Chapter 65
Chapter 65
The Red Case’s waterer lost his consciousness like that, and fell down in a heap.
The reason he didn’t fall to the ground was that the countless branches of the World Tree were firmly biting into his body and holding him in place.
Well, it would be strange for him to maintain consciousness after having so much blood and mana sucked like that.
With this thought, I first broke his limbs using the branches of the World Tree.
Even though his limbs were crushed with a creepy sound, he was still hanging and didn’t even move.
I threw him to the ground, just enough to keep him from dying.
Then I crawled out of the shadow and collapsed to the ground.
“Gasp, gasp…… .”
As I was exhaling harshly, my whole body was drenched in cold sweat.
It was a symptom of mana exhaustion.
I felt like I was going to lose my consciousness.
“It hurts. Fuck……Ug… !”
As soon as the excitement from the battle subsided, various pains began to rush through my body.
Burns on the face and shoulders, a gaping hole in the back of the hand, and several needles still on the legs.
The back, which had been blown and stuck, was throbbing as if it had been dislocated, and it was difficult to breathe because the ribs were broken.
I had to move somehow.
It was when I was crunching my whole body for a while just with that thought.
Suddenly, I heard a sound as if something was dragging.
When I moved my head while lying down and looked at it, I saw Jin Ye-Seul standing upside down.
She was holding someone’s leg in one hand, and I easily recognized that it was the leg of the woman called Orga.
“How do you know this…… .”
As I muttered, trying to sit up somehow, Jin Ye-Seul tossed Orga, who she was holding, away.
Her body was so shredded that I could see it from a glance.
Rather, the man with holes all over his body looked better.
“…… .”
Jin Ye-Seul carefully put down the ankle in front of me, which she was holding in one hand without a word.
A person’s ankle with Nidhogg’s fang stuck in it.
Even though it was originally mine, it was terrifying.
No, more than that…… .
Jin Ye-Seul immediately came here, as if she knew everything from Nidhogg fang, the woman named Orga who had locked me in the smoke prison, to the place where I was fighting the other waterer of Red Case.
How the hell did it happen?
There was only one answer.
“You were watching everything…… from the beginning.”
Jin Ye-Seul just nodded quietly without answering again this time.
In an instant, anger and betrayal rose up in me, but I couldn’t say anything to her as my jaw tension was released.
Yes, you were this kind of person in the first place.
There is nothing more unsightly than that to feel betrayed at will while expecting that we are on the same side at will.
It was when I was thinking that way.
“I was thrilled.”
“What?”
Before I knew it, Jin Ye-Seul was kneeling on both knees.
She was staring at me, who was lying down, and her eyes were filled with excitement and joy that anyone could tell.
Her eyes, which were originally supposed to be so soggy that no one could understand her emotions, now contained a distinctly different light.
It was just horrifying.
“To be honest, I was doubtful of the young master.”
She continued to speak in an excited voice as if quietly confessing.
“He can’t be that person’s descendant, he’s just some lucky blooded making playing a joke on me…… That’s what I thought. The dagger technique, and the way you use Henir’s Shadow, his most powerful legacy…… Yes, I dared doubt and was not convinced. The more I thought about it, the more my doubts grew.”
While speaking, Jin Ye-Seul was taking something out of her pocket.
It was a glass bottle filled with a bubbling liquid.
“It is often said that the first person to pick up what fell on the ground is the owner. So, I was going to wait until you become an object that fell on the ground.”
The lid of the glass bottle opened with a popping sound.
She took it into her hand and started rubbing it on my face.
Even in the pain of burning skin, I could not move as if frozen.
“I tried not to help the young master. Then you would have died here, and I was going to steal your body before those two picked it up and go. I was going to pick it up first and I was going to be the owner.”
Jin Ye-Seul, who applied all the medicine to my burnt face and shoulder, grabbed my hand this time and pulled.
She looked at the back of my hand, which had a gaping hole in it that she could see the scenery beyond, and began to carefully apply the medicine again.
I couldn’t say anything.
“Did I say I’m good at interrogation? No, I am not good at interrogation.”
