novelraw Chapter 268: Engagement - Studio Apartment
Chapter 268: Engagement - Studio Apartment
267: Engagement - Studio Apartment
- Well, well, who do we have here? Ahahaha! It’s Malpas, the Red Crow. Thanks to you, I had some fun this time.
“Lena, Lena. Snap out of it. Please.”
Leo whispered urgently, but Lena was too terrified to move. Under the flickering moonlight, the warrior with the crow tattoo calmly made his proposal.
“Astroth, give me the North. I won’t covet the South where you reside. I too hold a grudge against the Lord God.”
Five jang (approximately 15 meters) of steel wings rippled behind him, each feather as sharp and lethal as a blade. The sight was menacing beyond compare.
But even that paled in comparison to Grand Duke Astroth. The dual-headed Duke revealed his unnervingly neat square teeth in a mocking grin.
- Oh dear. How unfortunate. But what can I do? Do you really think you’re in any position to negotiate with me?
“...”
- Just keep grooming your feathers and wait, Malpas. You must feel good after winning a battle... kukukuk. But if you don’t want to lose your wings for nothing, better put up a fight.Though I doubt your Sword Master will sit idly by. Speaking of which, where are the ones who killed our Sword Master? I heard it was Jansen, Leo, and Lena...
“Does this mean you refuse to negotiate?”
The barbarian warrior asked persistently. Astroth answered by casually crushing the warrior with his clawed fingers.
There were many other barbarian warriors from the Aviker tribe, with tattoos of crow feathers, wings, and tails, but Malpas did not appear again.
Astroth chuckled as he bent down to survey Toridom. The wall he grasped with his gigantic eagle talons crumbled, and it didn’t take long for him to spot the people he was looking for.
Leo Dexter and Lena Ainar. Following the Ainar tribe’s tradition, two banners emblazoned with the bride and groom's names were hanging prominently, making them impossible to miss.
Astroth lowered his head in gratitude to the humans who had killed Count Herman Forte, but...
- Ah, over there. It’s you guys. Thanks. Because of you, I can descend in peace... Huh? Wait a minute, the names are wrong. It’s supposed to be Ray Dexter and Rera Ainar, so why...
Suddenly, a storm erupted.
A shockwave centered on Ray Dexter spread across the Asgard Plains. Astroth’s eyes widened in shock.
Leonel?
He didn’t know what to be surprised about first. Just like Azura, there was yet another reincarnation of Toddler Akiunen, but he soon realized that this was a divine plaything. How could this be possible? Astroth, piecing it together, burst out in outrage.
- Damn it! I told you I wasn’t bound by any constraints! But to shackle the world like this!
The entire world had been duplicated. Bound or not, there was only one way Leonel could exist more than once in the same era.
If that were the case, then the Lord God and this world...
It had been freely copied. Only the versions that pleased the Lord God remained, and the rest were discarded.
Astroth let out a scream of fury. At the same time, text appeared before Ray Dexter as his true name was revealed.
[ Achievement: Bound Item, 3/3 ]
[ ‘Bound Item’ achievement is being erased. ]
[ Quest: Guardian, 3/3 – You have met all other Leos. You have unlocked all bound items. You have met three Sword Masters. ]
[ ‘Guardian’ quest has been unlocked. ]
[ Quest: Guardian, 1/4 - Barbatos ]
The messages didn’t stop there. After a series of calculations, additional lines of text appeared alongside three illustrations.
[ You know the true name of childhood friend Lena. She is granted {Divinity}. ]
[ You know the true name of fiancée Lena. She is granted {Mana Body}. ]
[ You know the true name of beggar sibling Lena. She is granted {Immunity}. ]
The first illustration depicted Lena, bathed in a silver aura, looking like a saint.
The third illustration showed her younger sister, Lerialia, with her golden eyes shining innocently, while the second illustration wasn’t even worth looking at.
A blue glow emanated from Rera Ainar’s body. The soft glow gradually dimmed, and Rera, who had been trembling in fear, finally regained her composure.
“Rera! Rera! Are you okay? Are you conscious? Say something.”
“Hah! R-Ray. What the hell is that...?”
“There’s no time to explain. We need to run now. Can you run?”
Rera Ainar shook her head. Though she could barely stand on her own feet, her body was still trembling uncontrollably.
Astroth had descended. Faced with the terror he emitted, Ray was the only one who could maintain his sanity.
Actually, there was one other.
“Oh, God! Grant courage to these warriors! Smite their foes with the hammer of righteousness!”
It was the bald priest imbued with the Lord God’s divine power. He squeezed every last drop of divine power to bestow blessings upon the surrounding knights. Blessed, the knights could tighten their grips on their swords despite their ragged breaths.
Regardless.
Ray Dexter had no intention of fighting Astroth. None at all!
Fighting that thing was suicide.
Even setting aside that he was Ashin, a mere swordsman waving a stick had no means of dealing with a monster of such colossal size.
Escaping was the right choice now. Call for a saintess or whatever...
