The Wizard didn’t leave alone and took the child known as Aine, with him.
Lee Sungmin, who was crouched up, had heavy breaths and could sense the aura of the two presences leaving.
Why didn’t the attack Lee Sungmin who was left defenseless? Lee Sungmin felt doubtful at first if the Wizard was truly leaving and not scheming to take him out later, but soon felt relief when the two of them had departed for good.
He never thought that he would feel this sort of pain after consuming the Dragon’s Heart.
Until now, Lee Sungmin had taken various pills and elixirs, and each time, he absorbed the power without any major problems thanks to his black heart.
This time however, the experience was vastly different than his prior experiences. He felt all of his limbs aching and protesting to function properly; he couldn’t move an inch from his position without severe pain.
He remembered the warning from Envirus. The warning that if his vessel could not contain the pure energy from the Dragon Heart, he would explode and die on the spot.
However, it did not happen.
As time went by, the pain became bearable and his internal circuitry started to circulate his internal energy to a point where he could move again.
When the pain became weak enough, Lee Sungmin raised himself up. Trusting in the black heart, it seemed to do the job as expected.
‘No.’
Lee Sungmin, who raised his body, examined his condition with a perplexed face.
It was because he couldn’t feel a significant change within himself like when he absorbed elixirs or pills before. But… he must have absorbed the dragon heart.
He felt a lot of power when he first absorbed the initial parts of it.
But now?
He couldn’t feel anything. Lee Sungmin double-checked the rhythm and flow of his inner circuitry, but could not feel the magical energy of Dragon Heart.
What on earth was wrong? Heoju spoke to Lee Sungmin, who was embarrassed.
[It’s too much power for any kind of human to handle.]
Heoju himself was not sure, so his voice did not contain the usual confidence it normally had.
‘I’ve definitely absorbed it though.’
[I don’t know too much about this either. Even I have never consumed a Dragon’s heart.… are you sure there’s nothing different within yourself? Maybe there’s something else you haven’t checked.]
‘Do you think the Queen of the Spirits pulled any tricks?’
[Maybe, Maybe not. But you definitely have consumed the Dragon Heart. That much is certain.]
What was the point of even consuming it then? There were no changes he could even notice. Just in case, Lee Sungmin traced back his memories and thoughts to the very moment he consumed the liquidated form of the Dragon Heart, but he could not feel a shred of additional power within himself.
He then thought about the child known as ‘Aine’.
She had acquired all kinds of knowledge including several martial arts techniques by consuming the hearts of other organisms through the ‘predation’ trait of the Black Heart. Thinking of that fact, Lee Sungmin tried to focus if there was any new knowledge imported into his brain, but nothing of the sort came to mind.
“What the hell?”
No one could answer the questions of Lee Sungmin at that moment. Neither Envirus nor the Spirit Queen were around him anymore.
Deciding to postpone his thoughts and queries about consuming the Dragon’s Heart, Lee Sungmin decided to leave the square.
Arbeth, the Elder Lich, one of the 5 Elders that led Predator, his plot had been thwarted successfully by Lee Sungmin.
Lee Sungmin didn’t know what the organization known as Predator was planning, but he wouldn’t be sitting still, staying here.
Lee Sungmin took steps to return to the City of Endless Night.
He was going to meet Rubia first. It was to meet up with her, and then perhaps tell her about meeting Envirus.
‘I don’t think there’s much more to find out about him.’
Lee Sungmin moved to the inner streets within the City of Endless Night.
Perhaps the Crazy Heavenly Demon and Rubia were back there together.
He was sorry for leaving without saying a word, and he felt a little anxious thinking that maybe they were worried about him.
Lee Sungmin felt a little childish to be worried over such trivial things.
Come to think of it, it had been the first time he had ever traveled with others in this type of close manner.
It was the same to be said for both of his two lives. In the previous life, he had suffered the hardships of being a clueless no-class and after several years joined the Mercenary Guild and made his way up to C-Class. But, mercenaries were colleagues not partners.
But what about now with the Crazy Heavenly Demon and Rubia. It had been more than a year since the 3 of them had been traveling together as a party.
After Denir’s trial, his instability of mind in correlation to his body and heart had evened out due to them.
‘What am I supposed to even say to you?’
He had finally met Envirus earlier, Rubia’s master.
However, Envirus disappeared in front of Lee Sungmin. How would he be able to explain that to her?
Lee Sungmin let his thoughts lurk around in his head while he headed back in the direction of the inn where they were staying.
—
“Oh, here you are?”
Lee Sungmin ran into Frau. She had a very different image than when he last saw her on the top floor of her brothel.
