Chapter 299
Chapter 299
-----------------------------------------------------------------
>Translator: Ryuma
>Chapter: 299
>Chapter Title: The Resurrected Hero
>-----------------------------------------------------------------
“Huff… huff…”
The group had barely managed to stop it just before the Curator reset the 8th floor.
Kang Seol, Jone, and Santio looked at each other.
“W-Was that… a mountain?”
“For now… it seems that way.”
“Haha… ha…”
The book they had thrown beyond the scorpion gate.
What poured out from it was an utterly absurd power.
Even the phrase “goosebumps all over his body” couldn’t fully express the despair he had felt. It was the first time he’d sensed a being beyond specifications.
‘A gap this wide?’
The distance felt utterly unreachable. Right now, it was impossibly vast.
Jone and Santio lay sprawled out, talking.
“Heh… heheh… We landed one good hit. Did you see that?”
“I’m exhausted. I don’t even have the strength to twitch a finger.”
Kang Seol gazed off into the distance.
The beam of light pouring from the sky had already faded, and beyond the base of the snow mountain, everything had turned into bookshelves.
‘Is that… the original 8th floor?’
This place was a snow mountain, and beyond it, a library filled with bookshelves. He couldn’t help but marvel at the bizarre scenery.
“But…”
However, now wasn’t the time to admire the view. A far more pressing issue remained.
“What do we do with these guys?”
“Can you fight, lad?”
“A little… But with this many…”
The surviving Glacier Maw sorcerers approached Jone, Santio, and Kang Seol.
“P-Please let us go…”
“You talk to them, lad! Troll’s for times like this!”
Jone and Santio had fallen into their grasp.
Kang Seol didn’t step in because he sensed no hostility from them.
One of the sorcerers, who seemed to be the representative, approached Kang Seol. His realm felt like the entrance to transcendence.
“Human, was it you who felled Branca?”
“…And if it was?”
“…We need to talk. It’s humble, but we invite you to our fortress.”
To Kang Seol’s group, who had already scoured the fortress to topple the Glacier Maw, it was an absurd statement, but they had no particular desire to refuse.
‘There’s too many of them.’
The Curator had slaughtered a mountain of Glacier Maw trolls, yet even more were pouring out from inside the fortress.
It seemed the trolls who had braved the blizzard to fight the Curator were among the elite warriors of the Glacier Maw.
‘No wonder they didn’t seem ordinary.’
Those troll warriors charging at the Curator with their incomprehensible mix of valor and savagery were still fresh in his memory.
Anyone facing trolls for the first time would have broken out in cold sweats at that sight.
“W-What are they saying?”
“Is it Jone? Are they after Jone after all?”
“Damn it! I didn’t do anything!”
“They… seem to be inviting us.”
“To the fortress? It’s all crumbled. Why?”
“I don’t know the reason. But they don’t seem malicious.”
“Hmm… Then let’s go see.”
“That’s not something to say while being dragged, Jone.”
“Santio, your position’s only marginally better than mine.”
Kang Seol followed behind as the two grand wizards were dragged off by the trolls.
He still couldn’t believe the storm-like battle was truly over. Jamad seemed to have fallen into a deep sleep the moment the fight ended.
Trailing the Glacier Maw trolls, Kang Seol fell into thought.
‘What happens next?’
He couldn’t predict the fate of the Myriad Library, nor what would become of the Glacier Maw remnants now that Branca was gone.
Creak…
Thud.
A burly troll entered the room along with the sorcerers who had been organizing the group.
Inside, the two grand wizards and Kang Seol waited to greet them.
“We can’t understand a word they’re saying, so you’ll have to step up, lad.”
“We’re spectators again.”
“What can we do with our limited learning?”
“But… I’ve never seen that troll before…”
“What’s with him sitting in the center?”
Kang Seol shared their doubts.
A burly troll he’d never seen before sat in an important position, staring at Kang Seol’s group.
“You speak our tongue?”
“Yeah.”
A straightforward question met with a straightforward answer.
“Branca was my father. I am Bron. What’s your name?”
“…….”
“Your name?”
“Kang Seol.”
“I see.”
- Somehow…
- This drama’s fun.
- All the morning shows are fun these days lol
Ignoring the viewers chattering away, speculating about the troll’s identity among themselves, Bron continued.
“Do you oppose us?”
“Depends on your answer.”
“Kukuku… I like your decisiveness. So, what answer do you want? Or how about throwing a question my way?”
Kang Seol pondered briefly before asking.
“What do you plan to do… from now on?”
“Wrong answer, and your head rolls?”
“Answering like it’s a joke would be the worst.”
“Oh my… No room to spare, huh… Ruthless.”
“You seem overflowing with it.”
“With Branca gone, my tribe and I were already dead. What’s there to fear? Death’s not as big a deal as people think.”
