Chapter 304

Naturally, Milited wasn't going to take that lying down.

To use the pendant, a Seven Calamity's core—the equivalent of a piece of one's life, in human terms—had to be put up as collateral. As I'd expected, it reared up, insisting that this was out of the question.

"That's absurd—a hundred and fifty years forward?!"

The thing inside the glass bottle sloshed violently.

"Counting you and me together, that's two people's worth… and if you factor in the return trip, at least four lives' worth would have to be paid out. Do you even understand what you're asking?"

"Where exactly do you think I've been going with everything I've said so far?"

I held the potion bottle up close to my face as though it didn't matter to me.

"I don't care about your opinion. We're going a hundred and fifty years forward. And it isn't just you and me—Su-yeong is coming with us."

"…!"

As if to say don't leave me out, Rauné—who had somehow slipped out of Han Su-yeong's arms—latched onto my shoulder and neck, asserting its presence. I glanced sidelong at it and nodded.

"Rauné too, obviously."

"That kind of behavior is simply outrage—!"

"Like I said, whether you object or not is irrelevant."

The Milited Han Su-yeong had brought back was no more than a tiny fragment of its true body.

Just as it had boasted, Milited could divide itself however much it wished, and every one of those fragments—large or small—was still Milited itself. That was why, unlike other Seven Calamities, it could shear off pieces of itself to serve as the sacrifice and use the pendant as many times as needed.

The Milited talking with us now might be small enough to fit inside a potion bottle, but it was still Milited.

Which meant that, with this fragment alone, we could travel between past and future using the pendant as many times as we wanted.

Whether it wanted that or not.

"I—I can't cooperate with this."

Milited answered in a firm voice.

"This is a loss far greater than I'd anticipated. Sustain a loss like that, and I won't be able to hold my current sphere of influence! And on top of that, not only Minerva but also that bastard Margo has been moving strangely of late, and above all—Juno is stirring too! In a situation like that, squandering my power this way would—!"

"Right. Then go ahead and refuse."

I shrugged and drew a World Tree branch out of my right arm.

Things had played out such that I'd never had the chance to use it on original-timeline Milited, but the World Tree's branch had always been one of the most effective weapons against a liquid-bodied creature like it.

And Milited knew it perfectly well too.

In truth, I hadn't really needed to draw out the branch at all.

It had seen plain as day that I'd driven its three-hundred-years-later self to within an inch of death, and that I'd come back in one piece even after being marked by Minerva.

"I'll just kill you here and use the corpse instead."

"Wait, what are you—"

"Sounds like a bluff?"

I stared straight at the Milited inside the bottle and asked,

"Or does it just sound like posturing? If you really don't believe me, want me to test it?"

"…"

Milited said nothing.

Or more accurately: it couldn't.

"Decide."

I rocked the bottle slowly back and forth.

"Either you peacefully go a hundred and fifty years forward with us right now and come back, or you can stake your life on a fight against me while Minerva's hunting you down. Your pick."

It took a long while before it finally forced its voice out.

"…At least let me recover even a little of my strength first."

It muttered in a noticeably more subdued tone.

"In this state, the most I can fuel is a sacrifice for two—you and me—and even then only the trip forward. At least let me regain a bit more strength. If I can meet my true body—"

[Don't be deceived. It's a barefaced lie.]

Minerva whispered, quiet but unwavering.

[When it comes to making body doubles, form and size mean nothing to him. As long as some part survives, the whole survives. That's what Milited is. That's why I never managed to kill him in all those long ages. No matter how thoroughly I tore him apart, if even the smallest scrap of his body—even a single drop—remained intact somewhere, that drop would become the body and live on perfectly fine. Even a quantity small enough to fit in a single glass bottle, if he wills it, can hold more than enough power to serve as a sacrifice.]

She was right.

I'd already known as much, which was exactly why I'd prepared a space capable of isolating Milited after it was freed from its seal.

[…Erm, was that uncalled for of me…?]

After a moment Minerva cleared her throat awkwardly and asked it like that.

It seemed her recent encounter with her past self had her unusually anxious about how I'd take things.

'No—I was on the fence about it, but you've made it certain. Thanks.'

I sent her a quiet thanks and gave the potion bottle a small, mocking laugh.

