Chapter 112
Chapter 112
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 112
Chapter Title: The Woman Who Killed Me
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When we entered the hideout, my first thought was that it was good we'd scouted it from outside beforehand.
It let me brace myself mentally.
A disgustingly fishy stench of blood seeped deep into my lungs.
The inside of the building was splattered with blood from floor to ceiling, walls included.
Torn-apart bandit corpses lay scattered like trash here and there.
"......"
We'd come rushing at the sound of screams, but now it was eerily quiet.
The fires were out, but the chunks of flesh strewn about cast strange shadows, flickering like candlelight.
Stia took the lead and walked ahead.
We followed behind her as if entranced.
I had no idea what the others were thinking.
I just wanted to see for myself what had happened.
Before my rampant imagination could conjure up fears I couldn't handle.
I wanted to see it with my own eyes and be disappointed.
The first-floor hall, site of the bloodbath festival.
I slowly counted the human heads with my finger.
Lost track midway and started over.
"......Thirteen."
Including the patrol squad, thirteen.
I turned to look at Rophus.
He trembled, his face pale with terror.
"I remember now.
That's all of us, boss included!"
"What?"
"U-Uwaaaack!"
Rophus lost his mind and screamed as he bolted away.
We watched him go in stunned silence.
Stia knelt and carefully examined the floor.
Then, as if she'd found something amid the gore, she moved her hand.
"A red soul stone."
"......"
In Stia's hand was a vividly glowing red soul stone.
I pulled out my lantern.
"Let's search. The other one too."
Before anyone else showed up in the hall.
We thoroughly combed every corner of the hall.
We shouldn't be doing this.
But we found both red soul stones far too easily.
Which meant the human who'd absorbed them was already dead here.
Just as Rophus said, it was the entire bandit crew.
"They got massacred....... By who......?"
Stia muttered.
That was when it happened.
A woman's humming drifted in from the hallway.
We all froze.
"Hmm hmm hmm~♪"
Something approached, singing cheerfully as if having the time of its life.
My instincts screamed danger.
"Everyone, get behind me!"
I stowed the lantern and cast Veil of Concealment, hiding us all.
"Hm? I thought I heard voices."
The woman who entered the hall was unexpectedly cute, with her black hair braided.
Moist, glossy black sclera and thick eyebrows. Slender limbs.
The only standout feature was that she was covered head to toe in blood.
At first, I thought she was a victim.
But watching her stroll so happily through the bloodbath, no doubt about it.
She was the culprit.
She held a sickle in one hand and suddenly swung it, lopping off the bandit boss's arm.
"Uwaaaack!"
"No playing dead♪"
"Ugh! Uuugh! Spare me, please......!"
"No."
"Spare me! Please, spare me!"
"Who you talkin' to, mister?"
"......"
The woman whipped her head toward us.
I'd slept like a baby last night. Her wide eyes had pupils dilated to a dangerous degree.
Wait a sec....... She looks familiar.
No way. No way. I repeated it to myself like a mantra.
Then the psycho spoke.
"Hyunwoo oppa?"
"......"
The moment she pointed the sickle our way.
Stia slipped out from the veil. Diana immediately prepared her magic.
"Ah~?"
The woman easily dodged Stia's three-sword thrust and batted it away with her sickle.
"Wha...!?"
Stia couldn't hide her shock as her surprise attack fell flat.
Karen and Aba charged in next, pressing the woman.
She retreated step by step, evading their attacks.
"Everyone, out of the way!"
Diana declared loudly.
"Lightning Square!"
The woman rolled her eyes as if reading Diana's magic flow, then smashed the lightning with her sickle.
A sharp friction sound rang out, and the spell fizzled away.
"......A s-sword cancels magic?"
"Why're you suddenly attacking?"
"......"
Everyone seemed at a loss for words.
"Talk?
I'm so happy to see you, oppa."
"Oppa? Dekal! What the hell is this crazy bitch babbling about?"
Diana demanded.
What should I say?
Cold sweat poured down.
"You gonna introduce me, oppa? Yay. These your friends?"
I nodded.
Words wouldn't come.
"Park Seoyeon......"
No mistake.
I knew this shy-looking psycho in front of me.
How could I forget.
The woman who killed me.
