Chapter 816 |
“What the hell? How did you—”
– I came because someone asked me to.
The soft, squishy jellyfish spun lazily through the air. Was there anywhere Ru Ga Pheya couldn’t get into? Well, this place was more like a ritual, or a memory, than a physical location, so maybe that was why. Either way, I was glad to see her.
“What happened outside? Is everyone okay?”
– The World Tree froze along with you. With three powerful consciousnesses planted right in its core, it couldn’t hold out. And it was two trees, two separate individuals, fused together, wasn’t it? Just carrying a pseudo-origin and Eclipse inside it must have caused tremendous mental chaos~.
“Ah… yeah. Now that you mention it, it did feel sluggish compared to how much its stats had gone up.”
There had been four selves crammed inside one body. And on top of that, there was me, who had become SS-rank or higher thanks to Liette’s power.
– Your brother was startled for a moment, but he calmed down quickly. As for time~ about fifteen minutes have passed. Little Droplet still hasn’t woken up.
“So a day in here is only about five minutes out there.”
“So what was the request?”
– To find the Black Dragon’s fragment.
“The Black Dragon… Liette? A fragment of Liette?”
– When someone is born around S-rank, their existence doesn’t immediately fall apart just because they die. But the Black Dragon was damaged a little~. I think some of her got dragged away with her memories and power. It’s an extremely tiny piece, small enough that she’d be fine without it, but the Light Dragonkin wants her whole.
Uh. Was that because of my Final Recompense skill? I had received not just her abilities, but even some of her memories.
“Did Hunter Liette die?”
Chief Song asked then, his expression hard. Even Seong Hyunjae looked surprised.
“…Yes. The two World Trees ended up merging. But Noah said there’s a way to revive her. Oh, and Noah is back too.”
“I’m sorry.”
Chief Song bowed his head heavily.
“Because I failed to fulfill my role properly, Hunter Liette—”
“No! I’m not even the person you should be apologizing to in the first place. Liette… was hurt while protecting me.”
“Liette protected you, Han Yujin?”
Seong Hyunjae tilted his head, faint surprise on his face. Chief Song wore a similar expression.
“It was… because of Noah. She was acting in Noah’s place. She wanted to understand her younger brother. Liette is very different from Noah, but even so, she loved him. She wanted to protect him.”
“…Still, for Hunter Liette to do something like that…”
“Liette didn’t think of it as a sacrifice. She just charged in, the way she always does. Without hesitation, because it was what she wanted.”
In a way, she had not changed at all. Just like when she poured her own brand of affection onto Noah, regardless of whether he liked it or not. Noah would never have wanted his sister to get hurt protecting me.
“Liette herself is still the same. But she’s trying to get closer to Noah, and she’ll keep trying. Chief Song, to Noah, Liette was no different from a terrifying monster.”
Noah had awakened as an A-rank and then grown into an S-rank, but when he was young, he had been an ordinary child. I remembered how he had once been so deeply afraid of Liette. Just as my parents had felt it with Yuhyun, Noah must have known from childhood that his older sister was something different from him. And with even his parents gone, he must have been all the more terrified.
“And yet things still got better between them. Of course, not everyone can manage that. Even for the two of them, the ending before the regression wasn’t a good one. I was the same. But what is certain is that anyone can become better than they were.”
No matter what kind of being you were, that alone was not a reason to give up from the start. Chief Song fell silent. In some ways, he could be called similar to both me and Liette, but he had lost the person he might have made things right with. That had to make it even harder. Even so, I hoped that someday, he would be okay.
“Han Yujin, can you receive the memories and power of the dead?”
Seong Hyunjae spoke abruptly. Reflexively, I hugged the sheep doll tight. It was too sudden for me to react calmly, and my voice jumped.
“What?!”
“So that was how you survived in front of Lautitars. And when you visited the rooftop garden, you must have been carrying someone else’s power as well.”
…He was like a ghost. So he really had noticed back when I had Blackey with me too. A beat late, Chief Song turned to me with startled eyes.
“At first, I thought perhaps you had dealt with one World Tree first, then handled the remaining one and entered afterward, Hunter Han Yujin, but… if they merged, and Hunter Liette died as well…”
“With Han Yujin as he usually is, he would have had trouble even getting close to the World Tree.”
Seong Hyunjae smiled at me.
“You used Liette’s skills far more proficiently than before. It was different from when you experienced them indirectly through your Teacher skill.”
“…Yes. You’re right.”
Seriously, he was way too sharp. I had no choice but to confess. Though, of course, I slipped in a small lie.
“It’s a skill related to my Nurturer title. When someone I have a certain level of closeness with dies while protecting me, I receive twice their stats and their memories. The memories are mostly just some of the parts related to me.”
“That must have been hard.”
