Chapter 53: The Eve (6)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 53: The Eve (6)
Four beautiful women, each with a different expression, were looking down at me.
What was it I just said?
I raised a hand to my forehead. It felt slightly damp. I must have sweated a bit while I was unconscious.
Yu Hana offered me a handkerchief.
“Thanks.”
Taking a slow breath, I looked around. Judging by the time, I hadn’t been out for very long.
Elegant furniture, clean bedsheets, and a large monitor mounted on the wall.
This place is…
I remembered. It was the same hospital room I’d been in when I passed out after taking the elixir.
Just then.
“Hae-in, are you okay…?”
Sion asked, her face etched with worry.
I gave a noncommittal nod. Objectively speaking, I was fine.
I was still mentally exhausted, but it was bearable. Wallowing in despair wouldn't change a thing.
“I’m fine. It’s nothing. I was just talking with the spear for a bit…”
I gestured to the spear lying beside me, trying to sound casual.
But my calm demeanor didn’t seem to reassure them. They all looked gloomy and sad.
What’s going on? Am I dying or something?
Wondering if they’d heard about some illness I didn’t know I had, I asked cautiously.
“Do I have some kind of terminal….”
At that moment.
“What? You’re awake?”
The door to the room burst open.
It was Park Gwang-cheol, holding a basket of apples. He must have heard the news and come to visit.
He strode confidently into the room, shook the basket, and said, “Looks perfectly fine to me.”
He casually pulled an apple from the basket and, with a loud crunch, took a bite.
“…What’s with the apples?” I asked, bewildered.
“I just bought them on a whim, but it looks like you don’t really need…”
Gwang-cheol’s gaze slowly swept across the room, eventually landing on the four women standing before me.
He silently counted them on his fingers.
One, two, three… four.
After a moment of silent contemplation and a nod, he glanced at me and cautiously gave me a thumbs-up.
“Here, you guys can have this~”
With that, he plonked the basket on the table by my head, turned on his heel, and left.
I stared after him in utter disbelief.
What the…
Still, seeing his perfectly fine face, I didn’t feel too bad.
For a while there, all I’d seen was his face in a moment of despair…
I had more or less gathered my wits.
It seemed like a good time to get up.
Those things I saw.
I didn’t know if they were real, but I had to prepare for them regardless.
I slowly sat up and reached for Catastrophe.
“…Hah.”
I’d braced myself just in case, but thankfully, there was no reaction from the spear.
I leaned it against the bed again and turned around.
Then I spoke to the women standing behind me.
“Let’s get something to eat. You guys have time?”
Cheon Yeo-wool and Yu Hana had been with me, so that was one thing, but Sion and Kang A-rin seemed to have come here specifically for me.
I figured the least I could do was buy them a meal.
Kang A-rin was the first to nod. Yu Hana, Sion, and Cheon Yeo-wool quietly agreed as well.
“Okay.”
I had things to discuss anyway, so the timing was perfect.
They just stood there, still watching me.
“Could you step out for a minute? I’ll change and be right out.”
I said, tugging at the clothes I was wearing.
I was still in a hospital gown.
“……”
But they just exchanged subtle glances, hesitating.
I watched them for a moment before speaking again.
“You’re not leaving?”
I need to get dressed, people.
Only after I prompted them again did the door finally open and they filed out of the room.
*
We sat around a table in the private room of a quiet restaurant.
Before I even had a chance to think about what to order, Sion suggested eel.
All four of them insisted that since I’d collapsed, I needed some restorative food.
I just went along with it.
Sizzzzzle.
“…”
The only sound filling the room was the grilling of the eel.
Come to think of it, this was the first time this particular group had gathered.
I had gotten to know each of them to some extent, but they didn’t really know each other.
Sion, especially, wasn’t even in the same class.
An awkward atmosphere naturally formed.
Someone had to break the ice.
I lifted my head and looked across the table.
Cheon Yeo-wool, who was sitting there, kept placing pieces of cooked eel on my plate.
“Cheon Yeo-wool.”
At my call, she looked up, slightly startled.
“Huh?”
I put down my spoon and asked, “The Paladins of the Arcadia Cult, do you take on requests?”
In an instant, all four pairs of eyes turned to me.
Aldebaran’s Trial.
In it, I had clearly seen it. A scene with three Apostles gathered together.
Three Apostles?
That was the kind of force you’d only expect to see in the main story, much later in the game.
Frankly, it was unbelievable. Even from the Evil God’s perspective, the Apostles were strategic weapons.
In any case, having seen it, what I had to do was crystal clear.
I had to balance the scales of power.
If that event were to actually happen, one Vanquisher team wouldn't stand a chance. I had to call in another team to at least create a semblance of a power balance.
