Lee Eun-hee drew her bowstring without another word.
I grabbed her arm tightly from behind.
“I just refilled my mana, too.”
As Lee Eun-hee grumbled, an arrow blending black and blue appeared between her fingers.
When she released her hand, the arrows shot out in a straight line, raining down on Liz and exploding.
“Hey, your face is pale. Are you okay?”
“No.”
I could barely stand.
Lee Eun-hee took out two mana potions from her item window and tossed them to me.
I popped the cap off with my lips and downed the mana potion.
It really did taste like mint.
*'Tastes awful.'*
I could see why Yoo Ji-han whined so much.
It barely restored any mana; if it's not effective, it should at least taste good.
After downing both potions, I could finally catch my breath.
“Damn it.”
The dust had partially settled.
The earlier attack had destroyed about half the cocoon, which was now barely holding its shape.
“Just one more time...”
“I can't.”
“Why?”
“Forget me, look at you! Do you have any idea what state you're in? I wish I had a mirror to show you!”
Lee Eun-hee retorted angrily.
Liz had definitely died before she could become a thought-form.
*'She should have. What's going on?'*
We turned our gazes toward the sound of a presence.
A dry laugh escaped me as I watched the man approach, the collapsed mansion behind him.
Liz had the ability to hold onto the souls of the dead.
In the case of a Myuel with mana, it's possible to control their body, like Cale.
But if you were to ask if the Cale before he died by Liz's hand and the Cale after were the same person, the answer would be no.
There was one person who was the sole exception.
“Cinderella.”
“Are you blind? How does he look like Cinderella? He's just some old guy.”
“It's just a figure of speech.”
At first, I thought Duke Faelia had become a puppet, unaware he had even died by Liz's hand because he was an exceptional Myuel.
That wasn't it.
Liz never had such an ability to begin with.
There was someone who made us believe she would stop her activities at midnight.
—I met him.
I thought it was just a passing comment.
“Who are you?”
That guy was not Duke Faelia.
The aura emanating from his body could never belong to Duke Faelia.
“Hmm, is this all you amount to? Very well. What on earth are you?”
“Hey, I asked first. Answer my question...”
The figure of Duke Faelia vanished.
By the time I caught his afterimage, I knew it was too late.
*'Not me?'*
*No way.* I quickly swung my sword toward Lee Eun-hee.
“Lee Eun-hee! Are you alrigh—”
“Keuk... what...”
Duke Faelia had grabbed Lee Eun-hee by the neck and lifted her up.
She tried to counterattack with her feet a few times, but it was all useless.
“Damn it! Hey! Lee Eun-hee!!”
Black hands shot out from under my feet.
No matter how many I cut down, the hands kept appearing endlessly, making it impossible to move forward.
If he was going to target someone, it should have been me. Why the hell was he going after Lee Eun-hee?
“I see. You have no intention of speaking, is that it?”
“You... ugh... speak so I can understand!”
Lee Eun-hee swung her leg toward his neck.
He casually blocked her foot and squeezed his hand.
*Crack.*
“Uuugh, aaack!!”
Her joints twisted, and Lee Eun-hee screamed.
“Perhaps if I tear open your body and pull out your soul along with your heart, I might learn something.”
I drew upon all my remaining mana and used the Hundred-Beast Sword.
The ferocious sword, embodying the form of a beast, tore through everything in its path.
*Move!*
*I said, move!*
That girl is rude, selfish, loves to eat, and she's an archer who shoots bombs instead of arrows, with not an ounce of cuteness in her.
But still.
Even so.
She's not supposed to die here!!
The light faded, and it returned to being an ordinary sword.
*Don't stop. If you have no mana, push through with sheer force!*
“Lee Eun-heeeeeee!!”
The Sky Sword grazed the man's shoulder.
My legs gave out, and my body pitched forward.
*'I should have cut off his arm...'*
The man's hand reached for Lee Eun-hee's heart.
*Squish.*
Something popped out of Lee Eun-hee's pocket.
As if plunging into jelly, the man's hand stopped right in front of Lee Eun-hee's body.
It was a fleeting opening.
I used the Hundred-Beast Sword to sever his arm, separating him from Lee Eun-hee.
“Cough...”
I'd only swung once, but the skill had already faded.
I spat out all the blood that had pooled in my mouth.
Between me and Duke Faelia was a human-sized, bluish blob.
That translucent thing, no matter how I looked at it...
“A slime?”
“Kku-kku-kka-kka?”
“What?”
“Ugh, why is it here?”
Lee Eun-hee took a health potion from her item window and poured it on her leg.
It was obvious the potion wasn't much better than the ones I gave Yoo Ji-han.
Thinking she'd be fine after pouring the potion, Lee Eun-hee tried to stand, but couldn't take a single step before collapsing forward.
The injury to her leg looked quite severe.
I helped the crumpled Lee Eun-hee up.
I wanted to tell her to stay down, but seeing the scowl on her face, I knew she wouldn't listen.
I pointed a finger at the bouncing slime in front of us.
“That is a slime, right?”
“Yeah.”
“You were raising something like that in your pocket?”
“I wasn't raising it!”
“But you even gave it a name, Kku-kku-kka-kka.”
“Just... pretend you didn't hear that.”
Lee Eun-hee took out three more potions and poured them on her leg.
She seemed to be barely able to stand, likely due to the pain.
“It's true. Not long after I entered the Tower, I rescued it when it was stuck in a tree. It's the one that brought me this bow. It was smaller back then, though.”
“Why would a slime get stuck in a tree! It's a slime!”
Lee Eun-hee, seemingly with no rebuttal, pressed her lips together.
*But it brought her a bow? That bow?*
“What is this, a slime repaying a kindness?”
“I... ugh, don't know!”
As I continued to look at her suspiciously, Lee Eun-hee clutched her leg and sighed.
“I'm not lying.”
“I never said you were.”
She wasn't the type to joke around in a situation like this.
It wasn't that I thought she was lying; it was just absurd. Utterly absurd.
*'Still, it saved us.'*
*What kind of slime is that?*
A black tree grew from the severed cross-section of his arm.
That seemed to be Duke Faelia's original ability.
“So you've appeared.”
*Boing.*
“I knew you would interfere.”
*Boing-boing-boing.*
“Telling me to back off? Hmph, do you really think that's possible? You can't use your power either.”
The slime shook side to side.
“How absurd.”
...
*You two are the absurd ones here.*
*They can communicate?*
At Duke Faelia's words, the slime's insides started bubbling furiously, filling with air pockets.
*It seems angry.*
The slightly shrunken slime turned toward me and Lee Eun-hee.
*Boing.*
*Bo-bo-boing.*
I nudged the dazed Lee Eun-hee.
“Hey, what's it saying?”
“How should I know?”
“You're its owner!”
“Have you ever raised a dog?”
“When I was a kid.”
“Did you raise it because you understood what it was saying?”
Ah.
It was one problem after another.
*So what is it trying to say?*