Trash of the Count's Family Vol 2. Chapter 453: …Can I Take It All? (16)

Cale smiled coolly.

“Th-this—”

The Pope looked up at Cale and continued.

“How can this possibly—”

How could this possibly make sense?

But he never got to finish.

BOOOOOM!

Because Cale had no intention of waiting for him.

Because he could not have cared less about whatever nonsense the Pope wanted to babble.

“Urk!”

The Pope tried to raise both arms to block, but the moment he saw the shield devouring his chaos again, he reflexively threw himself sideways.

BOOM!

The shield smashed into the floor with a thunderous crash.

-Cale, doesn’t it hurt?

The Ancient Tree worried.

-And even if it’s different from the God of Chaos’s, once it enters the body, corruption of chaos still begins. I’ll analyze the Pope’s chaos! It’ll take some time!

The Water that Devours the Sky began its analysis.

“Human!”

Raon shouted.

“Your hands turned gray!”

Both of Cale’s hands had turned gray, and the color was already climbing past his wrists.

“Human, you’re getting corrupted!”

At Raon’s worried voice, Cale opened his mouth.

“It’s fine.”

To the Ancient Tree’s question about whether he hurt.

To the Water that Devours the Sky saying it would take time.

To Raon’s worry.

Cale answered the same way.

He was fine.

The shield crashed down again.

BOOOOOM!

“Ghk!”

The Pope desperately raised one arm and hurled chaos at the shield.

The other arm, apparently broken, would not move at all.

BOOOOOM!

“AAAGH!”

Even the chaos on that one arm was devoured by the shield before it slammed into the Pope again.

By now, gray had completely swallowed the silver of the shield.

But Cale was fine.

-It’s edible!

The gluttonous priestess said she could eat more, that she was getting used to it.

-Cale, I’ll block as much of the corruption as I can!

The crybaby old man revealed his grim resolve.

He truly was holding back the gray as it tried to crawl over Cale’s hands and up his arms.

It’s different.

Cale could clearly feel that the corruption spreading through his body was different from what had happened to Choi Jung Gun.

I’m enduring it.

Thump. Thump. Thump.

His heart was pounding harder than ever, and he could tell his body was fighting back against the corruption.

The gray tried its best to seize more of him, making the veins on the backs of his hands bulge—

Thump. Thump. Thump.

—but compared to the amount of corruption the shield was swallowing, the gray only spread to a point midway between his wrists and elbows before stopping there.

“Y-you’re enduring corruption even while eating chaos?”

Cale heard someone’s shocked voice from behind him, but he did not care.

They sounded like an enemy, but his companions would handle that.

There was only one bastard he had to deal with.

Only one bastard he had to beat down.

The Pope.

BOOOOOM!

The shield did not let up for even a moment.

And somehow forming another gray barrier, the Pope shouted,

“Attack!”

He was ordering the holy knights.

And before those holy knights could reach him—

BOOOOOM!

Cale swung the shield again, devouring more of the Pope’s chaos, and his smile deepened.

WOOOOO—WOOO—

By now, not a trace of silver remained on the shield.

And yet the moment he heard one thing from the crybaby old man, Cale could not help laughing out loud.

-Cale! You can definitely endure it!

Thump. Thump. Thump.

The heart’s vitality.

The power of regeneration beginning from the heart.

And life itself.

-Your blood has a vessel now.

The vessel had shattered to the point of becoming powder and was now flowing through his body.

-Your vessel originally held power vast enough to contain all of us.

Until now, he had thought it simply meant he no longer had to worry about the vessel breaking.

-And the blood that carries that vessel passes through your heart.

Wow.

Cale was impressed.

The heart’s vitality.

At some point, this power had grown stronger.

Then again, perhaps it had always been an immensely powerful force from the start.

Without the heart’s vitality, Cale would never have endured every ordeal he had gone through.

Enduring.

Just as much as the Unbreakable Shield excelled at blocking things, the heart’s vitality excelled at enduring them.

-I’m only realizing it now because this is the first time I’ve ever been through something like this.

Pouring greater vitality into the heart with his whole being, the crybaby old man spoke.

-So that chaos won’t be stored in your vessel.

-In other words, so that your blood won’t be corrupted.

-So that the vessel that is you won’t collapse.

There was more strength in the old man’s voice than ever before. No trace of tears remained. No regret either.

-You can endure it.

Until now, Cale had only used tremendous power himself, gotten hurt, and then regenerated.

But now the crybaby old man had realized something else.

Cale could also block outside power trying to invade his body.

And what the old man realized was also what Cale realized.

“Hah—”

The Pope stared at the laughing Cale as if he were insane, but Cale truly did want to laugh.

“As expected, if you endure long enough, a way always shows up.”

As long as he survived, some path always opened up in the end.

