Chapter 224
Chapter 224
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 224
Chapter Title: Holy Mountain Decisive Battle, My Name Is (3)
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4.
“Hmph, so that’s where the filthy stench was coming from.”
“That giggling idiot looks just like a half-breed.”
“I hear it hasn’t even been given a name… The World Executor must be agonizing over it.”
Ahahahahaha…
The gods’ laughter trampled over her entire body, and the girl Arishiel bowed her head deeply.
Half-breed.
Nameless wretch.
Filthy thing.
That was how the gods referred to Do Ye-jin in their society. At best, the more polite subordinates called her [Daughter of the Abyss].
“No matter what, you mustn’t cry.”
A familiar voice made her lift her head… and there was a black-haired man in a neatly tailored suit, down on one knee.
Edelweiss.
Arishiel’s real father. Arishiel replied without even lifting her head.
“Yeah.”
“This world might take a while… Be good and wait for me until I return.”
“Yeah.”
She couldn’t understand.
I have a name too.
Why can’t I say that name…?
“The kid…”
Perhaps reading Arishiel’s resignation.
Edelweiss gently placed his hand on the girl’s head.
“Your name is too precious to share with the likes of them.”
“…?”
“Someday you’ll understand… You’re different from us. You’re not a being of despair like we are…”
Edelweiss trailed off and lightly kissed Arishiel’s small forehead.
And then.
He took off his suit jacket, draped it over Arishiel’s shoulders, and stood up.
“Chin up, shoulders back. No matter what anyone says, you’re my daughter.”
Only then could Arishiel lift her head. That warmth gave her strength, somehow.
“Got it?”
Edelweiss wiped the teardrop from the corner of Arishiel’s eye and turned away.
“Yeah…!”
Edelweiss remained expressionless. Her father never showed emotion in front of the gods. So he didn’t look back, just waved his hand.
“Come back soon, Dad…!”
Since when had it started?
There had been a time when she cried endlessly like that.
But Arishiel Lav’s life began to grow more joyful bit by bit.
“Arishiel.”
“Hey, troublemaker.”
“Miss.”
The subordinates, always so cold, started approaching her first… and became the girl’s friends.
“Miss, you can’t go that way!”
“Hey, hey! Catch that quick! That’s the lord’s…!”
Venturing into the gods’ society terrified her, but here in <Edelweiss>, there was nothing to fear.
But… this place…?
It was a basement room she’d entered for the first time in this divine palace, and on the inner wall hung an absurdly massive sword.
“That’s the one I used to use, you tomboy missy.”
When had he arrived?
Someone was petting her head, and when she looked up, Edelweiss was smirking.
“You don’t use it now?”
“More like I can’t.”
“Why?”
“Because it’s a human sword.”
The moment Edelweiss strode forward and touched the hilt.
Zzzzzzzzzzt──────!
A fierce current sparked from the blade, and Edelweiss slowly withdrew his hand with a sigh.
“Then throw it away! Mom said not to hesitate with useless stuff!”
“It’s not useless.”
“Huh?”
“It just needs someone to entrust it to… I haven’t found that person yet. Not even now.”
His father’s eyes, gazing at the blade where holy light and dark glow intertwined in beautiful flickers… looked unbearably desolate.
“Dad. Does someone need to help you?”
That’s why, perhaps.
At that moment, Arishiel tugged at her father’s clothes and said this.
“Then you have me, Dad! I’ll help you!”
“Arishiel, this is…”
“Who else would you trust if not me? Don’t worry, Dad. You’ve got this Arishiel!”
Edelweiss stared at Arishiel silently for a long while, then suddenly placed his hand on his daughter’s head.
She didn’t know why.
But she could see Edelweiss’s smiling fingers trembling violently, his eyes glistening with moisture.
“Stop! No tears! I said Dad’s never supposed to cry! Believe in me! In myself!”
“……!”
“…………!”
“………………!”
It felt like walking through a dream.
“…………!”
Every time she swung Sharholin.
Every time the black-and-white sword light blazing from Sharholin’s blade clashed against Saitonan’s divinity.
Flowing in through the hilt.
The memories of her dad, who had swung and slashed and stabbed with this very Sharholin just like her. Those emotions from back then.
She could feel them clearly.
The sorrow of her dad crumbling after losing Grandma. The tears of her dad torn between the wish to save his friend and Grandma.
