Episode 369:
The girl who knows each step (3) steps into a world without a horizon. As I went down without realizing it, my eyes caught sight of a huge circular sphere on the other side of the world.
A strangeness that seems close yet never reachable. The girl gasped for a moment, feeling like she was suffocating. Was the world originally this wide?
“Ah…”
A mist that shines on its own. A swirl of sparkles. A tail star that sometimes falls. A strange flow that flutters like a veil and shines in five colors.
It is truly a totality of things that are so distant and vague.
The girl shed tears without realizing it in that wonder. Many great warriors go crazy because they cannot withstand this emptiness. The words that Daejeonsa said earlier finally resonated with me. There was absolutely no lie in those words.
“Daejeon Temple.”
When I was with you, I didn’t know you were so bright. Each of the stars here is so brilliant that the spots on the sky are so heavy that I feel like I am being weighed down.
Does my existence here have any meaning?
“I am…”
The girl’s body shrank from the unbearable fear of misunderstanding. This can’t happen. The thoughts that come to me are nothing but fragments of reason that have turned white with fear.
Squeak, squeak.
Then wait a moment. For the first time, I heard a sound other than her in this eerily quiet place. It was a sound that caught the girl’s attention.
“…bug.”
Was that… a leech creating a glacial ordeal?
I have seen a great warrior catch and kill a warrior. That thing that has the appearance of a black caterpillar and gnaws at the invisible wall is the culprit of this ordeal.
“Huh…”
According to the Daejeon Temple, the location of the bugs was different for each glacier ordeal. Was it luck or misfortune that I discovered it as soon as I came in?
The girl looked at the black leech and reflexively grabbed the items in her arms. If you kill that thing, you can get out of here. The girl’s survival instinct demands that she kill the leech right away.
“….”
But how are you going to execute your plan by going out like this?
The hand of the girl holding the Taser gun was shaking. What collides at her fingertips are the desperation of ‘I want to go out now’ and the desperation of ‘I must not go out now if I want to follow Daejeonsa’.
My hands began to tremble even more as I faced a problem with no answer.
“…no!”
And finally, the girl lowered the Taser gun she had been aiming at.
Anyway, there is nothing waiting for me when I return. In that case, it’s better to see the end. A few sentences circling in my mind straighten my wavering feelings.
The girl’s eyes straightened with determination.
“Goes!”
If you’re not going to kill them, the existence of leeches is meaningless. The girl immediately turned her back on the leech.
“Bright star… the brightest star…”
At the same time, the eyes move to find the brightest star. The girl’s eyes moved across the permitted radius. I was scanning the surroundings in such detail and quickly that my eye muscles suddenly became tense.
“I can’t see it…”
But how can you choose the best one in this place where tens of thousands of stars shine brightly? In the first place, is it correct that the definition of ‘the brightest star’ simply refers to the intensity of its light?
Creeping.
While the girl was worrying, black fog began to gather between the gaps in the stars. The great warrior Berserk personally taught them that they were monsters that had no effect on physical power whatsoever.
“Tch…!”
From what I saw last time, their speed was not high. However, if you are surrounded by that thing, your life will not be guaranteed.
The girl took him into consideration and decided to run first. At this time, what the girl decided to use as a reference point was the vortex of light shining the most on the other side.
“Get away from me! “I’m going to see the great warrior!”
A marathon without a finish line has begun.
* * *
Deathbringer unconsciously rubbed his eyes at the bronze light shimmering in his solar plexus. However, even after doing that, the bronze color did not disappear. His fingers curled inward.
“No way…”
Is he going crazy from the cold and looking at nothing? No, that can’t be possible. Deathbringer was clearly aware that his head was clear. That is definitely not his illusion.
What is that?
“Damn it… please give me the right answer. “I’m not a good guy, but I also don’t want to be a crazy person who mutilates corpses without meaning.”
He put down his sword for a moment. The light in the solar plexus disappeared like a lie. It was the same when I held it again. What had disappeared reappeared as if it had disappeared at some point.
Deathbringer’s spine tingled.
“Ha ha ha… this sword is really….”
