Chapter 78
Chapter 78 - Collision(2)
"Are they sending a signal flare now? Who are they sending it to?"
Just as I thought about that, Zenon read my mind and made his move first.
"Since you're one of the few acquaintances in this world, I'll teach you something good as a parting gift."
His voice echoes from all directions. I was startled and quickly looked around.
Then my eyes widened.
"What is this...!"
There are dozens of Zenons.
Zenons in tattered clothes were surrounding me from all directions, smiling as if amused.
"Inkhead. The reason I attempted to curse the Immortal Demon King... was to sever the connection with you."
"...What?"
"There's too little information about the Immortal Demon King. Although it's presumed to be weakened now... we don't know what variables there might be. So I planned to cut off ties with you, who are contracted with the Demon King."
My head feels numb like it was hit by a hammer. I couldn't even speak properly.
'...You bastard. So that's what it was?'
Zenon. That was the extent of his role.
He curses the Demon King to put her to sleep. By doing so, he preemptively blocks the variable of the Immortal Demon King interacting with me. He's just a pawn for that purpose.
There's only one reason for blocking such variables.
The Demon King falls asleep. And what happens after that?
My body moved before I could think.
"Se-Seolbaek!"
An explosion. A pure white explosion occurs.
That signal flare just now was clearly meant to trigger an explosion.
Zenon is not the one who caused the explosion.
The explosion and the curse placed on the Demon King were caused by different individuals!
'Damn it... at this rate!'
Is what I feared finally happening?
No. I must protect Lucy. If Lucy dies, everything is over. I need to quickly ask Seolbaek to protect Lucy.
If Lucy and I die simultaneously, I can no longer resurrect!
Though I was wrong this time, as long as Lucy lives. Then an opportunity will come someday!
As I tried to think hopeful thoughts and hurriedly ran towards Kern.
"Where are you rushing to?"
Along with a cold voice from behind, thud. A familiar sensation shot up my spine.
"Ugh."
For a moment I felt dizzy. Time seemed to move slowly.
Amidst this, Zenon's sneering words hit my ears.
"It would be troublesome if you forgot about me."
"...Cough."
Thud. A cough erupted from deep in my chest. Blood streamed out.
I blankly looked down at my abdomen. The tip of a dagger was protruding through my navel.
"Ugh, uh..."
As I staggered and barely managed to turn my head, I saw Zenon who had somehow approached right next to me.
He sighed while wiping the blood on his hand on his tattered sleeve.
"One way or another, you will die. Accept your end quietly here."
"...Ha."
A weak laugh escaped.
I blankly stared at the dagger piercing my abdomen, then turned to look at Zenon's leisurely appearance.
"You. What crime did I... did we commit for you to do this?"
It was a question loaded with complex emotions.
Half was asked out of genuine curiosity. Half was just venting frustration from feeling wronged and pathetic.
I didn't expect that mixed-up head to give a proper answer anyway.
"...I don't have any particularly ill feelings towards you. I merely acted on the requests I received."
But Zenon showed an unexpectedly different reaction.
His shoulders noticeably flinched. He avoided my gaze and started answering as if making excuses.
Is he feeling guilty now? What nonsense. I sneered.
"It just happened that the target of the request was you, an acquaintance. Inkhead."
"Right. In other words, you're just a small fry who knows nothing. Go take it up with the higher-ups, is that it?"
"...You'd better watch your mouth."
When I mocked him, Zenon's eyebrows twitched for a moment, but he showed no further reaction.
He slowly approaches me as if trying to finish things.
"I thought you were peculiar since the Trial Veil... but I didn't know you'd be noticeable enough to become their target."
"......"
"Why don't you try living quietly in your next life?"
Have you ever experienced a next life? How dare you talk about next lives in front of me.
I was about to say something but held back due to the pain in my stomach. My head feels dull from the intense pain.
Looking at my abdomen getting soaked in red, suddenly, I said:
"Does your sister know you live like this?"
Just one sentence.
That one sentence was enough to completely wipe the composure off Zenon's face.
Immediately, harsh words shot out of Zenon's mouth.
"Shut up. Don't mention Jena when you know nothing."
"Right. I know nothing. Your sister would be thrilled to know you fill your belly by killing and exploiting ignorant people like me. Oh brother, I'm dying~!"
