Chapter 222
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 222
“This strangely reminds me of the Quadruped Rainforest…”
Gio looked around.
“They really do look alike.”
“Peep.”
“To think you’d agree with me. You have what it takes to be my friend.”
“Peeeeep…”
“Yes, yes.”
At their exchange, Honey popped out from inside the hood.
“Krrrk?”
“You are my child, Honey.”
“Krrr.”
Satisfied, Honey slipped back into the hood.
Was I always destined to have so many animals in my life?
Even back when he lived in that cozy, peaceful mountain village in Gangwon-do, he had often run into wild boars and deer. Yet, for some reason, he seemed to encounter animals far more frequently now that he was a portrait than he ever did back then.
“This, too, must be the cycle of nature.”
Muttering some nonsense, Gio thought to himself.
Could the Quadruped Rainforest have been derived from here? They really are remarkably similar.
However, Arjio knew better than anyone that this was an entirely different dimension from the Quadruped Rainforest. He marveled at how his long-lost hometown had fallen into such picture-perfect ruin.
“…What on earth happened here?”
The Black Forest had always been dense, but this was the notorious Black Forest, where the thick canopy would absorb rainwater only to unleash it as poisonous rain at a moment’s notice. Such a structure shouldn’t even be possible unless the forest was directly open to the sky.
His questions only continued to pile up.
“……”
Gio looked up at the ceiling.
The Quadruped Rainforest ended up inside a cave during its dimensional displacement, but I can’t begin to fathom this case. This place was simply ruined; it shouldn’t have traveled to another dimension, nor should it have absorbed one…
I suppose I have no choice but to look around a bit more.
“Would you like to come with me?”
“……”
The deer tilted its head, then vanished.
“Hmm.”
A shy friend, indeed.
“Leaving without even saying goodbye.”
It could have at least said something.
“In the end, it’s just the two of us again today, Honey.”
“Krrrrk.”
Honey chirped as if nothing else mattered as long as his dad was there. Gio gently stroked the little bird, who had hopped back onto his shoulder, and set off once more. The more he saw, the more he would understand.
The atmosphere here was starkly different from the Quadruped Rainforest, which had at least been lush and green. True to its name, the ‘Black Forest,’ every plant was stained a deep, dark bluish-black, and the dense foliage cast oppressive shadows.
“This is just like it used to be.”
In the Black Forest, it was fundamentally impossible to tell day from night.
“In the past, we could at least tell the time by the temperature, but now that we’re completely underground, even that’s difficult. Don’t you think so?”
“Krrr…”
“Will it just be cold forever? I suppose we’ll have to wait and see… but now that we’re underground, I have no idea how heat could even be generated.”
Unlike the Quadruped Rainforest, where the flora at least resembled actual plants, the Black Forest was teeming with bizarre, unnaturally twisted monstrosities. They were quite familiar to Arjio.
“What a welcome sight.”
Eat that one, and your innards would rupture, making you vomit blood.
Touch that one, and hives would break out all over your body, forcing you to laugh hysterically for weeks.
And if you didn’t clear that one out beforehand, it would scatter spores that sprouted inside your respiratory tract.
Plants were supposed to grow under the sun, yet seeing them thrive so robustly in the shadows had often made him wonder if they were some kind of demon. They didn’t seem to have changed much.
“……”
Gio blinked.
“…Still, I can definitely see much better than before. A similar thing happened back in the Vein of Jewels—being able to see clearly even in pitch-black darkness where sight should be impossible…”
“Krr-krr?”
“Yes, I couldn’t see this well in the past. After I acquired that wicked divinity, I merged with various personalities and wielded diverse authorities, so darkness was never an obstacle. But I thought I was closer to being human now… I guess not?”
Hmm, is it because I’m a portrait after all?
“Well, it’s nice to see clearly!”
As always, Gio was quick to look on the bright side.
“I was actually quite worried about how to manage if the world was as dim and suffocating as before. Of course, I have you, Honey, but relying on you all the time would hurt my pride as a parent.”
“Krr-krr-krr…”
Honey grumbled, as if asking, Why wouldn’t you use me when I’m right here? but a father had his own dignity to maintain.
Besides, there are plants here that act like bombs, exploding the moment light touches them.
Arjio was highly pleased with how much brighter the world was compared to when he used to live in the Black Forest.
“But there is one strange thing.”
They had walked quite a distance.
“Why are there no beasts to be seen anywhere?”
“Krrrr?”
“Where did all the families of the Black Forest go?”
Did the ruin of this place truly mean every living thing had vanished, leaving behind only these silent, unresponsive plants? He doubted it. If that were the case, beasts wouldn’t have kept crossing over from beyond the Animal Kingdom.
Are they hiding somewhere, then?
But hiding was unlike the beasts of the Black Forest. In an environment where one had to become stronger and more ruthless by the second just to survive, hiding was an act that only hindered survival.
“……”
The atmosphere seemed to have changed quite a bit since he was last here.
“This is troublesome.”
At this rate, he wouldn’t even be able to find who had called out to him. He wondered if these pitch-black plants had developed a sense of self during the ruin and summoned him, but they remained completely unresponsive.
But something with sentience definitely called me.
For some reason, it had even felt nostalgic.
“For now… we should head deeper. There’s a house where I used to live with my family. It was full of traps and poisons, and wasn’t exactly a comfortable place to stay, but back then, there was nowhere better.”
“Krrr?”
“Yes, a home. Though it’s a ruin that has long since decayed and collapsed…”
Regardless, if you made it your home, then it was home.
The path to the ruins of the saints, who had been sacrificed to the Black Forest, was treacherous. However, with Arjio’s lifetime of experience living here and Honey, the little ray of light who could purify anything, the journey wasn’t entirely hopeless.
