Chapter 198 : Chapter 198
Chapter 198
“You said it would take five days for the three villages, Mr. Obro.”
“So I did.”
I said.
“How long do you think it’s been since you said that?”
“Well. I don’t have a good sense of time.”
“Not even a day has passed yet.”
“Is that so?”
Obro tilted his head nonchalantly.
He looked much more stable than when he first entered the Underworld.
Behind him were hundreds of people.
They were the missing people from 11 years ago, gathered from wandering the Underworld.
“Thanks to your haste, our trouble has lessened.”
I smiled lightly.
If time was saved, that was a good thing.
The task of holding the gate to the Underworld open with Amethus was consuming more mental energy than I had thought.
“How was it, using a sword for the first time in a while?”
I gestured with my eyes to the sword at Obro’s waist. But Obro shook his head.
“…I couldn’t use the sword. I just couldn’t bring myself to draw it from its sheath.”
“…Then you mean you rescued all the people from three villages with just a club?”
“It was simple.”
I chuckled.
“Has the White Lord returned?”
“Still a drunkard.”
He gulped down some liquor.
Liquor flowed in the streams of the Underworld.
No matter how much time passed, it never evaporated, never turned to water; it was always liquor.
For a drunkard, it was most welcome.
“…I counted on the way.”
Having emptied a bottle of liquor, Obro Denoebang continued.
“There were about eight hundred in all.”
“……Is that so?”
My tone was one of concern that I might speak too easily.
11 years ago, people from three entire cities went missing.
Since they were all considerable metropolises, at least hundreds of thousands must have disappeared.
Out of hundreds of thousands, only eight hundred survived.
Looking at the numbers alone, it was a devastating affair, but strangely, the joy did not fade.
Was it because a human life could not be just a number? It probably was.
That eight hundred had survived until now was likely synonymous with eight hundred miracles.
“…….”
Obro Denoebang raised his eyes.
From all around, he could hear voices calling him, White Lord, White Lord. Expectation, admiration, and reliance.
The feelings of the people he had once taken for granted were now so unfamiliar that a corner of his heart throbbed.
It was truly, truly a strange thing, to want to meet the people’s expectations even while knowing he lacked any such ability.
Obro Denoebang parted his lips very slowly.
“……Let us go back, everyone.”
It could never be the same as before, but even so, the longing would be lessened.
“Let’s go back…….”
***
Amethus and I were able to smile happily.
We gathered more strength and began to open the gate to the Underworld.
So that eight hundred people could once again step on the surface.
‘The Unclosable Twenty Steps’, belying its name, widened to about several hundred steps, and Amethus’s jade flame blazed madly, driving out the darkness.
The gate to the Underworld opened.
The light of the surface began to seep into the Underworld.
The light clung to Obro Denoebang’s entire body, as if washing away his sweat.
“Ah…….”
He gently closed his eyes.
The feeling was deeply moving.
No, it was a feeling that could not be explained with such a simple expression.
It had been 11 years.
What kind of 11 years had they been?
He couldn't remember well.
It was too dark to see, even looking back.
He had lived buried in thick darkness for a long time.
It wasn't just Obro Denoebang; it was the same for those eight hundred survivors.
They all looked at the light with expectation and hope.
“Finally…….”
Obro Denoebang muttered.
The light surged.
It rushed in warmly, cleansing every corner of his body.
Mulling over the lost name of ‘Purity’ didn’t hurt.
“…Yes, finally…….”
“Mr. Obro.”
It was my voice.
A sense of urgency soon mixed in.
“Look behind you, Mr. Obro!”
“……?”
At the urgent call, Obro also turned his head quickly.
His eyes then shot wide open.
“……!!!”
The light of the surface surged.
It had driven back the darkness, but the people as well.
There had been eight hundred survivors, but now only about four hundred were visible.
“Where… did everyone……?”
“Tsk!”
I quickly racked my brain.
I noticed that only those who had been in the place where the surface light reached had vanished.
The survivors in the areas the light had not yet reached were stamping their feet in bewilderment, seeing their comrades who had been beside them disappear.
“Amethus!”
“Yes.”
“Let the gate close, just a little.”
“Understood.”
I decided to test my hypothesis.
As Amethus lessened the force of the jade flame, the gate to the Underworld began to close again.
The light vanished, and darkness came.
As the darkness came, the survivors reappeared.
Those who had disappeared and reappeared seemed unaware that they had vanished at all.
“…What is happening……?”
“…To fade in the light of the surface means……”
I, Shion Pollinglight, bit my lip.
“……It seems they have already become beings of the Underworld.”
“…Th-then! Then they can’t leave?”
“Not like this.”
“No way…….”
Obro’s face fell.
He lost his energy, sinking into sorrow without even the strength to contort his expression.
“To come this far…….”
It hurt all the more because he had held onto hope.
The thought, ‘So it ends up like this after all,’ was agonizing.
“…To have come this far, to have finally met them… and I have to leave them here and go…….”
“It’s too early to despair, Mr. Obro.”
The Regressor Prince shook his head.
“There is a way.”
Obro slowly raised his head.
A trust for me was beginning to sprout in his heart.
It was because of the hope I had given him until now.
“I told you, we have the face of Light. If their existence has been altered by the influence of the Underworld, then if we neutralize it with an ancient weapon that has the opposite power……”
[Ph-hehehe…….]
A low laughter echoed.
I thought it came from behind, but then it was from the side, and when I thought it was from the side, it was from the ground.
So as I looked at the ground, the voice shook the entire Underworld from high up in the black sky.
