Chapter 161
Beauty and the Beast 160 – Beauty and the Beast #4
Only when Nialli was reduced to a bloody pulp could I finally regain my clear mind. Had I ever been in such a frenzy recently?
It felt almost like I was back in the days when I didn’t care about anything, just like a rabid animal.
“…Ugh.”
Nialli could now only make intermittent groans, unable to utter any coherent words.
Seeing the creature, terrified and even wetting itself in fear, softened my heart enough to view the situation with a cool head.
‘The poison has risen to my waist.’
Toxins slithered around my waist like the ocean tide, causing my brow to furrow instinctively.
Though this poison posed no threat to me, I couldn’t ignore the fact that the lives of Azidahaka, who lay on the ground, and Yingyi and Usir, who had flown off for who knows where, could be in danger.
‘The real urgency lies elsewhere.’
I released the strands of Nialli’s hair that I had been grasping with my paw.
Swoosh.
Like a lifeless doll with its strings cut, Nialli’s body fell to the ground, dissolving into the sea of poison like cigarette smoke.
‘The real urgency is over there.’
Before me throbbed the pulsating heart of the abyss. According to Usir, this was a kind of antenna created by gathering Nialli’s power, serving as a medium that allowed the bound Nialli to use its force outside the forest in the Ancient Nest.
No matter how many times I killed Nialli here, as long as that heart was alive, it would quickly recover and cook up new, devious plans to get me.
【Suffer….】
The heart spewed curses in a voice so grating it made my teeth itch. I approached the grotesque mass and touched it with my paw.
Wriggle, wriggle.
What I felt from my paw was a surge of negative energy ready to explode. I couldn’t easily relate to the magical energies and mana overflowing in the atmosphere, but—
‘If this explodes, we’re totally toast.’
That one fact was something a magical beast could instinctively grasp. It resembled a massive bioweapon.
How about comparing it to a hot air balloon stuffed with toxic substances capable of killing life forms within a mile radius?
‘If I just blow this up, we might all get swept away and d*e.’
Demon King Gyuki had said that this heart was fused with the tower. The heart summoned here by Nialli was continuously absorbing the ancient fairies’ energy and mana through tentacles, expanding and hoarding power.
‘To create a weapon of mass destruction like this… Did Nialli want to destroy the world or something?’
I lightly extended my claws toward the heart. The tips of my sharper-than-icepick claws penetrated the pale pink mass.
Fwoosh.
Superheated toxins sprayed out like bl**d from the hole made by my claw. Even though I wasn’t particularly affected by the poison, that scorching heat would definitely hurt me.
‘I really need to wear a protective suit, or I might end up taking myself down with this thing.’
Just as I was contemplating this dilemma with my claws stuck in, everything went downhill.
【Enemy! Fairy’s enemy!】
The heart, with a rough voice, unleashed its tentacles toward me. The ends were sharpened to deadly points, looking quite daunting. It reminded me of a squid’s legs adorned with deadly spines.
Swish! Crash!
The mercilessly swinging tentacles carved deep gashes in the floor and walls. This attack was far more bothersome than Nialli’s avatar had ever been.
‘One wrong poke, and I’d be skewered.’
The sharpness of the tentacles combined with their muscular power would be more than enough to twist and break Gyuki’s arm.
‘But it’s not fast enough to catch me.’
I gracefully dodged between the tentacles, sometimes using the walls to leap nimbly.
Slash!
As my claws sliced through the tentacles, a scream sounded, similar to nails on a chalkboard.
【Eeeek!】
‘Nice! The tentacles don’t regenerate, and they’re not spewing out gas anymore.’
I decided to slice all the tentacles sprouting from that heart.
Even though the tentacles were covered in thick and tough skin, now that I had gained speed and power as an adult, my claws cut through them like soft tofu.
Snip, snip.
As each tentacle fell, the heartbeat of the heart slowed down, moving more sluggishly. By now, only a few thick tentacles were left, firmly embedded in the walls of the grand tower Sumer. They could be considered the major veins in terms of biological structure.
‘If I get rid of all those, it’ll be over.’
Just as I was cleaning the oil and congealed bl**d off my claws—
【No! You absolutely cannot break it! If you do, we’ll all d*e!】
The thick black poison that had pooled on the ground began to congeal, revealing Nialli’s silhouette once again. Five of them surrounded me, throwing punches.
