Chapter 103: You Guys, Why…? |
‘After she disappeared, what became of humanity?’
Marcus always thought about this.
Failing to muster the courage to face that being, when the world was burned by the dragon’s wrath, was a sin.
If a hero appeared to oppose such a being, one shouldn’t just watch but should cultivate enough strength to support them.
‘When we placed all our hopes on just her and stood by, what had we, who remained in her absence, fallen into?’
Had there been forces to fight alongside her, or even more so, the power to protect themselves from all subsequent calamities, her sacrifice might have been accompanied by honor and glory.
In the end, by leaving everything to her and doing nothing, hadn’t humanity been pushed to the brink of existence by calamities?
‘Humanity must cultivate strength.’
Realizing this, Marcus abandoned his homeland, devastated by a plague, and came to the empire to cultivate strength from the bottom up.
Enduring the oppression of corrupt privilege, he was promoted repeatedly and poured everything into strengthening the military for his mission.
Not just depending on the symbol of heroes, but establishing them as part of the military force to confront all future dangers…
The position of Legion Commander was the fruition of Marcus’s lifelong investment in following in her footsteps.
‘But what about this man?’
Thus, Marcus could only view the person before him with displeasure.
Despite hundreds in the empire possessing strength and potential comparable to hers.
He remained trapped in past regrets, choosing to create a successor for her to face disasters even she could not handle.
‘See reality, Jang Cleo. Chasing only her shadow endangers not just hope but the very survival of humanity.’
His anger grew, feeling that the results achieved were meager, even at this moment.
“Cough!”
Yet the sorrow filled with resentment was never uttered towards the hateful comrade before him.
Blood spewed from his mouth at this moment.
He told the one who thought he would spend the rest of his life in regret that there was no more time left for him.
“Marcus. I am…”
Even at this final stage, he remained composed.
He wanted to convey his will with composure.
“Ironically, I cannot become a person of great cause like you.”
Now, it doesn’t matter anymore.
It was something he had foreseen in the old times.
The path he was on was not about protecting humanity as a human, but something unattainable as long as one did not give up being human.
“I chose this path, not for the world. As you assess, I am a selfish human… It all started with a desire for revenge. I’m nothing but a reckless fool.”
“What do you mean…?”
“Tashian Pheloi. She is still alive.”
At the mention of that name, Marcus’s face rapidly tensed.
Tashian Pheloi. A being who, along with the heroes, had drifted with the flow of time and been forgotten.
Now, calamities far worse than dragons swarmed, but Marcus had personally witnessed the devastation caused by that dragon.
“And soon, she will become a threat to humanity. Before long… a situation where she must threaten humanity will unfold.”
His fear of her was deeply ingrained in his bones.
His instinct was urging him to heed these words at this moment.
“…Jang Cleo.”
“Her fight that led you to this path hasn’t ended yet. If her battle is still ongoing, shouldn’t someone among us, who were drawn to her, continue that fight?”
They were indebted to her, and within the brief peace she provided, they had determined their own paths.
All that was achieved afterward was based on such a past, so how could one ignore it, focusing only on the present situation?
“Even if she reappears in this era, as you say, ultimately she’ll just be the power of one hero… But if the lingering attachment to her hinders the path forward, someone will need to complete her mission in her stead.”
Yes, if someone must do it, he, who dreamed of avenging her should be the one.
After expressing this intent, Jang, leading his frail body, walked past him.
“…So you continue your mission, and I will put an end to the mission of hers that you couldn’t continue.”
That was all he had to say.
Having left his final words to his former comrade, Jang, his body in tatters, aimed to quietly leave the quarters.
Biting back blood in his mouth, he endured even his labored breaths.
“…What end are you talking about now?”
Unable to hold back his departing old comrade, Marcus clenched his fists, grinding his teeth.
If he were to sympathize and hold him back here, it would, in itself, be a hesitation that might cause a crack in his own path.
“In the end, what you desire can only be achieved by living to see the result, can’t it?”
Just that regret alone.
In a reality where it was no longer possible to watch over his old comrade’s path, he could only chew over his regret.
The garrison area was gradually darkening.
As the sun set and bedtime approached, the members, who had completed the minimum guard duties, prepared to end their day.
The torches intended to illuminate the surroundings were going out one by one, leaving only a faint level of light in front.
But now, with no further path remaining, the dim light was enough to illuminate a dead end.
‘Well done.’
With a lightened heart, Jang moved forward, reminiscing about the young man who had grown splendidly under his guidance, all the while managing the pain in his body.
The collapse he had long suppressed during the phase of overseeing the young man’s training had accelerated, but even that, he realized, was meaningful through the battle he had witnessed today.
‘He is still lacking, but a little more progress should suffice. Even in my absence, I have found someone to guide him…’
He arrived at a construction site where barriers had not yet been erected.
This path, unnoticed by the guards, led to the ‘final training ground’ he had prepared.