There was a time in the desert where I showed people something they couldn’t see. However, since nothing similar has happened since then, I thought it was just a coincidence…
I don’t know why this function appeared again. But it was clear that it was an opportunity. The Deathbringer’s hand tightly gripped the evil sword.
“I’m sorry.”
There is no great aversion to cutting up a corpse in itself. However, is it because there is someone around who takes care of the dead even when they are first seen in life? Deathbringer unconsciously muttered an apology and brought the blade to the body.
Phew! The blade, which precisely cut open the glowing solar plexus, headed further inward towards the source of the light.
“Hu…”
Not the stomach… nor the liver. Not even lungs. It wasn’t even a heart.
He ran his hand through the inside of the ship, following the shimmering bronze light. The internal organs pulled out out of necessity are rolling around, struggling. It was frozen so hard that even blood could not bleed.
“ah!”
When he cut through the muscle and reached the bone, he found what he was looking for. Funnily enough, the bronze light was embedded in the vertebrae. And throughout the thoracic spine.
“Wow.”
Crack!
He forcibly separated the bone and removed the bronze jewel embedded there. It took a lot of strength because my body was so frozen and stuck together as if it were all in one, but it wasn’t something I couldn’t do.
The person, who was sweating unbelievably in the surrounding temperature, held the separated jewels in his hands.
“under.”
Is this really a piece of heart? I hope so.
He approached the dragon with the jewels he had obtained with some hesitation. Grumble. The pieces that rolled inside the hole in the flesh crawled into the repaired heart.
sparkle!
“…!”
done! Deathbringer breathed a sigh of relief as he saw his heart expanding ever so slightly. This was really the right answer.
“It was worth picking up the corpses…”
The problem was that there was only one more corpse to dig through.
The Deathbringer looked back at the body that had not yet been touched. If you get a piece from it, will the dragon wake up? Honestly, I didn’t think that would be the case. Each human being has a similar amount of bravery, so if you strike one more heart, the heart will not be completely restored.
“….”
But there is no choice. He slowly approached the coffin.
chuck.
“…?”
And a new foot stretched out on the other side.
“You all….”
“I found it.”
Torn leather shoes, an ax covered in ash, disheveled platinum hair, frozen arms and legs.
“sister.”
It was Berserk.
* * *
The girl ran as fast as she could through the dark world, where she could see ahead thanks to the stars.
However, in this world, everything was so distant that it felt vaguely distant, and no matter how many steps I took, it didn’t feel like I was running. Except for her and the black fog, everything just stuck to its original position without any change.
“…Huh!”
A feeling of discomfort caused by things that do not change. That, along with her rising breath, put pressure on the girl’s mind. I felt dizzy and felt like I was motion sick.
I feel like throwing up. The girl covered her mouth with one hand. A sour smell, peculiar to vomit, rose from under the uvula.
Huuuuu–
but if I stop here, my life will truly end.
The girl’s steps, which seemed a bit unsteady, became straight again. The speed is slower than the first time, but it is still enough to outrun the fog. My legs, supported by evil, ran through the bottomless world over and over again.
Hmm.
“…!”
Then wait a moment. While the girl was looking straight ahead, smoke rising from the floor hit her feet. It took only an instant for my body, which had been maintaining its balance by running, to roll on the floor.
The body, which had rolled without a sound, was forced to stop by rolling over in a slightly different form than falling.
“Uh…”
I think my foot is sprained. The girl managed to raise her waist and raise her knees from her prone body. Throbbing. A dizzying pain continued in my ankle.
Huuuuu—
“…!”
Oh, this is not the time! The girl released her sore wrist and grabbed the Taser gun that had rolled nearby. click. The cartridge, which had been separated from the flying impact, was reinstalled under the girl’s urgent hands. Since it was my first time, I had to endure a few mistakes, but it wasn’t the worst.
Crash.
At least it was completed before the black fog reached the girl.
“Fuck you, die!”
bang!
The trigger was pulled and the iron needle flew towards the fog monster.
Shoo!
“…!”
However, what the girl failed to consider was how the Taser gun reproduced the magic. The Taser gun was clearly a weapon that fired lightning magic, but it only worked when an iron needle was inserted into it.
Ting tiding.
The iron needle that pierced the fog fell into the place where the fog passed.
