Chapter 60
[Dawn Department Store (6)]
Sometimes he dreamed.
It was an inevitable dream, especially on days when I felt the buildup of mana in my body weighing down my entire body.
It was a vivid dream, memorable even when you woke up.
You want power?
A world of white.
No latitudes above or below, no front or back.
No yesterday, no today, no tomorrow.
A world where no concepts existed.
In that world, she was alone.
Alone, really?
The question came out of nowhere.
Because in that world, where nothing existed, something spoke to her.
Do you want power?
Like this.
It was the voice she heard every day when she lay in bed, unable to release her mana, her body feverish.
A voice that seemed to be neither male nor female.
She listened to the sound echoing in the white world, and.
Dont listen.
One day, she remembered what Eunha had said in a serious tone.
He had said.
You must not listen to the voices.
Never again, no matter what.
It was the advice shed heard when shed woken up in her grandmothers house.
Why?
Because its dangerous. It may have worked this time, but theres no guarantee it will work next time.
So dont listen.
Dont ask for anything.
Because whatever you want, Ill make it happen.
And what do you want, Eunha?
Huh?
Eunha couldnt hide his embarrassment.
Euna kissed his cheek and promised herself.
Then what you want, I will make it happen. What I want, you make it happen.
Yeah, I promise. Promise not to listen to the voices again? Its a promise.
Yes, a promise!
It was a promise made on a chilly morning, with a lingering coolness in the air.
Youve never killed anyone, have you?
Huh?
Youve never killed a monster either, right?
It was only in hindsight that she realized he was looking at her as a player.
She wasnt a player, she was just an elementary school student.
There was no way she could kill a human if she hadnt killed a monster yet.
If she was a sane person, there was a brake somewhere in her subconscious that said she shouldnt kill a human being, no matter how heinous a criminal he was.
So the bomb of mana shed unleashed in front of him hadnt done much damage. With that much mana, she could have wiped out the entire area, but it was nothing more than a bomb of light and sound.
The same was true when she attacked his vulnerable spot. The moment she kicked his vulnerable spot, she inadvertently lessened the force.
Although the man was momentarily flustered by the sudden attack between his legs, he didnt feel any pain at all.
As long as she had a normal mindset, there was no chance of knocking him down.
Like this.
Here.
He handed her the knife on the floor.
Huh?
She took the knife with the broken tip and looked up with an unreadable gaze.
Stab it. Stab this and Ill let her go.
The mans temptation to stab him.
A knife in her hand.
A weapon that could kill a man.
Its okay, I wont be mad at you. Stab me, here, once.
The man pointed to his chest with his hand, then tugged on my arm, helping me to stab him in the chest.
If you stab me right here, Ill die, no matter how strong I am.
Youve seen it in movies and dramas, right?
She looked at herself, the sharp blade reflecting off of her.
The hand holding the knife trembled.
The man was defenseless.
The weapon was in her hand. She could end this if she wanted to.
She could, but her hand wouldnt move.
You have a nasty temper.
The man with Julieta over his shoulder frowned.
What he was doing with her was nothing more than light entertainment.
He was sure she couldnt stab him.
Even if she did, it didnt matter; hed shield himself with mana in an instant, and he wanted to see her cry out when her act of abandoning normal thought failed.
Lets do it right and go home.
Hed accomplished his goal. As a bonus, I got the girls.
The monster that had covered the first floor in slime was showing signs of dissipating.
At this rate, theyd be caught before they could escape.
Ah, yes.
The man who had unbuttoned his shirt agreed with the man in the beanie.
Crack!
Euna stabbed the man in the arm with the knife she was holding.
The man reflexively shielded himself, but was caught off guard by an unexpected point.
His skin ripped open. His pure white sleeve turned red.
Haa, haa!
Dont think about it.
Dont think about it.
Stabbing the man in the arm and running away, Euna somehow tried not to listen to the sound of something calling out to her.
Tears threatened to fall. Her hands were shaking, and she felt nauseous.
This bitch is so.
Boom!!!
Floating across the floor, Euna fell to the ground just before she reached Julieta.
The man who ran after her pushed her down from above.
Her head hit the floor. More terrifying than the impact of her forehead hitting the floor was the dizzying sensation of blackness in front of her eyes.
But!
She could still do this.
She released her mana like she was unlocking a locked box.
But his arms wouldnt move.
Neither did his legs.
But his arms wouldnt move.
