Chapter 192: A Refined Lady, A Past Connection, An American, And A Long-standing Resentment (5)

Scarlett bit her lip as she watched Yeomyeong get farther away.

That crazy bastard, if he wants to die, he should die alone.

Raising her gun, she immediately headed toward the control room.

Fortunately, the damn “middle-aged woman” had just placed her hand on the train’s brake lever.

Clunk—

There was no need for words. Scarlett immediately aimed the gun at the middle-aged woman, the cold muzzle pointing directly at the back of her head.

“Take your hand off the brake.”

The middle-aged woman turned her head and stared at Scarlett. She didn’t look scared at all. In fact, if anything, she looked more perplexed.

“What the hell are you doing all of a sudden?”

“Hey, ma’am. People who want to live should be able to live. I have no loyalty to die with your dumb husband.”

“Dum—What? Instead of a thank you after he saved you, that’s all you can say?”

Was it because she had insulted that Gukbap restaurant lady’s husband? The lady’s face became filled with anger.

Though she felt a slight pang of guilt, Scarlett continued speaking.

“So, should we stop the train and get killed by the titans? If you wish to die together, do it with your husband. Don’t drag me into it.”

“…Die together? The result will be the same once that flesh in the train rushes in, won’t it?”

“I’ll detach the locomotive from the train. If I can buy a little time, help will come from my homeland… At least the chances of surviving will be higher than your husband’s reckless plan.”

“That’s what you think. What if this isn’t a mind space?”

The Saintess, with the face of the Gukbap restaurant lady, stared intently at Scarlett as she placed her finger on the trigger and spoke.

“I don’t want to argue with you. Just put the gun down and leave the control room.”

The Saintess glared at Scarlett for a moment before reluctantly complying. Or rather, she pretended to comply.

She took her hand off the brake and raised both hands behind her head as she headed toward the door. However, at that very moment…

She quickly lowered her head and began muttering a prayer quietly.

It was a prayer to Redox, the red god of war, and one of the few offensive blessing spells of the Five God Church.

The prayer was so soft that Scarlett only managed to catch the last line.

“A spell?”

And as soon as Scarlett realized the nature of the prayer spell, a red fist appeared in the air and struck her body.

However, the power… was far beyond what the Saintess expected.

BANG!!

Scarlett couldn’t even scream as she was slammed into the control room wall, the ensuing shock strong enough to shake the entire train car.

“Huh?”

What was that? The spell was just supposed to knock her out.

As the Saintess stared at the red fist in confusion, the fist made a “V” shape with its fingers.

“Uh… God Redox?”

How did this happen? The gods shouldn’t be able to descend upon this land.

The only place where the gods could communicate in this manner was the sanctum, where the Saintess received her blessing in the Holy Nation.

Just as the Saintess’ thoughts grew deeper, the red hand pointed toward the cockpit in frustration.

“Ah.”

Only then did the Saintess remember what she was supposed to do. She hurried back to the cockpit and pulled the brake lever.

Screeeech—!

The change was dramatic. The braking system screamed as it locked in place, the friction between the wheels and the tracks causing the entire train to jolt.

After the train came to a stop and God Redox’s red hand had disappeared, the saint raised her rifle and aimed at Scarlett.

For a brief moment, she contemplated if she should put a hole in Scarlett’s head but soon shook off that thought.

Was it out of mercy? No, it was because she still needed to extract some information from that woman.

Necromancer and the Fallen Star…

She put the gun away, untangled the rifle’s strap, and restrained Scarlett’s limbs.

Coincidentally, she bound her at the region of the broken bones, causing Scarlett to let out a low groan of pain, even in her unconscious state.

It would probably hurt terribly when she woke up.

Of course, the Saintess didn’t really care whether Scarlett suffered as she dragged the bound woman out of the locomotive.

And at that very moment, the titan and Yeomyeong clashed under the gloomy sky.

Yeomyeong didn’t step into the swamp.

Scattering dozens of ice spikes into the air, he used them as footholds to leap toward the sky.

[The- one- who- walks- the- path- of- Crossroads?]

Perhaps observing his actions, the mummy’s voice filled with admiration, echoed through the air.

[Whose- star- are- you-?]

Yeomyeong didn’t reply. After all, this wasn’t a time for exchanging words, but for violence.

The Dzhugashvili Killing Aura surrounding him, the mana from the Surging Wave technique flowing through his veins and the wave of Sword Aura filling his sword.

[Wave-? Poseidon-?]

In sync with those incomprehensible words, the undead titan swung its arm toward Yeomyeong.

Before the giant’s arm, formed from countless corpses, Yeomyeong was no more than a bug, but even a bug had its own merit.

Yeomyeong leaped up, and his sword pierced the titan’s hand, sharp like a hornet’s sting.

And in the very next moment, the Sword Aura’s mana exploded, ripping apart the rotting flesh, bones, and the twisted mana that bound them together.

As blood and flesh scattered, Yeomyeong landed on the titan’s wrist and ran up the arm. His goal: the titan’s head.

In the blink of an eye, he reached the shoulder, jumped, and struck the titan’s head with his foot.

The Quake Stomp from the Flying Kick technique, the one that had defeated the titan back at Incheon port.

Ku-uu-ah!

As the titan’s dying scream filled the air, its head was crushed like a rotten tomato.

His power was unmatched compared to when he had done it in Incheon.

Yet, the result was the same.

With a tremendous shock, the spell holding the titan together fell apart, and its enormous body began to collapse.

[How-amazing!]

Even though it had lost a titan in one battle, the voice seemed unfazed.

After all, there were still twenty around titans remaining—No, they were increasing in real-time.

Is the entire swamp a corpse field?

Yeomyeong stood atop an ice spike, staring at the titans that filled the horizon.