This time, her hand went to the needles stuck on my legs.
She grabbed the needles tightly and pulled them out at once, saying she would pull them out.
When she had scratched all the painful screams left in my lungs, she carefully applied the remaining potions to my wounded legs.
“I can split the brains of the dead and extract information from them. That’s how I got information about the Flowing Snake from the Grave Keeper.”
I felt my breath catch in my throat at those words.
In my mind, I also saw a scene that was not so important in the original story and I had forgotten about it.
In the game, when Jin Ye-Seul defeated an enemy, she would sometimes get important traces or evidence.
That’s what it was.
That’s how she got it.
But why the hell is she telling me this… ?
As I was thinking about this, as if she had already noticed my thoughts, she continued politely on her knees.
“If I’m convinced that the young master doesn’t deserve to voluntarily take his blood, then I will use all the methods I know to horribly…… That’s what I thought.”
She bowed her head as she said it.
It was as if she had revealed her sin and was begging for punishment.
“I’m sorry. I was so stupid. The figure just now, the battle…… Treating Henir’s Shadow like hands and feet…… I’m not stupid enough to keep doubting things like that. It was a method that I had never imagined. You are his rightful successor, and you are worthy to claim that name.”
Jin Ye-Seul quietly raised her head and met my eyes.
I’ve seen those eyes somewhere.
It was the eyes of a person who had reached the realm of faith, captured by blind emotions.
“Can you please forgive me?”
Looking straight into those eyes, there was only one answer I could give.
Jin Ye-Seul, who heard my answer, smiled so brightly that there was no more.
* * *
Jin Ye-Seul took the two unconscious Red Case Waterer and disappeared somewhere saying that she would extract information.
When I asked if she was thinking of killing them and splitting their brains, she calmly replied that it would be ineffective as there would be a lot of information that would be damaged.
She finally disappeared after giving me a simple note about the current situation.
Thanks to the potion Jin Ye-Seul had applied, I was able to somehow control my body, so I leaned against the wall and sat down and read the note carefully.
“…… .”
[A large number of people presumed to be Thorns Cross Society appeared in the Sparring area, but a black dragon appeared and successfully subdued them.]
If it was a black dragon, it was probably one of the six guild masters.
I couldn’t recall anything about him other than that he was Chinese and had a rough mouth.
Still, it was good news that the Thorns Cross Society had been smashed.
Because it meant that I had one less thing to worry about.
But if it was the Sparring area, it would have been the place where Han Soo-Young and Choi Hyun-Woo were.
Putting my uneasy feelings behind me first, I continued to read the note.
[The culprit who caused the explosion succeeded in escaping. Identity unidentified.]
Explosion accident.
This is probably someone from the Big Watch.
There was no way of knowing more since he had succeeded in escaping.
Was it just for the purpose of causing a commotion?
There wasn’t enough information to figure out anything.
[A loud roar erupted in the storage room. Details unknown.]
Storage.
I heard this story from Lee Myung-Joon.
It was definitely a place where two of the guild masters and even Jang Deok-Pil joined.
No need to worry about whoever was there.
But, if the relic has been stolen…… .
“…… .”
Without saying a word, I grabbed my throbbing arm and put the note in my pocket.
It was because I wondered what I worried about in this situation.
I suffered this because I was conceited that I could handle everything by myself.
“Haaa.”
I sighed and turned around.
In the meantime, I remembered the gaze of Jin Ye-Seul, whom I had met a while ago, and my body trembled.
“She’s really crazy…… I can’t handle it…… .”
I thought that I had talked her into my clumsy talk because she believes in Shadow Walker that much, but.… .
It was terrifying to think again that she had such a plan in her heart.
I’ll have to quickly throw the legacy and cut ties or something.
I don’t know if it will be cut off…… .
“Whoo…… .”
After taking some rest, I could feel my body recovering.
The potion that Jin Ye-Seul used was probably a high-quality one, but the reason why I was able to recover so fast was actually because of the pieces of paper that were now stuck to my body.
