Chapter 62
Chapter 62
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Ace
Chapter: 62
Chapter Title: 23. A Night of Flowing Melodies (4)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
“I wondered what business brought someone whose ears are closed to such wonders. It seems I was mistaken.”
“...”
“This is a place where like-minded people gather to listen to music. I don’t know who you are, but we can’t welcome uninvited guests.”
Hasegawa’s prayer shifted.
The middle-aged man’s eyes flushed red.
“Have you come to kill me?”
“Yes.”
“I see. Then you should have started with that from the beginning.”
A crack formed in the refined man’s expression.
“Why needlessly interrupt someone else’s performance?”
Yoo Ji-tae’s brow furrowed.
Hasegawa raised his voice as if genuinely outraged.
“A performance is sacred. If you had business with me, you could have waited for another time. Even morning would have sufficed. But no, you had to barge in right here. During this time I treasure so dearly. In this place where I share music with these cherished companions. You dared to interrupt my performance! You’ve just insulted me!”
The regressor didn’t respond.
Yet Hasegawa continued raising his voice alone.
“In ancient Egypt, they once cut off the ears of nobles who interrupted royal musicians. Ears that don’t listen are useless, after all.”
“Looks like that left an impression on you.”
“What?”
“You went around chopping off plenty of ears yourself. Claiming there were no ears that could truly hear.”
Snap. His voice cut off abruptly.
Until that moment, the gaze he’d fixed on Yoo Ji-tae had looked down on him like a cat eyeing a mouse.
But with that single remark from Yoo Ji-tae, Hasegawa realized a massive wall had appeared before him.
The man knew his deeds. Even among collapse-rank demonkin, he was the one whose activities had been the most subdued.
“This is quite the predicament.”
No sooner had his words ended than abyssal demonic energy erupted from all directions.
“Heh... Im Cheol-oh, Wei Lian... all of them made such a fuss...”
At that, the puppets charged at Yoo Ji-tae in unison.
In an instant, one puppet’s head flew off. Hasegawa realized too late that the man’s arm had moved.
“...!”
“You’re the enemy of ‘Invisibility’!”
There was no need for lengthy words.
The next moment, his form blurred. Closing the distance in a flash, a diagonal upward slash sliced through Hasegawa’s neck.
Thud... Thump... The head rolled across the floor, and a beat later, the body toppled backward onto the carpet.
The private room fell silent in an instant.
This was merely the beginning. Yoo Ji-tae spoke.
“Yoo Bom.”
“Yes.”
At Yoo Ji-tae’s words, Bom closed her eyes. She interlaced her fingers and began to concentrate. The heart of the Green Dragon, brimming with the power of great nature, began to throb vigorously. Though a dragon, still a hatchling, she gathered mana for a long while.
Her body rose, enveloped in nature’s mana.
In the meantime, tentacles sprouted from Hasegawa’s severed neck and reattached to the head.
“Where do you think you’re―!”
Hasegawa rose in a frenzy, scattering demonic energy from both hands.
Thin strands of demonic energy extended from his hands to the puppets.
“Move!”
The puppets convulsed into motion.
Realizing the gap in power, Hasegawa would act for survival. Some to block Yoo Ji-tae. Others to flee.
Like cockroaches.
He recalled last night’s strategy meeting.
―If the humans there weren’t human after all...
Bom bit her lip as she said,
―Hasegawa would have already molted by then...
She had predicted the situation accurately.
Not long ago, Hasegawa had become a monster through 「Molting」. It stemmed from his desire for immense physical power after turning demonkin.
But molting wasn’t limited to mere form changes. Rarely, it could split into multiple entities, as here.
Hasegawa had already revealed his true form as a demonkin.
As ‘performer’ and ‘audience.’
―They had providence governing them.
―They were probably all human once.
―They must have heard Hasegawa’s music. And suffered for it.
Even across multiple regressions, he hadn’t confirmed that far.
―So Hasegawa turned those who couldn’t appreciate his music’s value into puppets.
Now was the time to verify Bom’s deduction.
Flash―!
Like a perfectly choreographed flash mob, the audience scattered in all directions at once.
Smashing through walls, glass, and ceilings in their escape.
At that moment, Bom, hovering midway in the air, opened her eyes.
Her mana-saturated heart began pulsing in sync with every space there.
It was a authority only dragons could wield.
As sovereigns, the power to command all creation with a single utterance.
「Dragon Word (S+)」 "Foul, rotting existences, remain here and obey providence―"
⟨ Dragon Word (S+) ⟩
In that instant, every puppet froze.
In the halted world, Bom spoke.
The Green Dragon’s words carried immense power. A force that compelled obedience from the living, and even the dead could not defy.
All the ‘puppets’ there, corrupted by the filthy mana of the demon realm, came to a complete stop.
Including Hasegawa, they fell under 「Mortal Providence」. No more regeneration.
“...This is.”
A sight even a collapse-rank demonkin had never witnessed.
Hasegawa’s eyes widened.
Yoo Ji-tae moved.
Swish―
One puppet had raised its arm to smash through the ceiling.
Its arm and head were severed together.
Sslash―
Another had lunged to shatter the glass.
It split vertically, collapsing to both sides.
Thud―
One was drawing a weapon from its waist to cover others’ escape.
Its upper body fell clean off.
“...”
The Dragon Word had taken hold, but Bom’s magic power wasn’t overwhelming. As the suppressive force weakened, the puppets began to stir slowly.
Escape was no longer possible.
Shifting purpose, they climbed onto floors and tables, dropping to all fours. Churrrk... Tentacle-covered blades erupted from their bodies in all directions.
Not mere blades. Compressed demonic energy that could tear a world ranker’s flesh on contact.
“...!”
“...!”
