Trash of the Count's Family Vol 2. Chapter 414: Facing and Protecting (1)
“Ha, ha-”
Cale laughed.
Alberu Crossman was laughing.
He had lived because he had seen Alberu’s sunlight and moved toward it.
But Alberu Crossman—
‘He’s a mess.’
It was the first time Cale had ever seen him in such terrible shape.
His whole body was trembling.
Even the way he stood holding the sword was a wreck.
Whatever he had done, his hood had been torn away, and his clothes were ripped and crumpled in several places.
Blood was also streaming down him, smearing his face, neck, and clothes in a filthy mess.
‘He looks like me.’
For a moment, Cale thought he looked just like himself.
‘Ah.’
Then he suddenly realized it.
He could feel the cold night air.
His mask was now almost torn to shreds.
His clothes too had been ripped in several places.
Gray currents and wind.
On the path upward while forcing those away, the Water that Devours the Sky had protected him to the very end, but even then, Cale had still ended up getting cut all over by that sharp wind and rushing water.
‘Ah, my face is going to be exposed.’
Today might be the day I get exposed as Cale Henituse too.
“Hey, you—”
At that moment, Alberu’s trembling voice reached him.
But—
“Urgh!”
Cale realized that now was not the time to be thinking about anything else.
—It isn’t over yet!
The Ancient Tree’s urgent warning.
He had escaped the gray water, but the divine relic, the Knife of Chaos, was still in his hands.
‘Damn it!’
It would not come off.
And the gray that had covered his whole body was not disappearing either.
‘This isn’t corruption of chaos.’
It would not be purified.
And with his body in this state, this was not a situation where he could recklessly use Team Leader Lee Soo Hyuk’s embrace without solving anything first.
He also had to pass the divine relic to Lark, to the Blue Wolf, but he could not just hand over this insane object as it was!
“Urgh!”
This is driving me crazy!
Cale dropped down onto the stone that had erupted upward.
His body started trembling again.
There were no screams or cheers in his ears anymore, and his mind was still clear, but—
‘This insane knife......!’
The knife vibrated more violently and clung to Cale’s hands.
No, it was trying to stick to his body.
As if it wanted to become one with him.
“Cale—”
Alberu was watching that sight from closer than anyone else.
Because he alone was still able to remain intact on top of this gray lake.
His pupils were shaking.
It was hard to tell because of the blood Cale had shed.
“Your body—”
Every part of Cale’s body except for his eyes, every place revealed between his torn clothes, had been dyed gray.
Especially the hand gripping the knife.
Even the veins on that hand stood out grotesquely, having turned gray.
Wanderer Choi Jung Gun.
The corruption of chaos covering his body.
The moment Alberu’s face turned pale as he recalled that and he was about to step toward the stone jutting upward—
“Urgh!”
Cale groaned.
“Hah.”
Alberu sucked in a deep breath and stopped.
The knife.
The moment he stared at that knife, which looked like a divine relic, and tried to move closer—
‘Aaaagh, p-please save me!’
‘Hahaha, today is the Night of Pleasure! Nothing but pleasure!’
He heard desperate screams and voices of joy taken to the extreme.
Not dozens, not hundreds, but tens of thousands of voices all at once.
“Ah.”
Cale Henituse, so that bastard is hearing these sounds right now.
Alberu understood instinctively.
“Mm.”
His body swayed.
But he barely managed to steady himself.
‘Ah.’
The sword planted on the still-unbroken surface.
That sword kept him from collapsing.
The Sun Sword.
Alberu managed to regain his senses.
And he realized it.
‘The Sun God—!’
The power that could drive back chaos here and now was the power of the Sun God.
Hadn’t Cale come up after seeing that light too?
Squeezing out every last bit of strength left in his trembling body, Alberu raised the sword.
And he approached Cale.
FWAAASH—
While giving off a bright, warm light.
“Mm.”
For the first time, the pain-filled groan leaving Cale’s mouth weakened.
A strange light appeared in Alberu’s eyes.
Splash.
Water flowed out through the gap in the shattered surface, but Alberu paid it no mind and stepped forward.
He did not worry about falling into the water.
Step.
Because his foot touched the rock Cale had made first.
‘Ah.’
On top of that stone, Alberu felt it.
‘It’s weaker.’
On top of this rock, the dreadful and absolute aura pouring out from the lake was weaker.
Instead, he felt a familiar presence.
‘Cale Henituse’s aura.’
That strong aura this bastard revealed once in a while was hanging over the place.
Alberu realized that aura was protecting Cale.
And if one more source of strength that could endure were added here, Cale Henituse would overcome this.
Fwaaa—
The sword full of bright light came closer to Cale.
Trembling, Cale looked at Alberu Crossman, who had come forward almost crawling as he relied on the sword, and stared at the Sun Sword.
Light.
The instant he saw that light, the chaos lessened again.
The pain covering his body subsided.
‘Ah, I think I can live.’
The moment he was about to think that—
“Kuagh!”
Cale let out another groan.
‘Crazy!’
The knife shook like mad.
As if making one last desperate struggle.
It was reacting because it sensed that the power of the Sun God was dangerous to it.
A grin.
That was why Cale smiled.
There’s a way.
“Y-Your Highness.”
Cale opened his mouth.
He was about to say—
‘Please press that sword closer to me.’
Then I think a way will appear.
If I can see how that chaos retreats when the power of the Sun God touches it—
‘Me, and the ancient powers, will definitely find a way.’
Just as they always had.
But Cale could not continue speaking.
“Your Highness?”
Instead, Cale’s face twisted.
Alberu’s complexion had become far too bad.
So quickly it was almost sudden.
Fear was steadily filling his deathly pale face.
