The effect of the reagents Emma handed me was simple.
When it detects a specific magical power, it marks the trajectory of the power’s owner.
It was a straightforward yet useful effect.
Of course, to create this, she must have passed through all sorts of materials and trial and error. Yet, Emma completed this potion, even staying up nights.
Because she had to save me.
I always felt gratitude towards Emma.
Thanks to her, today, I could attempt to save the North with this potion.
It was a remarkable coincidence.
The potion spilled on the ground began to trace a blurry residue as it marked the trajectory. I walked along the color spreading slowly over the snowfield.
Behind me, the army was moving.
I didn’t know what means Pope Eyong had mobilized, but as he confidently declared, the power of the flesh mass was rapidly weakening. It was hard to even find the traces that once devoured the entire coniferous forest.
Without Emma’s reagents, I too would have suffered somewhat.
Still, the devastation caused by the flesh mass was still evident.
There were not many trees left in the vast coniferous forest. The sparsely grown trees resembled a barren plain rather than a forest.
It wasn’t entirely bad. It made it easier for the army to move.
Though it wasn’t an immense advantage.
The flesh mass indiscriminately devoured the surrounding life.
And gradually grew in size. It seemed that its inherent power was also strengthening in the process.
In other words, bringing merely the weak would be of no use.
It would only serve to increase the prey of the flesh monster.
Thus, the army had to remain a last resort.
In the end, the only being I could lean on was myself.
Yes, “myself.”
As I walked, I fell into thought.
The sharp trajectories of the life I had lived so far were scattered like pebbles. With each step, a dull pain flared up.
Memories of certain days drifted like dust.
Among them were words of reproach directed at me.
For example, a cold voice without a trace of emotion.
“Go and see the bottom.”
It was advice thrown at me by a man who looked just like me.
As always, he didn’t speak nonsense.
There was a world that could not be understood with clumsy sympathy and narrow-minded thinking.
During the days I spent in the elf village, I deeply realized that fact.
That I was still far from enough.
There was a life I didn’t know, scattered everywhere.
Looking back, didn’t Leorick also rebuke me?
“Ian Fercurus, have you truly ever been the weak? You have merely acted in goodwill! You are a puppet of the vested interests!”
It wasn’t an incorrect statement.
I was a noble of the Empire and a hero of humanity.
I had never once worried about my meals, having grown up in a relatively affluent background.
Thus, Leorick’s criticism was justified.
I knew nothing.
My breath was ragged. My body, having repeated full sprints, was screaming.
As oxygen dwindled, my vision blurred.
Tinnitus rang in my ears, and through my dazed mind, a blood-stained letter emerged.
The words written there pierced my mind like fragments.
“Do you know the land of snow and ice?”
“There’s nothing left here, senior. But someone must remain here. The power of the Seven Deadly Sins is like a curse. It never disappears, and someone must bear that sin.”
“I, stained with sinful blood, must bear the burden.”
Sinful blood?
My junior had done nothing wrong.
She had merely met the wrong parents. There is no life whose very birth is a sin.
Yet, she regarded herself as a criminal.
The curse that turned Leorick into a monster was referred to as “the power of the Seven Deadly Sins.”
Someone must bear that dreadful sin.
“Don’t worry too much, senior. As you know, half of my body is a monster. I haven’t shown signs of rampage yet.”
“However, I sometimes dream. A dream of the day a year before I was trapped in this land, when I used to walk with you… It may be an unattainable wish, but how I wish I could walk through a garden in bloom with you someday.”
I walked through the blizzard, step after step.
And I thought.
The fate pointed out by the letter was all too clear.
It was the bleak future of a girl.
My junior had to be isolated far north of the coniferous forest, in a world of snow and ice.
And that was just after a little more than a year of reprieve.
The tragedy inscribed on the blood-stained letter was far more than that.
“Senior, I have one request.”
The letters of the letter were written not in ink but in blood.
Amidst the calm script, there were sentences that stood out for being particularly rough. The traces of having bitten down hard.
“I’m hearing more strange sounds. Last night, I saw a black shadow. It feels like I’m gradually becoming not myself. Yesterday, I bit off one finger from my left hand. Then two, then three… more, more. I need more blood.”
It was a passage that clearly emanated madness.
I understood why the future version of me deliberately hid this letter.
If I followed the future of the letter, I could defeat the monster in the North.
However, on the other side of that future lay the prerequisite of a girl’s sacrifice.
He must have known from the start.
That I could not accept such an ending.
To be precise, I might not have understood it.
Would I ever have imagined a life that was born a criminal?
Short-sightedness, stark ignorance.
The sympathy and pity I had thrown like acts of goodwill.
That was the true nature of me, known as a “hero” in society.
“So please, someday, tear me apart.”
Today, I was again walking without an answer.
“It’s not like I can die anyway. Please break my limbs and bury them in the ice. I beg you, let me not commit more sins.”
How could I do that?
She was my beloved junior.
A girl who had always worn a chilly expression, but now occasionally showed a warm smile.
How could I…
At the end of the letter was a clear blood-red inscription.
The words, colored with an intense hue, felt as if they would tear my retina apart.
“From your junior, Ceria, who loves you.”
With a crunch, a metallic scent filled the air.
Blood flowed from my bitten lips. At that moment, my vision gradually began to clear.
I could see in the distance.
The flesh mass was bubbling, and around it lay unconscious elves.
