Chapter 91
Chapter 91
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 91
Chapter Title: Remnants of Light, Survivors (4)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
7.
“For me and my world? You really are a fool.”
Kserinia looked at me and smiled, a smile so beautiful it took my breath away.
“But the gods love fools. A purity without flaw... A fool is the image most like a god.”
Tears welled up in her eyes right then.
“Beautiful Apostle of Light. May I make a few requests?”
“I’ll hear them.”
“Beyond the Holy City... in the land of the Abyss, my son is there.”
Son...?
She had said she was the mother of the ice dragon. Which meant...
“A dragon?”
“The ice dragon. Even now, he devours the Abyss to keep the world safe, honoring a promise from his youth.”
“......!”
“But the Abyss breaks even the noble spirit of a dragon. That child has become like a creature of the Abyss.”
“What should I do?”
“Grant him rest at last. Please.”
I lifted my gaze and looked straight at Kserinia.
This woman... she means it.
She’s sincerely asking me to kill her own child.
“But I don’t know if we can even reach that place.”
Do Ye-jin spoke up then.
“The worlds might have merged there too...”
“It has happened. I heard Roheiritz discovered a few intruders there... Apostles... no, Hunters.”
Kserinia turned her head back to me.
“Will you grant my request?”
I clutched my chest.
It hurt. Facing the tragedies rampant in this world hurt so much.
“If that’s truly your wish.”
That was all I could manage to say.
If the Abyss overlapped with that location... he might have become a Subordinate. Which meant we might be able to hunt him.
“It’s my true wish.”
Kserinia’s reply was swift.
As I opened my mouth to say “Understood,” she spoke again.
“And... will you deliver a message to him?”
“......?”
“Tell him Mommy’s sorry.”
The smile Kserinia wore then was so heartbreaking that I had to suppress my sorrow for a moment.
“In his final moment... purified by Verkensia’s blade, then my voice will reach him.”
It was that instant.
Kserinia vomited blackened blood. At the same time, the dawnlight world began to crumble.
We were back in reality.
Gaineb and Byro Nika tended to the blood-vomiting Kserinia from both sides, while Roheiritz stood against the wall with arms crossed.
All three had shed the robes that had wrapped their bodies tightly... and like Kserinia, their skin was rotting in places.
“And one final... final request...”
Her voice was unmistakably different from before.
The voice of one dying yet unable to die, filled with agony.
“Grant rest now... to me... and to these children who cared for me until the end... the rest of light...”
For a moment, I couldn’t believe my ears.
Do Ye-jin tugged my hand and shook her head furiously.
“Uncle.”
“Are you... asking me to kill you now?”
“There’s no need for such cruelty. Just place your hand on Verkensia.”
“Uncle, no.”
“Child... what you’re doing isn’t born of kindness... Look at us... Look at our world...”
Do Ye-jin bowed her head.
She must have remembered the horrific state of the three women... and the undead scattered across this world.
“Do all three of you truly wish for this?”
I confirmed their will once more.
Is this how doctors feel gazing at patients begging for euthanasia?
The three women exchanged glances.
“Since we’re going, it’d be nice to go with the young lady.”
“I think so too.”
“If I can go with you two... now is best.”
They smiled, a smile like weeping, one only those who shared a past could wear. I asked again.
“Are you sure?”
“Yes.”
“Right now?”
“Give us half a day. Time to put our lives in order.”
8.
For half a day, I waited.
I had no desire to know what they did, and even if I did, no wish to write it here.
No need to explain anew how dear their bond was.
Forty years.
They had lived together in this ruined world for a full forty years. And bonds from before the world’s fall too.
“Is there really no other way?”
Do Ye-jin asked again.
She must have been deeply moved by Kserinia. She’d asked several times now.
“Once the Subordinate hunt ends... this world vanishes anyway. It’s just late death or swift death.”
“Why does death have to be an option?”
“Hm?”