Just like Cale at the beginning, when he had felt fear under the weight of chaos.
What had suddenly happened?
The answer came quickly.
“Ah.”
Cale could see the Sun Sword in Alberu’s hand gradually losing its color.
Blink. Blink.
The bright light was dimming and flickering.
Like a lamp at the end of its life.
At that moment, Cale remembered what had been happening with the Sun Sword up until now.
One of the guesses he # Nоvеlight # had made.
‘That thing was rechargeable!’
Damn it!
Cale’s prediction was correct.
[Battery: 6%]
Alberu heard the warning.
[The battery will soon be depleted. Switching to ultra-low-power mode.]
[Upon reaching 0%, its functions will automatically shut down and it will switch to charging mode.]
At the same time, the light weakened and began to flicker.
And at the same time, screams and cheers rushed into his ears, and he felt the immense chaos pressing down on him.
It truly was chaos.
Something primordial, something that had existed from the very beginning.
Something that could not be precisely defined or clearly determined.
That was chaos, and that was probably why it was always terrifying.
Alberu was closest to the pool.
Because of that, he realized that he was now in the greatest danger.
Perhaps even more than Cale, who was capable of resisting.
The moment this Sun Sword went dark, there was no knowing what would happen to him.
So he made his choice.
“Cale—”
In a trembling voice, he called Cale’s name.
“M-my last—”
The words would not come out properly.
But that crafty bastard would have understood what Alberu meant.
I will give all of the Sun Sword’s remaining power to you.
After that, I’m leaving the rest to you.
As if he had understood, Cale’s face twisted.
“Your Highness—”
Ah, seriously.
Alberu swallowed down the laugh trying to come up.
Laughing now would be a waste.
Still, it was funny.
Now that bastard would understand how Alberu had felt back then, when he had not been able to stop Cale Henituse from saying he would use up the strength he had left even knowing it was dangerous.
He would definitely understand.
Because now Alberu understood how Cale had felt then, when he had had no choice but to do it.
[Battery: 5%]
Now he had to use the one move he had left.
Alberu slowly tightened his grip around the sword.
Cale’s face twisted.
And then.
“!”
“!”
Cale and Alberu.
The eyes of both men widened.
What spread across their faces was beyond surprise and bewilderment—it was dismay.
CRACK—
The hole the Sun Sword had opened.
The hole the stone had punched through.
Even so, the surrounding frozen surface had remained.
CRAAACK--
But now that entire surface was splitting apart.
No, it was melting away.
Tremble.
Cale looked down at his shaking hand.
The knife in that hand.
The divine relic’s final desperate struggle.
Cale now realized what that was.
CRACK!
The frozen surface shattered completely.
SHWAAAAA-!
And gray water surged upward.
It was a small pool.
But it was quite deep.
All the gray water inside it began overflowing out of the pool.
Ssssss—
Gray aura rose along with the gray water.
“Kuhahaha!”
Cale heard laughter.
He lowered his head.
Down there.
At the very bottom of the pool.
The saint was rising up through the water from there.
He was laughing.
“Fool.”
The saint mocked Cale.
“Do you think you can escape chaos by running away?”
If there is light, shadows are born.
If there are rules, chaos also exists.
Chaos exists everywhere.
“Sacrifice, you cannot escape it.”
Hummmm.
The knife in Cale’s hand shook even more violently.
But Cale could not take his eyes off the saint.
“...Lunatic.......”
Looking at the saint, that was all he could say.
“It only makes me happier.”
As he rose upward, the saint spoke.
“That I have become the first sacrifice.”
The saint’s two knives were stabbed into his own neck and stomach.
He cried out in delight.
“I killed myself. That is the greatest murder.”
HUMMMMM—
The saint had offered up his own life, and the knife was making its final desperate struggle.
“O night of slaughter.”
The saint smiled as he looked at the gray smoke steadily beginning to cover the dark moon.
“Still, I will die after seeing primordial chaos.”
The chaos that would descend here.
Just thinking about it made him happy.
The forty-fourth ritual.
It was beginning now.
Seeing the saint’s smile, Cale turned his head.
And he shouted.
To his companions.
To everyone around them.
“Run!”
SHWAAAAK—
The overflowing gray water.
And Alberu squeezed his eyes shut.
“I’m sorry.”
Leaving Cale with those words, he poured out all his strength.
FWAAASH—
The Sun Sword shone brilliantly one last time.
And that sword slashed toward the lake.
SHWAK!
The light extending from the sword split the gray stream of water.
For an instant, the gray water faltered.
“Over here!”
Cale shouted.
And in that brief opening, his companions reacted.
Tap.
Thud.
The Heavenly Demon and Eruhaben landed on Cale’s stone.
“Mm.”
“......”
And both of them collapsed down.
The gray smoke that had risen together with the gray water—
“This—”
The Heavenly Demon’s fingertips trembled.
“......”
Instead of speaking, Eruhaben squeezed his eyes shut.
“...Thank you—”
And he caught Alberu as he staggered and nearly collapsed.
Of course, he ended up collapsing together with him anyway.
And Cale—
‘Damn it!’
He had no time to look after his companions.
Ripple.
The gray water that had faltered for a moment—
SHWAAAA—
spread out over the lawn, through the basin.
[Battery: 0%]
The Sun Sword had now shut off completely.
‘Miss Rosalyn, Gashan!’
Cale saw Rosalyn and Gashan, who had been trying to run after hearing him, go rigid.
They were the two farthest away, at least.
“!”
“......!”
They could not move.
“U-ugh—”
“......!!”
Instead, they clutched their ears or grabbed their heads.
The gray smoke spread rapidly in every direction.
Screams and cheers fell over them.
Chaos—countless indefinable things—fell over them.
But even this was still the better outcome.