episode_0269

“You, weren’t you here to stop me from going to the nest?”

“That’s how it was originally. But I lost interest.”

The witch shrugged her shoulders slightly. Her gaze was directed at Jin Ye-seo, who was standing firm despite the crushing pressure.

“… I found something more interesting.”

The witch’s expression was unfamiliar. Fun. That’s definitely… not a word we would use.

Is it even possible for the word fun to come out of the mouth of a being that leads destruction like a machine without any emotion?

Maybe even saying those words was a ploy to confuse us.

“… ”

My thoughts were not easily organized. Rather, the witch, who saw my determination to fight back, slightly raised the corners of her lips.

As if he had seen through my doubts.

“Thoughts are bound to be influenced by the body. And the desires that reside in the bodies of lower creatures are truly terrifying. At some point, we too have become one with them.”

The witch muttered as she scanned her body. Judging from her appearance, the original owner of that body must have had a rather generous personality and a personality that valued physical training.

However, there would be not even a shred of that will left now. What was inside that head right now was not a human brain, but the witch’s body, a heteromorph.

But somehow, I couldn’t sense a single ounce of falsehood in that voice.

“Well, it’s just a momentary distraction. Now, the unification is just around the corner. When that happens, this fleeting and unnecessary longing will go away.”

The witch, who had been muttering in vain, stared at me again.

“So go, male with the power of Polaris. I need to quench this thirst a little before that.”

“… If the nest breaks, there will be no more opportunities to fill the longing and everything else?”

I asked tentatively. I didn’t know their circumstances, but I wanted to see how they would react.

“You will never reach the nest anyway. Even if you do, what can you do with your dying body? At best, you will just struggle ugly.”

And the witch who heard the question had a smile on her face.

“Well, try your best.”

“This bitch is talking nonsense… ”

I was about to cry and argue without realizing it. Jin Ye-seo stood in front of me as if guarding me, and instead, she urged me on.

“ga.”

Jin Ye-seo turned her head to me. I flinched. A line of red blood flowed down her eye like a tear, crushed by the pressure.

“Hey. Your eyes… ”

“Go ahead.”

Jin Ye-seo still maintained her composure. It was as if she had already made up her mind.

She hesitated for a moment and then added something as if embarrassed.

“If not now, then when else would I ever get to act cool? I should imitate my older sister and Min-ha sunbae.”

“… ”

My heart ached at the sight of that bright smile that was clearly forced. But this time, there was only one thing I could do.

In a split second, hundreds of agony flashed through my mind. I eventually turned my heavy feet. The witch also only gave me a quick glance and did not stop me at all.

And just as I was about to step outside the gravity field, I turned my head for the last time and met Jinyeseo’s eyes. It was clear that she had been watching me the whole time.

“… Don’t die. Never.”

Jin Ye-seo opened her mouth with a voice that was slightly wet and desperate. How many times had I heard this today? But I just couldn’t get used to it.

“My confession… I can’t die until you answer me. Got it?”

“… Okay.”

“Never overdo it. If it gets hard, you can run away. No one will say anything to you.”

“That might be a bit difficult… ”

“… I thought you’d answer like that.”

Jin Ye-seo smiled bitterly. I nodded heavily and immediately turned around and ran.

Once out of the gravitational field, my body feels light as if I’m flying through the sky. On the other hand, my heart still feels like it’s stuck to the ground.

-Kang!! Kang!!

A sharp, piercing sound began to ring out from the corner of my eye. It was the sound of blades clashing against blades.

How long can Jin Ye-seo hold out? She came forward with great enthusiasm, but her chances of winning would be slim. Even if the conditions were the same, the witch had already perfectly adapted to her space. On the other hand, Jin Ye-seo was under so much pressure that she was shedding tears of blood from one eye.

“Haa, haa… !”

The breath of the bird running wildly rose to my chin. Countless thoughts surged in and out like waves, then dispersed repeatedly.

I could never have gotten here on my own with my own stubbornness. I am standing on my own two feet now thanks to the help of countless people who have sacrificed themselves to help me.

Those who sent me to the cradle to be associated with such people are in danger. And now I am the only one who can save them.

“Chief… Sisters… ”

I stopped walking abruptly as I chewed my lips, recalling the faces I missed.

“… Huh?”

