A Regressor's Bucket List

Chapter 168 : White Tiger (6)

Thud.

Tom Hardist’s feet landed lightly on the ground.

A soft landing, contrasting with the thunderous roars his leaps had made until now.

But regardless of the lightness of his landing, a heavy expression settled on his face.

The reason was simple.

‘…….’

Valencia.

The princess of the Beastkin Nation in his arms wore a very unwell expression.

At first, she had tried to move her body to get away from him, but at some point, she had stopped resisting and was just staring blankly into the air.

Empty, dead-fish eyes.

It would be disrespectful to utter such a phrase, but Valencia's expression was so wretched that the thought even crossed the mind of Tom, whose loyalty to the Royal Family was ingrained in his body and soul.

Of course, it wasn't that Tom didn't know the reason.

‘…His Majesty.’

While he couldn't know the exact cause and effect, he had intuited from the timing of her headache that it was somehow related to Allen Tigris III's Thought Form.

It was just a vague guess based on outward appearances, but the fact that she had clutched her head the moment U-jin clashed with the Thought Form gave him a faint sense of certainty.

And according to Tom's line of thinking, the fact that she, who had been writhing in pain until his first leap, was no longer complaining of a headache meant that the matter over there had been concluded in some way.

The blank expression Valencia was wearing now seemed to stem from that.

If his guess was correct, there was a high probability that the conclusion was not a very welcome one from Valencia's perspective.

“…….”

Given the circumstances, and since he wasn't entirely unrelated to the matter, Tom thought it would be best to say something.

But the words wouldn't come out easily.

It was a different kind of difficulty from when he first met her.

Back then, it felt like he couldn't bring himself to touch a cold sheet of ice.

Now, how should he put it?

Her expression looked as if it would shatter into a million pieces with a *clang* if he touched it wrong.

Although it was embarrassing to be proud of it now, as someone who had once served Valencia closer than anyone, he could tell.

Valencia's current expression looked more dangerous and precarious than ever before.

And just as he suspected, Tom's intuition became reality.

“…Why.”

A single tear suddenly fell from the corner of Valencia's eye as she wore a blank expression.

“…Just why.”

For tears to fall from the eyes of that innocent princess was, in itself, quite a surprising event.

Even Tom, who had looked after her for a very long time, for her entire childhood, had no memory of seeing her cry.

But ironically, that was only the beginning.

Like raindrops falling one by one turning into a downpour.

Her crying, which started with a single drop, erupted into a torrent of deep-seated sorrow.

“…All you do is take.”

“…….”

“Just why!!”

She cried, pounding on Tom’s chest with her clumsily clenched fists.

Tom's ears twitched, and an unconcealable bewilderment covered his face.

“…I lost everything. I’ve already lost everything.”

“…….”

“So why are you trying to take more from me…...”

Of course, it wasn't that Valencia didn't know her own destiny.

As U-jin had first said, the throne of the Beastkin Nation was not something one could inherit just by wanting to, nor was it something one could refuse just by not wanting to.

Her father.

Her grandfather.

Her great-grandfather.

The ancestors before them.

Fulfilling the duty of the Royal Family, passed down from generation to generation for a very long time, was not something maintained merely by a sense of mission or responsibility.

If it had been carried on haphazardly by such things, it would have been broken long ago.

It wasn't just a matter of someone like Valencia appearing who didn't want to inherit the duty.

The history of the Beastkin was long, and there had been more than one or two heroes who had appeared with a powerful presence.

Each and every one of them could exert a powerful influence.

Normally, the emergence of a hero with great influence was in itself a shake-up to the existing power structure.

The reason the Beastkin Royal Family had continued without being overthrown once, despite the appearance of so many heroes, was because of a powerful covenant.

A covenant sustained by blood.

Only those who inherited the bloodline could inherit the power of the White Tiger (白虎) and fulfill the duty of the king who leads the Beastkin.

And she was well aware that in this day and age, she was the only one who inherited that bloodline, and that she had to do it.

“…I know.”

It wasn't that she didn't know.

Her father. The fact that the Thought Form left by Allen Tigris III was in itself a paradoxical existence.

No matter how great a person was, it was impossible to leave behind such a vestige without a proper medium, and even a being with divinity could not leave their mark forever.

Let alone a mortal who had already lost his life, far from having divinity.

Therefore, she was also well aware that his Thought Form, which had existed for over a hundred years, was an existence that defied the natural order.

“…I know.”