I had prepared enough mocking words to rival the Buddhist scriptures, but.
I couldn't say the next words.
"You're deliberately hastening your death. You worthless bug."
He pulled the dagger from my stomach, then immediately stabbed it into my jaw.
With a crack, along with the sound of my lower jaw shattering, overwhelming pain caused my consciousness to blur.
"Ugh, aaaaagh!!!"
The blade pierced through my tongue and protruded through my lower jaw. My teeth and gums were shattered and mangled. I could feel my screams leaking through the hole in my jaw.
Terror beyond pain washed over me like a tidal wave. At the same time, I thought:
'Damn... this rotten...! H-how on earth!'
This makes no sense.
I'm not being unreasonable because of my current situation. This truly, by the laws of this world, makes no sense.
In this world, a difference of dozens of levels is an absolute difference. Normally, Zenon shouldn't even be able to scratch my body with just a dagger.
But what is this?
Why am I rolling on the ground right now?
Why is there a breathing hole in my jaw?
'I don't know. There's too much I don't know...!'
Even after dying 33 times, I'm in this state.
So to find out the truth, to survive, how many more times do I have to die?
Even in the midst of dying pain, laughter leaked out with a chuckle at that thought.
"... It's begun."
Suddenly, Zenon muttered those words.
I raised my trembling eyes to follow Zenon's gaze. And I witnessed it.
Pure white light was slowly pouring down from the other side of the sky towards here.
'It's over.'
It's that explosion that destroyed everything in my previous life. Resignation dominated my mind as I realized this.
Thud. I collapsed in that spot. I blankly stared at the ground, feeling the surroundings slowly brighten.
Then Zenon began muttering to himself.
"Though Kern will disappear from the map with her death... well, it's none of my business."
Thump thump. Footsteps slowly fade away.
At the same time, Zenon's voice, clearly excited, slowly faded away.
"Wait, Jena. Once this is over. This miserable life will be over too. No one will be able to touch us..."
And all at once, silence came. Even the footsteps disappeared at some point.
Curious, I lifted my head to find that Zenon's figure had vanished without a trace.
From beginning to end, he's incredibly elusive. Could it be that everything until now was an illusion, and I've been digging at empty air alone?
'... No.'
My punctured body all over proves that's not the case.
Then perhaps... The premise about Zenon's abilities itself might have been wrong.
'Teleportation?'
Zenon must be able to use something like what's called blink or teleport.
It was a blind spot. Come to think of it, there's no other way to move beyond my eye's tracking ability except teleportation.
There's a reason I couldn't easily think of this. In this world, even a Margrave-level great mage would struggle with magic that handles space or time.
'Because of that, the Margrave died in my place...'
Among the remaining memories of my previous life, it's a particularly vivid memory. I clearly remember when the Margrave used his only spatial movement rune to evacuate me from the middle of the undead enemy lines.
If spatial movement could be used as casually as Zenon just did, such a tearful scene wouldn't have happened in the first place.
Yeah. You're a veteran warrior in your own right.
So you must have one or two trump cards.
"Ugh... I'm dying. For real."
I twisted my body while gritting my teeth. It feels like my internal organs are twisting.
Maybe it's because of too much blood loss. My head isn't working properly.
Various thoughts were intensely circling in my hazy mind.
'... Ah.'
And at some point, my thoughts came to a halt.
Discomfort. I realized the discomfort that had been tickling my chest.
'So that's why his sister is at home.'
Zenon's sister. Jena was with us in Kern when that pure white explosion occurred.
In my previous life, I remember clearly because I was with Jena until almost the moment of death.
But would that sister-complex noodle brain quietly let his sister get caught in the explosion?
No. That can't be.
The reason he disappeared just now is to teleport with his sister and escape from Kern.
"I, I can't..."
I muttered while looking at Kern's increasingly brightening sky.
I barely moved my dying hand to search my bag. Soon, something with a familiar grip came out.
It was a bottle. A blue-glowing ether bottle.
I put it to my mouth without hesitation, and as blue energy began to envelop my entire body.
"I can't end it... like this..."
But that was it. An overwhelming sense of falling engulfs my entire body.
I lost consciousness right there.