I looked around in confusion. The signal was definitely coming from here. It was a sensation so intense that it made my head spin.

But now, the place was a large ruin in the middle of the city. There was no trace of the witch, not even a nest. All that filled the place was scrap metal and the remains of collapsed buildings.

“Where the hell are you… Wait a minute.”

And the thoughts that had been accelerating finally reached a certain point. Crack- A sickening sound of something splitting was heard from somewhere. I stared at the floor with my eyes wide open. The ground all around was splitting like ice.

‘Surely not underground…!’

-Tsk tsk!!

I was just about to realize something. The cracked ground suddenly collapsed, revealing a bottomless pit of darkness.

What appeared with a loud noise that split the ground was a giant reptilian demon. It was several times the size of the tentacle snake that we had faced in the Sky Basin, and its body was almost as tall as a high-rise building.

-Kuoooo!!

I pulled out my blade as I lost my balance and fell. I jumped over the fangs of the beast that was glaring at me and jumped onto its head.

The pupils that had been trembling wildly suddenly stopped and stared at me. Even the pupils were of an incredible size, comparable to my height.

I put strength into my arm and stuck the blade right in the center of it.

The demon writhed in agony. We fell towards the ground, still entangled.

-Kuuung!!

“Coolook, coolook… !”

I climbed up onto the still demon and stood on my feet. As the rising dust settled, I could soon see the whitish underground scenery beyond my eyes, which had adapted to the darkness.

It was a hollow as tall and wide as the city spread out above. Light was seeping in from various places thanks to the collapse of the weakened ground.

-Crunch, crunch…

And then I hear the sound of heels that don’t match the place. I turn my head straight towards the source of the sound.

Finally, a being emerged from beyond the darkness and greeted me.

“Long time no see, son.”

And my heart sank.

“Mom… Ma… ?”

My mother, who appeared in reality and not in a dream, was smiling at me. It was a face I had missed so much. I hadn’t forgotten it even for a single day in the past two years.

But I immediately distorted my face into a vicious grimace and hurled insults at the being who had the audacity to wear another man’s skin.

“This fucking bitch… ”

“Phew… ”

And then the thing with my mother’s face flexed its muscles and smiled strangely. It was an expression my real mother would never make.

“Ah, that’s too bad. I had hoped it would happen.”

Giggling laughter echoed through the quiet room.

“Still, your expression was pretty good just now. But what a bitch… ”

Regulus, who had stopped laughing, stared at me. My stomach turned as I watched him do that with his mother’s face.

I feel like tearing that bitch to pieces right now.

“Isn’t that too much for you, Mom? Huh? Son.”

“You have such a beggarly power. Did you use that ability to catch the captain off guard?”

“Of course.”

Chuuk- The witch’s face, which had been drooping, changed shape in an instant. Now, it was a face that I had seen a few times, so I was quite familiar with it.

Seol Yu-jeong. A woman who was once the captain’s lover and had her body stolen by a witch.

“That guy is really hopeless. How can he not forget a single female for over 15 years… ”

“You’re such a coward. If it weren’t for that dirty trick, you’d already have your head pierced by the captain. ”

“Oh my? That’s the one who got fooled.”

Now Regulus, with the face of Seol Yu-jeong, giggled as if he was enjoying it.

“For living things, survival is the top priority. For that, you should be able to do anything without hesitation. Isn’t that the case for your species too? Huh?”

The witch took a step toward me, a satisfied smile on her lips the whole time.

“Anyway, I’m glad you came. Thanks to you, I can finally regain the power of the king. How did it work out exactly as I expected… ”

“Who would say that.”

I held the blade tightly and muttered. As expected, this side was the same. In any case, the other witches were being captured by the other forces of the expedition.

If I had to face them all, I wouldn’t know, but I could win one-on-one. As we just saw, Regulus’s power is specialized for intrigue and collusion, not combat.

Of course, considering the witch’s ability to draw in particles without limit, this will be a very difficult fight… but this is still the best way.

Of course, that figure was the witch’s avatar. The real one must have melted into a nest somewhere underground.

We need to clean up that bitch as quickly as possible, find that place, and rescue the leader and his sisters.

“Where are the captain and his sisters?”

“It’s probably somewhere in the dark behind me. You can look for it if you want. Of course… ”

“Ss …

“You have to knock me down before that.”