Chapter 44. Laila... What Are You Going to Do About Her?
Chapter 44. Laila... What Are You Going to Do About Her?
While Song Hoon and Laila were broadcasting from Mt. Fuji, the media was churning out provocative headlines.
[ A Conversation with a Monster? Humanity Confronts an 'Intelligent Monster' for the First Time. ]
[ A Talking Monster, a Negotiable Enemy? Worldwide Chaos. ]
The hunter industry, solely focused on extermination, was now on high alert.
If it could talk, that meant it could be reasoned with.
Additionally, foreign media were wildly publishing articles about the existence of a 'God.'
[ A Being Who Burned Its Mother and Was Sealed by Its Father... The Myths Were Real. ]
[ Do 'Gods' Exist? A Shocking Debate Rocks Academia and Religion ]
[Now We Ask. Does God Exist, or Is He Something That Appears? ]
↳ Amen...
↳ Isn't this just a breeding ground for crazed cults?
↳ Isn't it just a coincidence?
---
At that same moment, two women were watching Song Hoon's stream in real-time.
"Mother... did you know about this?"
Even at Reina's question, the woman seated before her calmly sipped her tea.
Then, she slowly opened her eyes and looked at Reina.
"About what? The being inside that gate? Or its true identity?"
"What is the thing that cursed Father, and what on earth is that...!"
The woman opposite her gently raised a hand to stop Reina's words.
She placed her teacup down and let out a sigh.
"It is the karma your father, who inherited the thickest blood, must bear."
"Karma...?"
"A family that treats the child of a god they served for generations like a demon and maintains its seal... there's no way they'd remain unscathed."
What she told Reina was shocking.
Bearing that karma, the balance they had barely maintained with the artifact's power had shattered.
"Giving up the artifact..."
"Yes, the balance was already broken. The artifact holds no more meaning."
"Mother...! No matter what, how can a human stand against a god!"
"That thing is not a god. It's merely a remnant born of compacted hatred."
It was impossible for the family's hunters to subjugate 'that thing.'
After all, the family's power had originated from 'that thing' in the first place.
But if they sought help from other hunters, the weakness of the 'Takamine Family' would be exposed.
"How could you do something so cruel...!"
"Cruel?"
"Yes!"
"Then do you think it's right to announce that the family head has fallen into a coma and ask for outside help?"
"...!"
Even if he failed the subjugation because he was unaffiliated, it would ultimately be dismissed as a 'failure due to a reckless raid.'
"I offered him the artifact and additional compensation as the reward for the subjugation. Did this mother do something wrong here?"
The 'mythology' the media was buzzing about was, in the end, nothing more than a story.
It was all speculation.
The risk of the family's shame being exposed on Song Hoon's stream?
'At the very least, that man isn't the type to go around blabbing that the family head was unconscious.'
As the matriarch of the family, she was a woman who knew how to judge people.
If Song Hoon died, the secret would be buried forever. If he succeeded in the subjugation, the family head would wake up.
In many ways, it was a deal with only benefits for her.
'But if he did succeed in the subjugation...'
She looked at Reina with a peculiar gaze.
Even though Reina was her daughter, she possessed an alluring appearance that could easily captivate many men.
She wasn't worried in the slightest about that woman next to him, Laila.
'For a man's heart was ultimately drawn to the woman who bears him the finest children.'
She had already conducted a comprehensive investigation into the woman called Laila.
Strangely enough, information about her past was 'completely nonexistent.'
It wasn't that it was deliberately hidden; the information simply wasn't there.
'Comparing that sort of woman to a daughter of our Takamine family was a laughable notion.'
Though her daughter had already abandoned the idea of seducing Song Hoon, she remained unaware of her daughter's true feelings.
---
Sparks flew as the monster chattered on without pause.
"What kind of monster talks this much..."
I approached the arrogant bastard and swung my fist at him.
With just enough force that it probably wouldn't kill him.
─ Kwaang!!
Even after taking the hit, the guy's eyes blazed with intensity.
There was not a trace of displeasure, only pure, undiluted interest.
"Enjoying some entertainment before descending to the mortal realm won't hurt."
The moment those words ended, the ground screamed.
Lava surged through the surface, the oxygen in the air ignited, and space itself distorted.
"Entertainment? You'll change your mind after a good beating."
Without backing down an inch, our fists tore through the air.
