Chapter 105
Chapter 105
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 105
Chapter Title: Betrayal
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Soo-hyuk narrowed his eyes as he looked at Viola, whom he had run into so suddenly.
Cautious footsteps. Startled eyes.
It was a reaction like she'd been caught red-handed in the middle of a theft.
'At least she's not a complete idiot.'
No.
Thinking about it, she had actually done better than him.
Soo-hyuk knew from experience just how hard it was to suspect friends or comrades you trusted.
In a way, hadn't he died because he couldn't do exactly that?
"What do you mean by that, exactly?"
Viola responded with a bewildered look, as if she couldn't comprehend Soo-hyuk's words.
He had mistaken who needed saving.
Not Belveim, but you.
It was full of things she just couldn't understand.
Soo-hyuk was in the same boat—he had no confidence he could make her understand either.
In the end, instead of words, he grabbed her hand and pulled her along.
"Come with me for now. And keep it quiet."
"W-Wait a..."
The flustered Viola was led to an underground area that extended down the stairs.
A stone door without any patterns appeared.
When they arrived in front of the tightly shut stone door, Viola felt as if the intangible anxiety she'd been harboring had suddenly taken physical form right before her eyes.
"What is this?"
"Open it and see for yourself."
"What's inside that you're making such a big deal about..."
Her hesitation slowed her hand. She reached out toward the handle and slowly pulled it.
Kkiiik-
Unlike other doors, it let out an especially rusty screech.
Viola's eyes widened in shock at the dark space revealed within.
"Uh...?"
Inside the door, where no light reached.
She could see Vigo holding someone.
It was a familiar face.
A woman with short golden hair, just like Viola's.
With a hole pierced through her chest, she lay cold and dead. She was one of the people Viola had been desperately searching for.
"Elaine...?"
"...Lady Viola."
Squeeze-.
Vigo approached Viola, clutching the corpse in his arms tightly to ensure it wouldn't slip away.
Viola slowly walked toward Elaine.
Praying desperately that she was mistaken.
But.
'Reality doesn't change just because you wish it.'
Viola ultimately confirmed Elaine's corpse up close.
Her initial reaction was silence.
As if it didn't feel real, she took the body of her comrade from Vigo and stood there blankly.
But only for a moment.
"Elaine......"
Soon, she collapsed to the floor and let out a scream.
No.
She tried to.
Chak-.
"Mmph-."
Soo-hyuk's hand swiftly covered Viola's mouth. If she screamed here, something unexpected might happen.
"Calm down."
"Mmph, mmph-."
Squeeze-.
Viola's hand gripped Soo-hyuk's wrist.
A strong grip pressed against his wrist. She was both the person he needed to save and a great warrior known as a Valkyrie.
Soo-hyuk frowned at the strength he felt in her hand.
Still, thanks to his high stamina, he could hold on. As long as she didn't draw a sword and swing it, he could keep holding her for now.
Just as he worried his wrist might actually snap.
"Mmph, mmph-."
Tap, tap tap-.
She released her grip on his wrist and signaled a few times.
"Puha-, ha-."
As soon as Soo-hyuk let go, Viola gasped for air. Tears and snot streaming down her face, she looked back at Elaine's body.
"Elaine......"
"Are you calm now?"
Viola shook her head, biting her own lip hard, as Soo-hyuk whispered softly.
"I can't calm down. It just... feels like a lie. All of it."
"I imagine so."
Soo-hyuk knew well the pain of losing a comrade. If he hadn't found the flowers Si-woo had left behind on the day he came back to his senses, he might have broken down just like her.
"It's Belveim's doing."
He wondered how to convince her, but unexpectedly, she said exactly what he wanted to hear first.
"That sword wound. Belveim made it."
"The one on her stomach?"
"Yes. No way it's a mistake. I've seen it for hundreds of years—there's no mistaking it."
A voice full of conviction.
No need to beat around the bush tediously. On one hand, he felt relieved, while on the other, he mapped out his options in his mind.
'The easiest thing is to quietly leave the mansion like this.'
That was probably the standard route for this trial. Completing it that way would automatically end the second stage of this trial.
Considering the difficulty, that was likely the end of this trial.
But.
'Still... I can't do that.'
Soo-hyuk's gaze turned toward the back of the basement where Elaine's body had been hidden.
'I can't leave that behind.'
That was the highlight of this trial.
Asgard and Muspelheim both wanted it. It was no ordinary item.
What he had was an empty heart core.
If he could fill this heart, who knew what power he might gain.
'I know it's hard...'
That knowledge only made him more expectant.
Trials were meant to give greater rewards the harder the challenge.
"What will you do?"
Soo-hyuk looked at Viola.
"Seek revenge?"
At his question, Viola hesitated before answering.
"......I need to find out why she did this."
The reason.
Come to think of it, he didn't know that either. When asked why he'd done it, Kim Il-su hadn't given any answer.
Yeah.
Why had he done it?
"You don't have to help. I'll go alone if I have to."
As if she'd made up her mind, Viola stood up.
Soo-hyuk glanced between Elaine's body and Viola before speaking.
