Chapter 17
Chapter 17
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 17
Chapter Title: A Fleeting Authority
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Allen and Linbelle ran at full speed toward the source of the immense vibrations.
*Rumble—*
The number of bizarre decorations, twisted corpses, and chimeras gradually decreased. However, this sight only amplified the ominous feeling.
“This place is...”
Linbelle, following behind him, grew confused by the sense of déjà vu that intensified the deeper they went.
It was a place she was certain she had never seen before.
She had only come because her mother was here; it should have been her first time.
Yet, as they ventured deeper, unfamiliar scenes began to surface in her mind, leaving her thoughts in turmoil.
*'What in the world...'*
Allen, too, was confused in his own way.
The cave, which had resembled a natural cavern near the entrance, began to show signs of artificial construction around the halfway point.
The problem started there.
The deeper they went, the more traps he had never encountered before appeared.
At most, there should have been simple traps like falling iron bars or collapsing floors.
“Young Master, watch out— Kyaa!”
Allen blocked the ice spikes falling from the ceiling and pulled Linbelle back just as she was about to be teleported away.
*Crack—*
The ice spikes shattered from the shockwave Allen hastily unleashed.
Fortunately, Linbelle was pulled away just before the teleportation was complete.
“Hoo...”
Fireballs and falling ice spikes were just the beginning. Stepping on certain spots triggered sudden teleportation or swarms of venomous insects bursting from the ground.
A series of tricky traps he had never experienced before continuously harassed them.
“Young Master, more venomous insects under your feet...!”
“Thanks.”
Allen blasted the insects that were about to latch onto his skin.
Despite the many traps blocking their path, the chimeras were still nowhere to be seen.
No, to be precise.
*'Was it since we heard that vibration?'*
The chimeras that had swarmed them when they first entered the cave had gradually thinned out until, at some point, they disappeared completely.
*Rumble—*
The space rumbled once more.
As the sounds of explosions grew clearer the closer they got, Allen glanced at her face.
“It seems someone is fighting. And that someone is likely...”
...Inellia.
“...Mom.”
Allen trailed off, but Linbelle easily deduced who was fighting.
Regnol.
Besides that chimera, the only others in this cave would be Inellia and the chimera creator.
Who else could there be besides those two?
The only others would be the monsters he controlled.
As if she had come to the same conclusion, she gritted her teeth and quickened her pace. Allen silently increased his speed, breaking through the traps.
The source of the sound was now just a stone's throw away.
* * *
Inellia felt her body beginning to creak and groan.
Her original body was human. Into that body, she had transplanted the parts of various fairy species discovered in the ruins.
Perhaps it was because a race that originally had no physical form had gained one, but thanks to the bizarre adaptability she acquired, she had miraculously survived the experiment.
However.
*'How much longer can I last?'*
No...
*'Can I even reach that monster?'*
She stared at the old man before her with eyes full of disgust.
The old man watched the battle as if it were a fascinating spectacle.
*'No, I have to.'*
For Linbelle.
The haphazardly combined body parts connected into a single form as her adaptability reached its peak.
Inellia thrust a small needle forward. Held in the hand transplanted from an unknown fairy, the needle grew gigantic, piercing through the approaching chimeras.
*Shlick—*
Huge holes were punched through the bodies of the chimeras in front of her.
“Oho. Is that the left hand of a spriggan? I've only ever seen it in records... This is the first time I'm seeing it in person.”
Her second pupil glowed gold, and her other arm transformed into that of a bear and swung out.
“To think that the parts, whose original forms were barely recognizable during the experiment, would change like this...”
The swing crushed the head of a chimera approaching from behind.
“That is... the transformation ability of a pooka? It seems that's how you were able to turn human. What are its limits? The duration? The restrictions?”
Inellia shuddered at his gaze, which observed her as if she posed no threat.
*'How long can I hold out?'*
Feeling impatient as the distance between them failed to shrink, Inellia unleashed an explosive burst of strength.
She caught and snatched an axe that was coming down on her head, then split the skull of the dumbfounded monster. Minor wounds had long since healed.
Again, she crushed the head of another chimera that drew near.
“Whose blood is that? Since I don't know what was put in... it's quite hard to guess. The monstrous strength, is it from a nixie? Then the regenerative ability... a troll?”
Dver casually observed her as if solving a simple riddle.
There was no fear in his movements. He merely let out exclamations of admiration each time she displayed an ability, seemingly feeling no threat from her attacks.
Inellia bit her lip.
She had forcibly joined her body into one.
Not just patched together like a chimera or wielding transplanted parts, but truly one.
As if born with a single, complete body. Her adaptability had made all the parts one.
Ignoring all rejection, side effects, and everything else.
And yet, it wasn't enough.
The number of chimeras was decreasing. But was that a threat to him? Look at that expression. That gaze, observing her with interest.
She had killed countless chimeras. So why couldn't she get closer? Why wasn't their number dwindling?
Could this struggle even harm him? Would this change anything?
Linbelle.
*'Can I protect Linbelle?'*
She had already built a mountain of chimera corpses.
She had to make a choice. Sacrifice her life in one go, or continue this war of attrition.
*'Obviously.'*
On her ashen skin, incantations formed from colorful fairy runes appeared, floating just above her flesh.
“That is...”
Inellia's twelve pairs of wings shone with an endless rainbow light.
They were merely the remnants of a fairy queen's wings, but.
If she used her own unique trait.
