Chapter 158
Chapter 158
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 158
Chapter Title: Infiltration, Gangbuk-gu Papal Palace Fierce Battle (11)
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20.
“What…… did you…… say……?”
The Dawn Sword vanished?
How in the world did……? What happened……? No one took it? Why isn’t it coming back?
Why was that?
Right at that do-or-die moment.
—With this, your……
Song Chan-un’s dying gasp brushed past his ears.
—Faith has…… finally…… been imbued…… with…… madness……
That’s right.
Something had felt off then.
The moment I…… doubted the [Master of the Broken Dawn]…… that sense of fullness within me…… had snapped apart.
No way.
Was this what Song Chan-un had been after……?
Severing me from the [Master of the Broken Dawn]?
But there was no more time to ponder the reason.
Zuzuzuzuzuzuzuz─────
Right then.
───Puhaaaaaaaaak!
A single ice blade came flying.
Its tip pierced through his coat, past his undergarments, and straight into his flesh and bone.
“……Kuhuk!”
A bone-chilling…… cold…… spread to every last corner…… of his body……
And then another.
Another one. Yet another.
One more. Another. Another. Yet another.
The sound of a blade scraping along his spine.
A sharp agony crashed over him next, and he shook back and forth like a ragdoll while spewing hot blood.
What the…… hell happened?
He barely managed to look down.
Ten blades…… were stabbed into his upper body all over.
No…… this can’t……?
The chill of death flooded his mind…… and his consciousness went white.
He had made a promise.
To survive…… and return alive…… but…… who was…… it with……?
“A…… A…… A-eup……”
He saw his body swaying wildly on its own, stumbling backward.
Choi Sin-yul came walking after him.
Somewhere, the hunting dogs let out mournful howls. A woman’s shout rang out too.
Gong Min-young? Was that Gong Min-young?
But…… all those echoes felt hazy, like things happening in some distant dream.
—Live.
Was that Kim Gye-sang?
No, no. Who was it?
Thud, thud, thud. Choi Sin-yul walked toward him.
—Just. I’d like it if we could keep meeting like this in the future too.
Cha Seung-hyeon?
No, not Cha Seung-hyeon. Hong Byeong-gyu? Yoon Geon-woo?
No.
Damn it…… can’t focus.
Because of the two noisy sounds blaring in his ears.
Haa…… haa…….
It was his own ragged breathing.
And the frantic pounding of his heartbeat thundering in his ears.
That was when it happened.
The foot stumbling backward nearly stepped into empty air for a split second before snapping back forward.
The edge of the terrace……?
Meaning there was no more room to retreat.
Choi Sin-yul thrust his right palm toward him…… and gripped it tight.
In that instant.
An icy flower of death, utterly chilling.
Those snowflower eyes bored into every corner of his body with frost…… and rampaged with unbearable agony.
His vision stained blood-red.
His vision sank lower and lower.
Belatedly, a thud echoed as both knees buckled.
Breath…… can’t…… breathe……
Choi Sin-yul walked toward him, kneeling there, unable even to gasp out blood.
「“Your pathetic little life and.”」
The voice sounded strangely hazy.
Layered into that voice…… was the timbre of a cosmic absolute…… one that shattered sanity……
「“Your gods’ pitiful, futile flailing too.”」
Through his fading vision, he saw it.
A crystal sword being born from Choi Sin-yul’s right hand.
「“Are now.”」
「“Within the will of this Sherashul’Toryak.”」
A longsword ablaze with frostlight.
Its blade gleamed pale in an otherworldly hue, sharper than any alloy. It was the epitome of overwhelming, absolute majesty.
「“Completely finished.”」
Slowly.
So very slowly.
Which was why he felt it all too clearly.
──Srrrrrrrrrrrrrrk.
That blade tip……
Piercing through the [Shadow Exoskeleton Cloak]…… slicing skin, shattering ribs as it plunged deep…… and skewering his heart……
21.
The spire’s summit was merely empty.
There was a single hatch door connected to the stairs on one sloping side…… and at the very top, an ice pillar rose.
“Is that it?”
Lee Seong-mi asked, and Gong Min-young nodded as she dismounted the 《Lotus Throne》 with Ryu Hyun-ji’s support.
“I suspected as much, but this was made the same way too.”
“M-made…… like this?”
