Chapter 89
Chapter 89
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 89
Chapter Title: Remnants of Light, the Survivors (2)
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4.
The mother of dragons?
That dragon from movies or novels?
The story was getting more complicated by the minute. I took a moment to sort through my thoughts.
“If I go there, will I find out?”
“Find out what?”
“About this world’s destruction…… and the impact it had on my world.”
A brief silence fell.
Gaineib let out a sigh that sounded apologetic.
“I can explain what I remember……”
“……?”
“But I can’t promise much. I’ve been suffering from Lost Soul Disease for 40 years…… so a lot of my memories are gone.”
Forty years? Lost Soul Disease?
I repeated the unfamiliar term.
“Explaining it would take too long. But since you bear the True Dragon King’s stigmata…… you’ll get more answers from them than from us.”
I froze for a moment.
The truth of the destruction, which had seemed like an unsolvable riddle…… could I really uncover it this easily?
“But only you can go. The ones behind you have too strong an aura of the outer universe.”
Roheiritz glanced briefly at Shin Tae-yeop before drawing the line.
“No one knows what that outer universe energy might do to you. I’m not taking that risk.”
Outer universe…… Did that mean the stars? Roheiritz’s conditions didn’t end there.
“And that gear…… Take off the clothes and helmet. Why is Berkenxia’s successor carrying equipment like that?”
“You mean disarm?”
“I mean take off that trash.”
I let out a sigh.
His commanding tone grated on me, but I couldn’t say it didn’t make sense.
[Grotesque Socket Helmet].
[Shadow Exoskeleton Cloak].
The Nightmare presence still clung to this Subordinate’s gear with chilling clarity.
Whenever I used its exclusive skills, a voice that nearly shattered my consciousness would echo.
“It’s a lie!”
Then, from behind, Do Ye-jin shouted as if to intervene.
“All that yapping is obviously just a trick to lure you out!”
“Yeah, bro.”
Park Ji-won chimed in right away.
“If you have to go, take me with you. There’s no way you can go alone. That guy’s a murderer who killed who knows how many people? A Hunter from another world……!”
It was a perfectly natural reaction.
Through my communion with the Dawn Sword, I’d learned they were comrades of the [Master of the Broken Dawn].
“Calm down.”
To them, these people were just Hunters from another world…… enemies who’d tried to kill them just moments ago.
“Something…… feels off. I’m just going to check it out.”
At my firm response, Do Ye-jin and Park Ji-won exchanged glances and hesitated.
“But……”
I forced a smile and removed the [Grotesque Socket Helmet], placing it on Park Ji-won’s head.
“I’ll be fine, so head back first.”
Then I took off the [Shadow Exoskeleton Cloak] and draped it over Do Ye-jin’s half-naked shoulders.
“And we need to lift the Association’s emergency alert. For now, at least.”
I turned to Gaineib.
“How long until those two kids are treated?”
“It’ll be quick.”
Gaineib pointed to the Dawn Sword with a gentle smile.
“With the source of miracles right here, its power is amplified several times over.”
“Good. Ye-jin, Hyun-ji, Ji-won. You three guard Shin Tae-yeop and Cheon-gyeom until they can walk, then head back to Paradise together. Got it?”
I didn’t wait for their replies and turned to Roheiritz.
“Give me a chance to apologize for attacking those kids.”
“What?”
“Simple. Use your power to protect them until they leave this place.”
Roheiritz glared at me through the crow mask for a long while. When Byronicca tugged at his sleeve, he finally spoke.
“I’m not apologizing. But if that’s what it takes for you to come, fine. One question, though.”
“What?”
“Why travel with something like that?”
Roheiritz nodded toward Do Ye-jin with his chin. Do Ye-jin snapped back fiercely.
“I’m not ‘something.’ My name is Do Ye-jin. I have a proper name.”
“What a bizarre name.”
“What’d you say?”
Roheiritz ignored Do Ye-jin and turned back to me.
“I get that it’s not ‘that guy’…… but I can’t fathom why you’d travel with it. Do you know it’s a manifestation of the Abyss?”
The word Abyss kept repeating.
If memory served, Jeong Ha-kyeong’s unique skill had been Abyss-attributed……
“Does that matter?”
“Of course it does. Only the [Forgotten Kings] can wield such potent Abyss energy.”
Roheiritz added with a sigh. Gaineib spoke to soothe me.
“That child seems to have quite the story. Right? Figuring it out might let us share some helpful info.”
The inner workings of a Subordinate weapon?
It wouldn’t be hard to tell them…… but we’d only just met?
I hesitated for a split second.
The Dawn Sword seemed to urge me on, so I began explaining.
“……That’s how he came to wield the Subordinate’s power.”
A sudden silence fell.
The black-haired Byronicca let out a hum.
“That’s really weird…… Has the Abyss ever forced its power on anyone?”
“Not that I know of. The Abyss only empowers those who peer into it willingly.”
Roheiritz crushed a pebble at his feet and added,
“And it only tempts those worthy of its power. By this one’s account, the kid wasn’t worthy. From the Abyss’s perspective, anyway.”
At Roheiritz’s words, Gaineib looked at me.
“By any chance…… did that king…… no, Subordinate…… have a name?”
The Subordinate’s name?
“Yes, but…… why?”
“It might be the same entity that existed in our world.”
I froze again.
According to Choi Uk and Kim Gye-sang’s theories, this destruction game transcended multiple worlds.
