Black Badger

Chapter 241: Rampage

The foundation of rampage is absorption.

When the speed of absorption becomes excessively fast, it leads straight into rampage. It’s like being doped — the body begins to overload. The moment a Child of the World Tree fails to control the absorption, they go into rampage.

The sclera turning black is one of the most well-known signs of rampage.

Originally, the more one absorbs, the stronger their killing power becomes — because the nutrients swallowed through absorption can be converted directly into offensive force.

Once a person enters rampage, that killing power becomes double what it is during ordinary absorption. It’s like taking the strongest among the strongest performance boosters.

However, the more skilled one is, the better they can adjust the speed of rampage.

That was why Rei’s rampage had been catastrophic.

Because his exceptional control let him delay the moment when his body would turn to ash and collapse.

Normally, when someone goes into rampage, everything ends within three hours. Within those three hours the rampaging individual reduces an entire village to scorched earth, and then they too burn to ash and disintegrate.

But what if someone at the level of a Swordmaster were to rampage?

Everyone knows the answer.

There was a video record of it — the very one that granted Yehyeon fame and authority.

“Question.”

Kai spoke quietly.

I put the marker down.

“Yes.”

“Once rampage starts, you can’t undo it?”

A bitter smile tugged at my mouth before I realized it.

It was a question scholars in the Empire agonized over as well. Can rampage truly be suppressed? Is killing the rampaging individual the only way to end it?

For a long time, I alone knew the correct answer to that question.

Perhaps even now, I alone still know it.

“It is possible.”

I’ve done it.

“Though the cases where someone manages it are extremely rare.”

“Ah~... so you’re saying Kyle didn’t rampage during the Territory Reconquest because he didn’t know how to stop it~?”

“No. He may very well not know how to stop it, but above all, at the time he didn’t have sufficient nutrients to absorb. Rampage requires a sacrifice. A Child of the World Tree needs enough firewood prepared to burn fiercely.”

“So if there were enough firewood, an incident like the last disaster could happen again?”

Kai uncrossed his arms and asked.

I nodded.

“That’s why the Commander is so anxious.”

Even though we’re protected by Breath, he knows that doesn’t block everything.

He had seen the mountains of dying humans created by rampaging Rei.

In truth, if not for Kyle, Yehyeon and the Elders wouldn’t have cared whether there were humanoid Creatures outside or not. Whether humanoid or beast-type, they would’ve treated them all as Creatures and operated normally.

But the leadership and the Elders remembered.

The reason they were so certain Kyle and Rei would triumph until the very last moment.

The one thing that even the mighty Emperor bristled at sharply.

“You can do it too?”

Yun’s voice pulled me out of my thoughts.

“You’re a Child of the World Tree as well.”

“Yes.”

I met his sharp black gaze without looking away.

“I can, as well.”

“And Hilde is planning to do that?”

This time it was Ami who asked.

Her voice had none of its usual brashness.

“If you face Kyle, Hilde — will you rampage?”

Here is where a question emerges — one even I cannot answer.

What exactly did I do during the First War?

It’s certain I held Kyle back. There was no trace of Kyle ever having entered the battlefield. If I hadn’t stopped him, he would’ve shown a destructive force at least equal to Rei’s — perhaps greater.

Yet no human record mentions Kyle.

Which means I fulfilled my role when I went to die together with him.

And since I went to face Kyle betting everything, I must have used rampage as a method.

Then how did I end up losing my memories and dropping into the HQ Core Zone?

This gap is one I still haven’t been able to fill.

“Hold on.”

I was speaking slowly, but Yun cut in.

“If someone rampages, they’ll keep absorbing nutrients until the surroundings are devastated.”

“Yes.”

“If two rampage at the same time, what happens? Do they eat each other?”

“No. They don’t.”

I could answer immediately because such a case had occurred.

An incident where multiple Children of the World Tree rampaged simultaneously.

It happened in the western region. A criminal organization split over money issues and engaged in factional warfare — that was when the Children clashed.

A once-prosperous city fell.

The place where the city had stood turned into pitch-black ruins. It was as if only the living creatures had burned away. The buildings were still standing, but every living being with feet on the ground died.

Only those who escaped into the sky managed to survive and later reported the tragedy.

The rampaging Children of the World Tree had been unable to absorb each other.

The priest who delivered this report to the Emperor later went insane and wandered the empire until he died.

“In any case, if Kyle rampages, I have no choice.”

I might be able to counter his absorption-based attacks.

But if he goes into rampage, the situation changes.

“We can’t allow a repeat of the First War’s disaster.”

“And letting him burn out and die alone?”

“He won’t.”

I gave Sophia a bitter smile.

“He’s a fighter on the same level as the one who rampaged during the First War. At minimum he’d last three days... no, easily a full week. He’s a monster.”

“Back then we didn’t know the mechanism and kept supplying him with nutrients ourselves. People ran at him and dropped dead one after another. If we cut off his firewood, wouldn’t he burn out sooner?”

“Well. He’s not someone whose judgment would degrade enough to rampage without sufficient nutrients. And he might learn how to stop it as well.”