Lee Ha-ram and Lee Seong-mi followed, disembarking one after another.
The 《Lotus Throne》 then scattered into pollen. It reverted to sword form and slid into Lee Seong-mi’s scabbard.
“Song Chan-un said it. Hunters themselves are tremendous power sources. This must be the result.”
Inside the two-meter-tall ice pillar.
Countless faces floated.
The visages of the dead, contorted in unimaginable torment……
“Ever since those things showed up…… Hunters have been vanishing one by one……”
Lee Ha-ram spat out an angry sigh.
“How pitiful…… Let’s let them rest now……”
Lee Seong-mi murmured with sorrowful eyes, and Gong Min-young frantically patted her waist.
“Staff…… lost it earlier. It’s a unique weapon, so resummoning will take some time.”
She turned to Lee Seong-mi.
Lee Seong-mi said nothing in reply. Instead, she drew her Lotus Sword and swung it.
────Shaaaaaaaak!
The blade infused with mystic power.
Sliced straight through the ice pillar without issue.
The pillar slowly split into two pieces.
Huaaaaa…… As if a hundred souls groaned in unison.
And in the next instant.
The power raging within the ice pillar detonated in a ferocious roar, erupting as a shockwave of frostlight.
Like a storm of rime howling.
An intense cold washed over them, as if their bodies might freeze solid—then, about five seconds later, all fell silent.
“……”
“……!”
“……?”
The group lowered the arms they’d used to shield their faces.
They blinked.
The ice pillar had vanished without a trace. And not only that—the beam of light stretching toward Nowon-gu had disappeared too.
The path to Nowon-gu was now open.
“We…… did it……”
“Yeah, we did it, Hyun-ji.”
“Ha…… I have no idea how we pulled this off.”
A bizarre sense of accomplishment bubbled up as a hollow chuckle.
They looked at one another.
Perhaps because they’d carved their way through that slaughterhouse together. A strange camaraderie settled over them.
“Alright then, shall we go find my husband now?”
“M-my husband?”
“Who else? Kim—”
That was when the trouble started.
「──Emergency, emergency, emergency!」
Black broke through the blizzard and rejoined the group. That was the beginning.
“Black! You’re safe!”
Ryu Hyun-ji beamed and pulled Black into a hug, but Black whined.
「Run. Run. Lead Hunter said to run. Hurry.」
A strange silence suddenly fell.
“Why…… why just us?”
“The Association President……? That doesn’t make sense. He said to leave him behind?”
Lee Seong-mi asked.
「Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.」
Black leaped toward White in that moment and fused with it.
The black-and-white cyclops wolf.
A fusion body that could effortlessly carry two grown men and fly…… How had they managed this?
A new skill the pair had picked up after my level rose?
Divine Beast Form unique skills had the peculiarity that their acquisition and use were at the divine beasts’ discretion.
「Tata-rara. Tata-rara. Tata-rara. Association President’s or-or-der.」
Association President’s order……?
How dire must the situation be……? They snapped to attention at those words—right then.
“No need for that.”
This voice……
Gong Min-young whipped around in startled alarm. Where? From below?
But she realized too late.
The hatch door became encased in ice crystals…… and exploded into countless shards in the next instant.
“A…… Aaaaa……!”
Something cold bored into her right eyeball…… and in that moment, her right world went dark.
It hurts—her eyeball felt like it was on fire.
Gong Min-young screamed and collapsed in place.
She slid toward the base of the spire……
In that moment of peril, Lee Ha-ram grabbed her by the nape and hauled her back up.
“I’ll send you all right now—to wherever that bastard went.”
22.
Twitch.
Twitch twitch.
His fingers wriggled feebly, like plump little grubs.
“Kuhuk……”
Through his hazy vision…… the moment he saw that sight, he vomited blood.
How…… was he still alive?
He couldn’t feel his heartbeat at all…… but from his pierced heart, something else registered.
The warmth of dawn……
Faint, like embers on the verge of dying out.
But still bearing the heat of life.
[Master of the Broken Dawn]……?
Lending me your power once more……? Does that mean there’s still something left for me to do……?
Something appeared in his pitch-black mind.
Lee Seong-mi.
Ryu Hyun-ji.
Lee Ha-ram. Gong Min-young.
His fist clenched of its own accord.