"Eek. Oppa said my name......!"
"How are you even here?"
"'Course I followed you, oppa. Thought I'd lose track if you fled to another world?"
"......"
"I was so, so sad back then. Thought we'd be together forever, but all I had left was your empty shell.
Killing you was a failure. Don't worry. Failure's the mother of success, right? I won't kill you again."
She rambled on, but it felt like no real conversation.
Park Seoyeon was insane.
No doubt the cause was me.
The suggestion "You'll be unhappy without me" had been my final seal on her.
I'd learned through her death that it drove her mad.
How long had Park Seoyeon endured in misery?
She embodied the karma of my hypnosis.
"Before I could come to you, oppa, there were so many obstacles, so I killed a lot. A whole lot.
And I got ridiculously strong. Hey, I heard from the god. You're in this place called Dry Village, right?
Can I ask you too, oppa? How'd you know where I was?"
"I......"
Tried to say coincidence, but Seoyeon barreled on like a runaway train.
"It's fate. We're destined, oppa.
That's why, in another world, across this vast land, we bumped right into each other♥"
As if some stupid fate like that exists.
But how else to explain it besides destiny.
Chasing after a dead person. Which god allowed that?
This world's god?
No. No reason to invite another god when interference would be inconvenient.
Not pushed away from me like Bella—some other god answered Seoyeon's plea.
Meaning, gods intervening in this world: three so far.
This is getting out of hand.
Guiding the woman who killed me here—what kind of god does that?
"Ugh, guh......!"
Then, the bandit boss made a noise crawling stealthily.
Seoyeon gripped her sickle.
"Wait!"
I reached out to stop her, but too late.
Seoyeon dashed over and slammed the sickle into the boss's back.
Once, twice, three times.
Only after chopping his back open like splitting firewood did she stop.
Blood sprayed everywhere as Seoyeon grinned feverishly, drenched anew.
Seeing it, Diana yelled.
"Dekal! Tell us quick. Enemy or ally?!"
"Kh...!"
I wanted to know too.
"Seoyeon. Look at this!"
"Hm?"
Snap.
I flicked my fingers.
But nothing happened. Half-expected it.
"......What're you doing, oppa?"
Hypnosis didn't work.
From experience, every human gathers and scatters consciousness somehow—when acting, speaking, anything.
No human lacks that process.
But one stood before me now.
Seemed like we were talking, but we weren't.
I didn't know the world Park Seoyeon saw. Couldn't fake it with mind tricks.
She talked about me without knowing me, perceiving and accepting everything from a warped viewpoint unlike normal humans.
Simple reason hypnosis failed.
She was completely insane.
Seoyeon advanced a step, sickle raised.
"She's an enemy!"
I shouted.
"Lightning Bolt!"
"Ugh!?"
Seoyeon staggered, caught off-guard by the spell.
Stia seized the moment and lunged, stabbing.
"Ah......Ah!"
Seoyeon twisted away but took a shoulder hit and retreated, catching her breath.
"Sorry, oppa."
"......"
What am I hesitating for......! Damn it!
"Fireball!"
I hurled a compressed fireball at Seoyeon.
It didn't hit her directly but exploded against the wall she backed into.
Seoyeon leaped clear of the blast, staggering to her feet.
"Sorry. Sorry. Sorry. Sorry. You're mad I didn't come greet you properly, right?
I should've rushed to Dry Village sooner. That's why you're mad, right? Believe me. It's not 'cause my love's lacking......"
Smoke cleared.
Seoyeon's sickle gleamed wickedly in the moonlight.
"I love you most, oppa. I'll prove it from now on. Kill all your toy girls, rip out their guts.
Then up there, just us two, cozy love talk."
Seoyeon charged.
"Oppa! Watch out!"
Karen jumped in front, blocking the sickle with her sword.
"Oppa? Who're you! Only I can call Hyunwoo oppa in this world!"
Seoyeon swung her sickle fiercely, pushing hard.
"Ugh!"
"Fireball."
I cast calmly, pouring in MP.
The orb grew and compressed simultaneously.
Karen, on the defensive, yelled.
"Stia!"
Karen sidestepped; Stia joined, double-teaming Seoyeon.
Seoyeon dodged the three-sword thrust while fending off both.
