Chapter 261
Chapter 261
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 261
Chapter Title: Snowfield (1)
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“Why are you here... sis?”
Isabella stumbled back, her face a mask of disbelief, as if she'd seen a ghost.
Cassia Colagrande.
Her sister, who had lost the fight for succession (though it could hardly be called a fight) and been exiled to the distant lands of Iceland.
She had thought her sister died ten years ago, swept away in the aftermath when a rift to the Magyeong opened at the North Pole.
“Y-You were alive?”
Isabella's shoulders trembled, and tears welled up in her eyes.
Like someone who had just found a long-lost treasure.
A radiant smile spread across her face as she looked at Cassia.
'Isabella's missing sister was Cassia?'
Isabella wasn't the only one in shock.
Oh-jin's jaw dropped, his face a picture of astonishment.
It felt like being hit over the head with a hammer.
'What in the world is going on?'
The Queen of Ophiuchus was Isabella's sister.
His mind went blank for a moment as a chilling sensation washed over him.
Right now, Cassia was under the delusion that he was the Cheonma.
If she suddenly started spouting nonsense about 'Lord Cheonma' in front of Isabella, the situation would spiral out of control.
“Isabel—”
“Sis, Cassia!”
Before he could even finish saying her name.
She dashed toward Cassia.
Just as she opened her arms wide to embrace Cassia's slender frame.
*-Swoosh!*
A snake shot out from within Cassia's shadow.
The snake, its scales as black as the shadow it came from, opened its maw wide, revealing sharp fangs.
“Look out!”
His body moved before his mind could catch up.
Oh-jin grabbed Isabella's shoulder and yanked her back roughly.
Sssshhhhhhaaaaa!
The snake, which had narrowly grazed Isabella's stomach, let out a ghastly hiss.
“...S-Sis?”
The stomach of Isabella's knit sweater was torn, revealing the pale skin underneath.
A drop of blood trickled down the thin, crimson line.
If Oh-jin hadn't pulled her back, she would have suffered a wound deep enough to expose her organs.
“Sis, you say...?”
Cassia stared at Isabella, her eyes hazy as if she were on drugs.
After gazing at Isabella as if searching through an old warehouse of memories, Cassia spoke softly.
“Bel... la?”
For a moment, her drug-addled eyes regained their former light.
She stumbled back, her body trembling.
“Bella... It's Bella?”
“Yes! It's me, sis!”
“……”
Ah, ugh.
Cassia choked back a pained groan and curled into a ball.
“N-No, it can't be. For me...”
Cassia clutched her head, her face contorted in agony as she whimpered.
The blood vessels in her wide-open eyes burst, turning them bloodshot.
“Ah, ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!”
A crazed scream echoed through the darkened amusement park.
Cassia began to claw at her face frantically, her nails digging into her skin.
“I-I have to kill them. I have to k-kill... them all... so I, I, I...”
*Click, clack, click, clack.*
She ground her teeth nervously, her bloodshot eyes glaring.
Bits of flesh were torn from her face by her nails.
“I must kill to possess.”
Muttering incomprehensible words, Cassia slowly uncurled her body.
Sssshhhhhhaaaaa!
Hundreds of snakes erupted from her elongated shadow.
“Why... why are you doing this, sis?”
Isabella stared at Cassia, unable to comprehend the situation.
This version of her sister was so different from the gentle Cassia in her memories that she wondered if this was just someone else with the same face.
'...Something's wrong.'
Oh-jin narrowed his eyes as he watched Cassia, who was muttering like a madwoman and radiating killing intent.
He'd known the Queen of Ophiuchus wasn't entirely sane since he first met her in the Magyeong.
'But she wasn't this incoherent.'
She had seemed like she had a few screws loose.
But at least she had been lucid enough to hold a conversation.
And most importantly.
“Stop, Cassia.”
“I have to kill... everyone. O-Otherwise... I'll be abandoned again.”
She wasn't listening to his command.
Back in the Magyeong, she would prostrate herself like a cult fanatic whenever he tried to speak.
'That gem.'
Oh-jin's gaze fell upon the black gem embedded in Cassia's forehead.
The demonic energy flowing from the black gem.
Oh-jin had felt this unpleasantly sticky, tar-like energy not long ago.
'It's the same as with Barbatos.'
The two black horns that had sprouted from the Cheonjuryong's forehead.
The sinister energy from those horns was identical to the energy now flowing from the black gem on Cassia's forehead.
Which meant.
“...The Cheonma.”
The Cheonma.
Not the fake one clumsily impersonated by a con artist, but the real Heavenly Demon.
Had reached out to her.
“M-Mr. Oh-jin, the Cheonma?”
Isabella stared at Oh-jin, her face pale.
“Cassia is being controlled by the Cheonma right now.”
“What... what are you talking about, Mr. Oh-jin?”
She was reunited with the sister she thought was dead for ten years, only to be told she was being controlled by the Cheonma out of the blue?
And how did Oh-jin know that?
Even for someone with a mind sharp enough to simultaneously manage dozens of businesses connected to the Colagrande family, the situation was impossible to follow.
“I'll explain later.”
