Chapter 249 – A Turbulent World (6)
Brahm nodded when Yeon-woo yielded his turn.
His eyes weren’t those of an old man happy after receiving some work, but of the Exile who was once a god.
There wasn’t anyone who had a greater grudge against Vieira Dune than him. Sesha and Ananta. His precious family had suffered for a long time because of her.
Yeon-woo readily yielded to Brahm because he knew that.
Brahm spoke in a dry tone.
“Vieira.”
「Do you want……die……!」
“Vieira. Answer me, Vieira. ”
「Let me go……!」
Brahm continued to speak to her, but she couldn’t get herself together. He smiled coldly.
“If you can’t wake yourself up, I’ll help you. We have a lot to talk about.”
Brahm waved his hand in the air and pulled something out from subspace. It was a flask with a strange liquid in it. It was tightly sealed with a cork.
“This is called a Yongsan Elixir. I made it because I was curious if a ghoul-form monster can be injured. I don’t know if it’ll work on you.”
Brahm twisted the cork off. White smoke came out with a fizzing sound. He tilted the flask above Vieira Dune’s head.
「Aaaaaack!」
Vieira Dune stiffened her back and shouted. Her soul was melting. The liquid stuck to her body and began to destroy her from the inside.
“Hm. It’s more effective than I thought. I didn’t know by how much, because I hadn’t tried it out yet. I suppose I can decrease the acidity a bit. And this is healing water, so it’ll help with recovering. Try this too.”
「Keuk, keukk!」
The healing water did indeed recover her body, but as it mixed with the elixir, it became slimy and added more pain.
Vieira Dune tossed her body around, but the liquid didn’t move.
“Hm. What will we do if you’re so weak? My daughter probably suffered torture like this as well. If you’re this tired after a few experiments, there will be no point to this. You can do it. Let’s start again.”
Brahm’s experiments continued. Every time the subspace opened, new tools poured out. Since it was a soul they had gotten after much difficulty, he didn’t forget to carefully record everything, either. It was like he was trying to do all the experiments that he was behind on.
「Please! I’ll tell you everything, so please……!」
Vieira Dune couldn’t help but wake up. No, she had to force herself to.
If she didn’t, the pain would be endless. Her subconscious woke her up to be less in pain.
“No, no. It’s not over yet.”
But Brahm shook his head and crushed Vieira Dune’s hopes.
「Great Mother! Kidnapping Sesha and Ananta was for Great Mother!」
Vieira Dune began to spit out facts they didn’t ask for. It was the only way the pain would lessen.
「The experiments I did were to complete the vessel. I did all kinds of things to complete the vessel. I’m sorry. I’m sorry, so please. Ah, ah! That’s what you have to do to heal Ananta!」
She was spewing things out, so most of her babbling didn’t make sense, but Yeon-woo, who was standing in the back, was able to get the gist of what she was saying after combining it with the information he got from the other witches’ souls.
‘It’s as I thought. Was she trying to summon Mother Earth, who’s said to have birthed the witches?’
The being that the witches called their witches wasn’t a defined god, but more of a concept.
Her name ‘Whore of Babylon’ was more famous, and other than that, she was known as Tiamat, Ymir, Ishtar, Inanna, Kybele, Prithvi, Grandmother Mago.
However, she had a name that was more famous than the others.
Gaia.
Also known as Yama.
‘But her personality is quite different from being motherly.’
Mother Earth was one of the only great gods that were here since the beginning of time, but every time she showed herself to the world, she always had a different appearance, and it was hard to tell what she was thinking.
Vieira Dune was the only person who Mother Earth was interested in.
No one knew the reason why.
Whether it was because of her ability or something else, one thing for sure was that Vieira Dune had become stronger with the favor of Mother Earth and controlled the Walpurgisnacht because of it.
But…..
‘All contact with Mother Earth was suddenly cut off? The Walpurgisnacht tried to wake her sleep?’
Mother Earth wasn’t that well known, but she sometimes showed herself on the earth.
She had never cut off contact with Vieira Dune either. Her sudden disappearance would definitely have been greatly frustrating for Vieira Dune.
That was why Vieira Dune decided to take a gamble, to call Mother Earth to the ground.
She considered it a nice decision because she knew that Mother Earth was interested in the lower world.
‘Still, since she gave them a divine revelation, it’s not like she completely disappeared. What happened?’
There was more than one thing that was strange. There were a lot of unclear sections.
‘But it’s not completely mysterious.’
Yeon-woo suddenly had a thought.
His brother had Luciel’s Soulstone, but it suddenly disappeared. If even the Summer Queen didn’t know who took it, wouldn’t it be someone who was closest to him?
For example, a lover. And if that lover had done something for her god…..
‘…..’
Yeon-woo’s eyes darkened.
Whatever the reason was, it didn’t change the fact that Vieira Dune had tried to use Sesha and Ananta as a vessel.
After that, Vieira Dune continued to spill the secrets of Mother Earth, what she ate until now, how the witches were created, and all kinds of useless information. Thankfully, a way to cure Ananta was included in all that.
Even so, Brahm didn’t stop his experiments. Vieira Dune was furious having her body melted and healed over and over again.
