Ch.106Mess With My Sister and You’re Dead

As soon as Shinwoo left, Kurumi immediately summoned Amaterasu from the shadows.

“Amaterasu. Grow the World Tree.”

“That. Requires. Considerable. Time.”

“I don’t care. I’ll help you, so we need to grow a sapling large enough to cover all of Osaka as quickly as possible!”

“…Understood.”

She was focusing on cultivating the World Tree, known as the universal panacea, to prepare for the various toxic gases that would be released from the Gojillia’s corpse after its subjugation.

And since this was such demanding work, she would be completely defenseless while growing the sapling to great heights.

It was Sophia who had deliberately stayed behind to protect her.

“I’m surprised, by the way.”

“About what?”

“That you stayed behind, Ms. Sophia. I thought you’d hate me enough to want me dead.”

“Yes, that’s right. I really do hate you, Princess.”

Sophia spoke frankly to Kurumi, who was sitting on the ground channeling power to Amaterasu.

“I’ve had my eye on Shinwoo since ten years ago. I made tremendous efforts to overcome my misanthropy, even becoming the director in America, just to show him a better side of myself.”

“…!”

“Well, I couldn’t overcome it completely, but I did grow enough to be able to converse with ordinary people.”

If you asked a Beast Hunter what the most terrible situation would be, ten out of ten would undoubtedly say it’s being separated from family.

Family—the only ones in the world who still somewhat look human to them.

Sophia had left her family behind and gone to America, where her phobia ran rampant, when she was still a minor, not even an adult yet.

How many times she had felt suicidal there, how many depression pills she had swallowed—it was still a horrifying experience to think about now.

However, she had gained something from it too.

She could now talk normally with one or two people, if not crowds—she had become somewhat human.

“So do you think I could possibly like a princess who suddenly appears and receives the same treatment as me, making all my efforts seem worthless?”

“Well… I wouldn’t like it either if I were you. After all, you waited for ten whole years.”

“Yes. That’s why I stayed behind. Because I’ve waited for ten years, I know everything about what Shinwoo likes and dislikes.”

“You know…?”

Sophia glared at Kurumi but sighed as if there was nothing she could do.

“If you get hurt, Shinwoo will be incredibly sad.”

“Ah…”

“So because of Shinwoo! I have no choice! I’m protecting you! You don’t need to thank me. Besides, they say Beast Hunters have a hard time getting close to others, right?”

“Hehe. That’s true. Beast Hunters being friends? That’s impossible unless they’re lovers.”

We’re together only because we’re tied by the rope named Han Shinwoo.

Having reached that conclusion, the two women just smiled slightly and began to focus on their respective tasks again.

But at that moment.

Woooong—

“Huh?”

“What?”

The same exact scene overlapped in both their fields of vision.

It was an absurd mass of energy glowing red in the distance from the direction of the mountain.

“Unnie! It’s dangerous here!”

“Ria?”

“We need to run away quickly! I have a dangerous feeling!”

Sensing Gojillia’s killing intent, Ria had suddenly jumped out of the shadows on her own, trying to take Sophia to safety.

Kurumi also realized that Amaterasu had stopped growing the World Tree and was now wrapping her wide arms around her.

“Too late. Its. Attack. Will. Destroy. This entire area.”

“…! Then, protect Ms. Sophia too, not just me! Amaterasu!”

“Impossible. I was. Contracted. To keep. Only you. Alive.”

“What are you saying…! Ms. Sophia!”

Realizing that the surrounding area would soon become a wasteland, Kurumi immediately turned toward Sophia.

But.

“Excuse me, Princess. Do you still have space in your shadow?”

“What…?”

“Unnie?”

“Put this child in there for a while. They say that servant monsters sometimes experience backlash when their masters are about to die.”

Having already assessed the situation, she was just carefully trying to hand over the baby monster that was hugging her tightly.

“Unnie…?”

“Ms. Sophia. What are you saying…”

“You already know, don’t you? We can’t avoid that.”

She clicked her tongue as if regretful, her face already looking resigned.

“Damn… I’ve been trying to think of some way, but it seems like there’s really nothing we can do to stop that.”

“U-Unnie! What are you saying?!”

“That’s right! Ms. Sophia. There must be some other way…”

“No, there isn’t. So both of you, don’t try to hold onto false hope.”

“…!”

“!!”

Sometimes I think about it.

If I were truly in an unavoidable death situation, how should I die?

For Hunters, death was always like a neighbor, right beside them.

