Chapter 112
Chapter 112
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 112
Chapter Title: Human Tenacity (1)
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Apostate, Gletus.
She recalls events from long ago. Events from an unimaginably distant past now called ancient history.
Glerea.
‘Glerea, Bel Armias.’
There was a time when she was called by such a name.
She received the prayers of many. She acted as the proxy for a lofty being's will. It was a monotonous life, but now it has become a fond memory.
-Glerea.
Back then, there was always a mage by her side. He was wise. A man whose ash-gray hair suited him perfectly.
-You caused another mess, Glerea.
-...Isn't that a bit harsh?
-Your messes happen every damn day. Did you even read the medical texts I gave you? When using healing magic, you have to set the bones first, I told you.
-But it's hard.
-You'll drive me crazy. Come on. It'll be faster if I teach you myself.
He grumbled, but he always took care of her.
-Thank you, Armiel.
-Call me by name. I don't like that baptismal name much.
-But I prefer this one.
When everyone saw her as something other than human, he treated her as an equal. Glerea liked that gaze. She liked his curt, offhand words.
Good times pass quickly.
Countless events unfolded.
The light she thought would never fade vanished forever. The stars fell silent. Everything she knew crumbled. The mage abandoned it all, and the knight discarded his pride.
At the end of ruin, Glerea became Gletus.
The apostate blinks. The flowing time returns to the present. A voice grinding teeth echoes in her ears.
“You, right now...”
Ash-gray hair sways before her eyes.
Beyond the shaking locks, blue eyes flash. She sees emotions roiling within those eyes.
‘Ah.’
A smile spreads across Gletus's lips.
“What will you do, Gray?”
She gazes at the present through memories of the past.
The child resembling the first Gray is endearing. So endearing that she wants to claim her right then and there.
“To me.”
She reaches out and strokes the child's cheek.
“What will you do to me?”
The Gray's face twists.
Even that expression resembles the man from her memories, and Gletus lets out a laugh.
Crack.
The forged contract binds her body. Cracks form in her flesh. The granted time is not long. Even knowing this, Gletus extends her arm.
Ah.
Please, just a little more.
Just a little more time to reminisce about the past.
2.
Next Hero, Chloe.
Rescuing her wasn't difficult. They found traces of their movement in the underground aqueducts. Even the slightest trace meant they couldn't escape Kalt's pursuit.
‘Thanks to the Black Mage Tower Lord.’
The Black Mage Tower Lord, who had been investigating voluntarily, discovered the traces. Kalt, encountering him in the underground aqueducts, carried out the mission together.
The Black Mage Tower Lord was a capable mage.
The task was handled in an instant. Protecting Chloe's identity didn't take much time.
“Escort her to the capital.”
After issuing orders to the remaining Hounds, Kalt immediately turned his steps. He began running in the opposite direction from the other Hounds.
‘I need to hurry back.’
His heart raced for no reason.
Only ominous thoughts filled his mind. Since it wasn't far from Cardinac, Kalt could return quickly.
And the moment he returned to Cardinac.
Kalt sensed something was wrong.
“......”
The knights who should be standing guard with spear-swords stare blankly in one direction. Kalt followed their gazes.
Thud, thump.
Their eyes were fixed on the city walls.
Boom!
With a deafening roar, the walls crumble. The walls that had protected Cardinac for over a century collapse. Chunks of stone tumble down.
Thud.
The ground shakes.
Dust rises.
“...Ah.”
“Aah...”
The knights sigh powerlessly. Even as the walls of the city they must protect crumble, there's nothing they can do.
“......”
Kalt falls silent too.
The others can't see it. But Kalt, who has barely stepped into the realm of superhumans, can.
He sees the rampaging ash-gray mage.
And the disaster facing her.
Kalt's eyes quickly read the battlefield. Having supported Raniel up close, he knows her well. Analyzing the situation is easy.
‘...No good.’
He reaches a conclusion.
‘At this rate, Senior will lose.’
One apostate alone might be manageable.
But the opponent isn't just one apostate. Something inexplicable guards the apostate's side. It's driving Raniel into a corner.
Grind.
Kalt grits his teeth.
He can't go there. He doesn't even think he'd be of help. It's a battle in a realm far beyond him.
Then.
“Hound. Didn't you hear me?”
A voice comes from behind.
Kalt whips his head around.
“...Black Mage Tower Lord?”
“Finally listening. You ran off so fast... I broke a sweat chasing you.”
Black Mage Tower Lord, Yetual.
He continued, catching his breath.
“I heard Belnoa was here. So I came to say I'd join the rescue, but...”
He let out a hollow laugh and glanced at the walls.
“Seems like that's not the situation.”
His eyes, fixed on the walls, trembled faintly. Yetual is a mage. As a mage, he can see the mana overflowing from the walls.
