Chapter 254
Right after Yurik swept through like a storm,
Eibon looked at the grains of sand rolling around where he had disappeared, then sat down with trembling legs.
"I, I was so scared. I was worried about what would happen if we really fought...!"
Had the dignified appearance she had shown just moments before been bluffing?
But for bluffing, she had truly looked like a great mage, so he patted Eibon's head.
Eibon slumped down and kept sighing deeply, then suddenly raised her head.
"Do you know him?"
"Yeah... a little."
"That's a lie. It doesn't seem like just a little. Haven't you two known each other for an incredibly long time? From the way you were talking, it seemed like you'd lived together for at least a few hundred years?"
"We weren't together that long!" "Anyway, you were close, that's right. What on earth happened between you? Why was he trying to kill people like that?"
He paused the hand that had been stroking Eibon's head.
Recalling Yurik's bloodshot eyes and the tears that had pooled slightly, he didn't feel good.
"He probably wasn't trying to kill me or hurt me."
"What? What are you saying, Yesung? I really felt murderous intent. Standing in front of Yesung, my skin was stinging."
"No. Yurik probably had no intention of hurting me. He was just so angry that he lost his reason."
"Why was he that angry? Did Yesung make some mistake?"
"There were some things like that. Thanks to you coming, it didn't escalate into a big fight, but I still can't comfortably tell you about it."
This was a problem between him and Yurik.
If he told Eibon about it, his heart might feel relieved for a moment,
But he couldn't whine to a kid much younger than him. There was such a thing as adult dignity.
Eibon, who had been sulking while he stroked her head, suddenly stood up.
"Yesung always says things like that. Fine, but if you ever feel like it, you must tell me. The person with Yesung right now is me."
"Mm."
But he thought he should still act like an adult.
When he answered ambiguously, Eibon grumbled as if she had read his mind.
"I know Yesung treats me somewhat childishly, but I'm an adult now."
"Really? You were just sitting down scared until a moment ago."
"That's that and this is this! I'm over 200 years old now, old enough to be responsible for myself."
He blinked his eyes for a moment upon hearing those words.
Had it already been that long?
Eibon, who had helped the injured people in the village and protected him, had somehow grown up without him noticing.
Her thoughts had also deepened, and her way of speaking was deeply imbued with the consideration characteristic of elders.
It seemed like just yesterday when he had brought her out from among the Theem'drans and started traveling.
Somehow, this was a little...
"Time passes too quickly..."
"What? What did you say?"
"Nothing. Nothing at all. Let's rest somewhere else first. It's fine to get food from nature."
"Okay."
Eibon stood up energetically.
Watching her walking ahead of him, he wondered what expression he would make if she aged and died.
They brought out Aphoom-Zhah, who was resting in the depths of the damp forest, and moved immediately.
It wasn't like there were only people in this region,
And they didn't know when Yurik might appear again.
But since that day, Yurik had never shown himself.
It was the same after 1 year, 3 years, 10 years, and 100 years passed.
Eibon had a strong desire to learn, and her desire to teach also overflowed.
Moreover, during that period, naturally occurring humans formed tribes, and as the size of tribes grew, the speed of consuming nearby resources accelerated.
As a result, friction between different tribes became frequent as they sought to claim accessible and abundant resources.
It wasn't fights between individuals,
But fights between tribes - the concept of a kind of war was born.
Meanwhile, some people left their tribes due to fear of death or other reasons.
When Eibon encountered such people, she would take them in and raise them, and sometimes persuade them well and send them back.
But if the deserter caught Eibon's fancy,
She would teach them various knowledge including the Theem'dran language and help them use magic.
"I'm curious about something. How do you figure out who can use magic?"
"You can tell roughly by making contact. The first is determining whether they have magical power or not, and the second is whether this person has magical aptitude."
"I see."
"If they lack either one, they can't function as a mage. Actually, even the people I've met so far were barely at a level where they could awaken as mages."
"How can you tell that?"
"The power they have, their magical power is small. It might be different for Theem'drans... but I've never been there since becoming a mage, so I don't know well."
[Believer. Don't get any ideas. You're hopeless at becoming a mage. You leak magical power all over the place but have no aptitude for learning.]
"I never even thought about wanting to become one...!"
Whether one wanted it or not, becoming a mage was similar to a kind of destiny.
The fates of the mages Eibon produced were all different.
Those who learned magic and returned to the tribes they had fled from to seek prosperity.
Those who heard the cosmic truths Eibon told them and went slightly mad, choosing wandering to pursue even greater truths.
Those who heard about aliens that existed in ancient times and left to find them.
Eibon affirmed all the choices of her 'disciples.'
While doing so, she didn't turn away even people who came looking for her after hearing rumors about her.
Just as Aphoom-Zhah had once taught her, she too was raising mages.
However,
As with all things, the goodwill someone had shown doesn't return correctly but is misinterpreted and flows in the wrong direction.
*
[There's something.]
Aphoom-Zhah suddenly said.
Eibon was just about to put a sour fruit she had just picked into her mouth.
He was helping her gather fruit beside her.
Eibon asked again, not understanding.
"Lord, what did you say was there?"
[I don't know its identity, but something has come. It's probably not anything good. It's right nearby.]
Since the last time Aphoom-Zhah had said such a thing was about 250 years ago,
It took him some time to understand as well.
"Could it be an alien god?"
[I can't tell if it came down from outer space or was originally sleeping. Believer, what will you do?]
"What do you mean what will I do? Of course we have to go."
The fruit they had gathered spilled out.
As he shook off his hands stained with juice and packed his red book, Eibon stopped him.
"Wait, Yesung, where are you going?"
"Do you remember going to Shaguna Fan's cave long ago? Something similar to that has come."
"Shaguna Fan..."
