Chapter 387: Bread and Dagger (85)
Chapter 387: Bread and Dagger (85)
The effect of the reagent Emma had given me was simple.
Once it detected a specific mana, it would trace the trajectory of its owner’s movements.
It was a simple but useful effect.
Of course, creating it must have required countless ingredients and a long process of trial and error. Nevertheless, Emma had stayed up all night to finish this potion.
Because she had to save me.
I felt nothing but gratitude toward Emma.
Thanks to her, I was able to attempt to save the North today with this very potion.
It was a truly exquisite coincidence.
The potion I scattered on the ground began to draw a trajectory, leaving behind faint residues. I trudged along, following the hues that slowly bled across the snowfield.
Behind me, the army was on the move.
I didn't know what means Old Man Pope had employed, but just as he had boasted, the power of the flesh monster was rapidly weakening. It was now difficult to find even a trace of what had once swallowed the entire coniferous forest.
Had it not been for Emma’s reagent, I would have struggled quite a bit.
Even so, the devastation left in the wake of the flesh monster’s rampage was still vivid.
Not many trees remained in that vast coniferous forest. The sparse growth made it look more like a desolate wasteland than a forest.
That wasn't entirely a bad thing, as it made it easier for the army to move.
Of course, it wasn't an overwhelming advantage.
The flesh monster mindlessly devours all life around it.
In doing so, it gradually increases its size. And in that process, its innate strength seemed to grow even more formidable.
In other words, there was no point in bringing along a ragtag bunch.
It would only serve to provide more fodder for the flesh monster.
Thus, the army could only be a last resort.
In the end, the only being I could rely on was myself.
Yes, 'me.'
I lost myself in thought as I walked.
The sharp trajectories of the life I had lived until now were laid out like gravel beneath me. With every step, a blunt pain throbbed rhythmically.
Memories of certain days floated like dust.
Among them were words that rebuked me.
For instance, a cold voice that lacked even a shred of emotion.
"Go and see the bottom."
It was advice thrown at me by a man who shared my face.
As always, the man never said anything unnecessary.
There existed a world that could not be known through half-baked sympathy or narrow-minded thinking.
During the few days I stayed in the elf village, I realized that fact deeply.
The fact that I was still woefully lacking.
Lives I knew nothing about were scattered everywhere.
Looking back, Leoric had also lashed out at me.
"Ian Percus, have you ever truly been one of the weak? You merely dispensed goodwill like alms! You are a lackey of the establishment!"
He wasn't wrong.
I was a noble of the Empire and a hero of humanity.
I had never once had to worry about a meal, and I had grown up in a relatively affluent environment.
Therefore, Leoric’s criticism was justified.
I knew nothing.
My gasping breath was ragged. My body, having repeatedly sprinted at full tilt, was screaming.
As oxygen grew scarce, my vision blurred.
Tinnitus rang in my ears, and amidst my dazed consciousness, a single blood-stained letter surfaced.
The phrases written there carved themselves into my mind in fragments.
‘Do you know the land of ice and snow?’
‘Nothing remains here, Senior. But someone must stay. The power of the Seven Deadly Sins is like a curse. It never disappears, and someone must bear that sin.’
‘It is the rightful share I must shoulder, as one who carries sinful blood.’
Sinful blood?
My junior had done nothing wrong.
She had simply been born to the wrong parents. No life was a sin simply by virtue of its birth.
Nevertheless, she was branding herself a sinner.
Calling the curse that turned Leoric into a monster the ‘power of the Seven Deadly Sins.’
Someone must bear that terrible weight of sin.
‘Don’t worry too much, Senior. As you know, half of my body is a monster. There are no signs of me going berserk yet.’
‘However, I sometimes dream. Dreams of the days I spent with you, a year before I was trapped in this land… It’s a wish that can’t come true, but it would have been nice if I could have walked through a garden in bloom with you someday.’
