Chapter 79: Ambiguous Forgiveness
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 79: Ambiguous Forgiveness
No matter how I felt, I didn’t actually want Diane to die.
I only said it was fine to kill her to plant the idea in her head that using her against me would be useless.
Even if I was born out of a hatred for the Demon Race, sacrificing another human was out of the question.
“This is my domaiiiin! You already lost to me once, and you think you can take me on again?!”
Vroooooom!
The dungeon shook violently once more.
Portals opened, and monsters began to pour out.
“I’ll make you submiiiit! I’ll tame you and use you as a pawn against the Demon King’s successor!”
Man, this woman really loves to draw out her words. It was annoying as hell to listen to.
“Using your subordinates to gang up on me? Your title, ‘Barion of Solitude,’ is crying in shame.”
“But this dungeon is meee! The version of me in front of your eyes is just a manifested essence!”
On top of that, she was an idiot. She was basically confessing that she was the Essence of the Demon Race.
Furthermore, even if she took my ‘little ladies’ hostage, she would have had to release them all to actually negotiate with me. If I had acted cooperatively, Barion would have certainly freed the hostages without a second thought, never even suspecting I might stab her in the back.
Like the shallow battle-maniac she was, she only thought about the present and lacked the intelligence to consider what came next.
Since the negotiations had already broken down anyway, I kept my mouth shut, knowing that talking would only make things worse.
“Your poor little lover is going to be torn to shreds by the monsters, toooo!”
“Who are you calling a lover?!”
I swept away a wave of monsters with a single swing of Howling, but they continued to pour endlessly from the open portals.
In the end, the only way to settle this chaos was to take that bastard down.
I cut and slashed through the madness, trying to close the distance to Barion, but she only giggled.
“Careless again, are weee?!”
Flash!
As I kicked a goblin away, I felt a sudden sensation of floating. It was a forced teleportation using a monster, the same trick she had used on my little lady.
“Hee-hee-hee-hee!”
The seaweed-haired bitch’s claws came flying at me instantly. I twisted my waist on purpose to dodge.
“Hee! Hee! Hee! Hee! How unsightlyyy~.”
She taunted me with a disgusting laugh. When I tried to counterattack, another monster lunged at me. I cut it down, only to be forcibly moved again.
Barion split into two and attacked. It seemed like she was using some kind of Space-Time Skill, though I didn’t understand the principle behind it.
I blocked one and dodged the other.
“Hee! Hee! Hee! Hee!”
Damn bitch. She dragged out her words when speaking but laughed in short bursts.
Whatever. I played along with her rhythm. The important thing was to make her lower her guard. Since I had already cut off one of her arms, she was likely incredibly tense despite her outward mockery.
That didn’t mean I was just defending aimlessly. I tracked her with my eyes, learning her patterns. So far, it was: monster, teleport, attack.
If I just stood there taking it, she’d get suspicious, so I started clashing back.
Clang!
“Hee?!”
“What, surprised?”
Claws and Howling collided. A look of shock crossed her face, but she quickly regained her composure.
“As expected of the Bloooood Hound.”
Screeeech!
Still an idiot. Even if you’re striking from the air, there’s no way I’m losing to you in a contest of strength. She seemed overly confident in the power she had regained after the Demon King’s successor was liberated.
“I was waiting for thiiis!”
Flash!
“What…?”
Barion vanished from before my eyes in an instant. By the time I realized what happened, she had already grazed my side. I couldn’t tell if I had been forcibly moved or if Barion had swapped her own position to land the blow.
“Hee-hee-hee-hee! I gooot youuu!”
As blood spurted from my side, an excited Barion wiggled her fingers arrogantly.
“Did you think I’d only attack with one patterrrn? I’ve spent five years building this space!”
When I lunged and swung Howling, Barion hopped away, her mouth never stopping.
“You didn’t think I’d become this strooong, did you? I’m different than before, different! In a space filled with my demonic energy, I’m obviously the strongest. Hee-hee! Hee! Hee! Hee! Hee!”
Without even bothering to brush the seaweed-like hair out of her face, Barion shook with manic energy.
“Submiiiit. Or die! Hee-hee! No, wait. If I get rid of the Bloodhound, it wouldn’t be impossible for me to swallow this whole world, would ittt? If I can just finish you off, even that pathetic Demon King’s successor bitch won’t be a match for meee. Hee-hee-hee-hee!”
Her head jerked as she cackled. She looked bizarre and hideous, like a doll with its mouth uncomfortably unhinged.
Her excited rambling was starting to piss me off, but fine. I’d played along long enough.
Time to get serious.
Just as I thought that—
Snip.
“Hee…?”
Barion’s wet, seaweed hair—specifically her bangs—was shorn off. A huge chunk of it.
Me, Barion, and even the monsters froze.
