Chapter 49

Chapter 49

The house was filled with blood and corpses.

As the stench of blood stabbed my nose, my head spun. But I shook it off and looked at Grandfather.

An old man soaked head to toe in blood.

He gave a faint smile and said,

“You’ve come.”

“Grandfather. Are you alright?”

“Of course I’m alright. Do you really think these worms could do anything to me? Have they forgotten who I am?”

Thankfully, he seemed unharmed. The blood covering his entire body didn’t appear to be his own.

But an ambush out of nowhere?

Looking at the corpses on the floor, I noticed they were all wearing the same masks. I suddenly recalled the assassin who had come for me before.

‘Don’t tell me… is this because of me?’

With a hardened face, I looked at Grandfather and spoke.

“Grandfather. I think you need to step outside. The villagers are all suffering from madness.”

“……”

“Grandfather?”

He responded with a hardened expression of his own.

“The warriors of the clan going berserk all at once… that doesn’t make sense. Do you hear it? That flute sound?”

“Yes.”

“That damn flute must be the cause. Those cursed worms, how dare they…”

“Do you know who’s behind this?”

“I don’t. Many have come to attack us before, but not a single one ever approached like this. That must be a high-grade artifact meant to break the mind.”

“What should we do?”

“First, we must restore the warriors’ sanity. I’ll take the lead — you cover me.”

“Ah, Grandfather.”

“What is it?”

“My… my aunt is missing.”

The Chieftain paused in thought before he answered.

“…The clan comes first. We’ll look for her later.”

“Understood.”

I left the house with Grandfather. His face stiffened at the horrific sight outside. He might have looked cold on the outside, but no one loved this village and our clan more than he did.

Seeing such devastation must have shattered him inside.

But we had to move forward.

If we stayed here, more lives would be lost.

‘Where on earth is Aunt?’

I remembered how she had tried to strangle me in a fit of madness a few days ago. Recalling that made an uneasy feeling crawl up my spine — one that just wouldn’t go away.

We were only just starting to grow close...

“What bastards would do something like this.”

Grandfather began subduing the rampaging warriors with terrifying speed. Enormous mana erupted from his entire body, and each movement he made tore the air with deafening sonic booms.

Bang!

Bang!

I also fought with everything I had to subdue the clan members, all while scanning my surroundings. Aunt was one concern — but the main goal now was to find the one behind all this.

‘That damn flute was the problem. What kind of artifact causes madness like that?’

Suddenly, I remembered the two lunatics I met in the mountains once called the Demon Realm.

They seemed to belong to the same group… and somehow, I had a strong feeling they were involved in this incident too.

And if my guess was right and they really were involved — this was going to be extremely dangerous.

Grandfather was indeed a 10-star powerhouse, but those bastards were by no means easy opponents either. If individuals with bounties on their heads issued by the Empire came rushing in all at once, it would be difficult even for Grandfather to hold them off alone.

“……”

“Hey, do you see over there?”

Grandfather pointed toward the top of a hill. Up there, a person whose gender was impossible to determine was casually standing and playing a flute.

Perhaps they had noticed us, because the sound of the flute suddenly grew louder. A sensation like my brain being torn apart erupted, and a single voice began echoing incessantly inside my head.

Die. Die. Die. Die. Die. Die. Kill yourself. Kill yourself. Kill yourself. Kill yourself. Kill yourself. Die. Die. Die. Die. Kill yourself. Kill yourself. Kill yourself. Die. Die. Die. Die. Kill yourself.

You useless piece of trash. I said die, didn’t I?

You don’t want to die? Do you actually want to cling to your pathetic life?

You miserable bastard. You couldn’t do a damn thing when your mother was dying, so why are you still trying to live?

Ah. That’s right, you’re not Ran Winterbell anymore — you’re Van Descartes now, right? Puhahahahaha! So what? In the end, you were betrayed by the very comrades you cherished like family, and look where that got you.

Just die already, you worthless worm.

“…Shut up.”

My chest felt tight. Murderous intent began to boil within me. The strange voice was gradually becoming my own. Was that the voice of my unconscious?

“Shut up, damn it!!!”

You want to live? Then kill the old man in front of you! Do you think he taught you the heart technique because he thought of you as family? Don’t be delusional. That old man never intended to save you. He never saw you as family. Isn’t it obvious? Do you know who caused him to lose his beloved daughter? There’s no way he could love someone tainted with Winterbell blood, right?

That old man only wants a fresh body. Once you’ve mastered the heart technique, he’s going to take your body using the brand engraved into you.

You idiot!

“…Is that true?”

From beside me, I heard the voice of Grandfather — no, the old man.

“Ran Winterbell! What are you doing! Get a grip! Activate the heart technique right now!”

“…Is it true? Did you teach me the heart technique because you wanted my body?”