Yetual narrowed his eyes.
He widened his view to survey the walls.
‘...Insane.’
Yetual swallowed dryly.
‘What the hell is that?’
And why is Professor Lania there? What is that ominous being she's facing?
‘...I know what it is.’
He knows, but he can't believe it.
Yetual spoke in a trembling voice.
“Lania van Trias.”
His gaze turned to Kalt.
“If my eyes aren't deceiving me, what she's facing...”
He said it.
“Isn't that the apostate, Gletus?”
He knew she was strong.
But facing an apostate alone... that's an entirely different dimension. The word "strong" doesn't even cover it.
“No way.”
Yetual voiced the suspicion that arose, the possibility he'd considered countless times.
“That girl is Gray...”
“Black Mage Tower Lord.”
Kalt's voice cuts off Yetual's words. Kalt's eyes fix straight on Yetual. Those eyes resemble Raniel's, fighting far away.
“One request, please.”
Eyes seizing possibility.
The knight who had supported the ash-gray mage closest to her had unknowingly come to resemble her.
He doesn't let go of the grasped possibility.
Even if it means burning his own body.
“Lend that to me.”
Kalt pointed at something.
Yetual blinked. It didn't take long to understand.
“...You're serious?”
“Yes.”
“Where you'll use it... is obvious. Planning to jump in there?”
“Yes.”
“I don't recommend it.”
Kalt touched his sword hilt and said,
“Still, we have to do something.”
3.
Crack!
With the impact, her body floated up. Gletus's body stopped after smashing the battlement. No pain. No damage. Gletus raised her head.
Thud.
Raniel kicks off the ground.
Facing the fist closing in, Gletus doesn't blink. She just smiles.
Slash.
Kuntel swings his sword. The sharp sword strike slices through the flying stone debris smoothly. The blade aims for Raniel's nape.
Splat.
Raniel twists her body to block the sword.
She doesn't fully block it. Blood sprays from Raniel's forearm. Wounds multiply.
It had been like that all along.
No wounds marred Gletus's body. In contrast, wounds only accumulated on Raniel's.
Sliced, bitten, broken.
Yet she doesn't stop. Her eyes don't waver. The eyes filled with will are resolute.
‘She keeps charging in.’
Gletus looked at Raniel.
In the eyes of one who had lived nearly a millennium, the girl's life was but a fleeting moment.
Human life is short.
Efemerally short, it passes in the blink of an eye.
What will they leave in that brief time?
Does a momentary life have meaning?
Since ancient times, countless races have thought this of humans. Elves, living near eternity, mocked them. Demons ridiculed their weakness.
Humans lived amid mockery and scorn.
But Gletus knows.
‘Always, the stars choose humans.’
Some burn their short lives fiercely.
Some gladly offer their lives for a greater cause. Some hone their lives for a single purpose.
Their momentary lives shine brilliantly.
“Ah.”
The woman who lost her light before that brilliance groans.
“So beautiful.”
The girl leaps, vomiting blood.
Blood sprays everywhere with her every movement. She resists endlessly. She moves her body. None of it is meaningless.
Crush!
Raniel's fist smashes Kuntel's arm. The rotting, decayed arm crumbles easily.
Bam bam bam bam!
Dozens of heavy blows pour down. Her forearm glows brightly. Kuntel's body begins to collapse under the barrage of spells with flashing light.
Squelch.
Finally, Kuntel loses one eye.
Even while facing the swarming demonic beasts and Kuntel simultaneously, Raniel doesn't yield an inch. She overwhelms them.
‘No matter how weakened...’
The Kuntel created by the apostate is a masterpiece.
And Raniel overwhelms it.
Splash.
Blood scatters.
Raniel's bloodshot eyes turn to Gletus. Gletus meets them.
Intense gaze.
Eyes filled with tenacity.
And eyes resembling the one from her memories.
“...Aha.”
Gletus smiles in ecstasy.
Raniel's body shines with starlight. It's different from the starlight of the blessed.
‘Starlight born from burning life.’
Light created by burning what she has.
The brief life flares, a momentary flash.
Beautiful because it's but an instant.
Drip, drip drip drip!
Raniel tears off Kuntel's arm.
She snaps the fingers gripping the sword, kicks the body away. Into the gap created, she thrusts her foot.
Thud!
As she stamps the ground, bricks fly up.
As she steps forward with force, blood pours from her wounds.
Drip drip.
It's not just blood pouring.
Ash scatters everywhere, igniting in an instant. The heat wave accompanying the flash erases the demonic beasts.
“Ah.”
Gletus lets out an exclamation.
The girl reaches through the heat. That hand targets Gletus's arm connected to the otherworld.
It truly reaches.
The protective demonic beast burns away.
For a moment, Gletus senses her end.