Chapter 74 : Chapter 74

Chapter 74 - A Flood of Investors

It felt like my brain was going to shatter.

Like my left and right brain would split into pieces just as they were divided.

The reason I could endure it was thanks to the Path of the Beast and the continuously replenished hearts.

The Path of the Beast restored my crumbling brain.

The hearts, as sacrifices, nullified the risks that came with the continuous use of the Six Paths.

Haa.

I tried to breathe, even if consciously.

Otherwise, it was so dizzying that I felt I would forget the very act of breathing.

The blood stuck to the floor and its smell made even the handful of air I inhaled feel heavy.

Breaking the Curse of the Forest.

Even its creator, the Forest Witch, couldn't find a way and was lying here.

She entrusted her life to a direct blood relative of Millesdusk, the masters of sorcery and the nobles of blood.

Her body was growing cold as she clung to a thread of hope.

Right now, my hands were still, forming a hand seal.

But my mind was filled with an obsessive idea.

‘I will bring her back to life, no matter what.’

That single thought dominated my body.

I opened my bloodshot eyes.

Everything in front of me was pitch black.

A space of nothingness created by a concentration that detached my five senses.

There were only two things there.

Me. And the enemy.

Myself and my opponent were everything in this space.

‘Breaking the curse. The basic conditions are met.’

There were three conditions, corresponding to the beginning, middle, and end.

First.

I needed to have an understanding of the curse.

No worries there.

I had put everything about the Curse of the Forest into my head using the Path of the Human.

Second.

I had to be able to handle the risks that came with the breaking process.

No worries there.

I had already set up countermeasures like the Path of the Beast, hearts, hand seals, and activation words.

Finally, third.

A broken curse is no longer a curse.

It was closer to imbuing a great will into magic power.

A mad dog without a leash, a savage beast.

Before it could run wild, I had to quickly restructure it and change it to my liking.

…This, I wasn’t without worry about.

‘I have to cast the restructured curse again. Since I'm recasting a curse I've already forcibly removed, there might be side effects.’

Take out an organ.

Remove the problem from the organ and put it back in.

In that process, the patient dies and comes back to life.

And not just the problematic organ, but all the other organs had to function normally.

To hope that this entire process would be perfect was too greedy.

‘But if I stop here, I can’t even hope for side effects.’

I had to move forward.

I had to advance while perfecting everything to avoid any side effects.

Nevertheless, the Curse of the Forest, as if mocking the challenger who had come for it,

Appeared as a huge ball of yarn tangled with thousands of colors of thread.

Where should I start unraveling?

Where should I start pulling from?

The ball of yarn, much larger than my height, made me lose even the will to try.

“……”

The Youngest Son reached out his hand nonetheless.

He grabbed one thread and slowly pulled it out.

As he did, his body grew heavier and his head became dizzier.

It was natural.

The threads that made up the ball of yarn were the traces of the Forest Witch's daily anguish over many years.

Trying to remove it with a single gesture was an absurd notion in itself.

Tens of thousands of threads born from over a thousand days and ten thousand hours.

They were rolled and tangled to create the Curse of the Forest.

My hands moved silently through them.

Then, once.

Srrrk—

A single, fine thread came loose from the ball.

When it was frightfully tangled, it had been so intimidating.

Now, held in my hands, it was so soft and brilliant, beautiful beyond words.

As if I were holding the Milky Way.

My hands filled with light, and the ball of yarn created a single gap.

What I saw beyond the gap were more threads, and as expected, they were dense.

‘I’ll probably sleep for a few days after this is over. No, would I be lucky to just sleep? In the first place, how long will it take to unravel all this thread?’

It wasn't a situation to laugh at, but I laughed.

Let's just laugh.

It was faster to sigh once and grab the next thread than to cry.

“One down for now.”

A pale hand grabbed the next one.

The long, untangled threads piled up beside me.

I wasn't sure if the ball of yarn was shrinking along with it, but.

I unraveled the thread, believing it would.

Hearts continued to be consumed.

I put my all into it, like a repetitive task without thinking.

And then, suddenly.

‘…Why is this here?’

My hand hesitated at the appearance of something that caught my eye.

The delivery of hearts, which had been nothing more than fuel.

An unexpected big fish had come in through the shadows.

‘I have to use it now.’

The hand that was grabbing the thread paused its work and, as if possessed, created a Skeleton Soldier.

***

Cailin and Halsin.

The two hunters roamed the forest far and wide.

As fast as they could.

The Werewolf touched the ground with four paws, and the vampire hunter entrusted his body to the shadows.

He leaned his upper body as if riding a wave and moved his two legs without rest.

With a single leap, he passed dozens of trees.

It only took a few of those leaps to reach the prey the wolf had tracked.

But were they gradually running out?

“The pace is getting slower.”

[I can’t help it! I've already caught over a hundred monsters.]

“I know, but. Tsk.”

I looked at my hands.

Blood had stained and dried on them so many times that I couldn’t tell what my original skin color was.

The wolf’s gray mane was also stained red with the blood of others.

The same went for its front paws and the corners of its beastly mouth.

The mouth, wet with red, whimpered softly.

[Stop complaining and follow me. There’s one more nearby.]

“One?”

[But it’s big. I’ll look for others while we catch it. So hurry up and follow.]

“I’ll follow diligently.”

I didn't want to show it, but I couldn't help it.

Even excluding the 15 years in the whale's stomach, being fifty years old was not a young age.

To follow a young one, and a Werewolf at that, in this body.

“Hoo….”

It was no small effort.

Still, I had to follow.

If that was the way to seize the second chance that had come by chance, then I had to.

Feeling the sweet taste in my mouth, I followed the trail.

As the wolf girl had said, this target was large.

But a little too large.

