Episode 373 Knowing every step (7)
Wajangchang!
The moment I thought the world was broken, a rush of cold air hit my lungs. thud. The next sensation was a dull shock hitting the knee or palm joint. It was similar to falling out of a hammock.
“Ugh…”
But it wasn’t the shock of the fall that hurt the girl the most. “Ahhh….” My skin was completely sore from hitting something while still being burned.
“Ha…”
Even the environment where the girl fell was not very good. A chill that even a girl accustomed to the cold could not handle began to creep over her.
The broken flesh and new drops of blood were frozen, the skin was swollen, and it was like being swept away. Every time the frosty air passed over the girl’s wounds, it felt like a knife was cutting into her body.
“Ugh.”
However, it was not the time to lose sight of the sharp wind itself. What was really important was the symptoms of swelling and blackening of the fingers and toes that were covered by this harsh wind.
“ha.”
As far as the girl knows, these symptoms are identical to the omens that exiles see before they freeze to death. I also remembered that residents who developed this condition sometimes cut off their fingers, toes, or, in severe cases, their arms or legs. It was an even more vivid memory because they ended up becoming outcasts after having their limbs cut off.
“Huh…”
In other words, if things continue like this, the girl will be in danger too. The girl’s teeth clenched.
Tap, tap, tap.
But just because I bit my teeth, this time they bump into each other and make a fuss. It’s really cold. The girl smiled sadly at the habit she had acquired long ago. It’s really cold. It was the most meaningless complaint in the land.
“I have to go.”
Still, it’s an ordeal that I somehow escaped, but I can’t just sit here and wait for death. The girl struggled to get up and started trudging across the snow.
Grrrr.
To her left is a river of black water that she has never seen before.
“Huh.”
It’s cold, it’s so cold. The girl tried to preserve the heat somehow by adjusting the hem of her clothes. Part of the girl’s heart longs for the fur cloak she threw away during the ordeal to lighten the weight.
I have never been so desperate for clothes as I am now. The girl bent down and exhaled to relieve the wind. It was an inevitable choice at the time, but now that I think about it, I feel full of regret.
The girl’s lips, which turned purple, trembled.
“Cough!”
Then, the girl’s ankles slightly buckled and her body staggered as she walked sideways. It was a scene where the number of side steps taken was too large to be considered a single mistake.
When the next step stopped, the girl fell down instead of regaining her position. ha. The girl’s body, which let out a breath, was shaking like an insect crawling on the ground.
“No…”
How did we get here… The girl tried to move her prone body. But even though my heart was like a chimney, I couldn’t find the strength.
Wiggle. Only the fingertips wriggled, reflecting the girl’s wishes. Maybe even that wasn’t due to the girl’s efforts, but rather a reflex reaction due to the cold.
“…ah.”
Then, something began to appear in the corner of the girl’s vision. It was a black dot slowly approaching from the other side of the snowy field.
“…?”
The black dot got closer and closer as time passed. My vision was blurry so I couldn’t see the exact outline, but the silhouette itself was clearly human.
“Great warrior…?”
And when the distance became enough to penetrate even the faintest vision. The girl now saw the person she wanted to see the most. It was an opponent that shined like an aurora.
“Great… Warrior….”
Sasa Sa Sa Sa Sak Paat!
A faint sound, as if a snow field was being dug up, echoed through the closed snow.
* * *
“You crazy!”
I swallowed my moans as I saw mouths attacking me from all directions.
I know I’m being cornered, but isn’t this too much? Isn’t it too much to attack in all directions without giving any space to dodge?
[There is no answer to this, dear. I ‘m going to attack you.]
I chewed my teeth hard and eventually accepted the angry proposal. Honestly, I thought that was the only way.
Because that guy spoke first, it felt like a rip-off. It seems like there must be another way. Even if it exists, I can’t think of it.
Sigh!
…But is it really not there? I twitched my lips as I looked at the tentacles pouring out from all directions, front, back, left, right, top and bottom. A bastard with no morals. Once I was trapped in a huge sphere, a bundle of tentacles that had been slowly narrowing came crawling over my body.
──!
Also it was deleted in an instant.
As if a noose had been placed and the delete button had been pressed, the sphere disappeared with one end popping open, opening the way for me. Now all that’s left is to escape before that hole is filled.
[Run, baby.]
I know even if you don’t say it. Instead of answering like that, I stepped into the air and ran. There was no particular stepping stone, but surprisingly, the empty space where there was nothing allowed me to step on it.
[Unexpected. If nothing else, I never thought it would take a while to define the floor.]
No. If you understand that right away when faced with the explanation that there is a floor but no space, and that it is a universe where you can step on and where you cannot step on it, wouldn’t that person be even weirder?
I swallowed the grumbling that I couldn’t let out. Anyway, in the end, I succeeded in understanding it. As Anger said, it took some time.
“…!”
With all my might, I stepped through the air and escaped the tentacle sphere. Then the scene outside came into view.
“…Holy shit.”
Surprisingly, the outside of the sphere was the center of the wide-open maw of a wolf. And that’s right in front of the throat.
“Hey, is there no answer to this too?”
[…How can I endure humiliation and die here like this?]
“Hey?”
[Damn… I knew it would be like this. You fucking idiot….]
“Fuck you, you idiot, don’t show your sincerity and tell me the answer!! “It really looks like it’s in danger of falling apart!!”
* * *
“How do you give that up?”