─ Kwang! Kwaaaang!!! Kaang!!!
Flames and flesh collided, spattering sparks everywhere.
Yet the monster was enjoying itself.
He was definitely tougher than the monster I fought at Baekdu Mountain—there was no comparison.
The guy paused for a moment and then stared at me with an indifferent expression.
"This is enough. Die."
He raised an arm dripping with lava and swung it down.
A massive inferno erupted from his arm, swallowing everything around us.
The ground melted,
the surroundings were dyed red,
and everything began to burn.
Yet I walked out of those flames, completely unfazed.
"Ah, do you know how much this cost? It almost melted."
[He looked so flustered I got worried, but he was just concerned about his drone breaking?]
[lololololol idiot]
[But Ms. Saintess still protected it well, so don't worry]
No barrier, no magic, no equipment.
Even when the fire brushed my skin,
even when the lava soaked my ankles,
not a single speck of soot marred my skin.
'Ah, but my top got a bit singed...'
"...This is a first. My flames have touched something and it did not burn."
Seeing me unharmed, the guy seemed flustered—the fire surrounding him flickered.
"Tch."
When I swung my arm again, grotesque fireballs shrieked and rushed at me all at once.
I snatched the incoming fireballs out of the air, one by one, crushing them in my grip.
Even amid bursts of flame, I didn't take my eyes off him.
"I've changed my mind. I will devour you wretches and descend upon your body."
In an instant, his body folded into a sharp angle.
─ Kwaaaaaang!!!
His body crashed right through the wall, embedded deep inside.
Every flame surrounding him ruptured completely.
"..."
Flustered, he slowly pulled himself up.
He wiped the lava flowing from the corner of his mouth like blood and stared at me.
"What in the world... are you?"
The monster couldn't comprehend this situation.
Specifically, he couldn't understand us, the ones standing right in front of him who had actually dealt him a blow.
"Different after getting hit, isn't it?"
"A mortal who can damage the body of a god..."
A god?
Don't make me laugh.
There's no way a god could be this weak.
'It's probably... a remnant born from mythology.'
Originally, it wouldn't have even possessed a body, but too many people believed in him.
The name created the self.
A being that vanishes when forgotten, and rises again from fear.
"Earth might have real gods... but at the very least, that isn't you."
"You insolent wretch..."
The guy suddenly turned and looked behind him.
Floating there on his back was an eye, detached from reality.
Slowly, he reached a hand toward that eye.
─ Rip...
Something tore—neither flesh nor space.
And from within, he drew out a giant, blazing sword of fire.
"What, is this a second phase?"
"I will trap your soul inside me, so you suffer for all eternity."
He raised his sword and walked toward me.
Then, with an emotionless expression, he slashed upward from below.
─ Kwang...!
Flames burst before my eyes as I was struck by the sword and sent flying.
Along with a barrage of fire, I shot hundreds of meters through the wall, piercing through several layers of bedrock before finally stopping.
"Wow, how long has it been since I've been hit like this?"
I had flown back at such an incredible speed that even my drone couldn't keep up.
Naturally, the viewers flooded the chat as I vanished from the screen.
[Hero, are you dead?]
[Isn't this the first time he's flown back so helplessly?]
[If you think about it... aside from the Black Angel and Baekdu Mountain, there wasn't one...]
I looked around; everything was burning fiercely.
And at the edge of the raging flames, the monster's gaze turned toward Laila.
---
Thinking Song Hoon was already dead, the monster looked at Laila with an intrigued gaze.
"You do not tremble with fear, even in the face of a god."
"..."
The monster grinned with a greedy look in its eyes.
"You are perfect as a vessel to bear the child of a god."
Just then, at the heart of the inferno where intense heat was raging.
Song Hoon walked out, scattering the debris and parting the flames.
"How are you alive...?"
Song Hoon stepped forward without a single wound.
The smile vanished from the monster's face at the sight.
And it felt a primal sense of 'wrongness.'
'Killing intent...'
A terrifying killing intent was taking form around Song Hoon's body and spreading outwards.
In a split second, the drone shook from the pressure, and static noise filled the broadcast.
'Was I... frightened by a mere mortal?'
Denying the situation, the monster unleashed a wave of fire around it.
Ignoring the attack completely, Song Hoon walked right up to the monster's face.
Radiating pure killing intent, Song Hoon looked down at the monster.
"To Laila... what did you say you'd do?"