Chapter 546: The Apostle's Destiny (5)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 546: The Apostle's Destiny (5)
Scenes one might only witness once in a lifetime unfolded one after another.
Francis Meyer, humanity's greatest hero, was in critical condition.
And at the hands of an ally, no less.
But it wasn't… a betrayal.
Even as he lost consciousness, Francis was smiling, while Kim Do-jin, who had stabbed him from behind, wore a look of utter agony.
‘He must have asked him to do it….’
The two must have discussed it beforehand.
Realizing that made her feel sorry for Kim Do-jin.
She had seen how much he respected and cherished Francis.
‘He’s so pitiful.’
What must it have felt like?
To stab the person you held so dear with your own hands.
‘If it were me…’
What if she had to stab Kim Do-jin to save everyone?
What if it wasn't him, but her own father, Son Si-woo, that she had to stab?
“Ah…”
She didn't know.
It was so overwhelming she couldn't even begin to imagine it.
But she knew one thing for sure.
‘I’d rather die myself.’
It was that horrifying.
The shocking scenes didn't end there.
With the sacrifice of Francis and Kim Do-jin, they had succeeded in bringing the True Ancestor to its knees.
But then, Viktor Vadim, who everyone thought was dead, suddenly appeared and snatched the heart.
“Ah…!”
In the blink of an eye, a new True Ancestor was born.
Judging by how things were unfolding, it seemed he had been holding his breath, waiting for this exact moment.
The greater shock was the fact that he was the Apostle of the Seven Deadly Sins that the Guardians had been targeting.
The True Ancestor and the Seven Deadly Sins.
Two forces, each overwhelming on its own, had merged into an even greater power and descended upon her allies.
A desperate crisis.
Just when everyone's lives were on the line…
Kim Do-jin awakened.
“…”
What was that unsettling energy?
It felt like if she touched it, all her innermost thoughts would be laid bare. It was a feeling that made her want to keep her distance.
Ironically, that very energy saved everyone and laid the groundwork for a counterattack.
The end was once again in sight.
She was staring helplessly at Kim Do-jin's back, unable to do anything, when it happened.
Fwoosh!
A vivid flame erupted from his sword.
Sword Aura—the dream and ultimate goal of all swordsmen.
The holy flame, which seemed to be a step beyond it, spoke to her.
Watch.
And realize.
The state you wish to reach.
What it is you lack right now.
“…”
A red sea surged forth, shaking the entire castle.
The sword of a humble human, standing before the might of nature, parted the sea and moved forward.
Son Seo-yeon followed.
The burning sword, his back…
And the look in his eyes, the one he had given her just before parting the massive waves, was telling her something.
Follow me.
And you will see.
The vast world you cannot see, blocked by a thick wall.
Grit!
She gripped her sword and followed.
“Seo-yeon!”
She paid no heed to Han Ju-hee’s urgent cry.
At the end of the path forged by parting the weakened waves stood Kim Do-jin and Viktor Vadim.
Countless exchanges flew between the two, and the end came swiftly.
When Kim Do-jin's sword, blazing like a dazzling holy flame, lunged forward, she let out a gasp.
“Ah…!”
We finally won.
This grueling battle is finally over.
At that moment, she recalled the words her father and Kim Do-jin always used to say.
-“Remember this, daughter.”
-“Keep this in mind, Sunbae.”
-“An opportunity is also a crisis.”
As their two voices overlapped clearly in her mind, her vision began to change.
It was clearly a chance to end it in victory, yet it looked like a crisis.
And her judgment was spot on.
“Riot of a Hundred Flowers…”
It had been a long time.
Her father's swordsmanship, which she had seen only once as a child.
It was perfectly recreated in Kim Do-jin's hands, taking Viktor Vadim's flesh.
But that was as far as it went.
The fully bloomed flowers failed to cut the bone, falling away drenched in droplets of blood.
Instead, the one pierced to the bone was Kim Do-jin.
Fzzt-!
“Ah.”
He was being pierced.
His body.
Fzzzzzt-!
Countless times over.
“No!”
Kim Do-jin's form began to crumble, just like the flower petals that had fallen before.
In that instant, a rage she had never before experienced in her life consumed her entire body.
“Ugh…”
It felt as if his collapse was her fault.
Because she was powerless.
Because she couldn't follow him properly, leaving him to fight all alone.
Following the heavy self-blame was killing intent.
Her eyes, so hot they had turned cold, fixed on Viktor Vadim.
‘I’ll kill you.’
I must.
Whatever it takes, I will kill that thing.
‘I’ll fucking kill you.’
She had always lacked it.
An energy that was poison in excess, but just as problematic in its absence.
The manifestation of a venomous will to truly kill an opponent.
It finally filled her, growing like a sharp awl before her and striking the wall.
CRASH-!
A sound of impact only she could hear.
Simultaneously, the suffocating tightness in her chest vanished, and she could finally see.
A new world, revealed beyond the helplessly shattered wall.
[Agility has reached 100!]
[Stat limit broken!]
[A new trait is blooming.]
[You have acquired the trait ‘High Speed’.]
Her movements quickened.
No, it wasn't just her movements; everything was accelerating.
Her thoughts, the flow of her mana.
Mana rapidly filled her sword, stacking layer upon layer until it took a distinct form upon the blade.
Sword Aura.
The ultimate art, one that could only be fully wielded by an S-rank Hunter.
She charged forward, embracing the chillingly blue energy.
The distance closed before her opponent could even register her presence.
Just before she thrust her sword, she heard a small voice from the collapsing Kim Do-jin.
“Idiot…”
Only then did she realize.
The finishing touch to the grand picture Kim Do-jin had been painting was none other than herself.
Powerful beings like Viktor Vadim almost always had one.
