Chapter 43 – Seollang (5)

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Translated by Jinmu

Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net

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Maliam, the Grotesque Beast, fully understood how strong Seollang was.

What she had shown in Colony so far had been more intense even than Kalman Arentz, who had been active as a Baba Yaga for a very long time.

Even so, neither Maliam nor Kalman believed they would be pushed back by her in this fight.

Kalman Arentz and Maliam were both Baba Yaga, just like Seollang.

And above all, they had already absorbed Abyssal Cores.

Abyssal Core.

Maliam did not know by what structure an Abyssal Core produced power.

All he knew was that if someone with the right qualifications used one, they were granted power in some form.

But for Maliam, that much information was enough.

Even in this very moment, while fighting Seollang, both he and Kalman could feel it. Simply by using the Abyssal Cores, they had become nearly twice as strong as before.

Kwang.

When Maliam’s fist hammered the place where Seollang had been, the cavern shook as if an earthquake had struck.

Kraaaack.

A single stomp from Kalman shattered the ground.

That was not all.

Kwaaaaaang.

Maliam was even displaying absurd feats like ripping off part of the upper ruins of the forgotten city and throwing it at Seollang.

That overwhelming power, clearly beyond the scope of humanity, filled the mercenaries, mages, and beastfolk fighting the assassins with despair.

And yet the expressions of the two monsters tearing the entire cavern apart as they fought only worsened with time.

The reason was Seollang, who was still fighting them head-on.

Her golden eyes vanished in crackling light, then appeared in front of Maliam in an instant and smashed his side.

Then she blocked Kalman Arentz’s attack from behind and drove a fist into him as well.

Kwang.

Maliam and Kalman crashed into the wall of the great cavern, smashing through it.

This is impossible.

Maliam frowned and stared at Seollang.

Her body was full of wounds.

Blood stained her shining hair.

Gruesome injuries covered her whole body.

And even so, she was dominating them.

Against two Baba Yaga who had grown twice as strong as before by absorbing Abyssal Cores, she had not given even an inch.

“You monster.”

Maliam frowned and transformed his grotesquely warped right arm into the shape of a blade.

She isn’t even emitting black mana, so it doesn’t look like she absorbed an Abyssal Core herself.

And yet her strength was enough to seize the advantage over two Baba Yaga who had devoured Abyssal Cores.

Handling her by force really is impossible.

His leisurely expression vanished. He scowled seriously and looked to Kalman.

“Tch.”

As soon as Kalman confirmed the prearranged signal, he clicked his tongue and shot forward.

Not toward Seollang.

Toward the beastfolk.

The moment she saw it, Seollang realized Kalman was charging toward Ralga, one of her clansmen, who was fighting the assassins at the very front.

She moved at once.

Crunch.

She blocked Kalman’s fist.

Kwang.

For a moment she only frowned at the grotesque shockwave that should not have come from a mere clash of fists.

Then she felt that something was wrong.

A clear smile had appeared at the corner of Kalman’s mouth, where only seriousness had been a moment before.

And in that instant.

Thud.

“?”

A burning pain bloomed in her back.

Seollang turned her head.

Ralga was there.

“Finally….”

With a twisted smile on his face, Ralga had stabbed a blade into Seollang’s back.

For a moment her eyes filled with confusion.

Then blood spilled from her mouth.

* * *

Bang.

Seollang was sent flying by Kalman’s kick and rolled across the ground.

She could not understand the situation at all.

Her eyes held nothing but questions.

Question. Question, and another question.

As though she truly could not comprehend what was happening, she stared at Ralga.

A bloody smile sat on his mouth.

That, Seollang simply could not understand.

“…Why?”

The question escaped her lips.

As Seollang rolled on the ground because of Ralga’s betrayal, the expressions of the mages, mercenaries, and beastfolk all turned to despair. Kalman’s mouth curled in ridicule.

Relief showed in the assassins’ eyes.

Victory showed on Maliam’s face.

All of that entered Seollang’s field of view, and yet she looked only at Ralga.

“Why…?”

She asked again.

Then the man who had been mocking her walked forward.

Seollang tried to move.

“!”

Then she realized her body would not obey her.

“The blade was coated in Kamonasis poison. For about an hour from now, you won’t be able to move at all. Stop wasting your strength.”

Looking down at Seollang’s startled face, Ralga crouched in front of her with a twisted grin unlike his usual calm self.

“Ah… what was it? You asked why?”

Then he removed the gauntlet from Seollang’s hand.

“I wanted this.”

“…What?”

“Didn’t you hear me? I said I wanted this.”

Holding up the Essence of the Golden Mane in front of her like a deliberate taunt, Ralga grinned. Seollang blinked slowly.