“Ah…”
Then there was no point in bringing this? Before that, am I going to die now? In an instant, the girl’s mind was filled with various possibilities. A few of them spilled out of her cleavage and were replaced by sighs.
“…no!”
However, the end of the lament was resistance again. “I won’t die here!” A voice full of venom struck the ground. Her ankles were sore, but the girl’s tenacity was greater than that.
Ji profit. The Taser gun the girl was holding was dragging a metal needle attached to it with a thread.
Ting!
And the moment the two iron needles collided with each other, it generated a built-in electric shock. It was also an unexpected variable for Meister, the designer.
Jijijijik!
Anyway, the iron needle consumed all of the magical power in the battery and created an electric shock that burned everything around it. The story also included the fog that was nearby.
The girl’s head suddenly turned away due to the extremely vicious roar.
“…!?”
The Lord died. The girl slowly opened her mouth as she looked at the fog that had been fried by lightning and turned into ash.
…I don’t know what it is, but it doesn’t seem like a bad thing. Since the person closest to him is gone, the immediate threat has disappeared.
The girl covered up her embarrassment and moved her throbbing leg. Even if she was allowed to run, she didn’t completely listen to her words, and her injured leg caused her to limp.
Ugh.
“Whoa….”
There are now two cartridges left. The girl was lost in thought as she listened to the sound of the wind coming from behind.
Would a coincidence like this ever happen before then? And how long can her ankles run? The few questions we ask ourselves are nothing but gloomy predictions of the future.
The girl’s eyes closed tightly and then opened again.
It doesn’t matter if it’s dark. Because it has already started to snow.
With that in mind, the girl decided on her next move. Crash. The first was replacing the used cartridge.
Since the cartridge cannot be reused, I was told to separate it and throw it away after use. The girl pulled out the cartridge with the two threads attached—even this was used as a throwing weapon when she threw it away—and installed a new cartridge.
Click, click, click.
She also waved the Taser gun around with a new cartridge in it. This was also a method taught by the meister.
They say that the built-in battery will run out every time you use electricity, so you have to shake it to charge it after use.
There was also a saying that the more you shake it and the longer you shake it, the stronger the electric shock will be. However, I did add that if you shake it for an entire hour, the weapon may explode, so do everything in moderation.
Whoa!
“Get away from me!”
So is it okay to shake it for about 30 minutes? Although I have no way of measuring actual time.
The girl sneered at herself and dodged the fog approaching in front of her. My legs, which had been delayed due to limping, were now hovering similar to or below the fog, but that was still it. The girl jumped up and down, twisting her body here and there to struggle until the end.
“Tsk!”
And when she ran for a while and was pushed to the limit again, the girl fired the Taser gun, hoping for a second chance. Was I lucky? Because I shot while running, the iron needle became disorganized in the air and hit me right away.
Jijijijijik!!!
A lightning bolt about half as strong as before swept through the area.
“Ugh!”
However, it was not completely without costs. As the power increased, the recoil also increased, and black smoke began to rise from the Taser gun itself.
Even for a girl who was unfamiliar with sophisticated objects, it was a signal that did not look very good.
“Not yet!”
Still, this is all I have. The girl risked getting burned, replaced the cartridge in the Taser gun and held it in her arms. The fur cloak that had been on her shoulders had long since been thrown to the floor in the name of reducing its weight.
I was truly disappointed by the kindness I received when I received it, but it was a choice I made without hesitation, believing that the person who gave it to me also wanted more for the girl’s survival.
“ah!”
However, the girl’s struggles eventually reached their limit. Perhaps she took a wrong step, but the ankle on the side that was hurting bent over and tilted her body. Crash! Rolling hard on the floor was a bonus.
Huuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu!
In addition, the fog that had been slowly narrowing the distance until now. The girl bit her lip in the face of a situation where she could no longer escape.
Does it end here? Was it really… that her gamble couldn’t pay off?
“…Daejeonsa Temple.”
There is no resentment. In fact, it was the girl who took on the task even though she knew it was impossible.
“You said that, but I’ve never been free.”
But the regret still remains.
The girl aimed the Taser gun at the monsters approaching her.
Taang!
The cartridge spat out a spit.