Chapter 69 10. The Angel of the Thorn Crown
The Angel with the Crown of Thorns
Episode 70
A desperate will to live kept Tirpe anchored there.
—Aaaaaaaaaaah!
Yet the screams from her rotting, crumbling soul showed no sign of ceasing. The emotions raging in her chest drove her mind to the brink. But her constricted throat couldn't vomit them all out. To somehow relieve the agony in her chest, her throat bled.
—Kyaaaaaaah!
Even so, the depths of Tirpe's emotions remained unfathomable.
—Grrrrrrk!
Still, Tirpe gritted her teeth and refused to collapse. Even as her mind felt like it was being torn apart in torment, she forced her eyes to focus until the very end. Like a broken soul thrashing in its final moments.
"... ."
At the sheer desperation in her, Park Si-hyun's eyebrow twitched. He faintly glimpsed the fragmented noise of her memories and momentarily lost his will to fight. Because all of it felt pitiful—like nothing more than a desperate struggle to keep her mind from shattering.
Tirpe clutched her head, eyes wide.
"I... I...!"
What resolve had driven her to stain her hands with blood until now? She barely managed to recall it.
That's right.
If she had ever intended to break here, she wouldn't have even begun.
—Even if the method was wrong.
"I can't... die here."
—I have to take it all back.
"I can't... die...!"
—Sacrificing everything... for the sake of my family. That was the only wish.
"You're the one who should die!!"
She would commit any sin without hesitation.
Kwaaaaang!
Black mana erupted. Wild lines traced intricate orbits, forming a magic circle. A glimmer of darkness flickered. Within it, Tirpe's black eyes writhed.
『[Black Magic (Hero) — Black Wedge] has been activated.』
"Die."
Park Si-hyun raised his arm.
'I may not fully understand your circumstances, but I can sympathize with the depth of your pain. However—'
He dashed across the wide chamber at high speed. The [Thorn Tip of Sin Absolution] in his left hand flashed.
『—Damage against targets linked to Black Magic Power increases by 250%.』
'That doesn't erase what you've done.'
Pwoooom!!
Si-hyun's dagger pierced through the magic circle in an instant. The forming circle was effortlessly skewered.
"Huh...?!"
The magic circle, its foundation shattered, burst apart with a deafening explosion.
Paaang!
The backlash of the failed spell struck her heart.
"Kkh—kuhk?!"
Tirpe's pupils shook violently from the excruciating pain.
"That's... impossible...!"
Clutching her chest, she vomited blood.
It shouldn't have been possible.
For an outsider who knew nothing of magic to precisely target and destroy the core—the axis—of a magic circle was unthinkable. Unless one fully understood the spell and could see the nucleus of its formula, it was absolutely—
"Ngk?!"
But even such rational thoughts vanished from Tirpe's eyes.
A flood of deranged thoughts immediately overwhelmed her mind, crushing her sense of self. Her rolling eyes twisted savagely.
"Why?! Why are you getting in my way?! Why me...?!"
She no longer cared about the blood gushing from her mouth. Like a madwoman, she swung her hands wildly. Magic circles formed one after another—
And each time, Si-hyun passed right through them.
Pabababang!
Every magic circle exploded just before activation.
"I—I just... don't get in my waaaay!!"
Even as the backlash of failed spells wracked her body, Tirpe didn't stop. She shook her head violently, howling in fury.
Si-hyun walked toward Tirpe, her hair disheveled, her form broken.
"Getting in your way? To put it bluntly, you're a terrorist who planted bombs in the heads of tens of thousands of people. Even if no one died, the mere accusation alone means... you've committed a crime."
As if refusing to listen, a rose-thorn whip lashed out.
The [Thorn Tip of Sin Absolution] split the whip cleanly down the middle.
Tirpe clutched her trembling face.
"You think... you think you're clean?! Your sins... your sins! They're so clear to me—how can you—?!"
"Chastisement."
As Tirpe roared, a black cross rose into the air.
A distorted crucifix.
"!"
Deng!
With the toll of a bell, the wave of [Punish] crashed down upon Si-hyun. His face contorted as his body gradually stiffened.
Before that cross, even Park Si-hyun was nothing more than a sinner.
『[Optimal Progression] is in effect.』
But...
He would never break.
"Yeah? Maybe I'm a sinner like you. But... I never tried to sacrifice innocent people like you did."
Had he not used [Optimal Progression] to steady his emotions, he might have wavered at her anguish.
But he never forgot.
No matter the reason—
Tirpe had dragged Park Se-eun into this.
Whether she had lost her mind or whatever else, she had stood by and watched as Park Se-eun and Lee Jeong-don—along with countless others—were dragged away. "That's the difference between you and me."
Park Si-hyun's figure vanished from his spot. The air was pierced by instantaneous pressure. Whoosh! He tore through the crushing force of 「Punish」 and dashed across the room. "Tch!"