"I don't care. Just take us."

"What?"

"If things really do go wrong, I'll just live out the rest of my days there until I die of old age. So shut up and take us, right now."

There weren't any more excuses left for Milited to throw out.

And it seemed the fact that I'd seen through its lie had registered with it on some level too. In the end, while making no effort to hide just how much it didn't want to, Milited answered tractably.

"…Scoop up a fragment of me with your finger and smear it onto the pendant. I've partly synced with the memories of my three-hundred-years-later self regarding how the pendant was used… A little exploring and I should be able to manage it."

I carefully opened the potion bottle.

It cooperated to such a degree that all my wariness about it pulling something funny felt almost pointless.

When I did as it said and smeared a bit of Milited onto the pendant, I could see that same strange light from before begin to flicker—faintly, but unmistakably.

"Su-yeong. Rauné."

"Yeah."

"…!"

At my call, Han Su-yeong pressed herself snugly against my back and locked her arms around my waist.

Rauné, as always, ducked into what had effectively become its assigned seat—my pocket—and poked its head out.

"…Are you prepared?"

A moment later, Milited—who'd been muttering to itself while clinging to the pendant—finally asked the question, as though it had gotten the hang of it. When I nodded, it heaved an audible sigh.

A sigh stained through with tension and anticipation.

In a low voice, Milited said only one word.

"Beginning."

…And nothing happened.

I was about to open my mouth and ask whether it was pulling some unfunny prank when—

[! A strange wave of force is detected! !]

[! The Traveler's Guidestone, having reclaimed its true form, points the way to the path you wish to travel. !]

[! You feel yourself drawn by a strange power… !]

Light.

That same light from before began to leak from the pendant, faint at first.

It surged within seconds, growing fierce enough that opening my eyes became difficult.

The light blazed exactly as it had the first time.

And once again, the pressure and impact from before swallowed us up without warning.

"Ngh…"

Yu Ji-hyeok shook his head, half-kneeling, trying to push off the impact—as though something had hit him with everything it had. The first time, he hadn't been able to bear the shock at all and had passed out, but this time, fortunately, he managed to grit his way through.

"What…?"

In the middle of all that, he realized he was alone.

Han Su-yeong had been clinging to him for fear of being thrown clear; Rauné had ducked into his pocket and grabbed a tight hold of his collar. The potion bottle holding Milited had been stoppered tight and clamped in place with shadow and World Tree branches.

And yet he was alone.

He quickly swept his eyes over his surroundings.

"Rauné!"

He soon spotted Rauné collapsed nearby, motionless as if dead.

For a moment his heart dropped at the sight of the mandrake lying utterly still, but when he realized it had only fainted, he let out a small breath of relief. He carefully tucked it into his pocket.

But aside from Rauné, no one else was there.

It was only him and Rauné.

Where on earth were Han Su-yeong and Milited?

He scanned his surroundings, intending to search the area.

"More importantly, where the hell am I…"

From the look of it, he seemed to have landed in a shrine or some kind of old ruin.

No—judging by how clean and intact the surrounding architecture and ornamentation were, it couldn't be an old ruin.

In the middle of all that, he caught the musty smell of earth.

Mingled with it were notes of leaf-mold and mildew.

Either it was underground, or at least half-buried in the earth.

Yes, almost like a tomb…

"It is an honor to make your acquaintance."

A rustling sound suddenly came from behind him.

The motion was unhurried, as though deliberately refusing to mask its presence—a gesture meant, perhaps, to signal that there was no hostility.

Yu Ji-hyeok—who had known from the start that something he couldn't identify was approaching—turned his head and looked back. There, hunched low to the ground, was something.

A massive figure draped in tattered, jet-black robes was already flat on the floor, performing the most exquisitely respectful bow he could manage.

"This humble one is called Leto."

The figure who introduced himself as Leto was not human in form.

His appearance was oddly familiar, and before he realized it, Yu Ji-hyeok was furrowing his brow.

"Undeservingly, this lowly creature has been entrusted with the task of watching over my master's burial site."

"Ah!"

At those words, Yu Ji-hyeok finally remembered who he was.

The graveskeeper of Shadow Walker's tomb.

The one who guarded Flowing Snake, one of the legacies—and the very same man who, in the future, would meet his death at Jin Ye-seul's hands.

