Translator: Vine
Translated At: Nyx Scans
Chapter: 134
#134. My Answer
2022.12.12.
A silent space.
Scrape... Scrape...
The sound of something heavy dragging across the dirt continued intermittently, then suddenly stopped with a thud.
Eunha, who had stopped walking, slowly lifted her gaze and looked at the scene before her.
People, leaning against the wall, motionless, were slumped over like old mannequins.
Eunha carefully set down the hunter she had been carrying on her back.
"...Phew."
A short sigh followed.
With this, it seemed it was roughly over.
The person she had just set against the wall was the last human Eunha had found here in the 'Stem of Circulation'.
Wiping the sweat from her forehead with the back of her hand, Eunha slowly straightened her bent body and tilted her head to check her surroundings.
A total of 42 people.
That was the number of hunters Eunha had moved here.
Among them were the members of the support unit Eunha had led, and Seok Gyeongho of the Corps Guild.
'...Why?'
A faint wrinkle formed on Eunha's brow as she looked at them.
They, who should have been fighting Sucker Parasites near the root, why were they lying here unconscious?
By someone?
Or had a quest related to the scales also appeared for them on the 'outside'?
No, in the first place, was this place not only for monsters to enter?
Ssssk...
Nameless insects were seen crawling between the motionless figures.
A drop of water, falling from a stalactite hanging from the ceiling, touched Gyeongho's cheek.
However, despite any stimulation, Gyeongho did not open his eyes.
Like a corpse.
Eunha, bending over, brought her finger under Gyeongho's nose.
A faint breath.
Only after confirming that he was still alive did she turn her back.
It was to find out where this place was, whether there was an exit, what the identity of that fruit was, and what the 'hidden quest' the system mentioned was.
The first thing that caught her eye was, of course, that brilliantly shining golden fruit.
The 'Abundant Fruit of Life' mentioned in the system window surely referred to that.
Eunha approached the golden fruit and lightly extended her hand.
Just with that, the golden fruit came into her hand very easily.
She couldn't tell if this was an object that played the role of a so-called gate core, or if it was the key to conquering this gate.
'Nothing is certain right now.'
For now, let's just keep it.
Eunha put the fruit in a corner of her inventory and started walking again.
Clack, clack...
In this dark and damp space, the only moving object was Eunha.
An alien presence.
It was as if this space itself regarded Eunha as such and was persistently ostracizing her.
Embracing that strange feeling, Eunha continued to walk and walk.
Finally, the place Eunha reached was a dead end.
"..."
Thud.
Eunha, stopping her steps, lightly tapped the wall with the tip of her parasol.
Though not certain, this wall seemed to be quite thick.
This time, she swung her parasol hard at the wall.
Thwack!
The sturdy parasol didn't break from that, but neither did the wall.
Not even a fine crack appeared.
Eunha, setting down her parasol for a moment, reached her hand towards the wall.
And.
Fwoooosh—!
A fierce explosion erupted from her palm.
However, the inner wall still stood firm.
Not even a crack from such an explosion.
Rather than being hard, it was more like...
'It's like there's an invisible barrier.'
Eunha, who had been staring back and forth between her hand and the wall, picked up the parasol she had set on the floor and started walking again.
How long had she walked like that?
Eunha once again reached the wall where she had gathered the hunters.
She had taken a large tour of this entire space.
However, Eunha had gained nothing.
All that was here were truly tree roots, fallen monsters and hunters, and that unidentified golden fruit.
'What should I do.'
Eunha, sitting down roughly nearby, was lost in thought.
By entering this place, she had confirmed that the system regarded her as a monster.
She had discovered a strange fruit, and learned that there was a hidden quest in this gate.
However, that was all.
It seemed there was no more information to be gained from this place, for now.
So for now, she had to find a way to get back to the 'outside' from here.
Eunha began to ponder how.
How much time had passed like that?
In the chilly silence, ding!
A cheerful notification sound echoed.
[The divine beast 'Cat Wandering in Darkness' looks at you.]
[As if worried about you, it gently approaches and rubs its forehead against your feet.]
Eunha slowly lifted her gaze at the yellow message window that appeared in her vision.
Though its form was not visible, she could clearly feel that the cat was worried about her.
In the cat's eyes, it seemed Eunha currently looked depressed or in despair.
[The divine beast 'Cat Wandering in Darkness' starts to rummage through its fur.]
[Congratulations! You have obtained 'Mackerel Cushion Sprinkled with Catnip'!]
Poof...!
A mackerel-shaped cushion landed lightly on her lap.
[The divine beast 'Cat Wandering in Darkness' confidently recommends that you use the item, saying that it will relieve anxiety and stress, as you seem to be listless.]
Eunha picked up the cushion.
However, she soon put it down again.
Contrary to the cushion's cute design, Eunha, looking at it, had a very dry gaze.
As it wasn't the expected reaction, the cat spoke again.
[The divine beast 'Cat Wandering in Darkness' carefully asks, "Sister, are you doing this because you want to get out of here?"]
It seemed the cat was recalling the time when Eunha, trapped in the Unknown Gate, had desperately tried to escape.
[The divine beast 'Cat Wandering in Darkness' adds that since sister is not yet unconscious nor has she run out of stamina, there is a way to escape this place now.]
There's a way?
Eunha snapped her head up.
Was it a little excited by the decent reaction this time?
The cat quickly added.
[The divine beast 'Cat Wandering in Darkness' explains that a tree originally needs sufficient nutrients to bear fruit. All the living beings here are that 'nourishment'.]
[But if sister wants... getting just sister out of here is no big deal for it, it pounds its chest!]
However, Eunha did not rashly answer the cat's words.
'Just me, you say...'
That phrase bothered her.
