Chapter 449: Proof of Existence (37)
Chapter 449: Proof of Existence (37)
A look of utter bewilderment stared back at me.
“That’s why you go out of your way to provoke others, repeatedly doing things that make people hate you. Am I wrong?”
“What… what are you…?”
“Because you’ve been betrayed.”
The woman could no longer even voice her fragmented questions.
She simply stared at me blankly. By then, I concluded my reasoning with a sigh.
“Everything you believed in… well, you probably don’t want to believe in anything anymore. I understand.”
Unable to find the words to speak, the woman searched my face intently.
After a long moment of silence.
She turned her head away without a word and took another drink. I didn’t add anything more.
“……Are you like that too?”
Now it was my turn to be caught off guard.
My body flinched, and I turned a startled gaze toward her. She wasn’t even looking at me.
“You’re afraid too. That’s why you act like a person whose emotions have been worn away… Why is that?”
Only then could I meet her eyes.
Faced with those earnest, pale pink pupils, I couldn’t bring myself to lie.
My gaze drifted slightly to the side.
“……Because I received too much love.”
The woman simply watched me in silence.
Gasping for breath, I forced myself to finish the thought.
“I’m afraid. Afraid that I’ll lose someone I love again… because they were so precious to me.”
Only the wind brushed past my ears.
The sound of grass bending and rising tickled my eardrums. The air, heavy and muffled with moisture, settled between the woman and me. Only the moon and stars in the sky watched over us.
After a long silence, the woman’s hand moved.
Thud. I reflexively caught the gourd bottle she tossed to me. It was the liquor bottle the Saintess always kept at her lips.
Before I could ask what she meant.
“……We’re alike.”
The sight of her murmuring to herself was so agonizingly beautiful.
Forgetting that she was looking up at the moon, I momentarily believed the moon had risen upon the earth. It was a sentiment so embarrassing that I cleared it away with a dry cough as soon as it surfaced.
There was only one way to hide my burning face.
I tilted the gourd, and the heat surged down my throat.
How much time had passed?
On that very hillside where we had bared our pasts to each other, the woman and I were drawn together into a kiss.
“I suppose I must ‘obey’ this as well.”
She spoke cryptic words with a tender smile.
“Fairly and squarely, so as not to turn my eyes away from destiny.”
I was in love. Like a firefly opening a brief festival of light at the end of spring.
*
I snapped my eyes open with a ragged breath.
How much time had passed? Based on my senses alone, it wouldn't have been strange if days had gone by.
But in reality, not much time had passed in the outside world.
Clang, clang, clang!
Sparks flew every time Yuren swung his sword. Celine’s axe swept through the waist of one of the faceless monsters, and a downpour of lightning from the sky kept the blood-red whips at bay.
In the meantime, my body had become drenched in a cold sweat.
“Ian Oppa, I can’t hold on much longer……!”
“Uh, yeah.”
With a dazed mind, I drew my sword and hand axe.
What was I supposed to do?
I hadn’t quite grasped it yet. However, instinct was whispering to me.
Run.
And face it fairly and squarely.
So as not to turn your eyes away from destiny.
It was right after a thunderous explosion rattled my eardrums.
“Ian, what are you……!”
My figure was reflected in Yuren’s eyes, which were wide with shock.
I couldn't be seen. I was too fast.
But even this felt slow.
Time was flowing slower and slower.
A blood-red whip flew toward Senior Elsie like a striking snake. Without hesitation, I hurled the hand axe I was holding.
A silver milky way scattered along its trajectory.
Boom! A silver explosion erupted around the hand axe as it bit into the ground. The blood-red whips were thrown into disarray, their trajectories twisting wildly.
For the first time, a crack appeared in the girl’s composed gaze.
It was as if the power of the hand axe embedded right before her eyes was beyond her calculations.
Bewilderment, surprise, and anxiety.
Yes, that’s how it should be.
That is the typical attitude of a merchant facing an unexpected variable. I squeezed every bit of air from my lungs.
“Senior Elsie, get back!”
“Y-Yes!”
Then, rattle, the blood-red threads began to dance.
Hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands of strands moved as if to surround me. I had been suppressed by this technique before, rendered unable to move an inch.
I wouldn't let it happen twice.
My jaw trembled as I grit my teeth. The silver aura, burning like a wildfire, grew larger and larger.
It was different from before.
