Chapter 203
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 203
On a vast, open sea, within a dream.
“…Teacher.”
A mermaid wept.
“I love you.”
“…”
Giovanni felt the same. He loved these small, foolish mermaids.
And because he loved them so deeply, he could not grant them forgiveness. He knew these terrible, cruel creatures all too well. Once again, they were committing sins, slaughtering innocent lives.
The fools actually believed it was their ‘responsibility.’
“…Yes…”
His unique nature had set him apart from the world’s destinies, but what did that matter compared to the time they had spent together? In the end, Giovanni, who was only human, decided to reach out.
“…I suppose I’ll have to drag you to hell myself.”
The mere priest laughed.
“How incredibly foolish.”
And then, he wept.
He had no regrets, but that didn’t absolve him of his suffering. Despite always loving them and giving his absolute best, Giovanni was fated to die a gruesome death.
And now, he had to witness the sins committed by his beloved disciples.
“Surely, I didn’t live a life so wicked as to deserve this…”
* * *
“Priest…!”
“Brother Cha Yi-sol!”
Kang Seo-dam spotted Cha Yi-sol trapped inside a barrier.
“I’ve been meaning to ask since we started looking for you—what in the world are you doing here?!”
“I’m sorry! How do I write an apology letter?!”
“As a novice priest, Brother Cha Yi-sol, a simple reflection letter is more than enough!”
“I really don’t know how, so please teach me when we get back…!!”
“I will!!”
This was absolutely maddening.
“Is there anyone who can analyze this barrier? We have to get Priest Cha out of here before another monster shows up!”
“I have a skill for that. Please step aside for a moment!”
A hunter quickly analyzed the barrier’s composition and structure. He then turned back to the priests of the Sun with a look of utter bewilderment.
“This is… the Sun?!”
“What? What do you mean by that?”
“It’s the Sun! Both the composition and the structure…!”
“If that were the case, there’s no way we wouldn’t have recognized it…?!”
“B-but it really is…!”
Kang Seo-dam was quick to accept the situation.
“It’s rejecting us.”
“The Sun rejecting the Children of the Sun? That makes no sense!”
“And yet that nonsense is happening right now! Stop wasting energy on useless chatter and accept reality! Are you going to act so pathetic in front of a novice priest?!”
“Hieek…”
“Listen carefully! We dismantle this barrier before the monsters arrive!”
The priests, who had been about to argue, slumped their shoulders at the sight of Kang Seo-dam’s demonic expression. He was famous for being a senior who drew a strict line between public and private matters, loathing foolish or incompetent priests and treating them like dirt.
“E-even so, if we can’t analyze it, how are we supposed to—!”
“Shut up and get out of the way, you useless pests! Stop wasting time and at least provide cover!”
“Y-yes, sir!”
Watching the priests form a perfect, orderly guard around the entrance, the hunters who had tagged along marveled.
“Terrifying.”
“Yeah, scary…”
Frankly, they were intimidated.
I’ve heard the religious hierarchy is strict, but this is something else…
I’m glad I didn’t awaken as a priest.
So that’s what Priest Kang Seo-dam looks like when he’s angry. Incredible.
After weeding out those who would be useless in dismantling the barrier, the hunters positioned themselves among the priests. They had all studied how to cooperate with priests in situations like this.
Only after racking their brains did Kang Seo-dam and the hunters finally manage to dismantle the barrier.
“Brother Cha Yi-sol, come here.”
“Huuuung, teacherrrrr…!”
“I’ll hear the full story once we’re somewhere safe. We can’t send you back to the surface right now, so you will follow us—and you will stay safe. Did you hear me? We will move safely. Do you understand?”
“Yes, I’m sorry…!”
“The sin of the teachers who failed to manage a novice priest is also great—no, as I said, we’ll discuss this later. For now, we must quickly regroup with the other team and proceed with the raid.”