“Dying is sad. Someone dying... I really hate it now... Why don’t the dying think of those left behind? You said it before, Uncle. Death is the end of everything. Life is full of possibilities.”
This girl...
With a heavy heart, I placed my hand on Do Ye-jin’s head.
“A long time ago... back when I was a patrol officer, I saved someone trying to jump to their death.”
“......?”
“That person just cursed me nonstop. Know what he said? That death is better than life for some people.”
Do Ye-jin’s mouth fell open in confusion.
“He killed himself in the end. That’s when I realized: you can persuade between life and death, but you can’t turn back someone who’s already chosen.”
“That’s...”
“They’re probably in even more pain than that man. Let’s let them rest.”
They had waited for me.
Had Kserinia... fought endlessly against the soul plague for forty years just to leave me one piece of advice?
So I waited.
Outside the mansion, I waited on. I looked down at the Dawn Sword.
- It smells of light. Like that.
You... how desperately did you fight in this wretched land?
Time passed faster than expected.
Too many thoughts to sort.
“We’re ready.”
Finally, Roheiritz came to call us.
In the room, the three women had changed into mourning clothes.
“Thank you sincerely... for granting our burdensome request.”
I drew the Dawn Sword from my back.
As per their wish, I leaned it against the wall for a moment. The women prostrated themselves before the Dawn Sword.
“For bringing us into this world, for granting us true bonds, for letting us know you. We thank you from the heart.”
Gaineb led the final prayer rite. At the rite’s end, Kserinia spoke to me.
“This Roheiritz will stay until the end... to aid your journey toward the Eternal Tree.”
I startled and looked at him.
Come to think of it, Roheiritz hadn’t changed into mourning clothes?
“He wishes to apologize for slaughtering your comrades.”
“No need to go that far...”
Roheiritz shook his head firmly.
“It’s not about apology. I just don’t want to end my life in such a pathetic way.”
He pulled a tattered map from his bosom and showed it to me.
“At the Holy City’s center lies [Eternal Tree Square]. The Eternal Tree is protected by the old knight order that guarded it... and the last bloodline of the Sun.”
Last bloodline of the Sun...?
Like the Pope of their world? Gaineb said.
“Above all, [Eternal Tree Square] is inside a sturdy inner citadel. Even entering is a trial. You’ll need a guide from the start.”
I made a burdened face, but inwardly, I couldn’t deny the reassurance.
His power was immense.
If that power aided the hunt... he’d know my feelings without words.
“Apostle of Light. May Tersia’s light fill your path. This is recompense for granting our request.”
Kserinia grasped the back of my hand with her rotting fingers.
“No... what is this...?”
I was shocked.
The dragon’s stigmata faded from her forehead and etched onto the back of my hand.
[Acquired ??????, Ice Dragon King’s Stigmata]
“The stigmata he gave me... I entrust it to you now...”
I looked up from the tooltip for a moment.
“You don’t have to give it. How can you give something so precious to me...”
“No... you’ll need it... to endure my child’s... chill... you’ll need this...”
Kserinia seemed at her limit.
She touched the Dawn Sword’s blade with her finger before finishing her words.
In that instant. There was light.
Dawnlight enveloped Kserinia’s hand, climbed her arm and shoulder, spreading through her body.
Kserinia didn’t scream.
On her face rose just one thing. Peace. Had she found rest?
Do Ye-jin buried her face in my leg.
Kserinia’s body turned to motes of light from her fingers, mingling with the sand breeze in an instant.
The emptiness of death blanketed the room.
Next was Byro Nika.
Instead of going straight to the Dawn Sword, she approached Roheiritz first.
“You were late last time, remember?”
Roheiritz nodded silently.
“Over forty years ago now.”
“Women hold grudges. If you’re late this time, I won’t let it slide. Got it?”
“......”
“Got it? Answer me.”
“Understood.”
“I’ll be waiting with Uncle. Don’t be late for real?”
Byro Nika smiled brightly, hands behind her back as she walked backward, then took a deep breath. And touched the Dawn Sword.