The image was so completely different from what he remembered that recognition hadn't come right away.

A half-ogre, in the original work this man had been notable for his colossal size and for his violent, arrogant manner.

But the one in front of Yu Ji-hyeok was hunched small and pressed to the floor.

"Welcome to this place, second-generation Shadow Walker."

The graveskeeper—who, on a single command from his master, would go on to watch over the tomb for hundreds of years—spoke to him.

"And precious blood relative of my master."

The half-ogre raised his head carefully and looked at Yu Ji-hyeok.

A startled expression flickered across his face before he hastily composed himself.

"M-my master has been waiting for you for a very long time."

But the half-ogre couldn't hold back the emotion welling up in him, and his voice cracked as he sniffled.

"For a very long time, even after she came to her eternal rest."

"Ngh…"

Around the same time Yu Ji-hyeok met Leto and started talking with him, Han Su-yeong too had come to and was searching her surroundings.

In her hand was the glass bottle holding Milited.

"If I had to be with anyone, it would've been better to be with Ji-hyeok—or at least with that little one."

Of all the company she could have been stuck with, why this thing, she grumbled quietly to herself.

She ran her fingertip along the surface of the wall and tilted her head.

"I've never seen this style of incantation or finishing work before… What does it mean? And where is here?"

Sensing was hardly her specialty, but even so, the fact that she couldn't pick up even a trace of Yu Ji-hyeok's presence wasn't just strange—it felt ominous.

Yu Ji-hyeok was wearing a necklace imbued with her own energy, and the ring he'd given her was designed to resonate with his so that they could sense each other's location and rough condition at all times.

But she felt nothing.

As though the existence called Yu Ji-hyeok had been wiped from the world with an eraser.

Not a single thing reached her.

"I need to find him fast."

Anxiety set in, and Han Su-yeong opened and closed her fist over and over. Then, feeling a vibration against her palm, she raised the potion bottle. As if knocking, Milited was tapping at the surface of the glass.

"Hey."

Milited whispered quietly.

"I'll help. Just open this for me."

"And what reason do I have to trust you?"

Han Su-yeong shot back coldly.

The memory of vomiting blood, her insides being eaten away in agony because of Milited, was still painfully vivid.

More than anything, she had no reason to listen to a thing that kept trying to deceive her and Yu Ji-hyeok.

Milited seemed to recognize that, because its next words came out in a tone that bordered on outright servile.

"My abilities would let me scout this area in a heartbeat. And honestly—having come this far, what could I possibly stand to gain by deceiving you now?"

"…"

"It's more in my interest to help you out and get home quickly. Isn't it? If something were to happen to you, do you think he would let me off?"

"That… is true."

Han Su-yeong nodded slightly.

It was indeed true that if something happened to her, Yu Ji-hyeok wouldn't let it stand.

Milited kept pressing, telling her she was right, urging her on.

"Yes—we're all in the same boat for the moment, aren't we?"

But contrary to its hopes, Han Su-yeong had no intention of letting it out.

Even if she eventually did, certainly not right this moment.

She'd just decided to take a closer look at her surroundings first when—

"…Huh?"

"…What? Wait—you can't be—!"

Her heart clenched—a sudden, wringing sensation in her chest.

A wave of inexplicable déjà vu washed over her, and the Milited inside the potion bottle let out a sound of utter disbelief.

"You absolute—"

The bottle cracked with a sharp creak, then shattered in a burst.

Milited shot free at once, vapor gathering around it as its body swelled and grew larger by the second.

Maybe it was because Milited looked so frantic, or maybe it was the overwhelming sense of déjà vu—either way, Han Su-yeong was so rattled she didn't even notice that her hands had been cut up in the process.

And if Han Su-yeong had been able to see status notifications the way Yu Ji-hyeok could, the following message would have appeared before her eyes:

[! Quest 'The Seventh, Final Evil' begins. !]

[! Seven Calamity 'Ahriman' finally breaks its long wait and silence and begins to move. !]

Ahriman.

The Seven Calamity whose identity remained unknown even to its fellow Seven Calamities was now revealing itself, out of nowhere, before Han Su-yeong and Milited.

Without so much as a single sign of warning.