Chapter 95
Chapter 95
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 95
Chapter Title: The Girl Named Anne
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Tadot!
The massively enlarged Silver charged straight toward the heart.
But midway through its charge, it hesitated as if slamming its head into an invisible wall, then immediately began clashing with the formless energy.
Chijijijijijik.
At first, there was no sound, just Silver flinching to a halt. But soon, the noise of their powers grinding against each other echoed out.
And before long, a silver light began emanating from Silver's body.
'It wasn't like this before.'
Normally, when Silver neutralized a target's power, a silver light would flash from its body.
But until just moments ago, the energy had simply canceled out without any sound or light. Now, it was producing both noise and that silver glow.
Kungkang! Kungkang!
Along with that, the heart began throbbing with explosive force, as if it might burst.
Unlike the previous mere quickening of its pulse, the heart's contractions and relaxations were now far more violent.
Paaaaaht!
And soon after, a brilliant silver light flowed out from Silver.
With Silver's signal, Jeon sensed a massive hole had opened in the energy surrounding the heart.
'Can I... go in...?'
In truth, he knew nothing about how this heart existed or what powers it held.
He only felt that, in this moment, the energy emanating from the heart's pulsations was dominated by fear above all other emotions.
So Jeon hesitated briefly, wondering if approaching the heart was the right move.
But time was short.
The heart was throbbing violently to seal the large hole that had been torn open.
'Screw it.'
In the end, Jeon chose to enter.
Thanks to the hole Silver had punched in the energy, he reached right up to the heart without any interference.
Kungkang! Kungkang! Kungkang! Kungkang!
Perhaps because of that, the heart began pulsating madly, as if it might explode at any second.
The emotions emanating from it now included anxiety on top of the previous fear.
'Is it... scared?'
With the distance to the heart now mere inches away, the emotions it conveyed felt more nuanced.
Unlike the negative emotions it had exuded at first sight, this felt like a child trembling in anxiety.
He had wondered if entering was safe just moments ago.
Now, looking at the heart before him, he felt a strange pity for it.
Unconsciously, Jeon reached out a hand toward the heart, gently.
He had no idea what this heart truly was.
In fact, it might house a power stronger than the protective energy around it, one that could reduce him to dust the instant he touched it.
But overriding such thoughts, Jeon wanted to ease the heart's anxiety.
It was akin to pitying a trembling child or the instinct to shelter young animals shivering from the cold.
Plop.
Thus, Jeon's cautiously extended hand touched the heart.
In this natural act to reassure the anxious being, the frantically beating heart came to a complete stop.
The constant waves of anxious emotion ceased.
The formless energy clashing with Silver vanished in an instant.
With that, a momentary silence fell, as if the world itself had frozen.
Breaking the silence was a woman's voice.
It trembled with evident fear and anxiety.
'This isn't... the Imperial Language.'
Thanks to his Korean Patch ability, Jeon could understand it immediately.
But the language was definitely not Imperial.
It was an entirely different form of speech.
'A language from long ago, perhaps.'
Likely one that had vanished ages ago.
Which meant this heart had resided here for an incredibly long time.
Jeon decided to answer its question.
"I'm Jeon."
In response to its query about who he was, Jeon calmly stated his name in the heart's language.
However, the heart offered no reply.
Jeon didn't press it with further questions.
He simply kept his hand on it, watching quietly.
Another brief silence passed.
Dudun, dudun.
The stopped heart began beating again.
But very slowly, and without much force, so the protective formless energy around it no longer emanated.
Yet the tremor in the voice persisted.
So Jeon decided to answer honestly and straightforwardly.
"At first, it was a challenge to see if I could really neutralize the power surrounding you. But once I got here and touched you like this... you just looked so anxious."
"Yeah."
The heart fell silent again at Jeon's words.
And its next response came not in words, but in action.
Sruruk.
A portion of the heart, swirling with myriad colors, crumbled away, creating a path leading inside.
It was unmistakably an invitation to enter.
Jeon stepped forward without hesitation.
"Hah... incredible."
Mirna unwittingly let out a gasp of admiration as she watched Jeon walk into the heart.
Though she had brought him here, she hadn't expected him to pierce the heart's surrounding power so swiftly and reach it directly.
'No, that's not all.'
Moreover.
What Jeon had said to the heart was in a language Mirna couldn't comprehend at all.
