Chapter 182
Chapter 182
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 182
Chapter Title: He Who Inherits the Dawn, Tarhye Rondel (3)
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5.
A bowl brimming with bright red broth.
The children stared at it with faces as if they had just seen a monster.
“Everyone……?”
Worried that I might take offense, Balon quickly spoke up.
“Then, once your prayers are done, shall we eat with gratitude?”
Balon’s words were absolute.
The children picked up their spoons with desperate expressions…… and scooped up a heaping load of solids before shoving it straight into their mouths.
A moment of silence.
Chilling.
Like a dagger flying in to pierce the heart.
But don’t worry. Taste is the most honest of all senses.
“Sp…… spicy…….”
That was the beginning.
The children, who had been eyeing the red food like monsters, now began devouring it straight from the bowl.
“It’s…… it’s really good!”
“It’s spicy, but so tasty!”
“What is this food……? Is this the ham we’ve been eating all this time……?”
Charlotte, Michelle, Balon.
The three adults each took a taste of the budae jjigae in turn, then their eyes began to sparkle.
“Aah…… This is called budae jjigae.”
I crossed my arms arrogantly and answered the barrage of questions from those countless eyes.
“It’s a staple food people in my homeland ate.”
“R-Really?!”
“There’s a sister dish called kimchi jjigae. I couldn’t make it without the legendary ingredient [kimchi]…… Oh, and it’s not gimu chi jjigae, so be careful with the pronunciation.”
Michelle…… stop glaring at me like you can’t rein me in.
Charlotte scooped up another bite of budae jjigae and let out a gasp of admiration.
“I’ve always wondered…… GodSpring, just what in the world are you?”
“Me? Just your average Korean high school senior.”
“A Korean high school senior…… I don’t know much about it, but that must surely be an incredible occupation.”
Praise like that.
I averted Park Hyun-soo’s gaze and scratched the back of my head awkwardly.
“Well…… yeah, something like that.”
It was Charlotte’s quiet sigh that shattered this scripted exchange and conversation.
“With cooking like this…… If the world were still whole…… I would have taken you to the palace to let my sisters taste it.”
Overwhelmed by the unbearable misery in those words, I dropped my gaze. That was when it happened.
“How could this be.”
Watching the children eat the food so joyfully and happily, Balon even shed tears.
“We’re in your debt again…… I meant to treat you to a meal, but instead, we’ve been treated…….”
He said he’d seen the children eat gratefully many times before, but never this deliciously.
“If there’s anything I can do to help, please tell me anything. I’ll assist with all my heart.”
“No, not at all. This is──”
I started to give a polite response to such words. Right then.
──Chaaaaaaaang!
The regression stone around Park Hyun-soo’s neck emitted a dazzling flash of light.
Wha…… what……?
I wasn’t flustered by the light. It was Park Hyun-soo’s expression, which turned gravely serious right after.
“You must help us right now, Balon.”
“Brother……?”
“It’s…… it’s coming. One of the [Forgotten Kings] is coming here right now…… to find me!”
In that instant, Charlotte dropped her spoon.
Clang, the spoon tumbled into the bowl. A chill ran through my entire body.
No way.
Park Hyun-soo…… are you saying right now.
You’ve regressed from the future to this point?
“No…… what do you mean? How could such a thing……?”
Balon blinked his astonished eyes repeatedly, as if racking his brain to comprehend this inexplicable situation.
“This <Tarkirten>…… is protected by ancient defensive installations crafted by the [Exalted Ones]. Even the [Forgotten Kings]──”
“──That won’t stop it.”
Park Hyun-soo cried out softly in a voice filled with despair, then panted as if sorry.
“I can’t…… I just can’t explain it with any confidence…….”
“……?!”
“We have to find Berkenxia. There’s no time, Balon. Please…… believe me.”
It was a situation even we couldn’t believe, but Balon was different.
The All-Seeing Eye.
He had the king’s eyes that could read people’s thoughts.
“No…… how could this…… what’s happening…….”
What future could possibly be awaiting us? The moment Balon looked at Park Hyun-soo with those eyes.
“This will become reality soon…….”
Park Hyun-soo bowed his head.
And in Balon’s eyes swirled indescribable sorrow and terror.
“Please wait a moment.”
Balon beckoned to the eldest boy among the children, who were noisily devouring their budae jjigae.
“Gran, in the drawer of my desk, there’s a letter sealed in silver. I told you about it before, right?”
“Yes, Holy Father.”
“If I don’t return…… take it to the royal palace. Understand?”
The child named Gran tilted his head with an innocent face.
“Yes. But why won’t you come back?”
“I’ve told you before, haven’t I? Everyone has a time appointed by the gods…….”
Balon hugged Gran and gently stroked his head, tears flowing.
“It seems…… that time has come for me now…….”
6.
“Mister! Berkenxia is in the [Temple of Mirrors]!”
We hurriedly raced down the mountain path at night. In an instant, we were fully armed.
“No. The Berkenxia embedded in the [Lunar Pedestal]…… is a replica.”
Balon strode ahead quickly.
He carefully illuminated the mountain path with his lantern. His voice was trembling greatly.
“A replica? What do you mean?”
No way.
Is that why no player has ever been able to pull it from the pedestal? Because it’s a fake?
“It’s a secret passed down only to those devoted to the priesthood…… but the real Berkenxia is located in the basement of the [Temple of Mirrors].”
The basement of the [Temple of Mirrors]……?
The situation had grown immensely complicated.
Getting into the temple grounds, which were under ironclad security, was already a challenge, and now we had to go underground?
“The problem is how to enter that basement…….”
“……?”
“No one knows the method. However, there’s a passage mentioned in the holy scriptures.”
