Chapter 262 : I Won't Allow It Anymore

After running through the darkness for a long time...

I could find an old, abandoned house with a light on in the forest.

"Heok... heok..."

I approached it, panting heavily.

The sound of the rain hid my footsteps.

I went to the window and peeked inside.

It was blocked by a board, but I could barely see inside through the crack.

Candles were faintly illuminating the darkness of the abandoned house.

Some guys were conducting a ritual, wearing masks made of animal bones on their heads.

Unknown words were being muttered, and they would occasionally wave their arms wildly and shout like madmen.

They were all kneeling toward the front, and I moved around the window several times to see the scene in front.

And what I finally saw there was Tina, who seemed to have lost consciousness, hanging from an inverted cross with her head drooping.

Below her was a large bowl, and her bright red blood was dripping into it.

At that time, it felt as if something in my head had snapped.

Even at this moment, it was hard to maintain my reason, so it was only natural.

If it were the me of now, with a bigger head, I would have somehow made a plan and either wiped them all out or rescued Tina.

But the me of that time just howled like a beast and rushed in blindly like rain.

In my hand was a dagger that I had been carrying just in case, but had never used.

I charged forward, instinctively stabbing their vital points as a beast would sink its teeth.

But the charge didn't last long.

I was just a kid, and they were all adults, and there were many of them.

I struggled and stabbed a few of them to death, but in the end, I was caught by them.

They shouted something.

I didn't know what they were saying, but they seemed to be very angry.

Whether it was because their sacred ritual had been disturbed, or because their comrade had been killed by me. Or both.

I couldn't know, but it didn't matter.

Because the one who was most angry in this place was me.

If I could kill people just by thinking, I would have torn them to pieces dozens of times.

They took the dagger from me and then beat me up to subdue me.

A kid's resistance was just a kid's resistance.

They beat me up like they were handling a beast, and then they raised their voices and argued among themselves.

Even at the moment I was caught, my gaze was only on Tina.

I had to get her down. She shouldn't be bleeding so much.

A cry that boiled with blood in my throat burst out.

"Tina!!!"

It was like a beast howling.

They looked at me, then nodded and exchanged words.

It seemed they had reached some kind of agreement.

Then, they tied me up and brought me to the front.

I resisted violently, but it was no use.

Some of them brought another cross.

It seemed they were going to hang me next to Tina.

They brought me to the inverted cross and then fixed my two arms.

A sharp and cool sensation ran through my wrists.

A guy with a deer's head held up a large nail and was gauging where to drive it.

After confirming the position, he swung the hammer and was about to drive the nail into my wrist.

Fwoosh—

Suddenly, a flame engulfed the building.

It was instantaneous.

It was a blue fire, and they, seeing the blue fire that had suddenly swallowed the building, screamed and ran away.

Thinking about it now, there were more than one or two strange things.

It was raining heavily outside, so how could the fire be burning so fiercely.

And why was its color blue?

But at that time, I was not in a situation to question such things one by one.

"Tina... Tina."

I crawled to her and struggled to pull out the nails that were driven into her wrists and ankles.

It was slippery because of the bright red blood, so it didn't come out easily.

Thump.

She fell to the floor limply.

Her body was cold.

In the building engulfed in blue fire, I held her in my arms and desperately called her name.

"Tina. Tina. Wake up."

Soon, her eyelids trembled.

Her eyes opened, and a faint voice came out.

"...Ashuban."

I think I felt it instinctively at that moment.

That it was already too late to save her, and that this would be her last word.

"Yes. I'm listening. Speak."

Tina raised her trembling hand and touched my face.

Her hand was cold.

"I... I saw you. You had grown up so well."

Had she had a short dream while hanging on the cross?

Even though Tina was talking nonsense, I just listened quietly, looking at her sky-blue eyes.

"Hehe... you were cool. You know, the kind that makes you fall in love?"

She gave a faint smile.

I looked at her, who was talking nonsense, and forced a smile.

"You fool. You only realized that now?"

"Ah, you smiled."

Tina giggled for a moment, then her body trembled.

"Are you cold?"

"A little."

I hugged her even tighter.

We shared our warmth, just like when we had spent the cold nights together in the cold back alleys of the city.

"Ashuban."

"Yes."

"Life is worth living."

"Who said that?"

"I wonder."

Her whisper remained in my ear and became a curse that I could not die from.

"Ashuban..."

"Yes."

"I... I'm sleepy..."

"..."

Soon, slowly.

Her eyes closed, and the trembling of her body stopped.

Tina's blue eyes closed.

My sky closed.

In the blue-burning abandoned house.

I held Tina in my arms and cried for a long time, sobbing.

Tears flowed like rain.

I think I shed all the tears I would ever shed in my life at that time.

Because I didn't cry after that day.

.

.

.

Swoosh—

It was raining.

I was huddled in a dirty alley, getting wet in the rain.

The rainy sky was just dark.

The blue sky was dead. The world was a dirty place full of malice.

I stared at one place while getting wet in the rain.

At the end of that gaze was none other than me.

Across the alley, a kid who looked just like me was facing me, full of all the anger in the world.

The thought that came to me was.

That Tina had died because of me.

It was my fault.

She had died because I was weak and stupid.

...I had to become stronger.

Splash.

At the sound of footsteps, I looked to the side.

A giant with a greatsword on his back had stopped and was looking at me.

.

.

.

The scenery scattered.

Had I finally reached the end of the dream?

The colors that had scattered like paint soon gathered again, and I was in a different space.

I held my battered heart and raised my head.

It was another dream.

In front of me was a middle-aged man.

"Oh, Mercenary-nim. Please save us."

"..."

I listened to his words and grasped the situation.

My short arms and legs had become long and sturdy.