Slowly, Barion looked down at the fallen hair and screamed, clutching her cheeks.
“Hyaaaaaaaagh! My hair! Do you know how long it took to grow that out?!”
She tried to reattach it like she had with her right arm earlier, but of course, it didn’t work.
“You cowardly bastarrrd!”
“I didn’t do it. I was standing right here.”
“Then who else is here besides you and meee?!”
“…Me.”
It was a very small, weak voice.
Both Barion and I turned our heads at the same time.
A scrawny girl was staggering out from among the monsters. It was none other than Diane. She was covered in blood, swaying on her feet.
“I definitely locked you in a Space-Time Maze, thoughhh?”
Diane raised her dagger and took a stance.
“I… I’m a Ranger… I had to be… of help to Alto… so I found my way here…”
She muttered to herself, never taking her eyes off the enemy.
“You verminnn!”
Barion lunged forward, simple-mindedly trying to tear Diane apart with her claws. But Diane was already gone.
Appearing behind her in an instant, Diane thrust her dagger, but it snapped against Barion’s hardened skin.
Snap!
“Hee-hee-hee! You’re that bitch, aren’t youuu? The one who was too weak to break a stone?”
“That stone… they said it was expensive…”
Diane replied emotionlessly.
“That’s why I can’t use it. I… I’ve already put Alto in too much debt. I shouldn’t use things that cost a lot of money.”
Is she talking about the loan? I did hear that it was transferred from Dakuren Bank to Krima.
Hmph. It’s a bit late to start being sincere, Diane.
“You think you can take my back? Try it again thennn!”
Flash!
Barion teleported, but—
“Eek?!”
Diane caught up through pure physical ability and took her back again.
“Hee-hee-hee-hee!”
After a brief exchange of disappearing and reappearing, Diane was stuck to her every single time. Even as the speed increased, Barion couldn’t shake Diane off.
I was genuinely impressed. Diane was fast—fast enough to rival me. How could a normal person do this?
“Don’t get cockyyy!”
Rip!
A desperate surprise attack tore through Diane’s sleeve. Blood sprayed from her shoulder.
But in that moment, I saw it. For the first time, I saw the tattoo on the left arm Diane always kept covered with long sleeves.
“That tattoo pattern is…”
Surprise, then shock. I didn’t think I was capable of feeling such things anymore.
But if my memory served me right, that tattoo was identical to the one belonging to Regeros, one of the Four Heroes.
‘It is a tattoo that tells us of our bloodline, of our identity. It symbolizes our tribe.’
I knew Regeros belonged to a tribe other than the Bierma. I couldn’t remember exactly which one it was, but if what he said back then was true, then Diane was…?
“Swarm herrr!”
Finally unable to escape Diane, Barion screamed at the monsters.
However, there were no monsters left to follow her orders. I had killed them all while she was busy playing tag with Diane. Perhaps because she had focused too much on Diane, no more monsters were being generated from the portals.
“Eeeek!”
In an act of desperation, Barion charged straight at me. As she ran in a straight line, Diane appeared in front of me to block her.
“You wenchhh!”
Barion threw a stone she had been hiding. It was clearly a stone imbued with forced teleportation magic. But Diane didn’t swat it away; she twisted her body to dodge and ran toward her.
Then, in an instant, she vanished.
“I knew you’d do thattt!”
Predicting this, the seaweed-haired bitch spun around and swung her claws in a vertical strike. I naturally assumed Diane would dodge.
“Guh!”
Contrary to my expectations, Diane was helplessly struck, the claws sinking into her side as she collapsed. Had she run out of stamina?
It wouldn’t be surprising. She had fought her way through monsters in a Space-Time Maze to get here. That achievement alone was worthy of praise.
“Diane!”
I found myself calling her name as I lunged forward. I wouldn’t miss this time. I would skewer her through the stomach with Howling and pin her down.
“Hee-hee-hee-hee! You think I’ll let youuu!”
Barion lowered her stance, preparing to counter. I felt the demonic energy. This bastard is pretending to clash but planning to bolt!
I accelerated even more and thrust Howling. A smile spread across Barion’s lips. The magic was already being cast…
Thuck.
“Hee… i…?”
No anomaly occurred. My thick dagger was buried cleanly in Barion’s stomach, right up to the hilt.
“Wha… t…?”
Barion looked down at the embedded Howling and slowly turned her head back.
“You… you bitch…! Using your own body…!”
“…Got you. From behind.”
The demon and the human were overlapped, skewered together on Howling like a kebab. Only then did I realize what had happened.
“Diane!”
I pulled Howling out and shoved Barion away. Diane collapsed, blood gushing from her stomach.
“What the hell were you thinking, you idiot!”
“A-Alto… I… I got her.”
The moment Barion tried to teleport, Diane had lunged from behind and tackled her. And in that same moment, she was pierced by my dagger. It was Diane’s extreme choice to ensure the Heavenly King was finished.
