Chapter 123
Chapter 123
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 123
Chapter Title: Crossroads of Revenge
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…Self-sacrifice.
“What distinguishes a bastard with power from a hero?” Border White’s answer to the reporter’s question.
***
Corvus sat atop the airport control tower, out of the reporters’ sight, glaring down at Dungan Heavy Industries’ plane with eyes full of resentment.
It had been two hours since his disciple had gone inside.
He had no idea what was happening in there, but it was more than enough time to prove the rumors that she was connected to the Dwarf Chaebols.
“…Tch.”
Was it anger at wealth disparities, or jealousy toward beastkin who had adapted to modern Earth?
Given Yeomyeong’s personality, she wasn’t carousing wildly inside, but… Corvus was irritated for no reason.
He kicked at the stupid birds that approached thinking he was friendly, or pecked at the control tower ceiling with his beak to kill time for a good while.
Suddenly, the sound of reporters buzzing reached his ears.
He turned his gaze and saw the Saintess, wearing a pure white eyepatch, crossing the airport toward the dwarves’ plane.
—Saintess?
—Cheon Yeomyeong and the Saintess, Dungan Heavy Industries… Meeting because of something in Manju?
—She’s in her school uniform! Snap a pic!
Having apparently overcome her fear of reporters, the Saintess boldly parted the cameras and entered the plane.
Then, about ten minutes later, the plane door opened, and Yeomyeong emerged alone.
‘Where did the Saintess go?’
As Corvus tilted his head and looked closely, he noticed a pure white scabbard dangling from her waist that hadn’t been there when she entered.
It was clearly a gift from the dwarves, no matter who saw it.
Only then did the reporters notice Yeomyeong and rise from their seats. She turned not toward the airport lobby, but toward the runway, hopping over the fence.
‘What a temper.’
Corvus spread his wings and flew toward his disciple. After a short glide, he landed lightly beside her.
The moment his disciple spotted him and lightly bowed her head, he spat out the question he’d been holding back.
“Disciple? What were you doing in that plane?”
Despite the sudden question, Yeomyeong didn’t falter and tapped the scabbard at her waist.
“I picked up a sword.”
“A sword? Did those pint-sized misers strong-arm you into it?”
It was a species-discriminatory remark. Yeomyeong gave a wry smile.
“I have ties from Manju… It was a gift.”
“Hmmmmm…”
A free gift? As if those misers would give anything impressive.
Corvus interpreted his disciple’s awkward smile as embarrassment.
As a considerate mentor, she changed the subject.
“Disciple, about what you mentioned to me yesterday…”
“What do you mean?”
“…The human who gives off a beastkin vibe.”
At those words, Yeomyeong’s eyes sharpened slightly.
“You found him already?”
It hadn’t even been a full day since she’d brought it up… Corvus nodded.
“I did. Just as you said, I focused on the beastkin vibe and sensed the incongruity right away.”
“Where did you find…”
The moment Yeomyeong started to ask.
Corvus’s gaze shifted to the far end of the runway, toward a street sweeper cleaning the road outside the airport.
“Huh… That guy…?”
By coincidence or not, the street sweeper’s broom-sweeping eyes met Yeomyeong’s.
A brief silence, an awkward exchange of glances.
Yeomyeong realized the sweeper’s motions were too clumsy, and he realized Corvus was a beastkin—almost simultaneously.
“…This morning, he was definitely a sewer cleaner.”
Taking Corvus’s excuse as a signal, Yeomyeong immediately unleashed Flying Leg Art. The fake sweeper tossed his broom and bolted toward the road.
Whoosh!
Yeomyeong reflexively conjured ice spikes and hurled them. The sharp ice sliced through the air like bullets.
The sunlight glinted off the ice, and the guy rolled across the ground.
Kyaack—!
A cry closer to a beast’s scream than a human’s.
Clutching his side where an ice spike had embedded, he sprang up and pried open a manhole cover a few steps away.
‘Sewer?’
While Yeomyeong frowned, Corvus unleashed over a dozen ice spikes at him.
Crack!
A couple of ice spikes struck him hard, but he barely managed to dive into the sewer.
Pedestrians screamed in shock at the daylight magic or backed away. Ignoring them, Yeomyeong and Corvus leaped straight into the sewer.
Thud!
The sewer was pitch-black and horrific. But both Corvus and Yeomyeong were superhumans beyond a certain level. Limited vision was no issue.
“Blood smell! That way!”
The two pursued the guy, following the scent of blood through the sewer’s stench.
Beneath the damp, nauseating air, splashing footsteps echoed.
The blood scent seemed just within reach, but for some reason, the distance to him wouldn’t close easily.
“…He knows the paths well.”
Corvus frowned mid-flap. But Yeomyeong didn’t grow anxious.