Eunha slowly looked around her.
The hunters, leaning against the wall, motionless.
She could see vine-like roots, extending from the floor and walls, slowly binding their limbs.
Yet, being unconscious, they didn't even let out a small groan.
Eunha asked.
"Then what about the others?"
[The divine beast 'Cat Wandering in Darkness' firmly shakes its head, saying that to get everyone out of here, the only way is to destroy this space itself, but that would be impossible for sister.]
At the cat's words, Eunha recalled her memory from a little while ago.
The inner wall, which hadn't budged even when struck with her parasol or with the explosive force of her flames.
"Why?"
When she asked again, there was a short silence before the answer came.
After a few seconds that felt like minutes, the cat finally said.
[Because the system recognizes sister as a 'monster'.]
[And because monsters are beings that cannot damage a gate, it says.]
"..."
Eunha closed her mouth.
It wasn't because she was shocked or anything.
Just that.
"...Is that because my name was taken?"
The 'name' that had been bothering her all along.
Could this situation also be related to Eunha having lost her name?
"Then if I get my name back, I can break the wall here?"
[...]
The cat gave no answer.
"Kitty, answer me. Is that so?"
The yellow message window, only after a few seconds had passed, slowly appeared.
[The divine beast 'Cat Wandering in Darkness' nods its head.]
The cat, as if making an excuse, continued hastily.
[It opens its mouth, saying that it knew sister suspected it for a long time.]
[But without a name, it cannot go outside the gate, and to be with sister... to exist (實在), it needs a name, it says.]
Rumble, rumble, rumble...
Suddenly, the ground began to rumble lowly.
Roots, breaking through the soil, fiercely bound the hands and feet of the monsters scattered around, and the unconscious hunters.
It was the same for Eunha.
A tree root, shooting up from the ground, thwack!
It grabbed her ankle.
[The divine beast 'Cat Wandering in Darkness' anxiously awaits your choice.]
As if its heart had become urgent, the yellow message window popped up hastily.
[It warns that there isn't much time left, and if sister doesn't leave this place quickly, she too will be absorbed by this gate.]
[It emphasizes that in any case, the only one it can get out of here is its contractor, with whom its soul is bound, only sister.]
Shwoooosh...!
A golden radiance began to envelop Eunha's body.
[Individual Identification. 'Princess of Dark Flare'.]
[ - - - Loading - - - ]
Eunha had experienced something similar to this before.
In the Unknown Gate, just before making a contract with the cat, it was when the cat had used its power to return the right arm she had lost to a mutant monster.
Meaning, the cat was trying to use its 'power' like back then.
The dazzlingly brilliant golden light grew fiercer and fiercer.
Drip...
It was the moment the water, dripping from a stalactite, hit the surface of the soil.
Whoosh—!
Eunha swung the parasol she was holding widely.
Shurururuk...
As the parasol sharply cut through the air, the light enveloping her instantly disappeared like a candle being extinguished.
"..."
Darkness, and silence, descended once more.
Eunha, standing blankly in the center of it all, recalled the events at the Scales of Choice.
There, the cat had asked Eunha.
"Kitty. You asked me if I wanted to be human, didn't you?"
Eunha slowly raised her hand.
That white, gaunt hand, soon fiercely clenched the air.
"This is that answer."
A black flame, soaring from Eunha's center.
Like a black tidal wave, it began to spread throughout the entire field.
Ding!
A message window popped up.
[The divine beast 'Cat Wandering in Darkness' tears at its hair, saying that it told you it's impossible to break the system barrier even for sister, and tries to dissuade you from your futile effort.]
The cat's words were true.
The black flame, which burned everything it touched, was truly threatening, but this space was still firm and showed no signs of collapsing.
Nevertheless...
'I have to.'
When she witnessed her mother's death, when she devoted herself to training like a madwoman after losing everything, when she tore at the raw flesh of beast-type monsters like an animal, and even when her name was taken... Eunha was human.
But if she were to leave here alone.
If she were to ignore the 40-odd hunters who had fallen here, and escape alone with the cat's power.
—Even then, could I really think of myself as human?
Fwaaaaaak!
A pitch-black flame, blooming once more from her center.
In the shape of a black dragon, it spread indiscriminately in all directions.
Crack—!
A thick, half-burnt tree root fell to the ground with a thud!
However, it still couldn't even make a small scratch on the inner wall of the gate.
What if she poured out all the mana she had and released it?
Perhaps it would be possible.
But as long as there were unconscious hunters there, increasing the power any more than this was dangerous.
Eunha ground her teeth.
'I have to do it. Me.'
The moment she was about to clench the air again without giving up,
[The divine beast 'Cat Wandering in Darkness' respects your choice.]
Eunha, at the yellow message window that suddenly appeared before her, stopped her movement abruptly.
And.
[Due to the divine beast's request, a part of the contract's content is changed.]
[Individual Identification. 'Princess of Dark Flare'.]
[ - - - Loading - - - ]
Zzzzt—
Fine cracks began to spread across the firm inner wall of the gate, then gradually accelerated.
Eunha, flustered by the sudden change.
A blue system window suddenly popped up before her eyes.
[Individual re-identification complete. - Cha Eunha.]
'My name.'
At that moment, flash!
Eunha's eyes turned golden.
A sense of liberation, as if freed from invisible chains.
Gooooo—
The black flame, flickering freely as if it had a will of its own, opened its mouth wide as if to swallow the entire space, including roots, branches, land, and ceiling.
A black typhoon.
It was like that.
Finally...
[Warning! System damage detected. An unknown collision phenomenon.]
Chaaaeng—!
With the sound of shattering glass,
[Resetting the gate forcefully.]
The inner wall of the gate, which hadn't budged, completely shattered.
