Chapter 195
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 195
Chapter Title: Tears from a Dry Sky
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No matter how much Derman's body was crumbling away, the corrupted spirit inside him hadn't weakened at all.
Of course, if the human host died completely, that would be one thing, but he was still alive for now.
Naturally, Marionette Line wouldn't work.
But.
The Marionette Line, which was normally made of black thread, was now tinged with a murky purple hue.
'How's it going, Monghwan? Holding steady?'
-Ung......
The identity of the purple mana Jun was currently using.
It was none other than the mana he'd extracted from Javier right before being pulled into the mental image realm.
'It works perfectly.'
Javier.
How could the mana of that frail imperial prince make something like this possible?
But Javier was one of the main villains in the game, boldly claiming his spot.
He naturally possessed power worthy of that position.
'Spirit bloodline... It really takes to it.'
Javier's ancestor—no, more precisely, his mother Venes's ancestor—had spirit blood.
But so much time had passed that the blood had become extremely diluted, to the point where even traces were hard to find now.
'That's what's fun about bloodlines.'
Surprisingly, Javier had been born with that spirit trait in a very concentrated form.
'Spirit mana...'
To an ordinary person, it was a power with no real use.
Having spirit blood didn't mean you could contract with spirits, and realizing that power in the first place was quite difficult.
'On the flip side...'
To the corrupted spirit implanted in the Evil Spirit Orb, Javier was a far superior host than any other.
In the game, Javier, who lost even his mother when the corrupted spirit was implanted, fully corrupted and reigned as one of the main villains.
'It was tragic in the game, but now it can be used like this.'
And liking the mana of someone born with spirit blood wasn't exclusive to the corrupted spirit.
It applied to Monghwan as well, and dream spirits originally synergized greatly with mental magic.
On top of that.
'Mental magic is a counter to spirits to begin with. So it works well on corrupted spirits too.'
Jun's insight hadn't missed that coincidence, making the current phenomenon possible.
"Let's go in."
-Got it....... Master......
Jun's mind transferred into Derman's via the Marionette Line.
What he saw was extremely bizarre.
Perhaps because it was a space forged from an unstable human's memories.
Everything around him—the objects, the backgrounds—was blurry.
Within that, what Jun saw was Derman on a bed, his throat being strangled.
"......"
And that face was the spitting image of the portrait Jun had seen.
Except for one thing: the expression of sheer terror.
"Please...... Please......"
"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry......"
So, who was the figure strangling that young Derman while holding him down?
"My mother."
At that moment, Jun's gaze turned backward.
Derman.
Not the past, but the present.
The man whose face was covered in burn scars stood right next to Jun.
"She did this to you?"
"Yes. It was the day I finished training as usual and had dinner."
The young Derman was still thrashing about even now.
Gazing at his past self, Derman continued.
"She muttered that I had to disappear for her to live."
And right on cue, the woman on the bed spoke.
"......If you're gone...... then...... I can...... live......"
A voice that came through broken and fragmented.
Her mentally unstable past self probably couldn't remember that voice.
It must have been drowned out by screams begging for life amid the terror.
"If I hadn't existed, if I died, Mother could have lived."
"You said your maternal family's influence was strong."
"Yes. But no matter how strong they were, the weight of an adulterous wife would have been too much even for nobles."
On the contrary, being nobles made the burden even heavier.
"Aaaahhh――!!!"
A sharp scream erupted.
Sulfuric acid splashed onto the child's face, melting even the mother's hands wrapped around his throat.
"That's why I had to disappear."
"Was that Mother's wish?"
"Probably."
He couldn't be sure, likely because he'd been writhing in agony and hadn't heard his mother's final mutterings.
"Who knows...... For someone who supposedly wanted that, it's more surprising you've survived this long."
"What do you mean?"
"If she really wanted to erase evidence of you, she'd have just poisoned you outright."
"......"
"Ah, forget it. Just ignore that."
Having said it, Jun awkwardly shut his mouth.
They weren't close enough for this kind of talk anyway.
And his own words were full of holes.
'Maybe the last remnants of maternal love spared his life.'
Or perhaps, like Viscount Boletek now, she'd raised him disguised as dead.
Or she might have avoided obvious poisoning to dodge suspicion.
Without solid info, Jun couldn't jump to conclusions.
But.
"I see."
Did other memories Jun didn't know surface?
Derman wore a faint smile.
Why was that?
That scarred face suddenly resembled the handsome man in the portrait.
"I didn't know the reason. Didn't want to think about it. All that was left was emptiness."
"......"
"I didn't know what I wanted, just drifted with the world's flow. The viscounty was my whole world."
Even the talent he had lost its shine after that incident.