The moment Berserk heard those words, his body trembled.
that’s right. How can you give that up? Her ugly, distorted face cannot bear to express either agreement or disagreement with the statement. I felt like if I tried to give her even the slightest answer, her resolve would waver.
“Go away.”
“That’s not possible.”
“This time we won’t stop with our arms.”
“I was prepared.”
“I’m really going to kill you!”
“Is that what you said?”
“Young hunter!”
However, the person who ignored life and came only for what he wanted was already shaking her with his very presence.
“If my life is needed to save those people,”
“My life is not a waste.”
“What can I not give you that much?”
『If I can save you, I can do anything.』
Berserk’s feet took a step back.
I just wanted to cry.
“…don’t do that.”
Why do you want to throw away your life just because it is precious? How can you make a choice like that when you don’t know if they want it or not?
“Please don’t make me kill you.”
I knew what pain the person left behind would go through.
“Young hunter, please…!”
“Please, warrior Nari.”
Berserk inadvertently strengthened the hand holding the axe. Plump plump. Lee, who was stubbornly approaching with one foot, called out to her with his split vocal cords.
“If you have no choice, please allow me to save them.”
『You can live now….』
It was a truly disgusting voice.
“Ah ah ah ah ah!!!”
Berserk’s roar filled the dragon’s cave. It was a roar that brought misery to the souls of those who heard it. Thump thump thump thump! The person who screamed desperately began to run recklessly.
“…!”
Deathbringer adjusted his sword as soon as he saw him, but the timing was a little late. Or perhaps, somewhere in his subconscious he hesitated.
The Deathbringer’s body stiffened as the face of the approaching Berserk overlapped with the image of an adventurer. He can’t stab anymore.
Coo!
The bodies of Deathbringer and Berserk collided with each other and fell backwards. Deathbringer placed his back and head on the floor, and Berserk put his hands and knees on the floor, trapping Deathbringer between them.
“Give up.”
Berserk placed Deathbringer on the ground and grabbed his neck.
“Please give up.”
However, strangely enough, it was not the Deathbringer who shed tears in that situation.
“Please….”
He grumbled. The tears that froze as soon as they fell hit the Deathbringer’s nose and cheeks. The young man’s eyes became clouded.
Why is this world so cold that even tears freeze? It would have been nice if it had been a little warmer, like this person who says he will kill, kill, but ultimately cannot put any strength into his hands.
“I am a fighter.”
It would have been nice to have that kind of warmth.
“are you okay.”
It’s false. Deathbringer knew that what he was saying was foolish, but he just said that.
“It’s going to be okay.”
Even if he dies or the integrity of the body he finds is ruined. It contained lies in which neither side believed that things would get better someday.
“…You are not good at lying.”
“This is my first Sorin Deb show.”
The number of frosts breaking against my skin continued to increase, so I slowly removed my hand from around my neck.
“I’m sick of losing now…”
The person who hurriedly got up and eventually left the Deathbringer alone and headed to her family. dump. The body of the person sitting on the coffin was positioned so that the body could be seen. It was a form of giving one’s back to the Deathbringer.
“…Young hunter, you are right.”
She saw her family in that state and lifted the flowers in the coffin. Flowers that should have withered originally have no time to wilt, but the freezing air has turned them into pieces of ice.
“I can’t choose.”
Berserk looked into those mysteries created by nature several times.
“So you choose.”
Then he ended up putting it in his family’s ear.
Sister, this is a flower. Is this your first time seeing you? If you go to the south, there are so many of these, and there are so many prettier ones than this.
“If you need a piece or something, kill me.”
I wanted to show you. I really wanted to show you.
“I will not resist.”
So… if there is a next time after the end of death, then let’s go see it together.
Berserk smiled faintly and eventually closed his eyes. Only then did I feel a little at ease. There was no need to choose, nothing to lose… That was the sense of peace that I could feel.
thud!
“Ah.”
“…?”
However, the world did not allow her rest. Before the Deathbringer could end the fierce conflict, a voice known only to her echoed throughout the cavity. It was a voice that should never be here.
“…Pipe player?”
Did the snow spirit possess her? Berserk unconsciously raised his eyelids and raised his head. I saw a white shark jumping on the rock at the entrance to the cave and a girl lying down next to it.
“…?”
“What is it?”
Is this a hallucination brought on by the cold? No, if it was really a hallucination, the Deathbringer couldn’t have looked like that. The Deathbringer is also confused by the sudden appearance of the shark and the girl.
“Why why.”
In that case, that existence must be true.
“why…?”
But why? Why did the girl come here? By all means chasing her? What can I do with that poor body?
“Huh.”
The explosive questions that had been surging all disappeared in vain the moment the girl took a single breath. There was nothing to do. The girl’s breathing was by no means normal.
“Flute player…!”
Her mind turned blank due to embarrassment, and she stood up without thinking.
“If you go now.”
However, when she moved more than three steps away from the coffin.
“I’m going to separate the pieces.”
Deathbringer muttered quietly. In a tone closer to a notification than a threat.
“After that, whether you try to kill me or whatever you do, I will do it. “I said it clearly.”
That’s sincere. Berserk was overcome with the urge to break Deathbringer’s neck right now.
“…Great warrior.”
But for that to happen, the voice coming from the front was too faint.
“…Damn it!”
In the end, Berserk made a choice. It was a decision I so desperately hated making.
“Why did you come? Why did you come!!”
After screaming, she ran not to her dead sister, but to the girl who was still alive.
It was the end of a long, long period of neglect.