“Alright, we’re here.”
They soon arrived at the ruins.
“Surprisingly, this place is still intact. I thought there might have been issues when it sank underground, but it seems to be sturdier than I expected. Well, I suppose that’s why it managed to preserve its shape even after my death…”
For the record, Arjio had perished in a fire attack. Seeing the plants—which had grown even more resilient than before despite the entire Black Forest being burned down—and the ruins still standing strong was nothing short of miraculous.
“I’m sure heroes were invited here afterward and destroyed things left and right, too.”
“Krrrr…”
“You seem to like this place. Yes, it’s a ruin with quite a view.”
Arjio stroked one of the pillars standing firm.
“……”
There were traces left behind by the young humans who had grown up here.
“…I wonder what became of those kids.”
Sometimes, when he ventured out of the forest for plunder and amusement, living beings were offered to him. There were those who clasped their hands and begged him to take them away. And there were those who caught Arjio’s fancy and were kidnapped.
This place was not only a sanctuary for beasts but also a prison for humans abandoned by their own kind.
If I recall correctly, they all ran away.
The bastards who invaded had made a fuss about an epidemic or something, so they might have been killed the moment they stepped outside the forest. Or perhaps they failed to escape the burning forest and perished.
Then again, they were far too weak to escape while dodging the forest’s poisons and beasts.
Feeling a wave of sadness, Arjio’s face grew sorrowful.
“Since we’re here, I should at least make them a tombstone.”
“Krrk?”
“Even if those I once knew had, by some stroke of luck, escaped the forest and the army, they would have ultimately been trapped and died in this ruined dimension. Whether due to old age or disease, they must have passed away, so it is only right that I look after their final resting place.”
He grabbed the hem of his cloak and called his daughter from the shadow.
“Dana, are you awake?”
“Ack.”
“Find the lost children who couldn’t go home.”
“……”
The cat, blinking her eyes that resembled the cosmos, let out a clear cry.
“Meow.”
Then, she melted into another shadow and dispersed into the Black Forest.
“Now, Honey, why don’t we look around some more until your sister finds all the lost children? Considering how animals came through the frame, some of my beast family must still be left somewhere…”
“Krrrrrrr!”
Honey chirped happily. Exploring his dad’s old hometown was fun, and making new friends was, of course, just as exciting. Arjio smiled, caught up in his excitement.
“I wonder where my friends are.”
And then, Gio ran into one.
“……”
“What are you? From the Fox Tribe?”
“……”
“…No, wait. You’re not a fox…”
A wolf as large as a house.
“…A ghost?!”
“No, I’m alive.”
“It’s a ghost!!”
And a talking, cowardly wolf at that.
Beasts these days don’t seem to act their size. They weren’t like this in my time.
Arjio found himself thinking like a grumpy old-timer without even realizing it.
*
He already knew the beasts of his homeland could speak. Even right up until the mass of wicked divinity named ‘Arjio’ was sealed by the heroes, the beasts had laughed, spoken, and conversed.
But since I’ve never interacted with them directly, it feels quite novel.
Would a divinity driven mad by wrath and hatred have deigned to converse with a mere talking beast? He hadn’t been in the right state of mind to hold a conversation in the first place.
If he had ever engaged in anything resembling a ‘conversation’ after dying as a human and becoming an Evil God, it would have been hurling curses at the heroes who came to face him.
To think that was the extent of my interactions… How foolish, even in hindsight.
It was quite pathetic, really.
“……”
“…A-A… human?”
“Yes, a human. Can’t you tell I’m alive just by looking?”
“I’m not so sure…”
The wolf, with a body as massive as a truck, flinched and shrank back as he observed Gio. He could have just come closer to inspect him, but for some reason, he remained at a distance, merely tilting his head in fear.
Arjio spoke, finding the sight utterly absurd.
“How can you tell if I’m living or dead from all the way over there? Come closer, my friend. I am not someone you need to fear so much.”
“Why do you get to decide that…”
The wolf wore an equally dumbfounded expression, yet he began to creep closer.
“…Can I sniff you?”
“By all means, go ahead.”
“Just a moment, then…”
The massive wolf slowly lowered his head, pressing his nose against Arjio—who was far smaller than him—and sniffed. Then, as if feeling somewhat reassured, or perhaps catching a delicious scent, he gently buried his snout against him.
“My, are you going to eat me?”
“…?! N-No! I’m not! I’m not going to eat you!!”
“If you’re not, then you’re not. No need to jump like that. You certainly have a lot of energy.”
“I-I just… you just smell nice…”
“A delicious smell?”
“It’s not like that!!” the wolf protested, sounding deeply aggrieved. “It’s a savory, sweet scent. It smells… soft, fluffy… and warm.”
“…Ah, do you mean the smell of sunlight?”
“…Sunlight?”
The wolf’s tone pitched upward.
As if delighted by the word, the wolf approached again, wagging his tail gently. His sharp, wolfish eyes widened in surprise and excitement. Arjio realized this creature might actually be quite young.
The hesitating wolf asked, “Did you come from the sunlight?”
“That’s a first.”
Gio pointed upward. “Isn’t there a sun floating up there too?”
“That one is fake.”
“Fake?”
“…You really are a ghost!!”
“Can you not even hear my heartbeat? Are you sure you’re a wolf?”
“Then why are you the only one who doesn’t know what everyone else does?!” the wolf looked incredibly frustrated. “Besides, humans are extinct!”
“Ah, of course…”
It was what he had expected, but it was still a bitter realization.
“What a bizarre species—becoming stupider the smarter they get.”
It was always the same for them.
They surely could have done better.