Aba flanked her.
"I'll help too!"
Seoyeon, eyes bulging, calmly regulated her breath, handling all three at once.
Is she insane?
Even as another god's proxy, how'd she get this strong so fast?
"Ready. Fall back and hit the deck!"
The three struggled against her, then retreated and dove.
I launched the overcharged fireball straight at Seoyeon.
No hesitation.
At first, surprise. Even some gladness.
The only one from my old world who knew me.
Maybe we could've gotten along.
But no way I'd let the others die for it.
No distractions—fight.
My strongest spell.
The massive shockwave engulfed everything.
I cast Wind Veil to shield from my own spell's backlash.
Walls and ceiling shook like they might collapse.
Blast so fierce I could barely stand. Ears ringing, skin crawling.
"......"
"Ugh, hng......"
I summoned spirits to blow away the smoke.
Everyone down from the aftershocks.
Seoyeon groaned in agony but barely stood.
Some way to mitigate magic damage, apparently.
But she was badly hurt.
Clothes charred, skin exposed in patches, bleeding heavily.
"O, ppa....... Love you. Oppa....... Without you, I......"
"......"
For a split second, I pitied Seoyeon.
I'd toyed with countless women, but there was a line I wouldn't cross.
Could I somehow fix this.
Maybe re-hypnotize, weaken the suggestion.
"Park Seoyeon. Drop the weapon!"
Seoyeon moved.
A chill ran up my neck.
But she targeted not me, but downed Karen.
I Space Leaped between them.
No time for spirits or barriers—I raised my arm to block.
The sickle buried into my arm.
"Kuh......!"
Indescribable pain smashed my heart like a hammer.
"Why? Why......?"
Seoyeon recoiled, releasing the sickle and stepping back.
"My favorite......
toy......"
Consciousness fading.
How'd that slender arm pack such force? The blade sank halfway through.
Fuck, holy shit! If my level was lower, I'd be dead.
Hurts like hell just looking. Actually hurts like hell.
"Don't die."
Seoyeon spoke weakly for the first time.
"We won't meet again."
"......"
Then don't swing this shit around......
Seoyeon yanked the sickle from my arm with force.
"Urk!"
Really don't wanna kill me, huh?
I dropped to my knees, staunching the blood with a starlight shell.
"Oppa! Oppa! You okay?"
Karen clung to me, yelling.
Didn't seem okay.
Couldn't move. But Seoyeon just stared blankly.
Judged I was too hard to harm without removing obstacles first?
Then, electricity arced along the wall.
Crackle!
"Lightning Square!"
Diana's spell hammered Seoyeon.
She flew back hard, glaring at Diana.
"Hey! Stalker bitch.
Don't touch that guy. He's mine!"
Diana wiped soot from her cheek and shouted back.
Seoyeon charged with sickle raised; Stia intercepted, shoving her off.
"Ugh?!"
Wounded and slowed, Seoyeon couldn't fully deflect the three-sword thrust and retreated.
"Thanks for handling the bandits, but that's far enough."
"......"
Aba hesitated, then yelled.
"M-Me too!"
"......"
Seoyeon lowered her sickle.
"Oppa. Next time, I'll come properly prepared to greet you. See you again."
"No."
"Hee hee."
Seoyeon grinned broadly.
She ignored any info inconvenient to her.
Seoyeon vanished through the hole I'd blasted in the wall.
A maniac plotting for later......
Crazy or calculating? Couldn't tell.
Did I do the right thing?
Left myself a loose end...... But part of me felt relieved.
Glad I didn't kill her.
"You all tired? Let's head back."
We returned to Kepa Village.
Rophus was cowering in nearby bushes when I spotted him.
I'd been using Search skill.
Bandit gang annihilated.
Red soul stones secured intact.
Villagers overjoyed at the news.
The deathly quiet village buzzed with life in moments.
Dark houses lit up, festival mood instantly.
Despite hardships, everyone brought out food and drink.
The bandits I'd made kneel watched bitterly.
Rophus jailed but fed minimally.
Remnants to be hauled off by enforcers.
I'd mention his cooperation, but leave sentencing to the enforcers.
Decided not to care about the bandits' fates after.
And, back at the inn.