She turned slightly pale and muttered.
The first god that Eibon and Aphoom-Zhah had sealed together, just the two of them.
Since then there had been no particular news, so he had been living occasionally thinking only of Tsathoggua.
Why had it suddenly appeared at this moment? Where on earth from?
As he quickly turned his thoughts and tried to leave, Eibon followed, even grabbing her own cloak.
"Eibon. You stay here."
"I'll go too. I can help if necessary."
"You've sealed an unhatched god before. And only once at that."
"That was a long time ago. I've learned a lot since then, so I'll be able to do better. You know me, right? I won't get in the way."
Was she going to be this stubborn?
Seeing Eibon's eyes blazing, he sighed involuntarily.
"I can't break your stubbornness. But if it's dangerous, you go back immediately."
"You're stating the obvious."
If Aphoom-Zhah said this 'nearby,'
It meant the newly discovered god was at least within 150km of their radius.
It was fortunate that they didn't have to search the entire continent,
But examining a 150km radius was also quite difficult work.
At least Eibon had narrowed the range further by focusing on places where magical power felt strong.
If not for that, they might have kept wandering around like when they were looking for Shaguna Fan.
"It seems to be over there. Probably the middle of the mountain."
"Damn it."
The place Eibon pointed to after walking for over an hour.
Her finger pointed to the middle of a steep mountain rising distantly and imposingly.
The moment he saw it, a curse came out automatically.
Why were all these so-called gods in places like this?
Didn't they consider accessibility? Accessibility?
[This being's believer is quite frail, so I wonder if he can climb up there.]
"What can we do, Lord? We have to climb up. Yesung does what he needs to do, so it should be fine, right?"
"Both of you, please don't say such things openly in front of me."
Life was a series of suffering, and suffering was proof of life.
He steeled his heart and hurriedly moved his steps.
Behind him, Aphoom-Zhah and Eibon followed, sending him looks full of worry.
But it wasn't like he could turn back here saying 'Ah, I can't climb mountains. I'm out!'
He resolved himself firmly and stepped onto the mountain path.
Of course, 10 minutes later he ended up climbing to the middle of the mountain on Eibon's back at her suggestion.
The attempt to climb the mountain with his own feet seemed to have been good in itself.
"It's hard hanging on, isn't it? We're almost there."
"...Sorry..."
"What are you saying between us? It's okay, I said it's okay."
But being embarrassed was a completely different matter.
Eibon, speaking cheerfully, climbed the steep path with big strides even while carrying him on her back.
She had inherited the Shambhalan characteristics completely. The more this happened, the more he thought of Tika.
The higher they climbed the mountain, the steeper it became, and later there were more stones visible than soil.
By the time they climbed to their target location by choosing only safe routes, the sun was setting.
The middle of the mountain.
There was a flat rock surface where they could step like a rest area,
And behind the rock surface were a rock wall and hole that had been awkwardly carved out.
When he got down from Eibon's back, Aphoom-Zhah was staring suspiciously at the hole.
"What's wrong?"
[I have a strangely familiar feeling. Believer, don't you know?]
"I can't feel anything like that."
[It's strangely unpleasant. I feel like I forgot to freeze one of Ig's wings.]
"What kind of comparison is that? We'll know once we go in."
"Yesung, are you going in first?"
"Aphoom-Zhah and I will go in front. You follow behind."
After all, the two of them were far from death.
He dragged the reluctant Aphoom-Zhah and went into the hole together.
Since the sun was setting, the inside of the cave was even darker.
Strangely, it didn't have the feeling characteristic of natural caves.
That was because the floor was flat as if someone had smoothed it out, and there wasn't a single stone to trip over.
When he reached back with his empty hand, someone grabbed it.
"Eibon, you're following, right?"
"Ugh, yes. It's so dark. Are you two okay?"
"For now."
Aphoom-Zhah was walking straight ahead without a word.
When his eyes barely adjusted to the darkness, he could see shadows faintly swaying ahead.
Since they only briefly showed their outline and then disappeared immediately, even he couldn't accurately identify what they were.
But most things that could move were alive,
And most bad incidents were caused by living things.
He walked quickly while killing his footsteps and reached where the shadow had been, but there was already nothing there.
Which direction had the shadow moved and disappeared?
As he recalled its direction and walked to the other side, he felt like he was floating in the air in the pitch-black darkness.
And then a flash from over there.
"Huh."
"Shh."
This time Eibon also seemed to have seen it properly and drew in a small breath.
A hazy bright shadow. That was definitely a person. At least a person connected to this cave.
They persistently followed the outline of the dim light and shadow that briefly revealed itself and then disappeared.
The path that bent at regular intervals was just like a maze.
A vicious maze where people who didn't know the maze's path would wander in eternal darkness and not be able to escape.
And the end of that maze.
He briefly closed his eyes and opened them at the suddenly brightening view.
On the cave walls, on the floor, an incredible number of glowworms spread out.
He had sometimes seen insects that stayed awake at night and emitted their own light.
But he had never dreamed there would be this many.
The glowworms were emitting light from their tail ends with luminescent substances produced in their bodies.
This continued even when they were stuck alive in the walls.
Of course, some were flickering and going dark, but there was no problem securing visibility.
Through the rustling sounds made by thousands of insects, he could hear a voice echoing after being reflected off the walls.
"[Mother of Sorrows, being in darkness who despises and hates light! Please accept the devotion we offer. Thus may you regain your power!]"
Mother of Sorrows.
In the history of this planet, there would be only one being who could refer to itself that way...
A cool hand grasped his shoulder as he fell into panic.
Aphoom-Zhah was smiling.
[Believer. It seems there's one thing you missed.]
The disgusting Idra
Had returned before the descendants of Theem'dra.