Thorned whips lashed out to stop his charge. Useless. As if he had read every intricate trajectory, he dodged with precision, closing the distance in an instant. His figure was already right before her. Tirpe's pupils trembled violently. "No matter what kind of sickness you suffer from, in the end, you still committed a sin, didn't you?"
Park Si-hyun lowered his stance, gripping the ever-lengthening black sword. A murderous glint sharpened in his eyes. "Then that power of yours should judge you first."
Her dazed pupils reflected his approaching form. Before she could even jerk her hand away—
Thunk!
A pitch-black blade pierced straight through her heart. Darker than blood, the metal burst out from her back. A flood of emptiness overwhelmed her. "Ha... ha... ha..."
The black magic power pooled in her heart scattered without resistance. Tirpe's head trembled before slowly drooping. ...Ah. I'm dying.
She felt death drawing near. A familiar sensation. But there was something unfamiliar this time.
「Revert ⅔」
「You cannot return to the past.」
If she died now, everything would end. That's right. I... can't...
The obsession binding her shattered. ...die.
Crunch.
Something inside her was crushed.
"I can't... die."
At that moment—
A strange wind blew. Her bangs lifted briefly, revealing hollow, unfocused pupils. The desire flickering at the edges of her vision twisted into madness. "—!"
Park Si-hyun's expression hardened with disbelief.
Drip... drip... drip...
From her pierced heart, blood stretched outward like branches.
...A cross formed of blood.
A 「Skill」 that traded life for power in the most extreme way.
『Tirpe has acquired 「The Sinner Shoulders the Cross of Original Sin (Rare)」.』
The blood-red cross writhed as if alive. The ominous crucifix descended upon Tirpe.
Squelch!
Its jagged form burst through her ample chest, jutting forward.
"I will... protect them. My family... the people..."
Her fading eyes flickered with renewed strength.
"...No matter what."
『「Revert ⅔」 has been activated.』
『Warning. Warning. Warning. Danger.』
『An irregularity unrecorded even in the movements of the great stars.』
『Attempting to exclude the target.』
Urgent messages flashed, but the anomaly didn't stop.
『An overwhelming will has prevented exclusion!』
Tirpe's body was instantly swallowed by darkness. When she emerged, her skin was unnaturally pale.
『Tirpe has acquired 「Mark of Twisted Conviction (Heroic)」.』
What... is this?
「Mark of Twisted Conviction」
A skill that burned the body with hellfire, warping it to an extreme degree. To use it meant—
Crack... CRACK!
Danger...?
Chaos erupted from Tirpe. Just as Si-hyun raised his holy sword to behead her—
Bam!
He was flung back. "Ghk—?!"
Barely skidding to a halt, his shoes screeched against the ground. "Khh—?!"
As his vision steadied from the shock, the sight before him stole his breath.
Thud. Thud.
Her pierced heart pulsed irregularly. A vortex of chaos spun around it.
"I will return. Even if I have to kill you to do it. No matter what..."
Tirpe's irises morphed into the shape of a cross, flames igniting within them.
『Tirpe has acquired 「Holy Eye (Myth)」.』
A Myth-grade skill granting divine sight. Her long hair whipped wildly in the storm of chaos. Then—from the maelstrom in her heart—a twisted cross manifested.
The cross of the Radiant Glory Orthodoxy, the Tower's foremost religion, which tolerated no evil.
CRACK!
The cross crumpled beyond recognition.
Simultaneously, Tirpe was engulfed in searing flames.
Screeeech—
Within her heart, darkness and light intertwined like constellations, forming a new power with terrifying order.
A power the Tower would never permit.
『Tirpe has acquired the skill 「Outer Dimension Circuit (Rare)」.』
A taboo she had never dared embrace—until now.
CRACK! The force shattered space itself as it manifested.
『Tirpe has acquired the skill "Manifestation of the Fallen Angel <Myth>."』
"I... cannot die here..."
The moment Tirpe muttered those words with eyes burning in unwavering resolve, the cross embedded in her heart began melting like molten iron. A sinister force pulsed out from her blackened, blazing heart as if pumped by some infernal rhythm. Her pale body became engulfed in countless streaks of radiance. Park Si-hyun's eyes widened. There was no time to stop it.
SCREEEEEECH! Chaos descended upon the rapidly pressurizing space.
WHOOSH. By the time he winced, his vision obscured by something, an eerie blue mist had already settled over the surroundings. And there, standing—no, floating—just above the ground, was Tirpe.
No...
It was no longer the same being as before.
Her jet-black hair, streaming chaos like ink dissolving in water, flowed smoothly through the air.
The halo—symbol of corruption. The luminous ring floating above her crown had darkened, its circular form flickering like will-o'-the-wisps, entwined with rose thorns. From her back unfurled wings of ambiguous radiance, neither pure light nor absolute darkness. The vestiges of an angel, the kind only seen in the mid-stages of the game. Wings that were once noble, now tainted with shadow. A fallen angel, her dark silhouette wavering.
