Chapter 440
Chapter 440
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>Translator: Ryuma
>Chapter: 440
>Chapter Title: Chastising the Deceitful Three-Inch Tongue
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A canyon filled with the wreckage of the undead.
A chill wind blew through.
In the midst of the arriving night, Shine stood motionless, lost in thought.
It had truly been a sweet temptation.
"I'm one of Salvatium's Three Fingers. Opportunities to kill me don't come often. No, this might be the first and last chance you'll ever get."
"......"
"What do you say? You might be able to do it right now. Give it a try."
Shine took in the young man egging him on with provocation. Indeed, his momentum was shrinking bit by bit.
And the expression "growing dumber" fit perfectly—the young man's eyes sparkled with genuine curiosity about whether he could really be killed.
So.
'As you wish......'
Slicing his throat and stabbing his heart would have been the obvious choice.
No, it wouldn't have been obvious, but at least... yes, that "vile bastard" would have chosen it.
His resolve hardened.
"Have you finally made up your mind?"
He gave no reply.
His actions would speak for him.
But why was this?
'......'
Shine lowered the sword he had raised. He narrowed his eyes and sank into thought. A sudden doubt arose.
Really...
'Would that vile bastard have made this choice?'
He wasn't sure.
Normally, the guy wouldn't have hesitated.
Why?
One of Salvatium's Three Fingers. An inscrutable being who had lived for near-eternal time. A monster whose end was beyond measure.
This was the perfect chance to kill it.
But.
...Would it really?
As his thoughts reached that point, Shine's gaze had already settled on the "Family." The spirit body, cowering in terror from its immense presence, looked quite pitiful.
"What are you doing? Didn't you make your choice? Huh?"
The young man whining.
[Aa, aaa, a, aaa......]
The spirit trembling in fear.
What a ridiculous tug-of-war this was.
Just one step back.
Shine took exactly one step away from the situation. He observed it as a third party uninvolved.
And the result was.
"You're toying with a wayward three-inch tongue."
"What..."
"What do you mean, what."
Shine let out a scoff.
He couldn't help but laugh.
Because he'd almost fallen into serious contemplation.
...Salvatium's Three Fingers versus seventy-nine spirits.
At a glance, it might seem like a dilemma: save the countless future victims, or save the seventy-nine right now?
A dilemma, in other words.
But it wasn't.
"Slice the throat and stab the heart?"
"I did say that..."
"Very well."
Shine immediately slashed at the young man's throat. Then he drove his sword into his heart.
Naturally, he should die. He ought to...
"...No, you have to activate the magic sword properly. Put some real intent into it, stab deep, and blow him away."
An irritated voice.
The young man stood there perfectly fine, as if the slash had never happened.
Shine looked at him and scoffed again.
"Would that kill you?"
"You'd have to try it and see."
"Ridiculous."
Killing the young man had been impossible from the start. He hadn't noticed at first, but after this slash, it was clear.
"For starters... that body isn't your real one, is it?"
"...Huh?"
The young man showed rare bewilderment. He was surprised.
"How did you..."
"You can tell when you cut."
"You figured that out? Ah... well, I guess that makes sense. Haha."
The young man nodded to himself in understanding. It wasn't hard to comprehend.
Why?
His opponent was an outstanding knight of the night clan. This space was currently under the opponent's domain, and they were sensitive to blood.
Piercing through the illusion of a clone wasn't impossible.
But even so...
"This is... a first, I think. You really are a monster, huh?"
"Not exactly flattering."
"It's a compliment. I'm honestly shocked. Never imagined someone would notice this. I mean... humans are mostly idiots, right?"
Like beasts.
They couldn't grasp cause and effect clearly and just followed momentary impulses into stupid acts.
Humans probably thought themselves clever, but to the young man, they were no different from beasts.
"You speak as if you're not human yourself."
"Would I be?"
The young man smirked and shrugged. Then he scratched his head.
"So, your choice in the end..."
"Was it even meaningful? You couldn't be killed anyway. You just wanted to enjoy watching me agonize."
"I was willing to die for it?"
"Bullshit."
Slicing the moon's reflection on water doesn't slice the moon in the sky.
The body Shine understood as the young man's was the "moon on the water." And the "moon in the sky" was probably...
- Crunch!
- Crackle, crack.
- ...Gulp.
That unidentified maw that burst through space and devoured the pentarch...
Yes, that was likely it.
Anyway.
"You mentioned a deal? Fine, I'll let you go. In exchange, release those innocent seventy-nine souls. How's that?"
"Hmm..."
The young man let out a displeased hum. Understandably—he'd been seen through too easily.
And on top of that, he felt mocked.
But the displeasure was brief. He nodded.