Kang Seo-dam, who had been thoroughly agitated by the countless monsters they had faced on the way, took a deep breath. Returning to his usual cool-headed rationality, he asked Cha Yi-sol, “Do you know where Hunter Seo Gio is? Or perhaps the mermaid hunter named Iser?”
“I know where Gio-hyung is!”
“That’s fortunate. Where is he, and what’s his condition?”
“He’s bound in the center of the Pope’s room, submerged in seawater!”
“My goodness.”
The other hunters were just as shocked.
“W-wait, why on earth…?!”
“More importantly, why the Pope’s room of all places?!”
“What’s with the special treatment…?”
“Isn’t that a bit too brutal to be called special treatment?!”
“I-I know, that’s why I’m so dumbfounded…”
Come to think of it, the mermaids had a history of kidnapping Hunter Seo Gio, even using civilians as hostages. Seeing how they had ‘stored’ Cha Yi-sol separately, they might have been planning to do something to the Apostles of the Black Cloak.
Well, they are talents too valuable to just kill.
Considering the Black Cloak’s members were occasionally displayed inside the temple in the past, there might be some kind of relationship here. This is worth investigating.
Are the mermaids on bad terms with the Black Cloak…?
Sensing the restless atmosphere, Kang Seo-dam let out a deep sigh and coordinated the group.
“Novice Priest Cha Yi-sol knows the location of the room where Hunter Seo Gio is trapped. We should head there immediately. We don’t know what kind of interference we’ll face, so everyone stay alert.”
“Yes, Leader.”
“Understood.”
As they moved, the two hunter teams that had split up earlier finally crossed paths again.
“Wait, why are you here?!”
“We’ve pieced together most of the story.”
“Ah, in that case…”
“There was nowhere else left to check but here!”
They had encountered some truly absurd monsters and traps along the way.
“Pig-human priests were trying to eat us…!”
“That happened to you guys too?”
“There was also a sweet scent coming from inside a pond.”
“It must have had a Charm skill; we lost three people there…”
“There were undead chasing us with farming tools.”
“Ah, those were really disgusting.”
“Some guys rushed at us screaming they were hungry…”
“Those were in the previous dungeons, too.”
“The difficulty of these new mobs is insane.”
Yet, despite searching everywhere, they still hadn’t found the ‘heart.’
“Worst-case scenario, the boss monster might be the dungeon’s heart itself.”
“But the boss monster assimilated with the sea a long time ago…”
“Damn it, what do we do then? Vaporize it with fire?”
“If we do that, it’ll be an endless fight.”
“Even if we vaporize it, it’ll just rise into the sky and become water vapor.”
“This is why liquid-type monsters are so tricky.”
“I’d rather deal with a slime…”
“At least those have a core.”
Most liquid-type monsters had a core in their bodies; destroying it would kill them. But the sea? A mermaid assimilated with the sea? How on earth were they supposed to kill that?
“Let’s first confirm whether there’s a core or not.”
If there truly was no way to kill it, that would be the realm of divinity. However, as far as the priests could tell, there was no entity of that status here. They were just monsters; there had to be a way to kill them.
“We just need to clear things one step at a time.”
“You’re right, but it’s hard not to feel anxious.”
“Hey, come on, let’s not get into such heavy topics.”
“But it’s true that we’re in a tight spot, isn’t it?”
The moment they arrived at the Pope’s room.
“…”
“…That.”
Several people spoke at once.
“Isn’t that Hunter Seo Gio?”
“Isn’t that a mermaid…?”
At that, Iser, the mermaid leaning against his teacher’s lap, opened his eyes.
“…”
They flickered with intense hatred.
“Uninvited guests.”
“…What did you do to Hunter Seo Gio?”
“We are transplanting his roots to their rightful place.”
“Their rightful place?”
“To the sea.”
Wooooong—
The water filling the room resonated.
“He is coming to the sea.”
That was why he was kneeling and begging.
“This Earth is too small a flowerpot for him.”
“That’s not for a mermaid like you to decide.”
“Perhaps. But since when did humans only follow Providence?”