“The way your heart resonated when Park Hyun-soo said, ‘You’re truly a kind person.’”
It hurts.
“The trembling that coursed through your body when Shin Tae-yeop said, ‘As expected… you’re a fake…’”
It hurts and it’s agonizing.
“The stifled scream when you said, ‘Never forgive me…’ and severed the throat of Yuya, the girl you cherished like a little sister.”
It hurts and it’s agonizing… and sad.
“The silent sobs in that moment when you said, ‘From now on, I’ll live only for my mother…’ and pierced Chris Myers’s heart.”
One.
One. And another one.
Every time she synchronized with those memories, emotions, motives… it hurts… it hurts like her heart is shattering.
Because she realized it.
Dad never had a time to smile.
Not after his ankle was blasted off. Not even after the battle royale ended. Not even when he held her newborn and gave her a name.
There was none.
Dad never had one.
A moment when he could laugh freely from the heart.
“Get down─────!”
Shin Tae-yeop’s shout snapped Do Ye-jin from the dream.
“─────《Fire Dragon Eleven Gates》!”
In an instant, eleven blazing flame gates surged fiercely before her eyes.
But.
Saitonan broke through them all with his barrier-wrapped body.
“That… monster bastard… bulldozing right through…!”
“Dodge, Heo Cheon-gyeom! That fucker’s targeting you!”
Shin Tae-yeop’s breathless mutter.
Lee Ha-ram’s urgent warning. But it was meaningless.
Fwooooosh───────!
Saitonan’s tentacle pierced Heo Cheon-gyeom’s side, then hurled him toward the boy and girl.
“Cheon-gyeom!”
“You fucker!”
As the boy and girl’s eyes turned to their friends rolling across the snowfield, staining it red with blood.
“Attack—is this all?”
Saitonan charged, slamming down with the claws on his carapace back.
Of course, right at that moment.
Do Ye-jin hurled herself forward, blocking Saitonan with Sharholin.
Kagagagagagak──────!
Heavy…?!
Why does this guy keep getting stronger…? Do Ye-jin gritted her teeth and poured more strength into her hands.
──────Kaaaaang!
As Saitonan’s claw bounced off Sharholin’s blade, he smirked.
“With only that monstrous strength subtracted, your attacks aren’t even a threat.”
He whipped out a shell-covered tentacle viciously… and Do Ye-jin swung her blade to deflect it.
But the sensation of the cut felt off.
Not hard… like slicing into something soft and squishy…?
“Heh heh heh heh… Too slow to notice.”
Suddenly, the shredded tentacle flesh in midair turned into stark white slugs.
“Whirling in chaos, Pehullachiron.”
With Saitonan’s incantation.
They plastered themselves to Do Ye-jin’s limbs, spewing deadly cold poison.
“Ah… Aaaahhh…!”
Hurts, it hurts.
Pain like thousands of icy needles plunging deep into her flesh. She had to shake them off. But.
What…?
She couldn’t move…?
Shin Tae-yeop’s flame magic and Lee Ha-ram’s massive boomerang flew in then, but bounced harmlessly off Saitonan’s barrier.
“Hahahahaha! Are those the injured ones lying there so nicely behind you?”
Saitonan pointed his tail at Ryu Hyun-ji and Park Ji-won, then laughed “ahaha” at Do Ye-jin’s expression.
“Be grateful, mongrel. Before I send you to Ekillas, I’ll let you enjoy a nice show.”
The moment he glanced that way, Saitonan’s <Icewheel> blazed brilliantly, and the encasing shell there bloomed open like petals.
“Humans’ faces before death are worth seeing. Oh, same for half-breeds like you?”
Saitonan’s sneer.
Shin Tae-yeop and Shyrak’s screams.
“Saitonan, you fucker…! Ha-ram! Ji-won and Hyun-ji’s side! Hurry!”
“Shishishishishi!”
The northern brilliance began dazzling the world.
“Look…! At those trash humans!”
Before the cackling Saitonan, Do Ye-jin said this.
“I’m not a mongrel…”
Even as pain blackened her vision.
Even with no strength left to move her lips. Do Ye-jin had to say it.
“Not a half-breed… nor [Daughter of the Abyss]…!”
My.
My name.
At that moment, did it resonate with the sword lord’s resolute will?
