Chapter 96
Chapter 96
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 96
Chapter Title: Rest to This Ruined World, Gyeongbokgung Siege (5)
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12.
And Arczrehid.
Placed his right hand atop the blade of the Dawn Sword with an utterly serene expression.
「I'll go on ahead first, and wait for you there alongside him.」
At that moment.
A single crack formed in his right hand, spreading instantly throughout his entire body. Dazzling dawnlight poured forth from those fissures.
Crack.
The sound of something shattering.
Soon, Arczrehid's body fragmented in every direction like shards of glass, dissolving into particles of light that scattered into the air.
──Clack.
The soulstone dropped to the floor.
The particles of light danced around me right up until they faded away.
For a brief instant then.
I felt a profound sense of nostalgia, as if I were back in my distant hometown…… in the forest of fireflies.
……Impossible.
Thud, my knees buckled in that moment.
It wasn't from the release of tension, nor from the thrill of victory.
It was because of the Dawn Sword.
Because I could acutely feel the wave of grief surging forth from the Dawn Sword……
Just what had happened between these two? I crawled forward on my knees and picked up the soulstone of the subordinate.
[Legendary Material Acquired: Arczrehid's Soulstone]
To keep a promise……
I'm not the sharpest tool in the shed, but by now, even I couldn't pretend not to know.
His first friend was the [Nameless Demigod].
His second friend must have been the [Master of the Broken Dawn].
Hold on.
Doesn't that mean……?
That the [Master of the Broken Dawn] and the [Nameless Demigod] fought in this world?
“This isn't the time to be dawdling. Can't you see the Spirit Tree is still standing tall?”
Roheirits's reprimand flew at me. I lifted my head from the tooltip and sprang to my feet.
Now that he mentioned it, that was true.
No [Hunt Success] notification had come even after Arczrehid dissolved into light.
“What about your side?”
“Already taken care of. Now for me too…… the void ends here.”
A desperate struggle against a hundred knights.
Even Roheirits's body was a battered mess.
“My mission too…… is finally coming to an end…….”
He tossed aside his crow mask and spat out a rough clot of blood.
“Roheirits!”
“Enough…… I don't need your pity…….”
“…….”
“But…… I have a request. Could you…… support me so I can make it to the Spirit Tree……?”
I gladly lent Roheirits my arm, and together we walked toward the Spirit Tree.
“So…… that's how it was.”
I drew in a breath.
Someone was there. A girl was leaning against the trunk of the Spirit Tree, clutching something to her chest.
A crown upon her brow.
Clothes noble at first glance.
“No way.”
“Indeed. The last descendant of the sun…… a pointless endeavor.”
“A pointless endeavor?”
“Do you know what that child is holding? It's the Miracle Sun.”
The sun?
That tiny thing?
“She was using the power of that sun to seal the Spirit Tree's time. Even her own time…….”
Roheirits said in a bitter voice. It was then that I spotted the inscription on that sun.
So that's what it was.
The reason the Spirit Tree had sustained this world until now……
I was standing at the very tail end of one world's destruction.
“Now destroy that sun. Time to put an end to this needless folly.”
There was no need to destroy it.
The moment I touched it, cracks spiderwebbed across the sun, and it shattered in a blinding flash.
A flash that seared my eyes.
When I finally reopened them, everything had changed.
The Spirit Tree had withered to death.
The princess had become a skeleton clad in rags. And seawater rotted up to her ankles had risen.
Had the halted time been freed, bringing instant senescence?
And the Spirit Tree's rot…… was because it held this peculiar seawater?
Was this the source of the ocean scent from Cheongun Hyoja-dong?
“How much trouble this little brat's pointless stunt caused us.”
“It wasn't pointless.”
“What would you know……?”
Roheirits bristled in an instant.
I looked down at the princess and gave a wry smile.
“Thanks to this princess's sacrifice, I got to meet the Dragon Lady. I met Gaineib and received the script of light…….”
And then.
I raised my head and looked Roheirits straight in the eye.
“And I got to receive your help. Help from you, arrogant above all, yet strong as they come.”
I hadn't forgiven all of Roheirits's atrocities. But gratitude was gratitude.
“Well…….”
Roheirits gazed at me for a moment, then let out an odd chuckle.
“You're truly a wondrous man.”
“And you're a truly insolent one.”
“The lady always used to say it. That you carried the scent of light…….”
“……?”
“I never believed it. Never even tried to. But now, I think I can.”
“What?”
Roheirits spread his arms wide. His body was covered in wounds.
“I sincerely apologize for the rude actions I took when we first met.”
“……?”
“For murdering your world's people. And for the pain inflicted on that little one…….”
I doubted my ears for a moment.
“You're…… apologizing now?”
“Beni would have been more shocked than you. I've never apologized once in my life.”
“Something to brag about?”
“It is. And know that this is my first and last apology.”
What?
Roheirits smiled with a sense of fulfillment and relief.
“Now, will you let me go as well? To that twilight paradise you spoke of.”
“……?”
“Beyond the distant sky…… a world of light. A land eternally bathed in twilight……. A heaven where warm winds always embrace the body…… a world of peace without nightmares, sorrow, or hunts.”
How could it be?
That Roheirits was reciting my exact words from back then.
The words "Can't you help me just a bit more?" didn't come.
He was exhausted. I could feel it with all my heart.
