Chapter 191: Salvation Madness, Once Again
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 191: Salvation Madness, Once Again
“Wait, hold on!”
And so, I cried out to her.
As the people around us watched me with confusion, I stepped in front of her magic circle.
My trembling gaze met Eunnamu’s.
This was her proposal.
Of course, she had to know exactly what my ability would do.
And yet, her eyes were calm, just as they always were.
No, she was even smiling, as if she were glad.
In that moment, I finally understood why she had been watching me so intently since our earlier conversation.
It was because this would be her last memory of me.
That was why she had kept her gaze fixed on me.
My fists clenched.
My breathing grew ragged and hot.
My ability works on anything not of Earth, without exception.
That includes intangible powers, like the shockwave from the Deep Sea Monarch.
“If you do that, your memories…!”
The moment my shout burst out, the others belatedly realized what Eunnamu was trying to do.
Heuksan frowned, and Si-ho stared at Eunnamu in shock. Having heard her story alongside me, they both understood the situation.
“It’s okay.”
Even then, Eunnamu was smiling so beautifully.
And I knew, down to my bones, what that smile meant.
Because I had seen that same smile time and again on so many others.
Memories from another worldline.
To her, they might just be memories from a different timeline.
Memories that were, in a sense, merely superimposed on her own.
They certainly didn’t belong to the Eunnamu of this world.
And yet, those were the very memories that defined her, that kept her going.
This was the output needed to kill the Lurker in the Boundary.
Having only recently started using my powers, there was no way I could control them with enough finesse to spare her memories.
Those memories, the most precious thing she had, would almost certainly shatter and vanish the moment my ability touched them.
“Because I have Ha-chan.”
At that moment, Eunnamu gave me a radiant smile, like a flower in full bloom.
Having been made immortal by the Evil Gods, she no longer knew what death was.
But losing one’s memories…
That was a death of another kind.
The Eunnamu from the other worldline would cease to exist here.
No.
It couldn’t be allowed to happen.
For her to give up the peace she had finally found, right here and now—that was absolutely unacceptable.
Even if it was the Eunnamu of another worldline, she was still Eunnamu.
“Because the ‘me’ of this world will come to love Ha-chan, too.”
Beneath her black hair, fluttering in the wind, Eunnamu—like a black rose—spoke to me as if saying her final goodbye.
For a moment, my thoughts froze.
At the same time, a blue aura flared up from my body.
“…Ha-chan?”
Eunnamu’s eyes widened in belated realization.
“Wait! Ha-chan, stop!”
But it was too late.
My outstretched hand had already touched her magic circle.
Crack!
The moment my hand touched it, the magic circle began to crack and break apart.
The cracks spread across the entire circle in an instant, and with a sharp shattering sound, the magic circle Eunnamu had created to possess the Lurker in the Boundary broke into pieces.
Amid the fragments of the magic circle, I could see Eunnamu staring at me with blank eyes.
The hem of my hoodie fluttered in the wind.
But instead of fixing it, I shouted at Eunnamu.
“I won’t allow it.”
As I clenched my outstretched hand into a fist, Thunderbolt appeared in my grasp.
I snatched it from the air and turned away from the collapsed Eunnamu.
“You promised me yourself.”
“A promise…?”
She mumbled blankly, watching me, then belatedly realized what I was talking about.
“If you’re going to confess, do it with your own mouth.”
Then, as if to confirm her realization, I slowly turned back and shouted.
“What are you going to do?”
Baeksan asked me.
Hearing his question, I looked up at the Lurker in the Boundary.
A colossal eye, large enough to fill the skies over America.
It was the largest thing I had ever seen, and just as Eunnamu had said, it seemed impossible to damage it without possession.
In fact, a few returnees and hunters had already tried unleashing their abilities on it, but they hadn’t even left a scratch.
But with me, it’s different.
“I’m going to solve this physically.”
I said, then looked back at Baeksan.
Baeksan met my gaze, then shot me a pathetic look.
“So you think letting yourself get possessed will solve it?”
“Please help me.”
He was a regressor, after all.
So when I bowed my head and asked, Baeksan sighed and swept his bangs back.
“If you were just going to leave it to me, you shouldn't have tried to act so cool.”
So harsh.
I was just being sincere.
But even as he said that, Baeksan didn’t refuse.
It meant he didn’t want things to end like this for Eunnamu, either.
“And besides, there’s something I want to test.”
Hearing the word “test,” I looked at Baeksan with a puzzled expression.
Meeting my gaze, Baeksan tapped his head with his index finger.
“You always lose consciousness whenever I possess you, don’t you?”
He was right. I’d blacked out every time Baeksan possessed me, so I’d never seen what he did.
“At your level now, there’s probably no need for me to deliberately knock you out.”
So the reason I lost consciousness was because Baeksan was intentionally knocking me out?
