Chapter 39
Terminally Ill, but It's Okay — Episode 39
The final adversary, Helmut, fell to the combined assault of Baek Sa-young and the guards who had belatedly joined him.
Until his last breath, he laughed maniacally and spewed curse-like words.
That everyone here would soon go to hell.......
It was a grim, unsettling death befitting a Demonkin, but no one paid his words any mind.
The situation moved out of chaos and soon entered the cleanup phase.
As the tension that had pressed down on the hall eased considerably, Cheon Seo-yoon lowered her sword, gasping for breath.
Her shoulders rose and fell without pause, and the hand that had gripped the sword was slick with sweat.
The incident had come to an end faster than expected, but for her, it had been a difficult battle in more ways than one.
It was her first fight against a Demonkin, and it had come at a time when her mind was already in turmoil, so she had personally struggled quite a bit.
"Seo-yoon, are you okay?"
Still, when Joo A-rin came over and patted her shoulder, she felt herself calming down.
"Are you hurt anywhere?"
"Not really."
Cheon Seo-yoon subtly hid the shin that had been struck by Demonic Energy behind her other leg.
But there was no way the sharp-eyed Joo A-rin would fail to notice.
"What? You're bleeding. Sit down and rest for now."
"I'm fine."
"What do you mean, you're fine? Don't push yourself anymore."
"I'm really okay. Seriously. And......."
Cheon Seo-yoon swallowed her words for a moment and looked around.
But why?
The person who should be here was nowhere in sight.
Growing urgent, Cheon Seo-yoon began to walk, limping on her injured leg.
Joo A-rin, who had followed after her, grabbed Cheon Seo-yoon's collar firmly.
"Hey, I told you, you're hurt. You're a patient, remember?"
"Park Ha-yul......."
"What?"
"......Where did Park Ha-yul go?"
"Him? He's probably somewhere around here. They said there were no casualties."
Joo A-rin tried to calm Cheon Seo-yoon down.
But Cheon Seo-yoon seemed to have every nerve focused on just one person, and she showed no sign of stopping.
"Okay, I get it. Now let go."
"No, treatment first......."
"No, finding him comes first."
Cheon Seo-yoon firmly shook off Joo A-rin's hand and began walking again.
"This girl, seriously......."
It was just then, as Joo A-rin, who had no way of knowing the full story, was frowning, that—
"Why Park Ha-yul? He's not back yet?"
Baek Sa-young, who had happened to walk over, asked with a puzzled look, and Cheon Seo-yoon's head whipped around.
"What do you mean, not back yet?"
"I mean, earlier he grabbed the box and ran off backstage."
"The box?"
As soon as Baek Sa-young finished speaking, Cheon Seo-yoon quickly looked up at the platform.
It was true.
It had definitely been sitting on the cart until just a little while ago.......
......Now it was gone.
Which meant the necklace had disappeared along with it.
Why on earth?
She thought for a moment, but it wasn't an answer she could find here.
"You said backstage?"
"Yeah. I think so?"
"I'm going to go check something. I'll go alone, so don't follow me."
Cheon Seo-yoon bit down hard on her lower lip and ran off.
She was so fast it was hard to believe she had been limping just moments before.
"Hey, you said you were hurt."
A flustered Baek Sa-young tried to follow, but Joo A-rin stopped him.
"Leave her be."
"But what if something happens to her while she's like that?"
"Still, not now. We need to give her some space."
Joo A-rin, who had been wearing a resolute expression, soon lifted her head and looked up at the platform.
It was only now that she felt it, but.......
There was definitely something that didn't sit right.
Cheon Seo-yoon had wanted it, but Park Ha-yul had won the bid, and then, at the exact moment she tried to check on it, red smoke had shot up and exposed the Demonkin terrorist attack.
The Lorelei Necklace.
Just what was it?
Joo A-rin, who had been narrowing her eyes, soon murmured quietly in a voice only she could hear.
"...Maybe there's something going on that we don't know about."
* * *
The secondary effect of the First Sword was Absolute Accuracy.
Here, the word "absolute" came with one condition.
'Within the realm of possibility.'
And if I had to pick the most important factor within that realm of possibility, it would be having enough space to freely alter the trajectory.
Just as even a player with excellent individual skill has their ability cut in half when cornered, even the First Sword would eventually be blocked if there was no room to route around an enemy's resistance.
That made this facility control room about the worst possible environment.
Its ceiling was lower than usual, and the room was narrow.
A maze-like space packed with cylindrical pipes of unknown purpose.
WHOOOSH—
The First Sword, already weaving through the cramped gaps, was suddenly engulfed in an explosion.
BOOOOM—!
If there had been enough space, or if I could have imbued the First Sword with mana.......
In the former case, I could have corrected its diverted path; in the latter, it would have flown on without wavering.
But under conditions where neither was possible, the First Sword had merely twisted slightly and embedded itself in a nearby wall.
After five seconds of manifestation time passed, it vanished without inflicting any damage.
Having only fought relatively easy battles until then, I felt my chest seize up.
"...You...are. The per...son who saw...through my bomb."
A halting voice reached me, as though she were forcing every word through scraped vocal cords.
I turned my gaze toward her.
And came face-to-face with her.
The Bomb Demonkin, Kali.
Eyes so terrifyingly devoid of emotion, like those of a doll, were staring at me.
I warned in a low but forceful voice.
"Stop this madness and quit now. Blowing this place up won't change anything."
"...Why?"