[I cannot allow that.]
***
It was a strange voice.
It seemed to be whispering secretly, yet it resounded throughout the entire Underworld.
I couldn't even distinguish what language it was, yet I could clearly understand its meaning.
I bit my lip. I knew the kind of being that made such a voice.
“Damn it all……!”
I spat out a curse.
But since I was using my strength to keep the gate from closing, I could do nothing but utter harsh words.
Obro Denoebang asked in bewilderment.
“…Shion! This voice is…….”
“It’s him!”
The Regressor Prince raised his voice.
“He’s awakened!”
“Him……?”
“No, was he awake from the beginning……? I see, you damn bastard! You were toying with us……!!”
“Who is he, Shion!”
“Who else would it be! The master of this Underworld……”
My, Shion Pollinglight’s, face contorted violently.
“…The ancient god, ‘Black Light of the Abyss’-!!”
[Hoh, what a joyous occasion.]
The voice continued.
[How long has it been since a human called my name. It has been well over a thousand years. Thank you, thank you……. I suppose I should offer something in return…….]
A giant hand shot down.
It was covered in liver spots and rotted in places, with bone showing through.
The terribly emaciated hand, looking as if it had just crawled out of a grave, resolutely pushed Amethus and me away.
[As a reward, I shall tear you to shreds. Now, you two troublesome-looking fellows, be gone over there…….]
Amethus and I had no intention of just taking it.
Amethus drew his sword, and I summoned the Heated Iron Bloodline.
But we had already spent too much energy holding the gate open.
I realized that the ‘Black Light of the Abyss’ had been waiting for our strength to wane all along and shouted.
“…For an ancient god, you play quite pettily!”
[Call it seasoned, child……. When hunting, is it not the way to wait for the prey’s strength to be exhausted?]
Another hand appeared from the darkness and pushed me.
Amethus and I were pushed as it willed.
“…Damn it… my strength is too drained……”
[You who are an obstacle to me, return. Especially you, child, I do not know what your relationship is with those vulgar eight of Hotus, but I cannot bear your stench…….]
“I don’t smell, you know!”
[Hmm, the smell of blood, the smell of screams, the smell of lies……. What secrets have you stuffed into your heart for it to have rotted so…….]
I resisted, even summoning Valziart, but the force of the ‘Black Light of the Abyss’ was stronger.
Black Light was one of the top three among the thirteen ancient gods, and this place, the Underworld, was his domain.
No matter how strong Amethus and I were, we had no way of winning in our exhausted state.
[Those eight hundred are mine. They ate and drank in my land, so they are mine. Now, step back…….]
“Obro! Listen carefully, Obro!”
I yelled.
Only then did Obro Denoebang come to his senses.
“Amethus and I… will somehow keep the gate from closing. But, at most, for a day or two! Finish it before then!”
“…F-f-finish it? How……?”
“How do you think!”
I forgot my polite speech and shouted as if to an old friend.
“Defeat him…….”
Snap.
My words were cut off.
I was no longer visible.
The same went for the jade flame and Amethus.
[Ph-hehehe…….]
The jet-black darkness drew near.
The black laughter felt as if it were squeezing Obro’s heart.
***
Obro Denoebang was thrown into the darkness along with the eight hundred survivors.
He was still clutching the club, but his hands were trembling violently.
He had thought he had returned a little to his old self while rescuing the people, but he was still the same pathetic drunkard.
He felt devastated.
[My things… my precious, precious prey…….]
The emaciated hand shot out again.
[Your foolishness brings me joy.]
The owner of the hand finally revealed itself.
It was a single snake.
A black snake of a size incomparable to the ‘Name-eaters’ appeared slowly from the darkness, its maw open and its tongue flicking.
Its body was so long that its tail was still submerged in the darkness.
A human face was attached between its nostrils, smiling.
No, on closer inspection, each and every scale was the face of a specter.
The filthy snake, wearing tens of thousands of distorted faces instead of scales, strangely had arms.
It had sixty-six arms in total.
Thirty-one on the left, thirty-five on the right.
A right arm was attached to its left side, and a left arm to its right.
The way it crawled, using the back of its hands instead of its palms to brace itself on the ground, resembled a filthy and horrific centipede.
[Do you know how precious you are to me……. How precious would prey be, met after a thousand years……. I wanted to savor you…….]
The black snake opened its maw wide.
A terrible stench seeped out from within. Its mouth was teeming with maggots.
[But it is better than having you taken away……. Now, quickly, into my maw, return to where you belong…….]
“…….”
It was as the ‘Black Light of the Abyss’ said.
The people who had drunk the water and eaten the fruit of the Underworld were already Black Light’s property.
When he told them to return, they had no choice but to go back, regardless of their own will.
The Village Chief and Mariet could only watch in terror as their own feet, disobeying their will, headed toward the black snake’s maw.
“……Right, I thought it was too easy…….”
There was a man blocking the black snake’s path.
The name of the man who stood as if to protect the eight hundred survivors was, of course, Obro Denoebang.
Grief flowed from his tear ducts.
“……Even knowing that life couldn’t be that easy…….”
[Ph-hmmm?]
“……I wanted to be mistaken.”
Obro Denoebang knew his hands were trembling like mad.
Just thinking of a sharp blade made the depths of his chest ache as if being stabbed.
But so what if it did.
In truth, it was a pain that couldn’t be dismissed as such, but still, it was just that.
It was a wound he had to overcome.
“I was that foolish again.”
Obro shed tears.
And for the first time in 8 years, he drew his sword again.