Chapter 391: Quickening (6)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 391: Quickening (6)
“…What did you say?”
“Didn’t you hear me? I said I want to hear why you’re called the ‘Star Eater.’”
Alon fell silent for a moment.
He hadn’t expected to hear that title in this situation.
“What are you talking about?”
Karan frowned briefly at Alon’s reflexive question.
“Well—if you don’t feel like telling me, then forget it. I only asked out of curiosity anyway.”
Karan backed off.
It wasn’t that Alon didn’t want to tell him; he genuinely didn’t know.
Swallowing those words, Alon asked Karan instead.
“…Why did you do all this?”
“All this?”
“Yes.”
Karan let out a mocking laugh, as if he found the question amusing.
“What exactly do you mean by ‘all this’? My reason for engaging in this war of attrition instead of just summoning their subordinates here? Or my reason for trying to kill that rat? Or perhaps—”
He chuckled.
“My reason for killing that sack of skin down there?”
Alon looked into Karan’s eyes.
They were eyes consumed by a hint of madness, looking down as if they stood above the world itself.
He met that gaze, which radiated a strange, unpleasant light.
“All of it.”
“All of it? You certainly have a lot of questions. But well—it’s not like I can’t tell you.”
Karan continued his answer nonchalantly.
“First, the reason I killed that sack of skin was to offer him as a tribute to that person. At the very least, among the ordinary humans around me, he was the most exalted existence.”
“…Even though he was your father?”
“Father, you say—”
Karan muttered the word several times as if savoring it, then nodded.
“Certainly, that is true. He was my father. But that doesn’t matter much. He was a man who lacked even the ability to distinguish what was truly important.”
“…What does that mean?”
“Exactly what it sounds like. He wasn’t someone who could tell what mattered. I simply offered up such a useless man as a sacrifice. This kingdom deserves to be ruled by someone far more fitting. For instance—that person.”
As Karan’s lips curled into a smirk, Alon realized something clearly.
‘…His words are full of contradictions.’
At first glance, one might let it slide without much thought, but listening closely, it was difficult to understand.
In the first place, Karan’s words could hardly be considered an answer to Alon’s question.
What he had spat out was nothing more than aimless, negative resentment toward Karmakeses III.
And it was a resentment riddled with contradictions.
Yet, even within that, it wasn’t difficult for Alon to grasp why Karan had turned out this way.
‘Unlike the original world, it seems the Third chose Karsem as the successor instead of Karan.’
In Psychedelia, it was Karan who became king.
It was only natural. While Karan wasn’t an outstanding individual, he was a dozens—perhaps hundreds—of times better choice than the delinquent Karsem.
But the situation was different now.
The reformed Karsem had become a far better person than Karan.………………
“…….”
Suddenly, as he was about to follow that train of thought deeper, Alon instinctively stopped his thinking and looked at Karan.
“What is your reason for trying to kill Karsem?”
“No particular reason. I just hate the sight of him. That’s all.”
“I heard you intended to use him as a sacrifice.”
“I see that rat told you that much.”
Karan shrugged as if it were of no consequence.
“Still, among humans, he is the type to be held in high regard, so I intended to offer him up.”
“Even though he’s your own flesh and blood?”
“Don’t make me repeat myself. As I said, that isn’t what’s important. Now, is that the last question?”
“I don’t need an answer to that one; I already know. It’s likely because of faith.”
“……Ho?”
A spark of interest flickered in Karan’s expression.
“Am I wrong?”
“No, you’re exactly right. You really are something. I suppose you weren’t called a Living God for nothing before the Great Ones descended.”
Alon watched Karan smirk with amusement, then spoke after a moment of silence.
“It seems you haven’t gathered enough power to fully control it yet. Or more precisely, even though you’ve manifested, you aren’t at the level where you can wield that power.”
“…….”
In an instant, the laughter vanished from Karan’s face.
Confirming that reaction, Alon continued.
“That’s why you’re trying to seize this city through terror to gain faith. You’ve chosen to rule through fear to get results quickly, rather than waiting for faith to grow naturally.”
“…….”
“Well? Am I wrong?”
Karan burst into a hollow laugh.
“…I had a hunch, but you know even more than I thought.”
Karan muttered under his breath.
In truth, Alon didn’t actually know that much detail regarding Divine Blood.
In other words, the words he had thrown at Karan were nothing more than a bluff.