‘Seeing them desperately trying to defend suggests we’re getting closer to the end.’
I spun around and whipped my tail in a full 360-degree sweep. Nialli’s avatars were sent scattering like clouds from the impact.
The man in the black robe, Usir, and Osiris awoke from their stupor upon sensing the tower shuddering and about to collapse.
Having been smashed into the wall by the monstrous black bull’s wind, he was bruised and battered, his body ached all over.
‘A few ribs must be broken.’
Through the pain, Osiris rose from the thick black smoke. He didn’t even know when he had sunk so deeply, but the toxic fumes were unbearable. If he let his guard down for even a moment, he felt he might go unconscious and return to being a Walker— a walking corpse.
‘Almost there.’
USir dragged his limping body toward where Nialli’s heart was located. All of this was the result of his own foolishness. This madness and decay had been spawned by none other than Osiris’s own hand.
Clenching his teeth, Osiris gripped a dagger with two wicked black blades that glimmered like forks. Its appearance screamed ‘not meant for battle’.
These blades were ceremonial, not designed for killing. However, they were adequate weapons for stopping the apocalypse unfolding before him.
‘It’s almost time. I’ve been waiting a thousand years for this day. My people, my family….’
Through Osiris’s eyes, Nialli’s beating heart appeared swollen and grotesque.
‘My son….’
Though it looked like a pig floating in a muddy pool, the heart was originally the embodiment of Horus, Osiris’s own son, descending through dark sorcery that promised to make his sickly boy immortal.
The temptation of black magic to turn his sick son into an undying body had led him to sacrifice his son to a demon.
【Eeeeek!】
The heart screamed like a crushed bug under attack from the white furry beast.
For a moment, Osiris was astonished that even this corrupted heart could withstand the toxins overwhelming his sight.
With renewed determination, he tightened his grip on the dagger.
‘This is the key to the sun created over a thousand years. There’s only one chance.’
Just like the goddess Azidahaka, who had holed up in her room for a millennium crafting her version of the divine elixir, the fairy king Osiris had utilized all the knowledge and wisdom at his disposal to forge this unique ceremonial dagger.
If he drove it in, his son would be freed from his cursed existence, his soul surely to soar freely.
【White beast, thank you for everything. Without you, I couldn’t have made it this far. Now leave the cleanup to me.】
Usir moved through the toxic clouds, inching closer to the heart step by step.
━Hey, watch out! If that explodes, we could all d*e! Is there any way to stop it!?
【It’s impossible to fully obliterate the heart that’s fused with the tower. However, it is possible to strip away its control from Nialli.】
Osiris felt the weak magic still lingering within him.
A power that he had gathered over a thousand years and enclaved within his heart.
Once revered as a powerful being even without a tail, his fairy magic now coursed through his veins.
If he could overlay the spell cast upon the heart with this power, it would become his heart, not Nialli’s.
Of course, during this process, Osiris’s personality would likely vanish. He, too, would become a grotesque mass like his son Horus, doomed to continue living out that absurd fate.
But he didn’t share such facts with the white beast.
‘A sinner like me has lived far too long. It needs to end.’
With a firm stride, Osiris moved closer to the heart.
【Oh, Father…】
The grotesque blob of flesh, cursed and rotting, recognized its dying parent, letting out a mournful wail.
Osiris lifted his decaying hand to stroke his son’s body, his face, anywhere that could be called flesh.
【Oh, Father…! I don’t want to d*e…!】
Even in this grotesque form, Horus desperately craved life.
Perhaps it was Osiris’s wretched heart, a desperate obsession with his son’s life, that led to his transformation into such a monster.
【You’ve done nothing wrong. You don’t belong in this hell. Don’t fear d*ath. Somewhere in this world… perhaps among the shining stars out there, there’s a paradise free from pain and sorrow. This wretched father cannot go there. But you were always a good boy.】
Osiris lifted the ceremonial dagger high above his head. At that moment, his body was jolted violently as if pierced by a sharp pillar.
It was the avatars of Nialli. The abhorrent beings made of black poison were piercing through Osiris’s arms.
【No! You can’t do that!】
【Too late, Nialli. The only thing you’ll hear from now on is my laughter.】
Osiris plunged the raised dagger down into the heart.
A tremendous explosion engulfed the area in a blinding flash.
━.