Ray abruptly whistled.
In response, his powerful black horse, Kus, came galloping up the steps. Ray lifted Rera onto its back.
Ray mounted behind her and spurred Kus into action.
Kus neighed as it galloped up the stairs, littered with fallen rocks. Ray shouted, “Move! Move!” brushing past the terrified soldiers who were staring at the sky in horror.
“Huff...! Huff! Agh... ahhh! B-Brother!! S-Save me...”
Just then, Astroth yanked out Lean and Lerialia, who were embedded in his shoulder.
He held the naked siblings in his grasp for a moment, hesitating before discarding them. Hundreds of meters high, Astroth hurled the siblings against the castle wall.
Thud! Blood splattered, and now his fury was directed squarely at Ray and Rera.
- You Damned Copies! Where Do You Think You’re Running?!
Astroth, overwhelmed by rage, slammed his massive palm down. He and everyone else were nothing but copies. Enraged, he sought to destroy these abominable playthings of the gods…
- CRASH!
As Astroth’s eagle-clawed hand struck down on Ray and Rera, a blue light erupted. A rounded hemisphere enveloped the two of them on horseback.
[ Necklace – A pretty necklace. ]
It was the blue necklace around Rera’s neck that shielded them. Wiping the cold sweat from his brow, Ray spurred Kus harder, steering the horse blindly north, away from Grand Duke Astroth...
But deep down, he knew the truth.
They would never escape.
With a single stride, Astroth leapt across Toridom. The fearsome entity had his back turned, and the bald priest who had briefly sighed in relief lamented. He clicked his tongue, reminiscing about the day he first met the young man in the prison, a man who wore the expression of someone burdened with all the world’s misfortunes. Though he clung to life, he kept his mouth tightly shut, never speaking a word.
What was his name again?
Ah, yes. It’s written here. Ray Dexter.
Even when fortune smiled and he was celebrated as a hero, he never smiled. It wasn’t until his wedding with his fiancée that he finally allowed himself a grin... and the priest thought he finally understood why. Ray had been chased by a monstrous misfortune.
The bald priest urged, “Your Highness! Please evacuate! Knights, move quickly!” He prayed for the young man who had bought them time.
That they might escape safely.
And he recited the incomplete wedding prayer.
[ Congratulations! ]
“What? Ah, no!”
As Ray evaded Astroth’s stomp, he suddenly felt his view lift. He flailed desperately, not knowing what to do, but the messages continued to appear indifferently.
[ Lena’s dream has been realized. ]
[ True Ending 2/2: Completed ]
[ Thank you for playing ‘Raising Lena.’ You have cleared all scenarios. You may now exit the game. ]
‘No, this isn’t right! This can’t be happening!’
Kill me instead! It can’t end like this! — he shouted, but it was in vain. Ray, now enclosed in a spherical shell, floated slowly towards the blood-red sky.
This was the true ending. As if urging him to savor the finale he had created, Ray screamed as he slowly ascended.
For a brief moment, his mind wavered as he felt himself separate, and Kus was struck by Astroth’s kick. Ray and Rera, left behind, were flung dozens of meters, tumbling into the bushes. Though hidden from view, Ray knew the outcome.
‘Re... Rera! Rera! Ah... Aaaaa... AAAAAHH!!’
Was this truly the true ending?
Ray felt like coughing up blood. If not for the sphere, he surely would have.
But even that wasn’t the end. Astroth, now at eye level with Ray in his spherical form, stared at him with wide eyes. Drawing closer menacingly,
So this is it.
This is the god’s plaything.
Astroth fixed his gaze on the Lord God’s icosahedron, which began to envelop Ray’s mind. As the familiar darkness began to creep in and the ending credits should have appeared... Astroth lunged, roaring.
- BOOM!
- BOOM! BOOM!
- BOOM!
- CRASH!
- CRASH! CRASH!
- CRACK!
After countless strikes, cracks began to form on the icosahedron. Crimson moonlight seeped in, and Astroth tore at the fractured sections with his hands.
In the end, Astroth raised his arm, clutched the moonlight, and with his burning, fiery hand, he shouted, BE GONE!!! and struck the icosahedron and Ray’s consciousness.
“Guh—!”
Struck by Astroth’s blood-red eagle claw, Ray was sent flying, falling endlessly. As the world spun and nausea surged, he landed with a thud, groaning on the ground.
His body ached as if shattered. Clutching at what were surely broken ribs, Minseo suddenly realized something was wrong.
He felt pain? How could that be?
He opened his eyes.
It was dim and shadowy, blocked by blackout curtains, with only the light from a laptop screen glowing faintly. Scattered clothes lay on the floor like a makeshift carpet, and beyond the thin, uninsulated walls, the fast beats of pop music blared without filter.
“Huh?”
Minseo lifted his head.
A messy desk. Half-used and half-pristine civil service exam books were scattered across it. The faint smell of cigarettes and a sense of defeat hung in the air.
It was his studio apartment.