That fist slammed the ground…… and raised his already-dead, collapsed body……
Crack, crack, crack, crack.
All the while, the frozen blood encasing him shattered and rained down onto the floor.
Ah…… I see……
Thud. The [Groanbone Helmet] slipped off and rolled across the terrace floor.
What I…… need to do…… that’s right……
His organs, spilling from his shredded abdomen…… swayed left and right.
To the very end…… never give up……
One step forward.
Another step forward.
Don’t give up until it’s over……
He staggered and fell to the ground but rose once more.
That was the path of his life…… reawakened by his parents…… and by the [Master of the Broken Dawn]……
He had to go last. Into that…… nightmare……
23.
“I’ll send you all right now—to wherever that bastard went.”
Thud. Thud. Thud. Thud.
A white-haired man appeared atop the exploded hatch door.
“Choi Sin-yul……?”
A terror near panic gripped her.
Gong Min-young felt her heart hammering madly.
“How…… how did you get here……?”
Choi Sin-yul glared at Gong Min-young and cocked his head.
“That’s what I want to know. Why are you with these things?”
Gong Min-young screamed again in that instant. A sudden crystal sword had pierced her side.
“We’ll talk leisurely later. If you’re still alive by then.”
Choi Sin-yul’s gaze locked onto Lee Seong-mi and Ryu Hyun-ji.
Chilling.
Lee Seong-mi instinctively gripped her sword hilt and staggered backward.
Choi Sin-yul…… that sword body?
Impossible…… Could a human emit pressure rivaling the Exalted Ones?
“You gonna draw that sword?”
Her breath came in ragged gasps on its own.
The air pressed down on her body like a lump of lead.
“Then draw it. I’ll give you time to draw.”
Choi Sin-yul raised his right hand. Slowly…… yet for some reason, it felt unrealistically swift.
“But those divine beasts are the exception. Gotta get rid of them, or they might run.”
His right palm…… was aimed straight at Black & White.
“I……ce……”
The instant his palm was about to spread fully.
“……fro……st……”
What is it? What’s he trying to do?
She didn’t know…… but the moment it opened, she felt certain they’d lose Black & White.
“N-no……!”
Ryu Hyun-ji scrambled to her feet and threw herself in front of Black & White, but Choi Sin-yul didn’t stop.
“……i——”
Her mind went white with despair in that instant.
“——Dawnlight.”
In the corner of the girl’s vision, a flash of dawn glittered.
It lasted but a single moment.
Kim Baek-jun appeared out of nowhere and tackled Choi Sin-yul with both arms.
‘No……?’
Choi Sin-yul was stunned in that moment.
‘How did this bastard make it all the way here?’
An ambush even a demigod couldn’t have imagined.
‘His heart was pierced—he should’ve died instantly……?’
In that ambush, Choi Sin-yul revealed a gap he’d never shown even against the Exalted Ones.
Precisely as Kim Baek-jun had hoped.
That let Kim Baek-jun cling to Choi Sin-yul and hurl their bodies off the spire summit.
Victory had never been the goal to begin with.
In the split second before they fell.
Kim Baek-jun locked eyes with Ryu Hyun-ji and Lee Seong-mi. Eyes brimming with tears.
He could no longer speak.
So…… with great effort…… he moved his lips.
“Live……”
That smile from long ago……
The one his parents had given him as they pushed through the flames to find him.
The smile Kim Gye-sang had flashed during the Gyo-nam-dong old-town workshop battle…… he wore it now.
Three seconds after Kim Baek-jun vanished from sight, Ryu Hyun-ji finally came back to herself.
Eh…… Eh…… Huh……?
What? What is it? What’s going on?
An utterly unbelievable sight.
Her lips flapped madly for a moment before she unleashed a heartrending scream.
“……Association Presiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiim─────!”
She thrust her hand out toward the edge. But…… it couldn’t reach. She yelled frantically at Black & White.
“Bite him! Bring him back! Bite and bring him!”
But Black & White shook their heads.
「S-smell, the smell’s cut off.」
“What?”
「L-life smell’s cut off. That’s a dead hunter.」
Already dead?
Ryu Hyun-ji’s mind blanked in an instant. She turned blankly, and Lee Seong-mi wore the exact same expression.
「G-gone. Can’t save a hunter who’s already dead.」