Crackle—
The darkness enveloping her shifted into a sheer, translucent texture. A dress that embodied both depravity and grace clung to her alluring form—a breastplate barely containing her ample chest, a slit skirt swaying with each movement, revealing legs clad in thigh-high stockings etched with eerie patterns. Her eyelids lifted slowly over pallid skin, revealing pupils swirling with myriad shades of light and shadow.
Creak—
Rose vines sprouted across her emaciated body, constricting her flesh, pushing her cleavage and thighs into obscene prominence, as if violating a sinner.
Outer Dimensional Power.
Tirpe opened her eyes.
And thus, calamity was complete.
「Fallen Angel of the Thorn Crown」
A force so chaotic it was practically taboo even within the Tower had manifested in the form of a fallen angel.
Kugugugung—
The space around Tirpe, now transformed, distorted sluggishly. The air itself grew unnaturally heavy. Unlike the Lord of Corpses, whose presence was so vast it rendered perception impossible, this angel's power was something I could measure—and that made the despair all the more suffocating.
She was strong.
In raw, instantaneous output, she surpassed even the Incomplete Zombie.
Tirpe's expression darkened as she closed her eyes.
"Now that I've unleashed this power... there's no turning back."
Her raised hand coiled with rose vines. Darkness, chaotic and unstable, flared before settling.
Outer Dimensional Power—a force so reviled even the Tower shunned it.
This was true calamity, a power so unpredictable that no one could foresee its consequences.
I couldn't recklessly oppose this.
"This regression cycle... is a mistake."
Her eyelids lifted over deathly pale skin.
Gwoong—!
In an instant, an overwhelming pressure—one that the pitiful dimension called Earth could never withstand—erupted. Sticky darkness crawled up her arm, coiling into a spiraled spear wreathed in chaotic flames.
The fallen angel spoke.
"Die."
Her languid gaze sharpened in an instant.
Simultaneously—
The space between us twisted into a spiral.
Reality itself warped under an otherworldly force, and the spear shot toward me at an incomprehensible speed.
I couldn't dodge.
I had to block.
I crossed my swords in desperation.
Kwaaaang—!
Sacred Power, Black Magic Power, and Record fused into a single explosion. A storm of light erupted from the point of impact.
[Tirpe's Lifespan — $$ — $$ — $$]
A single strike composed of skills that burned through lifespan at the most explosive rate.
"Ghhh—?!"
I barely managed to deflect the trajectory of the force, but the residual light locked onto my heart, unshaken. Gritting my teeth, I twisted the spear's path just enough.
Tzzzt—
A hairline fracture spread across the angel's porcelain-like face.
She wasn't unscathed either.
I could hold on.
But Tirpe was just as desperate.
"I can't... I can't end here...!!"
A scream laced with tears pierced through space.
I could feel her anguish—but I didn't waver.
Because she had fallen into something far too dangerous.
Kwaaaaang—!
The clash reached its peak.
The space supporting us swelled unnaturally.
"I have to... I have to live...!"
Tears of despair welled in her eyes, scattering into the wind.
"Because I have to repay it—!!"
Her spear poured forth every last shred of her strength.
Paaang—!
"—!"
The focal point of her power ruptured.
A black hole tore open between us—a perfect vacuum where not even matter existed.
No, this was worse.
A dimensional fissure.
From within, a flood of horrifying, chaotic power surged forth—Outer Dimensional Power, leaking through the rift.
Paaaaang—!
"You fucking lunatic! Are you trying to drag us both to hell?!"
Her body and mine were both tainted by the pale, corrupting light.
"Give... me back my ability...!!"
But Tirpe's eyes had already rolled back.
Her gaze, even in its madness, burned with a resolve that defied death itself.
"You—you insane fucking bitch!!"
At the same moment as my shout—
KWA-GAGANG!
The space between us collapsed.
『Optimal Progression is being applied.』
"GAAAAAH!"
The expanding void swallowed us whole. Her eyes rolled back in shock, and I too was sucked in, consciousness slipping away.
Whoooosh—
"......"
I bit back the curses threatening to burst from my lips and pressed a hand to my forehead. Even so, the agitation refused to settle, so I lowered my hand and absentmindedly groped Tirpe's still-unconscious chest.
Squish squish.
Somehow, squeezing a woman's tits like this made the tangled mess in my chest feel a little better.
Squelch squelch.
I dug my fingers in deeper, kneading the pliant flesh that jiggled with a clear, crisp sound—F-cups, no doubt. But unlike Tirpe's perfectly round breasts, the situation ahead was anything but clear.
Whoooosh—
The sky drew near, then receded. A gloomy, chaotic space where even the composition of the world was arbitrary. Occasionally, the space itself would warp unnaturally, snap apart, or drift in unstable, fog-like masses the size of continents. And even those would flicker in and out of existence, erratic and unpredictable.
A realm where nothing was certain.
A dumping ground for dimensions discarded by the Tower.
The Outer Dimension.
"Well, fuck me. Seriously."
I had become a lost soul in this illogical world.
『Optimal Progression is being applied.』
『2 days remaining until Tower entry.』