Trash of the Count's Family Vol 2. Chapter 379: It Must Not Have Been Enough (4)
“Ugh...gh...!”
So Hee covered her eyes with both hands, yet she still could not believe what was happening.
BANG! KWAAANG! BANG!
The white lines that had lost their strength fell to the ground, instantly being dyed dark crimson by the light.
How—!
So Hee could not believe it.
“Ugh, how—!”
How can my white lines be cut so easily?
Even as she watched it happen, she could not believe it.
Kim Hae-Yi.
That bastard had turned his individuality into a form of his own.
The seed had sprouted.
And it was individuality of a higher level than So Hee’s.
Even so—!
Even then, Kim Hae-Yi’s individuality had not completely blocked So Hee’s power.
All it could do was stain the white lines with dark-crimson light.
That’s normal!
No matter how important the rank of individuality was, until that seed truly sprouted and took root, it would go through considerable trial and error.
But then how—
How could the one who fought her just moments ago—
not even having properly bloomed his individuality,
having only the seed,
not even having created a proper form—
overwhelm her power with nothing but raw force?
Is that even possible?
In her confusion, one thought surfaced in So Hee’s mind.
Wait—!
There was only one possible explanation.
The Five Colors—
A level that, even within the Five Colored Blood family, only three currently possessed.
Is he Five Colors rank?
But the Five Colors rank was not simply given.
After the contract with the Celestials, individuality was born only among some Wanderers.
And among those, Five Colors rank—
“Ah.”
A smile formed at the corner of So Hee’s mouth.
She lowered the hands that had been covering her eyes.
Her closed eyes saw nothing.
She could only feel the blood flowing down.
Pressing both hands against the ground, she raised her head and spoke.
“You—”
The one who cut her.
“You’re not just a sole-born, are you?”
They said there were those born with destiny.
“You carry the destiny of a hero—”
A hero who saves a world.
Only someone of that level would be given the qualifications to possess a rank beyond Transparent.
“You’re one of those bastards!”
Not like So Hee herself, who had started from the bottom, failed to overcome the gap, died, and then became a sole-born—
But one of those lucky bastards born with the destiny to live as heroes!
“Damn it!”
She could not suppress her resentment.
How did I—!
How had she climbed all the way to this point!
How many things had she done just to enter the Five Colored Blood!
Even inside the Five Colored Blood, how much had she been looked down on for being the weakest!
And yet she endured.
Endured and endured.
So that one day she could firmly establish her own domain—
So I could build my own kingdom!
Do they know how hard I worked!
Eliminating every obstacle, absorbing every bit of nourishment that could help me accumulate power!
That’s how I came this far!
And now I’m getting beaten like this by some half-breed who doesn’t even possess a proper individuality...!
It was unfair.
Painfully unfair.
Who the hell is this bastard...!
Then one thought occurred to her.
Right. Who is he?
Why had she never heard of someone like this before?
Her mouth opened.
“Who are you? Who the hell are you?”
With her eyes injured, she could no longer properly deploy her individuality.
Even escaping would be difficult.
“Who are you!”
So she had to learn at least one thing.
Sooner or later, one of the Wanderers would come to save her.
No matter how low-ranked she was, she still knew quite a lot.
“Right now—”
Tell me right now! Who are you!
Kiiiiiiing—
A strange cry began spreading around her again.
As if something were about to run wild.
And as though acknowledging that expectation, So Hee shouted.
“Reveal your identity! Unless you want everything to explode and kill us all!”
It was then.
“You’re threatening people when you have no intention of dying?”
An indifferent voice was heard.
“!”
So Hee suddenly felt her entire body stiffen.
She was not the only one.
“Your Majesty, quickly—”
“Mm.”
King Tamahi had been swiftly approaching the martial arena with her officials, but she stopped walking.
It was ◈ Nоvеlіgһт ◈ (Continue reading) not by choice.
She had no choice.
“!”
For a moment, she felt as though she could not breathe.
Saaaaa—
A single gust of wind.
The arena had grown so quiet that the ordinary sound of wind could be heard.
Only the King, her close aides, and a few martial artists remained there.
All of them were people with high martial attainment or specialized expertise in the Lan Kingdom.
They had accumulated a great deal of experience.
And yet—
“.......”
“......”