Having easily surrendered the information, Karan replied without even realizing he had been tricked.
“But it’s meaningless now. That person is destined to have this city in his hands.”
Karan grinned and stomped his foot.
Woooooom—!
Countless magic circles erupted simultaneously.
“Why? Did you really think I’d just stand here and take it without a word?”
As Alon looked down, slightly surprised, Karan’s expression grew even more despicable.
“This is—”
“A summoning circle. In just a few moments, that person’s creations will pour endlessly into this kingdom. Thank you for stalling for time like this.”
“…….”
“Don’t look at me like that. Surely you didn’t think I was stupid enough to just obediently answer your questions?”
Thump—! Rumble—!
Inside the royal castle, which began to shake as if it would collapse at any moment.
“You’ll be dead soon, so I’ll say my goodbyes now. Farewell.”
A mocking sneer fell from his lips.
Alon asked Karan.
“What do you gain by going this far?”
“What do I gain? Isn’t it obvious! I shall rule this world as that person’s Apostle!”
Hearing the answer filled with ecstasy, Alon couldn’t help but let out a dry laugh behind his expressionless face.
He had a general idea, but hearing those words made the puzzle pieces click perfectly into place.
He saw exactly what Karan was mistaken about.
Therefore.
“Two things. Let me tell you what you don’t know.”
Amidst the magic circles that were growing brighter, Alon spoke calmly.
“First, the one you are trying to manifest has already manifested. He was simply using your jealousy to accumulate ‘faith’ more easily.”
“……What?”
“In short, you’ve been played.”
“What does that—”
Karan’s brow furrowed in an instant.
He tried to say something.
But Alon didn’t stop speaking.
“And second.”
—He formed a seal.
“—You aren’t the only one stalling for time.”
“!”
Behind Alon, as if he had been waiting, Blackie revealed himself.
Hand Ice Seal, Six Knots
Six ice seals were created.
* * *
“Sigh, fuck me…”
The third Babayaga of the Colony, the man known as the Fire Ghost.
Akaron let out a heavy sigh and spat out a curse from the top of a tower overlooking the Colony’s royal castle.
‘Is this really going to shit?’
Akaron looked around the interior of the tower.
A total of eight unconscious soldiers.
He hadn’t killed them, of course, but he had made sure they wouldn’t be waking up for at least a day. Akaron scratched his head as he looked at them.
Naturally, this disastrous situation inside the tower wasn’t something he had wanted to cause.
The reason he had committed such an act was entirely due to the secret meeting held yesterday at dawn.
The meeting, held in secret by Seolrang, the Golden Flash—known as the strongest among the current Babayagas.
It had forcibly shoved truths into Akaron’s head that he really didn’t want to know.
The truth that Karmakeses III had been murdered.
And that the 1st Prince, Karan, had sided with the monsters that had been incessantly attacking the Colony.
“Why are you sighing like that? Is the job done?”
As Akaron was sighing, a voice suddenly drifted over.
However, as if he had already known of the visitor, he turned around without much surprise and answered.
“It’s already finished, so don’t you worry.”
Akaron’s gaze landed on a middle-aged man.
A fellow Babayaga.
The man known by the alias ‘Gallows,’ Kazan.
“Then why are you still here instead of evacuating to the Colosseum? Did you forget the plan?”
At Kazan’s rebuke, Akaron frowned.
“Forget what? I’m here precisely because I haven’t forgotten.”
“Hmm—I suppose so.”
“What about you? Is your work all finished?”
“Yes. I’ve sent all the soldiers I knocked out from Towers 1 through 8 to the Colosseum. The Golden Flash is handling the outer castle, so there shouldn’t be any problems there.”
“And the citizens?”
“Almost all of them have gathered at the Colosseum.”
At Kazan’s words, Akaron let out an exclamation that was hard to distinguish between a sneer and a compliment.
“Well, aren’t we impressive? Moving exactly according to the soldiers’ patrol routes from dawn till afternoon so no reports reach the castle—step by step by step. A regular miracle strategist, aren’t you? How did you come up with a plan like this?”
“It wasn’t the Golden Flash; it seems her vice-guild master… no, her secretary drew it up.”
The reason they—and the A-rank fighters along with them—were moving all over the interior of the Colony.
It was all because of the plan.
Yesterday at dawn, following 2nd Prince Karsem’s revelation, Lime, the Golden Flash’s secretary, had proposed a strategy.
