Proofreader: Gort
*****
An explosion occurred, followed by a flood of blinding white light that covered everything.
Lee Sungmin was pushed by the waves of light, trying to find the others.
Scarlett, Baek Sogo, and Yana; were they alright? Were they safe? However, Lee Sungmin could not see anything due to the light.
It was impossible to grasp their presence, even with a technique that allowed him to sense things that could not be seen.
[Are you okay?]
Heoju’s voice rang out. Other than his sight, the rest of his senses were not obstructed.
Lee Sungmin moved about, waving his arms in front of him.
He did not know anything about the sudden spatial collapse. Scarlett had said it was dangerous… but was it really?
Lee Sungmin was standing still, but it felt like he was moving. It felt uncomfortable but didn’t pose a threat.
While he was getting used to the light, he saw something. The light flashed past him, sometimes slow, sometimes fast. Then stopped.
In that space, Lee Sungmin stood still. He did not know if what he was seeing was the future, the past, or the present.
Lee Sungmin’s eyes widened. The face he saw past the light… was a face he could never forget.
It had barely changed, but it was slightly different. The main contrast was that the hair was longer.
She looked a bit… thin. She did not have unnecessary fat in the first place, but her face looked slimmer compared to 10 years ago.
Her eyes showed so much emotion: anger, tiredness, boredom, and annoyance. However, Lee Sungmin could not see who the gaze was directed at.
“Wiji….”
Hoyeon.
He was surprised, but he desperately called out her name. Was his voice different? Did he look different?
Past the waterfall of light, Wijihoyeon’s head suddenly turned. Her eyes opened slightly more, but the impression she gave flipped 180.
Their eyes met. Wijihoyeon opened her mouth, maybe to say something….
The light that was previously paused started to move again, fast. In a blink of an eye, the scenery changed. Flames, wind, water, everything moved past him.
Ah…
Lee Sungmin ran. He ran without caring for what was in front of him. He wanted to see her again.
It was too far. No, it would be correct that his body was barely moving forward. The space between them was too far for him to catch up to.
Was what he saw an illusion? If so, why did he see her right now?
He saw something again, past the light.
Cat ears…?
Without thinking, he reached out to grab them.
BOOM!
The light disappeared. Lee Sungmin, who was in running form, fell and rolled on the ground.
He pulled the thing he was holding into his embrace, activating his defensive martial arts. He was afraid that whatever he was holding on to would get injured.
However, the impact from the fall wasn’t strong because he dropped into the cold lake.
Puaaa!
Lee Sungmin swam to the surface, his hands still grabbing the thing he grabbed before the light disappeared.
“AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!”
A piercing scream rang out. Lee Sungmin ignored the water on his body and looked toward where the sound came from.
He saw Scarlett, who was crouching with her hands over her head. Near her, Baek Sogo, who was standing tilted, righted her body. Yana, who had 9 tails surrounding her body, lowered them, looking around.
Scarlett stopped screaming, feeling the gaze of everyone. She coughed and stood up, waving her hands to cancel the magic barrier around her.
“I thought I was gonna die.”
“I thought that as well.”
“To be honest, we should have died. This level of spatial collapse is like a calamity that is impossible to make with magic. Nothing unexpected happened, though.”
“Didn’t you see?”
“Are you making fun of me? You saw me screaming with my eyes closed. So what? Didn’t you see it? You wanna die?”
Scarlett questioned, her ears red.
He didn’t mean it like that…
Lee Sungmin slightly backed away, glancing at Yana and Baek Sogo. They… looked away?
“I couldn’t see anything due to the bright light.”
“It was the same for me.”
Was it all an illusion? No, it wasn’t. Lee Sungmin looked down at the thing in his embrace.
At that moment, what he saw and grabbed wasn’t an illusion. Pointed cat ears…
He thought that it was an unexpected reunion.
“Rubia-nim.”
The thing that fainted in Lee Sungmin’s embrace was Rubia. He had seen her briefly in Germane and could not even greet her.
Lee Sungmin grabbed her wrist, sending in his internal energy. She shuddered as his power reached her bloodstream.
“…ugh…”
Not long after, Rubia opened her eyes. Her mouth opened wide as she saw Lee Sungmin looking at her.
“Wait, wait, wait, calm down.”
He raised his hands, trying to calm her down before she screamed. It was hard to calm someone down after they started to cry.
Lee Sungmin started to explain what had happened.
The sudden spatial collapse, seeing weird things in the light and grabbing her before the light ended.
“Are you crazy?”
Rubia, who had heard what Lee Sungmin had said, was calm until the end.
“Why did you grab me? Even if it worked out in the end, a slight mistake would mean I would be lost between the spaces forever. Or just explode and die!”
“Ah… I’m sorry about that. I didn’t know anything about spatial collapse. Anyways, isn’t it fine since you didn’t die?”
“You have become much more shameless since the last time I saw you.”
“Shamelessness comes with age.”
Rubia sighed.
“Can you let go of my wrists?”
“Oh, sure.”
Rubia, struggling, escaped from Lee Sungmin’s embrace.
10 years. No, even after an incredible amount of time, Rubia had still maintained her young form from the Sleeping Forest.
It wasn’t because she wasn’t getting old but because she was an artificial spirit.
“I haven’t even said hello, huh? I didn’t say anything 10 years ago.”
“…How are you?”
“Not that happy. The Spirit Queen gave me the assignment to take care of my master… Envirus-nim. However, when I came to my senses, I was back in the Spirit Realm. It was then that I realized that Envirus-nim was dead. If the Queen were awake, I would be destroyed. However, she was in a deep sleep, so I was safe for the time being.”
