Chapter 165 : Chapter 165
Chapter 165: Phantom Liberty (3)
Kneeling, Kurt slowly straightened his waist, looking down with wide, startled eyes at the dagger embedded deep in his chest.
“H-How…”
It was clearly an expression of terror.
Though he had experienced 'death' several times since becoming immortal, he must have instinctively realized that this death was somehow different from all the others.
“Y-You, just who…!”
He looked terrified.
It was the look of someone who finally understood what the 'death' he had forgotten for hundreds of years truly was.
“You became immortal by drinking Shurine’s blood.”
I crouched down in front of Kurt and said.
Even by drinking Shurine’s blood, it only served as an ‘elixir’ of immortality; her blood did not actually flow in their bodies.
“But I, on the other hand, mixed my blood with hers.”
Unlike him.
“W-What did you say…!?”
Rine and I were connected by blood.
When we first formed the contract, I cut my finger and signed my name on the contract with my blood.
At that time, Rine’s blood was already 'stored' on that contract.
Her blood was also necessary to inscribe into the genetics of any being who signed their name with blood on this contract, making them a master whom she could never disobey.
That was how we were bound by blood.
Our mana was connected through blood and blood.
Even if the contract between Rine and I was broken and the brand disappeared, the fact that our blood was mixed at that time remained unchanged.
Of course, a few drops mixed wouldn't make me an immortal like this bastard.
Strictly speaking, neither this guy, nor Pariah, nor the 'nobles' dead in the underground prison, became immortal simply by drinking her blood raw.
It’s not like they were vampires.
Even though it was only an avatar, that blood, which clearly contained the 'divinity' of a god, was made into an elixir, as I said, and then consumed, which made it possible.
Therefore, I did not gain the separate 'Trait' of 「Immortal」.
However.
“Her blood flows in my body.”
Even if it was only a few drops.
And because of that, I gained the separate 'hidden trait' of 「God Killer」.
“Which means, I can kill you, too.”
The ability to kill beings who received immortality from a god-like entity, including the 2nd Shurine, an avatar of a god that a regular person’s body could never kill.
I, 'Yubin', possessed this.
This was something even the 'Beginning' dwelling in my body couldn't do.
The moment the 'Beginning' took over my body, this world would recognize this body as the 'Beginning' and not 'Yubin'.
Just as the 「Kingdom-Toppling Beauty」 trait didn’t activate even when it possessed the same beauty by borrowing my body.
No matter how strong the 'Beginning' was, even if all its stats were capped at the divine level of 30, it could not erase their immortality.
In fact, this was the reason why the 'Beginning' ultimately failed to kill the gods, its original goal, and was defeated and sealed.
“I-It’s, impossible…”
But I, with the 「God Killer」 trait, was different.
“I-Is this, the end… like this…?!”
I placed my hand on Kurt’s rough, short hair.
“I, I, Kurt…!”
Then, I pulled out the dagger embedded in his chest and tilted Kurt's head back.
“Who’s the bitch now?”
To stab him right up from under the jaw in one swift motion.
“Gasp…”
Pierced from the jaw, Kurt couldn't even scream.
And a moment later, when I pulled out the dagger I had plunged in up to the hilt, Kurt’s body fell forward.
His large, muscular body twitched briefly, then finally went limp and showed no further movement.
Because he had met true death, the one he had pretended not to know many times before.
“Bastard. I hated you from the start.”
Evie, who got the dagger back from me, muttered, looking down at Kurt’s back.
With this, the 'mid-boss battle' was over.
“Let’s get out of here quickly.”
It was truly time to leave this place.
It was time to go find Rine.
***
When we finally emerged from the Divine Palace, what awaited us was not the multitude of soldiers surrounding the palace… or anything like that.
Of course, soldiers were positioned in front of the Divine Palace.
But their gaze wasn't fixed on us, who had just come out.
It was directed toward the 'sky'.
Instead of us, who had killed Kurt and escaped (though the situation hadn't been relayed to them yet), they were just staring blankly upwards.
Naturally, all of our eyes followed their upward gaze toward the sky, and.
“What is that…?”
We finally saw it.
A small human figure floating above Shurina’s sky.
“S-Sister Rine…!?”
The person we were looking for.
“Sister Rineee! Can you hear us!!”
After a moment of surprise, Miki shouted loudly toward Rine.
“It’s us──!!”
“Hey, Rine──!!”
Seeing this, Evie also followed, cupping her hands around her mouth and yelling Rine’s name at the top of her lungs.
However, there was no reply from Rine.
And she didn't look in our direction either.
“Can she not hear us…?”
Toric wondered aloud, but even though she was floating in the sky, the shouts were so resonant that she should have clearly heard them from this distance.
In other words.