Something about the opponent’s leisurely demeanor.
‘What’s this? This feeling?’
An ominous sensation crawled up his neck.
The opponent’s pupils held both ferocity and composure.
- Ugh…
‘Jamad. You’re awake.’
Jamad, who had been unconscious, had awakened.
He spoke urgently the moment he stirred.
- Bron? Damn it…
And it seemed the freshly awakened Jamad recognized the opponent.
‘Why… Wait, Bron?’
As Kang Seol conversed with Jamad, a certain figure suddenly came to mind.
‘Oh no…’
A mistake.
“What’s wrong? Suddenly?”
“…Nothing. Your answer?”
“Well… Father’s plan failed… Most who sided with his ambitions are dead… So, what now?”
Bron.
If Branca was from the generation before last, Bron was from the last generation.
The era before the current faltering Glacier Maw.
The hero who had upheld that era for the Glacier Maw.
- Bron’s… far trickier than Branca. Even now that he’s flat on his back dead, his power’s passed down. If he’d kept ruling the Glacier Maw… But appearing young like this… He hasn’t regained his power?
Kang Seol looked at Bron and said.
“You didn’t join Branca’s ambitions?”
“Resisting the Origin God? That was Branca’s ambition, not mine.”
“Then you have no interest in the Myriad?”
“Of course. What schemes in a place full of nothing but books…”
There was something odd.
“Even so, the Curator could have annihilated you all. Why didn’t you step up?”
“Ah, that.”
Bron grinned.
“Doesn’t matter if we’re erased.”
“…….”
“I told you, death’s not a big deal.”
He said.
“If there’s no reason to live, dying’s not bad. At least it’s not torment.”
“Sophistry.”
“Kukuku… Well, you lot schemed with that outdated plan to kneel the Origin God… Hard to talk with you. Oh… And by the way. Jamad, was it?”
Pzzzt-!
Jamad, in his night raven form, replied.
“Yeah.”
“Fun. Branca’s desires felt impure somewhere, but yours… vivid? Pure, without a speck of impurity.”
“…Bron.”
“…Do you know me?”
“The absolute ruler of the Glacier Maw. The figure from the previous era who gripped the tribal alliance’s elder council. I thought only Branca popped out from the books. My mistake.”
While Jamad spoke, Kang Seol jotted the facts in a notepad and showed it to Jone and Santio.
The two flinched in surprise.
Bron’s eyes sharpened.
“Well, whatever led to me slipping out too. Don’t overhype me. It’s just the past.”
“Your power?”
“…….”
“You haven’t regained it?”
That instant.
Whooooosh…
‘…What!’
Bron’s eyes turned pure white like glass beads.
The room chilled as if frozen solid, and everyone stared at Bron.
Even Foresight didn’t work on him.
‘This guy… stronger than Branca…’
Bron grinned.
“Haven’t regained my power? Hmm… This’ll answer it.”
He looked at his hand and said.
“I’ve regained my youth.”
“…Worst case.”
“What? Hahahahaha!”
Bron’s mad laughter instantly dispelled the room’s chill.
“Fun, fun. Good thing I stayed hands-off.”
“Branca didn’t know you regained your power?”
“Branca didn’t know what I became afterward. And I hid it.”
The more Kang Seol talked with Bron, the more Branca’s final words resurfaced.
- End it with my death alone.
- …What?
- The remaining tribesmen… unrelated to my plan. Let them live.
- …….
- I beg you.
‘Because of Bron?’
It fit the puzzle pieces, and that intent was surely mixed in.
‘This is serious.’
A powerhouse with unclear intentions stood before him.
He’d thought Branca was the Glacier Maw’s strongest card, but a greater one had been lurking, watching events unfold.
Jamad asked him.
“Do you hold a grudge against me?”
“Why? Ah! For killing Branca?”
“Yeah.”
“The Curator killed Branca, didn’t he? Well… And I didn’t like how he swung us revived ones around arbitrarily.”
“That means…”
“I’m saying the Glacier Maw now and before are completely different.”
Kang Seol, who had been pondering what to do with them moments ago, let out a hollow laugh at the reversed situation.
‘Stopped Branca, and an even worse one pops out.’
- Agreed. We need to figure out his intentions.
Bron placed his hand on the table and said.
“What to do. What to live for from now on… I heard Branca’s last words. Something about the tribe’s well-being?”
“Yeah.”
“He said to live for the future too. Yeah…”
He pondered briefly, then spoke as if decided.
“Here’s your answer. Revived Bron and the surviving Glacier Maw will just live as we please from now on.”
“…What?”
“No grand dreams, no interest in the Myriad’s power. Great if we can leave this place, oh well if not.”
Heh…
“What… That’s about it, right?”
Unpredictable foes breed fear.