It wasn't that she didn't know.

That the peace she was enjoying in Aileen Village was only temporary.

Although she had enjoyed it for longer than she thought, her very presence here was what would shatter that peace.

That this place she had fled to was not a paradise, but a home riddled with lies.

She knew very well that if she were to reveal her identity as the heir to the Beastkin Royal Family, not just some stray cat, everything she had enjoyed until now could turn to dust in an instant.

Her golden eye had been showing her such things for a long time.

“But… I don’t want to.”

But knowing something and accepting it were two completely different things.

Valencia knew this better than anyone.

Despite knowing the irreversible nature of that destiny better than anyone, Valencia thought.

That she didn't care if it was a lie... even if it was a lie, she wanted to somehow keep living in this Aileen Village she had protected until now.

Having already run away once, what meaning did truth or lies hold?

She just wanted to deny it.

Valencia had already experienced losing everything once, so she knew all too well how excruciating and painful the agony of losing everything was.

She had long since thrown away things like logic or reason.

She thought it would be fine even if it was just a puppet show riddled with deception.

Because it was enjoyable, peaceful, and in its own way, happy.

To once again shoulder all the responsibility and mission, to return to the throne she had fled from, was something she didn't even want to imagine, let alone decide to do.

…But.

That too was now over.

Because that unidentifiable man who had suddenly appeared with Thomas had ended everything.

Of course, it was impossible to blame the man for everything.

She, too, as the heir who inherited the blood of the White Tiger.

Knew very well what the truth and the essence of the matter were.

Even before he arrived in Aileen Village, Valencia had sensed the end was approaching as she watched her headaches grow stronger and the shadow of the Thought Form become more grotesque.

Seo U-jin had merely been the trigger for it.

The deceptive puppet show, already becoming more and more tangled, was hurtling towards a messy end.

She herself knew it best.

That things would have likely blown up soon, even if it hadn't been him.

…But.

There was one thing that even she, who knew everything, had not anticipated.

That the man was Seo U-jin.

That he was the person who, since coming to the Upper Plane, had pulled everything that was called impossible into the realm of possibility.

That he was about to cause some kind of anomaly this time as well.

She did not know.

* * *

‘…Perhaps.’

The brilliant move U-jin came up with was this.

Separating the fragment of the Primordial Demonic Beast from the Thought Form was impossible.

The Thought Form and the fragment of the Primordial Demonic Beast were already so entangled that they could no longer be called separate entities.

The length of time was one factor.

In fact, they had entered an inseparable state that went beyond mere parasitism.

Therefore, it was difficult to separate the Thought Form's original power from that wicked mass using conventional methods.

Simply put, it was something that couldn't be done unless one used a power that reached the realm of the gods.

…Yes.

A power that reached the realm of a god.

The moment he recalled that phrase, something came to U-jin's mind.

‘…The power of a god.’

Of course, using the power of a Constellation was impossible.

U-jin didn't possess such power, and the Constellations were all already using their power to protect their own domains.

As the War against Demons continued, the power of the Constellations was being used in their respective sanctuaries with none to spare.

With everyone stretched thin, there were no benevolent Constellations who would lend their power for such a trivial matter.

Besides.

Furthermore, the ‘power that reached the realm of a god’ U-jin was talking about wasn't some mere fragment that a Constellation might bestow upon a Hero they contracted with, as if giving alms.

The power of a Constellation's main body directly descending upon the mortal world.

Or the power wielded directly by an existing being who had reached divinity through their own strength.

Unless it was something that sacred, there was no way it could separate the fragment of the Primordial Demonic Beast.

So, what was it that U-jin had thought of?

‘…The power of a different god.’

It was to use the power of a god other than a Constellation.

It was a case of 'a chicken instead of a pheasant'.

If not one of our gods, then he could just borrow the power of an Outer God.

Of course, it was a ridiculous idea that an ordinary person would never think of.

But U-jin was different.

…Because he already had experience borrowing such power.

Having finished his train of thought, U-jin took his hand off his sword.

‘…….’

In truth, the chances of success were not very high.

It was something he had never tried before, and it was merely an idea that had flashed in his mind for a moment.

…However.

There seemed to be no need to hesitate.

After all, it was something where he wouldn't know the result without trying.

…And he had plenty of experience betting his life on such possibilities.

Plunge—

Thrusting his hand into the writhing bundle of tentacles, U-jin.

“…Let’s give it a try.”

Began to absorb the tentacles into his own body.