-Just bear the pain a little longer!

Just as the crybaby old man said, Cale was in pain now.

Actually, he was hurting quite a lot.

But his heart felt so at ease that, if he were being honest, he was happy.

“Protect His Holiness!”

CLANG!

Clang, clang!

The holy knights who had been keeping their distance from the battle between Cale and the Pope were now closing in on Cale without leaving even the slightest gap.

Their faces were full of fear, but they advanced with the look of people staking their lives on this.

Even the Heavenly Demon’s side.

The Heavenly Demon, who was handling Hitelis.

And the highest-ranking holy knight’s side.

And the others tied up over there.

None of them seemed in any position to help Cale.

They really are strong.

As befit those standing at the center of the Order of the God of Chaos, they were powerful.

Far stronger than the saint.

BOOM! BANG! BOOM! BOOOOM—

From the direction of the highest-ranking holy knight, deafening crashes rang out one after another. Choi Han, Sui Khan, and even General Mol were all there, and yet they still did not seem to have beaten him.

Cale considered checking that side, but instead focused on the Pope.

-Cale, you have to block the holy knights’ attacks too.

Following the Ancient Tree’s advice, Cale charged the Pope with the shield again while keeping his senses trained on everything around him.

CRACK!

The instant Cale kicked off the floor and rushed toward the Pope—

“Come!”

the Pope shouted.

“O Chaos!”

Several holy knights cried out and charged.

Cale focused on all of it.

-Human, I’ll help with magic!

This time, Cale nodded at Raon’s words.

BOOOOOM!

Then Cale saw two holy knights blocking the path of his shield.

And beyond them, he saw something else.

“......!”

For a moment, Cale was speechless.

“O Chaos!”

“O Chaos!”

The two holy knights who had rushed first while crying out to Chaos—

they were both young.

And they were not running toward Cale.

They were running toward the Pope.

Come!

Cale remembered the Pope’s command.

“No way—”

Shock flashed across his face.

“Ha.”

The Pope smiled benevolently and barely managed to stretch out one arm and beckon.

And then—

“O Chaos!”

“O Chaos!”

Toward the gray membrane spread open with countless mouths—

Crunch.

The two holy knights hurled themselves in.

And then—

Crunch, crunch.

They were eaten.

Very quickly.

Ah.

Only then did Cale realize that the look in the holy knights’ eyes—fearful and yet grim, as if they had braced themselves for death—had not been because of him.

They had become food for the Pope.

CHOMP. CHOMP.

The gray became even more many-colored, and the countless mouths opened and shut as if in delight.

And they were still hungry.

“Come!”

The Pope’s expression brightened.

Both his arms were still broken, and his entire body was covered in wounds.

Even so, he felt no pain anymore.

All he felt was hunger.

CHOMP. CHOMP.

The many-colored gray moved again as if it had come alive, and the Pope was satisfied.

Even if his body broke, as long as that gray lived, he could still claim that vessel.

And there was plenty of food.

“Come!”

the Pope shouted again.

“O Chaos!”

“O Chaos!”

Again the holy knights let out grim cries and charged forward.

-Cale. You can’t let this continue!

The Ancient Tree’s voice turned grave.

-I really want to beat the shit out of that bastard!

The Water that Devours the Sky spat out its fury.

-...That’s not what eating is.

As the gluttonous priestess began to flare up again, Cale swung the shield.

BOOOOOM!

But now there were more people blocking him.

“O Chaos!”

Holy knights standing in Cale’s way rather than the Pope’s.

Their role was to buy time for the Pope to eat.

“Yes, come at me!”

Even in the middle of that, more holy knights ran toward the Pope.

-Damn it!

The Ancient Tree could not hide his frustration.

Then Cale, eyes sunken and cold, spoke.

“You’re late.”

The moment those words left him—

CLANG!

the sound of a sword being drawn rang out.

Slash. Slash. Slash.

“AAAH!”

“Urk!”

“Kgh!”

The holy knights rushing toward the Pope fell.

Between the Pope and the holy knights, one person calmly revealed himself.

Not from the Heavenly Demon’s side, where Hitelis was being handled.

Not from the average ten-year-olds’ side, where Choi Jung Soo was being protected.

And not from the side where Choi Han and Sui Khan were facing the highest-ranking holy knight.

He was someone who had followed only the light.

And someone who had waited for a gap while looking for the task that belonged to him.

“I’m late, Cale-nim.”

Seeing Clopeh smiling brightly, Cale smiled too.

And then—

“Block the holy knights.”

He was ordering Clopeh to stop dozens of holy knights by himself.

But Clopeh answered that command with visible delight.

“Gladly.”

If it was Cale’s order, there was nothing he could not do.

And at the very moment he resolved to obey it, Clopeh saw Cale leap.