Rubia made a bitter face. Even if she had escaped the wrath of the Spirit Queen, she did not consider that a good thing.
Rubia, who had sincerely protected and cared for Envirus, had lost r consciousness at the most crucial moment, making her feel guilty about her master’s death.
“I thought I would be punished when the Spirit Queen woke up. However, someone invaded the Spirit Realm.
“…What?”
Everyone paid attention to Rubia.
“It’s someone that you know well.”
Although it’s hard to call that a person… Rubia added in an undertone.
“About a month ago, a human entered the Spirit Realm. The Minor Heavenly Demon, Wijihoyeon. I still don’t know how she found a way into the Spirit Realm. Other spirits, even the Queen, probably didn’t know how she got there. After all, humans cannot enter a realm meant for spirits.”
“…And after that? What happened?”
“That…Wijihoyeon attacked the Spirit Queen without reason.”
Rubia didn’t know how to explain what she had seen. She had never seen a fight between those of that status.
The Spirit Queen had the ultimate power in the Spirit Realm. With one move of her hand, the high-ranked spirits would move on her command.
However, while fighting Wijihoyeon in her realm, the Spirit Queen could not get the upper hand.
The highest-ranked spirits had died due to the energy expelled during the fight between the two monsters.
“They fought for more than a month without stopping.”
This was why Rubia had said that those two were not human. It was expected that the Spirit Queen did not lose her energy in her realm, but it was astonishing that Wijihoyeon didn’t get tired or lose her strength.
“The fight continued until the Spirit Realm almost collapsed. At that moment, the Spirit Queen put the Spirit Realm into this place, so it didn’t get destroyed. That was a bad choice, though.”
“There were a lot of spirits here.”
Scarlett muttered as she heard Rubia talk.
“So, this mountain had a close connection with the Spirit Realm. Why are we so unlucky? Why did this have to happen when we visited this place?”
“If the Spirit Realm is here, what happened to the Queen and the spirits in the Spirit Realm?”
“The rift that brought the Spirit Realm to this world was made by the Spirit Queen, who was exhausted. If it weren’t for Wijihoyeon interrupting the Queen, the rift would have been made without any problems.”
“What would happen if that happened?”
“It would be the end.”
Rubia said with a low voice.
“There are multiple meanings to this. As that magician over there said, there are other spots in Eria that have a strong connection with the spirits. If the rifts were made in those other spots, they would destroy the area. Then, the Spirit Queen’s true body and the other high-ranked spirits would have descended into this world with their original powers.”
The Apocalypse.
After hearing Rubia’s story, Lee Sungmin became quiet.
The incomplete rift.
It was unclear how much of what the Spirit Queen wanted had been accomplished. However, Lee Sungmin felt that even if the rift was incomplete, the Spirit Queen’s actual body had descended.
The reason for this was simple; the Spirit Queen was one of the Apostles of the Apocalypse.
As soon as Envirus, Abel’s brother, died, the Spirit Queen turned toward that fate.
“Other than this mountain, do you know of other regions with this power?”
“I know they exist, but I don’t know anything else.”
Rubia said with a depressed voice.
“I’m confused right now. The Queen that I serve wants to end this world, while my master wanted to save this place. I…”
“What does Rubia-nim want?”
Lee Sungmin looked at Rubia.
“I know Envirus genuinely wanted to save the world, but he died during that process; the Spirit Queen shifted his death to this world.”
Rubia was quiet for a long time.
“…what happened to that grandpa?”
At that, Lee Sungmin’s face hardened. After a brief pause, he spoke.“…back then…due to some reasons…he passed away.”
“…ah…”
Rubia stared blankly at the space in front of her, her ears pointing down.
“Before the Crazy Heavenly Demon died, he asked me something. He wanted me to check how Rubia-nim is doing when we meet again..”
“I…I’m doing well….”
“From now on as well?”
Rubia lifted her head. Maybe she was reminiscing about the past because her eyes were wet with tears.
“The Queen will try to destroy this world, and I will try to stop her. This means that if Rubia-nim sticks with the Queen, I will have to fight you.”
“I’m… not that strong.”
“Then, you will die by my hands.”
Rubia started to weep.
“Why is it like this? That grandpa died, and my master died as well. Why does this happen to me?”
“Because some bastard is twisting the world’s fate and changing the flow of destiny. My goal is to kill that son of a bitch.”
Lee Sungmin spoke, full of spirit.
“And now, I will have to kill the Spirit Queen. I understand your predicament. It would be best if you help me, but if you side with the Spirit Queen, that crazy bitch that wants to end the world….”
Lee Sungmin raised his hand and wiped the tears on Rubia’s face.
“…then I wish for you to run away. That way, I won’t be able to kill you.”
Lee Sungmin turned his body away. Besides finding the spots with a strong presence of spirits, he needed to do something else. For that, he first had to leave this place.
“…Cheneron Great Lake, Dahar Sites, and Phemud Volcanic Mountain.”
Rubia whispered.
“And the Sleeping Forest… and this place, the Yuzukia mountain range. These 5 places have the strongest presence of spirits. I… can’t feel the Queen’s presence. If the Queen descended into this world, I would definitely know.”
“Does that mean that she failed?”
“No, I just….”
Rubia stopped talking.
[You talk too much.]
A voice rang out, shaking the space. A breeze swept through the nearby area.
[Are you trying to betray our Queen?]
From inside the wind, a figure arose.
*****
TL Notes: That’s it for this chapter. Sorry for the late update. I had a lot of homework and whatnot, so yeah 😀 I’ll try to TL a lot and get a chap by either Saturday or Sunday, hopefully.