“With you…… you might actually pull it off…….”
He kept coughing.
The Dawn Sword grew heavy in my grip like a lump of lead. I had to switch hands on the hilt several times.
A moment's hesitation.
The Dawn Sword's anguished wail.
The next instant.
I gave Roheirits what I had promised.
Through the hilt came the final tremor of life…… and then…… the coughing of this world's last survivor…… ceased…….
[Notice: 'Cheongun Hyoja-dong' is incorporated into 'New Seodaemun-gu.']
[Notice: 'Purification Operation' begins in the region 'Cheongun Hyoja-dong.']
13.
“Your judgment was correct.”
Choi Uk said.
“About how to handle Do Ye-jin.”
“My judgment was correct…… that's not quite it.”
“……?”
“I simply believed. Responding to that belief was entirely Ye-jin's achievement.”
<Association> Gyeonghuigung Headquarters.
At my response, several executives nodded in agreement.
“What, so roughly translated, your success in subordinate hunting was just you living up to our faith, and entirely your own merit?”
Seo Hwa-yun giggled.
Even knowing it was a pun, I stammered awkwardly.
“Th-that's not what I meant.”
“Relax, I was joking. Everyone knows.”
The executives exchanged warm smiles.
The subdued mood since the Great Library expedition had brightened instantly after the Cheongun Hyoja-dong operation.
The Cheongun Hyoja-dong operation was a great victory.
There were sacrifices, but nothing like before.
And the greatest fruit was, without doubt, that Do Ye-jin had tamed the subordinate's power.
“Then let's handle the postponed business. First item on the agenda…… selecting new executives.”
I could feel the executives glancing at me. I waved it off.
“No need to hold back. It's truly fine now.”
Her body might not be with us.
But that will toward dawn is still with me.
“Please prioritize reputation over skill in selecting candidates. Once three are chosen, we'll decide by full Association vote.”
Shin Tae-yeop raised his hand immediately with a serious face.
“I nominate Do Su-jin.”
“Reason?”
“She's pretty. We need a face for the executive meetings──”
──“I see. But that's not a valid reason.”
I cut him off like that, then chuckled inwardly.
The place had been listless since the Great Library, but seeing them back to their energetic selves felt good.
“No, but we do need a face!”
“We have one. There's Ha-kyeong right here.”
I pointed to Jeong Ha-kyeong, who stood beside me as secretary.
A momentary silence.
The next instant, Seo Hwa-yun slammed the table with her palm, bursting into laughter, and Shin Tae-yeop shook his head with a sigh.
“Hmph…… Uncle, you're the Association Chairman after all. Maybe hold back on the personal biases in public?”
Jeong Ha-kyeong replied.
“Why? Jealous, bitch? Fuckin' jealous?”
“Not jealous…… well, tastes vary!”
Shin Tae-yeop subtly prepared to flee. I raised a hand to calm the commotion.
“Alright, alright. Jokes end here. We have a mountain of agenda items.”
“Who started this mess, pretending you're innocent?”
Jeong Ha-kyeong punched my forehead. Honestly, it really hurt. No exaggeration.
Once the laughter died down, the backlog of items began to be processed one by one.
Issues arising in the western Paradise.
Ensuring <Association> policing in the central and southern areas.
Even filling the gap left by northern Hunters and controlling the Paradise they had secured.
[Arczrehid's Soulstone]
[Description Summary]
― 1: A clear white soulstone.
― 2: Remnants of a subordinate corrupted by the Nameless Demigod.
[Usage Method]
― Deliver to the Star Messenger to unleash the power dormant within this raw stone.
Before the fall.
That is, before this world's axis perished.
It is said Arczrehid had two alien friends.
His first friend wished for this world's destruction.
His second friend wished for its salvation.
Even so, to the very end, he thought of and prayed for his first friend.
Even in the moment he died at the hands of his own subordinates.
Why did he protect the Spirit Tree even in death?
Perhaps it was to uphold the promise of salvation left by his second friend.
[Rin Script: 誾]
[Description Summary]
- Residual light recorded in script: 誾
[Usage Method]
- ????
The saint's final princess.
The inscription on the sun that young girl embraced to protect this world.
誾 signifies righteousness.
It was the symbol of Gel Daharia, one of the four creation gods who shaped and loved this world, and its leader.
When the world crumbled.
When the Spirit Tree was eroded by the abyss.
The girl sacrificed her own time to seal the Spirit Tree's time.
Awaiting the dawn that would rise in a distant future.
[Population Limit]
Paradise Name: New Seodaemun-gu
- Region 'Muak-dong' incorporated. (+500)
- Region 'Gyonam-dong' incorporated. (+500)
- Region 'Buam-dong' incorporated. (+500)
- Region 'Sajik-dong' incorporated. (+500)
- Region 'Pyeongchang-dong' incorporated. (+500)
- Region 'Cheongun Hyoja-dong' incorporated. (+700)
Current / Limit
- [Paradise Main District]: 3,000 / 3,000
- [Paradise Subdistrict - 1]: 500 / 500
- [Paradise Subdistrict - 2]: 500 / 500
- [Paradise Subdistrict - 3]: 500 / 500
- [Paradise Subdistrict - 4]: 500 / 500
- [Paradise Subdistrict - 5]: 380 / 500
- [Paradise Subdistrict - 6]: 0 / 700