WHOOOOOSH—

Wind curled around Cale’s feet.

“Stop him!”

“You have to hold!”

The holy knights tried somehow to block the shield.

Then—

“You did well.”

Leaving behind those few words, Cale let go of the thin silver thread connecting his hand to the shield.

WOOO—WOOO—

The shield, stained gray, vanished.

“Huh!”

“......!”

The holy knights faltered for an instant in confusion.

WHIIISH—

In that moment, Cale rode the wind, kicked off the ground, and cleared them.

Then he shot forward.

Toward the Pope.

“!”

With no shield.

With nothing at all.

Cale was charging him barehanded.

Surprise flashed across the Pope’s face.

-That’s right. Cale can endure it!

The crybaby old man had understood Cale’s intention.

Cale’s body could endure even if it was buried in that chaos.

He could cut through that chaos and get close.

Of course, there were still countless mouths in that chaos.

FWOOOOSH—

Reddish-gold firebolt wrapped around Cale’s entire body.

Unextinguished fire.

The stingy old man gave him certainty.

-It can endure until the moment you reach him!

Seeing Cale approach, the Pope’s face twisted.

“How dare—!”

But before he could react further, Cale, riding the wind, was already upon him.

He was fast.

Wildly fast.

There was nothing holding him back.

“Ghk!”

The Pope poured chaos toward Cale.

Like the wave of chaos the God of Chaos had once created, a violent surge rushed at him.

That chaos was filled with many-colored gray.

And countless mouths.

Cale threw himself into that wave of chaos.

SSSS—SSSSS—

For an instant, it felt to Cale as if the entire world had turned gray.

CHOMP.

From every direction, countless mouths opened inside the wave of chaos toward him.

But—

FWOOOOSH—

what those mouths ate was only the reddish-gold firebolt.

“Ah.”

Bliss bloomed at the corner of Clopeh’s lips.

A vast gray wave.

And inside it, a reddish-gold light was shining.

Then that reddish-gold light rode the wind and cleaved its way forward through the wave.

-It’s fine! I can block as much of the corruption as possible! You can still endure it!

Cale’s body was holding out against the corruption.

With his two gray hands, he tore through the gray blocking his way and opened a path forward.

He kept moving, kept advancing, carving a way ahead with those hands that had turned gray.

And at last—

“Ah.”

The gray had now passed his wrists and was spreading toward his elbows.

With those two gray hands—

he tore through the wave of chaos once more.

FWOOOOSH—

And even in that instant, the reddish-gold light was still shining.

The countless mouths coveted that reddish-gold light as Cale carved his way through at incredible speed, but the fire endured.

The flames that had purified vast amounts of dead mana were not something that would collapse from a mere single wave.

“I see it.”

In that world turned entirely gray, Cale finally tore through the wave and found the light.

And beneath that light, he saw the Pope trembling.

The Pope’s eyes were stained with fear.

Like prey standing before a beast.

“H-how—”

How could a human endure chaos?

How could someone absorb even a little chaos—a torment as agonizing as death—and still withstand it?

How could someone possess enough power to endure those countless mouths?

He never got to finish the question.

“Got you.”

Because Cale grabbed the Pope by the back of the neck.

Then the stingy old man shouted.

-Let’s purify him!

Crunch.

The reddish-gold firebolt in Cale’s gray hand—

“Yeah. Let’s purify you now.”

BOOOOOM!

—drove straight into the Pope.

“KYAAAAAGH—!”

Cale had not forgotten the pain of Choi Jung Gun, Sui Khan, and Choi Jung Soo.

Not one person.

Three.

Choi Jung Gun had nearly died, Sui Khan was still fighting while blood poured from a wound that had not yet healed, and Choi Jung Soo had been left with dozens of cuts all over his body.

“U-uaaaagh—!”

The Pope, who had done nothing but devour things all his life, had never experienced this degree of pain.

Ever since he began serving the God of Chaos, he had never known any stimulus stronger than hunger.

And now, while suffering pain that surpassed even the hunger that had let him ignore the agony of his two broken arms, the Pope could not believe what was happening.

To that Pope—

-One more time!

At the request of the fire of destruction, Cale drove the firebolt down again.

Ripping apart the Pope’s chaos as it tried to protect him.

“KYAAAAAAH—!”

The Pope’s desperate scream rang out.

Cale was carrying out, diligently, his resolve to make the bastard take dozens upon dozens of hits in return.

-I think our human’s eyes just spun 367 degrees!

Naturally, he ignored Raon’s comment.

-Sniff, sniff.

Even in the middle of all that, the Sound of the Wind was searching the Pope’s robes for the divine relic Wind-Borne Chaos.

No matter how angry he was, Cale was still the kind of person who handled what needed handling.