“………….”
As she followed Kserinia’s path, I caught Roheiritz’s expression crack slightly.
This guy... he’s hiding his grief.
Watching the tragedy’s end with a pang, Gaineb approached me.
“For last, I offer this.”
She handed over parchment on the verge of crumbling. Three characters like Hanja written on it.
“This is...?”
The moment I asked,
An info window rose before my eyes in brilliant light.
I fixed my gaze on the bottom tooltip right away.
頌 means peace.
It was the symbol of one of the four creation gods who shaped and loved this world: Redonya.
Two new Lin characters...?
I gasped and whipped my head up. Gaineb said.
“Do you know how to read it?”
“Will you tell me?”
“My memory’s not perfect, two words are missing... but this phrase is said to be the first words the creation gods spoke when shaping the world.”
The moment Gaineb whispered softly.
“Tarhye Rondeol.”
I felt as if light pierced this dark world.
What...?
My body tingled and trembled.
The Dawn Sword’s glow shone several times brighter than usual.
“Is this... meant to be read connected? What does it mean?”
Gaineb smiled freshly.
“Let there be light.”
“......!”
“When shaping the world, the creation gods wished for grace and peace, truth and justice to fill it, and spoke thus.”
Gaineb gave a gentle smile.
“May Tarhye Rondeol guide your path... Dursiel. Aden Teribaslra. Ferbirion.”
Tarhye Rondeol.
Much later,
I would learn this was the most precious gift from this world.
How much time passed in mournful silence? Do Ye-jin tugged my clothes.
“Uncle...”
“Is there really a paradise?”
“......Paradise?”
“Mom said so. Dead people go to paradise. She’d wait there.”
Paradise...
Was my mother Christian or Catholic? I couldn’t affirm paradise’s existence. But.
“It exists. I’ve been there myself.”
“......Really?”
“Beyond the distant sky... a world of light. A land where twilight eternally falls... A heaven where warm winds always embrace you... A peaceful world without nightmares, sorrow, or hunts.”
The graveyard of the beacon keeper.
The day Kim Gye-sang died, I met hope there.
“They’ve all gone there. So don’t cry.”
I said it, but deep down, I truly hoped so.
My comrades who died and left first too.
I felt a gaze and looked up.
Roheiritz staring at me with trembling eyes. The moment our gazes met, he turned away.
“Follow me.”
Roheiritz led us to the middle of the main road. Where one pilgrim wailed.
“Do you have a map of your world?”
Yes.
The reconnaissance team’s handmade maps were with all alliance members.
“There’s an easy way to know where the Eternal Tree is. Follow where the pilgrim weeps.”
“What?”
No way.
The pilgrims all prayed in one direction.
“Isn’t this your world’s downtown? Easy to find your position on the map.”
It was.
150 meters ahead stood the [Cheonun Munhak Library] building.
So my position was... the northern edge.
From my spot, I stretched my finger southeast toward where the pilgrim wept... and doubted my eyes.
Inner citadel... knight order... square...
My god.
It was here?
I pulled my trembling finger away, revealing the hidden place name.
[Ice Dragon King’s Stigmata]
[Description Summary]
- 1: A blessing from the dragon race leader, a creature made by light to seal the Abyss.
[Usage]
- Chant the great dragon king’s name to unleash the stigmata’s icy authority in an instant.
[Unique Skill: 《7th Stigmata》]
- Cold resistance 98%
- Uses available: (1)
Ice Dragon King Salarakas.
He loved the human Kserinia, and as proof left this stigmata.
The ice dragon stayed loyal to his earthly command until the moment he died to the ‘spider devouring the world.’
Devour the darkness with your body.
So dawn may break on this land.
[Lin Characters: 珍, 頌, 璨]
珍 means grace.
It was the symbol of one of the four creation gods who shaped and loved this world: Yurbel.
璨 means truth.
It was the symbol of one of the four creation gods who shaped and loved this world: Otniel.
Gyeongbok Palace.