“Are you all right? Before you turned back time, you clearly said you had lost people other than Hunter Han Yuhyun as well.”
I almost said I was fine, then smiled awkwardly instead.
“It really did feel like dying. When I first lost them, my stats shot up so much that I could somehow endure it. And the target of my revenge was right there in front of me too. But once time passed and my Willpower stat dropped back to normal, the memories were still there…”
I could not bear it unless I drank.
“It was very hard.”
I looked at Seong Hyunjae and Chief Song.
“So I’d rather this skill never activate again. Twenty-six-year-old Yuhyun knows about it, but please keep it a secret from twenty-one-year-old Yuhyun. You never know. Preferably from Yerim too.”
“Does it apply even if someone dies and comes back to life?”
“…Considering that twenty-six-year-old Yuhyun, who is dead, can’t be applied, I don’t think it would work if someone is practically immortal like you, Seong Hyunjae. Don’t get any useless ideas.”
“Aren’t you curious? Whether the accumulated substance of a pseudo-origin would also be transferred at double the amount.”
Now that he said it, I was a little curious too, but.
“The skill is only L-rank. It has to have limits, doesn’t it? And anyway, you and Chief Song don’t qualify. It’s a Nurturer title skill, so you have to be treated as someone under my protection. You’re both over the age limit. I only think Liette counted because the skill was influenced by before the regression, so it treated me as thirty-one.”
Seong Hyunjae wouldn’t die anyway, but Chief Song was another matter, so I said it like that just in case. It was true that I couldn’t use it because the keyword registration did not work.
“If we consider when I was planted in this world, I am younger than Han Yujin.”
“Ah, yes. Our venerable ancestor, who’s so old he could slap a Transcendent across the face. If you want to be technical, Sigma is older than the Puppeteer, you know?”
If time had not stopped for him, anyway. And Seong Hyunjae was basically Sigma’s older-brother type, wasn’t he? How could he say that with such a straight face?
“I received my brother’s power, killed Lautitars, and paid the price for an F-rank killing the king of the Venom and Curse Dragonkin alone by turning back time. Originally, I wanted to bring Yuhyun back to life, but… the Transcendents scammed me. They said they couldn’t revive the dead.”
I was satisfied with the present. In the end, I was going to live happily and well. Even so, every time I turned back to that moment, bitterness filled my mouth. I could not help thinking, what if I had revived Yuhyun back then?
“Is there anything else you’re curious about? I’ll give you the special service~. At this point, I’ve pretty much told you almost everything. And I ended up learning all kinds of things about the two of you too.”
At first, there had been so many circumstances I could not talk about, and because of the nature of the Hunter world, I had worked hard to hide and cover things up. But somehow, here we were. I still could not tell them about the keywords, since those absolutely could not be exposed.
“As always, about Han Yujin.”
“I don’t have any more skills to tell you about. You even took my memories, so you already know most things.”
Seong Hyunjae snapped his fingers. At the same time, the scenery around us changed. We were in a wide garden with a terrace café.
“Since we have a little breathing room, shall we sit for a moment?”
“Not for long. Yuhyun is waiting. One hour, exactly.”
An hour here would be less than a minute outside. At some point, Seong Hyunjae’s outfit had changed. He was even wearing an apron, like the owner of a café.
“Please place your order.”
“Then a café latte. It’s been a while.”
– Bring me whatever sells well in your world.
“I’m fine.”
“As always, that means you will leave it to me.”
Seong Hyunjae went inside, and we sat at a table on the terrace. The doll took a seat too. Soon, cookies and drinks were brought out. All four cups were warm milk.
“Excuse me, sir, but our drinks came out wrong.”
“They came out exactly right.”
“This is milk. Milk! There isn’t even the k sound of caffeine in here!”
The service attitude at this place was one star! Still, he must have added something, because it was delicious. I’ll raise it to three stars. Milk… He had given me something like this before too. Had that been when Seong Hyunjae and I were going back and forth over whether or not to talk?
“When everything’s over, I think I’ll look for a way to extend my lifespan. I’ll have plenty of time then.”
The words slipped out. Seong Hyunjae sipped his milk and smiled, his eyes curving.
“I’d still like to make it to a hundred, at least. They said my origin might have been damaged, but there has to be a way. I mean, I’m here, aren’t I?”
– Is there something wrong with your origin?
“I’m not sure. My body has definitely been overloaded a lot.”
– Even when I saw you, your condition didn’t look good.
“Considering how much I’ve been through, I should at least get to live peacefully with the kids for a hundred years. Otherwise, it just doesn’t balance out~.”
“You said you wanted to establish a school.”
“That too. Chief Song! Come join us!”
“I cannot hold two positions.”
“What do you mean, you can’t? It doesn’t have to be right away.”
