Chapter 23
Chapter 23
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Translator: crow
Chapter Title: False Thunder Deification
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As Enoch returned home, Leonne came rushing out the door.
She must have been preparing dinner, as she held a ladle in one hand, wearing casual clothes with an apron tied around her waist.
“Enoch! You're back? Tired? Want to eat first?”
“I'll wash up.”
“Oh, wanna wash together after so long?”
“…No.”
Boom—! Despair clouded Leonne's face.
She grumbled while forcing a cracked smile.
“You used to like washing together.”
“…….”
Enoch just smacked his lips a few times before heading inside without another word.
Left alone, Leonne buried her face in her hands and wailed.
“Undine…. Enoch…, Enoch must be going through puberty…!”
[To think my contractor is such a punk….]
Even Undine clicked her tongue before departing.
Leonne pouted her lips.
*
“How was today?”
“Eh, same as always.”
Enoch carefully stuffed filling into a broad leaf before handing it to Leonne.
“Here.”
“Wow, you made it so well!”
“Yeah.”
“You're giving it to me? Ahh~.”
She opened her mouth wide, and in went the wrap.
Leonne chewed it contentedly, then out of habit, hoisted Enoch up.
And plopped him gently onto her lap.
“…….”
Enoch's face soured as he hopped right off her lap and sat in a chair.
“Oh right, you said you didn't like it now…?”
Leonne bowed her head dejectedly.
Enoch flinched at the sight, seeming to wrestle with some intense inner conflict, but in the end, he quietly continued eating.
“Hing….”
Leonne poked at her food, making a show of being upset, then blurted out.
“Come to think of it, we might run into the lord of the forest soon.”
“Lord?”
“Yeah.”
Leonne glanced up slyly.
Her eyes met Enoch's, who had been staring plainly at her.
Pout. Leonne spread her arms wide.
“I'll tell you if you give me a big hug, Enoch.”
“…….”
Enoch rolled his eyes before standing from his seat.
Leonne shot up too.
How had he grown so much already.
Now nearly as tall as Leonne, Enoch pulled her into a tight embrace.
“Hehe.”
“…Hugging isn't so bad.”
“That's more like it.”
Before, Enoch had fit perfectly into Leonne's arms, but now it was Leonne nestling into his.
If he grew just a bit more, Leonne might fit perfectly into his?
“The lord of the forest is… well… exactly that. The lord of the forest. I'm just a tenant.”
Leonne spoke while pressing down firmly on Enoch's head.
Enoch resisted, but who was Leonne?
Unable to overcome the Sword Saint of a Thousand Years' strength, Enoch's head buried into her chest.
“Mmph….”
“Hehe.”
What was it she said.
This height felt familiar and perfect for hugging?
And something about this being the right way to hug for the full effect.
But Enoch wasn't thrilled.
It still felt like she saw him as a kid.
Of course, he liked it too.
Her scent enveloped him thickly, bringing a languid comfort that melted his whole body.
But lately, it felt a bit off.
His temperature rose a little, and various parts just felt uncomfortable.
Anyway, it was awkward.
Tap tap tap—!
Enoch patted Leonne's shoulder, and she let go with a satisfied hum.
Enoch quickly put distance between them, staying on guard.
He swiftly sat back in his chair too.
“Anyway, when we meet the lord of the forest…….”
He didn't remember much of that conversation.
*
Even now at fifteen, Enoch's daily routine hadn't changed much.
Training, rest, occasional outings, playing with Leonne, meals, sleep.
That was it.
He had no complaints.
Well, a few, but not about the routine.
They were about Leonne, or rather himself.
“Hm.”
Enoch quietly slipped out of bed.
Sleep just wouldn't come.
“…Enoch?”
Leonne, sleeping beside him, cracked her eyes open groggily.
She eyed him as if asking where he was going, but Enoch just tapped her forehead.
“Just for a bit.”
“Mmm….”
“Sleep more.”
And her eyes drifted shut again.
Enoch stepped outside and let out a sigh.
“Haa….”
Something was off.
Lately, being near Leonne felt strange.
Body and mind both.
It was an indescribable weirdness that left him suffering alone for no reason.
Crackle—
Maybe a run would help. Enoch's figure cut through the darkness.
He crossed the forest on silent feet until he felt he'd gone far enough.
Boom—!
With a thunderclap, Enoch leaped sky-high and drew in a deep breath.
“Suu….”
The cold night air filled his lungs.
Opening his eyes, stars close enough to touch blanketed the sky.
A half-moon tonight.
Not quite full, it resembled Leonne's beaming smile.
Pulled by gravity, Enoch flipped in midair.
The fierce wind rushing from below cooled the heat in his body somewhat.
Thud—
Landing on a thin branch high in a tree, Enoch scanned his surroundings.
One leap had taken him deep into the forest.
