I’m Trying to End This Possession Chapter 192

* * *

In the past, Dana learned something through purifying the rotten land dozens, even hundreds of times. Purifying rotten land was like removing a beehive. Especially the black core. The rotten must be purified completely so that not a single speck of filth is left behind. If you stopped partway without finishing the purification—This is what happens.

 

Just like poking at a beehive and then leaving it alone, only to have a swarm of bees explode out. Contaminations began to burst out of the black core. Dana watched the darkness she had clumsily triggered and set off. It spread rapidly, contaminating Miona and all the surrounding paladins.

 

“Ah, aaagh!”

 

“M-My flesh, it’s rotting!”

 

Screams erupted, but Dana just laughed. Strangely, laughter bubbled out.

 

“N-No. Please, please purify us!”

 

“Please, Lady Danaena, purify us! Purify us!”

 

“Please, purify us!”

 

They ended up groveling, begging on the ground. Their bodies were rotting away in real time, and the terror seemed unbearable.

 

“W-We’re sorry! Please forgive us!”

 

“Please purify us, please!”

 

“Save us! Save us, please!”

 

“Please, purify us, please!”

 

For the first time, she felt grateful to Raios. Such a devilish idea, rotting the land to threaten people, was something Dana had never thought of until he showed her directly. He helped me. And he was the one who ruined her too. They were the worst possible pair ever.

 

“You evil witch!”

 

Maybe realizing she had no intention of showing mercy, the paladins died with desperate final words.

 

“God will punish you!”

 

“Witch! Wicked woman!”

 

“Demon b*tch!”

 

Ignoring them all, Dana walked slowly through the rotten land. Then she reached out a hand to the collapsed Miona. “Miona.”

 

In Miona’s ashen, decayed eyes, there was both fear and awe.

 

“Should I save you?”

 

There was no answer. Miona’s eyes only showed she was ready for death.

 

Dana rather liked that stubborn gaze. But she had not the slightest intention of saving this woman. She could never forgive the one who dared tamper with Rumie’s mind. However, that didn’t mean she had no intention of using her.

 

Pressing her hand to Miona’s forehead, Dana sent in her purifying power. Miona’s body, which had been turning black and rotten, began to clear up. Just as Miona lost consciousness and collapsed—

 

“Wi-Witch…”

 

A faint voice drifted from behind.

 

Could someone still be alive? Dana quickly turned to look, but there was no one. Everyone had rotted away and crumbled. Tilting her head, Dana then suddenly looked up. And at that moment, she saw it. A glint of something in the tree.

 

That’s…

 

Silvery metal—an arrowhead.

 

“Die, witch…”

 

Fwoosh! An arrow flew. Thunk. And it landed.

 

* * *

Someone’s here. Noah realized immediately. Not just one or two, dozens of people were hiding in the trees and bushes. Anti-church leader faction. He knew it because they were using bows, not guns.

 

This group was trying to kidnap Dana. So Noah pretended to go down the mountain quietly to lull them into complacency, then suddenly climbed up into the trees.

 

First, one.

 

“—!”

 

Noah covered the man’s mouth to stop him from screaming, then crushed his skull. Draping the corpse over a tree trunk, he moved on like a leopard.

 

“Khk!”

 

Two.

 

“Guh!”

 

Three.

 

Four, five, six, seven… there were so many. Noah moved in silence, ending the archers’ lives. Then he saw—

 

What the…

 

Corpses of archers already killed by someone else. Their skulls smashed, just as he had done. Nearby, branches were snapped too.

 

Who killed them?

 

All the archers in the area were dead. Cleanly, as if their heads had been crushed by hand.

 

Noah landed on the ground. The smell of blood was everywhere. All the paladins who had guarded Dana were dead.

 

Where’s Dana? He focused all his senses on tracking her trail. As he walked, a cloudy fog seemed to seep into his mind. His head then throbbed.

 

“I don’t like you.”

 

Ah, right. He’d heard that before, but it didn’t matter. After all, she was his responsibility today. So, he was just trying to fulfill his duty.

 

“To be honest, I was initially interested because of your looks. But after getting to know you up close, you’re just not my type.”

 

It didn’t matter at all. He didn’t particularly like her face, either.

 

“Our personalities don’t match either. I’ve regretted inviting you along the whole way here.”

 

Whatever she said, it didn’t matter.

 

“Please go back. I don’t want to be with you anymore.”

 

He had already decided not to give her any special treatment.

 

Noah moved busily, thinking about all this. There were so many people hiding. Dealing with them, the anti-church leader faction, was his job. Because he was her companion, he had to protect her. No, in truth, he wanted to protect her. He didn’t care if he got hurt in the process. Honestly, he didn’t mind at all. But then why was it so hard to be kind to her?

 

So dizzy.

