Episode 309: Tell me (3)
Pakak.
With the sound of something hard breaking, Kyemyung opened his eyes. Then something wet seeped into my open eyes. It was soft and yet the individual particles were mixed together, causing a stinging sensation in the eyeballs.
She lowered her eyelids as her eyes stung. I didn’t even know what it was, but I had no choice. Besides my eyes, every part of my body that was sore and throbbing made me moan for no reason.
Gye-myung eventually gave up on opening his eyes and twisted his body wildly. Every time, something unpleasantly cold and slimy pressed down on her. The pressure was not so heavy that I thought my body would burst, but it was enough to restrict my movements.
“town.”
They even sneaked into my mouth and nose.
The smell of fishy dirt and blood. She realized where she was.
Clap!
She overcame the pressure and raised her hand. The mud that had buried her bounced in all directions, and she felt a cool sensation in her hands as they were exposed to the outside air.
Pop!
Gyemyung, who was still on the ground, pulled himself up. I felt something plump popping between my palm and the ground, but I ignored it.
It was more important to her to be able to breathe and feel more clearly throughout her body.
“Sigh.”
Keimyung spit out the dirt that had entered his mouth and looked around as if glaring. A few bugs that were presumed to have been eating her happened to be in a concave hole that blocked the son-in-law’s view as the terrain changed wildly by turning over and rising.
She slapped her son-in-law’s bugs away with her palm and compared her vision before she died with her vision now. There was nothing resembling the previous view, such as the ground rising and a hole being dug, but there was still a sense of distance from the castle wall behind.
In other words, there was a high probability that she would be resurrected on the spot where she died. Gye-myung’s eyes narrowed.
Sreuk.
Meanwhile, her hand reflexively stroked the spot where she had been stabbed by the knife.
I could feel the hem of my clothes being torn, burst, and pierced, with no trace of integrity. It was a hole that proved she had actually been stabbed with a knife, and it was a trace showing that she had been endlessly eaten by insects since then.
It was also a mark that proved that she had died once, and that even if she had not died from the stabbing, she was in an environment where death was inevitable.
Despite this, why is she still breathing and thinking?
…Why did the restrictions of her heart that made her stand as a puppet of pride, instead of allowing her to exist, disappear?
Boom boom.
My heart, which had been beating slower than before, beat freely.
The commandment was truly strange and strange. It was a strangeness that broke the mask I had maintained my whole life.
Squeak. Even at this moment, the sword that I was holding tightly and not letting go of scraped the floor. It wasn’t a big problem. When a sword and a sword come into contact, they always make this scraping sound.
What was strange, however, was the angle of her wrist that she was aware of and the distance from which the sound was heard. As a rapier, if the sword, which has a fairly long blade, scrapes the floor, it should come from a bit further away than this and not at this angle.
Gye-myung’s eyes turned to his right hand.
『Always keep this with you, nameless brother. To receive the opportunity you deserved.』
The Forbidden sword held in my right hand no longer has an edge.
The moment he realized that, Gye-myung’s face distorted.
“…Ah, Bell.”
A being born to be sacrificed for martyrdom. The only person who persuaded the creatures of Arrogance, who had ignored her, to forge a sword.
At first, it seemed like I was sympathetic and it was just unpleasant….
『Please live your own life.』
The commandment was silent for a long time and eventually stood up with gritted teeth.
I wasn’t worried about anything around me. Considering the time of her death, her current location would have been a few hundred meters away from the castle walls, but the terrain around her is now a mess.
In other words, just as she cannot see the wall, even the people on the wall will not be able to see her. So it’s okay.
“Oh my goodness.”
Even if you’re not okay, you’ll be okay.
“I will definitely gift you destruction.”
Because she will definitely do that.
“…Oh, there are so many bugs.”
Commandment stepped across the pit, not knowing who was on the other side of her.
* * *
“…Oh, there are so many bugs.”
I waved my hand a few times as the bugs kept buzzing in my ears. Thinking that these were all bugs summoned by Behemoth made me feel even worse.
‘Isn’t this going to go away?’
[What bug?]
‘Huh.’
And the devil is sticking his head out from reality again. I narrowed my eyes for no reason as I saw that it had darkened to the point where the other side was barely visible.
[If it is made of demonic energy, it is not a summoned body.]
Of course, the demon did not pay the slightest attention to my frown.
‘Is there a difference between the two?’
[There is a difference between sword energy and an iron sword.]
…Sword energy disappears when the magical power injected into it runs out, but that is not the case with an iron sword. Is that the story? In other words, if it’s a summoned object, it won’t disappear unless you remove it yourself, right?
“Anyway, I’m afraid he might be the devil, so I just spray shit until the end…”
[What do you want from an animal?]
“That includes you, you piece of shit.”
[…It’s unpleasant.]
I glanced at the dead demons caught between me and the Behemoth and the insects gnawing on their corpses.
My demon energy has recovered quite well. Should I burn it? The thoughts I had for a moment of excessive discomfort disappeared as I looked toward the castle wall. Seeing as the Meister doesn’t give any signal to run away, it seems like everything is going well… That’s why I don’t want to overdo it.
Why did I start the fire to catch bugs, but they might have taken it as a completely different intention?
Buzzing,
I swatted at a few bugs that approached with my palm and then listened to other sounds. For example, the sound of the wind circling over the wilderness or the sound of sand grains rustling and rolling.
Rustle.
It also sounds like something walking in the wilderness.
“…?”
The sound of walking?
I’m a living devil… Ah, now that I say this, I’m confusing myself with that guy. From now on, that guy’s title will be Fury.