Not a single one of them could easily open their mouth.
The sky was still dark crimson, but the white lines and the black dragon had vanished.
The arena, which had seemed merely slightly darker than usual, had now changed.
Those who had felt relieved at the brief calm found goosebumps rising all over their bodies.
“......!”
King Tamahi’s pupils trembled.
Her gaze turned toward one person.
It was not the Heavenly Demon.
Not Choi Han.
Not even Alberu standing beside her.
The one she was looking at—
The mask—
was Cale, wearing the mask.
Tamahi looked down at her hand.
“......”
Her fingertips were trembling.
Goosebumps had risen across the back of her hand.
There was no sound.
Nothing visible.
And yet something was pressing down on her.
Fear—
That was exactly what it was.
But it was not savage.
It was faint.
The fear that had approached quietly was slowly swallowing her, like sinking into a swamp.
And gradually she could sense it.
What this fear was.
I don’t know.
It was fear she did not know.
Too many things came to mind.
And at the same time, nothing came to mind.
It’s just—
She remembered the terrifying nights of her childhood.
What is this?
It evoked the fundamental fear humans possessed.
And yet at the same time it slowly suffocated her, as though it were taking control of her.
It’s a warning.
King Tamahi realized it.
The masked man was warning them.
And—
He warned us moderately—
but it’s different for the enemy.
She understood.
“Urgh!”
Because a deep groan escaped from So Hee’s mouth.
It was different from the scream when her eyes had been injured.
This was a groan pulled from deep within her body.
It clearly showed what situation she was in.
“Ugh—gh!”
She pressed her hands harder against the ground.
Her entire body trembled violently.
If she relaxed even a little, she felt as though this fear squeezing her whole body would dominate her and crush her completely.
What is this?
What is this force?
This is not the seed of individuality.
Then aura? Mana?
No!
It wasn’t that either.
Then individuality?
Or—
Ancient power?
Ancient power.
The term used to refer to forgotten individuality.
Was it that?
No!
Not that either.
A diminished ancient power could never suppress her like this.
Then what is it?
With her eyes injured, she could not see who was using this power.
Even so, one person came to mind.
The mask!
That masked bastard.
What kind of monster is he, that he can suppress a Wanderer with nothing but his force?
Something like that would be difficult even for most gods—
“Urgh!”
Enduring the pressure, So Hee suddenly found the answer in a thought that flashed through her mind.
A god!
Yes, a god!
At first she had thought Kim Hae-Yi was merely an AI, Ahn Roh Man’s collaborator.
But after seeing individuality, she thought he must be another Wanderer.
A Wanderer who had sided with the gods.
And that god—
Naturally she had assumed it belonged to the faction of the God of Balance in the Divine Realm, the side opposing them after the realm had been split in half by the God of Chaos.
That was why she had decided he had to be killed.
Because the enemy had already reached New World.
But if that were true, something feels strange.
The Divine Realm had been split in half.
And yet the Wanderers who served the gods had somehow reached here?
And this power—
Fear.
A fear that stimulated the most primal terror.
If that was the case, there was only one answer.
Fear of Chaos!
An ability taught only to the most beloved followers of the God of Chaos, those at the level of saints.
If it were that, everything made sense.
The God of Chaos was always wary of us.
He acted friendly, but the vigilance beneath it was impossible to miss.
To the God of Chaos, Wanderers who were gradually attaining the rank of gods themselves must have been extremely troublesome.
And according to what the spy said, the God of Chaos recently seemed to have pulled some trick in the Demon Realm.
If the God of Chaos was doing something there, would he really do nothing in New World?
Rather, pretending he had no time to worry because the Divine Realm was in chaos, he might be striking at them instead.
Because the time is approaching!
The time for the Absolute God to appear.
The time to prepare for it.
There was not much time left.
So if the God of Chaos wanted to seize the entire board, now was the only time to act.
“Ha!”
A hollow laugh burst from So Hee’s mouth.
It was absurd.
“You—”
She turned toward the direction the force was coming from.
The corner of her mouth rose.
“You’re the tail of Chaos?”
But her smile could not continue.
“Kugh!”
The pressure pressing down on her grew twice as strong as before.
The feeling of being dominated.
And within it, a faint presence of fear.
“Tail?”
At that moment, a calm voice was heard.
The voice was closer than she expected.
