Chapter 201
Chapter 201
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 201
Chapter Title: Horizon of Promise, Now I Go to You (2)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
4.
“Hey, spit it out. Who’s the rookie now……?”
For a brief moment, silence fell.
Do Ye-jin’s slender shoulders trembled faintly…… her lips awkwardly opening and closing as if she couldn’t decide whether to speak.
“Why…… why did you come……?”
It took a long while before she finally spoke.
Hearing that clear voice again.
Meeting those abyss-deep navy eyes…… it felt like forever.
“Why…… why did you come……!”
“Shi?”
“If you…… come here…… to my side…… everyone dies…… don’t you know that……?”
Her black hair, clumped and dried with blood.
From that emaciated, dirtied yet still resonant and pure face, a teardrop fell onto Shin Tae-yeop’s forehead.
“Everyone…… everyone died……! All of them……! Why did you come! I’d finally…… finally given up on everything……!”
With both hands bound in chains.
She weakly pounded the boy’s chest, her cries feeble.
“I’d finally managed to give up on everything…… why…… why─────!”
“──────We made a promise!”
Shin Tae-yeop shouted fiercely.
The girl’s shoulders, hidden beneath the mourning clothes worn by sacrificial offerings, flinched.
“I said I’d never give up…… that’s what we agreed on! Forgot already?”
“……!”
“But you gave up? Hey, you thick-headed idiot! You messing around right now?!”
The miraculous reunion ended there.
The signal of its close.
Was the cold laugh of some boy, chillier than ice.
「Heh heh heh ha ha ha…… What a tearful reunion, human sorcerer.」
The owner of that voice…… was an astonishingly pale white boy.
“What the hell is that guy…….”
The glowing orb gripped in both hands.
The long white hair reaching his waist.
His skin tone…… even the robes draped over his ten-year-old frame.
「I am Saitonan. The main god of this ice mountain.」
But…… that’s no human.
He knew without being told.
The malevolent intent in that voice nearly shattered his consciousness in an instant.
「Quite the curiosity, isn’t it? Why go so far to protect that mongrel?」
“Mongrel……?”
「Why get angry? Becoming emotional at the drop of a hat is one of you humans’ amusing traits.」
Do Ye-jin shrank back behind Shin Tae-yeop at the sight of Saitonan.
He realized it immediately.
What that bastard had done…… his mind cooling as he mentally calculated an intricate magic formula in a flash.
“Don’t fuck around…… you piece of shit.”
Magic was the logical mathematical system formalizing the world’s great and small principles.
If you knew the equation.
A sorcerer could warp those principles anywhere, anytime, under the name of magic.
「……!」
Right then.
At Saitonan’s feet.
A pillar of fire erupted out of nowhere.
Rumble───────!
The ground shook from the ferocious flame explosion, but……
“Why do all you Association bastards have to be such pricks?”
……Saitonan emerged unscathed from the blaze. Thanks to the sudden bluish circular barrier.
“You gotta listen when people are talking.”
And.
When had she appeared?
A woman standing beside Saitonan within the barrier.
“Why are you killing my kid’s vibe, huh?”
She was a black-and-white woman, plain and simple.
Her twin tails atop dazzling features, her eyes, her shrine maiden robes…… even the folding fan pointing at Do Ye-jin.
“That bitch with zero charm did the same. Always charging in while people talk?”
What…… terrible taste.
Purity was the hallmark of those shrine maiden robes, wasn’t it?
“Did your Baek-jun teach you to act like that or something?”
Yet for some reason.
Her outfit blatantly accentuated her ample chest and hips, to the point of embarrassment.
“Gross, so gross!”
The woman hid her face with the fan and burst into exaggerated laughter.
“Well, yeah, when everyone’s that pathetic, you gotta pull some tricks, right?”
That laugh felt like a boot to his spine…… but Shin Tae-yeop gritted his teeth.
Sure enough…… just like the rumors.
A relentlessly vicious personality, backed by the overwhelming level and title floating above her head.
[Lead Hunter]
[Lv: 279]
He suddenly recalled Choi Sin-yul.
Hwang Ga-in was no pushover, but…… she was starting to look almost fairy-like by comparison.
