Chapter 232: Ruin (2)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 232: Ruin (2)
Listening to the sound of the rain that had begun to pour, Seolrang stared blankly at Lime.
Lime’s expression remained unchanged.
As she looked back at Seolrang, biting her lip anxiously, there wasn't a hint of a lie to be found on her face.
Anxiety.
That was the only thing Seolrang could read from Lime’s expression.
Seolrang suddenly thought of all the pranks Lime had played on her until now.
She was usually quite the trickster, after all.
However, never once.
Never once had she played a prank this cruel.
But what if she was using that very fact to pull one over on her?
Seolrang had heard that Lime could be quite mischievous with people other than herself.
Once her thoughts reached that point, Seolrang recalled the things she had done wrong to Lime recently.
Was it because she had snatched and eaten the dessert Lime had happily bought on their way back from Ashtalon?
Or perhaps it was because she had broken Lime’s favorite plate.
…Come to think of it, she had committed enough slights against her that it wouldn't be strange for Lime to pull a prank like this.
Feeling a slight pang of guilt, Seolrang let a smile spread across her lips.
The sentences aligned themselves in her mind.
It was a joke.
This was just Lime’s prank.
A prank.
Yes, a prank.
Because she had been the one to mess up first.
Lime, unable to take it anymore, was getting her revenge with a joke like this.
That had to be it.
Except.
“Hey—stop joking around, Lime—”
The expression on Lime’s face as she played this 'joke' was far too realistic.
“Hey—what are you... talking about?”
Seolrang’s voice trembled involuntarily at the end of her sentence.
Lime remained silent.
Seeing that, Seolrang reacted even more energetically.
“I know I’ve been a bit much lately, but this kind of joke is way too mean, don't you think?”
Lime was still silent.
“Right? Lime? If you want, I’ll buy you back that dessert I ate, okay?!”
Seolrang shouted, forcing a brighter smile.
Her voice trembled even more.
But Lime still said nothing.
“…Lime, I told you, I don’t like these kinds of jokes.”
In the face of the silence that refused to break, Seolrang’s smile stiffened as she muttered lowly.
By now, Lime should have said something.
That it was a joke.
That she just wanted to tease her because Seolrang had stolen her dessert.
That was the reaction that should have come.
Because this was a prank.
But it couldn't go on any longer.
Now.
It had to come.
A reaction.
“…”
Seolrang looked at Lime.
Lime’s mouth remained tightly shut.
In Lime’s eyes, another emotion joined the anxiety.
…Upon seeing it, Seolrang shook her head instinctively, as if she couldn't understand.
There was no way.
It had to be a joke. It had to be.
Surely, it was just a very bad joke.
But.
But why.
…Why was Lime making that kind of face?
“Seolrang-nim.”
Lime called her name.
Then, her lips quivered.
Over and over.
As if the words were too heavy to speak.
And then.
She—
“Let’s go buy desserts!”
—couldn't open her mouth.
Seolrang suddenly grabbed Lime’s hand.
The corners of her mouth were curled upward.
It was a smile that anyone could see was painfully forced.
“You’re upset because of that, right? Let’s go buy some! It won’t take long! We can be back before Mentor arrives! Let’s go, quickly!”
“It’ll be fast if I carry you on my back!” Seolrang laughed cheerfully, pulling Lime toward the door.
She led Lime away as if she were running from the truth.
However.
Because the sight was so pitiful, Lime had no choice but to force the truth upon her.
“It’s not a joke, Seolrang-nim.”
As Seolrang came to a dead halt, Lime felt a heavy weight in her chest.
“…Two days ago, the merchant group traveling with the Marquis was attacked by an unidentified man. Only a few survived.”
“…”
“And among those survivors is the Marquis’s guardian knight, Evan-nim…”
Lime stopped there and closed her mouth.
It wasn't by choice.
Killing intent.
A murderous aura began to suffocate her.
“Gasp…!”
A bloodlust so sharp it felt like it could slit her throat at any moment.
It was erupting from Seolrang, forcing Lime to stop speaking.
“…Where are they?”
“Pardon?”
“The ones who did that to Mentor. Where are they?”
Lime saw it.
Seolrang’s eyes.
Eyes that held no emotion.
Eyes where not a single flicker of her usual self remained.
Eyes that looked as though something vital had completely shattered and collapsed within them.
“…”
Lime swallowed hard.
* * *
“Ugh—!”
The first to react to the horrific scene below the cliff was Penia.
She immediately turned away, falling to her knees and retching.
“…”
Line also frowned, finding it difficult to face the situation before them.
The view below the cliff was disastrous.
No, it was beyond disastrous; it was so cruel that it looked like a literal hell on earth.
Alon’s eyes scanned the area.
No matter where he looked, all he saw were corpses.
If that had been all, he might not have found it so cruel and horrific.
Alon had lived within Psychedelia for over ten years and had seen countless bodies.
The same went for Line and Penia.
They wouldn't have frowned or gagged just from seeing corpses.
In a dark fantasy world like this, encountering bodies was a common occurrence.