The puppets charged Yoo Ji-tae simultaneously.
As if on a signal, it happened all at once.
The assault was sharp, leaving no openings.
Coming from all sides with slight delays, it formed exquisite linked strikes.
He could have dodged, but he didn’t.
Instead, he bent at the waist sideways.
Then twisted his upper body as if wringing it out. Power gathered from his toes, traveling through his lower body and waist to his shoulders. The sweeping strike drew a clean arc. So fast that over a dozen trajectories cleaved almost simultaneously. The incoming puppets shattered instantly, scattering in all directions.
Killing these powerful monsters required that much killing intent.
The rampaging intent sliced through the building’s outer walls and windows entirely.
Clang!
Kaboom―!
With explosions, the structures holding the building’s form flew apart.
Walls, floor-to-ceiling windows, ceilings—even the hotel’s pillars protected by all manner of devices far off.
From the hotel’s far side came a rumbling... ku-gu-gu-gung.
Part of the top floor began collapsing.
The surviving puppets threw themselves at Yoo Ji-tae. His form blurred again. The head of a charging puppet exploded.
When he finally reappeared.
He was before Hasegawa.
The Formless Sword pierced his body. Dark blue demonic energy burst from Hasegawa’s form to block it.
Futile.
Kaaaang―!
Before killing intent of a higher order, the dense mana shattered. Stabbed by the blade, Hasegawa flew back, crashing into the wall.
Only then did black blood veins erupt from the middle-aged man’s mouth.
Ku-gu-gu-gung...!
The collapse started from the far side of the private room, but the aftershocks approached. Outside, he could feel the ceiling crumbling.
A massive mana flow surged below them. 「Emergency Warp (A)」 magic activating to evacuate guests to safety.
So Yoo Ji-tae walked back and stood before Hasegawa again.
And watched his judgment.
“...What are you waiting for? Chase me if I go?”
“...”
“I’m not going.”
Hasegawa let out a hollow laugh.
Puppets weren’t meant to break and die so easily.
To be precise, they were nearly unkillable. Each as strong as a local ranker, regenerating via abyssal mana even if shattered.
But the green-haired girl’s magic blocked regeneration. And the ‘monster’ before him smashed them like twigs.
“To destroy this flesh, you’ll have to stab deep!”
Sensing his end, Hasegawa shouted.
“Looks like you want to die.”
“Die? Me? Heh, kuhuhu...”
The refined laugh soon turned mad.
“...Me, die? Why? I offered my soul to the devil to compose. I performed staking my life. My music lingers in hearts. I won’t die even in death. I won’t vanish.”
The regressor’s lip curled, tearing up his cheek.
Yes. That was the correct answer.
In past regressions, Yoo Ji-tae had once tried one method to kill Hasegawa.
If no audience remained, wouldn’t the performer lose meaning? So he’d severed all the puppets’ ears.
But it failed. Hasegawa didn’t die. Yoo Ji-tae beheaded him, yet he revived.
Then last night, at the strategy meeting, Bom said:
―To kill Hasegawa, you mustn’t kill him.
―What?
Bom hadn’t noticed the puppets at first.
How Hasegawa fooled dragons, masters of mana, crafting a false world.
―Hasegawa’s power doesn’t come from mana.
The power he received from the Abyss Lord.
Oddly, deeply tied to music.
―So to truly kill Hasegawa...
His thoughts cut off. Hasegawa’s head lifted.
The demonkin, knocked out by a blow from Yoo Ji-tae, belatedly scanned surroundings with red eyes, glaring at him.
Then laughed with an uneasy expression.
“What a dramatic atmosphere...”
This was right after the great war. A certain cathedral in Mongolia, half-destroyed by monster assaults.
Beneath the crumbling building lay a dust-covered grand piano.
About 15 years from now, Hasegawa would kill many here.
Fitting his end. Yoo Ji-tae had brought him to this place.
“Won’t you kill me?”
“...We’ll see.”
The regressor, infusing killing intent into his hand, severed Hasegawa’s left wrist.
“...!”
Under the Dragon Word’s aftereffect, his flesh wouldn’t regenerate. It belonged to ‘providence’ now.
As if to prove it, cracks formed on Hasegawa’s hitherto composed face.
He realized the future awaiting him.
“You...”
Ignoring him, the regressor sliced off his right wrist.
“Kaaaaahhh―!”
It wasn’t a scream from pain or loss.
He wouldn’t die. Not until Yoo Ji-tae allowed it.
He wouldn’t regenerate. His current flesh bound to providence.
Thus, Hasegawa could never play piano again as a musician.
“Th-this can’t be...!”
The regressor smiled brightly and said,
“Play.”
A body that could play no more.
The contract condition as a demonkin lost its light.
The first to react wasn’t Yoo Ji-tae or Hasegawa.
“W-wait a moment...”
The red glow faded from Hasegawa’s eyes.
“Hold on, just hold on! I can still play!”
He shouted into the void, as if at someone.
“What’s a couple of arms! I can play―!!”
Hasegawa had been abandoned by the Abyss Lord he served. He couldn’t regenerate, couldn’t play. And couldn’t die. The contract was breached.
Yet he didn’t give up. He screamed like a madman, insisting he could still perform.
“Behold― O Amurbaraka! Hear this! Listen! This was the first piece I created offering my soul to you!”
As if to prove it, he pounded the keys with his severed arms. With his forehead. Mangled notes and offbeat rhythms followed.
Blood flowed from his mana-less body, staining the piano.
Yoo Ji-tae felt no pity for Hasegawa. He watched the devil’s clumsy finale impassively.
A stage where no one listened. Discordant melodies drifted into the night.
But it didn’t last long.
Turning from the cathedral engulfed in black flames, the regressor walked away.