At least he wasn’t a clear enemy for now. That was fortunate.
Thud thud…
“Come in.”
Creak…
During the meeting, a troll opened the door and spoke.
“The fortress is naturally repairing itself.”
“Hmm… The Myriad’s power, huh…”
“And…”
The troll’s next words were even more crucial.
“Bookshelves are appearing in the fortress.”
“…What?”
The meeting with Bron ended abruptly.
Perhaps because the crumbled fortress was regaining vitality with unfamiliar bookshelves sprouting everywhere, there was no sense they were being closely watched.
“This is bad…”
“For such a guy to come back to life… We barely took down that vicious grand chieftain with the Curator’s help.”
Jone and Santio’s expressions darkened.
“At least the good news is they won’t escape the Myriad.”
“Y-Yeah. So what big deal is it to me? With the Curator gone, we can’t open the 7th floor books recklessly either.”
“…Sigh.”
“It’s a bit disappointing that’s the only positive…”
“Now we need to think about how to get out of here.”
“Yeah, let’s stay here for now and make a plan.”
What they thought would end quickly had grown more complicated than expected. The biggest issue was no immediate exit in sight.
‘Still some time buffer, so maybe it’s okay?’
Even rushing back required preparation to recover stamina anyway, so they’d have to wait idly. Better to move in the Myriad to get what they wanted.
Thus, they spent a few days in the frozen fortress. Not what they’d hoped, but the Glacier Maw treated them surprisingly kindly.
“Wahahaha! You idiot! I win!”
“That’s cheating! You tricked me!”
“You curse? You just cursed, right? Huh?”
Jone and Santio got along surprisingly well with the trolls despite the language barrier.
The problem was Kang Seol having to interpret every time they mingled.
Still, Kang Seol thought the situation wasn’t all bad.
His body was slowly returning to normal.
The twisted energy in his body had much improved.
- Alchemy’s backlash is worse than thought. Need to use it carefully.
‘Yeah.’
- More importantly, you okay?
‘With what?’
Jamad asked Kang Seol.
A question similar to the one he’d asked the revived Bron.
- Wasn’t there a purpose? For climbing to the 8th floor.
‘Yes, there was.’
- Any harvest?
‘…Not yet.’
- Hmph, don’t rush.
Jamad encouraged him in his own way.
Kang Seol’s goal on the 8th floor.
To find the legacy left by the Duke of Frost.
The book was definitely in the Myriad, and the Myriad’s old scholar had pointed to the 8th floor.
‘The problem is the 8th floor isn’t the previous 8th floor.’
Bookshelves scattered haphazardly, and atop that, snow mountains rose as vanished shelves slowly reappeared.
‘Maybe I need all bookshelves to manifest to find a clue…’
He’d memorized the bookshelves’ positions enough to recite them in his sleep now.
The Myriad’s finale was surely there. No wonder he felt impatient.
‘Bron or whatever, honestly not much to do with me.’
Not scheming anything as dangerous as Branca, and antagonizing Bron just for being stronger felt off.
The world seemed to have more ambiguities than certainties. At least his relationship with Bron was.
“Found it.”
Suddenly, someone spoke from behind.
“…Don’t talk from behind.”
He’d sensed the presence long before, but hadn’t expected the immediate approach.
It was Bron.
“Oh? Thought you’d welcome it.”
“Me? Why?”
“‘Cause you asked me for a favor.”
“…No way.”
Bron grinned.
“Found it. The bookshelves you mentioned.”
“…What?”
“The fortress peak, the spire has what you described…”
Flash-!
Kang Seol bolted off without hearing the end.
“Hahaha! The key is…”
Bron seemed amused behind him, but Kang Seol, with important business ahead, didn’t care.
- Kang Seol, calm down.
Haa…
Haa…
Tatatak!
The Glacier Maw stared oddly at Kang Seol moving at tremendous speed.
He shoved through them toward the fortress peak.
Fwoooosh-!
The blizzard had stopped with the Curator’s fall.
Amid the white snowy expanse visible through the windows, Kang Seol kept moving without pause.
The spire.
He reached the spire.
He saw the door locked with iron chains. Maybe that’s what Bron meant to say about the key.
Kwajiiik-!
Kang Seol kicked the door, blasting the iron gate of the spire away. Nothing could stop him now.
“Haa… haa…”
There was the bookshelves.
The 8th floor’s 9th bookshelves starting with ㅁ.
Approaching it, Kang Seol couldn’t control his trembling body.
It was there.
Definitely in this bookshelves.
He could feel it.
His gaze swept the shelves.
“…It’s here.”
He knew.
Like a thread connecting them, a book with a white cover etched in gold patterns stood out clearly.
Kang Seol reached out, slowly bringing his hand to the book.
Swish…
That instant.
Craaaack-!