That would mean the Exalted Ones and their Subordinates had descended on every world.
And if a world failed the hunt, the Subordinates might have been recycled.
“Ari’shelrap. It’s called Ari’shelrap.”
Gaineib fell silent.
It was an unusual reaction from her, who’d remained composed even through tears.
“Ari’shelrap?”
“That’s the pronunciation. Seems the translation worked well.”
“Did it have a title? Something like Writhing Chaos or Ancient Sea Lord……”
“Yes. It was probably Raging Despair.”
Gaineib’s face took on an incredulous expression.
“How strange. Truly bizarre. The title and name don’t match at all. They’re complete opposites, even.”
“……What do you mean?”
“I’ll write it on the ground. Is this how you write Ari’shelrap?”
What Gaineib wrote on the dirt…… looked like Hanja characters. So the translation only went as far as speech?
“It’s different from my world’s language, so I’m not sure. We write it like this.”
I paused as I wrote Hangul next to the worm-like script.
Wait a second.
Doesn’t this look a bit like runes?
“Ari’shelrap is a phrase that appears often in our holy scriptures.”
Holy scriptures?
This was getting weird.
I swallowed dryly and asked what it meant. The answer was this:
“The dawn of all worlds.”
I don’t know why.
But my heart suddenly jolted.
“Really? That’s the only meaning? No homonyms or anything……”
“It’s the language of the gods. There were hardly any known words. No homonyms exist.”
Gaineib turned to Roheiritz.
“We need to show that child to her.”
“What? No. It’s dangerous.”
“No. Perhaps…… some divine providence of light we couldn’t see…… shaped that child.”
5.
I easily obtained information about the destroyed world from the survivors.
“It was originally a city built in the desert? Or did everything that was here turn to dust?”
The city of ashen sand.
My boots sank about 3 cm with each step. Gaineib answered my question.
“The former. This is the Holy City. Built in the middle of the desert.”
Every glance around revealed ruins of stone structures buried in sand.
“Why build a city in a place like this……?”
“Because of the sacred tree that sealed the Abyss.”
Sacred tree?
It felt off. The moment she said it, an uneasy air rippled through my otherworlder companions.
Something must have happened……
I knelt on one knee.
Grabbing a handful of sand, the rough grains slipped through my fingers.
All things returning to nothingness.
Was this emptiness the end of a world……? It was a strange feeling.
That’s when I looked up.
At the edge of my vision, I saw Do Ye-jin’s face, lips pursed in a pout.
“Why the long face? Tell me if something’s wrong.”
“Just…… I don’t like traveling with those guys.”
“Yeah?”
“Look at their clothes. They’re bundled up like they’re hiding something. And……”
Do Ye-jin beckoned me closer.
When I brought my ear near, he whispered softly.
“There’s a corpse stench. Intense.”
“Yeah. I figured.”
“And…… the northern Hunters were bad guys, sure…… but you killed them all. How are you so calm about it?”
The question was obvious.
A weary smile naturally crossed my face.
“You’re making the exact same face Seung-hyeon used to.”
“……Cha Seung-hyeon?”
“Yeah. Seung-hyeon.”
At that name, pain flickered across Do Ye-jin’s face for a moment.
“When? When did he?”
“After the council ended. He asked why I was sparing you, if I was sane, with that exact look.”
I deliberately paused.
A brief silence. Then Do Ye-jin couldn’t hold back and pressed.
“So…… what did you say?”
“I said the ones we should hate aren’t people, but those things.”
I pointed to the sky.
Even in this world where realms overlapped, the stars gazed down at us with brilliant eyes.
“How did Seung-hyeon treat you after hearing that?”
“He treated me…… way better than I deserved…… really well.”
“Right? I figured.”
“I miss Seung-hyeon. Geon-woo oppa too. Byeong-gyu ajusshi too.”
Do Ye-jin said, head bowed.
Me too……
I suppressed the words welling from deep inside and said instead,
“I haven’t forgotten Roheiritz’s atrocities. I haven’t forgiven them. I just want to sort out who’s right and wrong clearly.”
Do Ye-jin nodded silently. After that, he didn’t pout anymore.
“Is the chit-chat over? No time to dawdle. Hurry up and follow.”
How much further did we walk after that?
We arrived at a stone mansion surrounded by a fence.
A desolate, gloomy atmosphere.
Demons of the void perched atop the fence like statues, all turning to stare at me in unison.
Gaineib led us inside the crumbling mansion, lantern in hand.
Sandalwood incense……
As we walked the dark corridor, the scent was so thick it stung my nose.
Gaineib stopped at a room in the heart of the mansion. A curtain hung in place of a door.
“Miss, we have a guest.”
Surprisingly, an elegant woman’s voice replied.
“I know…… Show them in.”
Gaineib held the curtain aside.
She gestured for me to enter right away.
The interior was like a prayer room.
Sandalwood smoke rose from a censer. Fireflies—perhaps part of a miracle—floated about, softly illuminating the space.
And there…… I met Lady Dragon Kserinia.
The status of Lady Dragon.
The elegant voice I’d first heard.
My vague imaginings from those two shattered in an instant. Do Ye-jin grabbed my sleeve.
Kserinia looked half like a mummy.
The flesh clinging to her bones was mostly rotted red, and the few remaining strands of hair resembled wire.
Worst of all was the corpse stench…… So that’s why the sandalwood was so overpowering?
“Staring at the daughter of the house like that is a breach of etiquette, you know.”