Chapter 199
Chapter 199
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 199
Chapter Title: Toward Seong Mountain, Nowon-gu Breakthrough Operation (10)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
23.
“You’ll know it when you see this, right?”
RX again…… What?
As I mulled over Seo Hwa-yoon’s words, her Gundam shifted the large-caliber cannon mounted on its shoulder.
“I made it thinking only of the day I’d meet you again!”
A blinding flash erupted as it fired the shell.
Unreal explosive power.
Even the shockwave alone was tremendous.
The spot where Choi Sin-yul had been exploded, spewing up dirt and debris. That was when someone looked up at Shin Tae-yeop and shouted.
“Tae-yeop, go!”
“W-What……?!”
“Ride that wolf from the local branch—you can make it to the summit!”
It was Lee Seong-mi.
Was it thanks to Lee Seong-mi’s unique skill?
From the overturned train, the elite hunters emerged one by one, remarkably intact.
“Ride that wolf and go! To Ye-jin!”
“………………!”
“Hurry, before it’s too late!”
Shin Tae-yeop naturally hesitated. He knew better than anyone the potential of elite players.
“But…… but wouldn’t it be better if we all took down that monster together?!”
“No! We can handle it ourselves, so go!”
“But───!”
───Trust us! We don’t have time to hesitate here!
Shin Tae-yeop stared blankly at Lee Seong-mi’s resolute smile……
Woooooong────!
……then bit his lip as another flash burst from Surak Mountain’s summit.
Damn……
This damn……
Shin Tae-yeop finally squeezed his eyes shut and shouted.
“Black & White!”
Black & White flew over, and Heo Cheon-gyeom reached out to hoist Shin Tae-yeop onto its back.
“Everyone, please…… live and meet again!”
As Black & White soared through the air.
Swaaaaaaaa──────!
A crystalline sword came charging through the smoke once more.
“Where?!”
Lee Seong-mi immediately swung her Lotus Flame Sword.
──────Shrrrrring!
Wrapping Black & White in 《Lotus Flame Cloud》 to block it.
Shin Tae-yeop looked down.
At the normal players left behind before the Elite Knights, he shook his head wildly.
No.
Choi Sin-yul isn’t elite.
<Association> members aren’t normal players.
It’ll be different.
Definitely…… different from back then.
Even as he kept muttering to himself, why did [Bryuka’ruk’s Forest] keep coming to mind…….
24.
“Using this final chance…… I must apologize to the 101st.”
Final chance?
No, what was even more absurd was this.
“To Thersia herself? How could a wretch like me…… forgive Thersia?”
“I lied to the 101st.”
Lied?
Thersia to me?
A nonstop chain of bewildering chaos left my mouth agape.
“I told you the 101st hadn’t died, right? That was a lie. In truth, the 101st…… died.”
W-What……?
My mind went blank in an instant.
What the hell happened?
Then how do I return to the world? How on earth?
“Bringing the 101st, who should have rested in peace, here through Uya was my selfish desire.”
Thersia’s desire?
Thersia spoke with a resigned smile. Liam Talorden supported his master’s shoulder.
“Because I wanted to see it one more time…… that loving figure, so dear to us all, warmly embracing the powerless with love…….”
I gaped vacantly.
No way…… Was that it? That’s what it was. I haven’t completed the succession yet.
So.
Normally, I couldn’t come here after failing my mission. But I’m here.
“I became the origin for all Beacon Keepers? No. I’m disqualified as a Beacon Keeper…….”
Then Thersia.
Finally covered her face with both hands and began to sob.
No, that’s not true.
I tried to shout.
Thank you, truly, for giving me another chance, I wanted to say.
“If you hadn’t, I would have done it myself.”
I couldn’t.
“I would have done the same.”
From that moment.
Unfamiliar yet familiar presences.
Emerged one by one in the twilight of this sacred graveyard……
“No, no. I would have done it first.”
The 1,600-plus Beacon Keepers.
Among them, those who labored hardest to become successors of the Holy Flame…… my predecessors.
“Why can I see them now?
The final task of succession. Because I passed the first gateway?
“A Beacon Keeper is one who resembles their predecessors.”
The 28th smiled faintly.
With her pink twin tails, a tough yet playful-faced heroine.
Such a being.
Drew her Berkenxia, her four-season sword like a dragon’s spine, from her grave and approached me, jabbing my side with her elbow.
“Hey, 101st!”
“Y-Yes?”
“Why didn’t you pick this? Hey, the 29th’s Twilight Bow? It’s nothing special.”
“I-Is that so?”
“Look at that 29th’s face. Doesn’t look like much, right?”
“Master?!”
“Shut it! My four-season sword’s way better. You can tell at a glance, right, 101st?”
No, that……
As I stammered in confusion, the 28th clicked her tongue.
“Tsk…… No eye for quality. How’re you gonna find a good woman like this.”
“No, why’s the woman issue coming up here……?”
“It has to! I’m disappointed! I’m a woman too!”
Then a cough came from beside us.
The 39th successor.
An elderly sage evoking a benevolent scholar from historical dramas.
“Didn’t pick my stone staff either…… Seems like a serious lack of discernment.”
At that playful sigh.
Laughter-mixed uproar erupted from all directions in an instant.
“Right! Right!”
“Awaken, 101st!”
“Ha…… Good grief. Doesn’t recognize the true value of my Berkenxia.”
What the hell was this?