Lee Sungmin also just now, had learned that apparently Frau actually knew how to wear actual clothes. (T/N :LMAO)
Although.. It still wasn’t much of an improvement seeing the several places that had exposed skin through her clothes, It was merely a shawl of sorts that she placed over her already skimpy wear.
Lee Sungmin tilted his head as he saw Frau wearing various accessories he had not seen on her prior.
“……why are you here?”, has asked her with a bemused expression.
“I’ve been waiting for you.”
Frau replied with a sour face. Frau, who was looking up and down at Lee Sungmin, tilted her head.
“It’s only been a few days since I saw you. You have become even more mysterious in that short span of time… Hm… you’ve become quite interesting, you’re not a monster, nor human, nor a banyo… how mysterious.”(T/N : recap but banyo means half human/half monster which makes this conjecture incredibly interesting.)
Frau mumbled and grinned at the end of her words.
“There’s another strange entanglement present within you. I don’t know what the hell he’s doing now.”
“Wait.. what do you mean?”
“Let’s talk about it later.”
Frau turned around saying so.
“Follow me. You need to see something.”
Lee Sungmin did not expect to meet Frau here, but Lee Sungmin followed Frau further into the streets of the City towards her abode.
“……….what happened?”
In the middle of Faru’s spacious room. A burnt body was resting on the bed.
Lee Sungmin thought it was a dead body since it was so disconfigured, but it actually was not a dead body yet. He could hear short and faint breaths coming from the charred body.
‘No. It… can’t be.’
Lee Sungmin’s face turned pale white.No way.Lee Sungmin approached the man lying down with a painful and disheartened expression.
“……Mister?”
“Don’t go near him.”
Frau spoke out, Lee Sungmin stopped walking at the words. He looked back at Frau, and Frau shook her head with a bitter expression.
“I wasn’t able to save him since he had burned his life force as a collateral due to Chusung’s appearance. I’m just delaying the time he has left.”
“……Chusung?”
“Didn’t you know? While you were in central square, Chusung attacked the entire city and it’s civilians. And then…… he stepped up.”
“……what happened?”
“Chusung is dead.”
Frau replied.
“Also, that artificial spirit the two of you were traveling with was summoned back to the Spirit World. It seems it might have had something to do with the owner.”
Lee Sungmin chewed on his lower lip. His thoughts were… disorganized to say the very least. Rubia’s owner and master was Envirus.
Envirus must have gone to the Spirit World with the Queen of Spirits…… Is that why Rubia was summoned along with Envirus and returned to the Spiritual World?
What about the Crazy Heavenly Demon? Did he really burn up the one sacred fuel that all martial artists only had one of? His life force? More than that, why did Chusung of all monsters come to the City of Endless Night the exact moment it was being attacked by Arbeth?
“…I have to save…Is there no …?”, Lee Sungmin stuttered with a weak voice.
“There is nothing.”
Frau answered without a hint of hesitation evident in her voice.
“We’ve taken action, but we’ve only delayed the end of his life. He would need an elixir to somehow live if he wanted to, but he would never be able to practice martial arts again.”
“That doesn’t matter. He needs to live.”
“There is no way to revive a man like that, no matter what the name is. He’s a man that has reached similar heights in his martial arts, as I have in sorcery. Hence why, I’m barely able to keep him alive right now.”
Frau grumbled. Lee Sungmin opened his mouth to say something, but he couldn’t say anything, so he eventually shut up again.
Lee Sungmin was also a warrior who learned martial arts, so he knew well what it meant to burn one’s life force as a collateral
Lee Sungmin looked down at Byuk Won-Pae with empty eyes. His words echoed within Lee Sungmin’s head. ‘Don’t get involved. It’s my business and mine alone.’
Lee Sungmin didn’t want it to be this way, he never wanted to see this man die like this. Lee Sungmin was in the central square when the Crazy Heavenly Demon had carried out his cold-blooded vengeance.
“……please.”
Lee Sungmin spoke out subconsciously.
The relationship he shared with Byuk Won-Pae was not that long in comparison to how much time had passed in his two lives combined with the time spent in the trial of time.
The time they spent traveling together was no more than a year at most. In fact, the very first time Lee Sungmin met Byuk Won-Pae, it was not a pleasant meeting.
But afterwards? Their relationship was unique. Lee Sungmin almost thought of him as a father figure of sorts. He helped Lee Sungmin when he needed guidance, and also had saved Lee Sungmin’s life on a couple of occasions.
Was this really the favor that Lee Sungmin wanted to repay the Crazy Heavenly Demon with? Was not stepping into the fight with Chusung and possibly saving the Crazy Heavenly Demon’s life, really the favor that Lee Sungmin wanted to repay him with?