“Did… did I… help…?”
“Don’t talk, you’re bleeding too much…!”
“Alto… Alto…”
Diane was shedding tears, not just blood.
“I’m sorry… I’m sorry… for being so mean… I’m sorry…”
With trembling hands, she pulled something out of her pocket. It was a Misanga. I remembered that the original Alto had prepared it as a birthday gift before coming out here.
“I didn’t know how precious you were… I’m sorry… for being a fool…”
Diane held out the blood-stained Misanga to me.
“I wanted… to be forgiven… but my sins were too great… I’m sorry… So… since I don’t have the right… I’m giving this… back…”
“Diane!”
“I’m sorry… Alto…”
“Diane!”
It was useless. Diane’s breathing stopped. Her left hand, holding the Misanga, fell to the floor.
This wasn’t what I wanted. Neither I nor the original Alto. We might have wanted her out of our sight because we hated her, but we never wanted her dead.
However, the situation didn’t even give me time to grieve.
Rumble, rumble!
“You damn humansss! If it’s come to this, let’s all die togetherrrr!!!!”
Having taken a fatal blow to her essence, Barion began her final struggle. Her form began to swell, vibrating the entire dungeon. It looked just like the explosion the Demon King had triggered at the very end.
As the demonic energy swelled violently, the tattoo on the dead Diane’s left arm began to emit a brilliant light. A light of a different color and feel than the final will of the Bierma tribe.
It was the same light Regeros had emitted when he struck the Demon King’s essence to dampen the explosion.
I remembered it. The light from the great hero’s left arm absorbing the Demon King’s demonic energy.
Similarly, Diane’s left arm was now absorbing Barion’s demonic energy.
“Heeek? What? What is thiiis?!”
Barion’s form began to shrink. She tried to flee, but having lost her strength as her demonic energy was drained, she flopped onto the floor.
“My power…! My demonic energy…!”
I gave the Heavenly King one last sneer.
“Hey, for someone who claims to control space-time, you didn’t see this future coming?”
“No! Nooo! That’s a much higher-level technique… AAAAAAAAAAGH!!!!”
Barion was sucked into Diane’s left arm like smoke.
At the same time—
Cough!
Diane coughed.
“Alto…?”
“Diane!”
I was overwhelmed with emotion seeing her open her eyes, but the situation was still dire.
Rumble!
Since the Essence of the Demon Race that maintained the dungeon had vanished, it meant total collapse. We were already deep in the lower floors, past the 30th floor; simply running wouldn’t save us.
If so, shouldn’t I at least protect this sinful girl before thinking about what comes next?
“Alto…?”
“Sigh… you really know how to make me worry.”
I pulled Diane into a tight hug. Not knowing what was happening, Diane tried to push me away.
“No… I… I didn’t cross the final line… but I kissed Gerend and stuff… I’m… a dirty woman…”
“Are you going to keep pissing me off until the very end? The dungeon is collapsing. Let’s just survive first.”
“I’ll… I’ll protect you… use me as a shield…”
“Don’t say such heartless things.”
“But I’m a sinner…”
“Is that so.”
I took a deep breath. I never thought the day would come when I’d say this, and I was surprisingly nervous.
“I forgive you.”
“Ah…?”
“Don’t get the wrong idea. I’m only giving you my forgiveness.”
“Forgiveness…?”
“Don’t expect things to go back to how they were—the flirting, or being a couple in the party.”
“Forgiveness…”
Diane smiled faintly.
“…Thank you.”
Then, the tattoo on Diane’s left arm glowed again.
Flash!
I had no choice but to close my eyes against the blinding light right in front of me. Moreover, this light was pushing me away.
Fwaaaaaaaa!
I couldn’t hold on any longer!
The light was immense. Only when the heat finally subsided was I able to open my eyes.
The light that even the Bloodhound couldn’t withstand had dragged me out. When the light faded and I looked around…
“Alto!”
“Brother!”
A tearful Rune and Narupa ran over and hugged me.
“What happened?”
“I don’t know. The dungeon suddenly collapsed all the way to the entrance… I thought you were dead… You idiot, making us worry like that!”
“Then suddenly, you were teleported outside the entrance along with that light. Do you know how shocked we were?”
While calming the sobbing Rune, I noticed someone clinging to my chest.
It was Diane, fast asleep. She was covered in blood, but unlike before, her wounds were completely gone.
“What happened?”
“I don’t know, but…”
I was just as confused by Narupa’s question. But one thing was for certain.
“After Diane defeated Barion… she absorbed her power and sent me here.”
“This sinner did?”
Rune, Narupa, and I all looked down at the sleeping girl with complicated emotions.
Eventually, Narupa whispered quietly.
“Did you forgive her?”
“Yeah, for now. But that’s all.”
It really was just that.