Chapter 84
Chapter 84
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 84
Chapter Title: Humanity Reduction Scenario (4)
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We headed to the top floor via the stairs.
The reason we were climbing the skyscraper's stairs honestly, without any shortcuts, was simple.
The building's entrances, sealed by Zero One's powerful magic, could only be accessed through the main entrance we'd come in by.
Of course, it wasn't impossible to break through. A strike strong enough to overpower even Zero One's magic could shatter the barrier spell with ease.
But...
"That might play right into the enemy's hands. No one in this world would be dumb enough to think a kindly opened entrance isn't a trap."
Lee Gyeo-ul judged the skyscraper's seal as a double-layered trap, a ploy by the enemy to drain our strength needlessly.
Her veteran hunter's instinct told her that charging boldly through the front door was the way to catch them off guard in a situation like this. We all agreed.
Step by step.
We ascended the mage tower where this world's sole grand mage resided—a cutting-edge building embodying the pinnacle of modern architecture.
From below came a cacophony of destruction. The building was crumbling, shattering, tearing apart.
The scorching heat of battle reached even this spot, ten floors removed.
"Lee Gyeo-ul has the upper hand."
Aria perked up her golden-furred ears as she assessed the situation.
"You can tell?"
"Heartbeat, breathing, scent... Her vitals are relaxed. Just like when she fought me. No need to worry about the Hell Dog. A woman with the title of hero has no reason to fall to Zero One's minions."
True progenitor senses couldn't gauge the details that precisely, it seemed. In terms of range, werebeast instincts outstripped even the progenitor's.
"The problem is us."
Aria gazed at the ceiling with her blood-red eyes.
"Zero One's up there. And his minions too."
Trembling in her voice was a cocktail of hatred, tension, and other negative emotions.
"Stay sharp. Zero One's a grand mage on a whole different level from the enemies we've faced so far..."
As Aria's words trailed off, we arrived at the 13th floor.
There, in the lobby-like space, Zero One's shadow awaited.
"Another annoying pest shows up."
Han Cheong-ah rolled her shoulders like someone itching all over and stepped forward first among us.
"Last time, Winter unnie took the lead, but this time..."
It's my turn to show off my badass growth, she declared brashly, starting to charge.
Her enthusiasm was sadly blocked. Aria had thrust out an arm in front of her.
Han Cheong-ah startled as the arm barred her chest and blurted,
"Ah, shit, thought it was a sucker punch."
"......"
"......"
It was the moment Aria's "stay sharp" rang hollow.
As incredulous stares poured in, Han Cheong-ah sheepishly defended herself.
"It happens in movies, you know? The betrayal at the final moment. So you've finally shown your true colors, you villain..."
"Cut it out, Cheong-ah."
"Icebreaker."
Aria sighed.
"Call it karma if you want. They say fixing what's broken is harder than making something new from scratch."
With a self-deprecating chuckle, Aria stepped forward.
At some point, razor-sharp beast claws had emerged from her hands.
"Leave this to me."
"You sure?"
It wasn't concern for Aria's safety.
Right now, Aria wanted to kill Zero One more than anyone here.
Knowing she was dying to see that hated face, I asked if she was okay.
"Ha! I can lop off trash like this anytime. Don't worry, I'm not giving up on claiming Zero One's head myself, Dracula."
"......Pointless worry on my part."
I quietly closed my eyes and nodded.
"Dracula."
"Yeah."
"I have no regrets."
Was she talking about the present, or the future?
"Thank you for giving me freedom."
Maybe both.
"I'll live up to your expectations. Let's go, Cheong-ah."
"Gonna play my part this time too, whiiiine..."
Grabbing Han Cheong-ah, who whined like Mimir, they headed up.
Around then, Aria's body shifted into a wolf cloaked in golden fur.
Han Cheong-ah and I kept climbing the stairs.
The endless ascent wasn't boring.
Climbing was what I'd done all along, and what I'd keep doing.
Sometimes jagged and uneven, other times so cramped there was barely footing—the stairs might make the path ahead seem daunting.
But halting before those stairs, pondering how to conquer the damn things—that might be life's one true pleasure and pastime.
No growth without trials.
The same went for me, for Han Cheong-ah, for anyone blessed with the treasure of life.
"Do-hyun."
"Yeah."
"We're almost at the top now."
"Yeah."
I eyed the "26" etched in the concrete. A nostalgic number. The years of my past life.
"Do-hyun."
"Yeah."
"Can you win on your own?"
The shadow waiting on the 26th floor writhed. Slowly advancing, it swallowed the shadows of Han Cheong-ah and me.
"That question's flawed from the premise."
"How so?"
"I made it here because everyone helped."
"Ah, then let me rephrase."
Fierce lightning began to roar.
The virus rampage, speckled in black, soon bleached into pure white irises.
The pallid lightning gently enveloped Han Cheong-ah's body.
"With my help, can you beat Zero One?"
"Yeah."
"Good. That's enough."
Han Cheong-ah gave me a light shove on the back.
It was time to climb the final stairs.
The moment I stepped onto the top floor where Zero One waited, Han Cheong-ah called my name once more.
"Do-hyun."
"Yeah."
The distance between Han Cheong-ah and me was vast.
Yet I could hear her voice thanks to a vampire's sharp wits and ears.
"I like you."
She wasn't a vampire or werebeast.
I couldn't respond to a 4D waifu the same way.
So I'd tell her directly once everything was over...
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ We reached the skyscraper's top floor.
Zero One was waiting for me.
We both knew conversation was over. All that remained was a one-sided declaration.
Yet we opened our mouths.
The reason burned in our chests as elation.
"Disappointing, Dracula."
"Why."
"I expected you'd arrive sooner. Ended up downing all the wine I saved for after the fun."
"I'm the leisurely one? If anything, I'm disappointed."
"Why."
"This 'Humanity Reduction Scenario'—it's nothing special."
Here, with him, only truth mattered.
The revealed truth was arrogant.
He and I were both insufferably arrogant.
Underestimating our foe as beneath our predictions, we unleashed all the emotions we'd kept hidden.
"Sorry to disappoint."
"Likewise."
"Dracula, are you feeling the same as me?"
Zero One set down his bloodstained wine glass and rose.
Looking up at him standing, I realized something startling.
His once-mountainous frame no longer intimidated. Zero One had shrunk in my world.
No, correction.
My world had simply grown vaster.
"From the moment I first clashed with the progenitors centuries ago, perhaps I've been guiding events toward this instant."
Zero One craved a worthy rival.
Many had bared fangs at him before, but only the arrogant vampire had scarred his sturdy body.
For once, the Truth-Seeing Demonic Eye yearned for illusion.
"Disappointing, yet glad. I respect and loathe your bold challenge. Why appear before me now? Why not sooner? I never dreamed I'd have such emotional facets—and I wanted to stay ignorant. Baek Do-hyun!"
Zero One glared with murder in his eyes, flashing a wicked grin.
Trials forge strength. Regrettably, I wasn't the trial to toughen Zero One.
I was the calamity to crush him. His ruin. His death.
It itched. My body crawled with the urge to etch defeat into this grand mage before me, or I'd go mad.
"Thrilling."
Truly thrilling.
Immensely so.
He was the strongest foe I'd faced.
How to smash him? How to snuff his breath?
Not the artist I'd lived as, but the vampire screamed to pulverize the enemy.
As the Erosion Demonic Eye and Truth-Seeing Demonic Eye bared their true forms to each other.
The final battle began.