As I was processing this new information, Baeksan let out a chilling laugh.
“Let’s see you experience it properly for once.”
*
KWAANG, KWANG!
Amidst the barrage of attacks pouring down on the swarming dimensional entities.
I was facing two people.
They were none other than Heuksan and Ji-eun.
“Even with my intervention, you can’t handle that thing with your output alone.”
That’s why, following Baeksan’s advice, I had called the two people who could help boost my power.
“You’re thinking of blowing that thing away? Are you out of your mind?”
Heuksan gave me the same pathetic look Baeksan had.
It was like they were proving they were the same person—their glares were identical, which made me feel twice as pathetic.
“We’re doing it like last time.”
In contrast, Ji-eun’s eyes were sparkling.
“I’m all for it! It means I get to help you, Ha-chan. Hehe.”
As Ji-eun beamed at me, I felt a little of my shame subside, and I managed to smile back.
“…If that’s the plan, I’ll help too.”
Just then, I heard Eunnamu’s voice from behind me.
She came to stand beside me and gave me a languid smile.
“I can grant my power to others. I can help, too.”
“You’re not going to overdo it this time, are you?”
Hearing my words, she covered her mouth and let out a demure laugh.
“Mhm, I wouldn’t want to get scolded by Ha-chan again.”
Well, that was fine then.
Except for the fact that her eyes were practically dripping honey as she looked at me.
Perhaps because of that, Heuksan and Baeksan were both staring at me with that same pathetic look.
“If you’re including people, include her too.”
Just then, Baeksan gestured with his chin to the side.
Over there was Catherine, the one who’d been throwing bolts of blue lightning.
She flinched the moment our eyes met.
“We need all the help we can get, right? Her electrical aura should be at least a tiny bit helpful.”
If that’s the case.
I beckoned to Catherine. She looked around frantically before realizing I was calling her, then hesitantly approached.
“Catherine, I need your help.”
“Y-Yes.”
Including her, a total of five people had gathered.
With that, I looked back at Baeksan, and he nodded as if to say the preparations were complete.
“Brace yourself.”
With those words, Baeksan’s form blurred.
In that instant, I felt the very foundation of my body being shaken.
A sensation like lightning shooting from my fingertips to my toes made my vision swim.
It felt like suffering from a terrible cold and body aches.
Experiencing this indescribable sensation, I understood why Baeksan had always knocked me out during possession.
“Heok!”
I gasped and my eyes flew open. My vision filled with the shocked faces of the people looking at me.
“Ha-chan, are you okay?”
As Ji-eun rushed to support me, I raised a hand to show I was fine.
Then I realized that despite Baeksan possessing me, my body was moving freely.
Is this really possession?
[ What are you so flustered about? ]
The moment I had that thought, Baeksan’s voice echoed in my head.
Suddenly, my right hand was raised.
As I stared at the bizarre sight with wide eyes, Baeksan’s voice continued.
[ I’ve only possessed you while leaving your consciousness intact. Don’t panic. ]
So that’s what it was.
This strange sensation of my body not being my own was quite fascinating.
[ I’m going to make the Brain Thunder now, so tell them all to come here. ]
Hearing that, I nodded.
“Everyone, please.”
At my words, they all gathered around me.
Catherine was hesitant, but she still obeyed.
[ I’m starting. Focus. ]
At that moment, a red aura began to slowly gather above the hand Baeksan had raised.
And watching it, I realized.
This was different.
The Brain Thunder bullet now being formed was unlike anything I had ever seen, making all the ones I’d created before seem like fakes.
It was like a red corundum.
The ruby-like bullet, shining so vividly, was being crafted with an aura of incredible purity.
So this is the real Brain Thunder.
I understood why there was such a difference in output between me and Baeksan.
This was on a completely different level.
[ What are you spacing out for? Infuse your power into it, too. ]
Baeksan’s voice cut through my daze.
Snapping out of it, I began to infuse my own ability into the Brain Thunder bullet.
A blue light began to seep into the bullet.
For some reason, I felt like I was contaminating the incredibly beautiful Brain Thunder.
But the bullet began to absorb even my ability naturally, as if it could accept it without issue.
Before long, the bluish bullet was nearly complete.
The finished bullet, having absorbed almost all of my power, had a mysterious hue of mixed red and blue, but it still wasn’t powerful enough to reach the Lurker in the Boundary.
BOOM!
Just then, another explosion echoed from the distance.
My gaze flickered to the sky for a brief moment.
High above, I could see the back of Juksim.
She was holding her staff high, unleashing starlight from it.
‘I think it’s gotten closer.’
For some reason, I felt like the Lurker in the Boundary had descended lower.
At the same time, the starlight from Juksim grew even stronger.
There was a considerable distance between her and us, but I knew instinctively.
Juksim was locked in a power struggle with the Lurker in the Boundary.