She tilted her head and continued.
"More...people will die. More...brilliant flames...will bloom. Why would...nothing change?"
"......What?"
What nonsense.
I barely suppressed the fury rising at logic so far outside common sense.
"Then you'll die too. Are you saying you want to die together?"
"A special...flame is lit with a special...wick. It's not dying. It's...burning."
But words didn't get through.
She looked at me with a genuine smile. To me, it was more ominous than anything else.
I realized that further verbal sparring was meaningless.
I might as well try to break a rock with an egg.
I hurriedly activated Manifestation.
I poured in all my remaining mana and summoned the First Sword.
"I pay 3 days of my remaining time as the price."
Then I invested all available time and took the Second Sword in hand.
I had drawn the strongest move I could make in this place, right now.
[Remaining Time: 3 days 17 hours 23 minutes]
"Just die right now."
I hurled the Second Sword. A beat later, the First Sword followed behind.
The Second Sword soon split into ten and filled the narrow passage.
The First Sword clung close behind them and once again aimed for the bastard's heart.
Even if another explosion went off, I judged that she couldn't block them all.
......But.
"Bloom."
Her lips twisted into a grotesque smile.
With ecstasy, desire, and perhaps anticipation mingled in her eyes, she thrust both hands forward.
KRA-KRA-KRA-KRA—!
Then came something on a completely different scale.......
A violent explosion followed, as though she had no concern whatsoever for her own safety.
"That crazy bastard......."
['Greed' detects danger.]
I ducked swiftly and reached out my right hand almost reflexively.
[[Auxiliary Authority 1] Absorption activates.]
[Trait, Adversary of Demons, partially reduces the power of the trait.]
It was still an explosion mixed with Demonic Energy, so I expected the trait's effect to offset it to some degree.
However, I couldn't prevent some of the pipes caught in the explosion from bursting.
CRACKLE—!
Pipes nearly as tall as me went flying and turned the area into a wreck,
and I was helplessly swept up by one of them and sent flying.
I slammed into the wall, and intense pain surged through me.
RIIIIING—
For a moment, my ears rang.
My focus split into two, then three, then spun round and round.
Unknown smoke and liquid burst out everywhere and soaked my back. The alarm system activated, and along with the blaring siren, the whole world flashed red.
['Greed' shouts at you to pull yourself together.]
[It says the Demonkin is still alive.]
"......X—, I'd like that too."
I bit down on my blood-tasting lip.
I grabbed the nearest support, took several deep breaths, and barely managed to stand before searching for her.
.......
Her condition was worse than mine.
Her whole body was covered in small wounds.
A sword seemed to have pierced her near the thigh, and dark red blood kept flowing from the wound.
But that grotesque smile remained.
"Ah...aah......."
No, it had actually deepened compared to before.
The blood smeared around her mouth even made it look as though the corners of her lips had split all the way to her ears.
Kali stared blankly into the air and muttered something.
"Twen...ty-two."
At first, I thought it was just idle muttering.
But the way her mouth kept opening and closing at regular intervals was anything but ordinary.
I quickly sharpened my vision and checked the message.
Immediately after, every hair on my body stood on end.
20
19
18
.
.
It was a countdown.
And what would happen when that number reached 1 was obvious.
What she was waiting for was something even larger than the explosion from moments ago.
The final flame of her life, using herself as the wick.......
Growing desperate, I tried to manifest an Armament.
But there was nothing.
My mana.......
And since I had exhausted all the time I could offer as sacrifice, I couldn't count on that either.
In short, both sorcery and Armament manifestation were impossible.
11
10
9
But there was no time to hesitate.
If I couldn't take her down, there could be hundreds of casualties.
Then.......
I dashed straight toward her and shouted into the air.
"Aren't you going to work? What's taking so long?"
Then a response came.
['Greed' absorbs a certain amount of Demonic Energy.]
[Seal Release Rate: 100%]
[Seal Release Rate 100% achieved.]
[[Auxiliary Authority 2] is unlocked.]
The last explosion supplied the 3 percent of Demonic Energy I had still been missing.
It was a close call, but I wasn't too late.
So what about the ability?
[Auxiliary Authority 2] Discharge
-Discharges the Demonic Energy devoured through [Auxiliary Authority 1].
-The time limit is 12 hours after absorption; after that, it cannot be used.
This was enough.
It was the offensive-type authority I desperately needed at this moment.
I kept running without slowing down.
My ribs felt broken; every breath brought a stab of pain, and my vision flickered with the first signs of mana exhaustion. Even so, I charged straight ahead with one thought: I could stop this.
Straight ahead again.
5
4
3
When I reached a suitable distance, I reached out without hesitation.
"It's already...too late...."
"It's over."
['Greed' says the protagonist is supposed to appear at the very end.]
[[Auxiliary Authority 2] Discharge activates.]
Almost at the same moment the countdown ended. Or perhaps just a hair faster than that.
WHOOO—
Just as a reddish light was rising across the entire space, dark red demonic energy burst from my outstretched hand.
FWHOOOOM—!
A revolting sensation crawled over my hand, like mold spreading across it.
Nausea surged up from the clash between that Demonic Energy and the nature of my Adversary of Demons trait.
But the wave of Demonic Energy kept pouring out.
She vanished like a buoy swept away in a torrent, then surfaced again.
Her eyes were still empty and the corners of her lips were still stretched impossibly high, but there was no life left in her.
The Demonic Energy I had absorbed from her became the final dagger that ended her life.