I walked and walked, pushing through the blizzard.
And I thought.
The fate pointed to by the letter was all too clear.
It was the bleak future of a certain girl.
My junior was destined to be isolated in a world of only ice and snow, even further north than the coniferous forest.
And that was after a grace period of only about a year.
The tragedy engraved in the blood-soaked letter didn't end there.
‘Senior, I have one request.’
The characters in the letter were written in blood, not ink.
Amidst the calm handwriting, sentences written with particular roughness stood out. They were traces of words forced out through clenched teeth.
‘I’m starting to hear strange voices. Last night, I saw a black shadow. It feels like I’m gradually becoming someone else. Yesterday, I bit off and ate a finger from my left hand. Then two, then three… more, I need more. I need more blood.’
It was a passage that clearly reeked of madness.
It was around this point that I realized why my future self had intentionally hidden that letter.
If I followed the future in the letter, I could defeat the monster of the North.
However, behind that future lay the prerequisite of a girl’s sacrifice.
He had known from the start.
The fact that I could never accept such an ending.
To be precise, perhaps he hadn't understood it.
Could he have even imagined a life born as a sinner?
Short-sightedness, blatant ignorance.
The sympathy and compassion I had tossed out like alms.
That was the reality of the man the world called a ‘hero.’
‘So, please, someday, cut me into pieces.’
Today, too, I moved forward without an answer.
‘It is a body that won't die anyway. Hack off my limbs and bury them separately deep within the ice. Please, don't let me commit any more sins.’
How could I do that?
She was a junior I cherished and loved.
A girl who always wore a cold expression, only to finally show a warm smile every now and then.
How could I?
At the end of the letter, vivid blood-red words remained.
It was a phrase of such intense color it felt as if it would tear my retinas.
‘From Seria, the junior who loves you.’
With a crunching sound, the scent of blood wafted up.
Blood trickled from my bitten lip. With that pain as a starting point, my vision gradually began to clear.
I could see it in the distance.
The flesh monster was bubbling and boiling, and around it lay the unconscious forms of elves.
It seemed the monster had vomited up the elves it had devoured until now as it shrank in volume.
Only four or five elves remained atop the boiling flesh itself.
And in the center stood Leoric, staring blankly as if he had lost his soul.
I intentionally planted my feet firmly on the ground.
With a puff of white breath, a smoldering voice escaped me.
“……Leoric.”
My hand fumbled for the hilt of my sword.
It was proof that my hesitation had not yet ended.
Was it right for me to kill Leoric?
He had committed unforgivable atrocities. By his hand, countless lives had been incited to hatred and harmed one another. Naturally, it was right to judge and kill him.
Nevertheless, my conflict persisted.
If I killed Leoric, what would happen to Seria?
The war between humans and elves had ended. Without the central focus that was Leoric, the elves might have to live on having lost hope once again.
A life where they ate their own kind might actually be better.
It was a perspective I had never once considered before, but I had already experienced just how dire the elves' food situation was.
If Leoric would just quietly stay in the coniferous forest like this.
Then Seria wouldn't have to be sacrificed. If Senior Delphine took control of the Yurdina family, the conflict between humanity and elves would disappear in the future.
If things went well, humanity and elves could interact, and their situation might improve.
Such self-justification was slowly eating away at my heart. Selfish thoughts followed one after another.
What stopped my mind, which was filled with distractions, was a sound uttered by a girl.
“Cough!”
It was one of the elves scattered around Leoric.
A child with striking gray hair and blue eyes.
I realized the child’s identity instantly.
It was Betty, Avian’s younger sister, whom I had failed to save.
It seemed the means Old Man Pope had employed were effective. The fact that the monster had to vomit up an elf swallowed so long ago, like Betty, proved it.
I felt a renewed sense of gratitude toward Old Man Pope.
I’d have to treat him to a drink when I got back.
Just before Betty could stagger to her feet, I rushed over and supported her with my arm. Betty was exhaling shallow, weak breaths.
