Chapter 68 – Day 68

Day 68

Huff-! Huff-!

The monster breathed heavily as it ran through the intricately tangled alleyways like a spider’s web.

How long had it been running?
Why was it still here?

After running for a long time, the monster stopped, feeling something was amiss.

Something.
Something was wrong.
Terribly wrong.

No matter how much it ran.
Running, running, and running again.

Why couldn’t it escape these alleyways?

Come to think of it…

‘The alleyways were intact even after that explosion earlier.’

Could it be…?
No, it can’t be.
No matter what kind of ability it is, such a thing shouldn’t be possible.

But.
What if it’s true?
If this hypothesis I’ve come up with is real?

As numerous thoughts kept rising and falling, chasing one after another, fear gradually began to fill the two eyes of the mysterious person.

It was then, while the mysterious person was looking around with eyes full of fear.

Thud. Thud. Thud.

From deep within the darkness, footsteps echoed.

The mysterious person’s body flinched upon hearing the footsteps approaching slowly with a steady rhythm.

“Oh, don’t come-!”

Kwagagang!

The mysterious person desperately manifested their ability.
The number of abilities this mysterious person had devoured so far exceeds a hundred by simple calculation.

As these diverse abilities exploded all at once, a massive explosion occurred, engulfing everything around.

However.

“What is this…!”

As the explosion cleared, the alley appeared exactly the same as before.

No soot was etched, nor was there any frost settled.
Nothing had melted, nor had any cracks appeared anywhere.
There was nothing collapsed or shattered.

The monster let out a frantic scream at the sight of the perfectly intact alley.

“Do you understand now?”

Flinch-!

At the sound of Cheon Seoa’s voice behind him, the monster’s body trembled as it was screaming.

At the same time, the monster slowly turned around.
What reflected in the monster’s eyes was the horrific sight of the owners of the hearts he had devoured until now.

“Huaaaargh-!”

The monster screamed.

Some were crawling towards him with their lower bodies completely crushed.
Some were wriggling closer with their arms and legs mangled.
And some, unable to do even that, were approaching by digging their teeth into the ground.

Their numbers reached well into the hundreds.
These horrifying victims had one thing in common.

That is, they all had an empty hole where their heart should have been.

“Oh, don’t come!”

Kwagagang-!

As the monster frantically swung both hands, a storm of sharp wind burst out and struck those horrifying ‘somethings’.

However, those sharp wind blades not only failed to erase the ‘somethings’, but they didn’t even leave a trace on the alley where they were crawling.

How on earth.

“Why are you doing this!”

As the monster shouted in incomprehension, Cheon Seoa, who appeared among the horrifying things, said.

“Do you still not understand? Or are you pretending not to understand, deceiving yourself despite knowing?”

“You bitch-!”

Yes! It’s that bitch!

The moment he spotted Cheon Seoa appearing among the horrifying things, the monster’s expression twisted violently.

Everything had changed since that damned woman showed up.
If so, wouldn’t everything that had changed return to its original state if he killed her?

With that thought in mind, the monster transformed his two legs.

The monster’s two legs changed to specialize only in ‘moving quickly’.

Using those legs, the monster kicked off the ground and rushed towards Cheon Seoa.

Kicking off the earth and lunging forward.
Kicking off again and soaring into the air.
Once more, kicking off the air and advancing towards Cheon Seoa like a fired shell.

Thus, in the blink of an eye, the monster arrived in front of Cheon Seoa and swung his fist.

Crack-!

The monster’s fist, swinging through the air towards Cheon Seoa, instantly swelled to an enormous size.

That fist of the monster was imbued with a monstrous strength that seemed capable of shattering even mountains.
That fist smashed into Cheon Seoa from the head down, driving her into the ground.

Boom-!

A heavy reverberation spreads in all directions from where the monster’s fist struck.

But.

“You… are truly a foolish child.”