"Sure, whatever... they were pitiful. I'll do it."
With that, the young man approached the "Family." He grabbed its head and tore it out.
[Kiaaaaaah—!]
A chilling wail echoed through the canyon. The shockwave was strong enough to shake the arriving night, but Shine stood still, taking in the sight.
And soon...
[...Gasp!]
[Kiaaaaaah!]
The spirit body split in two.
The emerging spirit was a young man, who looked around with frantic eyes before fading away peacefully. He had entered eternal rest.
After that.
[Kiaaa...]
The young man extracted spirits one by one from the "Family." They were pulled out limply and fell into eternal slumber.
How much time passed like that?
"Whew, done."
After separating the last spirit, the young man wiped the sweat from his brow.
Shine nodded slightly at him.
"Go on, then."
"...I'm not in a good mood."
"Must be your imagination."
From the start, neither side held the initiative in this situation.
Just as Shine couldn't slice the moon on the water, the moon on the water couldn't interfere with Shine.
Of course, if that "something" beyond the space stepped in, things might change, but for now, it showed no such intent.
'Whether it can't or won't... we'll see.'
Anyway.
So, letting him go out of "generosity" didn't give this side control, nor did falling for the sly tongue's dilemma hand control to him.
Crunchhh—!
"Alright, I'm off."
The young man tore into space and vanished. Shine watched quietly. And as the space closed...
...The torn space.
Shine saw it clearly.
Beyond it, a massive eye staring at him.
A voice echoed from the rift in space.
[See you ■ ■ next ■.]
[■ ■ ■ again.]
* * *
After the spatial rift closed.
Shine stood in place for a long while, staring into empty air.
How much time passed?
Crunch!
The pure white blade plunged into the ground.
Shine embedded the magic sword Protius into the earth and sat on a rock. As he lowered his head, his hair cascaded down.
Red hair... Beyond it, an unpleasant sight.
Amid the tangled wreckage of undead, Shine quietly pondered.
'What the hell...'
Was that?
The massive eye staring at him from beyond the space. The shock was on another level from seeing the "maw."
And what?
- See you ■ ■ next ■.
- ■ ■ ■ again.
The overlapping voices.
...See you again next time.
That thrilled tone was utterly repulsive. How to put it? It felt like something without a personality was acting like it had one.
...Unknowable.
Its true nature.
Everything about it.
But one thing was certain amid it all.
It was something that must never escape beyond that space.
That was when the voice came.
[No need ■ worry so much.]
"...Who are you?"
The voice belonged to a spirit.
More precisely... yes, the one who had escaped from the aggregate of spirits earlier.
In Shine's view, it was the "old wizard" he'd seen first.
[My forgotten name isn't important. What matters is the knowledge I can give you.]
"Knowledge?"
[Yes. Over long years... I've seen and heard much by the Fifth Elder's side. Our time is short, so I can't tell you everything, but I can resolve your doubts.]
"My doubts... you mean the being beyond the space?"
[Exactly. More precisely, its true nature.]
"You know what it is?"
At Shine's question, the old wizard shook his head.
[I don't know its exact nature. But I know a few facts that might help you. Will you hear them?]
"Speak."
[First...]
The old wizard spoke calmly. Probing its true nature was pointless, in his opinion.
[It has existed since ancient times, called by countless names. But none truly describe it. However... the Fifth Elder suspected ties to beings beyond the abyss.]
"Beyond the abyss...?"
[Yes.]
Beyond the abyss.
The "great existences" that formed Salvatium's non-circle.
And their minions.
The Fifth Elder believed the "Three Fingers" was connected to them.
Or perhaps...
[He thought it might be an existence from beyond the abyss that couldn't return.]
"What are beings beyond the abyss?"
[That's...]
The old wizard hesitated briefly. He couldn't gauge how to explain them.
[Too irreverent to call gods, too mindless for demons... too vast to describe, impossible even to comprehend...]
What to call such existences?
After pondering, the old wizard gave it a name.
[Outer Gods.]
"...Outer Gods?"
[Gods existing outside cognition...]
Not gods, but "god" was the closest word for their presence.
Anyway.
[Salvatium's non-circle aims to bring the chief Outer God to this land. And naturally, that is...]
"The Three Fingers' aspiration?"
[Yes. The Fifth Elder suspected the Three Fingers' link to Outer Gods for that reason. It desired the descent of an Outer God chief, yet wasn't human.]
The old wizard said this and closed his eyes briefly. Then he lifted his eyelids, stared straight at Shine, and finally voiced what he truly wanted to say.
[Forget it.]
"......"
[Setting aside Outer Gods, the Three Fingers is beyond anything in this world. Best to simply forget.]