So large that it was doubtful if the two of us could handle it now.

“…What is that now.”

Its appearance was that of a toad.

But it was a toad with scales.

Its appearance vaguely resembled a lizard, and it even had wings that seemed unnecessary.

[I’ve heard from my father. In the depths of a great forest like this, earth dragons sometimes live. It’s a rare one.]

“So it seems. I’m seeing all sorts of things.”

[Be careful. It may look slow, ignorant, simple, and useless, but it’s a predator with the name ‘dragon’ attached to it.]

“Don’t worry, I haven’t underestimated it as much as you have.”

The earth dragon turned its head towards us.

Did it hear the insult about being ugly?

Or was it just ugly as the insult suggested?

Its face was thoroughly angered, and its wide mouth opened, swallowing a mouthful of dirt.

“Sorry to interrupt your meal, but we don’t have time to wait.”

Bang—!

Instead of acrid gunpowder smoke, a dark shadow billowed from the muzzle.

I aimed for its relatively soft belly instead of its scale-covered surface.

The result was a direct hit.

Blood like molten iron flowed down.

I quickly tried to follow up with a barrage of shots, but.

[It’s meaningless to that thing.]

The wolf’s mouth spoke a denial.

Furthermore, the earth dragon’s mouth also opened.

Jureureuk—

The dirt it had swallowed earlier was poured over its body as steaming mud.

The same went for its wounded belly.

The bullet hole was sealed cleanly, as if it had never been there.

“It’ll prepare the mud coming for us to be even hotter.”

[Probably? So dodge on your own.]

“……”

I wanted to talk about respecting my elders, but since a Werewolf would have lived much longer than a human, I just kept my mouth shut.

[It’s a monster with incredible life force. Among werewolves, it’s even eaten as a restorative meal.]

That was the reason I had been unknowingly smacking my lips since a while ago.

“Is that so.”

[I can give you a bite. No, half a bite.]

“…Eat it all yourself.”

I drew in the shadow I had briefly let loose again, strongly.

The remnants of darkness fluttered behind my shoulders like a long cloak.

Along with the drooling wolf, I procured another heart.

***

No one in the world was called by a single title.

Someone’s mother. Or father. Daughter and son. Younger sibling and older sibling.

The Family Head of Mystics was no different.

“Mother! Why did you go through the trouble of coming all the way to the castle? If you had called, I would have run over in a flash!”

“What trouble is there in coming to see my cute son?”

The mother enjoyed the tea her son had personally poured for her.

The smiling mouth enjoying its warmth. The nose smelling its fragrance. The gently closed eyes.

“……”

The son’s eyes couldn't see them.

No one knew.

Because no one knew the face of the Mystics Family Head.

Only a blur covered her entire body.

Jamie looked at her and clapped his hands lightly.

“You didn’t just come to enjoy tea! Please tell me quickly! I’ve been so curious since I heard the news that you were at the main gate!”

“Hah hah.”

She laughed, neither too loudly nor too softly, and looked at the woman standing near the main gate.

No one could tell, but her gaze was not kind.

“Is that the new butler?”

“She’s a head maid and a butler! So I thought a new title was needed and named her Chief Secretary!”

“Chief Secretary. I see.”

As the subject of the conversation shifted to her, the Chief Secretary bowed her head a little lower.

Even with the Fourth Son of Millesdusk and the Family Head of Mystics looking at her at the same time.

She maintained her composure and neatness without cowering or being frightened.

“…In any case.”

She soon lost interest and continued her words.

“You must know about Eclipse.”

“Ah, yes. Dante’s new house? I’ve been invited too when it’s completed! Isn’t that amazing!”

“Th- Haa….”

There were tens of thousands of things she wanted to say, but she swallowed them all.

She chose one among them and spat it out.

“When that time comes, I will go with you.”

“I’d love that! Heheheh. Then should we go shopping for clothes to wear to the completion ceremony? I don’t want to go to Dante’s house in my usual clothes!”

“Young Master. We can choose the clothes slowly. The place we need to spend our money is not on clothes, but on the building.”

“Eh?”

The Fourth Son’s mouth opened in a daze.

But the gifted child’s head was spinning rapidly at that moment.

The mouth that had been briefly open soon closed.

“That sounds fun, doesn't it?”

“Indeed. I knew you would like it, Young Master.”

Moirena smiled brightly.

“That place is both a land the Fifth Son has obtained and a domain he manages. In a domain, various buildings and the profits within them are connected like a spiderweb.”

Beneath her playful smile, a pure white hand stroked her chin.

Even with all that rubbing, it was a clean chin without a single whisker.

“It will cost a lot of money to build the domain! If we pitch in some money, we can build a building we want!”

“That’s exactly it.”

It's fine even if she couldn't tear down Eclipse before its completion.

If she couldn't stop it, she would help instead.

Help it and plant an unstoppable bomb inside.

“There will be many who think like us.”

“Because the more money you pay, the better land you get!”

Jamie understood immediately, but his expression was not comfortable, as if something was bothering him.

The mother immediately noticed what part was making her son uncomfortable.

“You’re thinking that your current self would handle it with your own strength without accepting that investment. Is that what you were thinking?”

“Uhm… yes! It’s fun for me, and we’re family! But other people are enemies.”

“That is certainly true. But the Fifth Son. He will accept it. I’m sure of it.”

“You seem very certain? Unlike your usual self, Mother.”

“That’s because I’m that confident about this.”

The patterns of behavior the Fifth Son had shown so far.

He was not afraid of bees.

If there was sweet honey behind the bees.

He would willingly face the bees, break through them, and covet the honey.

The Fifth Son. He would act the same way this time.

But would he be able to get the honey this time too?

The corners of Moirena’s mouth formed an arc that no one could see.

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