Ch.205Chapter 205. A Child to Protect

Hero Garam Lee.

Once known by the dishonorable nickname “Obsolete Hero,” she now faithfully fulfilled her role as a hero leading people.

If she hadn’t been there, the establishment of the Ark wouldn’t have even begun, and those under its protection would have lost many lives by missing their opportunity.

The people of the Ark never held back their gratitude and support for her, who always took the initiative in facing danger.

“Ugh…”

But even such an ideal hero image was ultimately just a fabrication.

No matter how much her body grew and experience accumulated, what existed inside was still just a young girl who hadn’t even gone through her coming-of-age ceremony.

“Uweeek!”

Perhaps it was inevitable that the girl who had been playing the role of a hero would finally break down.

Garam, feeling that moment had finally arrived, looked at the vomit in the envelope she held with a bitter expression.

All that remained was the whitish liquid characteristic of gastric acid. Having skipped several meals due to lack of appetite, this was the natural result.

“…I’m sorry. I’ve shown an unseemly display in front of you, sir.”

After tying up the envelope and pushing it into a corner with her ability, Garam faced the urn in front of her with a bitter smile.

Hero Taeyang Lim.

A grateful person who, despite being called the strongest hero, readily lent his hand in establishing the Ark.

And a figure to whom she must atone for as long as she lived.

“…Yes, I haven’t forgotten.”

Indeed, there was no way she could forget.

She had always remembered the one who saved her when she was frozen in fear during an incomprehensible situation where the area was collapsing, sacrificing himself instead.

That’s why she always dreamed of that day’s tragedy when falling asleep, and whenever she felt like breaking down, she would visit the urn to gather her resolve…

“Now that I’ve grown much bigger than back then, I’ve realized that monster was definitely the one that devoured you, wasn’t it?”

But at this moment when she needed to steady her wavering heart, Garam felt the knot inside her growing uncontrollably.

There was no way she could maintain her composure.

That day’s monster had appeared before her again in an even more massive form.

How could she, who cherished him as the only person she wanted to rely on, maintain her composure when there was a danger that he might have disappeared just moments ago?

“…I couldn’t do anything.”

Even though resentment should have filled the space where her heart collapsed, her hand placed on the urn couldn’t clench and only trembled.

It was natural. The monster that attacked them was a disaster in itself, and humans cannot overcome disasters.

At best, they can only flee and establish measures to protect themselves.

Having become an adult too quickly and accepting reality as it was, resignation followed rapidly.

“I could only watch as oppa made such a face.”

And such resignation turned into self-loathing when confronted with the despair he showed, accelerating the collapse of her precarious mind.

Because she was the one who had transferred the responsibility of protecting everyone to him.

Despite that, she felt pathetic for not being able to properly support him.

“…I’m scared of living.”

That weakness quietly echoed in the darkness where no one’s gaze could reach.

Though she hoped it would end briefly and be shaken off, perhaps it was a collapse from which she might never rise again… quietly, in a place beyond anyone’s sight.

-Woong.

Her body instinctively curled up at the vibration sound that followed.

Garam, who belatedly came to her senses, quickly turned her gaze toward where she felt the power, and soon began to open her eyes wide.

“…Taeyang sir?”

Hero Taeyang Lim.

The blue current rising from the urn engraved with his name gradually solidified, eventually transforming into the shape of a hand reaching out toward Garam.

She didn’t know what caused this phenomenon.

The girl didn’t know what the hand extended toward her intended, or what would happen if she took it.

“…Yes.”

Yet she reached for the hand because she was already so broken that she didn’t care about her own safety.

“I’ll follow you.”

And because she felt she needed to continue the memorial for him that she couldn’t complete before…

*****

“Miss Garam, please wake up. Miss Garam!”

And at the end of it all, the devastating scene that unfolded.

I pushed through the crowd gathered at the Ark’s columbarium and hurried toward Garam, who had collapsed, surrounded by the clergy and Flan.