So what was it that brought such a nauseating sense of despair?
Alon shifted his gaze to one side.
It wasn't just corpses.
“…”
There was a mountain made of the heads of various demi-humans.
Turning his eyes elsewhere, he saw a mound formed from brutally slaughtered bodies.
Right next to it, he saw 'things' tearing and twisting the corpses in hideously cruel ways.
And when he turned his head further, he saw them—
Hunting.
There was no other word for it.
First, he saw demi-humans desperately fleeing with both arms bound.
They were of various races.
There were Elves and Beastkin Alon recognized, as well as races he had never seen before.
Regardless of age or gender, they were all running with their arms locked in restraints.
And the 'things' chasing them were humans.
'No… they aren't human.'
Alon noticed small protrusions growing from the tops of their heads.
Their overall appearance was similar to humans, but they were distinctly alien. As he watched, one of the creatures with the protrusions grabbed a beastkin.
Alon witnessed the end.
The beastkin’s stomach was pierced by numerous spears.
The victim let out a scream of agony so intense that death would have been a mercy.
The creatures were laughing at the sight.
As if they were enjoying themselves.
Without a hint of hesitation, they shoved the spear shafts deeper into the beastkin’s body.
They were clearly enjoying this situation as a game.
“…”
Alon’s eyes, which were always calm and indifferent, sank into a deep, dark coldness.
* * *
“Aaaaaagh—!!!!”
“Hieek!”
A horrific scream rang in her ears.
At the same time, a white-haired girl who had been running blindly tripped over a rock and slammed face-first into the ground.
Dirt filled her mouth.
It tasted foul, perhaps because it was soaked in old blood.
But before she could even register the taste or the pain, the girl scrambled up and began to run forward again.
Her ankle throbbed as if it were about to snap from the fall, but she didn't stop.
Instead, even as tears flooded her eyes, she grit her teeth and ran harder.
She knew all too well what would happen if she stopped here.
However.
Crack!
“Guh—!”
As if mocking her desperation, the girl’s damaged leg began to fail her, clicking and giving way.
Eventually.
Thwack!
“Aaaaaagh!”
The girl tumbled to the ground as a horrific pain bloomed in her thigh.
An excruciating agony washed over her entire body.
Her mind was seized by a single thought: It hurts.
“Uuugh—! Ugh—!”
Even so, the girl somehow dug her hands into the dirt, clawing at the ground to drag her body forward.
She had to run.
She had to escape.
She had to get out of this situation somehow.
She had to get out and save her family—
Her mother.
Her father.
Her friends—
“Ugh!”
Enduring the terrible pain, she dragged herself forward.
The metallic scent of blood filled her mouth.
The nauseating stench rising from the soil—soil that had claimed who knows how many lives—tortured her.
But.
“You’re running harder than I expected.”
“Ugh—!”
Unfortunately, the girl’s flight ended there.
A man, who had thrust a spear into her thigh, grabbed her white hair with a rough hand.
Her hair was stained with bloody mud.
The girl let out a faint groan as she was yanked up by her hair.
Looking at her helpless form, the man’s lips curled into a sneer.
And then.
“Kyaaaaaaaaagh—!!!”
As if it were nothing, he twisted the spear embedded in her thigh.
The girl thrashed violently, screaming.
The man’s mockery only deepened at her reaction.
“Yes, yes, scream more. Let your screams echo through the world to send fear to Lord Baarma. You can do that, can't you? Hmm?”
He pushed the spear even deeper into her thigh.
Eventually.
“Ugh… huff…”
The girl’s body went limp after the convulsions.
The man didn't hesitate to pull the spear out of her mangled thigh—
“O Baarma, I offer this to you.”
With a bright smile, he raised the spear toward the sky.
His crazed eyes gleamed as he looked at the heart of the fallen, bleeding girl.
And then.
A look of hollow despair settled on the young girl’s face, framed by her disheveled hair.
She had realized it.
That no matter how much she struggled, she couldn't escape.
She realized the fact that she was going to die here.
Drip—
A single tear escaped her eye and rolled down her cheek.
Countless fragments of her life began to flash before her eyes like a revolving lantern.
The faces of her parents,
The face of her younger sibling,
The faces of her friends,
The people of her village—
The memories she shared with them passed by like a dream.
The will that had been shining clearly in her eyes, even in this horrific situation, began to slowly flicker out.
As the end approached, the man’s spear, accompanied by a heavy sneer, began to fall to pierce her heart.
Crackle—!
A very small, incredibly faint sound rang in her ears.
“…Ah?”
She realized two things.
One was that her body was being held by someone.
And the other—
“Are you alright?”
That someone.
A man with an expressionless face had saved her.
“Penia, can you treat her?”
“I’m not a specialist in that area, but I can manage first aid.”
The man, Alon, handed over the white-haired girl and immediately turned around.
At that moment.
Zap, crackle—!!!!
Two horns made of lightning began to grow from his head.
“…Ah.”
The sight of the man’s back was burned into the girl’s eyes.
The back of a god, wreathed in lightning.