episode_0015

It was from then on.

That was the beginning of my hellish days.

King Vulcan defeated the warrior and then abandoned him.

I looked at the cold corpse of the warrior for a moment.

*

[Skill, ‘Noble Sacrifice’ is activated!]

[Caution, the skill’s range of motion is too large!]

[Start calculations to correct causality!]

[Causality Correction······ 0%]

*

A feeling of dread gripped me. I couldn’t believe this reality at all.

“There are only two of us left.”

Then Balkan approached me, and his tightly bandaged hand reached out to me.

His bandages were torn in places, perhaps from the wounds caused by the warrior’s sword.

Thanks to that, I was able to see the flesh hidden behind it.

Skin that is so rotten and dried out that it feels like a dead tree. Blue veins that stick out so much it’s disgusting.

And there are even raccoons and scorpions passing by······.

How on earth could something like that happen… His body was already far from lifeless.

“Do you know what my dream is?”

After holding back the nausea for a moment, he opened his mouth.

“Try to guess. I’m in a really good mood right now. So who knows. If I guess correctly, maybe you’ll show mercy···.”

I racked my brain hard. But perhaps because my head was frozen with fear, the only answer I could come up with was this.

“Yeah, to stop the warrior···.”

“Wrong. Well, that was one of my dreams, but it wasn’t my biggest dream.”

He smiled broadly.

“My dream is to create a solitude. A solitude so terrible that it can throw the world into chaos···.”

Solitude.

Putting snakes, civets, scorpions, etc. in one jar.

The poisonous insects trapped there fight and kill each other until only one remains.

I once learned in church that a living being of this kind, made of poison, possesses tremendous power.

“Since the beginning of human history, there have been three solitudes created. The three solitudes created in this way were recorded as disasters in human history, and were soon sealed and confined. Isn’t it beautiful that a single life can put tens of thousands of people in fear?”

He stroked my cheek.

Through the unraveling bandages, I could see his pupils. His bloodshot eyes were blazing with madness.

“I have been preparing the materials to create solitude for a long time. And today, the materials have finally been gathered. If you destroy the most sacred thing in the most foul way, what kind of evil will come out? Aren’t you curious, Saintess? ”

Only then did I realize.

The ‘material’ he’s talking about is me.

“Don’t worry. You will live a very long life. I will make sure that happens.”

If I think about it, I should have bitten my tongue back then.

*

[Correcting causality······ 2.285714…%]

*

“Gyaaa …

“Be quiet, my kids might get scared.”

“Gyahh …

The first day after the warrior died.

He threw me into a hole full of all kinds of bugs.

Dozens of different types of bugs, including maggots, ants, earthworms, and cockroaches, were crawling all over my body.

“Since it’s the first day, you’ll need time to get to know my kids. Don’t worry. I asked you to be gentle with my kids. You won’t do anything stupid.”

I screamed.

I screamed.

I screamed······.

*

[Causality Correction······ 16.462812….%]

*

I almost screamed because the creepy feeling of it crawling all over my skin was driving me crazy.

In the middle, my throat was completely gone and I couldn’t even make a sound, but I couldn’t stop doing it.

Every time maggots burrowed into my ears or flies entered my mouth, an indescribable feeling of disgust rose up within me.

The divine power healed my broken neck on its own, and I screamed again… This happened over and over again.

*

[Causality Correction······ 30.128192….%]

*

Third day.

···They say that humans are animals of adaptation.

I was able to somewhat get used to the creepy sensation crawling all over my body after about two days.

Of course, the unpleasant feeling still remained, but somehow I was able to regain some sense of reason.

Thanks to that, I realized I had to get out of here.

I couldn’t just rot away and die in a place like this.

The warrior party was defeated… but at least someone is needed to convey this to the empire. A leader who can support the people who have lost hope is also needed.

······They say this, but in reality, their most earnest wish was to escape from here.

Having decided on a plan, I immediately put it into action. I purified the remaining effects of the paralyzing poison and burned the insects that had wrapped around my body with my divine power.

In order to avoid being caught by Balkan, I made full use of the stealth skills I had learned from Adele to kill time.

It was going smoothly until the middle.

“This is such a disgusting bitch.”

There was one thing that was overlooked: this castle was like the eyes and ears of the King.

Although I was somewhat cautious, I couldn’t completely deceive King Chung’s detection range.

So my escape plan ended so vainly.

Now all that remained was another bout of despair, more intense surveillance, and terrible punishments.

“You rebelled. I must punish you accordingly. So that you will never think of escaping again. From now on, do not ask for any mercy from me.”

“Wait a minute! I made a mistake!! Wait a minute···!!”

After that, the place I was moved to was a room inhabited by all kinds of poisonous insects.

That place was… literally hell.

I was bitten by insects with numerous poisons, including paralytic poison, neurotoxin, acid poison, and hemorrhagic poison.

I was nauseated and vomiting, had difficulty breathing, and my flesh was melting away.

The pain it caused was more terrible than I could have imagined, and I was overcome with thoughts of wanting to die instead.

But they only harassed me enough to keep me from dying.

I spent two days there.

The third and fourth nights, which felt like eternity, passed by like that.

*

[Causality Correction······ 61.456719….%]

*

“I have something to show you.”

“······.”

Fifth day.

King Chung came to me once again, exhausted from the continued torture. I was afraid of what he would do, but I couldn’t move.

Because I was already too tired to react.

Either way, King Chung dragged me and threw me somewhere.

And there it is.

“Your colleagues.”

I had my party members.

No, to be exact, they were ‘parties’.

Those people were already nothing but chunks of meat.

That was, so to speak, a decomposition.