No. Lee Sungmin chewed his lower lip. In return for his favors, he allowed the Crazy Heavenly Demon to indulge in his madness? Yeah, it was definitely a possible line of thinking to think that the very suicidal act of vengeance, was indeed madness.
‘No, it’s different.’Lee Sungmin shook his head. The Crazy Heavenly Demon came forward for Lee Sungmin when he fought against the Bloody Heavenly Demon.
When he fought with An Zun, Byuk Won-Pae helped Lee Sungmin fight even though it was a suicidal fight in the first place.
“There’s no way to revive him. I’m sorry.”
Frau let out a deep sigh. However, Lee Sungmin still looked at Frau with desperate eyes.
He wanted to believe that if Frau could already somehow prolong the Crazy Heavenly Demon’s life as it was, she might just have some way to stop his companion from dying.
Therefore, Lee Sungmin had no choice but to cling to Frau right in front of him.
Frau eyes locked with Lee Sungmin’s pleading gaze. After a brief silence, Frau opened her mouth.
“……well, I’m not sure.”
It’s not that there’s no way at all. However, there is a catch with the so-called ‘method’ we can use.
‘Shit, I shouldn’t have told him that.’, Frau immediately thought as regret settled in.
Considering that Lee Sungmin had somehow solved the problems and confronted the monstrous entities that were moving within the square, she felt it necessary to at least be honest with him.
“In fact, this is not a solution. I’m not sure if it’s even a valid method, and I don’t know if it’s possible.”
“What?”
“A contract with a Demon.”
Frau spoke with absolute uncertainty etched across her face.
“I don’t know much about the Yokai residing within you. But……one thing is for certain. A demon is…… dangerous. They appear to be comical and even fun-loving, but they can turn into existences beyond horrifying with less than a second. However, their powers can make the impossible possible. They defy all logic; that’s considering even the powers of those beyond the realm of Transcendence and are similar to Gods within Eria. Not only that, there are several within Eria, hidden deep from the eyes of those in search of them.”
Frau frowned with a complicated expression.
“It was also thanks to a Demonic contract that Yana was able to become a fully nine-tailed Gumiho in less than 1,000 years. Of course, Yana’s strength wasn’t solely achieved through the contract, but rather enhanced the growth speed.”
“Where can I find one of these Demons?””
“The closest one is quite far from here.”
Frau glanced at the Crazy Heavenly Demon as she spoke.
“However, I can’t guarantee it. I’m holding his soul from departing this world with my magic, but…… it’s entirely up to him if he can hold on. Also, even if you go to the Maeryong Temple and meet him, it’s unknown if that devil will even save him.”
“……Is that the only way?”
“Yes.. well at least I can’t think of anything else.”
“……then let’s get going right now.”
Lee Sungmin did not want to let the Crazy Heavenly Demon die. Even if it was an extremely low probability of happening, he desperately wanted to cling to that small chance that the Crazy Heavenly Demon could live.
Frau continued, glancing at Lee Sungmin’s determined face.
“Maryeong Temple, which is located in the Hujal Mountains, is the home to Demon. It’s a four or five days’ journey from here, and you can’t meet the demon the moment you go there.”
“What, why not?”
“To meet the demon, Yana had to fast as well as pray for 10 days and nights once a month. Do you understand what I mean now? No matter how quickly you reach the temple, you will have to wait at least 10 days to meet the demon, and even if you meet the demon, there is no guarantee that he will be willing to negotiate a contract with you. Apart from that, I don’t even know if this man can last more than 10 days.”
“But this is the only way, isn’t it?”, Lee Sungmin spoke with a firm expression.
“……that’s……that’s right.”
Frau replied with a stutter.
That was enough to be said. Lee Sungmin chewed on his lower lip.
Rubia was nowhere to be seen as well. His colleague who traveled with him for more than a year had suddenly disappeared.
It was surprising but, his incomparably strong walls that he had built within his mind, were shaking, threatening to break down.
“………You’ll need a carriage.”
He couldn’t run around with the Crazy Heavenly Demon’s body as it was. It was in a fragile state, so Lee Sungmin had to ride a carriage.
It would take longer to get to the Hujal Mountains if he rode a carriage, but he couldn’t help it.
Lee Sungmin asked Frau to save a wagon for the ride to Maeryong Temple. Frau rode in the back with the Crazy Heavenly Demon, and Lee Sungmin climbed onto the driver’s seat to direct the wagon himself.
“I’ll give you directions.” Frau spoke to Lee Sungmin
‘I got caught up in something annoying.’
Frau grumbled, but Lee Sungmin didn’t listen to it.