Chapter 19

Chapter 19

Thud!

When the massive Twin Ogre collapsed to the ground, the earth trembled. I approached the Twin Ogre’s corpse and brought Behemoth close to it.

A moment later.

A small, white whale revealed itself and began devouring the soul of the Twin Ogre.

【Hmm. This is barely worth eating.】

What the.

So it wasn’t eating the corpse?

【As I’ve said many times, I am the great white whale of the Mythical Age. Do you think I would feast in such a barbaric way? Me?】

Though I had heard countless times that it was a great and noble being, the white whale in front of me looked so cute that I wanted to grab its cheeks and tug.

Lux Winterbell, who had been staring at the fallen ogre with a dumbfounded expression, turned his gaze toward me.

“Ran...? What on earth happened here?”

“As you can see, brother.”

Lin Winterbell and Marian Winterbell, who had been at the back, also walked over to us.

Lin Winterbell, who had been consistently irritated, now wore an expression worth seeing. She looked back and forth between the Twin Ogre’s corpse and me, clearly confused.

“What the hell? What happened? Did you really kill it, Ran?”

Lux Winterbell let out a wry smile, as if dumbfounded.

“Yeah. The youngest has caused trouble again.”

“No. That doesn’t make sense. Are you saying this cripple took down the monster you couldn’t even kill easily?”

“...Lin. Watch your mouth.”

“Don’t tell me what to do.”

Among them, the one whose expression changed the least—but who seemed quite shaken—was Marian Winterbell. She studied the corpse carefully and spoke.

“...You cut the right side of the head and the right Achilles tendon. Ran. What happened? Why did you target those areas?”

Of all the times I had seen her, she was probably speaking the most now.

And that question wasn’t only on Marian Winterbell’s mind—everyone here was likely wondering the same thing.

“The Twin Ogre has two hearts. In order to kill this creature, which has a monstrous regenerative ability, both hearts must be destroyed. And it has to be done before one starts regenerating.”

“It has two hearts?”

“Yes. That’s correct. However, their locations are different from what’s commonly known. Because of that, it could keep regenerating no matter how many times your sword cut it, brother.”

“The hearts are located in the right side of the head and the right Achilles tendon?”

I nodded.

“Yes. Aside from that method, the only effective way to kill it is by using elemental attributes. Fire or ice magic, to suppress its regeneration.”

“Suppress its regeneration?”

“That’s right. If you, brother, who can use both elements, had fully exerted your power, you might have been able to take it down faster. Though, of course, that’s not necessarily the perfect solution either.”

“So holding back your strength to prepare for unexpected situations just made things more complicated. I knew that thing was a mutant ogre, but I’ve never heard of such a weakness before.”

The direct bloodline of the Winterbell family possessed a uniquely cold mana. This wasn’t a metaphorical description—it referred to its literal property.

The mana flowing through their bodies inherently carried a chill.

Of course, the degree varied depending on the individual, and in rare cases, some developed mana with entirely different properties as they grew.

Lux Winterbell was exactly that kind of case. His mana unusually contained both fire and ice attributes. While this was an incredible blessing, at least within the family, it wasn’t seen that way.

Golden hair that shone like the sun and mana bearing the nature of flame—

These were characteristics typical not of the Winterbell family, but of the Helios family.

If the Winterbells reigned in the north, then the Helios family held the south. The greatest martial houses of the continent, dividing it in half, eternal rivals.

Since the very founding of both families, there had never once been peace between them—a rivalry so fierce it could only be described as that of bitter enemies.

The only reason this uneasy equilibrium endured was because their powers were nearly equal. If one side had weakened and broken that balance, the other would have long since vanished into the shadows of history.

But for the second son of the Winterbell family to bear the traits of the Helios family… Naturally, all kinds of suspicions circulated among the household servants.

‘Of course, the madam firmly declared he was her child, so no one dared speak of it openly.’

Then Lin Winterbell butted in and asked,

“This is the first I’ve ever heard of any of this. And how the hell would someone like you know about it?”

Lin Winterbell, starting a fight again.

To that madwoman, I was nothing more than a thorn in her side.

“Do I have any obligation to tell you that?”

“…You son of a bitch.”

“If I’m a son of a bitch, then doesn’t that make the Lord Patriarch the dog? Can you take responsibility for what you just said?”

“……”

Only then did Lin Winterbell fall silent, glaring at me with murderous eyes. In any case, she was one of the suspects involved in crippling my legs.

One way or another, I planned to settle the score with her eventually.

‘Though first, I need to get this damned body into working shape.’

Just then, Marian Winterbell approached and lightly tapped me before handing me something.

“What is this?”

“Human-faced Snow Ginseng.”

“Why are you giving this to me…?”

“Take it… and tell me how you knew.”

Watching this, Lin Winterbell’s eyes went wide, and she shouted.

“Marian─!”

But Marian ignored her and kept holding out her arm. This was the first time she had been so forward, and I was taken aback when she said,

“My arm’s going to fall off. Take it.”

“It’s really not a big deal—are you sure?”

“Yes.”

“Well, in that case, I’ll gladly accept it.”

Human-faced Snow Ginseng was not something easily obtained.

A ginseng that bore a human face.

Despite its grotesque appearance, it was a famous medicinal ingredient known for its exceptional effects. It was so rare that even professional herbalists might never see it in their lifetimes, yet she was giving it to me.

To someone like me, with an already frail body, it was the best possible gift. I promptly tucked the ginseng into my robes and smiled as I spoke.