“…I should be able to take on a role supervising and managing an educational facility for the Awakened. It was originally my duty as well.”
We talked about this and that. Mostly about the future. This was the kind of conversation that called for alcohol rather than milk. The King of Harmless also explained my memories to me. As expected, since we had already been connected once, she said I could keep my memories connected outside as well, and that recovering them would be easier too.
“Then let’s go out.”
I finished the café latte Seong Hyunjae had brought out the second time and stood.
“The center where the World Tree’s magic stone is located will be hard to dig into even with my power. Yuhyun’s Black Blood Flame stopped its regeneration, but it won’t last long, and its recovery speed is faster than the rate of destruction. But you and Chief Song are inside, Seong Hyunjae.”
“We will be ready.”
“Good.”
“Hunter Han Yujin. Please exclude me from combat strength after this.”
Chief Song spoke.
“Because of the Gardener?”
“Yes. The Gardener cannot control me completely, but it can restrict my movements.”
“So it has an effect similar to the soil Hwang Rim brought. Since nothing had happened until now, I thought it might be all right.”
In the past, Hwang Rim had brought the Gardener’s soil and used it to suppress Chief Song. Apparently, the Gardener’s butterflies could produce a similar ability even without the soil. That soil had disappeared, but did the Puppeteer have it?
“Until the Gardener’s interference can be completely blocked, I can be neutralized at any time.”
“Understood. I’ll keep that in mind.”
“I will take good care of Chief Song Taewon.”
“You’re in no position to be looking after anyone, Seong Hyunjae. Still, I’m counting on you.”
The jellyfish said she would help and stuck herself to me. You’re sticky. She was cute, but still kind of gross. I closed my eyes and focused my consciousness. Not long after—
“Hyung!”
Yuhyun’s voice reached me. I hurriedly opened my eyes, and wood grain stretched in layers before me. The Black Blood Flame had already vanished. The World Tree had also regained consciousness and was rapidly regenerating the wounds in its body.
“Seong Hyunjae!”
He was beyond this. Maybe because of my memories, I could pinpoint his location with even more clarity. I quickly used the Teacher skill.
I felt Seong Hyunjae wake from the deathlike state he had been in. Chief Song’s presence beside him also became distinct. I applied the Teacher skill to Chief Song as well. The God-Slaying Spear. I raised the pure white weapon high. It filled with the power of Severance.
No signal was necessary. Their movements came directly to me. Shadow seeped into the hard shell of wood. At the same time, Seong Hyunjae drew out a defense weakening skill and layered it on. The arm I held the spear with bent back to its limit. A short breath left me. And then—
Crack, crunch—!
I slashed the spear down in one long stroke. The impossibly thick core of the tree split open. Precisely, without injuring the two people beyond it. From the other side of the one thin layer that remained—
Rumble!
Light exploded. Splinters of wood shattered in every direction as gold spread outward. Seong Hyunjae and Chief Song escaped outside. I swung the spear again toward the huge hole beyond them and shouted.
“Yuhyun!”
As if he had been waiting, flames surged up. Black Blood Flame savagely burrowed into the World Tree, stopping its regeneration. At the same time, I transformed into a massive black dragon and drove my head toward the place where the magic stone lay. Teeth packed full of the power of Severance tore out the World Tree’s magic stone, along with the wood wrapped around it, in one whole bite.
Rrrrumble— the World Tree shook violently. Holding the lump of magic stone in my jaws, I pulled my body free. Noah, moving quickly, caught me as I returned to human form and retreated.
“Hyung, are you okay?”
“I’m perfectly fine!”
As if making one final struggle, the World Tree stretched hundreds, thousands of branches and vines toward me. Yuhyun, Seong Hyunjae, and Chief Song had already gotten out of the way. Even if they had not, the World Tree was chasing only the magic stone, only me. Golden wings slipped between the branches at a terrifying speed. The attacks we could not completely avoid, I cut down myself.
Bang— the golden dragon struck the air hard and soared upward. Beneath my feet, I saw the massive tree collapsing, raising a thick cloud of dust. Even the thickest branch fell with a heavy thud, lying long across the ground. Flames spread over it.
We cut through the dust and smoke and descended. Yuhyun ran straight to me.
“You suddenly froze, hyung. It scared me.”
“I worried you, huh? Nothing happened?”
“The World Tree stopped moving too, so I thought you might have used some kind of mental skill. Then the King of Harmless appeared and explained.”
Despite saying he had been startled, Yuhyun seemed to have acted calmly. Since he had experience clearing all kinds of dungeons, he must be quick to respond to most unexpected situations. The jellyfish drifted away toward the place where Liette was. I turned to Noah.
Now it was time to bring Liette back to life.
–TL Notes–
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