As I regained my senses, the bluish night sky adorned with bright stars came into view. It seemed that the gigantic explosion had carved a sizable passageway through the tower’s roof into the heavens.
Shaking off the debris and dust, I stood up, surveying the toppled walls.
‘It’s really all over. I didn’t expect Usir to leave like that in the end….’
He had been a decent fellow who could communicate well enough and didn’t chatter excessively, so I had come to admire him.
“Cough, cough.”
I heard a faint cough nearby, similar to mine. As I cleared the fallen bricks, Azidahaka was trembling yet rising to her feet.
“Is it… all over?”
━Yeah, seems so.
“What is this…?”
━I don’t know either.
Azidahaka and I stared at the golden crystal laid before us. Inside was a figure of a man holding a small boy like a painting.
“Usir… no, my friend Osiris. So he really has gone.”
Azidahaka reached out to gently touch the golden crystal. A hint of sadness tinged her voice.
“There’s no sign of life from this crystal. Just the faint warmth of magical energy. Could it be that their souls have ascended to paradise?”
Azidahaka cautiously asked me. Her face, obscured by her tiara, revealed eyes that couldn’t hide their genuine concern.
No matter how much of a liar I was, I couldn’t bring myself to lie this time.
━I don’t know. But… they’re smiling.
“They really are smiling.”
━Yeah, they’re both grinning from ear to ear. They must have gone to a better place than this world, whatever it is.
I tilted my head toward the sky. The countless stars shining in the night sky felt like eyes looking down at me.
‘Speaking of which…’
As I gazed upward, my eyes slowly drifted back to the ground. The soft, dreamlike feelings I had just moments ago began to fade, and I found my brow furrowing unintentionally.
“Eeeek… eeeek….”
Lying on the ground was a small child, seeming to be around ten years old, crying out in agony.
Despite the wounds and bl**d covering its body, it was undoubtedly Nialli, the rat trapped in the wall.
“Well, you’ve really hit rock bottom, Nialli. This kind of misery suits you.”
Azidahaka stepped beside me to look down at Nialli. Nialli, gritting its teeth in frustration, cursed in a voice tinged with both anger and sorrow.
“Don’t kid me, lizard brat…! This isn’t how it ends…! Ugh!”
“Well, you’ve managed to escape the forest like you always wanted. Your pathetic self is right here.”
━What? This is Nialli’s true form?
Looking at the child splayed on the ground, I grimaced. I had expected a hot and alluring older sister, yet it turned out to be an undeveloped little girl.
‘I had my reasons for not reacting. I almost got myself into deep trouble.’
Azidahaka ensnared Nialli’s neck with her long tail, lifting it up like a gallows.
“Ugh…”
“But this is where your life ends. Though I didn’t wish to k*ll a sister sworn under the World Tree, you’ve crossed the line far too many times.”
“Shut up, shut up…! You don’t know anything! Just shut up!”
Nialli tried to bite Azidahaka’s tail, thrashing around like a wild animal. However, losing its title as a mythical creature, Nialli’s true form was no different from a weak little girl. Azidahaka tightened her grip around Nialli’s neck, speaking in a cold yet somehow lonely tone.
“From the start, this power was beyond you. You never even became a master of the forest, relying instead on the fruit gained with Demon King Gyuki’s help. You’re just a beast, no different from Adam’s thieves of the fruit.”
“Shut up! Just shut up! Let go!”
Crunch, crunch.
Nialli’s teeth broke against Azidahaka’s tail, bl**d spilling out.
However, Nialli refused to give up on its will to live, struggling to escape its bonds.
“Apologize to the beasts that have died at your hands, even if it has to be in d*ath.”
Azidahaka tightened her tail with an icy intensity that could freeze one’s heart. Rather than breaking the neck in an instant, she twisted her grip tighter, savoring the slow d*ath to come as if it were a gourmet meal.
Determined not to make it a quick end, she coiled around Nialli’s neck like a constrictor snake.
“Uugh, ugh….”
Nialli could now only let out desperate squeaks like a mouse. But soon enough…
Snap.
With a merciless crack, Nialli’s small body ceased its thrashing, limbs hanging limply.
The millennium-long grudge entwined with the maze city Sumer finally came to an end.
[Author’s Note] If you enjoyed this, please press the recommendation button at the top of your mobile screen! Two seconds of your time can bring happiness to a writer! Thank you to everyone who commented and provided coupons.
Wow, it’s September already!