“My name is Arishiel… Arishiel…!”
Suddenly, holy light and dark thoughts overflowed from the blade of the [Holy Demon Sword: Sharholin], dancing wildly.
“The name my mom and dad gave me is Arishiel Lav─────!”
And in that sword light’s dance.
The Ekillas bugs binding Do Ye-jin like chains were mercilessly shredded into chunks of flesh.
“────────[Dawn of All Worlds]!”
Right then.
The instant Saitonan turned his body—his <Icewheel>’s muzzle—toward Do Ye-jin.
“Insolent bitch… How did you handle Pehullachiron?”
The instant the frosty flash concentrated in Saitonan’s <Icewheel> exploded forth.
Wung, wung, wung, wung, wung.
The Holy Demon Sword, Sharholin, throbbed heavily in Do Ye-jin’s grip.
Sharholin…?
You want me to use you here, now?
No time to think, no time to hesitate. No need to recall the unique incantation.
“Do Ye-jin!”
“Hey! Dodge, you idiot!”
“Shishishishishishisi!”
The sword told her.
How Dad had wielded it.
Step forward with the left foot. Thrust the blade tip forward with full force. Throw back the head and cry out.
“Devour─────────!”
With that linked motion.
Sharholin’s special ability was unleashed.
“────────Sharholin!”
Tzzzzzzzzz…!
A dazzling torrent of holy light and dark thoughts rising from the blade.
Cracklerackleracklerackle─────!
That torrent clashed against the massive beam flooding her vision, painting it pale.
“H… Haaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!”
Overwhelming power that froze concepts themselves.
Was she being pushed back by that force?
The ground beneath the girl’s feet began to crater, and her muscles throbbed as if shattering.
But… that was it.
Sharholin’s torrent hadn’t countered Tollynalion from the start.
Not countering.
But softly intertwining… absorbing it into the blade.
Shuuuuuwaaaaa………………!
Manifestation of Sharholin’s special ability, 《Form Absorption》.
《Form Absorption》.
The power that sucked in all the world’s forces and made them its own—even absorbed Saitonan’s Tollynalion, converting it into its own strength.
“The blade…?”
Do Ye-jin muttered blankly.
The moment absorption ended, the blade began covering itself in pale crystals.
What…?
This overwhelming aura from the blade. It’s Tollynalion itself, the one Saitonan fired…?
“Fire it! Blast it away!”
That’s when Shin Tae-yeop’s thrilled shout reached her.
“The holy sword Sharilion… that blade’s ability isn’t just absorption!”
Dad.
Don’t cry anymore.
Don’t suffer anymore.
“It amplifies the absorbed power and explodes it—that’s the real ability!”
“What?”
I’ll come to you, Dad.
So all the wrongs you’ve done can be forgiven… I’ll run hard for you.
“Return it!”
“……!”
“Return that bastard’s power right back at him!”
In that instant, Do Ye-jin’s heart resonated with Sharholin.
Yeah… Got it…!
Do Ye-jin instinctively raised Sharholin overhead…
“Saitonan──────!”
You get it, right, Dad?
Don’t suffer anymore.
Smile.
Smile freely from the heart.
I’ll work harder than all the wrongs you’ve done. I’ll… work even harder…
“────────You’re fucked!”
…She roared, slamming it down to the ground with full power.
No…?
Saitonan had no time to react. Even until then, he couldn’t believe the sight of his Tollynalion vanishing.
“─────?!”
He thought she’d foolishly slammed the bare ground. But in an instant, a blizzard of crystals filled his vision, surging forward.
Not mere crystals…?
Each one embodied explosive thermal cold… Could this be Tollynalion’s power…?
Pabababababababababababababababababababababababababababak─────!
Impossible.
What is this power? How?
“Saitonan’s barrier…?”
“It’s… piercing through…!”
My barrier… can’t block it?
───────Thwooooooooaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!
The crystals’ power was overwhelming.
Shattering Saitonan’s absolute barrier in one go and invading…
“U… Uwaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!”
…Enough to tear Saitonan’s body into hundreds, thousands of flesh chunks.
“We… We did it…!”
“Shishishishishi!”
“That bastard finally…!”
It should have ended there.
Saitonan’s body had been scattered everywhere as blood, bone shards, and meat flecks.
“I…”
But he was alive.
“I… cannot die…”