Besides, in the final scene, the Apostles had hastily retreated when reinforcements from the Association arrived. It was a move to avoid conflict with other organizations.
It was just a hypothesis, but the more factions there were to check them, the higher the chance they wouldn’t recklessly engage in battle.
Therefore, I had to gather them.
Even if the Apostles didn’t show up.
One might think I could just avoid going to that place from the start, but that was likely impossible.
The “Annihilation of Vanquisher” was an event triggered by a single line of script, originally unrelated to the protagonist's actions.
Even if I could avoid it now, it would inevitably return later, in some unknown and even greater form.
So it was better to prepare as much as possible within the expected scope.
That was the lesson I learned from Aldebaran’s Trial.
I admitted my own complacency.
And as I did, the flimsy parts of my plan began to reveal themselves.
Shock therapy, huh.
It wasn’t a pleasant experience, but if I gained something from it, it was meaningful.
The story was long, and the real trials were still a long way off.
“I accept your requests,” she answered in a quiet voice.
So, in conclusion, I needed the Paladins’ help.
Their attacks were primarily based on divine power.
They were one of the few forces capable of confronting the Apostles.
I looked Cheon Yeo-wool straight in the eye and said, “You do? Then I have a request.”
The Paladins, the core force of the Arcadia Cult, did not accept outside requests.
But there was an exception for the orders of one person.
The one to whom the Paladins swore their loyalty.
The Saintess.
It was time to see the fruits of the relationship I had built with her and the Arcadia Cult.
Cheon Yeo-wool put down her chopsticks.
“What is it?”
I swept my hand over the tabletop once before answering.
“Apostles.”
The air above the table instantly grew heavy.
“I think an Apostle has appeared.”
An Apostle will appear.
It wasn’t a story anyone would easily believe.
After the Evil God was sealed by the Hero from two generations ago, the Apostles were either largely annihilated or fell into a deep slumber. The few who survived went into hiding completely.
As a result, most heroes of the current era had never personally encountered an Apostle.
Their viciousness and power were things they had only read about in historical records.
The recent Shanghai Mine attack—that was the first official Apostle attack in decades.
When the attack was first reported, the Chinese Hero Association dispatched numerous A-Class Heroes without much warning. The old records existed, but they couldn’t gauge the true threat level of an Apostle.
And within a few hours, all contact was lost. The result was total annihilation.
That was how much the Apostles were regarded as monsters of legend.
I watched Cheon Yeo-wool’s reaction.
It didn’t really matter whether she believed me or not.
As long as the Paladins were on standby nearby, we could fight together when the Apostles appeared.
And if they didn’t?
That would be wonderful. The best possible outcome, with no blood shed.
Of course, I might be branded as a lunatic, and in the worst-case scenario, it could create a rift of distrust with the Arcadia Cult.
I don’t care.
My honor and reputation were not important.
There was only one goal.
Prepare for the worst.
Having seen a future where I failed to do just that, this was more than enough for me.
“It’s okay if you don’t believe me,” I continued calmly.
“I’ll pay the fee, so if you could just be on standby…”
However.
Cheon Yeo-wool didn’t let me finish. She stood up and closed the distance between us in an instant.
Leaning in close, she grabbed both of my hands tightly.
Her fingertips were trembling slightly.
“I believe you.”
Her voice was small, but firm.
My gaze met hers. Her blue eyes were clear and unwavering.
I was at a loss for words for a moment.
“Yeah.”
In the end, I couldn’t help but let out a small laugh and nod.
*
A vast, cavernous space, cut off from the world.
It was dark and cold.
Before the eyes of a man clad in black martial arts robes, the celestial body glowed with its usual dim light.
“…!”
A tiny crack appeared on the celestial body.
From that fissure—a faint but distinct nebula blossomed forth.
A torrent of residual light burst out, as if tearing through the very curtain of the cosmos.
“…Hahahahaha.”
A dry laugh escaped his lips.
In a space where every path had been blocked, a way had finally opened for the first time.
Even he did not know where that path would lead.
But only one thing mattered.
A path had opened.
Ruuuuuumble.
The great stone gate that sealed the vast cave began to open slowly.
From the pitch-black darkness within, beings of indeterminate shape crawled out.
They were different from the ones before. Larger, more numerous, and possessing a much clearer will.
The man’s lips parted slowly.
“You are better than I.”
The world line had shifted once again.
But there was something he had learned through his countless regressions. The world was not so forgiving.
If one forcibly twisted the flow to change the outcome, a corresponding price must be paid.
The man shot to his feet.
He picked up his spear, already stained with the blood of Mines, and let out a long exhale.
“…This is going to take a while.”
A faint light from the celestial body shone down on him.
Beneath that light, the man’s face and body were covered in wounds.
But he had no room for regret, no option to stop.
Now, it was time to bear—
The world’s Suppression Force.