Chap 89-Rescue

 

“…I’m sorry, senior.””

I’m sorry for worrying you.

I’m sorry for showing you such a sight.

And…

Just because of someone like me.

I’m sorry for hurting your feelings.

Words I couldn’t bring myself to say welled up in my throat.

Bella’s hand paused briefly at my apology.

She gave a faint, awkward smile.

“Yeon. I… I want to be someone who can help you.”

She carefully wiped the last traces of blood from my cheek and asked quietly.

“Was it necessary? To save someone.”

She didn’t press me any further or resent me for what I had done.

She was just trying to understand my choice.

“…Yes.”

I nodded slightly.

That one word from her resonated more deeply than any other comfort.

“Then, I won’t say anything.”

Senior Bella said, smiling faintly once more.

There was still sadness in that smile, but not the same despair as before.

Instead, it contained a firm trust that she would accept everything about me.

It was okay for someone like me to get hurt and be in pain.

Whether my arm was torn off or my face was crushed, it was just a passing stimulus to me.

But…

I didn’t want my senior to be in pain.

Seeing the sadness on her face, the pained expression she wore when she worried about me, hurt several times more than my body being torn apart.

So I wanted to hide it.

So I wanted to pretend that I was okay.

Perhaps the senior knew my feelings vaguely.

Instead of blaming or pitying me, she simply tried to respect my choices.

I felt that so clearly that I felt a tingling in my heart.

I was grateful.

If it was her, who just silently stayed by my side and believed in my choices.

Maybe…

Maybe I could lean on this person.

The feeling of not being alone.

That unfamiliar and warm feeling carefully opened the latch that had been firmly closed in the depths of my heart.

I made up my mind.

And for the first time, I opened my mouth to share my burden with someone other than Master.

“…Senior.””

“Yes, Yeon.”

“Help me.”

Why was it so hard to say those words?

Bella’s eyes widened slightly at my request.

Along with surprise, a faint joy flickered in her eyes.

“…There’s something I need your help with, senior.””

I continued, my voice trembling, but clear.

…

We headed together to where Camilla had collapsed.

In the dark forest, the place where she lay was visible from afar.

Centered on her body, black, twisted roots crawled across the ground, ravenously sucking up the surrounding life force.

“…This can’t be happening.”

A low sigh escaped Bella’s lips as she confirmed Camilla’s appearance.

Her eyes were filled with dismay and disbelief.

“Camilla… Why would the Medici Family do this to their successor…”

“Nyaa…”

“…I don’t know.”

I stood beside her, looking down at the unconscious Camilla, and answered.

“I don’t know what they’re thinking, why they’re doing this. But one thing is certain. We have to save Camilla here. We can’t let them have their way.”

“Nyaong-”

Nabi, who had jumped off Bella’s shoulder, began to rub her body between my legs.

Like a child whining to leave this place because she was scared.

“It’s okay, it’s okay.”

I carefully picked her up. Her small body trembled faintly in my arms.

“Nabi seems very anxious. Well, it’s dangerous here, so it’s understandable to be scared…”

“…Scared?”

For some reason, Senior Bella looked at me with a dumbfounded expression and asked back.

“More than that, why did you bring Nabi to such a dangerous place?”

When I asked, she trailed off, looking troubled.

“That’s…”

“Krrr-”

At that moment, Nabi, who was in my arms, growled softly at Bella as if warning her.

“Hey! Don’t growl at people like that.”

I lightly flicked Nabi’s nose with my finger.

Senior Bella was sweating and watching the scene anxiously for some reason.

Well, it’s obvious what’s going on.

I said with a confident voice.

“This troublemaker insisted on coming along, didn’t she?”

“…….”Well… It’s not wrong to say that…”

Senior Bella answered in a tone that seemed to have given up on something.

“NYAAAAAAANG—!!!”

Just then, Nabi, who was in my arms, suddenly let out a sharp scream towards the sky.

“Nabi, why ar…”

Kugugugugugugugung—!!!

A huge roar that tore through the sky and shook the earth struck the entire ‘Farm’.