It seemed the monster had regurgitated elves it had previously swallowed.
In fact, only four or five elves remained atop the boiling flesh mass.
And among them was Leorick, staring blankly.
I purposely planted my feet firmly on the ground.
With a white breath, a seething voice was spat out.
“……Leorick.”
My hand groped for the hilt of my sword.
It was a sign that my hesitation hadn’t yet ended.
Was it right to kill Leorick?
He had committed unforgivable crimes. Countless lives had harmed each other, fueled by hatred, due to his hands. It was only natural to kill him and condemn him.
Still, my conflict did not cease.
What would happen to Ceria if I killed Leorick?
The war between humans and elves had ended. Without the focal point of Leorick, the elves might again lose hope for life.
Living with the prospect of even consuming their own kind might be better.
It was a perspective I had never once thought of before, yet I had already experienced how dire the food situation was for the elves.
If Leorick would just stay quietly in the coniferous forest…
Then Ceria would not have to sacrifice. If Delphine could take control of the Yuridina Clan, the conflicts between humanity and elves would likely disappear.
Maybe in the future, humans and elves could interact and improve their situation.
Such self-justifications were slowly gnawing at my heart. Selfish thoughts intertwined endlessly.
The chaotic thoughts halted by a sound emitted by a girl.
“Cough!”
It was one of the elves scattered around Leorick.
A child with gray hair and striking blue eyes stood out.
I realized immediately who that child was.
Betty, Abiyang’s sister, whom I could not save.
It seemed that the means mobilized by Pope Eyong were effective. The fact that even elves swallowed long ago, like Betty, had to be spat out by the monster confirmed it.
I again felt gratitude towards Pope Eyong.
When I return, I will definitely treat him to a drink.
Just before Betty staggered to raise herself, I rushed to support her. She was breathing shallowly and weakly.
It seemed her recovery was urgently needed.
Fortunately, those pursuing me were not just the army. Along with Ceria, some comrades would be running towards me, so it should be fine to leave Betty with one of them.
The choked cry emerged at that moment.
“Hey, medicine…”
I looked down at Betty blankly, as if asking what she meant.
Was she asking for a healing potion?
However, what she mumbled with her loosened tongue was far beyond my imagination.
“Medicine, please… it’s not feeling good, medicine, Leorick Niirim…”
A sound like something breaking in my head echoed.
Her emaciated body was nothing but bones. It indicated she hadn’t received adequate nutrition.
But why was this little girl saying such things?
Leorick, who had not yet regained his senses, opened his mouth.
“Oh, poor Betty… suffering from an incurable illness, unable to sleep every night. Don’t worry, sister. I will ease that pain, even if just a little…”
And at that moment, the tentacles of the bubbling flesh surged into the sky.
A grotesque chunk of flesh that had erupted from the bubbling mass targeted Betty. It approached stealthily, as if to eat her again.
My answer to that was singular.
A line of pure white was drawn into the world.
At that point, blood burst forth, coloring the pure white snowfield. The tentacles of the flesh curled up, expressing fierce pain.
A few more tentacles shot up.
I cautiously set Betty down on the ground and struck all the tentacles flying toward the girl.
Crack! Crack! Crack!
With each burst of blood, cut tentacles fell to the ground.
Even separated from the main body, the writhing appearance of the severed tentacles was deeply unsettling.
So, I stomped on one of the tentacles rolling before me.
At that, the severed tentacle stiffened, writhing intensely.
Only then did Leorick’s gaze, previously directed at the ground, shift towards me.
I would not let this opportunity pass.
Propelled by my body, I rushed quickly to the ground. The blade that cut through the air penetrated close to Leorick.
Clang!
It was an unbelievable sound of collision between blade and flesh.
Leorick swung his arm instinctively, and the clash of power began.
The middle-aged man asked me in a murky voice.
“Oh, Ian Fercurus… pitiful one. Do you still believe you are justice?”
“I don’t know!”
I twisted the blade on the edge, causing Leorick’s arm to deflect away.
I slipped in and made another strike.
The blade lodged in Leorick’s shoulder could no longer go deeper. Leorick swung what was left of his arm, and I backed away, leaving the sword still stuck.
I still had one weapon left.
The hand axe.
As I threw the axe like a ray of light, Leorick stepped forward without hesitation.
His body was one that could not even withstand the sword’s strike.
There was no way I could inflict a fatal wound with just a hand axe.
Yes, not with just a hand axe.
In the next moment, blood erupted, and Leorick screamed.
“What the… Kraaah!”
The thrown hand axe was not targeting Leorick.
It struck the sword wedged in Leorick’s shoulder.
And, in accordance with the principle of momentum, the axe blade fell like a hammer in quick succession.
Clang, clang, clang!
After three sounds echoed, Leorick knelt down, his chest half sliced open.
Blood spurted from the severed chest, and blood flowed from his eyes and mouth.
He reached out towards me as if he would struggle.
Until my kick struck Leorick’s head.
With a thud, Leorick’s body collapsed sideways. I pulled the sword and axe from Leorick’s body in the meantime.
“I, being from the Swordsmanship Department, am a fool. Therefore…”
Leorick’s body began to melt, seeping under the bubbling flesh.
And the Leorick that appeared again bore numerous bodies.
It was a ploy to confuse what the main body was.
Though it was futile.
I smiled slightly.
“Let’s just die for now.”
The plan had already been set.
Familiar presences were approaching me.