“With the 101st’s taste like that, the future of Beacon Keepers looks bleak.”
That desolate graveyard.
In the blink of an eye, brimmed with lively presences.
“Come on! It’s not too late now!”
“Try mine! It’s amazing!”
The predecessors’ childish antics.
Lively and humanly virtuous pranks, but as the youngest, I was utterly embarrassed.
“Everyone, hold on.”
What saved me then.
Was Thersia’s chilling smile as she tilted her head.
“Who said whose taste is bad?”
Liam coughed timidly in agreement with his master.
“Ahem…….”
The graveyard fell silent in an instant. What……? This awkward atmosphere?
That moment.
One Beacon Keeper somewhere.
Let out an “Ahahaha……” laugh, and all the Beacon Keepers began laughing joyfully.
I laughed along.
So these were they. The ones always cheering me on. The ones always watching over me.
“Too bad. Wanted to talk more with you.”
Much later, the 28th draped her arm warmly around my neck.
Her short robe embroidered with pink roses.
A warm spring scent tickled my nose.
“After succession, I’ll visit every holiday.”
I bantered with my predecessor.
But the 28th…… What? Only replied with a bittersweet smile. The 39th spoke.
“Hold on any longer, and you’ll lose those precious bonds.”
Farewells followed.
Finally, Liam gripped my shoulder firmly.
“It’s time to part.”
The phrasing felt off.
Not just parting, but like we’d never meet again, a heartrending tone.
“I told you the 101st died…… right?”
Thersia gave the answer.
A sad response to that sorrowful question.
“There’s only one way to revive that 101st’s body.”
“……?!”
“By giving our holy spirits to the 101st as life force.”
“Y-Yes……?”
“Like passing the flame from torch to torch.”
I stood there dazed.
What, what. My mind’s a mess. The info won’t connect in my head.
“It’s precarious…… but combining our 99 holy spirits can create one life.”
Only then did I manage to speak.
Not my head, but my body realized it—my eyes welled up on their own.
“Wait just a moment. What you’re saying is, so…….”
“Yes.”
Her voice trembled with tears.
Thersia placed her finger on my chest.
“101st. Now…… it’s time for final farewells.”
Dawnlight glowed from her fingertip.
Not just Thersia. Liam, the 28th, 39th, 99th. All predecessor successors approached, placing hands on my body.
“You.”
“You.”
“You.”
One by one.
One more. Another.
Tender yet sorrowful, joyful farewells echoed from all sides.
“Must prosper.”
“Must prosper.”
“Must prosper.”
Hands that couldn’t reach my body.
Held the shoulders of the successors touching me instead.
“We must fade.”
“We must fade.”
“We must fade.”
When that wave of laying on hands ended.
The world, this twilight graveyard, filled with dazzling light.
“May the light of Myselvaibh, Tarhye Rondel’s.”
Precisely.
The predecessor successors’ bodies began burning with dawnlight.
“Be on your path.”
“On your path.”
“In the mission you’ve undertaken.”
In that instant, what scenery flashed through my mind?
“Always with you in love…… we pray.”
The lives the predecessor successors had walked.
The footsteps of their sacrifices…… the song of hope in battles against the outer cosmos……
“True Mother of Light, we now return and depart with the light you gave us.”
Thersia placed both hands on my forehead and began the laying-on prayer.
“May you watch over the 101st with your mercy…… guide with your abundant love…….”
The next moment, warmth flowed through her hands into my heart, pulsing strongly.
It was the final warmth.
An echo of hope transcending time and eras, delivered to me.
“We all earnestly wish with tears and sighs.”
That was the end of the succession.
The predecessor successors’ forms…… faded gradually, melting into the distant twilight.
“N-No!”
Only then did I.
Snap to my senses and flail my arms wildly, but it was futile.
“Predecessors, predecessors……!”
The predecessor successors were already.
Fully melted into that twilight light…… entering eternal rest.
“Ah……….”
What remained was the spark of life.
A quiet flame burning in my heart, in my soul.
“101st.”
Only.
Excluding Thersia and Liam.
“You might think from now on, you must walk the mission alone.”
But.
Even those two successors.
“Don’t worry.”
Their forms blurred gradually.
Their bodies crumbled into light particles from the legs up, scattering.
“We depart having fulfilled our mission…… but Geldharia will always walk with the 101st.”
Tears.
My vision blurred with tears.
No matter how I wiped them, the world remained hazy.
“The 101st was disciple and heir to all us Holy Flame Keepers…… like a son.”
Then Thersia.
Gently wiped my tears with her sleeve. I faintly saw her smile suppressing sorrow.
“Carry that pride in your soul, and set forth to find the dawn.”
Thersia’s legs.
Her belly, chest, hands…… and finally her head…… scattered into light particles……
“You can do it, 101st.”
……with a smile more radiant than light, her warm essence began seeping into my soul.
“Thersia─────!”
I cried out in anguish.
But the one that cry should have reached…… was nowhere anymore.
“N-No……………….”
Right there.
I might have collapsed on the spot.
“Don’t cry, 101st.”
A metallic click.
If Liam, on the verge of complete dissipation…… hadn’t gripped my arm tightly.
“In this beautiful world crafted by the Creator Gods with love, there is no eternal farewell.”
Liam gave a bright smile.
That smile, the one he wore before vanishing into light, more dazzling than dawn…… I never forgot until the day this mission ended.
“Now, go. It’s time to complete the final task of succession.”