Chapter 88: Anyway, Things These Days |
Ego Weapon Pheloi.
For the past three months, I have considered this child as a companion.
Because of this child, I was able to overcome many dangers, and the trials that didn’t kill me made me stronger.
Now that I’ve even transferred ownership from Tacchia, Pheloi has become an inseparable part of me.
“It’s necessary to kill Mom.”
So, I hoped that what I saw back then was just a fragment of a nightmare.
“I need to become stronger than I am now to kill Mom.”
Even if I didn’t know the reason for the hatred, for that child, ‘Mom’ must mean Tacchia.
But to kill one’s creator and the person who gave me weapons to help me avoid danger…
-No, Daddy, you have to do it.
Despite my denial, Pheloi said,
-I was drawn to you, Daddy, and I have a duty to guide those who led me as my mission.
Whopping.
Rough vibrations emanated from the spear.
Despite the whirls caused by the physical force generated by mana, that voice was clearly audible to me.
It was a calmness, neither the innocence I knew nor the brutality I saw in the nightmare.
“I was created to kill Mom.”
Still, in the voice of a girl.
But those emotions were very mature and serious.
“…Pheloi.”
Was that really the true feeling of this child?
Was the child’s real purpose to kill her mother?
HAHAHAHAHAHA!
No, even at this moment, the laughter of Gorgon could be heard around the surging spear.
Because I wasn’t swayed in the past three months, the curse’s target had shifted to Pheloi.
“Right now, shake that guy off and come down, Pheloi.”
Please let it be so.
Otherwise, the child would really try to kill Tachia, and it would be me who would have to control and wield the child.
-…Why?
Despite such hopes, Pheloi asked me back.
I began to feel the seriousness that had been maintained until now slowly unraveling at this moment of dissuasion.
“Daddy, you’re not yet satisfied with your power, right? To become stronger, you must do whatever it takes, so why do you refuse the means to increase your power?”
“I’ll listen to you once you come down. So, first, shake that guy off, and…”
“Weren’t you doing this for me, Daddy?”
*Whooong. *The walls of the space began to split, and the floor was swept away by the surging power.
Fragments and dust swirling in the vortex intensified the sense of crisis, and the voice coming from the spear also grew more intense.
“I thought you’d be different from Mom, that you’d be there for me. But if this is how it is, why did you awaken me? I’ve been helping you, thinking that if I did, you’d help me too, but why…?”
“Pheloi, listen to me. I still don’t know anything about you…”
“There’s no need!! Just go away, Dad, if you won’t help me!!!”
Pheloi started to charge with runaway emotions.
I knew best how powerful and sharp that strength was, having handled the child myself.
If I didn’t dodge, I’d be torn apart. But since I prioritized persuasion, I couldn’t evade it immediately.
Kwaang!
But Pheloi’s spear didn’t pierce my body.
Before that, Ja-seong, who had been thrown by the shock, grabbed me and made us avoid Pheloi’s attack.
“Woo Hyo-sung! Are you alright!?”
“…Brother Ja-seong?”
“Stay still!”
Ja-seong then slammed the ground with the shovel in his hand.
When the power-filled shovel hit the ground, it made a *whooong *sound, and the surrounding earth began to rise.
This was due to his unique ability, ‘Reverse Earth’.
He could temporarily reverse gravity in the area affected by the force where he stamped his foot.
Using the mana in his shovel to control the flow of the Reversed Earth and combining it with the force of gravity returning to normal, he could instantly create an earth wall—one of his signature moves.
KwaKang! Bang!
Pheloi’s body collided with the barrier he quickly created.
While the earth wall had never been breached in our adventures, it was now severely cracked where Pheloi was ramming into it.
-Come out right now!!!
And from beyond, the harsh shouts continued.
As I felt a tingling in my skin, I realized Ja-seong, who was defending against the attack with the earth wall at his back, was staring intently at me.