"You've forgotten one thing."
"Forgotten? What?"
"Why you came here."
The reason Asgard had sent Viola and the other two Valkyries here.
To hide and protect the Thunder Throne.
But.
"That's impossible."
Viola shook her head at Soo-hyuk's words.
"Not with just us. To reclaim it, we need the Little Lord's help."
He had wondered why she gave up the mission so quickly.
'So that's the twist.'
She hadn't given up the mission.
She had simply judged it impossible in their current state and planned to request reinforcements.
But Soo-hyuk knew what happened as a result.
By the time reinforcements arrived—
'The core won't be left behind.'
The empty Thunder Heart currently in his inventory was proof of that.
And if this was the outcome, he absolutely couldn't stop here.
Moreover.
"Doesn't it seem strange?"
"What does?"
"That there are so many demons."
Even Asgard, bound by the system's restrictions, had only sent three Valkyries.
No matter how great Muspelheim was, they couldn't break those restrictions so easily.
Besides, if there were really hundreds of demons, it didn't make sense that Viola was still alive.
"It is strange. Obviously."
"Didn't you ever think to investigate how that's possible?"
"Well..."
Viola hesitated in her response, then suddenly widened her eyes as if realizing something.
"...I did."
"And?"
"Belveim was the one who looked into it."
Soo-hyuk's eyes narrowed in turn.
That changed everything.
"For now, we need to catch that guy first."
One of the three Valkyries tasked with protecting the Thunder Throne.
Capturing Belveim might unravel the secret of Muspelheim's demons.
"No need to discuss further."
Squeeze-.
Vigo, who had been silently mourning Elaine, gripped his spear shaft.
"We go find Lady Belveim right—"
And at that moment.
Flash-!
A pure white bolt from the sky.
Kwajajajak-!
Split the mansion's basement in half.
* * *
Gururung-.
The basement ceiling collapsed. The mansion split in two, and chunks of rock fell like weapons.
"Kyaaak-!"
"Get out! Everyone!"
"What the hell is this out of nowhere—."
The butlers, maids, gardeners, and other mansion residents began fleeing in panic.
Fortunately, the mansion hadn't completely collapsed yet.
Since the strike had targeted the basement, it only tilted to one side.
Soo-hyuk and Viola were unharmed as well.
"You okay, Vigo?"
Squeeze-.
Viola held up a massive boulder with one hand to save Vigo.
Thanks to that, they avoided death.
But.
"I'm... fine. I'm okay, but..."
Drip, drip-.
A long sword wound was carved into Viola's back. That split-second decision to throw herself over Vigo had cost her.
Some sharp-eyed viewers seemed to have caught what just happened.
'To cause this much destruction with a single slash.'
Soo-hyuk looked up toward the collapsed ceiling.
'A Valkyrie is still a Valkyrie.'
A female warrior gripping a sword as long as Soo-hyuk was tall.
Belveim, now clad in silver armor, looked down at Viola and Vigo.
"You're too kind to be a warrior, Viola. Then or now."
"Belveim!"
Viola's neck veins bulged as she shouted at Belveim.
Even though she already knew, seeing Belveim's betrayal with her own eyes only fueled her rage further.
"Then why did you come back here? You could've just stayed ignorant."
"How can you say that right now—."
"I wanted you to just leave."
With a somewhat bitter expression, Belveim looked at Elaine's corpse, which Viola held in one arm.
"Unlike Elaine, you're the type who never suspects anyone."
"Elaine...?"
Viola wondered why Elaine's body was here.
It seemed Elaine had suspected Belveim even before her.
"Today, I end up losing both my friends."
"Why are you doing this?"
Grind-.
Viola ground her teeth.
"Why... Elaine... and me......"
Thud-.
She dropped the boulder she had been holding up with one hand to save Vigo.
"Why are you trying to kill us?"
"I never intended to kill you."
Belveim began her excuse.
"You were my comrades. And my friends."
"Then?"
"I just wanted to drive you away from here. And you actually did leave. Elaine would've been fine if she'd done the same."
But like all things in the world, variables were inevitable.
"It was just yesterday. When Elaine came to me."
One day.
Elaine had died merely a day ago.
That fact left a wound in Viola's heart even greater than the one on her back, making her wonder if she could have saved Elaine somehow.
"After everything was done, I planned to at least give her a proper cremation... I didn't expect you to come back too, Viola."
"When did I ask about that?"
Her rage-filled sword tip trembled as she raised it.
She screamed in unprecedented fury.
"I asked why you're doing this!"
"You think I like this situation either."
Belveim continued, meeting Viola's eyes.
"I'm not asking you to underst—."
At that moment.
Kwarung-!
A wave of brilliant yellow lightning engulfed Belveim's body.
Belveim was the one who had collapsed the basement with a single strike. True to her title of great warrior, she swiftly raised her sword to block the lightning.
But the price of blocking instead of dodging was not cheap.
Zing, zing-.
A numbing sensation spread from her sword hand.
Belveim's gaze turned toward Soo-hyuk, who glared at her fiercely from the side.
"It's too disgusting. I can't listen anymore."