Sophia especially had always been thinking about this matter because there were always people who cared about her, and when that moment finally came, she just smiled brightly and answered.

“I feel bad for showing Jaewon something unpleasant… Just tell Shinwoo I’m sorry.”

“Ms. Sophia!”

“Unnie! No!! I don’t want this!!!”

“Ria, this is your master’s order. Go into Princess Kurumi’s shadow.”

“Unnie!!!”

When her master gave the order, Ria began to be absorbed from her sister’s shadow into Kurumi’s shadow, whether she liked it or not.

The baby monster was just wailing, reaching out her hand while watching her sister who wouldn’t take it.

But knowing that she shouldn’t take that hand, Sophia closed her eyes one last time as the red sphere that was about to be fired—an absurd amount of energy—was coming toward her.

‘I just hope Jaewon and Shinwoo won’t be hurt…’

“Unnie!!”

It was at that moment.

The ring that Kitsune Rokyu had given her, made specifically for Beast Hunters, began to shine on Sophia’s right index finger.

The original effect of that equipment was to ‘grow’ the monster one commands into a stronger form.

However, the grown-up future Ria.

She wanted not just to lend her power but to come to this world herself.

And the next moment.

Swoosh—

“Huh?”

“What?”

“Who. Are. You…!”

They saw it.

Ria’s body was enveloped in a black light, and the red sphere that was about to turn the family estate into a wasteland was cut in half and exploded in mid-air.

At the same time, a beautiful lady in a dress with red eyes was kneeling on one knee in front of Sophia.

“W-Who…?”

“……”

“Could it be, are you Ria?”

“…Hello, Unnie.”

The face that greeted her as she slowly rose.

Even grown up, she was unmistakably Sophia’s servant monster, Ria.

“What is this…? Did Ria suddenly grow up?”

“Yes. It’s probably thanks to that ring you’re wearing now, Unnie.”

“This? The ring I received from Young Master Rokyu?”

“Yes. That ring can temporarily swap the servant monster you currently control with its more grown-up future self.”

“I-It had such a function?!”

“Yes. Thanks to it, I was able to set foot in this world, even if just for a moment. Thank you, Unnie.”

Ria, who had grown in many ways.

The child who used to learn from her every day was now teaching her instead, making Sophia feel confused in many ways.

‘But wait, aren’t her breasts too big?!’

Come to think of it, Ria was also said to be the first person to unite with Shinwoo in the future.

She had been worried that Shinwoo might have that kind of preference since Ria was just a child now, but this was shocking in its own way.

“Unnie…?”

“Ah, well, um… I mean, you’ve grown up well, Ria.”

“Oh, yes! Thank you.”

By the way, she’s really beautiful.

If someone were to say there was a person sculpted from white jade, that would be Ria—truly, even to a woman’s eyes, she was an incredibly beautiful baby… no, no longer a baby but a humanoid monster.

“…Can I touch your breasts?”

“Yes! If it’s you, Unnie, you can even suck on them.”

“S-Such a bold offer from Ria?! Did you perhaps say something like that to Shinwoo too…”

“Excuse me, you two. This isn’t the time for such conversations!”

This is the body that turned Shinwoo on the most.

While she was trying to find out various things with that thought in mind, Sophia snapped back to reality upon hearing Kurumi’s words.

“Oh, right! We were in the middle of fighting Gojillia.”

“Gojillia? …Do you mean that giant monster that was sleeping in Osaka?”

“Yes, that’s right. As expected of someone who’s grown up, Ria, you know everything!”

“That’s strange… Did we ever fight Gojillia in the past?”

Ria felt something odd about her sister’s words, but it didn’t really matter right now.

“Unnie, is that the monster that tried to kill you?”

“Huh? Oh, yes. That’s right. Shinwoo went to take care of it, but…”

“I understand. Leave it to me.”

“Ria?”

Step by step.

Gojillia.

A monster that her brother had brought back half-dead from the future, saying it might be useful.

It was used to destroy humanity, but now its life or death no longer mattered.

Because it had violated the most important request and order from His Majesty, her brother.

“Ria. Remember this well.”

“Yes, Brother.”

“Kill anything that harms Sophia. No matter what it is.”

“Yes, I understand.”

It had dared to try to kill her sister from the time when she was still alive.

At that fact.

At that reality.

Ria, now matured and enraged to the tips of her hair, simply exuded killing intent as she charged toward the monster.

“Unnie, stay right here.”

“Hmm?”

“I’ll kill that thing and be right back.”