“Woo Hyo-sung, you…”
“Brother, I’m sorry for involving you. This happened because…”
“You rascal. You should have told me you had a child!”
“…What?”
At that moment, as if understanding everything, I blurted out something dumbfoundedly.
Ja-seong, sensing my reaction, began to tilt his head in confusion.
“From what I’ve heard, it seems like that weapon considers you its dad, isn’t it?”
“Ah, no. Well, it’s true. We’re not blood-related, but…”
“Whether blood-related or not, what does it matter? I’m a single father with a daughter, just like you.”
“…You mean that demon child?”
“Yes, exactly.”
Thud. Ja-seong tapped my head with his heavy hand once.
It was rough, but there was a unique, coarse consideration in it.
Despite the chaotic situation and its unrelatedness to him…
“If an adult takes in a child, they should take responsibility.”
Instead of spewing resentment towards me, he was willing to cooperate, accepting the situation based on his own beliefs.
“Don’t tell me you’re thinking of giving up just because of a tantrum?”
Bang! Bang! Bang!
The impact on the earth walls surrounding us.
Soon, when these earth walls would collapse, a battle between Ja-seong and Pheloi would inevitably occur.
And in the worst case, one of them might end up dead.
“Let’s talk.”
Yes, Ja-seong could surely break a mithril-made Ego Weapon.
He was also one of the top-ranked warriors among heroes.
“I want to have a conversation with that child.”
Yet, I chose to involve him due to my own selfishness.
Even though he might die because of it.
“Then what I should do is create a situation where you and that child can talk.”
Even though I knew for sure he would accept, I couldn’t shake the thought that I had to use him for my own circumstances.
“…I’m sorry.”
“If you’re sorry, come help me with kimchi making next time. It doesn’t taste as good when I do it alone compared to when you help.”
Of course, I would do that if our paths crossed.
Bang!
For now, I needed to think about getting out of here safely.
“That aside, Hyo-sung, you seemed to be conversing amiably with that child earlier. It hasn’t been this bad before, has it?”
“Ah, about that. When I talk to that child, it’s in dreams…”
When the earth wall was severely cracked, I took this brief moment to succinctly explain the times I had conversed with that child.
“Yeah, right. You talked in dreams, didn’t you?”
Ja-seong nodded, resting his chin on his hand, to my words.
Then, as if struck by a brilliant idea, he began to lift his shovel.
“Good, I have a rough idea of what to do.”
“Really? How exactly…?”
Kang!
My vision staggered from the blow to his head.
Realizing my head had hit the ground, I struggled to lift my head and asked Ja-seong.
“Br-brother… why?”
“You said you talked in a dream? Then let’s put both of you to sleep for now.”
“What the…?”
Bang!!!
The shovel struck my head again.
Thus, my consciousness was cut off by the hand of the bastard I believed to be my brother.
And then…
Kwaang!!!!
Just before the earth wall split, Ja-seong swung his shovel to destroy the barricade he had erected.
As the Ego Weapon was flung by the strike, Ja-seong, laying his hand on the nose of his fallen brother, said,
“…Good, he’s still breathing.”
If there was any injury, it could be healed later with divine power.
He’d brace for a couple of resentful remarks when he woke up, but that was a necessary sacrifice to quickly resolve the situation.
In a critical situation, even a few seconds of wasted time could be fatal.
“Kid! You seem to have a lot of complaints about your dad. Want me to give you some advice?”
But before knocking both out, Ja-seong took a moment to speak, checking the other’s condition one last time.
Speaking in place of the object of excitement might help calm your current frenzy.
-…You’re not Dad.
And as expected, the following answer came.
-You can’t raise me. You can’t kill Mom.
“Heh, just because you’re a bit upset, there’s nothing you won’t do to Dad and Mom, huh? Kid, having parents is a big blessing in itself. How can you throw that away with your own hands?”
-That’s none of your business.