It seemed like communication, but in a completely foreign tongue, so she couldn't grasp the content.
Yet, it appeared some kind of rapport had formed between them.
She had witnessed with her own eyes how that rapport led the heart to open a path inside.
'So it's not just a being brimming with immense power?'
Mirna—and all Silvermont mages before her—had viewed the heart as something to be fully subjugated.
They believed they needed to shatter its outer power and seize the strength within, striving toward that goal for so long.
But Jeon, upon approaching, had chosen rapport over aggression.
This gave Mirna a fresh shock.
Though she knew the heart expressed emotions, she had dismissed them as mere protective instincts.
She had never delved deeper into it.
"Hm?"
As Mirna marveled at Jeon's actions.
The path into the heart that Jeon had taken suddenly sealed shut again.
The heart embracing Jeon no longer beat.
Instead, it slowly began changing its form.
"This is... a cocoon?"
The heart's transformation culminated in something resembling a cocoon spun by an insect.
Enveloped in various colors, the cocoon now emanated no emotional waves, silently holding its shape.
"...What's happening inside?"
A cocoon typically signified the stage where an insect undergoes massive growth, preparing to emerge in a new form.
Which implied that when Jeon broke free from it, he too would undergo tremendous growth.
"Well, I'll be. Looks like sleep's off the table tonight."
Mirna couldn't tear her eyes from the cocoon, rooted to the spot.
"Oh... There's a space like this inside?"
Following the path the heart had created led to its interior.
There lay a small village.
A quiet one, with few houses lined up.
But as he slowly approached the village, something suspicious became apparent.
'No living beings...?'
Even for a small mountain village.
There was no sign of human presence.
Not even small animals in sight.
It felt like walking through a photograph of an abandoned village.
As he ventured deeper into the empty village, a small clearing appeared in the center.
And in the middle of that clearing sat a blonde girl who appeared about Jeon's age.
"Hello, Jeon."
Sensing his gaze, the girl, who had been sitting with her knees hugged to her chest, looked up at him and greeted him with an expressionless face.
"Uh, hello."
Jeon returned the greeting.
'Her eyes... feel so empty.'
The complete opposite of when the heart had been pounding and radiating emotions.
The girl's eyes in the heart's interior seemed utterly devoid of any feeling.
'Her voice is so flat, too.'
The voice was unmistakably the same one that had spoken to him, but unlike before when emotions seeped through, now it was dry and emotionless.
"Thank you for coming all this way."
"No big deal."
Still, she seemed willing to converse, as she stood up and dusted off her bottom.
"What do you think of this village? Pretty, right?"
"Yeah. Nice atmosphere."
As the girl said, devoid of people or other lifeforms, but the village itself was neatly maintained and quite charming despite its small size.
Pleased by Jeon's response, the girl smiled.
Though only her mouth curved—her face otherwise unmoving—making it look quite awkward.
"This is the village where I lived as a child."
"As a child?"
"Yeah, though I didn't stay long before I had to leave."
With her still-flat words.
Whoosh.
Fires began igniting one by one in the village houses, spreading uncontrollably and engulfing the entire village in flames in an instant.
Yet even as flames raged everywhere, Jeon took no action.
He knew the fire wouldn't burn him—it was merely visual.
After the blaze swept through, what emerged was a dark, damp space surrounded by brick walls on all sides.
"This is where I stayed after the village."
"This place..."
Still no signs of life, but even if there were any, their condition wouldn't be good.
"In a way, it's where I stayed the longest. Over 15 years here."
Though spoken in that monotone voice.
Jeon realized this place was far from pleasant for her.
"Were you... experimented on or something?"
"Right. I lived in the village until I was suddenly kidnapped and brought here. From then on, for 15 years, I endured all sorts of experiments."
For a simple rural village girl to be mysteriously abducted and subjected to biological experiments for 15 years.
This place could never hold good memories.
Thus, while the girl remained expressionless, Jeon's brow furrowed slightly as he gazed at the space.
The discomfort emanating from it was that palpable.
"By the way... what's your name?"
"Oh, I didn't introduce myself."
At Jeon's question, the girl, who had been looking around the space, turned to him.
"My name is Anne. The being the Kingdom Alliance used as a research subject for 15 years—and the one that later destroyed the Kingdom Alliance."
With that introduction, the girl's previously empty eyes began filling with gold.