CHAPTER 191. Have I… Come to Hell?
Chenbi, as if bewitched, carved the figure standing before him into his retinas.
In the midst of that, Aster looked at Mycelln—whose complexion was pale at a glance—and threw out a question.
“Sunbae, how long can you hold out?”
“…I can’t hold out for long. At best, about a minute.”
“That’s enough.”
With those words, Aster kicked off the ground. Pajeujeut— a force field flared up and wrapped around his entire body, as if he’d put on perfectly fitted clothes.
But the flames were, truly, worthy of being called Calamity Fire (劫火).
The sturdy force field shook this way and that, screaming, and whenever it wavered, scorching heat seeped inside.
They were, honestly, maddening flames. They weren’t as threatening as the Demonic Energy (Magi) of the Demon Realm (Magyeong) that tried to contaminate mana itself, but Infernal’s flames had the power to shake one’s very energy.
Cutting through those horrific flames, Aster finally had Infernal before his eyes. Of course, “before his eyes” wasn’t quite right—there was still a gap of several meters—but it was a distance he could cross in a single bound.
Yet instead of leaping, Aster slowly reduced his speed. Getting any closer than this was dangerous even for him. This damned Infernal’s Calamity Fire was so vicious that even Aster would struggle to endure it.
Instead, what accelerated was the flow of his heart’s core—no, more precisely, the rotation of his circle.
As the circle rotated, the core began to spin as if answering it. And at the same time, whoosh— his domain of expanded senses spread outward.
Aster, having gradually slowed, now stood still.
His sense of space activated to an extreme, and every object branded itself into his mind.
Drip…!
It was then that a drop of blood fell from the tip of his outstretched index finger, as if indicating a direction.
Normally, it should have evaporated in the flames, but the blood drop instead multiplied. From one to two, from two to four. And by the time it had multiplied ten times over—
Like a Milky Way, crimson rubies scattered in all directions drank in the mana in the air. And then, after some time had passed—
Aster’s eyelids slowly lowered, and his pupils vanished from view. Then, when he slowly lifted his eyelids again, just as he’d lowered them—
Frrrrrk—!
Infernal’s body, repairing its damage as it stoked flames, came fully into view. Reflected in Aster’s gray eyes, Infernal looked no different from a sinner suffering in the Calamity Fire (劫火) of hell.
It was a little later that the retina of Aster—who had been engraving that sight—began to emit a strange light.
Cheung, tseutseutseut. Cheungcheungcheungcheung!
A bizarre sound ringing out in succession. The intermittent noise grew denser and denser, until at last it muddled his ears like the beating of a swarm of wings.
At the same time—
One by one, the rubies disappeared.
When he had moved every last ruby into Infernal’s interior, Aster gently closed his eyes.
Did it transfer successfully?
‘…It’s done.’
Under normal circumstances, it wouldn’t have been easy even for Aster.
But that was because Demian, Chenbi, and Mycelln had driven Infernal hard.
Right after that, Aster detonated the rubies.
It started weak.
Tuk, tuduk. Tudududuk—
A bursting sound, like raindrops falling at intervals. But the sound grew fiercer, and soon—
Jjeojeok, jjeojeojeok!
A crack that began inside spread to the surface. Like a dam just starting to fracture, Infernal’s body began to collapse at a rapid pace.
And as a halo of light burst out through those jjeojeojeok-widening gaps—
Kwaaang—!
Unable to withstand the explosion within, Infernal’s body shattered into tiny fragments and scattered in all directions. Now, instead of flames that had died down, the stone fragments that had made up Infernal seized the space.
Soon, thududuk— stone fragments, finely broken, fell like rain.
As stone-rain poured down in a rush, Aster turned back and threw his gaze at Chenbi and Mycelln.
The two hadn’t been able to see what was happening because the flames had blocked their view, but shock filled their eyes.
As if one had seen a ghost, as if the other had witnessed a miracle. Well, either way, it was the same: an unbelievable sight.
Anyway, seeing that look, Aster smiled at the two who had gone blank and said,
“Alright, then….”
Aster suddenly started running. Hoisting Demian over his shoulder, he sprinted toward the hole he’d opened when he came in and shouted as if screaming.
“Ruuuun—!”
“…?”
“…?”
A faint crease formed between Mycelln’s brows. Chenbi tilted his head slightly. Amid that, Aster yelled,
“Fasterrr—!”
It was then that a faint popping sound reached them.
Tok, todok, tududududuk!
A boulder floating up. The fragments of Infernal that had been scattered across the ground gathered toward the center as if drawn by a magnet.
By the time Chenbi realized that—
“Huup!”
Mycelln was already running, carrying Chenbi slung over him.
The passage Aster had opened was too narrow for Mycelln. Because of that, he had to move while awkwardly bending at the waist, and a groan escaped him on its own.
Fortunately, the distance wasn’t very long.
“This is….”
When he emerged from the passage, what spread out before Mycelln’s eyes was a space lined with all manner of books.
A library? That thought crossed his mind briefly, but it looked closer to an office than anything.
As he slowly looked the space over, Aster’s voice reached him right then.
“For now, put Chenbi down and sit.”
“What on earth happened?”
Mycelln set Chenbi down on a suitable spot on the floor and asked. He simply couldn’t understand it.
He’d been sure they were dead….
“We got lucky, I guess.”
“Lucky…?”
“Yeah, well.”