The scars had also increased.

I must have become an adult.

"I beg you like this. Please defeat those evil magical beasts."

Flap—

I looked at the commission form in my hand.

It was a commission to defeat two D-rank magical beasts that were attacking the village.

As I looked at the commission form, I raised my head and looked at the man in front of me and the other people standing behind him with desperate faces...

The memory soon came back.

This was also a memory I wanted to forget, a memory I had thrown away.

Crumple—

I crumpled the commission form in my pocket and then observed the faces of the villagers.

They were good, pitiful, and powerless commoners with no malice.

I nodded once and then turned around without a word and left the village where the dry wind was blowing.

The commission was for two D-rank magical beasts, but in reality, it was three C-rank magical beasts.

I almost died twice that day.

Once while catching the cunning C-rank magical beasts.

Now, I was a Platinum-rank who could cut down even a B-rank magical beast with one stroke, but at that time, I was a shabby Silver-rank mercenary.

In any case, since I had to follow it.

I immediately went into the wasteland where dusk was falling and began to track the magical beasts.

* * *

They were cunning creatures that resembled wolves.

And they were nocturnal.

I barely managed to hunt the magical beasts after the sun had risen, and then I returned to the village, battered.

The middle-aged man and the other villagers who had been waiting rushed over, making a fuss.

"Oh, Mercenary-nim. Are you alright?"

I let out a tired sigh.

I felt like I was about to collapse, but I had to settle what needed to be settled.

I said to the middle-aged man, who seemed to be the representative of the village, in a low tone.

"Hey."

"Yes?"

"You said two D-rank magical beasts?"

"Uh... wasn't it?"

"It was C-rank. And there were three, not two."

"Oh my! Another one must have come!"

"..."

"W-well... there must have been some mistake at the guild. We just told you what we saw..."

Seeing him blame the guild, a sneer came out.

'What a load of crap.'

It wasn't that it had gone from D-rank to E-rank, but from C-rank to D-rank.

You would have to downplay a wolf to the level of a neighborhood stray dog to get that.

He had lied.

Because if the rank was high and the number of individuals was large, a higher-rank mercenary would come, or the number of personnel would increase.

It was a foolish act committed to reduce the commission fee somehow.

What a bunch of fools.

Didn't they know that if the dispatched mercenary was defeated, the situation would only get worse?

"..."

I stared at the man without a word.

If I had my way, I would have killed him right away, but I couldn't.

Because I was a magical beast hunter, not a human hunter.

When I held out my hand, the man was startled and stepped back.

It seemed he thought I was going to attack.

Regardless, I said what I had to say.

"I get it, so just give me the payment."

The man looked at me and cautiously opened his mouth.

"Um... are you leaving right away? Your injuries don't seem light."

"I don't think that's your business."

"W-what do you mean, it's not my business. Aren't you hungry? We've prepared a meal, so why don't you have a meal and rest until your injuries heal before you go..."

Since I had been running around for almost half a day, it was true that I was hungry.

And that wasn't all.

I was tired, exhausted, and the wounds I had gotten from them hurt.

I was confident that I could fall asleep right away if I closed my eyes.

Come to think of it, a delicious smell was wafting from somewhere.

My mouth watered.

I looked at the middle-aged man and the other villagers for a moment, then reluctantly nodded.

"...Alright."

Then, the man's face brightened, and he led me.

"This way."

When I followed him and sat down at the table that had been set up outside, meals were brought out one by one.

"Ouch!"

Just then, one of the women who was bringing the food tripped on a stone and fell.

The food spilled on the ground.

"Oh my, are you okay?"

"You should have been more careful."

While the villagers were helping her up, a dog they were raising began to lick up the spilled food.

I stared at the creature.

Soon, the dog that had been eating the spilled food on the ground began to choke, and then, after a fit, it collapsed.

"..."

A cold silence fell.

I had trusted people.

I hadn't thought it would go that far.

Scrape—

As I got up from my seat and broke the silence, the villagers, who had changed, rushed at me with kitchen knives, sickles, and axes.

Did they think they had a chance because I was so injured and tired?

Or were they desperately rushing at me to live, thinking I would kill them all?

I killed everyone there.

As I stood among the corpses with a sword dripping with blood.

I felt a presence.

When I looked there, a kid was standing there, looking at me.

Our eyes met.

In the creature's eyes were fear, and a clear hostility.

It was not hard to see that it was anger directed at me.

Thump!

The kid ran away, cherishing the hostility.

I couldn't chase after that creature.

Because I saw myself in that creature.

Because its gaze resembled that of the kid who had been huddled in the back alley, cursing the world.

The gazes of the two intertwined.

They turned into two wolves.

In front of me, the scene of a blue and a white wolf spinning around, chasing each other's tails, unfolded.

It was one and two, and two and one.

A realization naturally flowed into my mind.

Why hadn't I known sooner?

That it had been inside me all along.

I raised the blood-soaked sword.

I created the Snow Branch Blue Flame Art and then poured the cold energy into the sword.

Saaa—

Frost formed on the surface of the sword, and then it froze white.

I brought my left hand, where a blue flame was shimmering, to the white, frozen blade.

I gently stroked the blade from the bottom.

A blue flame coiled around a white branch like a snake.

They harmonized with each other but did not repel, and they pushed each other away but were not distant.

The two opposing energies mixed naturally.

I could hear the Heavenly Demon's low voice in my ear.

[Round and round, it is the Taegeuk (Tai Chi).]

The scenery scattered again like paint dissolving, and began to guide me to another dream.

Stop.

I won't allow it anymore.

I raised the sword, which had produced the Snow Branch Blue Flame, straight up, and then brought it down vertically.

The dream split.

(End of Chapter)