“What happened? What do you mean Garam isn’t breathing!?”

“Exactly what I said. She’s completely lost consciousness now. The clergy are using their powers to maintain her vital functions, but…!”

Flan was checking Garam’s pulse by placing her fingers on her wrist, amid the clergy who were exerting their holy power.

The reason this ended in bewilderment rather than despair was because Garam’s pulse hadn’t stopped yet.

In fact, though she seemed unconscious with her eyes half-open, her face still had clear color.

“…I can’t feel any mana.”

But if it were just a matter of losing consciousness, Flan wouldn’t have sent Samson to call me with such urgency.

“Mana…?”

“Mana is energy guided by will. Even though it doesn’t convert to physical force, it naturally emanates a distinctive energy even when guided by the unconscious.”

That’s something I know to some extent.

In fact, detection techniques used to search for hidden enemies or sense presences are basically based on detecting the faint energy emitted by mana guided by the unconscious.

In other words, the absence of even unconsciously guided mana essentially means that person is “not alive.”

“But for vital functions to continue while unconsciously guided mana has disappeared… I’ve never seen anything like this. It’s as if the soul has left the body.”

A situation that seems alien even to her, who has accumulated all kinds of experiences over a thousand years.

Feeling the seriousness of the situation becoming increasingly apparent, my gaze turned to Garam’s empty eyes.

The one fortunate thing is that they’re forcibly extending her life through holy power, but the clergy’s holy power isn’t infinite.

If breathing, which should be maintained by the unconscious, has stopped, the body will rapidly progress toward death the moment the holy power is gone.

-Thud!

And Flan told me this.

That Garam’s current state looks as if her soul has left her body.

“M-Master!”

“…What happened.”

The hand extended behind me as soon as I realized this.

To the King of the Dead whose collar I grabbed, I immediately released my mounting frustration.

“She was fine until just before coming here. So why did she end up like this after coming here?!”

If she’s become like a corpse, then the cause would be best known by a corpse.

No, perhaps the cause might exist with the person in front of me.

I might be wrong, but with Garam in such a state, it was impossible to maintain composure.

“…Is that girl important to you?”

His quiet questioning in such a situation felt extremely trivial.

To the point where the respect and admiration I had for him until now completely crumbled.

“She’s a child I promised to protect.”

She was that precious to me.

Despite her life in this world being ruined because of me, she was a child who willingly entrusted her life and possessions to me, saying she would trust me.

“When we had nowhere to turn, we were close enough to entrust our lives to each other.”

In the darkest times when the whole world turned its back on us, we leaned on each other, stood back-to-back, and eliminated dangers toward each other…

‘Do you remember the promise you made to me?’

‘Promise?’

‘The promise to stay with me if you have no reason to leave.’

I knew that such trust continued even after a gap of one year.

‘Oppa, please don’t leave.’

With the evidence of that trust still clearly on my finger at this moment.

How could I betray that trust and maintain composure in this situation?

“Tell me now. Everything you know about what state she’s in…!”

Boduan, who had been staring at me as I pressed him with such feelings, quietly bowed his head and gripped the hand holding his collar.

“…Death thought.”

And as he quietly removed my hand, he said:

“Right now, that girl’s consciousness has been consumed by death thought, placing her at the boundary between the living and the dead.”

“…Death thought?”

“You must know what caused the resurrection of the dead like me?”

Lingering attachment.

The most intense memory of that life, unfulfilled wishes, desires… literally a concept that should be called the mind left by the dead (death thought).

“The land you have currently set foot on…”

The most knowledgeable person on the subject began his explanation in front of those who were now focusing on him.

“This is the place where my former lord once established her base. Her power mixed with the death thoughts of the dead, creating an environment that easily awakens will in them.”

“…Are you saying the Lord of Corpses’ power made Garam like this?”

“It didn’t directly affect the living. More precisely, it would have stimulated the death thought of some dead person buried in this Ark.”

His gaze, withdrawn from me, turned toward a part of the columbarium.