Cale knelt on one knee and met So Hee’s gaze.
Even though she could not see him, Cale smiled and spoke.
“Why would I be a tail? I have no intention of being anyone’s tail.”
Of course, he also had no intention of serving the God of Chaos.
But if the enemy misunderstood, that was something to be grateful for.
Cale’s gaze shifted past So Hee, toward King Tamahi, who had approached and then stopped.
Alberu stood beside her.
Their eyes met.
Alberu grinned and said to Tamahi,
“Your Majesty.”
Ah.
Tamahi realized what she had to do.
New World.
The game where you raise your own precious Absolute God.
In this highly free game, there was a reason players followed the rules.
If not for that reason, malicious players would have committed every crime imaginable inside the game.
“Criminal So Hee.”
King Tamahi gave the order.
“Transfer her to the royal palace underground prison.”
Criminal.
The moment someone was designated a criminal by a nation, and the moment they were imprisoned,
even if a game user logged out and logged back in, they would still be in prison.
Especially the underground prison of the royal palace.
To escape from it required the power to fight the royal palace itself.
It applies the same to semi-NPCs and NPCs.
This rule also applied to semi-NPCs, who could log out like game users.
This Wanderer is probably a semi-NPC.
Because NPCs could not leave the game world.
And semi-NPCs had one key difference from game users.
If they die here, they cannot come back.
Game users could resurrect a limited number of times even if they died in the game.
There were penalties, but they were still given another chance.
But semi-NPCs died for real.
“So Hee.”
Cale called her gently.
“!”
So Hee flinched.
Ignoring that, Cale released more of his dominating aura and spoke softly.
“Don’t even think about escaping.”
He whispered into her ear.
“If you want to stay in this game forever, then go ahead and try running.”
Staying in the game forever.
In other words—death.
“Damn you!”
So Hee struggled as if Cale’s voice made her skin crawl.
Kiiiiing—krrrk—
White light burst out for a moment.
As if it might explode.
“Your Majesty!”
While the startled officials and the martial artists moving to seize her flinched—
Slash.
A shallow sword cut appeared across So Hee’s neck.
“!”
Cale was startled, but forced himself to stay calm as he turned his head.
He saw Choi Han’s sword.
A single drop of blood clung to its tip before falling.
So Hee’s blood.
“......”
So Hee said nothing.
Choi Han had pierced through the white light and carved a shallow horizontal line across her neck.
Under that murderous presence, So Hee fell silent.
And Cale became slightly nervous.
As expected, he’s seeing red right now!
Well, it was understandable.
Those were the bastards who had done that to Choi Jung Gun.
The fact that Choi Han was holding back this much already proved he was a very good and gentle person.
—Hae-Il.
Cale had a reason for provoking So Hee earlier.
—When the white light burst out just now, one fine strand flew far away.
Beneath the dark-crimson clouds.
This place was the Heavenly Demon’s domain.
After hearing the Heavenly Demon’s words, Cale quietly looked down at So Hee, who was trembling under the dominating aura.
One by one—
Let’s hunt the hunters of the Five Colored Blood, one by one.
And then make the God of Chaos, the hunters, and the Demon Realm fight each other.
Everything was proceeding according to the larger plan.
Cale looked around the ruined arena before speaking to the King.
“Your Majesty. You should take her away quickly.”
He pointed at So Hee, who stood before the frozen King Tamahi.
Then he added one more thing.
“We caused a disturbance, so we’ll come along as well.”
The royal palace.
They needed to meet the King’s husband, the royal consort there.
That too was part of the plan.
This worked out well.
There would be no need to drag things out.
Everything would proceed comfortably.
However—
“Hmm.”
Looking at the eyes of the people of the Lan Kingdom who were staring at him, the Heavenly Demon, and Choi Han, Cale thought to himself,
This should be fine, right?
Everyone looked terrified.
Cale gently curved his eyes and spoke kindly.
“Let’s talk together and clear up any small misunderstandings.”
For reference, Cale was still wearing his mask.
Shake, shake.
Alberu alone shook his head.
Rumble—
The dark-crimson clouds gradually dispersed, revealing blue sky.
And the sunlight pouring down slowly seeped into the hero’s sword—the divine item Sun Sword—hanging at Alberu’s side.
No one noticed it.