「I told you everything! So why aren’t you killing me?!」
Then, she whipped her head in another direction. She glared at Yeon-woo, then laughed awkwardly.
「Jeong-woo! Jeong-woo! It’s me! Me! Vieira! Who you loved! Didn’t you miss me, honey? You longed for me until the end, right? Sorry. I really am. I was wrong. So please, forgive me now. N, no. Let’s start again. I’ll do everything you ask me to. I’ll throw away the witches, or even Great Mother if you tell me to. I’ll be faithful to you and Sesha…..!」
Vieira Dune couldn’t continue with her words. No matter what she said, Yeon-woo’s gaze didn’t waver. His expression didn’t change either. In fact, her eyes were trembling. The corners of her mouth quivered.
「H, Honey! You liked this right? My chest! My lap? D, Don’t you want to lie down? I’m a little hurt, but i, it’s okay. D, Don’t you want to lie down?」
“…….”
「Say something! Something! Curse me if you want to! Or kill me! This is enough revenge! It’s over! You’re alive, so what more do you want?! There’s nothing more I can do from…..!」
“Do you really—”
Yeon-woo cut Vieira Dune’s furious screams off. He spoke in a low voice.
“Do you really think it’s over?”
「……You, you’re not Jeong-woo…..brother…..yeah, he said he had a brother that he left behind in his homeland……! Then you!」
“Jeong-woo closed his eyes, longing for you until the very end. He was stupid. He didn’t hate you even after that. But now I know for sure. He was really stupid.”
Yeon-woo slowly stood up and strode to where Vieira Dune was. Brahm stepped aside.
“He lost to a b**** that only amounted to this. Ha!”
「Yeah! Your brother lost to a b**** that only amounted to this. But didn’t you ever wonder?! Why I or the other comrades turned our backs? Why we ran away, why we stabbed his back, have you ever thought about it?」
Yeon-woo paused in his steps.
Vieira Dune raised a corner of her mouth. She thought her words had gotten to him. Whatever she did, she was going to die anyway. She wanted to put up one last stand.
「If you have half a brain, isn’t it reasonable to suspect the reason why? Everyone left him. Then isn’t it logical that the person that made everyone leave had a problem?! Hohoho! How stupid. You only think your younger brother is kind and innocent, hm?」
“…….”
「Of course not! We were greedy too, but Cha Jeong-woo was worse! He had to have everything to be satisfied, and he had to step forward himself. He was like that from the beginning! He hoarded and kept everything to himself. We were sick of that! You know?」
Her laughs became louder. She giggled hysterically.
Vieira Dune pulled out her specialty, Mind Control magic, to shake Yeon-woo even just a little. She was trying to break his trust in his brother and crumble his world so that she could interfere with it.
<Mind Plunder>. Unlike Body Transfer, which moved onto a body that was prepared in advance, it was a power that blended the user into the Ego Data of someone else.
In other words, it was a virus—one that made her opponent into her servant.
And Yeon-woo actually looked like he was being affected.
She might be able to live.
Vieira Dune began to hope. If she could control Yeon-woo’s mind, she could leave this prison and dream of being newly resurrected.
「There were a lot of people sacrificed because of him. He was the worst human who only knew himself! We all made that decision because we thought we would be in danger as well so…………!」
“You’re done with the bull**** right?”
But her hopes were dashed.
「What?」
Yeon-woo’s hand coldly shot out and grabbed Vieira Dune’s head.
Crunch—
She didn’t even have a body, but the sound of something breaking rang out. It was the sound of a soul being shaken. Vieira was trapped in a horrifying pain again. Her eyes, which he could see between his fingers, were bloodshot.
“So? Did you think I’d be shaken by something like that?”
Yeon-woo twisted her head inside. Her head was crushed, and her shoulders were pushed down, crumpling all the way down to the ground.
「It hurts! It hurts, I said! Let go! Let go of me! Aaaaack!」
“Human relationships can’t be smooth all the time. But that doesn’t mean people stab each other in the back like you guys did. They talk it out.”
「Aaack!」
Vieira Dune struggled. But Yeon-woo’s pressure continued to spread throughout her body. Black energy poured out like blood, turning into an unknown substance.
“So if you’re going to talk about bloody nonsense like that—”
Crack—
“Go tell it to your Great Mother, or whatever she’s called.”
Yeon-woo clenched his fist. With the sound of air escaping, her body exploded like a balloon. Black energy spread out.
The last of Vieira Dune’s vestige twirled crazily in the air.
Looking at that, Yeon-woo spoke in a cold voice with his Draconic Eyes open.
“So throw away this stupid skin and appear for real, Vieira.”
That moment.
Hwihwihwi!
The vestige and the black energy combined, staining the world into black.
And from that, a large being suddenly shot out above him. It was a being that made Yeon-woo look like a mere firefly. However, it was somehow familiar to him.
Above the sky, a pair of eyes burst open. They were the same white eyes that Vieira Dune had.
There weren’t any pupils, but he could feel its gaze on him.
Mother Earth. Or, to be exact, the monster that had used her god-given powers and the Soulstone, even swallowing the god she served, was here.
『You brothers have always been such a nuisance.』