“You betrayed me… because of that?”

Even now, there was no rage in her voice. For a moment Ralga looked as if he could not understand how she could ask that, then let out a mocking breath.

“Because of this? Hey, Seollang. What exactly do you think has been holding your guild together? Did you think your blood kin gathered just to play your disgusting little family game with you? No. No, they didn’t.”

Tap. Tap.

He struck her face lightly with the gauntlet as he sneered.

“It’s because of this. The reason those blood kin are still in the guild is because of the power they can get from you.”

Seollang’s expression slowly tightened.

Why do you think that isn’t true?

In truth, Seollang knew to some extent that Ralga’s words were not wrong.

She knew that the reason she had been able to gather the Golden Mane clan so quickly in Colony was because she possessed the Essence of the Golden Mane gifted by the Great Moon.

Even so, she had never believed that her blood kin remained in the guild even now only because of that Essence.

Even if they had first gathered for the sake of gaining power, the two years she had spent with them after forming the guild had been real.

She believed, no, she had trusted, that she had truly been rebuilding the family she once had.

“That can’t… be true.”

Seollang clenched her teeth, but Ralga did not stop smiling. He only stared at her and then flicked his fingers.

Snap.

Then.

“…”

The rest of the Golden Mane clan began lining up behind Ralga as if they had been waiting for that signal.

The blood kin who had greeted her warmly just two days ago.

The ones who had come here talking with her a short while earlier.

None of them were exceptions.

Seollang stared blankly as they all took their places behind him.

Then she noticed that, unlike the mercenaries, their bodies did not bear a single wound.

“Ha….”

For the first time, a hollow laugh escaped her.

Not the warm smile she had always shown her blood kin.

A vicious sneer.

“Now that’s the face of someone finally waking from a dream. I like it.”

Ralga chuckled in satisfaction and tapped Seollang’s head in mockery.

“To be honest, every time you strutted around, I was disgusted. Watching you get lucky enough to obtain this and rampage around with power that never suited you… it was revolting. So how does it feel, waking up from the dream?”

“…The others too. Are they all traitors?”

Seollang answered his question with one of her own.

Ralga saw the betrayal and hatred behind that terrible mocking smile and started to grin wider.

He did not get to speak.

“That’s enough. Let’s finish it now.”

Before Ralga’s lips could fully open, Maliam stepped in front of Seollang, transformed his arm into a blade again, and raised it.

“If you move again, it’ll just get troublesome.”

Then he brought it down, determined to execute Seollang on the spot without leaving any room for reversal.

Crack.

A small question appeared on Seollang’s face, which had been full of resignation until a moment earlier.

Not only her.

Ralga, who had been sneering.

Riyan and the mages, who had been filled with despair.

Even Kalman, who had been watching with an amused smile.

Everyone wore the same confused expression.

Because.

“Ah…?”

A huge hole had opened in Maliam’s head.

Just a moment earlier, he had been drunk on victory.

Thud.

Maliam’s body collapsed limply to the floor.

While everyone was still staring in confusion at such an anticlimactic death for one of Colony’s Baba Yaga.

“Ah…?”

Riyan, who had been staring blankly, belatedly realized that her breath had turned into white mist.

And at the same time, everyone there saw it.

Far away.

A man walking out from the City of the Old Gods, Kahara, without a word.

Crack.

At each step he took, white frost spread and the path froze. Grayish white mana rising from the bracelet on his left hand wrapped around his body like a thin wall of ice.

Step. Step.

There was no hesitation in his stride.

There was one Baba Yaga left before him, and dozens more enemies besides, and yet his expression remained blank.

No impression. No emotion.

As he walked forward with that expressionless face, everyone began to tense.

Ralga, who had been mocking Seollang just moments ago.

Kalman, who had been smiling so leisurely.

Every enemy there stared at the man who had appeared and grew tense.

Because they had seen it.

The head of Maliam, a man called Baba Yaga, had been pierced in a single blow.

“Ugh.”

As the man drew closer, Ralga instinctively stepped back.

Nor was he the only one.

Every being there marked as the man’s enemy retreated naturally.

The pressure he gave off simply by standing there tightened around their throats and forced fear and dread into them.

Even Kalman, the strongest among them.

What in the world is that?

He faltered as instinctive terror ran through him at the sight behind the man: black eyes and blue eyes so wrong that he knew, the moment he tried to perceive them properly, his mind would collapse.

“Benefactor…?”

At last Alon came to stand before Seollang, who still had a blade stuck in her back.

He looked down at her.

“Ice Crystal.”

And he spoke an incantation unlike the ones he had used before.