 

Noah simply couldn’t smile at Dana. He couldn’t be gentle with her. He couldn’t treat her softly. But why? Was it because she possessed the body of the woman he once believed to be his sister?

 

Yes.

 

Or because, while saying she loved him most, she loved another man?

 

Right.

 

In truth, it was all lies. Was there even any real reason?

 

It felt like someone was whispering in his mind, making his vision blurred. But even as his mind grew foggy, Noah kept moving. He crushed one anti-church leader member after another. His breath, his breathing was red—blood red. How many had he killed by now?

 

Noah dodged an attack from a holy magician, tearing open his side. Then he smashed that magician’s head and kept moving forward, following her trail…

 

His vision suddenly clouded as if with mist. At this moment, another scene overlapped on his retina, as if from another time. It was a faint afterimage—then, suddenly, vivid. There was a white bed and soft blankets that smelled of sunlight.

 

“Noah.”

 

Pure white hair spilling over the sheets.

 

“Good night, Noah.”

 

It was her. The woman he sometimes shared a bed with as a boy. As always, she pulled the boy into her arms and held him close.

 

“Sweet dreams.” She kissed the boy on the cheek. “I love you, Noah.”

 

Was it an illusion? Even if it was, he hated it. He really, really didn’t want to see this. Yes—he’d rather die than see it!

 

Maybe because of that powerful resistance, the hallucination blurred. Noah’s vision returned to the present moment. Then he saw a glint in the tree above. This wasn’t an illusion. It was one of the anti-church leader faction members, hiding like a rat, drawing a last breath as he aimed his arrow. But who was he aiming at?

 

Noah turned his head in the direction the arrow was pointing. There was a woman standing there.

 

Dana?

 

For some reason, her hair was black, but it was Dana. There was no doubt about it.

 

From then on, Noah moved purely by instinct. He threw himself with all his strength, shielding her. Thunk! Something tore through the air and smashed into his cervical spine. It felt like something was lodged in his throat, or rather, his neck was being torn apart.

 

“Guh!”

 

Blood gushed out. The pain was excruciating, but it didn’t matter. He wouldn’t die from this. It wasn’t the head but the neck; this much wouldn’t kill him. But—

 

“Uugh.”

 

This was the real problem. The hallucinations that had been disturbing his mind from earlier.

 

Again, that vision appeared before his eyes. The scene of the woman holding him as they slept. Not knowing what would happen next. Not knowing that what she was holding was a dark beast. That woman just slept innocently.

 

It was a memory Noah didn’t want to recall, even in a dream. A moment that had slashed at his heart, again and again. The original sin of his childhood.

 

* * *

“Noah!” Dana rushed over in shock.

 

Why had he appeared here? Didn’t he go down the mountain? Why did he suddenly come back?

 

Noah was a wreck, his body covered in wounds as if he’d just fought dozens of people. Thankfully, he was healing quickly, but—

 

“Guh, guh!”

 

An arrow had pierced the center of his neck. Dana grabbed the arrow shaft with trembling hands. What should she do? Should she pull it out? Would that let him heal? No, before that—Purification first!

 

Noah’s body, having stepped into the domain of the rotten land, was also rotting. Dana hurriedly placed her hand over his heart. No, no.

 

When had Noah stepped into the rotten land? He was already heavily contaminated.

 

I can save him.

 

Danae Windsor couldn’t have saved him; she was certain of it. But Danaena Rolland’s purification power was even stronger than that former body. So—I can save him. No, I will save him.

 

As she poured all her strength, all the power she had, into him, Dana sensed it. The spell on Noah, the mind-attack spell Lethe had warned about. And Noah was hallucinating now. His mind was disturbed because of it.

 

Dana grit her teeth and poured in her purification power. Yes, she’d break that spell, too. She could do it.

 

The moment Dana made that decision, she heard a clear sound within her body. A sound like her mind, her soul, resonating and colliding.

 

“Ah, ahh…”

 

Then, something began to be heard. Something began to be seen. Not the reality in front of her, but some other scene. Dana then realized. She was beginning to see the hallucination Noah was experiencing.

 

“Sob, sob.”

 

Little Noah was crying. His fair face was soaked with tears. With that face, he was looking at someone. A woman was sleeping soundly in the bed. It was Danae Windsor.

 

“Sniff, sob.”

 

And it wasn’t just the boy’s face that was wet. Rather…

 

No way.

 

When she was in the shock of realization, Noah lifted his head. With golden lashes wet with tears and a handsome face like a glass doll… he secretly kissed Dana on the lips. Pressed, pulled away, then pressed again. Awkward, but unmistakably knowing what he was doing.

 

The moment their skin touched, Noah’s tear-stained face was filled with bliss and guilt. And something whispered—softly, through sobs. Dana heard the words. She heard them clearly.

 

“I love you.”

 

Those tearful words.