“As well?”

I didn’t understand Ricardo’s short question.

When I blinked in confusion, the green-eyed senior clarified.

“He’s asking whether you know how to stop rampage...”

So the conversation circles back here.

I looked for something to lean on and dragged the lectern closer.

After resting half my body against it, I answered.

“I have stopped it.”

“Really? That’s a relief!”

“That also means you’ve rampaged.”

Beside relieved Ami, Yun delivered a razor-sharp question.

“Why did you rampage?”

Do I need to answer?

There’s no particular need for them to know. It wouldn’t help in the war effort. It was long in the past, personal, and tactically irrelevant.

Let’s answer vaguely.

My stomach churned, and I swallowed before speaking.

“When I was young, I rampaged in the place I was imprisoned. After escaping, I stopped it.”

“What? Then that guy should know how to stop rampage too. You must’ve told Kyle at some point.”

“I have never once told anyone in my life that I rampaged.”

I lowered my eyes to the floor and muttered.

My voice emerged hoarse.

“There were no witnesses. Because I absorbed and consumed every person in that remote village.”

The atmosphere shifted instantly.

A heavy silence crushed the meeting room.

Faces twisted in shock. Only Yun was not horrified — though even he was surprised.

Seeing pure surprise in that man’s eyes was rare.

I wanted to smile bitterly, but no smile came.

I quietly looked at the humans.

The seniors were frozen.

Ami broke the silence.

“Why?”

Her round eyes fixed on me without blinking.

“How did you end up rampaging, Hilde? Did you lose control while absorbing?”

Resting one arm on the lectern, I pondered my answer.

My face likely held no particular expression. No bitter smile, no forced laugh — but no resentment, sorrow, or gloom either.

Most likely a blank, statue-like face — the kind my subordinates once said gave them chills.

I knew that expression shocked the seniors even more, but there was nothing I could do.

After some thought, I replied.

“In a way, yes.”

“In a way?”

“The mage who was experimenting on me at the time must’ve triggered something. Maybe he hit the wrong nerve. Whatever he did, it accelerated my absorption. When I regained awareness, I was already rampaging.”

“What the hell.”

Sophia muttered with disgusted eyes.

“That’s possible?”

“Yes. Well...”

“How did you stop?”

Ami whispered, her voice trembling.

“From the sound of it, it’s not something you can stop at will. How did you...?”

I had wondered that myself for a very long time.

It was a question I wrestled with even as the world collapsed. Something I never even confessed to Kyle. Even when I poured out the memories of the experiments he subjected me to, I didn’t say ❖ Nоvеl𝚒ght ❖ (Exclusive on Nоvеl𝚒ght) how I escaped. Rampage was the worst calamity, and I couldn’t bear to confess that I had caused one.

So I carried the question alone all this time.

“I think... maybe I stopped because I forced myself to absorb only the people.”

That was the conclusion I reached after many years of thought.

“I’m not certain. But I remember thinking that while I was rampaging.”

So after consuming every person in the village, I stopped.

I remember how deathly quiet the place became. That horrific village where only fanatics lived. The moment the creepy, constant whispers of prayer vanished.

The feel of ash brushing past my ankles.

The cool wind slapping my cheek...

“...I’m sorry.”

Ami’s strained voice pulled me back.

“For asking something like that.”

She was about to cry.

“You must’ve suffered horrible guilt. I’m really sorry, Hilde.”

“Guilt?”

My eyes widened.

Then I burst out laughing.

It came out before I could hold it back — sharp enough to sting their ears.

It wasn’t something to laugh at, I knew that, yet I couldn’t hold it in.

Ah.

I laughed for a long time.

Before the silent seniors, I finally forced myself to quiet the unpleasant sound.

That was unexpected.

Lowering my head, still with laughter lingering, I saw Ami staring at me blankly.

“Not at all.”

“...Huh?”

“Once I cleared everything away, I felt so relieved.”

That sense of liberation filling my chest then—

I lived for a while carried by that freedom.

“I have never felt guilt. Not even for a moment. So you don’t need to apologize.”

Ami stared at me, dumbfounded.

Ricardo lifted one eyebrow. He looked calm, but in his green eyes I saw the surprise.

Kai’s faintly furrowed brow, Sophia blinking with a grimace.

“So the entire village teamed up to imprison you or something?”

Only Yun’s face remained composed.

He must’ve picked up various details from my explanation, because my mentor asked:

“You refuse to absorb now because of that?”

“Yes.”

I tugged up one corner of my mouth.

“Severe PTSD. Even after a hundred years there’s no improvement.”

And surely there never will be.

I must’ve missed the window for treatment. Or perhaps it was a wound that was never treatable to begin with.

The memories from then remain blurry.

Still, after unloading various things on Kyle, I’ve gotten much better.

I smiled, satisfied that I had managed to explain without vomiting or trembling.

“But I can rampage when necessary, so don’t worry.”

I added, smiling at Ami whose jaw had dropped.

“And I think I can stop that rampage too.”