「I’d appreciate it if you handed her over now.」
That’s when Saitonan flashed a cold smile.
「That mongrel bitch behind you? She’s my subordinate now.」
“Not gonna happen. I’ve already slobbered all over her.”
A touching line he’d heard from Dragon Lady Xserinia.
Ha…… me as a man……
Even a fool like me might’ve been moved────
A kick plunged deep into his side.
────His breath caught, and a zero-empathy tirade echoed frantically in his ear.
“What? What, what, what?! Slobbered? You slobbered on her? When? Where! Ew, disgusting! I’m gonna die of disgust!”
“It’s…… it’s just a figure of speech──”
“──Shut your mouth, you pervert! Sexual harasser! If you actually did it, I’ll rip your mouth off! Got it?”
She wants to fight right now?
Wait, hold on, sexual harasser?
“Hey, look here! Who’d sexually harass a flat-chested kid like you?!”
“What?! What did you just say?!”
“I said you’ve got nothing there! Ack!”
Saitonan watched the scene and let out a bored sigh.
「Curious, Arishel. Don’t you want your lost memories back?」
Did that catch her interest?
Do Ye-jin, red-faced and flailing her arms, suddenly froze. Saitonan’s eyes narrowed.
「I’ll personally retrieve those memories for you. You should be grateful, no?」
In that instant.
The moment she heard those words.
All the meaningless phrases echoing in Do Ye-jin’s ears until now.
- You can do it…… so…… we can meet again…….
- This Song Chan-un dares to behold the glory of the [Daughter of the Abyss].
- Your dad’s a World Executor.
My memories……?
Yeah, I want to know. Desperately.
Why I keep suffering these injustices…… Shin Tae-yeop didn’t miss the crack in her emotions.
「Found it.」
The moment Saitonan smirked.
Invisible tentacles burrowed deep into Do Ye-jin’s mind.
“Ah…… aaaaaaah……!”
Agony like her skull splitting open.
Can’t breathe. Can’t see anything. With a frail death rattle, Do Ye-jin collapsed backward into the snow.
「Now…… let’s go meet him together.」
Her consciousness.
Her consciousness spun dizzily.
Swept into a floating sensation by the voice resounding in her head, it soon began to sink.
Down there.
Down into that endless abyss.
Into the abyss sealed deep within the girl’s soul by some absolute divinity……
「The one who dared defy the Absolute God Yotiatos. Your father…… Edelバイス.」
5.
- You’re abandoned, I’m telling you?
- If my life was a tragedy…… yours is a comedy!
- Couldn’t even kill a dad like that. Poor thing.
Beep beep beep beep beep────
The alarm blaring in her head.
“Ungh……” After groaning a few times, she barely cracked her eyes open.
A familiar ceiling.
Familiar……? Do Ye-jin stared blankly at it, then suddenly bolted upright.
“What…… what is this……?”
Everything was familiar.
The soft bed’s plush feel.
The morning sunlight streaming into the room…… and the Brainphone alert.
[Morning Alarm: 07:20]
How…… how is this possible?
“Oh? You’re already up.”
The door suddenly burst open, startling Do Ye-jin.
“Come on out, Ye-jin. Time for breakfast and getting ready for school.”
Hot tears suddenly streamed down her cheeks.
It was Do Su-jin.
Her sister, apron on as always, wearing that warm smile. As always……?
“Sis…… ter……?”
“Huh? Why…… why are you crying? What’s wrong? You sick?”
Why?
Why wouldn’t the tears stop?
Do Su-jin rushed over with a worried face, pressing a hand to Do Ye-jin’s forehead.
“No fever…… what is it?”
“What? Ye-jin’s crying?!”
Heavy footsteps approached……
“Ah…….”
……and Do Ji-woong burst into the room. He must’ve been eating first. His mouth was dusted with fried crumbs.
“Which bastard…… made my princess cry? Just say the name. I’ll crush his balls────”
“──No.”
Do Ye-jin wiped her tears and shook her head.
“It’s not that…… I’m just…… I’m just…….”
Do Ye-jin threw herself into Do Ji-woong’s arms.