The passage Balon shared then went like this.
When the temple’s light fades.
The remnants of ancient glory open the door to succession.
Balon truly had a brilliant mind, just like Valerian.
He immediately rendered judgment based on this passage.
“My guess is…… ‘light fades’ means the temple’s main power source shutting down, right?”
“Power source……?”
“At the topmost level of the temple is an ancient relic, the [Moonlight Generator]. It supplies light to the entire temple.”
Before we knew it, we had left the mountain path behind.
We were sprinting through the night streets toward the city center, to the [Temple of Mirrors].
“So that means…… ugh…… we have to turn off that generator……?”
“Yes, but…… my brothers and sisters are staunchly guarding that place.”
Balon turned to Park Hyun-soo and pleaded.
“Do we have to kill those innocents?”
A moment of silence.
Park Hyun-soo shook his head in agony.
“We won’t have to…… probably…….”
It was incomprehensible.
But we could infer the situation.
[Forgotten Kings].
Their descent would turn the temple interior into complete pandemonium.
“Then leave that to me.”
“Alone…… it’s, it’s dangerous!”
“No. Michelle and Charlotte, follow Mister. Infiltration missions like this are better handled solo anyway.”
I flashed a vigorous smile to say not to worry.
Park Hyun-soo didn’t try to stop me.
He just muttered with a wretched expression, “Don’t die…….”
Don’t die……?
From what I could judge, the regression interval Park Hyun-soo could surpass was extremely short.
An hour at most, maybe.
In that case…… it gives me a bit of strength. Since my death isn’t guaranteed.
“Look, there’s the [Temple of Mirrors].”
Before long, that grand structure came into view.
Truly, truly.
A majestic and beautiful temple.
Five pentagonal towers. Arranged in a pentagon, every outer wall a mirror.
Five. Five. Five.
The number symbolizing the five moon goddesses who watch over the fairies.
“There’s a side door behind the temple. I’ll enter through the main gate and open it from inside.”
Balon said that.
But…… there was no need. Or rather, there was none anymore.
The moment we reached the main gate of the [Temple of Mirrors].
……Kiiiiiiiiiiieeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhh……!
A tearing scream like thousands of women shrieking.
Eardrums…… my eardrums are going to burst!
In that moment, we all hurriedly clamped our ears, but…… the helmeted guards couldn’t.
“Th…… this insane…….”
I saw the guards’ heads…… exploding from within like bombs had detonated.
Frenzy rampage.
Blood sprayed everywhere.
The headless bodies staggered madly before collapsing to the ground.
And in the next instant.
A foul stench of the abyss wafted in…… and the corpses began convulsing, bodies writhing.
The outbreak of the Wraith Plague…….
Blood drained cold from my entire body.
It had truly descended…… one of the [Forgotten Kings]. A raid for 25 people…… now faced by just five of us.
As if to confirm it, the system alert arrived.
Raid Auto-Start:
The Girl King Who Walks Time.
[Forgotten Kings].
The transcendent star’s madness has come for you.
Ahh……!
Pray to the gods for merciful death.
Before the girl who transcends time.
Devours your past, present, and future······.
The Girl King Who Walks Time…… Anridal?
Of all things……?
The one with the second-strongest mental corruption among the [Forgotten Kings]……?
Fairies have weaker mental resistance than humans.
INFO:
The Girl King Who Walks Time.
The king who controls space-time.
She reads future dangers and intervenes in the present and past……
If it’s future danger…… Did she judge Park Hyun-soo inheriting Berkenxia as a threat?
I don’t know how long I stared at that alert, but when I lifted my head again.
“Ehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehe!”
A chaotic shriek erupted from the temple.
“Hehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehe!”
It wasn’t a scream of pain.
All too familiar shrieks—the ecstatic cries of those broken by madness.
“L-Let’s hurry!”
Balon dashed desperately into the [Temple of Mirrors] courtyard. Michelle followed, screaming.
“Dimensions are…… ugh…… tearing everywhere……!”
Just as Michelle said.
Dimensions torn like claw marks everywhere──
Right then.
──The space right beside us tore long and thin.
A wriggling dark blue-black rift.
It gurgled…… then vomited out something massive.
“What the hell……!”
A hunting hound with two heads.
Fetid black fangs dripping yellow saliva.
Anridal’s hunting hound.
Version 2, no less.
As if just born.
They writhed within the dark blue-black placenta.
[Player GodSpring casts 6-star magic, 《Blazing Thunderbolt》!]
A bolt of fire lightning struck down into it.
As the flames greedily devoured the abyssal monsters, I shouted to Park Hyun-soo.
“Everyone, go on ahead! I’ll cover and head straight to the top!”
A horrific situation.
「GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!」
Hunting hounds charging ferociously from the front.
“Ahahahahahahahahahahahaha!”
“Hehehehehehehehehehehehehe!”
Wraiths rising unsteadily from both sides and charging.
[Player GodSpring……]
[Player GodSpring……]
[Player GodSpring……]
Again, again, again.
Thanks to me spamming spells like mad, we barely made it inside the temple.
“The interior already…….”
The inside was even more wretched.
The first-floor lobby gleamed with shredded meat chunks and pools of blood.
“How…… how could this…….”
What was truly chilling.
Wasn’t it that those meat chunks were alive and moving……?
“This way! Stairs to the basement and top floor!”
Mad laughter echoed from all directions, nearly drowning out Balon’s words.
So vast and tall.
A spiral staircase that made one shrink in intimidation.
“Mister.”
Reaching it, I.
Nodded to Park Hyun-soo then leaped straight up the stairs.
“Inherit Berkenxia and come back! I’ll keep the path open!”