Just as a corpse is buried in a tombstone and is visited by microbes that eat away at its flesh, my colleagues were also going through the same process at the hands of insects.

“Ah······.”

Camilla’s brave eyes were no more.

There were only empty eye sockets.

Adele’s jade-smooth skin was no more.

There are only maggot nests there with holes here and there.

Lily, who was a smart child… is no longer there.

There was only one red-haired girl there, dead with a pained expression on her face.

“Ah······.”

I couldn’t say anything.

I felt a stuffy feeling, like something was stuck in my throat.

At some point, tears began to flow from my eyes.

Why?

How did it turn out like this…?

I guess I didn’t go to the Demon Realm just for this kind of ending…

“As expected of representatives selected from the human race. Their vitality is truly tenacious. They only breathed their last yesterday. Who would have thought they would still be alive after being eaten by bugs until their skin was completely peeled off? Hehe… Thanks to you, I was able to collect a lot of resentment.”

“······.”

The king looked at me and said.

“Don’t worry. You won’t be like that any time soon. The first week is just a joke.”

chin.

A hand wrapped tightly in a bandage came up to my shoulder.

“The second week, I will inject poison directly into your body. Just like myself. I need to create a vessel that can be lonely at the very least. The third week, I will give my children at least one limb. Since you are a saint, you can heal your limbs quickly. And the fourth week, I will give it to the large bell···.”

One word, one word.

Every time King Chung spoke, goosebumps ran down my spine.

He calmly explained to me the future that was in store for me. It was so terrible and scary that I didn’t even dare to imagine it.

“And after that, I will be active as a mother.”

“···Yes?”

But nothing was more frightening than what he said next.

“That’s right. You will be the mother who gives birth to the people of my kingdom. You will be locked in the deepest part of the underground, raped by all kinds of large species… and you will diligently lay eggs.”

“Ah, ah······.”

“Don’t worry. You are my castle’s most important resource. I will never let you die.”

“Ah, ah······.”

I just sat there and sobbed.

Because the fate given to me is so miserable, it’s terrifying.

I couldn’t stand it without crying.

Seeing me like that, King Chung spoke with rapt eyes.

“Ahh··· Yes. That’s exactly it! More! Suffer a little more. Live a long life and let out your resentment and wrath. Let the lump in your heart just coagulate. And finally, finally······.”

“Ahhh·········.”

“Please transform me into a feather.”

I cried for a long time.

Even as the King and the bugs left and the corpses of the party members were carried away, I was still sitting on the floor crying.

Only despair remained, swirling around me.

The fifth day passed like that.

*

[Causality Correction······ 75.915643….%]

*

The sixth day.

I adapted to everything.

I gave up on everything.

I had no intention of chasing away the bugs crawling on my body, the stinging pain of the poison that I could still feel, and the gloomy feeling that occupied a corner of my heart.

There’s only one thought on my mind.

‘Am I going to have to live like this from now on?’

And how long is that ‘forward’?

Will it continue for 10 years? 20 years? Or even a hundred years?

Can I die?

As the years I imagined grew longer, my despair grew deeper. Every time, tears welled up in my eyes.

The sixth night was filled only with such thoughts.

*

[Correcting causality······ 95.999999….%]

*

How many hours passed while I cried like crazy, fell asleep from exhaustion, and cried again?

When I came to my senses, there was something hanging on the wall of the palace.

I could tell right away what it was.

“······.”

It was the stuffed corpse of a warrior.

The corpse of a warrior with his arms and legs cut off and his skin preserved.

It was framed and displayed as is in the audience room of King Chungwang.

When King Chung saw that, he simply muttered a word that seemed to indicate satisfaction.

“It’s a souvenir.”

“······.”

souvenir.

That infinitely light expression was the one that represented the warrior’s end.

“This is also proof that I caught the hero. With this, I will be recorded in the history books by future generations. Hehe… I’m already looking forward to what kind of words will be written.”

With those words, he left the audience room.

He didn’t say any particularly insulting things to me, nor did he harass me further.

But I could only stand there blankly for a while.

After a while I saw the warrior’s body hanging on the wall.

“······.”

*

[The cursed party is dead!]

[The curse of distortion is lifted upon the death of the person concerned.]

[The soul of the person concerned will be cursed upon his death.]

[The curse of activity is lifted upon the death of the person concerned.]

[Due to the death of the party concerned···]

.

.

.

*

His identity is still unknown.

I don’t know why there was so much guilt behind him.

Why did I feel such an unpleasant sensation every time I saw it, and why did I stay and fight the Demon King’s army until the end despite being treated with such contempt?

But one thing is certain, he was a true warrior. He fought fiercely against the Demon King’s army until the very end.

And we… we were looking at him like that and suspecting him of being a spy when he wasn’t even there, and we were chasing him.

Now that I’ve become a piece of meat like this, I wonder why I hated the warrior so much.

This is the price of distrust.

All my party members are dead, the hero is stuffed, and I will be left here to suffer for the rest of my life.

“I’m sorry······.”

I quietly apologized in front of the warrior’s body.

The person I was talking to had already stopped breathing and there was no one to listen, but I couldn’t stop doing it.

What had been a quiet muttering soon turned into sobs that flowed down to the floor.

“I’m sorry. I’m sorry······.”

This is our ending.

An ending without honor, without glory, only filled with pain and misery.

Belated regret came flooding in.

If only···if I had another chance, I wouldn’t have treated you so cruelly···.

“I’m really sorry······.”

So I sat there and just stared blankly for hours.

···That was then.

*

[Causality correction complete!]

[Skill activated!]

[Looking for a save point!]

*

Suddenly the world stopped.