He felt no fear because, in a war of attrition, he was confident in his own endurance.

However, something else caught his attention. If this place was indeed someone’s mental space, what kind of being did this mental space belong to?

…Could it be the God of the Undead?

As Yeomyeong was lost in thought, one of the titans approaching him suddenly tore at its own arm.

Was it trying to harm itself? No, it wasn’t.

The titan gathered the crushed flesh and bone in its hand and then pulled back its shoulder.

And then… it threw.

Chunks of flesh, infused with tremendous acceleration and distorted mana, rained down at Yeomyeong.

Yeomyeong dashed between the ice spikes, narrowly avoiding the barrage, but that was just the start.

[Try- to- dodge- this!]

More than ten titans tore at their own flesh simultaneously, gripping it in their hands as they prepared to hurl it at him.

Could titans be used like this?

Yeomyeong gritted his teeth and began to dash through the air.

And as if taking it as a signal, the titans threw their flesh.

The sky grew dark as the mass of flesh filled it.

This time, there was no space to dodge.

Yeomyeong raised his sword to fend off the flesh projectiles. He raised it, but…

[Corpse- explosion!]

Right in front of his sword, the flesh exploded in unison.

!!!!!

The explosion was so big, it seemed to shake the heavens and earth, but Yeomyeong couldn’t hear it. His eardrums had ruptured from the blast.

All he could hear was a ringing in his ears, and all he could see was the flesh filling his vision.

Even as he fell, the explosions didn’t stop.

The terrifying sound of explosions echoed so loudly, that everyone on the train heard it. And it continued until Yeomyeong was buried in the swamp.

[O- Star- Reveal your true form!]

The voice spoke out cheerfully, as if already certain of victory.

It wasn’t a completely wrong attitude. Anyone could clearly see that Yeomyeong was as good as dead.

However, the next moment, something unexpected happened, even for the voice.

KABOOOOM!!!

The head of the titan, which was in the throwing stance, suddenly exploded.

It wasn’t just one. Another titan’s head exploded, followed by another.

[What-?]

From there, the heads of those colossal monsters filling the horizon began exploding one after another.

And only after seeing the collapsing massive bodies and the sounds of explosions that shook the swamp did the voice finally realize what was happening.

Someone else had used corpse explosions. Not just any regular corpse explosions, but ones so precise they could blow up the titan.

Boom, boom, boom—!

As if to prove the hypothesis, titans caught in the explosion of corpses kept collapsing one after another much faster than the rate at which new titans emerged from the swamp, and in just a few minutes, only one titan remained standing.

[How-?]

The voice’s question was directed at the swamp where Yeomyeong had fallen into.

There, amidst the rotten blood and flesh, lay Yeomyeong half-submerged in the swamp.

His body looked like a chicken that had escaped the slaughterhouse. His belly and chest were split open, revealing his innards, and his face was soaked with blood.

It was a sight that made it impossible to believe he was still alive, but what truly stunned the voice was something else—The staff in his hand.

With wriggling disgusting eyes, the grotesque bone staff was the very same staff the mummy had been holding inside the train earlier.

[When- did- you- get that?]

Yeomyeong couldn’t answer. The recoil from using the twisted mana had completely smashed his lungs.

Even though he had only used the excess twisted mana around him, his veins and internal organs were in tatters.

And had it not been for the regenerative power of Dzhugashvili, he would have died a hundred times over from the wounds.

The pain during the regeneration was excruciating, but Yeomyeong maintained his bravado as he spitted out the blood filling his mouth.

After a brief moment, when his lungs and trachea had barely regenerated, he raised his head and smiled at the last titan.

“I used that staff well, You damned bastard.”

The voice seemed to be quite flustered as it forgot to summon the new Titan as he asked.

[What- kind- of- star- are- you? Wave -and- death- at- the- same- time? I’ve- never- heard- of- such- a- star.]

Trying to hide his trembling legs, Yeomyeong braced his waist and wiped the blood polling in his eyes as he replied.

“What the hell is that so-called star you keep talking about?”

[You- don’t- know- what- a- star- is? Why-? You’re- clearly- a- star,- though-?]

The voice added in an incredulous tone.

[Could- it- be- that- you- have- not- gain- awareness-?]

No matter what the creature babbled about, Yeomyeong focused solely on his regeneration. Just a little more and he would be able to move…

Suddenly, the face of the last Titan began to twist.

It was similar to sculpting a face out of clay.

The horrifying difference was that the material wasn’t clay but corpses, but the result was the same.

Fierce eyes, a crooked nose, and thin lips.

Before long, the Titan, now with a face as vivid as that of a living person, looked down on Yeomyeong.

[Martial arts, magic, necromancy… America would never be able to create an impossible star like you. Who the hell created you?]

Was that face the real body? Its tone had returned to normal. However, the disgusting voice was still there.

Pulling his foot from the swamp, Yeomyeong responded.

“Who created me? Who knows. I was born alone.”

It was a blatant sneer. However, the creature didn’t seem to understand the mockery, staring seriously at Yeomyeong.

The huge eye socket made from a corpse scanned Yeomyeong’s body, briefly sweeping through the depths of his soul.

The creature suddenly shook its head.

[So, it’s a truth. You have no parents.]

“…”

As Yeomyeong clenched his sword upon hearing such a rude remark, the voice in the Titan continued babbling.

[Even if you don’t have any parents, someone must have summoned the star. Who was it? Who summoned such a reckless monster like you…?]

Just as the creature was saying this, it suddenly jumped back in surprise.

…What now?

The Titan and Yeomyeong exchanged glances in surprise.

A heavy silence followed the intertwining gazes.

The silence stretched long, and the moment Yeomyeong finished regenerating, the Titan spoke in a trembling voice.

[What the hell are you? How can your soul’s age exceed four thousand years?]