There Is No Hidden Villain in This Novel Chapter 111

[This is fun! To you all, death is just like a rising tide!]

“Ugh!”

[It was always a part of my daily life… Ah, I suppose it was for you too, right?]

“What are you talking about, you son of a…!”

[Why did you run away all alone…?]

The life-or-death battle was still ongoing, but both Ryuseong and I wore expressions of dismay.

In the first place, the fact that I was letting that bastard run his mouth was proof that I was being pushed back. It might not have been the case before, but now that the Named <Mirror> was dead and a time limit was set, things were different.

As the dungeon began to collapse, things like boulders were falling down below where it was foggy, to the place where the survivors were being rescued. But even this was just the beginning. As the Otherworld was being swallowed up by reality, there was no telling what kind of disaster would befall us inside this space.

And yet, we were tied down by Jeong Ian, unable to even escape.

The other clearers couldn’t even find an opening to intervene in our battle, which we fought at a speed that left others in the dust, making us transcendent beings beyond compare, but Jeong Ian was endlessly stronger than even us.

…Could it be that the Academy’s safe confrontation with trauma and a world with true malice are different things?

“This way…! I’ve made an escape route…!”

“We can’t wait long…!”

I could hear the clearers shouting. But it was at that very moment, when I thought we might be crushed to death by the physical concept of the Otherworld—that is, the dungeon—without even a chance to escape if we kept dealing with Jeong Ian, that something happened.

The baby Ryuseong, who had been nestled inside Ryuseong’s clothes, peeked his head out and then suddenly wriggled his whole body out as if crying out. Ryuseong tried to grab him and stuff him back in, but Jeong Ian lunged at us before he could.

[How dare you look elsewhere while I’m here?]

“Keuk…!”

[Non.]

It’s so annoying that this bastard is speaking French, not even English….

But this was the first time I’d felt so helpless while fighting for my life, so I wasn’t managing my stamina well. I only completed the spell after another wound appeared on Ryuseong’s body, and the fact that it did pissed me off so much that I started to get dizzier. I tried to breathe properly, but I was panting and my breathing became excessive… Hmm, is this hyperventilation?

However, Jeong Ian once again nullified the magic I had painstakingly cast and was charging at me. I was dizzy from losing so much blood, but I forced myself to crush my fingertips.

And I shouted.

[At this very moment, right here—!]

Ah, I feel like I’m going to throw up.

[Bring down the fire!]

As my magic proficiency had increased, I even recited a chant I no longer needed to use to increase my buffs, but Jeong Ian erased everything in vain and rushed at me. My stomach churned.

I suddenly felt that Jeong Ian’s pitch-black eyes, which held not a single speck of light, were horrifying and disgusting.

It was the very moment I felt that even a proper defense would be difficult.

Just then…!

[Grrrrrr!]

I couldn’t help but snap my eyes open.

The baby Ryuseong, who had somehow escaped from Ryuseong’s arms, was growling and baring his fangs at Jeong Ian!

‘Why, why are you…?’

No matter how much I doted on him, the baby Ryuseong is a monster.

That’s why, even as I showered him with affection, I always kept the method to kill him in my mind, like a fragment of memory.

But why on earth would a monster do this? To a Named.

[What is this now. Ah, how annoying.]

‘Just to protect me…!’

[What makes this goddamn thing any different from me….]

After muttering irritably, Jeong Ian finally began to glare at me. I felt like crying, but I knew I had to save the baby Ryuseong, so I raised the Heavenly Scripture Art enveloping my body to its maximum output. To a level I myself felt was dangerous, so it would surely be a threat to Jeong Ian… The very moment I thought that.

Suddenly, Jeong Ian spoke.

[Ten seconds.]

“…”

[I’ll let you go if you run away within that time. But leave this behind.]

Jeong Ian, pointing at the baby Ryuseong as he said this, looked truly tired and worn out, but that very expression was proof that I couldn’t do as he said. It meant that our struggle until now had exhausted him.

If that was the case, I thought he would never be taken from me, and the very moment I bit my lip, he began.

[Ten.]

At that moment, Ryuseong swept me up into his arms.

[Nine.]

I genuinely resisted.

[Eight.]

Ryuseong kept running.

[Seven.]

When I managed to look up, the baby Ryuseong was still baring his teeth in front of Jeong Ian.

[Six.]

And then… thwack!

[Five.]

Thud. Blood spread. From beneath the baby, who had collapsed onto a boulder, blood trickled out.

[Four.]

Did I scream? Did I spit out all those curses and profanities?

I don’t remember. But one thing is certain.