No matter how vast the sewers, Lord Howe was an island. No matter how he fled, he was trapped like a rat in a cage.
…That’s what she thought.
But the moment they reached a large open space deep in the sewers, where twisted mana pulsed, Yeomyeong instinctively knew something had gone wrong.
A massive altar built of stone and corpses, surrounded by human skins, and atop it, a blood-leather priest gazing down at them like a human sacrifice.
“Haa… haa… You… damned… Saintess’s… escort… and lowly, kinsman…”
“Kinsman my ass—what kin are fur and feathers? Quit the bullshit and surrender.”
Corvus spat that as he conjured ice spikes.
Dozens of ice spikes encircled the altar, but the guy didn’t show fear—instead, he bared his teeth in a grin.
“Your defeat.”
With those words, he pulled out a massive black gem.
“Corruption Stone?!”
Seeing it, Corvus fired the ice spikes immediately.
But crushing the black gem was a fraction faster than skewering him.
“Disciple! Dodge—!”
Crunch.
The gem shattered, and just as Corvus’s talons grabbed Yeomyeong’s shoulder.
Yeomyeong’s world plunged into darkness.
***
The air changed.
From Lord Howe Academy and Australia’s Sydney to the underground of South Korea’s National Assembly.
Everyone who could sense twisted mana felt the anomaly and turned their gaze toward the northern island of Lord Howe Academy.
***
“Darulma, I don’t want much. Just give me as much as Yeomyeong got, okay?”
At the Saintess’s words as she strolled between display cases, Darulma broke out in a sweat.
“No, Saintess… Yeomyeong’s deal was separate…”
“Ah, I don’t care about that. Just give me one hammer, alright?”
It was coercion… no, outright robbery. Darulma squeezed his eyes shut.
The uninvited Saintess showing up suddenly was bewildering enough, but demanding weapons outright?
Yeomyeong, who should have helped persuade her, had grabbed weapons and fled, leaving Darulma in agony.
“Saintess, please don’t… How about the latest assault rifles we brought? With grenades, extra mags, and…”
“Oh? Give me those too.”
“…Pardon?”
“Oh, this pistol’s cute too?”
The Saintess pulled a pistol from the display and examined it. The masterwork, infused with mana stitch by stitch, was becoming used goods in real time, but Darulma couldn’t bring himself to stop her.
Anyone else, maybe—but he was a devout follower of the Five Gods.
His entrepreneurial instincts screamed not to give it free, but how long could he resist the noble Saintess’s demands?
Surely she had some grand purpose…
As Darulma thought that, the Saintess’s expression suddenly hardened.
“…Saintess?”
Whether he called or not, the Saintess began sweeping weapons from the cases.
The pistol she’d been holding, all sorts of guns and ammo, even prototype explosives.
She piled them mountain-high on the plane floor, pondered briefly, then grabbed the massive dwarf-use hammer from the case.
Darulma couldn’t even dream of stopping her sudden actions. Her expression looked too urgent.
“Um… Saintess? What’s going on?”
After the commotion, as Darulma cautiously asked.
“Darulma, sorry, but bill the Holy Kingdom for these…”
The Saintess vanished into darkness.
***
In a dorm room where Soemiri had stepped out, sensing something amiss.
The four sisters, once called sacrifices, gathered together.
“Sis.”
Neti, the first to speak among them, said in her husky voice.
“How far’d you go with Yeomyeong oppa?”
“…What?”
Seti, sorting documents, frowned and turned. Her younger sister lounged on the bed, rolling around.
Beneath her roughly swept-back blue short cut, decadent eyes stood out.
Whether due to her rebellious look or the leather jacket violating school rules, she screamed delinquent.
“Oh, playing dumb? Fine, I’ll say it again. The day the seal broke—how far’d you go with Yeomyeong oppa?”
Seeing her sibling’s meaningful smile, Seti pressed her forehead like Yeomyeong often did and sighed.
She’d called her sisters to explain future plans.
She planned to sort the brainwashed shepherd story and decide which country to flee to…
But her sister’s first words upon entering were this.
“…Little sis, why’re you suddenly curious about that?”
“Well, I’m wondering if I’ve got a brother-in-law already.”
“…B-brother-in-law?”
“Sis, no pretending you’re just friends now, right? No more lies. You two stuck together every class.”
“No, that’s…”
“Eating separately just makes it more suspicious, you know? The airheads are already gossiping you’re doing it.”
Seti clamped her lips, and Neti grinned.
“And others might not know, but we sisters do. You touching your lips all the time since that day.”
“...”
“Not some shoujo manga heroine… Siri gags every time she sees it.”
Siri, sitting behind, muttered ‘When did I, you psycho?’, but if she were truly innocent, she wouldn’t have listened this long.