Mysterious blue lights floated lazily between the trees.
Squinting, he saw tiny faces on them—eyes, noses, mouths.
Monsters?
He'd never ventured this deep at night, so who knew.
Enoch decided to ignore them and leaped from tree to tree, racing through the forest.
The scenery blurred past, but to Enoch, even that felt too slow.
Impatience gnawed at him.
He could go faster, but he couldn't.
His realm was still far from catching Leonne.
He wasn't as strong as her.
Time meant power.
To catch up, did he have to wait nearly a thousand years?
No, by then Leonne would have pulled even further ahead.
Purple lightning crackled across Enoch's body amid his boiling frustration.
Boom—! Irritated kicks shattered several trees.
Under the faint moonlight filtering through the branches, bluish lights swirled around him amid the dust cloud.
That annoyed him too, so Enoch fired a thin bolt of lightning.
Rumble—!
Thunder roared as the bolt tore through the air.
The blue lights dodged leisurely, circling mockingly in place.
“Those things….”
Heat surged through him.
Faint currents rose like smoke from his entire body.
He swung his claws as if rending the air, and the dark forest flashed briefly purple.
──────────────!!!
Five claw-marks of lightning scarred the empty air.
Yet they still missed the blue lights.
[Kyuu…?]
Startled by the sudden surge of power, Eri poked her head out from his chest.
Enoch shoved Eri back inside and gathered current at his toes.
The blue lights were fleeing.
Rumble—!
Violet lightning streaked through the midnight forest.
*
Chasing the blue lights, Enoch suddenly looked around and sensed something amiss.
“The mana…”
It was unnaturally calm.
Deep forest mana usually churned chaotically, but here it flowed still as a spring.
The trees were strange too.
Straight and verdant like those basking in warm sunlight, not the gloomy deep-forest sort.
Enoch instinctively went on guard.
A sudden environmental shift meant a sudden incident.
Who knew what might spring out.
Lightning swirled wildly in his two dantians.
[Hmm. So it's you.]
A voice.
Enoch reacted instantly, gathering power and unleashing a full-force strike.
Krzzzzt────────!!!!
Violet lightning ravaged the forest area.
At the same time, a voice brimming with bafflement echoed.
[…No, they said you were a gentle, cute kid.]
Soon, a figure appeared.
“A fox?”
It wasn't that large.
Standing on four legs, its shoulder height reached Enoch's solar plexus—big for a fox, but ambiguously so.
The notable thing: nine tails instead of one.
The blue lights he'd chased bounced around it, which was a bit odd too.
But
more immense, form, the entire forest bowed, presence, awe, terror, worship, as it should be, only, bow your head and seek mercy as all creation's truth scorches your mind and the present manifestation's grandeur overwhelms…
[Oh dear. Sharp eyes.]
Enoch shook off his dazed mind and leaped back.
His pupils contracted sharply.
Tremors leaked through his ragged breaths.
The fox smiled at the wary Enoch.
[I heard you had talent, but not to this degree. To think you'd glimpse even a fragment of me.]
Words wouldn't stick in his head.
His instincts thrashed wildly, spurred by primal fear.
Limbs trembled out of control, cold sweat soaking his body.
He'd die like this.
The foe's power surpassed Leonne's.
Facing something ineffable, thoughts snapping like twigs—this was pure danger.
Judging so, Enoch detonated lightning in his two dantians.
Boom—!
Exploding lightning raced through his body.
Mana, then even blood, all transmuted to lightning, surging to his head and spilling outward.
His black eyes turned violet.
Overflowing lightning streamed from his eyes, melting into the air to form a ring above his head.
Kiiiiing─────────!!!!
The ring spun.
Like an angel's halo encircling his head, it was a kind of circle.
If a mage's circle replaced the middle dantian, Enoch's replaced the upper dantian.
In trade, his body began dispersing into currents.
Slowly from fingertips, toes, hair tips.
A technique he'd never shown Leonne, but he had to use it or die.
Heeding instinct's warning, Enoch ramped up his authority's output.
[Oh ho, and you haven't even lived a century.]
Crackle—! Excess lightning took form.
Lightning jutting from his back became wings, and his dwarven-gauntleted hands sprouted lightning claws.
A forced unification of the three dantians.
Mimicking the demigod realm he'd only heard of, but Enoch could feel it.
This fell short of the foe's toe.
But even so.
[…I'll kill you.]
Kill, win, go back.
If he couldn't reach, he'd drag it down and crush it.
Out of resentment, longing to see her, to hug once more, if he could, to convey it.
Ending like this was unacceptable.
…So higher, even higher.
Secret Art - False Thunder Deification
It drew the form of a false god.
Amid the erupting violet lightning, Enoch's revealed form was the incarnation of thunder itself.
Seeing it, the fox thought.
[No, why go this far…?]
The fox felt wronged.