In preparation for the battle that would erupt in the city today, they followed the plan to gather the citizens at the Colosseum, where they would be easier to protect.
Because of that, the Babayagas and the fighters had been dealing with the soldiers since the crack of dawn, timed perfectly so that they wouldn’t suspect anything was amiss.
“Really—if we were going to do all this, we should’ve just run away together—”
“Structurally, the moment the outer castle is opened, a report will inevitably be made. This was more rational.”
“Ha—do you think I’m saying this because I care about what’s rational?”
“……You seem displeased.”
“Then are you pleased with this? The royal castle betrays us, and instead of running, we’re stuck here doing this?”
“Then run.”
“…….”
Akaron fell silent at Kazan’s blunt reply.
Just as Kazan said, Akaron had wanted to leave the Colony the moment he heard the 1st Prince had turned traitor.
Unfortunately, there was only one reason he couldn’t.
Not two, just one.
Namely.
‘If you run, I’ll destroy you.’
Because the Golden Flash had said that to everyone with a smile.
Furthermore, the Golden Flash was someone who always kept her word.
And he had been feeling it more acutely than ever lately—that she was stronger than everyone gathered here combined.
“You think I’m doing this because I don’t want to run? You want to run too.”
“That’s true.”
“……How about we just run together right now?”
“I’ll pass on that.”
“Why?”
“Because I wouldn’t be able to die honorably.”
“……Since when did you care about something as pathetic as honor?”
Akaron asked, dumbfounded.
But Kazan shook his head.
“Dying honorably.”
“?”
“Or crawling like a dog before getting my head smashed against a ravine and dying miserably.”
“……The former is better, I guess.”
“Right?”
Letting out a hollow laugh, Akaron exhaled a long sigh and scratched his head.
“But honestly—is this really okay?”
“What now?”
Kazan, who was picking up the unconscious soldiers one by one, frowned, but Akaron asked back as if he didn’t care.
“No, I mean, really. No matter how much that… what was his name? Alon or whatever came, can he really do anything about those monster bastards?”
“……Hmm. I heard he’s stronger than the Golden Flash, so won’t it work out somehow?”
“No, think about it. They say the monsters appearing today aren’t just in the hundreds. Even if he’s stronger than the Golden Flash, it’ll be tough, won’t it?”
Akaron, his face deeply scowling—
“In my opinion, no matter how I look at it, this is a fool’s errand. No matter how much stronger he is than the Golden Flash, or if he’s a god or whatever, if those crazy monster bastards invade as an army—!?”
—He couldn’t finish his sentence.
It was because of a chilling energy that suddenly erupted from the royal castle.
That wasn’t all.
KABOOOOM—!!!!
A massive explosion followed, bursting from the castle.
Startled, the two of them instantly turned their gaze toward the royal castle.
And soon.
“Holy shit.”
“……Crazy—”
They each spat out a curse.
They had no choice.
As the royal castle blew apart, what began to fall from the sky was—
“We’re fucked.”
“Sigh—”
It was a truly staggering number of Unique Entities.
“Ah, fuck.”
Disgusting-looking monsters that looked like a cross between a spider and a predator.
Their more than eight legs flailed violently in the air with a sickening clack-clack-clack sound.
Their spider-like eyes and mouths moved in a bone-chilling manner.
And the foul venom dripping from each of those legs was painting the sky of the Colony.
“……I should’ve just died pathetically.”
“I’m thinking the same thing.”
There were simply too many of them.
Akaron, who had been about to take a combat stance, let the strength drain from his body and gave a hollow smile.
Kazan likewise closed his eyes, letting go of the soldiers as if he had given up.
Just as they were preparing for the end.
“……Huh?”
“?”
Akaron and Kazan felt something strange.
By all rights, the Unique Entities should have fallen long ago and caused a commotion.
Yet, the surroundings were silent.
It was a highly suspicious situation.
Feeling puzzled, Akaron cautiously looked up at the sky, and what he witnessed was—
“…….”
A tree.
A tree so massive it covered the area near the Colony’s royal castle.
Spreading out with hundreds, perhaps thousands, of Unique Entities skewered like fruit.
A gargantuan Black Wood that seemed to have torn the very sky into thousands of shreds with its dark branches.
““……Ah?””
It stood spread out over the heads of the two Babayagas like a fortress.