From the center of the twisted gate that had sprung from Camilla’s body.

A crimson light erupting like an explosion.

At the same time, something on a completely different level from the magical beasts we had faced so far began to set foot on this land.

An overwhelming sense of oppression that weighed down the air and froze even the soul.

Calamity itself was descending upon this land.

…

The heart of the contaminated zone, where life was said to be impossible.

A hellscape where twisted trees stretched their skeletal hands towards the sky, and a foul stench constantly rose from the crimson earth.

Surprisingly, there were traces of humans there.

A secret base made of cold metal walls.

And a dungeon located in the deepest part of the building.

In the damp and cold air, a man was bound in chains.

His gray hair was matted with dust and blood, and his once dignified red eyes now held only an empty light.

Deep scars were visible through his tattered clothes.

He seemed to have been subjected to terrible torture for a long time.

Isaac Bennett.

In his fading consciousness, he felt his life slowly ebbing away.

At this moment, with death so close, a faint, self-deprecating smile appeared on his lips.

‘This is… the ending I deserve.’

Just as he was resigning himself to everything,

Suddenly, the face of a child flashed through his mind.

A black-haired girl who was foolishly kind and foolishly devoted.

‘I thought I wouldn’t have any regrets. Am I getting sentimental as I face death?’

He didn’t particularly feel sorry for what he had done to her.

All of that was a necessary sacrifice for Terra and for his daughter.

But…

Using that child as a shield and exploiting her to death, and then dying powerlessly like this without achieving anything…

That fact alone, he was truly sorry for.

‘Serena…’

He tried to recall the face of his own daughter, Serena, for the last time, but no matter how hard he tried, it was as hazy as fog.

Perhaps, he himself was too ashamed to face her.

Perhaps, because of the things he had done, he no longer had the confidence to look that child in the eye, so he had pushed her to the back of his memory.

‘…Pathetic.’

Isaac clicked his tongue inwardly.

Just as Isaac was about to quietly close his eyes, ending his last thoughts,

Kugugugugugung—!!!

It became noisy outside.

The ground shook, and dull explosions erupted one after another.

The screams of the contamination worshippers and the terrible sounds of something being pierced and torn.

Kwaaaaaaaaang—!!!

With a huge roar that shook the dungeon, the thick iron door and walls of the tightly closed prison were blown away.

The faint light from outside poured into the room, which had been filled with darkness.

‘…It seems it’s not my time to die yet.’

Isaac smiled faintly and raised his head.

The severed corpses of the contamination worshippers flew through the broken walls and landed with a thud at his feet.

As the dust and smoke cleared, a silhouette slowly emerged from beyond the collapsed walls.

The man who walked out of the darkness was like looking in a mirror.

The same gray hair, the same red eyes.

However, he was a man who looked a little younger than himself.

The man glanced at Isaac’s miserable appearance for a moment, then opened his mouth as if it were nothing.

“Long time no see. Is this the first time since the inauguration ceremony?”

Isaac struggled to raise the bloodied corners of his lips.

“…I greet the progenitor.”

In response to Isaac’s greeting, Richard Benett simply made a displeased expression instead of answering.

He approached without a word and struck the chains with his sword.

The chains, which were covered with dozens of layers of binding magic, were cut off as easily as paper with a single strike of his sword.

Finally free, Isaac staggered to his feet.

Following Richard out of the prison, he couldn’t help but sweat at the horrific sight that unfolded before his eyes.

The entire base was in ruins.

The corpses of the contamination worshippers were piled up like mountains everywhere, and the floor was a river of their blood.

To imprison himself, a level 8 powerhouse, a considerable force had been deployed here.

But all of that had been so brutally destroyed by this one man.

Turning his head at the piercing killing intent he felt from behind, Richard was glaring at him with cold eyes.

“What the hell have you been doing, that the family is in this state?”

His voice was as cold as ice.

“And why were you kidnapped?”

The killing intent constricted his whole body.

Isaac swallowed hard.

If he answered wrong…

He would die.