Cheon Seoa’s voice echoes from above.
The monster’s eyes trembled wildly as it looked up.

How on earth did this happen?
Surely its fist should have crushed her.

It was neither an illusion nor a hallucination.
Because the sensation of crushing everything from her head to her body was clearly transmitted through its fist.

“You are a truly foolish child.”

Cheon Seoa said again.

I’m… stupid and foolish?
What nonsense is that!

Skaak-!

The monster swung its ten sharply honed claws towards Cheon Seoa this time.
Hundreds of slashes that burst from its claws swept through Cheon Seoa’s body without missing a single one, and her body split into hundreds of pieces, falling with a thud.

This time for sure…

“Did I kill her…?”

“Not a chance.”

Flinch-!

This time, Cheon Seoa’s voice is heard from beneath his feet.
As the monster convulses as if having a seizure, he steps back and looks at where he was standing, and there Cheon Seoa is crouching, looking up at him.

What on earth!

“Why won’t you die!”

The monster screamed hysterically.

No matter how extraordinary an ability might be, there’s no such thing as an ability related to immortality.
And yet, it’s too real to dismiss as a hallucination or illusion, as the sensation of killing that bitch remains vivid.

This sensation, so realistic and tangible, cannot be replicated by any illusion or hallucination.

Meanwhile, Cheon Seoa, still crouching, continued speaking to the monster.

“Do you know? All these children you’re facing were created using the ‘guilt’ you harbor.”

Cheon Seoa said.

These beings, each with a hollow hole in their chest, appearing as humans who died in horrific ways, don’t actually exist.

They were merely illusions lightly created by Cheon Seoa, using the ‘guilt’ harbored by the monster as material.

That’s why Cheon Seoa thought the monster was truly foolish.

He has power within himself.
He knows how to cultivate that power.
And despite moving to cultivate that power.

“Why do you harbor such ‘guilt’ over the deaths of these ordinary people?”

Cheon Seoa couldn’t understand this.

By sacrificing someone.
And killing someone to increase one’s own power.

For Cheon Seoa, who had mastered the art of magic, this was just one of many truths.

These insignificant ordinary people would gladly accept their own sacrifice if they could become nourishment for those with power.

Why does that foolish, stupid child suffer and agonize over unnecessary guilt?

As Cheon Seoa spoke, she slowly rose and took one step at a time towards the monster.

“Oh, don’t come!”

As Cheon Seoa approached slowly but surely, the monster hesitated and stepped back.

No longer could any trace of madness be found in the monster.

Cheon Seoa felt this was such a pity.

If it had been the monster she first saw, it could have been a sufficiently useful ‘material’.

The current monster held no value whatsoever as ‘material’.

However.

“It’s okay.”

Cheon Seoa said softly.

Yes, it’s okay.
It was okay.

Even if its value as material had disappeared.

“The value of the ‘potential’ you possess still exists for certain.”

The value of potential.
That refers to the monster’s ability. The ability to make the power of others its own by devouring the hearts of humans with supernatural abilities.

In a way, it’s an ability with a mechanism similar to the Heart-Devouring Soul-Stealing Great Power Technique, which strengthens oneself by consuming the opponent’s heart.

Then.

“If we use that ability, the Heart Eater. Wouldn’t it be of great help to that child?”

Shudder-!

The monster trembled as Cheon Seoa stared at him with dead eyes, devoid of any emotion.

I, I need to escape.
I must escape from here right now.

But how?
How can I escape?

There is no end to these maze-like alleyways.

Just running, running, and running again only brings you back to where you started.

Therefore.

“Hehe, uhehe.”

In the end, the monster lost his mind due to the extreme fear that had built up.
His already incomplete sanity, due to consuming abilities beyond the limits of a confined frame, completely collapsed at this moment.

Cheon Seoa stood in front of the monster and said.

“My, what a foolish child.”

Saying that, she unhesitatingly ripped out the heart of the monster who had once eaten the hearts of others.