[Three, two, one…. Ah, I’m sick of this…. Just don’t cross this line. Then I’ll let you all go….]

The baby Ryuseong was still alive, he was twitching, and I could save him if I ran to him right now.

And now that Ryuseong had let me go, I could run over immediately.

“Sir de Millang…!”

But I saw it once again.

“Our strength is not enough to rescue all the survivors….”

Stretching their hands out towards me,

The grime-streaked faces of people hoping for salvation. Old. Tired. Ordinary. So much so that it was driving me mad.

The faces of those who had just been living their daily lives.

One by one, every time I turned my head.

And below them, the little ones.

“…Please help us….”

I saw… that there were children terrified out of their minds.

But would I really try to save the baby for my own personal gratification?

“What do you think you’re doing.”

“What…?!”

I was never the kind of person who could do that from the start.

“Move the survivors right now! Use magic, use curses, and if that doesn’t work, use your damn bodies…! There are this many people packed in here, were you all just going to flee alone?! And you still call yourselves clearers?!”

…To get a grip on myself, I roared at the clearers on the cliff above, then looked at the soldiers.

“You all did your best. I will remember it.”

“But we couldn’t do anything…!”

“Do you think pulling survivors up a cliff is an easy job? Everyone, stand back and just focus on getting yourselves up.”

“B-but we can’t do that….”

Judging by the chaotic murmuring of the clearers above, Ivan Karpin seemed to find their actions utterly untrustworthy, but I, Cassis de Millang….

‘I have a separate plan anyway.’

I smiled.

“I’ll take care of it.”

The soldiers, including Ryuseong, looked deep into my eyes and then began to move in unison, as if they understood.

Well, anyone who had read my plan would know that having a lot of people on the lower level wouldn’t do any good. Was that why? The remaining survivors fell into a state of anxiety. Thinking that everyone was running away, thinking they were being abandoned again, they all began to let out screams. Their cries for help were so heart-wrenching….

I closed my eyes for a moment, listening to their voices. And when I opened them again, when I came to my senses….

They were flying in the sky.

“Ah…!”

—I could see the survivors’ faces being colored with a joy like the light of dawn.

With the sun at my back, I began to fly slowly, guiding them to the land atop the cliff. It was a great relief, but I’d have to keep it a secret that my blood had started to flow backward from trying to lift over a hundred people at once.

“Lord de Millang! Thank you!”

Still, it might have been a beautiful scene. A salvation that would make everyone happy.

“Thank you for saving us…!”

Even though I had to leave half of my heart behind, like a tattered rag.

‘…’

Just as killing intent was about to flicker in my eyes, Ryuseong squeezed my hand tightly. I lowered my head, making a motion as if nodding in agreement. At that, the relieved people burst into cheers… and I felt like I was going to lose my mind… but… yes. If it weren’t for Ryuseong’s hand holding me back, I might have gone completely insane.

But I still remember the warmth of that body in my arms.

I… because of Jeong Ian, that child….

“It’s my responsibility.”

Ryuseong said then. Softly, right next to my ear.

“I forced you to abandon him.”

But does Ryuseong know that saying such things is useless?

You, who will never know that Jeong Ian is me, how dare you?

‘…’

Still, I didn’t say anything. Once their safety was secured, the people quickly formed a line and began to exit the dungeon. The occasional falling rocks were dealt with by the clearers who cut them down. The ground was still firm, and we were safe. Everyone was, except for my own turbulent mind. I turned my head to look in the direction of the rising dawn. And then I felt it. A man dressed in black, Jeong Ian, had taken another step toward the baby and was smiling at me. I couldn’t see everything because of the hazy backlight, but I was certain. It was mockery.

‘…’

I wanted to either kill that bastard or die myself.

But if there was someone to hold my hand, I thought I might be able to endure it.

“Mr. Ryuseong.”

“What’s with the ‘Mr.’? Just call me by my name.”

“Ryuseong-ah…”

“…”

“I’m cold. Hold me.”

Ryuseong hesitated, then finally came to my side and, still wearing his blood-stained durumagi, pulled me into an embrace.

Only when no one could see my face did I finally burst into tears.

“…”

Because I felt sorry for that child, because I couldn’t understand why he would try to die for someone like me.

‘And because I wonder just how long you’ll be kind to me….’

When I reflected on the memory of the monster child created by Ryuseong’s trauma, Ryuseong-ah.

‘You were the one who saved me from the very beginning. It was you.’

I couldn’t help but think that.

In the end, you loved me even through your trauma.

And so, shouldering a kind of conviction that I, no matter what, must repay my debt to ‘Ryuseong,’ the two of us decided to return to the Academy.