Aster glanced at Chenbi—who had lost consciousness—then continued his explanation.
‘Lucky.’
Yeah. There was no other way to explain it.
When he’d first been caught in Infernal’s grasp, he really thought he was dead for sure. The flames were one thing, but the crushing strength—just how strong was it?
He wanted to escape with Blink, but he still lacked the proficiency to move while maintaining a solid force field.
And on top of that, he’d already suffered internal injuries from those flames, which made it even harder.
Still, he couldn’t exactly die quietly, so he took the risk and tried Blink, managing to escape…
And then it made him furious.
‘You damned bastard….’
So he fought.
Internal injuries? Fighting is something you do while taking internal injuries. Of course, it helped a lot that he had Lortel’s internal-injury potion safely stored in a subspace pouch that had defensive magic on it.
Though now, thanks to those flames, all that defense—everything—was gone. …Still, at least the subspace itself hadn’t been blown away, so that was something.
Anyway, he fought.
But… it was filthy strong.
So he beat it once, I guess? He managed to take its head off somehow, and then—what the…—it suddenly spewed fire and came back to life.
‘Are you insane?’
What kind of thing is this?
Of course, the revived Infernal wasn’t as overwhelmingly powerful as before. If earlier it had been a fight where he truly had to struggle on the edge of life and death, after that it was more like, “Hmm, I might die,” while fighting.
And then, somehow, he blew its head apart a second time…
‘That’s when I realized.’
This thing can’t be killed.
By the time the explanation had reached roughly that point—
“What in the world… are you?”
“Why, do I look like some secret weapon raised by a famous house (名家)?”
“If not, then… no, no. That isn’t what matters right now. So you ran? But why didn’t you come this way?”
“Why do you think?”
“…Ah.”
Mycelln understood without difficulty why Aster hadn’t joined them.
He’d chosen to stay behind alone, in case of pursuit.
But still.
“How are the kids’ conditions?”
Because he’d been too flustered to check their internal injuries, Mycelln asked Aster.
“Their conditions? Ah.”
Even while talking, Aster had been holding their wrists and checking Demian’s and Chenbi’s states. At Mycelln’s question, he shrugged.
“Demian just looks like he pushed himself too hard. Chenbi is… well. I think this one needs to be seen by a specialist.”
“…Is it serious?”
“I don’t know if I should call it serious. It’s not like he’s going to die, but we’ll have to watch and see for the details.”
“Hmm….”
Mycelln’s expression hardened. Leaving him like that, Aster looked at Demian and Chenbi.
‘Tsk, you idiots.’
If you die, you die—what is there to gain by doing something like that?
Even if you can’t just shrug and go, “Ah, he died,” you could still think of it as a natural disaster and turn away.
‘Did anyone ask you to get revenge? Seriously….’
Especially the look he gave Chenbi wasn’t kind. In Aster’s eyes, Chenbi had been the dumbest one.
“Tsk.”
After clicking his tongue once, Aster took two potions out of his subspace pouch and poured them, one after the other, into Chenbi and Demian.
Careful, so their airway wouldn’t get blocked.
They were the last two bottles he’d brought from Lortel.
It wasn’t long before Demian opened his eyes.
As his blurry vision cleared and an unfamiliar ceiling came into view, Demian blinked and searched his memories.
‘Why am I….’
Memories resurfaced one by one. Right—he clearly remembered piercing Infernal’s chest as the last thing he did.
It had been a strike poured out with all his strength, and the blow had punished the target exactly as intended.
When his thoughts reached that point—
“……”
Demian gently closed his eyes at a fact he’d momentarily forgotten.
Revenge… right. The revenge was finished. But what, exactly, was supposed to change because of that?
Those who had died once did not return, and instead only the emotion called revenge—burning away his sorrow—had cleanly evaporated.
The residue of feelings that hadn’t burned piled up in his chest like snow in the dead of night, and the piled emotions made his breath catch in a sudden surge.
“…Friend.”
A voice that slipped out softly before he even realized it.
As he was about to pour out those snow-piled emotions at that single word, a voice reached his ear right then.
“Why are you calling?”
The vivid voice made Demian force down the emotions surging up.
“Go have fun over there.”
“What’s there to have fun with here?”
“…Did you go to hell or something?”
“Then I guess you died too?”
“…?”
What is this? This is way too vivid to be a hallucination. Noticing something was off, Demian cracked his eyes open.
And soon, Demian could understand.
“…Friend?”
His trembling eyes wavered. Like ripples spreading across a calm lake, the shaking surged outward, and his voice quickly grew wet.
“Friend, really—are you really my friend? You were alive…?”
Emotions surged up in a rush. As if he couldn’t believe it, Demian looked at Mycelln, who was sitting across from Aster.
Mycelln smiled with satisfaction and nodded. No—he was about to nod.
If not for Aster’s one remark.
“Do you not think you’re the one who died?”
“Huh?”
“Ha?”
A brief silence.
As contempt spread through Mycelln’s eyes, Demian—having grasped the situation—asked in a trembling voice.
“I… have I come to hell?”
Aster thought.
‘Demian’s Mental Education, Session 101.’
Hell? Heeell?
As he was thinking that—
“Seriously, I’m so glad.”
Seeing that bright, beaming face, even Aster couldn’t help it this time.
‘…Session 1.’
…And so, another day in the ancient ruins was passing by.