Right now, dealing with the immediate crisis was the priority.
Oh-jin swallowed dryly and reached for his waist.
*Sh-shing, chak!*
The Dantalion at his waist transformed into a spear.
'A direct confrontation... is out of the question.'
No matter how rapidly he had grown strong enough to be chosen for the Chilseong, he was still no match for the Queen of Ophiuchus.
And the same went for Isabella.
Even if they attacked together, their chances of victory were slim.
'And it doesn't look like Isabella is in any condition to fight properly right now.'
The wisest course of action was to wait for an opportunity to escape—
“I won't let you go.”
A sinister voice echoed.
Emerald eyes, gleaming with a ghastly light even in the darkness, turned to Oh-jin.
She flicked her long tongue, which reached down to her chest, and casually flicked her hand.
*Ssssssssssk!*
Cassia's shadow expanded at an explosive speed, enveloping the surrounding area in a massive dome.
“Kugh!”
People often use the expression 'in the blink of an eye'.
It means the brief moment it takes to blink, but this was a speed that defied even that expression.
Trapped in an instant within a giant dome of shadows, Oh-jin chewed his lip anxiously.
'Dammit.'
At this point, a fight was unavoidable.
*Slither, slither.*
The eerie sound of hundreds of snakes slithering across the ground echoed around them.
Hundreds of pairs of glowing eyes in the darkness turned toward Oh-jin and Isabella.
“S-Sis! Snap out of it, sis!”
Isabella's urgent voice rang out.
Eyes gleaming with madness turned to Isabella.
“Bella...”
“Y-Yes, it's me, sis!”
“Did you know? The night... brings many things to mind.”
Cassia spread her arms as if dancing and spun around.
Her black dress fluttered as she hummed a sinister tune.
After finishing her short dance, Cassia twisted her lips into a vicious smile and continued.
“I despise you.”
“...Sis?”
“It would have been better if someone like you never existed.”
Along with the words that sharply pierced her heart.
*-Sssshhhhhhaaaaaa!*
The swarming snakes shot forward like bullets.
“Isabella!”
Oh-jin stepped in front of Isabella and swung his spear.
The spear moved swiftly, following the path guided by the Nachimbanjari.
As it sliced the incoming snakes in half, a fierce blue lightning flared.
“Better if... someone like me never existed... What does that...”
“I told you! Your sister is being controlled by the Cheonma right now!”
“But...”
“Snap out of it!”
Oh-jin yelled at Isabella, who was still lost in confusion.
“If this continues, your sister will have to live as the Cheonma's puppet forever!”
“……”
Did his urgent cry reach her?
“...I'll try to break through that shadow wall, Mr. Oh-jin. Please buy me some time.”
*Smack!*
Isabella slapped both her cheeks and spoke in a composed voice.
Oh-jin nodded and gripped his spear.
Sssshhhhhhaaaaa!
The snakes surged forward with a ghastly hiss.
'Exceed.'
Oh-jin swung the spear, blazing with blue lightning, at the approaching snakes.
And then.
*Crunch! Crack!*
“...You've got to be kidding me.”
Dozens of snakes swarmed together and crushed the blade of the Dantalion.
The spearhead was crumpled miserably, like a piece of paper.
Oh-jin reverted the spear back to its folding knife form and stretched his arms forward.
'Poknoe!'
*Fzzt!*
The blue lightning created a powerful explosion, but it only managed to repel a few of the snakes at the front.
It couldn't stop the tidal wave of snakes.
'Dammit!'
He urgently kicked off the ground and reached up.
*Thwip!*
He fired a wire shooter at a nearby gyro drop ride, launching himself into the air.
But that too was only for a moment.
In an instant, snakes coiled around his waist and violently dragged him back to the ground.
“Kugh!”
*Crash!*
A groan escaped Oh-jin's lips as he fell from dozens of meters up.
Dozens of snakes swarmed over Oh-jin's fallen body.
“Get off me, you bastards!”
*Fzzt-zzzt!*
Engulfing his entire body in blue lightning to momentarily halt the snakes, Oh-jin quickly escaped their grasp.
'Fighting the snakes is pointless.'
He had to attack the main body.
Oh-jin used Charge to condense his lightning and turned toward where Cassia had been standing.
“What?”
Cassia, who had been there just a moment ago, had vanished.
An ominous premonition ran down his spine.
“Isabel—”
He tried to call out to Isabella urgently, but.
“I'm right here, Lord Cheonma.”
The slick sensation on his skin.
Cassia had somehow appeared behind him and was gently embracing him from the back.
Oh-jin's expression hardened.
Finding his reaction amusing, Cassia let out a giggle and extended her long tongue to lick the nape of his neck.
“...Cassia.”
Oh-jin swallowed dryly and turned his head.
Ghastly emerald eyes were staring at him.
“I am the master you must follow and serve.”
He said in the calmest voice he could muster.
For a moment, he felt Cassia's body flinch.
'Did it work?'
Just as Oh-jin gulped and tried to turn around.
A sinister voice echoed in his ear.
“Liar.”
*CRACK!*
Oh-jin's right arm was ripped from its socket.