So warm…… she wanted to stay like this forever.
“I had…… such a horrible nightmare…….”
“Nightmare?”
“Yeah. It was all a dream…… thank goodness…… Dad…….”
Yeah.
There’s no way those absurd events were real. It was all just a nightmare.
A nightmare.
A dream you forget upon waking.
Do Ye-jin felt like sticking her tongue out at the fading nightmare in her mind.
Perfect.
Saying it like that.
6.
Chaos.
Absolute chaos loomed before them.
The chaos took the form of a white-haired young man, turning snow and chill into blades that tore the world apart.
“《White Crystal Ice Veil》.”
When the chaos extended his palm and clenched.
Whoever lay in its path.
Their limbs shattered into bone fragments and chunks of flesh.
────Splash!
If someone charged.
From empty air.
He forged a pale-flashing sword, severing one limb in a single clash.
“Sorry…… I’m really sorry…….”
Lee Seong-mi, Lotus Sword plunged into the ground to hold her stance. She panted heavily and cried out.
“Lotus, the speed of 《Lotus Cloud》…… can’t keep up…… can’t keep up…….”
Beneath her long lotus-colored hair.
The face always gentle and soft was long twisted in agonizing fatigue.
“Uwaaaaaah────!”
No one had been optimistic about this fight.
But…… but…… this fight was too hopeless……
──────Splash!
Lee Seong-mi’s mission.
Was to shield the hunters fighting Choi Sin-yul with 《Lotus Cloud》.
“Ah…… no……!”
But.
It was impossible.
Utterly impossible.
Choi Sin-yul’s unique skill was sword arts.
He wielded short, mid, and long-range attacks with mastery…… and all three were lethal.
“Where you looking?!”
Seo Hwa-yun fired a dozen serrated discs.
Whirrrrrr────
Choi Sin-yul spun around in an instant.
Created a frost greatsword, then swung it viciously.
────Slash!
Sword pressure like skin ripping away.
The serrated discs lost power in midair, clattering harmlessly around Choi Sin-yul.
“We were on a date here.”
“…….”
“Keep staring at other girls and I’ll get jealous. I’m clingier than I look.”
Seo Hwa-yun tried to play it off jokingly…… but her mind was on the verge of going blank.
Is this…… really happening?
A battle with an ‘Exalted One.’
The data from that extracted to build this Gundam as the decisive weapon……
“I see.”
“Yeah?”
“Should’ve cut you down first, you persistent pest.”
Huh?
In that instant. That single instant.
Choi Sin-yul vanished from sight.
Only deep footprints in the snow where he’d stood. Right then.
Screeeeech──── screeeeeam!
The shriek of metal being sliced…… a chunk of steel flew into the edge of Seo Hwa-yun’s vision.
What? The Gundam’s left arm……?
Chill assailed her left arm.
Cold sweat drenched her in a flash. A little deeper and…… her arm would’ve gone with it?
Dodge, dodge.
By then, Choi Sin-yul was already.
Raising his crystal sword upward, preparing the second strike.
In a heartbeat.
The instant she envisioned her lower body severed by his blade.
“Uwaaaaaah────!”
Behind Choi Sin-yul.
A dark shadow leaped.
“─────?!”
Speed invisible to the eye.
What appeared first: a visor etched with an elegant eagle and centipede…… [Monster-Eye Bone Helmet].
…………Kim Baek-jun?
So for a moment.
Seo Hwa-yun murmured.
“Baek-jun……?”
But no.
Seo Hwa-yun shook her head. Kim Baek-jun was dead, never to return.
No, it couldn’t be Baek-jun……. Regaining her senses, she assessed the situation.
It was Jeong Ha-kyeong.
Her small sword, caked in blood and gleaming red, swinging down.
Shing─────!
In that instant.
Choi Sin-yul’s eyebrows shot up, and he kicked off the ground hard, creating distance.
What?
Seo Hwa-yun couldn’t believe her eyes.
That Choi Sin-yul…… dodged?
──────Splash!
And.
The ground where the blade struck.
Bubbled as if boiling, then melted away powerlessly.
“Why are you spacing out like an idiot when it doesn’t suit you?!”