A last-resort measure to save their own life.
So Kim Do-jin had looked not one step, but exactly one step further ahead.
He would take the opponent's final move, and entrust what came after to Son Seo-yeon.
There was no special reason he chose her.
It was because she was the closest person here to S-rank.
Because he was certain that with just one small push, she could break through the wall.
Realizing this, she felt her heart swell.
‘He believed in me.’
That he trusted her so much.
Her grip on the sword tightened.
‘I can't let this chance slip away.’
She couldn't let the opportunity he had risked his life to give her go to waste.
She delivered her sentence.
“Die.”
The tip of her sword, piercing through the spot where Kim Do-jin had stood just moments before, struck the very center of Viktor Vadim's heart as he stood confident in his victory.
Shunk-!
A refreshing sensation she had never felt before flowed up from her palm.
“Krrk… cough…!”
The aura that had commanded the entire castle just a moment ago vanished in an instant.
His skin shriveled.
Viktor Vadim's dying gaze turned to her.
“How… w-when…”
His expression was one of utter disbelief at the death that now gripped his entire body.
She added fuel to the fire.
“Remember this.”
She ruthlessly pulled the sword from his heart.
Squelch!
“Keuk…!”
She continued.
“An opportunity is also a crisis.”
“…Ha, haha.”
A laugh escaped him.
It was hollow.
“I… was only one step away…”
To die without taking that final step toward achieving his long-cherished wish.
Thud!
He collapsed limply, gazing up at the night sky revealed through the gaping hole in the ceiling, and whispered.
“Oh, Gula…”
Why have you forsaken me?
With a brief resentment for the god who had abandoned him, he closed his eyes.
* * *
The red barrier that had blocked all outside intrusion disappeared.
As the pure light of the sun and moon began to shine down, the red earth quickly returned to its original state.
Wallachia.
One of the three historical regions of Romania was finally beginning to return to its people.
But there was no time to savor such joy; the raid team had to move quickly.
“Hurry… we have to move them, quickly.”
“Everyone, move!”
Many of their comrades had died.
And many more were dying.
Among them were Francis and Kim Do-jin.
“We’ll clean up later!”
“We have to save people first!”
The raid team departed swiftly.
Around the time their figures had completely vanished from Wallachia…
“Ah… there it is♥”
A woman wearing a black nun's habit and a breastplate appeared at the top of the castle.
“Master, over here!”
Michelle waved her hand vigorously toward someone behind her.
From that direction, a man with the hood of his black robe pulled down low walked slowly forward.
Son Si-woo stood before the now shriveled corpse of Viktor Vadim.
He pointed a finger at the body and asked.
“…This is our target?”
“Yes, that’s right. The Apostle of Greed.”
There was only one reason he had come all the way to this distant land.
To heal his breaking body.
And the final target for that purpose was the corpse before him, the Apostle of Greed.
“…He’s already dead.”
As he scowled, Michelle replied with an innocent smile.
“Yes! And I’m so glad. It would have been a huge pain if he were alive.”
“……?”
“This person, no… should I say vampire? Anyway, he’s quite strong. If he were fully alive, you or I might have died, you know?”
He couldn't quite understand what she was saying.
“…Even so, it’s meaningless if he’s already dead. I have to kill him myself.”
“Huhu, you don’t have to worry about that.”
“What…?”
Michelle gracefully knelt down.
Her hand moved toward the gaping hole where the heart had been.
Soon, a gloomy, gray mana rose up, flowing from her palm and filling the heart cavity.
Thump!
The heart began to beat again, however faintly.
Michelle urgently called out to Son Si-woo.
“Now, Master!”
Unlike her urgent tone, Son Si-woo was bewildered.
A heart that had stopped was suddenly beating.
“Wh-what did you do…”
“Come on, I told you we don’t have time.”
Michelle grabbed Son Si-woo's wrist with her other hand and pulled him forward.
“Hurry and stab him. If you miss this chance, your body will never recover, you know?”
“……!”
All his questions vanished in an instant.
It didn't matter.
Whether a dead man came back to life or not.
The only thing that mattered now was healing this rotten body.
Shing.
He drew a dagger and immediately plunged it down.
Shunk-!
The dagger, roughly digging into the flesh, brought a final end to the heart that had just begun to beat faintly.
The life force began to fade once more.
But it did not scatter. Instead, it traveled up the dagger piercing the heart and flowed into Son Si-woo.
“Gack!”
He let out a pained scream, a sharp agony as if his heart was being squeezed by a powerful hand.
Finally letting go of Viktor Vadim's corpse, she whispered in his ear.
“You have to endure it, even if it hurts. It’s all part of the process of your body healing, you see?”
“Keuk…!”
Son Si-woo gritted his teeth.
She was right.
The energy that had been tightly constricting his heart began to loosen and circulate throughout his body.
With every passing moment, he could feel it.
The body that had only grown heavier day by day was beginning to feel light again.
“I can feel it…”
The flow of mana, something he had barely been able to sense.
A vitality he had never felt in his life was surging through him.
At the same time, they were unlocked.
The fragments of memory that had been tightly bound by his inadequate aptitude.
One by one, they dug into his mind, telling him.
‘Ah, so this is how it was.’
He understood.
How this body had grown strong.
And how he had to handle it to draw out its true power.
“Hoooo.”
Son Si-woo let out a long breath and stood up.
Michelle saw it.
The power radiating from his eyes.
A pure, untainted essence, built solely through training and refinement, unswayed by any shortcuts.
He had finally returned.
The Son Si-woo from the days when he was called the National Hunter.
“Congratulations, Master♥”
Michelle fawned over him.
She quietly licked her lips.
Her tongue moistened her parched lips over and over, a terrible thirst upon her.