*Whoong. *The flow of power began to grow rough again.
As I felt a tingling in the skin under my helmet, the floating spear began to prepare for another leap.
“I have something I must do. For that purpose, I was created…”
What followed was the rampage of a weapon with a will.
As tough as it was even for a hero to handle, an ordinary person would either flee to preserve their life or choose to destroy the weapon.
“Yeah, whether it’s a mission or whatever, cry all you want if you feel like crying.”
But Ja-seong didn’t hesitate.
He still didn’t fully grasp the situation, but there was one clear reason why he should indulge his brother’s stubbornness here.
“It’s an adult’s role to deal with a child’s tantrum.”
Adults should protect children, and the ego within that weapon was still young and immature.
Having thrown himself into the road to save a child nearly hit by a car, he wouldn’t break his conviction even in a strange world.
-Why are you obstructing me? I am…
Confronting the knight blocking her, she felt an acceleration in the surge of her emotions.
Was it because of the whispers happening to her even now?
No, she had long stopped hearing such things.
The whispers of the mere undead were nothing more than a reminder of what she had forgotten.
-It’s all for Mom, so why… why do you keep hindering me?
So, she must destroy everything that stands in her way.
“Is that really your will?”
Before her emotions could erupt further, she sensed someone approaching from the entrance of the altar connected to this room.
“Or is it just a will borrowed from someone else? If it’s merely borrowed, why do you insist on following it?”
“Eh? Old man! It’s dangerous here! If you come here…”
-And who are you?!!
The knight shouted, recognizing him.
But whatever it was, it was just an obstruction.
-Why doesn’t anyone, including Dad, understand me? Don’t hinder me anymore!
Yes, everything except her goal didn’t matter.
The old man, confronting the onrush of the spear driven by the emotional surge, swung his staff with a shout.
“AAAAAAHHHHH!!!!!!!!”
A loud boom followed the strike after the shout.
The Ego Weapon, pushed by that force, slammed into the ground, losing its previous momentum.
Just one blow.
That was all it took for the old man’s staff to break the power of the Ego Weapon.
-Uh, eh…
The groaning from the Ego Weapon proved that the impact was not light.
When the previous commotion had subsided like a lie, the old man who had struck the Ego Weapon lifted his staff and said,
“These youngsters nowadays.”
“You should respect what adults say. Always rushing in without manners, making me take disciplinary action.”
Actually, the term ‘veteran’ rather than ‘old man’ would be more fitting for him.
The forcefulness before, and the gaze revealed in that moment, could only come from a warrior who had fought life-threatening battles.
“Oh, my back. It’s even hard to give a child a spanking these days.”
“…You’re the old man who often comes to pray at the church, right?”
Feeling the disparity between what he knew and the old man’s demeanor, Ja-seong approached and spoke, prompting the old man to laugh heartily and forcibly straighten his bent back.
“Yes, I’m just a modest old man who often visits to reminisce about my hometown. People who know me call me Jang, the boss of the alley’s blacksmith area.”
“Oh yes. You were a blacksmith.”
“No, not a blacksmith, but Boss Jang…”
Whoong, whoong.
A vibration arose from the spear embedded in the ground while they were calmly conversing.
But it had not awakened.
The consciousness was dormant due to the previous shock, but the events in the subconscious were only influencing reality, like sleep-talking.
“This is something. The dream seems quite turbulent. It seems that the young man over there has quite a grudge against it.”
“Do you know something, old man?”
“I don’t know everything, but I should try to find out what I don’t know. After all, it was I who brought this young man into this fate.”
Jang replied nonchalantly to Ja-seong’s question.
After stroking his beard, he moved away from his position, looking down at the man lying on the ground and closing his eyes.
“…Tacchia Pheloi.”
In this moment, with only a little time left granted to him.
“It seems the time has come to fulfill the promise I made with you.”
As if to find the meaning of his life lived so far.