Even at a glance, it was clear she needed urgent care.
Fortunately, it wasn't just the army following me. Seria and several other comrades would be running toward me, so I could just entrust Betty to one of them.
It was then that a tearful plea was squeezed out.
“Me... medicine...”
I looked down at Betty blankly, wondering what she meant.
Was she asking for healing medicine?
But what Betty murmured with her slurred tongue was so far beyond my imagination.
“Medicine, please... the medicine that makes me feel good, Lord Leoric...”
Something inside my head snapped with a crack.
Her withered body was skin and bones. It meant she hadn't received proper nutrition.
And yet, what was this little girl saying?
Leoric, who had been out of it for a long time, finally spoke.
“Oh, poor Betty… you couldn't even sleep at night because of your incurable disease. Rest easy, sister. I shall ease that pain, if only a little……”
Then, tentacles of flesh erupted toward the sky.
Disgusting masses of flesh surged from the boiling mass, writhing as they targeted Betty. They crept closer, as if to swallow her whole once again.
I had only one answer to that.
Flash! A white line was drawn across the world.
Starting from that point, blood burst forth, staining the white snowfield. The tentacles of flesh recoiled, screaming in fierce pain.
Several more tentacles surged upward.
I carefully lowered Betty to the ground and struck down every tentacle flying toward the girl.
Slash, slash, slash!
Every time blood burst, the severed tentacles fell to the ground with a wet thud.
Even after being separated from the main body, the sight of the writhing tentacles was hideous.
So, I crushed one of the tentacles rolling in front of me under my heel.
The severed tentacle stiffened and thrashed even more violently.
Only then did Leoric’s eyes, which had been staring blankly at the ground, turn toward me.
I wasn't about to miss that opening.
My body, kicking off the ground, charged at high speed. The blade, shot forth as it tore through the atmosphere, dug deep into Leoric’s immediate vicinity.
Clang!
It was a collision sound unbelievable for a meeting of blade and flesh.
Leoric swung his arm by instinct, and a contest of strength began.
The middle-aged man asked me in a faint voice.
“Oh, Ian Percus… you pitiful soul. Do you still believe you are justice?”
“I don't know!”
As I twisted the blade with a screech, Leoric’s arm was deflected along that direction.
Digging into that gap, I struck again.
The blade, wedged into Leoric’s shoulder, wouldn't go in any further. Leoric swung his remaining arm in the meantime, and I retreated, leaving the sword where it was.
I still had one more weapon.
The hand axe.
As I threw the axe like a bolt of light, Leoric didn't even hesitate to take a step forward.
His body was one that even a sword couldn't cut through.
He couldn't be fatally wounded by something like a mere hand axe.
Yes, not with a single hand axe.
In the next moment, a fountain of blood erupted, and Leoric let out a scream.
“What is this… Aaaaaargh!”
The thrown hand axe hadn't been aiming for Leoric.
It had struck the sword wedged in Leoric’s shoulder.
And following the secret of Stillness in Motion, the axe blade struck the sword blade repeatedly like a hammer.
Clang, clang, clang!
After three resounding strikes, Leoric’s chest was half-severed, and he fell to his knees.
Blood poured from his mangled chest, and it overflowed from his eyes and mouth as well.
He reached out an arm toward me as if in a final struggle.
Right until my kick slammed into Leoric’s head.
Thud! Struck in the skull, Leoric’s body collapsed sideways. In that moment, I pulled my sword and axe from his body.
“I’m from the Swordsmanship Department, so I’m pretty stupid. So……”
Leoric’s body sank beneath the boiling flesh as if melting.
And when Leoric reappeared, he possessed numerous prosthetic bodies.
It was a trick to hide which one was the main body.
Not that it mattered.
I let out a slight smile.
“Just die for now.”
I had already prepared a countermeasure.
Familiar presences were approaching me.