Proving it, Siri’s face, watching Seti, bore the same smile as Neti’s.
Seti pressed her forehead and deep-breathed. These brats climbing all over her head.
“…Nothing like what you’re thinking happened, so drop it here?”
Her ultimatum fell on deaf ears; her sister didn’t stop.
“Dodging makes it more suspicious? Sis, did you maybe… do this much?”
Neti formed a circle with her left thumb and index, then thrust and withdrew her right index through it.
Repeatedly, until Seti’s patience snapped.
Siri covered the youngest’s eyes at the crude gesture and turned away.
“You…!”
Face flushed crimson, Seti shot up. Her clenched fist and steps boded ill.
“Sis, wait, you’re not gonna hit me…”
Thwack!
Struck by the emotional punch, Neti toppled onto the bed.
Tears welled, forehead burned, but… a smile played on her lips.
“Hitting your sister over guy talk? Ha, Seti sis of all people?”
Clutching her forehead, she cackled. Tears streamed as if it were hilarious.
Sisters stared in shock at the sudden laughter, but Neti laughed long.
As her breathing grew ragged, she spoke relievedly.
“…Phew, feels good.”
“Good? Want another?”
As Seti raised her hand again, Neti waved it off.
“No, no—not the hitting! Just… talking like normal sisters feels good.”
Sappy romance talk, no less.
Siri the cheeky one, maybe—but past Neti could never.
No choice. Until recently, they sisters were livestock, not human.
Livestock to spread legs for stallions the shepherds brought someday.
No romance, not even normal love allowed—just miserable futures. Sweet talk impossible.
But now…
“Sis dating a guy, teasing her over romance. Never thought this day’d come.”
“...”
“Not a dream, right? If it is, I hope I don’t wake.”
Sisters couldn’t respond to Neti’s sentiment.
Emotion-laden silence.
“Neti…”
Seti slowly opened her mouth to offer sisterly comfort.
“Ah, but no niece before graduation, sis knows?”
Neti’s words shattered the mood.
“You bitch…”
Seti felt sisterly warmth vanish to her chin.
She raised her hand…
And couldn’t bring it down.
“Sis?”
As Neti tilted her head at rigid Seti, the four sisters sensed something simultaneously.
Something repulsive yet familiar.
The aura they thought gone forever post-seal—all held breath.
“Everyone back! Right now—!”
Seti immediately distanced from her sisters.
They reached to grab her, but darkness swallowed her first.
***
The moment Yeomyeong vanished into darkness.
Soemiri opened her eyes in the infirmary.
A faint red glow swirled in her beautiful pupils.
“…Comrade Miri? Awake already?”
Rime, guarding the bedside, called, but Soemiri said nothing.
She just quietly stared into space for a moment.
Unable to bear it, Rime gripped Soemiri’s hand tight.
Fairy intuition, perhaps—she felt Soemiri might vanish somewhere.
“Why are you like this…”
“…Comrade Rime.”
“Ever since that dream, you’ve been off. Whose dream did you connect to?”
Instead of answering, Soemiri stroked Rime’s beautiful silver hair. Then slowly, as if soothing a little sister.
“Hey… Rime, don’t worry if I’m late. No need to contact Father. Got it?”
“Comrade, what…”
“I’ll be back.”
***
Yeomyeong opened his eyes in the darkness.
Suppressing dizziness, he stood—the sewer’s foul stench assaulted his nose first.
Splash.
Sewer water reached his calves, cold enough to frown.
‘…What happened? Where’s Corvus and the blood-leather priest?’
Recalling just before blackout, he expanded his senses with mana.
But little registered. Only eerie silence, sewer darkness, and twisted mana.
Trapped in some magical space?
Analyzing while checking his gear.
Tears of the Mountain from Darulma, Uragan’s Hilt in his mini-pocket, Key of Blood Tears, Golden Imperial Seal…
Not good. At least he had the sword.
He drew Uragan’s Hilt to light like a flashlight. The unicorn-horn grip blazed, illuminating the dark.
[Virgin… no, Master. Where are we?]
‘Dunno.’
[Twisted mana and stench… Like a succubus den, revolting.]
With the unicorn’s voice echoing in his head as BGM, he wandered the sewer—still nothing snagged his senses.
‘…Poke the wall?’
Stabbing experimentally, the blade tip emerged opposite.
He body-slammed next—emerged opposite again.
‘Definitely magic…’
Twisted mana flooding the sewer blocked spell-reading.
No standing still, so he placed a hand on the wall and walked aimlessly.
After long exploration.
An inexplicable tickle made him halt.
‘You feel it too?’
[Master, what? Only revulsion here.]
Hallucination? As he turned.
Bang!
A familiar sound pierced the dark—a revolver shot, unforgettable.
Yeomyeong bolted toward it.
* * *