“You’re leaving, I see.”
As he was about to step into the training ground, a familiar voice came from behind.
But he didn’t bother to turn around.
He guessed that the only one who could come here unnoticed was a fortune teller who sensed his future departure.
“…Can you listen to my story before you go?”
Perhaps because there wasn’t much time left.
He had hoped for someone to help dispel his lingering regrets, but the fortune teller’s voice from behind was utterly calm.
“There’s no need to tell me. I already know all about your past.”
“…Heh, so you know it all.”
Now that he thought about it, the note handed to him when they first met contained much information.
From his past to what he could do, and even what would happen in the future.
“Use the time you’d spend telling me your story to make your last moments more meaningful.”
Indeed, soon the situation where she must act would unfold.
If the world continues even after his death, there’s a need to prepare for that period before his life ends.
“Observer, who couldn’t become an avenger. I will remember you.”
“…Thank you for seeing off this old man’s last moments.”
Everything was to commemorate the hero who led him on this path and to pass on that path to those left behind.
Trudge.
Alone, climbing the ridge while thinking only of that one person, a sense of solitude began to fill his heart.
It was a familiar feeling.
As usual, he was recalling memories with her, and also soothing that loneliness.
The Kingdom of Britannia.
A country that insisted on peace even in an era of war, but even such a place needed to strengthen its military to prevent foreign invasions.
Jang Cleo was merely a low-ranking soldier conscripted from such a country.
He became associated with the hero because he was selected as an attendant to serve her and join her journey.
Though it was just carrying luggage and support work, he considered it honorable and worked with a sense of mission.
By watching her back, she could concentrate on her task, which would lead to saving the world.
“Embrace a being of higher status within you. That way, the world will bless you on its own.”
While spending time with her, he often heard about the secret of her strength.
She could handle the unique power of spirits because she had been granted status by someone.
She always emphasized to those who admired her that she was no different from other humans at her core.
“So, don’t regard me as anything special. Anyone can do what I do if they embrace the power of a high-status being like I did. Of course, using such power without permission can have unpredictable consequences…”
He learned that she had inherited her status from a dragon after everything had ended.
She, who had called the dragon ‘mother’, wielded her sword in hatred rather than for a cause, and ultimately lost her life in that fierce battle.
Having roamed the battlefields since her girlhood, fueled only by hatred for the mother who abandoned her, she had been appointed a hero.
In the end, she was killed directly at the hands of the mother she had been reunited with.
“Is that a dragon?”
A betrayal unimaginable to humans.
That was what had happened to the being he had admired and followed…
And since it had targeted the one considered the only hope for humanity, his hatred towards it grew even more.
“Are dragons such hideous beings?”
Even after the battle ended and the dragon vanished, his hatred continued to grow uncontrollably.
That dragon should never exist in this world.
For the sake of this world, and even more, to fulfill her unfulfilled wish.
‘I need power.’
Recalling her words someday, he embraced the remnants of the battlefield into his body as they came.
He crammed fragmented sand, armor shards, the peeled scales, blood, and flesh of the dragon, and even the slight remains from her body, taken away by the dragon, into his mouth, and kept stuffing all of it into every part of his body wherever possible.
And then he spent time cultivating the power that rose from within.
He felt his body deteriorating due to using power not sanctioned by a higher status being, but even that didn’t matter to him.
‘Tashian Pheloi, I must kill her.’
The dragon that trampled countless people and their homes.
Living solely for that purpose, he wandered the world, seeking traces of the dragon, which had vanished from the world.
After that day, he sought out witnesses who knew where the dragon had flown and what human form it had taken, dragging his broken body along.
He arrived at an empire, now called the last hope in a world of chaos.
In the back alleys of a busy street in that empire, he boldly stepped in, sensing that all the clues he had gathered pointed there.
Clang, clang.
He still vividly remembered the sound of the hammer echoing at the end of the journey at this moment.
A woman was silently forging a spear in a place so hot it was hard to even enter, her hammering was filled with emotion.
Her body cracked and crumbled like ash with every swing of the hammer, but these fragments kept transforming back into flesh and skin.
This sight of blood dripping down was enough to be considered alien by anyone.
“Smoke Dragon, Tashian Pheloi.”
At that moment, seeing her, he realized that the being he was looking for was there.
Yes, he finally found her.
If that was certain, he would have to rush in there and fulfill the mission she couldn’t complete.
Even if it meant losing his life there, he would be satisfied just to successfully strike at her vital point.
“You, why…?”
He had come all this way, accepting a power not permitted, just for this.
Yet, on that day, he gave up on rushing towards her and simply watched the woman who had stopped hammering and sat down.
While forging the spear, she couldn’t withstand the emotions rising within and just collapsed…
“You, why exactly are you crying?”
It was a sight that made it impossible to think she was a monster who had committed such an atrocious act.
Because he realized she had been there even before he arrived.