“S-Sister’s appearance, it seems a little strange…”
She was either deliberately ignoring us, or she was in a 'state' where she couldn't hear at all.
And it wasn't just the soldiers stationed in front of the Divine Palace who were looking up at Rine in that strange state.
Since the Divine Palace was built on the highest hill in Shurina, we could overlook the entire city from here.
Thanks to this, we could see.
All the people of Shurina had come outside… and gathered in the plaza, staring blankly up at Rine floating in the sky.
But.
“H-Hey. Wait a minute… over there…”
Their upward gaze seemed strange.
Evie, who seemed to have realized this, pointed a finger in that direction, toward the plaza.
That’s right.
They were clearly 'stopped'.
They weren't merely unable to tear their eyes away from Rine; they were simply frozen solid.
Like Pariah’s statue standing in the middle of the plaza where they had gathered.
They remained completely motionless, as if they had turned to stone or ice.
“What in the world is that…”
No matter how you looked at it, it was a bizarre sight.
“Don’t tell me, she’s using 「Time Stop」 again…?”
Naturally, the words we had just heard could not help but come to mind.
“Hey, what that guy said earlier… about taxidermy or whatever…”
Yes, taxidermy.
The people in the plaza were stopped, just like taxidermied figures, in the exact position of looking up at Rine.
However, the entire city wasn't like that.
For now, only the plaza area was 'stopped,' and the soldiers in front of the Divine Palace were, at least, moving and murmuring.
“Is that… that ‘False God’…?”
Although we couldn’t hear the exact murmuring, the people near the plaza seemed to be showing similar signs.
But they, too, soon stopped.
And the 'circle' that was stopping everything was gradually spreading from the plaza to the entire city.
People who realized this belatedly screamed and started running away from the 'circle'.
But it was only for a moment.
Soon, they one by one stopped in the position of having sensed something unusual and turning their backs, in the position of running to escape, in the position of stumbling after hastily pushing off the ground to flee.
That 'circle' began to swallow everything in the city.
That’s right.
The 'taxidermy' had begun.
By Shurine, for Shurina.
“What in the world is she doing, that girl!?”
Evie, who was watching the scene with us, was horrified.
Whatever it was, the fact that Rine, floating in the air, was creating the 'circle' that was stopping everything meant.
“Is she planning on getting revenge on the city that drove her out…?!”
She spoke as if Rine was clearly in a state of rampage.
“That, that False God’s doing!”
“Stop her! We must stop her!”
And even though they still didn't fully understand what the rampaging Rine was doing, the soldiers, who clearly realized it was an extremely dangerous act for them, eventually began to launch a collective attack on Rine.
They shot arrows and flung spells.
“Wait a minute──”
Lily, startled by this, instinctively tried to restrain them, but then stopped, realizing there was no need.
They couldn't reach her.
Neither the arrows nor the magic.
First of all, due to the distance, nearly half of them didn't even get close to Rine, and.
“……!”
The ones that did attempt to reach her, all stopped right in front of Rine.
Just like the people in the city.
They weren't falling, having lost their momentum; they were just floating in the air.
Even when the soldiers tried the same thing multiple times, the result was the same.
Only the number of stopped arrows and magical projectiles near Rine increased.
And with each attempt, they must have had the thought:
If I stay here, I might end up like that too.
Or, even if they didn't, maybe those stopped arrows and projectiles would suddenly shower down on them all at once.
“No…”
“R-Run away…!”
Realizing that they had no recourse, the soldiers instantly lost their will to fight and one by one began to run away.
But we, we couldn't run, could we?
To them, she might just be the 'False God' they chased out, but to us, she was a Companion.
Our Rine.
“W-What should we do…?”
So, none of us considered the option of running away.
“Damn it… shouldn't we stop this first?!”
“W-We have 'Wings,' so if we fly up and approach Sister…”
“If we approach her… is there any guarantee that we won't end up like that?”
“...!”
There wasn’t.
In fact, Toric was right.
If we approached her now, we would only end up stopping, just like the many arrows floating in the air.
And in the first place.
“Even if we approach her, I have a feeling she won't be in a state where we can talk.”
It was just like when I first met Rine at that wretched slave auction house.
The current Rine was in a 'state where dialogue was impossible.'
“Shit, then what are we supposed to do…?”
It was then.
“Wait, that person…!”
Everyone who realized the situation, including the soldiers who had started running, was fleeing from the 'circle' that had begun to swallow the city.
Except for one person.
“That bastard…!”
Pariah.
He was the only one not running away from the 'circle'── but rather striding boldly toward it.
To kill Rine.
In other words.
“──Let’s go, too.”
“What?!”
That was the method.
To be 'taxidermied'.
“We have to go meet Rine.”
Only that was the way we could 'talk' with the current Rine.