I had already spent enough time gathering aura into my sword. This was the final opportunity created by pooling the openings Yuren, Celine, and Senior Elsie had bought for me.
The momentum was so terrifying that even the girl could not ignore it.
The girl’s hand pointed at me. At that, dozens of faceless assailants kicked off the ground simultaneously and shot toward me. Another shout burst from my lips.
“Celine!”
Boom! A thunderous roar shook the earth.
While the faceless monsters were focused on me, Celine, who had been conserving her mana, delivered a full-power strike. A chunk of the earth was gouged out, and the screams of monsters filled the air.
Skreeeeeeee!
It might have been different if they were on the ground, but most of the monsters had already leaped to pounce on me. Unable to withstand the aftershock, the faceless assailants were scattered like leaves in a gale.
Even amidst that, the blood-red strands were slowly tightening the perimeter.
The moment I took a step forward.
A silver waterfall poured down, cutting through the blood-red threads. The threads, which seemed to hold out for a split second, were soon snapped and sent flying helplessly.
Unbinding (解).
It was a secret technique created by one of the only three Masters on the continent. Even if the opponent was one of the Seven Deadly Sins of the Dark Cult, it was possible to face them head-on as long as there was enough aura.
One, two.
Every time my sword scattered the milky way, the blood-red threads were severed one by one. The girl was now screaming with a face full of utter panic.
“Block him, block him… Block him right now!”
The Blood Sun began to extend its tentacles.
Patter. The tentacles, which split into hundreds of threads in an instant, rained down a shower of blood aimed at me. But the distance between the girl and me was already point-blank.
Just before my sword could reach her.
Thwack! The girl’s kick dug into my solar plexus. Because I had raised my sword high, my body was full of openings, and it was a strike that exploited them perfectly.
There was no time to adjust my posture. I had no choice but to take the hit directly.
Gurgle. Blood leaked from my mouth, and my stance crumbled.
Not missing the opening, hundreds of blood-red threads bound me. Victory had been right before my eyes, but the aura in my sword had reached its limit just a hair too soon.
Choking on blood, my body staggered as I tried to right myself.
My arms were already bound and wouldn't move. The girl, who had been scanning the surroundings without lowering her guard, finally let out a burst of laughter.
“Pfft, aha, ahahahaha!”
Of course, that mad laughter didn't last long.
Grit. As she ground her teeth, emotions of hatred and contempt flared up again in her golden eyes.
Did she like me, or did she hate me?
She was a woman I couldn't pin down at all. Though likely, both emotions were sincere.
“Is this, is this all?! You squeezed out everything you had, but what a pity! I don’t know how your aura became so sophisticated in such a short time… but the victory is mine.”
It was a crude taunt.
The girl had the right to say it. I was a sinner before her, and a knight facing defeat.
It was then that the girl’s foot crunched down, crushing my instep.
I somehow suppressed the groan that instinctively tried to escape. Seeing my expression contort despite my efforts, the girl wore a bright, pretty smile.
“I told you to give up a long time ago, didn’t I? It would have been better if you’d listened to me sooner, right? And this foot, what’s with this foot? What are you stepping on so hard? Anyway, the aura in your sword is already spent…….”
As she spoke, the girl’s gaze slowly drifted toward my feet.
And stopped dead.
A faint silver light was burning like an ember beneath my foot.
Blankly, the girl’s eyes turned toward me. Only then did I cough up blood and grin.
“……A surprise gift for my younger sister.”
Boom! As if an explosion had occurred, my vision was dyed pure white.
I couldn't hear a thing. A high-pitched beeeee— ringing in my ears testified to the abuse my eardrums had taken. However, there was still a sight my eyes did not miss.
The hand axe that had been kicked up and was spinning through the air.
This was the source of the explosion. During the battle with the Archmage, I had realized that I could pour aura into the hand axe through my feet.
This was an application of that.
Unable to withstand the world of pure white light, the blood-red lines were vanishing. Biting her lip, the girl’s hand-blade hurriedly struck my wrist.
Crack. My wrist snapped.
It was fine. Because that wasn't my only weapon.
My remaining hand immediately snatched the hand axe that was floating in the air.
“……Ah.”
Along with the girl’s exclamation—whether of admiration or lament, I couldn't tell—within that time dyed in white.
A spray of blood arched like a rainbow.
The blade of the axe was sinking into the girl’s shoulder.