Neither did his legs.
The mana swirling around him had turned into thorny vines, entangling his limbs.
The man struggled to free himself from the thorns.
But the more he struggled, the tighter the vines became. The more he struggled, the tighter it got. The sharp thorns absorbed his mana, expanding his body.
What is this?!
Before he knew it, the man had been devoured by the thorns and was nowhere to be found.
Geohan, no, Bruno, pulled the mans head out of the vines.
P-Please spare me
No use pleading.
The face-grabbed man begged desperately, but he was unforgiving.
The mere force of his grip cracked the skull.
N-No, stoooop!!
The sound of his own skull cracking was beyond eerie, it was horrifying.
The indescribable sound gradually widened in wavelength until it became the sound of something breaking.
By the time the man realized what it was, his skull had been smashed in.
Crazy.
The man in the red beanie came to his senses late.
The man in the beanie backed away as Bruno threw the remaining shards in his hand downstairs like a rock.
He knew firsthand what terror was.
He didnt want to experience having his head smashed in.
Shit!
The man threw Julieta, who was being supported by his shoulder, out onto the slime-covered plaza of the first floor.
Bruno froze.
As soon as the man saw Bruno leap to the ground floor plaza without hesitation, he fled the scene.
It was as he had expected. Geohan had prioritized saving the women over killing him.
If he hadnt, he wouldnt have gotten away.
The man in the red beanie had descended to the third floor, barely relaxing.
-You bastard, how dare you.
A low, bass voice sounded.
The man jerked his head in the direction of the sound.
Huh!
There was a loud thud.
There was Bruno. He had Julieta slung over his shoulder with one hand and was clinging to the third-floor railing with the other.
Throw Julie off, and-
The veins bulged in his forearms as he gripped the railing.
Bruno, who had climbed to the third floor as if doing pull-ups with one hand, glared at the man in the beanie.
What did you do to Julie?
His eyes were glowing red.
No, they werent glowing.
They were just wrapped in a thick layer of mana, making it look like his eyes were glowing red with speculation.
What What is this?
The man in the red beanie couldnt believe what was happening before his eyes.
Brunos body was swelling.
It wasnt an illusion.
His clothes he was wearing were actually tearing apart, and his muscles bulged out from the gaps.
P-Please, spare me.
The man in the beanie suddenly understood why the woman he had killed had begged for his life.
When death loomed in front of you, the instinct to live kicked in.
He threw away his pride and everything else.
To get down on his knees and beg.
His opponent was a bear.
The man in the red beanie begged in a trembling voice, as if facing a fierce monster.
Pay me back with death.
Bruno didnt listen.
He swung his right arm with all his might, striking the man in the red beanie across the right cheek.
He was lucky his head didnt separate from his body.
!
The attack didnt end with a single blow.
Before I could let out a groan, my left cheek shook.
I heard the sound of something shattering.
I couldnt see what had broken.
My vision swam in and out.
It was horror.
With the sound of bones breaking in my head, I tried to block out the reality. I wanted to forget.
I wanted to lose my mind.
In the face of the overwhelming fear of death, I couldnt even ask for help.
The man realized that a plea for help could only come when there was room to live.
Now he wanted to die.
It seemed like an eternity had passed, even though it was only a few seconds.
When the attack was over, it felt like my head and body were separate.
Strangely, I couldnt feel anything in my head.
The pain didnt end there.
.
I couldnt move my mouth.
I couldnt even recognize what was in my mouth.
I couldnt tell if it was a tooth or a piece of bone wiggling around in my mouth.
Oh, a tooth, a piece of bone.
In the midst of the hellish pain, the man let go.
The pain didnt seem real to him anymore, one pain suppressing another, so he didnt even think it hurt.
But it was terrible to feel things disappearing from his body, to feel things exploding inside him, to see his body grotesquely disfigured in his vision at times.
It was worse than pain.
Che il diavolo ti porti.
May the devil take you.
Bruno lifted the unrecognizable form, a mass of blood that should be grateful to be breathing.
There was no hesitation in hurling the mass in his hand over the railing.
The man, who had just lost his footing, was unable to protect himself with mana and fell directly to the ground.
Like a dead worm, he was pressed to the ground and twitched gently.
That was the end of the men.
Notes!
(1) Geohan: THE REAL NAME OF BRUNO?! Could be.
E/N: Bravo! We love happy endings right?
Buona lettura! Happy reading