“Behemoth told me.”

“…I see.”

When I found it hard to answer, I just used Behemoth’s name. That was a truth of life I’d recently come to realize.

Behemoth.

Ah, my hope.

Ah, my light.

Ah, my darkness.

Ah, my joy.

【…You lunatic. You really do seem to get stranger by the day.】

Ah, my sorrow.

Ah, my scapegoat.

Ah, my…

【Enough. You mad bastard.】

It seemed this guy was beginning to worry I might lose my mind before we could fully recover his scattered soul. But frankly, that wasn’t the important part.

What truly mattered was not dying before I resolved my questions and exacted my revenge.

---

“Let’s take a short break.”

“Haah, shit. I’m dying here. Why are there so damn many monsters?”

“……”

About five hours had passed.

We had climbed from the base of the mountain up to around the middle, and decided to rest in a small nearby cave.

We must’ve cut down at least a few hundred monsters by now. Even though Lux Winterbell, who led the front lines, had taken down the most, he still looked the cleanest.

Perhaps because he felt guilty for holding back earlier in order to conserve energy, this time he seemed to be putting in genuine effort.

Each time he drew his sword, monsters even stronger than the Ogre were swept away like waves—it was awe-inspiring. Without him, we likely wouldn’t have made it to the mid-slope so easily.

“Cecil. Are you alright?”

“I’m fine, young master.”

Since I still couldn’t fully use both my legs, I had climbed the mountain while seated in a wheelchair.

Unless we were in a truly dangerous situation, Cecil handled most of the monsters that approached me. Thanks to that, I came to realize that her abilities far exceeded my expectations.

Even Lin Winterbell, who had initially treated her like baggage, begrudgingly admitted, “She’s more useful than I thought.”

After entering the cave, we checked the interior briefly and began preparing to camp.

Leaning against the wall and chewing on jerky, Lin Winterbell spat out a stream of curses.

“Ron Winterbell. That dumb bastard gets completely wrecked by someone not even ranked. And now, he’s gone and gotten himself missing within the family? Fucking idiot.”

Lux Winterbell let out a quiet sigh and muttered as he looked over at her.

“…Lin. I get that you’re upset, but keep unnecessary talk to a minimum during the mission.”

“Why the hell do you keep bitching at me every time I open my mouth?”

Lux Winterbell turned to her with cold, sunken eyes.

“Have you forgotten who the Lord Patriarch entrusted with command of this mission? If you won’t follow orders, then step away from the operation.”

“…Nagging again. Fine, fine. As you command.”

In the end, Lin Winterbell surrendered first, lying down with her arms as a pillow and closing her eyes. Glancing to the side, I saw Marian Winterbell was already asleep.

“Ran. You must be tired too—get some rest.”

“I’m fine, brother.”

“Is it because of the ginseng Marian gave you?”

“….”

What the hell, this guy.

How did he know?

Was it that obvious from my face?

“There’s no need to try so hard to hide it. Ever since Marian handed you the ginseng, your lips haven’t stopped twitching upward. I’ll keep watch at the entrance. You might not trust me completely yet, but I’ve not fallen so far as to take a blood relative’s life while they’re distracted consuming an elixir. I swear on the name of our house.”

Honestly, just like Lux Winterbell said, ever since I got the ginseng from Marian, I’d been itching to take it right away.

I hadn’t realized it was that obvious.

‘He’s not just strong. He might be the one I should be most wary of in the entire family.’

With that, Lux Winterbell stood and headed toward the entrance of the cave.

‘And he’s considerate too.’

The always-smiling, polite Lux Winterbell and the Lux Winterbell who slaughtered monsters like a machine—those two seemed like completely different people.

‘He was definitely smiling.’

So, which one was the real him?

I headed deeper into the cave with Cecil to consume the Human-faced Snow Ginseng. The further we went in, the more I began to hear a faint sound from somewhere.

“Wait. Cecil.”

I stopped walking, gathered my mana, and enhanced my hearing, focusing on the sound.

…Ssshhhhhh…

‘Wind?’

It was a sound I hadn’t heard earlier when we inspected the cave.

“Do you hear that?”

Only then did Cecil seem to recognize the sound, nodding her head. I closed my eyes and drew on mana again to sharpen my senses.

As my perception heightened, the world blanketed in darkness slowly morphed into a structured shape.

‘Found it.’

I got out of my wheelchair and headed toward the source of the wind with Cecil.

At the far end of the cave, we came upon a dead-end wall. When I lowered my head and looked down, I noticed a small gap through which wind was seeping in.

‘This smell… blood?’

There was a space beyond the wall.

To prepare for any potential surprises, I used Makina to erect a transparent barrier around the rear area. It was to block out the noise that would come from breaking through the wall.

“I’ll do it.”

Realizing what I intended to do, Cecil stepped forward and swung her fist at the wall.

Kwaang!

The wall crumbled, revealing a new space. On the floor, all kinds of corpses were strewn about, and on the desk, a row of flasks stood—seemingly used for experiments.

‘Some sort of laboratory?’

Inside the flasks was a crimson liquid that, no matter how I looked at it, seemed to be blood.

Cecil, who had been standing next to me, spoke with a hardened expression, as if she had spotted something.

“Young master.”

I turned my gaze in the direction she was pointing.

There, lying on the ground, his entire body drenched in blood—

Was Ron Winterbell.

“Ron Winterbell…?”

Tip: Tap/click the left or right side of the screen to go to previous/next chapter.