To the lost Derman, the lifeline came from the Heavenly Mystery Sect.
"They said they'd restore my power."
"So that's when you consumed the Evil Spirit Orb."
"Yes."
In truth, Derman knew the lifeline they'd thrown him was rotten.
"But no other thoughts came to mind. I figured I'd avenge my mother who took her own life while I was at it."
Thinking back, it was ridiculous. His mother was the one at fault, and the previous viscount had been busy defending his wife.
But back then, he lacked the capacity or will to see that far.
"If only I'd tried to understand Mother's intentions even a little that day......"
If he hadn't avoided her after, hadn't chosen to run.
Would he have chosen differently?
"Haha. Ridiculous. I've never regretted anything in my life. Regret is always too late, no matter how soon."
All empty what-ifs.
He already knew he was dying.
So, for his final choice, he picked what he could do.
"But it's not too late for everything."
"......"
"What you seek lies beyond that."
As he dispersed the childhood memory, the corrupted spirit appeared beyond it.
"Kill it. Then the Sea Serpent dies too."
The Sea Serpent could rampage like that only because the corrupted spirit had gone berserk and devoured its soul.
The corrupted spirit before his eyes was... less a spirit, more a lump of polluted filth.
A mass of filth mixed with something vile.
Jun stared at it for a moment before speaking.
"You're forgetting one thing."
"I know."
"The Sea Serpent was sealed not because it was strong."
"Right."
Sea Serpent.
Simply put, a water dragon.
No different from a dragon.
Why was such a being in the 4th stratum conquest? It should be at least 8th or 9th.
But it was the 4th stratum conquest boss. The reason?
"Because it was a dying dragon."
An ultra-ancient dragon.
About to return to nature in its ocean home, facing death.
But a dragon's death was a massive natural disaster in itself.
A storm of immense mana would ravage and reshape the area.
Endless rain for a year, submerging islands.
That's why it was sealed—that was the Sea Serpent's lore in the game.
"We can still save our lives, though."
"Well, true."
Even if the Sea Serpent died, the island wouldn't sink immediately.
It would take at least a week.
Plenty of time to evacuate.
"So you've decided to let your brother live after all?"
"No."
"Then?"
"Father's wish."
"......"
"Father put me in charge of the conquest too."
After his wife's tragic suicide, the previous viscount's health declined, and he passed relatively young.
The one he'd cared for most was Derman.
"So you're sparing him for that."
"Yes."
With those final words, Jun gathered his mana.
Red heat converged at his fingertips.
"Any last words?"
Killing the corrupted spirit would instantly collapse Derman's body too.
That's why he asked, but.
"None."
Derman showed no regret for his death.
Nor any suffering.
"Alright."
So Jun felt no pity.
He had an unfortunate past, but.
'In the end, this guy's caused more than one or two deaths.'
All the conquest members had been absorbed and killed by that corrupted spirit.
And just now, two Black Guard knights died because of the Heavenly Mystery Sect he lured in.
So Jun simply pointed his fingertips at the corrupted spirit.
Flare
Shwaaaaa......
Was there a hole in the sky?
Torrential rain poured down.
In the midst of it, Jun sat on his hospital bed, staring blankly at the sky.
It was truly bizarre.
The downpour was so fierce it could be called a deluge, yet the sky was cloudless and bright.
"According to the records I've read, it's due to mana instability."
"Yeah. A phenomenon from the Sea Serpent's death?"
"Yes."
Aiden, sitting right beside him, was equally amazed, gazing out the window and letting out exclamations.
Still, he busily explained what he knew to Jun.
"In the end, the checkpoint flooding is the same."
"Well, can't be helped. Penalty for failing the conquest."
The Sea Serpent's death.
If the conquest failed, this was all that happened.
The original Sea Serpent, upon breaking its seal, wouldn't slaughter humans indiscriminately but return to nature, dispersing its accumulated mana—like now.
A catastrophe for humans, but a cycle from nature's view.
"I'm a bit dizzy because of it......"
Mana instability caused mild motion sickness, but seeing this rare sight made it worthwhile.
"Haha....... It was really dangerous all around. Urgh."
Laughing like that, Aiden clutched his abdomen—pierced by Derman—and grimaced.
"Lucky it ended there."
"All thanks to you, sunbae. If the shield had been a second later, my heart would've been pierced."
"My credit......?"
Jun's shield had torn like paper back then.
But it was true.
Aiden had reacted not to Derman's mana, but to Jun's.
"Hm. Yeah. Whatever. Be grateful and work hard."
"Always."
Jun chuckled at Aiden's serious expression.
Then.
Someone knocked on the door.
"It's me."
The third prince. Javier.
He'd come to their hospital room.