When some of them, flying like insects, found me attached themselves to my wound, I was freaked out because I thought it was another attack.
However, as soon as the light was emitted, I could feel the same kind of healing energy that I had received before, enveloping my entire body.
Whose art is it?
There were still so many papers flying in the sky that it was far more than I could see.
“…… .”
As I sat there in a daze looking at it, I heard my cell phone ring.
When I took it out, the screen was broken, so I couldn’t tell who was calling.
I’ll have to buy a new one, I thought, and picked up the phone.
― Where are you?
A voice that seemed tensed.
But I knew it wasn’t irritated or nervous, but a voice that was like this to begin with.
In fact, I could even read the faint worry in it.
And I could see for myself that the uncomfortable feelings accumulated in the voice for a moment were melting down.
― Hello?
The voice rose even higher.
“Oh, I can hear you.”
― Then why aren’t you answering?
“I was spacing out.”
—… What are you doing to space out on the phone? I called you several times, but there was no answer. Do you know how many times Hyun-Woo and I called?
“Sorry, I was kind of busy, so I didn’t have time to answer the phone. The screen broke, so I didn’t even know who called.”
— What? Why? Did something happen?
I was silent for a moment at her words.
I couldn’t tell her that I was on my way to the storage facility because two huge criminal groups were after the relics, and I was suddenly attacked by the Waterers of Red Case that nearly killed me, and I barely managed to beat them and was in the middle of sitting down to rest.
“Uh…… I was just sitting and resting.”
— What?
Han Soo-Young raised her voice as if it was ridiculous.
Then she murmured for a moment and then asked me cautiously.
― Are you sure nothing happened?
“Yes.”
― Really? I’m telling you in advance, but I really hate lying.
I answered with strength at her doubtful voice as if to assure her.
“It’s true. Nothing happened. Why would I be lying to you?”
― Then where are you right now?
“Well…… .”
Well, I didn’t know where I was right now.
It was definitely not the place I normally go to because the surrounding scenery was unfamiliar.
Fortunately, I could see one familiar building.
“I’m not sure. It looks like it’s around the library.”
― Then I’ll meet you in front of the library.
Han Soo-Young added quickly.
― No, I mean…… It’s because there is Hyun-Woo and someone I want to introduce you to.
There was one person, Nam Hyun-Hwa, her master, she would say with respect that she wanted to introduce.
Then it meant that Han Soo-Young was with her, along with Choi Hyun-Woo.
She was strong enough to compete with the Ten Strongest.
Fortunately, nothing seemed to have happened to worry about.
― Hey, why aren’t you answering? Maybe you…… .
“That’s a relief. It looks like you’re okay.”
― Huh?
“You know what just happened to the academy.”
― What? Hey, you can’t be…!
Han Soo-Young took a deep breath as if she was about to lose her strength.
Then I thought she had hung up the phone for a moment because I couldn’t hear anything.
“Hello? Did you hang up?”
― Hey, Yoo Ji-Hyuk!
“Euhok!”
― You… ! If you don’t stay where you are, I’ll find you and kill you, really!
“No, why are you screaming all of a sudden! I thought my ears were going to fall off!”
― Shut up! You think I don’t know you!?
At the huffing sound of her breath for a moment, I couldn’t answer anything like honey-eaten dumb.
Then, if she had taken my silence to mean something else, she fired once more.
― You. when I meet you, and you’re not as good as you say! Then, really, I’ll kill you!
With that word, the phone hung up with a beeping sound.
As I stared down at the phone in silence for a moment, I suddenly noticed the tangled sleeves of my clothes, covered in blood.
It wasn’t just the sleeves.
When I came to my senses, I saw that the wound had healed, but the clothes I was wearing were literally rags.
They were soaked in blood, stained with a liquid that I couldn’t tell if it was real or not, torn, frayed, even had holes in them.
No matter who looked at it, it wasn’t the clothes of a person who didn’t go through anything.
“…I’m fucked.”
Thinking about the expression not only Han Soo-Young but also Choi Hyun-Woo, who would be next to her, would be making, I just wanted to run away.