Chapter 138 : Chapter 138
Chapter 138: Not Like Us (1)
Ibi, who had stopped trembling at some point, finally and slowly got up.
Then, she slowly pulled out the dagger that was embedded in her abdomen.
She frowned the moment the blade was pulled out, but it was only for a moment.
Even though it was a wound that would have been fatal on the surface, Ibi, who had easily pulled it out, just let out a hollow laugh as she looked at the dagger, which was stained black.
“What, is this…?”
Her expression was one of disbelief, as if she herself couldn't understand why she could still move properly.
As if she still couldn't quite believe it, she touched the stab wound this time, and the amount of black blood that came off on her hand undoubtedly indicated that she had sustained a fatal wound.
And yet, the breathing that had been only painful since the moment her mask had broken, suddenly became familiar, and at some point, the pain of the stab wound had also disappeared along with it.
“──Ha. Haha.”
Seeing Ibi like that, Kain smiled with satisfaction.
“That's why I told you, you are like me.”
He said, looking at her with the same pleased expression as when he had looked down at her dueling in this arena.
“Look. No matter what anyone says, you are the child who has inherited my blood.”
And his tone, which had been so firm until a moment ago, gradually softened.
“No matter how much you deny it, you are a Midrashi.”
At that moment.
“…!”
The ring on Ibi's little finger suddenly began to glow.
Startled by this, Ibi immediately turned to look in the direction the light was pointing.
And where she looked, there was Yubin, still fighting the soldiers.
His physique, no matter how nicely you put it, was far from ‘reliable’.
And yet, it was often enough for her to hide behind.
And someday, he had said that he had kept it empty for her.
It was his back.
Since he couldn't show his face now that he had taken off the 「Witch's Eye」, he couldn't look back at her, but the ‘guiding light’ continued to sparkle, speaking in place of Yubin who had turned on the light.
‘I am here’, it said.
“Think carefully, Evie.”
Kain said, looking directly at Ibi.
“I have given you what you have wished for your whole life.”
Then he glanced at Yubin, whom Ibi had turned to look at.
“You've lived a worthless life at the bottom, mingling with such worthless fellows.”
At these words, Ibi, who had been looking at Yubin's back, turned her head back to Kain.
At this, Kain said with the same gentle smile as when they had first met.
“I have given you the chance to become a being who stands at the top, feared by all. The master of that high castle, I have given you the chance to become our family.”
But me, who has done so much.
“Can you really turn your back, on your one and only family?”
He said.
As if he were certain that she would return to his embrace, he lightly raised both arms.
“Come back, Evie Midrashi.”
At that.
“…….”
Ibi gently closed her eyes.
Carefully, she wrapped one hand around the glowing ring on her little finger.
And, she remembered.
Toric's hearty laugh as they shared a drink and chuckled together at a trivial joke.
Lily's gentle smiling eyes as she held out a plate to her, who had devoured the dish in front of her in an instant and asked for another, as if she had been waiting for her to say that.
Miki's sparkling eyes as he clapped like a seal, saying how amazing it was, when she showed him her flashy dagger skills.
Rine's usual expressionless face, from which her emotions were somehow clearly read, during the really useless competition that had started from a debate about which was faster, her 「Shadow Step」 or 「Windstride」.
Yubin's sly smile as he gently took her hand in a moment of unguardedness, and put this ring she was now holding, on her finger.
Looking back on it now, they were all truly trivial things.
“……Ha.”
To the point where a hollow laugh escaped her, thinking that of all things, only such trivial memories would come to mind in a situation like this.
Certainly, she might have lived a worthless life.
Ibi thought, acknowledging Kain's words in her heart.
“Cut the bullshit, you damn father.”
But that's why, Ibi opened her mouth again and denied Kain's words.
Because even if they were trivial and worthless, they were all precious memories to her.
“You, were never once my one and only family.”
Ibi, saying that the broken mask was a nuisance, completely threw it off and tossed it on the floor.
And, she took a deep breath.
And as she held the thick poison in the atmosphere deep in her lungs, and then exhaled it in a long breath.
──Hwareureuk!
the moment she opened her eyes, a purple flame began to burn in Ibi's pupils.
“──I already have a family.”
It was instantaneous.
Fwoosh!
Ibi disappeared from Kain's sight, raising a cloud of white dust.
This time, Kain, who couldn't react to her speed in time, had already turned around by the time he did, and Ibi's purple glow, as she thrust her dagger, was accurately aimed at his neck.
Swish!
The sharp point of the knife drew a band of light.
“Kkh…!”
Black blood droplets scattered from Kain's neck, which had been slightly cut despite him barely managing to dodge it.
Kain nimbly twisted his body and swung a newly drawn dagger.
Whoosh!
The moment the long band of light that had followed, cut Ibi, Ibi's body blurred and scattered like a shadow.
“…!?”
As soon as Kain realized that what he had cut was Ibi's afterimage──
“──Peekaboo, you son of a bitch.”