I changed other people’s names in my mind and tried to listen more carefully. It was to search for living demons. However, as if it was just my mood, only the sounds I heard before came back to me. So things like the sound of insects or the wind.
‘Hey, what didn’t you hear?’
[…What?]
‘Sound.’
[I’m not sure.]
I tried to calm my anger just in case and tried to focus my ears more, but I couldn’t hear anything either. Faust is still whimpering, so it’s a bit awkward to ask.
But do you see anything? For that to be the case, the presence of the Behemoth, completely blocking one side of the field of vision, was too strong. The terrain left behind by Behemoth was truly miserable.
“Hmm…”
Or is there really something coming for the body?
I held back my discomfort and looked around the fat pig and checked again. However, there were only a few insects flying around and no sound of them gnawing or cutting the body.
“Isn’t it….”
[If you’re worried about the corpse, all you have to do is check the flow of demonic energy, so why bother moving?]
I finally glanced towards the castle wall, which was subtly obscured by anger. However, no matter how much you think about the terrain that has been turned over by Behemoth’s trampling, it doesn’t seem like there is anything alive in it.
“…okay.”
If you follow Wrath’s advice and focus on demon energy, there is no demon energy moving at all. Weeing. If you include the bugs rushing to your ears, no matter how much you think about it, it seems most likely that you mistook the sound of these bugs.
I eventually returned to where I parked my bike.
“Ah-oh.”
Meanwhile, the bugs are really annoying. Rather crawl on the skin. Don’t stick your head in the hole.
I shuddered at the terrible sensation and waved my hand again.
[…How about making earplugs or a hood instead?]
Anger then suggested. He seemed to be complaining in a somewhat complaining tone, as if seeing bugs was unpleasant for him.
‘…making it?’
[It’s a place where you can regenerate and change your body composition to hide your demonic power, so why can’t it be a simple transformation?]
That’s… Is that right?
‘You say your body will change…?’
[okay. Can’t you tell just by looking at the appearance that it fits the setting you created in the first place?]
‘But…’
There was a remark in the middle that stimulated my shame, but the curiosity overtook the shame of the moment and dominated the flow of thought.
After all, no matter how suspicious the appearance was that fit the setting I had created, I doubt I would have even thought about self-plastic surgery. I just think that, including this coincidence, I have decided.
[The method is similar to reversing the ratel. After contemplating the point of change, transform it into demonic energy.]
With that said, I grabbed the collar as if I was possessed and focused on demonic energy. The next thing that happened was that the stiffly erect collar changed its shape.
The slime-like collar covered my head and became a hood, following my imagination. The cross-shaped brooch attached to the collar was moved to an appropriate location and hung at a similar height.
‘If you do this for a moment…’
I thought about the bug that was sticking to the corner of my mouth and tried to move my magic energy again. The magic energy that moved like waves soon became a cloth covering the neck and mouth.
Because I didn’t like the sticky feeling, it wasn’t a tights type, but rather a scarf, with the ends connected end to end, so it could be called a neck warmer.
‘…Hey, not only can you change your clothes, but you can also change your body.’
[What can I say?]
‘…Hair color and arms?’
[The reason your arms are black in the first place is because they became black to match your setting game, right?]
At that point, the meaning of this transformation became clear to me. I absent-mindedly floated a line of thought.
‘…Even if things turn out strangely, I don’t have to worry about disguise.’
[Every time you transform, you will feel demonic energy, and if you transform excessively, your senses will be out of sync and you will feel uncomfortable. I guess so.]
Of course, I have no intention of putting on a disguise and running away right away, so this will only come to light after I’m pushed to the worst.
‘Oh, right.’
[Why.]
‘I remembered it when I looked at it, but what do you mean, I read your memory earlier?’
Separately, while I was admiring the appearance changer, I remembered something I had forgotten for a while. Anger made an ‘ah’ sound at my question.
[That’s literally what I said.]
‘No, so why did you remember my memories…’
[Did you read it because you needed to?]
‘Oh really…’
It’s not like you don’t know why I’m asking, but the subtle way you turn the word is strange. It sucks. Anyway, this bastard is not worthy of being a true devil at all.
“…I read it because I needed a memory to pretend this place was a game. “The old magic does not allow your personal information, such as your name, age, family, friends, or childhood or boyhood, so don’t worry.”
However, the child who had stopped crying at that point answered instead. If you read my memories, wouldn’t you know my name? The question that was briefly raised is resolved thanks to the sentence that follows.
‘That’s… fortunate.’
It’s a good thing that you don’t know everything about my life.
My heart felt relieved for a moment, but then I snatched back a word I had almost overlooked.
‘Memory for pretending to play a game…?’
“HUD? UI? I needed something to refer to when making something similar. So, I checked out some of the games you played.” ‘
…The games I played? entire?’
I was shocked for a moment and remembered all the games I had played in the past. Fortunately, I don’t have many memories of playing strange games. At most, it was just a bug game made for the sake of comedy.
However… The only problem is…
“Yes… I checked everything… Ah! Is that… ‘Legend of Heroes’? I also checked the games being played. And for him… concept? The reason you prepared this… Ah, this is closer to watching rather than reading memories.”
I bit my tongue when Faust’s voice uttered the word ‘Concept…?’ What Anger said and what Faust said had completely different weights, so there was nothing I could do about it.
“The contract chose you before the game started… Why are you doing that?”
He blurted out. I fell to my knees helplessly in front of the enormous destructive power. In addition to the wild show that took place here, I saw all of the pre-set play and all of it was caught….
“It’s a shame….”
“Why, why…?? 」
“I want to die….”
The anger kid was still okay, but I don’t know why he feels so embarrassed thinking that the child found out about it.
I fell to the floor and hit my head.