There was an urn there that seemed familiar to me.

“Don’t you have any idea? Among the dead buried here, someone who would have reason to be obsessed with that girl.”

Taeyang Lim. The one who threw himself to protect Garam at the end of his life, ultimately sacrificing himself.

If lingering attachment is the most intense memory of that life, there’s a possibility that his desperate resistance at the end was imprinted.

So the death thought in his remains reacted to the power existing in this land and began to rampage…

“…No, that’s not all.”

As my speculation reached that point, Boduan shook his head, and his gaze moved from the urn to Garam who had collapsed.

“No matter how distinct the death thought is, it’s impossible for death thought alone to erode the living. If erosion is detected, the living person’s will would unconsciously resist it, and that will is usually stronger than the dead’s.”

“Then why has Garam ended up like this?”

If the death thought of the dead cannot overcome the will of the living, this situation shouldn’t normally occur.

“…If that girl has lost her will to live.”

As soon as that clear answer was uttered, my hand swung again.

The impulse to knock him down immediately turned into a wail that burst from my mouth.

“Cut the nonsense. Are you saying Garam gave up on her own life?”

“It’s not impossible, is it?”

“How can you say that…!”

Crack. A wrist caught by my swinging hand.

The moment I sensed that the force applied was not light, I encountered two eyes with blue flames flickering in them staring at me.

“Even someone with as strong a mental fortitude as you has faltered many times in this world.”

As I shrank back, overwhelmed by that spirit, Boduan stepped forward.

I could immediately feel through the voice piercing my mind that this wasn’t coming from a light heart.

“You must have seen countless people collapse from despair. In a world that could plunge into even greater despair, isn’t it too arrogant to guarantee that a girl younger than you could overcome it all?”

It was an irrefutable truth.

No matter how much I wanted to deny it, I too had experienced nearly losing my will to live several times.

And that must be why the dead like him wanted to create a world of the dead.

The longing for death that comes when situations are desperate is a trial and temptation that inevitably comes to all living beings.

“…So you’re saying we should just let that child die?”

But despite that, we were alive.

The dead like them gave up on leaving life in this world, but we who instinctively reject death tried to maintain society and ethics.

For that purpose, we created the Ark and gathered survivors within it to unite them.

That framework hasn’t collapsed yet, and even at this moment, everyone is working together to protect it.

“Garam is still young…”

For that framework to be maintained, don’t children like Garam deserve the right to rely on someone?

“She’s too young to decide whether to throw away her own life. At least until she becomes an adult, adults should protect her!”

For such a situation to unfold without even giving her that chance.

Just watching this situation and allowing that child who has given up even breathing on her own to die would be too cruel, wouldn’t it?

“…It might not be too late yet.”

A quiet voice reached me as I voiced these grievances.

As I raised my head, feeling hope from him, I felt a blue current gradually rising from his body.

“If time extends, the death thought that has consumed that girl will separate her body and will, but that process hasn’t been completed yet. We might still be able to save her now.”

It’s different from just mana taking form.

The dispersion of power moving in a direction independent of the subject it’s connected to…

It was showing a phenomenon similar to when I handled spirit clusters.

“You, that’s…”

But it’s only similar; there’s a fundamental difference.

Spirit clusters are fragments of countless wills gathered in one place, imitating and projecting a being with will.

Their limitation is that they’re just many pieces temporarily solidified, so it’s difficult to see them as completed independent entities.

But what appeared before me at this moment was a perfect being as a single entity.

Based on what forms at the center, it creates a focal point, and the bluish flame mass created by its endless circulation could be seen as “a single entity,” unlike spirit clusters.

“…Then are you prepared?”

With those masses of will accompanying him, he soon demanded an answer from me as if testing.

“Are you prepared to head to the ‘world of the dead’ to save that girl, even at the risk of your individual self being extinguished?”

As the Azure Knight of Death.

He would open the path to the “afterlife” where the consciousness of the girl I want to save might be headed.