Mana churned endlessly around her as the image of a giant eye appeared behind her back.
An eye that was nothing more than a faint, ashen, and crumbling image.
Now, in this moment.
Until her power was exhausted, it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say she was on par with the true fairy queens of legend.
One who possessed the status of a demigod. One who wielded a tangible authority. One who was revered by many fairies.
Her actual spiritual rank fell short of that.
However, the countless fairy body parts transplanted into her and the adaptability that forcibly fused them into one.
And...
*'Grudges.'*
The countless grudges clinging to her soul had combined, breaking through miraculous odds to manifest an authority.
It was a fleeting, dreamlike power, but with this.
*'It's possible.'*
It was possible.
If she failed even after using this—no, even if she succeeded, it would be impossible to reclaim the life she had already expended.
But, if this could break the shackles that bound her, if it could kill the enemy she targeted.
She felt a tremendous pressure flowing from the still-closed eye, and her wings trembled.
“You, you're insane!”
The moment the giant eye appeared behind Inellia, Dver's expression changed.
He hastily ordered all his chimeras to charge her and pulled a strange stone knife from his coat.
On the surface of the stone knife, red veins pulsed as if alive, and an eyeball was embedded in the center, giving it a grotesque appearance.
But he paid no mind to its appearance.
“To think you could even use an authority. This is certainly unexpected.”
Despite his urgent actions, he didn't seem flustered, the smile never leaving his aged face.
“Let me ask you one more time. You have no intention of... freeing me, do you?”
“Would you, after seeing that?”
He looked at the eye that had appeared behind her back, his own eyes dark with madness.
“It doesn't belong to any fairy king. That... that is yours alone. How! How is that possible?”
His eyes were filled with greed, desire, doubt, and madness.
“The authority of the eye. How did you obtain it? It is a power possessed only by the successive kings of the fairy races!”
“Just as I thought, right?”
“Inellia. Seeing you stirs my desire for research for the first time in a long while. Can't you cooperate peacefully as you did before? Please, I'm begging you.”
He didn't give up until the very end, and Inellia laughed self-deprecatingly.
The eye behind her began to open. She felt a searing pain as if her entire body was on fire.
But she could bear it. She had to.
*Screeeech—*
*Guhhh—*
Because the effect was immense.
The eye hadn't even fully opened.
Merely from a small crack, the light leaking out was enough to disintegrate and erase all nearby creatures.
It didn't matter whether they were living or dead.
If she could trade her life to kill him, this was a price she was willing to pay.
Feeling her life force beginning to burn away in real time, she closed her eyes. She thought she could hear Linbelle's voice in the distance.
*'I want to see you.'*
Just as she solidified her resolve, Dver unhesitatingly plunged the stone knife into his own heart.
*Shunk—*
The skin around his heart swelled with red and purple blotches, and his appearance began to change.
His skin turned black, and his eyes began to glow red. His fingernails and hair all fell out, and even his wrinkled skin started to melt away.
“It's still... too early to use this...”
His voice was mixed with various noises, making it sound extremely bizarre.
At the same time, veins shot out from under his feet and swarmed the surrounding chimeras. In the process, their flesh and blood were absorbed into him.
However, Inellia's disintegration of all life around her was faster.
At that point, realizing things were not going as expected, he shouted urgently.
“You, you, you! Inellia, please, how about we negotiate? Just once! If you let me dissect you just once, I'll let you go. Please... please!”
He cried out, his eyes filled with madness and desperation.
At the same time, the veins extended, beginning to absorb the chimeras at an even faster rate.
Watching this, Inellia gave a pitiful smile.
“I knew it... This was the right choice.”
Even with death at his doorstep, he couldn't abandon his greed. How could she ever trust the words of such a person?
But regrets remained.
*'But.'*
Having them wouldn't change anything.
Just as the giant eye was about to open completely.
“No, that doesn't seem like a very good choice.”
A voice rang out.
* * *
Allen briefly wondered if the scene before him was real.
On one side, a fairy who seemed to have stepped out of a legend; on the other, a chimera creator devouring dozens of chimeras.
To him, who had spent his entire life researching magic in a secluded room, both seemed equally unreal.
However.
*'This will probably become a common sight from now on.'*
The Julius from before the regression. That bastard.
Did he always witness scenes like this, fight enemies like these?
Unraveling ancient secrets, defeating slumbering beasts, and quelling calamities as they arose.
The stories that sounded like heroic tales in rumors were even more unbelievable when faced in reality.
Allen first looked at Inellia.
Her appearance had changed a great deal from when he first saw her.
The ashen skin, the twelve pairs of wings, the pointed ears.
But something else caught Allen's eye first: the image of a giant eye behind her back.
Its mere existence exuded an immense pressure, and it was connected to her, burning away her life force in real time.
*'She's in danger even now. But if that eye opens completely...'*
She will die.
Of that, he was certain.
That kind of reckless method of pouring in life force.
“Y-Young Master...? How did you get here...?”
It was a method he himself had often used.
As Allen approached, she asked with a surprised expression. Allen casually admired her look as he drew closer.
“I came to take back what's mine.”
“No, what do you mean by...”
“Aren't you my handmaiden?”
She gave him a look that asked what he was talking about, then her mouth fell open as if she remembered something.
“Did you already take care of Regnol...?”
“No, not yet. Is that chimera Regnol? I'll hear the details later. For now, stop that.”
Allen's grave gaze turned to the eye. Even now, in this very moment, her life was burning away.