Ibi, who had once again delved into Kain's embrace, this time stabbed at his heart.
Kain, who saw this, hastily snatched the blade with his bare hands, but Ibi did not stop and immediately swung the dagger in her other hand.
At the same time, Kain also swung his dagger.
Kaang!
The two clashing daggers sent sparks flying.
Kain immediately swung the dagger that had been thrown back again, but Ibi's 「Swift Hands」 was faster.
Instead of the dagger that had been knocked out of her hand, Ibi nimbly drew a new dagger── Don Paulo's stiletto, and plunged it into the armpit of Kain, who had swung his dagger.
“Ugh!”
As Kain groaned, his hand naturally lost its strength, and as soon as he let go of the dagger he had snatched, Ibi, who had immediately retrieved it, this time cut his leg.
Swish!
Ibi did not miss the brief opening when Kain lost his balance from this blow.
Ibi once again drew the other dagger at her waist, a black one.
And holding the two black and white daggers she had received from Kain in both hands, she suddenly let them go.
However, the two black and white daggers, which should have naturally fallen, remained in the air.
To be precise, it looked that way.
“──!”
Because Ibi, who had instantly split into ‘several people’ and surrounded Kain, had snatched and caught the two daggers every time they were about to fall due to gravity.
Each time, cutting Kain.
──Swish! Swish!
Every time Ibi's afterimages caught the dagger floating in the air and cut Kain, creating a gust of wind, the trajectory of the two purple flames, which couldn't keep up with the speed, drew a long band.
At the same time, Kain's black blood was scattered on the white floor.
Nevertheless, Kain could not move from his spot.
Every time he reacted late and moved, Ibi's afterimage had already scattered like a shadow.
When Ibi's afterimages all disappeared before long, the two black and white daggers were no longer floating in the air.
Instead, they were held in the two hands of Ibi, who was kneeling on one knee behind Kain with her arms crossed.
As if she had never let go of them from the beginning.
Then, flick, the moment Ibi swung the two daggers as if to shake them off, the black blood droplets of Kain that were on the blades scattered in all directions.
And only then, did Kain's body stagger, as if he had realized that he had been cut several times.
…….
‘See?’
I said to ‘The Beginning’, who seemed to be at a loss for words, with a grin.
Among the things Kain had said to Ibi, there were at least a few that were not wrong.
In any case, it was an undeniable fact that she had inherited the genes of a dark elf who had become accustomed to the toxicity of the Gloom over a long period of time, and of Kain, who could be called the strongest among them.
So I believed that Ibi would quickly adapt to the Gloom, and like these 「Dark Elf Soldier」who were rushing at us now── no, even more than them, she would be able to efficiently tame the poison and use it as a source of power.
In short, that she would ‘awaken’.
Of course, even if Ibi had awakened, now was not the time to leisurely watch her.
As I said before, the soldiers, who were also strengthened by the Gloom, were constantly rushing in.
Moreover, they had watched Kain, who could be called the de facto master of Krom, be helplessly defeated by Ibi's 「Shadow Dance」.
It must have been shocking.
To the point where they had all inadvertently stopped in their tracks.
“Baron!”
But belatedly, they suddenly remembered that their duty was to protect that Kain, and began to push forward with even more momentum than before.
At that, even though Miki, who had regained his posture, had rejoined us, the ‘defensive line’ was inevitably pushed back.
In the first place, it was a number that was too much for just the three of us to handle.
Moreover, because Rine's circle was also gradually being depleted, she could no longer spam high-circle magic like before.
However, the biggest problem was, of course.
“──Keuleok.”
That Kain was not a ‘boss’ who would go down so easily.
Literally.
Kain was dripping blood from the wounds he had received from the 「Shadow Dance」, but he did not fall.
He had staggered for a moment, but that was all.
Without kneeling, or stepping back, he was still standing properly on his two feet.
Besides.
“You, damn bitch…!”
As a bonus, unlike before, he was extremely angry.
It was true that until a while ago, he had been going easy on her under the pretext of ‘teaching’ his child.
But as if he had no intention of doing so any longer.
“I was going to accept a dirty half-breed bastard who rolled around on the streets, as my child, but…!”
Kain began to reveal the murderous intent he had been hiding all along.
To the point where even Ibi, at that murderous gaze, flinched without realizing it.
“…Are you finally showing your true colors?”
Ibi muttered with a sneer, as if she were in disbelief, but she couldn't hide the fact that she had been instinctively frightened for a moment.
As if to prove this, Ibi swallowed hard, gulp.
At that moment.
“Oh yeah!”
Hwareureuk!
The purple flame, which had been flickering due to the Gloom, began to cover not just Kain's two eyes, but his entire body and burn.
“If you want it that much, I'll take your life too!”
As if, only the ‘air’ where he was standing had changed.
In other words, it meant that the ‘phase’ had changed.