“What kind of bullshit is that?!”

Had that despicable old man deceived me?

Had I been fooled again?

I swore I wouldn’t trust anyone anymore, yet I’d been swayed by sentiment like a fool. Right.

There’s no way that old man would willingly share such a precious heart technique. This won’t do. Before he can take my body, I need to kill him first. That’s the only way I can survive.

[This dumbass can’t even tell friend from foe just from some flute noise? I trusted a bastard like this…….]

Out of nowhere, the White Whale appeared and slapped me across the face. My head whipped to the side, and a dizzying numbness filled my skull.

“…What was that?”

[Stop with the nonsense and activate the heart technique already!]

Following that command, I immediately drew up the heart technique. The brand engraved on my torso burned like fire. My heart, filled with fiery energy, pounded violently.

Blood rushed through my entire body, and slowly, reason began to return.

Only then, having come to my senses, did I turn to look at Grandfather.

“...Grandfather?”

“You’ve finally come to your senses? That bastard… he's stronger than I expected. At the very least, he's a 9-star-level warrior. That flute sound you just heard—there was a dense magical power embedded in it. I nearly lost myself to madness as well.”

I was appalled at how powerful he was.

And there was a high chance he wasn’t acting alone.

“This won’t do. I need to deal with that one first.”

The moment he said that, Grandfather launched himself off the ground and flew toward the figure on the hill.

Kwa-gwa-gwang!

I was just about to rush in to help Grandfather when I sensed a murderous intent from behind—followed by a sharp blade slicing toward me.

[Ran! Watch your back!]

Slaaash!

If Behemoth hadn’t warned me, my back would’ve been torn open. I twisted my body to evade the ambush, but my side was slashed, and blood began to flow.

Putting some distance between us, I quickly scanned my opponent.

The masked woman held a pair of crescent-shaped curved swords in both hands. The aura she radiated was clearly unusual.

‘She’s strong.’

“Who are you?”

“……”

Instead of answering, the woman swung her blades.

Chaaang!

I raised Behemoth diagonally to block the attack. Even with magic power infused into it, the impact made my wrists feel as if they were about to shatter. I hurriedly reinforced my entire body with enhancement magic. She was strong enough that holding back even slightly could be fatal.

“Ran Winterbell.”

“……”

“That’s you, isn’t it?”

She didn’t answer my question, so I had no obligation to answer hers either. The best course of action now was to end this quickly and rush to assist Grandfather.

“!”

The woman’s form split into several copies. The terrifying part was that each one radiated the same presence. Surrounded on all sides, the women swung their curved blades in unison.

Judging that blocking all of them at once was impossible, I summoned my aura and swung Behemoth in a wide arc.

Chwararararak!

The strike, filled with icy energy, spread in all directions and hit the woman—but she vanished like a phantom.

“This one's real.”

Without letting up, I drove my sword into the stomach of the woman next to me.

But that, too, was a fake. In that brief opening, one of her clones slipped in and pierced my side.

Sleek!

This time, I couldn’t avoid it.

“Seolhwa (Snowflower).”

But I was ready. I’d never intended to target just one of them from the start. To me, all of them looked like the exact same person, and at my current level, I had no way of distinguishing which one was real.

However, if I tried to stab them one by one, I would be the one to die first. So I came to a conclusion: I would wipe out the entire area with a wide-area attack.

I raised my output even further, and the snowflakes falling from the sky instantly blanketed the surroundings.

Sensing the danger, the woman hurriedly tried to retreat, but it was already too late. Wherever she looked, snow was already falling.

Snowflakes imbued with aura began tearing her body apart. She struggled desperately to survive, but the cold seeped into her flesh, slowly freezing her solid.

“……”

“What’s your name?”

“……”

“What’s your purpose?”

Even as her entire body froze over, the woman didn’t answer a single question.

“Then just die.”

I was going to kill her anyway.

Behemoth pierced through the back of her neck.

Thud!

Her head fell to the ground. I was hit with a wave of exhaustion from the massive amount of magic I had used, but there was no time to rest. I immediately moved to help Grandfather.

Then, from behind me, I heard my aunt’s voice.

“Ran?”

When I turned around, my aunt was staring at me, her body drenched in blood. In both her hands, she was holding what looked like the heads of the Harlan Clan.

“Aunt…?”

“What is it?”

“That… in your hands…”

She casually smiled and tossed the heads to the ground. With a wet crunch, the contents splattered everywhere.

“Don’t tell me… you were taken by madness again?”

At that, she shook her head.

“Madness? No. It’s not that. This is just who I’ve always been. I’ve wanted to kill the entire clan for a long time. My father, my sister, and you too — the one who inherited that blood.”

“……”

“So this is my true self. My honest feelings.”