“There is a line that must not be crossed.”
“Then what about my teacher?”
Why did my noble human teacher have to die like that?
“I hate you all.”
“Ha, did we kill your teacher?”
“I hate your brief lives.”
Splash!
A staff adorned with golden ornaments materialized in the mermaid’s hand.
“I hate… that you humans are children of Providence.”
They were proof of Providence and the scars of its deception. That was the most fundamental reason humans were the target of the mermaids’ wrath.
Yes, it was irrational.
But that’s fine.
They had never intended to win. The mermaids had already agreed to take ‘responsibility’ in this way. This was merely a play to reach their ending.
Iser smiled.
“I put a lot of effort into welcoming you. I decorated a more beautiful and luxurious temple, and for the audience who would be curious about the story, I even brought out the pigs I had been saving.”
“Is this the story of the monsters…?”
“Are you satisfied? No, I know you aren’t. Humans are greedy and know no bounds.”
Flutter—
Iser’s ears transformed, shedding their human shape.
His new ears, like drapes of mysterious silk, blended seamlessly into his clear, sky-blue hair. His teeth grew sharp, and his pupils shone with a deeper pearlescent hue. A long, water-dragon-like tail emerged, and only then did his staff begin to grow wildly.
“Behold.”
Whooooosh—!!
The golden staff grew into the shape of a tree.
“A sun has grown in the deep sea.”
It began to envelop the entire temple, emitting an ecstatic light.
“Therefore, I too…”
“…Ha.”
“…shall welcome you as the sun.”
Chaaar—
Iser, too, was soon dyed in gold.
“Ah, right…”
Two horns resembling tree branches grew from his forehead.
“Indeed.”
Casting off the cold light of the deep sea, the mermaid asked, “Is your sun merciful?”
“More than you, at least.”
“Then why don’t you try praying?”
“To spare your lives?”
“No.”
He smiled deeply.
“To survive.”
The suns of countless dimensions had been submerged in the sea.
In the end, who had devoured them?
* * *
Yoo Seong-un thought.
“…”
Was Giovanni human?
Yes.
He was once human.
So was Seo Gio, the eccentric art teacher from South Korea, and so was the Demon King Arjio, who had survived a rainforest thick with poisonous miasma. They had lived inhuman lives in human bodies, and in the end, they ceased to be human.
Was it wrong to view such a person as a work of art?
I’m already treating him the way he wants, aren’t I?
Gio liked the human named ‘Yoo Seong-un.’
Of course he did.
After all, ‘Gio,’ the subject of his beloved portrait, was incredibly generous and looked upon him with favor. That was what made all this possible. A mere gardener was so moved by a single glance from the Eye of the Origin that he was beside himself.
Yoo Seong-un was doing his job well. He was a gardener and a curator. He was fulfilling his duty. Far from being angry, Gio was pleased.
Then, his thoughts drifted.
“…”
Would Gio dislike being treated as a human?
…No, that can’t be it…
He knew from Ju-hyeon’s case that wasn’t the problem.
But it’s not like I’m doing anything wrong, is it?
This was the role Yoo Seong-un wanted, and it was one Gio did not dislike. In a situation where everyone was satisfied, a curator treating a work of art as a work of art could never be a sin. Why would it be?
Even as her body was being torn and shattered by countless hunters, the mermaid looked down at Yoo Seong-un. Seated between a throne of giant waves and sculptures of ice, the princess declared, “Arrogant thing.”
“I admit it.”
“You are no different from your master.”
“Of course. We take after our Guild Master.”
“Terribly selfish.”
“That’s just how humans are.”
It was a statement that only fueled the mermaid’s hatred, but it couldn’t be helped.
“Because it’s the truth.”
Only after defining humans in such a way did he feel a slight tremor within himself.
“…”
“…”
In the middle of a battlefield where ears rang and glaciers shattered, Yoo Seong-un’s eyes widened.
“…Ah.”
Was Gio human?
For that matter, what even was a human…?