Chapter 198: The Golden Companion (5)
“Cardinal, please wait behind the pillar.”
Even when waves of lava crashed in or colossal golems appeared, the pillars of the underground cavity remained intact.
“Understood.”
Aurelia, who had been following Cain as he sprinted ahead, gave up and quietly obeyed his words.
What she saw before her eyes was a miracle, a path created by a true Sword Master.
Kwaggagagagag━.
The lava and golems were just a taste.
━Grandfather used to say, to protect the gold of Lesbos, you must use gold.
This time it was fire.
As if explosive magic scrolls were planted wherever Cain stepped, the floor erupted in flames.
‘Contact-activated reaction traps.’
At first, he expected a pattern to the traps.
But, true to the voice, it seemed like they had plastered the place with gold, as every step triggered an explosion.
Then there’s only one thing to do.
Cain lifted his head.
The golden light was closer than before.
The goal was right there.
The bizarrely peaceful voice, and these damn traps, would all end there.
Smirk━.
Cain lightly raised the right corner of his mouth.
[‘Summer’ says he got goosebumps for a moment.]
This place wasn’t bad for reviving his battle senses. In that case, it would be good to give it his all.
White Starlight Step White Starlight.
A vast underground space devoid of sky.
A sky appeared.
Kwagaak.
The red explosion that was about to erupt beneath Cain’s foot was suppressed and spread sideways.
Reacting to this, countless explosion spells in the surroundings began to glow red.
Koo-ung━.
Another step forward.
A heavy step that shook the entire cavity.
━You fool! Do you know how many explosion scrolls there are?! Die, thief!
The voice was confident of victory.
A radius of tens of meters around Cain began to turn red, as if it would explode if he took another step.
He lightly brushed his hair back and lowered Summer to the ground.
“So this is what it means to have enough money to waste on scrolls. Not that it matters.”
Step.
The next step.
As if waiting, the traps on the floor all shook.
In the distance, Aurelia’s eyes shook violently. Should she chase after him and protect the hero, even at the cost of her own life, or should she just watch?
As she was agonizing over her decision as a cardinal, she saw Cain’s expression.
It was excitement.
That look of his, like a child with a new toy, calmed Aurelia’s trembling.
Standing at the forefront.
Aurelia believed that a hero was someone who guided everyone’s path, shining the brightest.
Then that would be Cain.
“All things are by the light.”
She hid behind a pillar and made the sign of the cross.
May this meager prayer reach the ‘light’ and the hero.
[‘Winter’ smiles.]
The earth explodes.
Hundreds of hidden scrolls react simultaneously, and even steel would melt in that explosion.
Step.
But Cain is not steel.
Step.
He is the Great Wall’s warrior who walked through the snowy fields.
Step.
He is the hero who brought peace to Arian.
━What… …?
The golden voice trembled.
The floor, which had been glowing red and shaking, was now perfectly still.
Rather, the more Cain walked, the more the floor returned to its original black color.
“Stepped on it.”
Cain smirked.
And, drawing upon the full power of ‘Winter’ and ‘Summer,’ he took another step forward.
“Stepped on the explosion.”
The golden voice momentarily ceased.
Power that cannot be understood with logic.
The words of Cain, who had reached the realm of absolutes.
Step.
The path Cain forged brought the sky to the underground. His steps carried with them dark clouds, sunrises, and winds never seen in this subterranean world.
And falling snow.
Fwaaaaaaaa━.
As ‘Winter’s Active spread around Cain, it created something pure white.
It was snow that had never fallen on this land before.
“Bring them all out. I’ll crush them all.”
Fwoosh━.
After suppressing the explosions with a few steps, Cain felt the end of the scroll traps with his toes and kicked off the ground.
━T, This! You thief!
━My gold, meant for peace, belongs only to the hero!
━Die!!
A pure white light, the only source of illumination in the pitch-black underground, dashed forward.
Arrows rained down.
Lightning bolts struck.
Giant boulders, a classic trap, rolled down between the pillars on either side, while all sorts of golems and poisonous smoke targeted Cain, but…
━How… …?
None of them worked.
The arrows shot towards Cain changed their trajectory as they neared him, flying towards other directions.
The lightning naturally dispersed, and as for the boulders…
Dark Sky.
Original Style.
Gloria.
The pure white aura surging from the holy sword Cain lightly extended spread out like a net. The boulders crumbled into pebbles upon contact.
“Heard that a lot.”
He reached the end in an instant.
Cain crushed dozens of traps prepared by the golden voice in the blink of an eye and arrived at his destination.
Before his eyes was a small door.
The door, so small that only a child could pass through, was bound with chains.
The golden light was the light shining from beyond the gap beneath the door.
━Go, go away!
━Hero, please come and save me!
The voice was crying from inside.
Cain looked down at the humble door that stood before him.
He reached out and grabbed the chains.
This was no ordinary metal.
It felt quite cold, suggesting it was no ordinary material, but…
Fwaaaaaaaa━.
As soon as Cain’s hand touched it, the winter’s chill spread, freezing it white.
Fwooosh━.
The following summer’s sunlight then heated it up. After repeatedly freezing and melting it several times…
Snap.
It broke easily.
Cain looked back, and there stood Cardinal Aurelia, who had followed the path he had created.
━I said go away!!
“Let’s go.”
Creak━.
He opened the door leading to the gold.
🔹🔹🔹
“Hero!”
A small lump of flesh wriggled something resembling arms. Those arms reached for a Communication Orb.
“Thieves are here, hurry, hurry!”
The Communication Orb displayed the image of someone disguised as Nicholas. Nicholas looked down with disgust and said,
━Tsk, I wanted to try and keep our foundationalive if possible.
“H, Hero?”
There were no eyes.
Where the eyes should have been, there were only empty sockets, as if someone had gouged them out.
There was no brilliantly shining golden hair either.
Nor was there skin more valuable than gold. The entire body was covered in scars from a blade, as if someone had scraped it off.
Only red flesh remained.
A lump of flesh, stripped of all the golden light it should have possessed as a Golden Goblin, cried out.
“Hero!”
━But since you’re our root, let me tell you the truth one last time.
Saaaaa━.
Nicholas’s face returned to its original form. He put a thin cigarette in his mouth and replied,
━There was never a hero from the beginning.
“…….”
━Still, the gold you gave us was quite useful. Thanks to you, our money was able to devour the world.
“…….”
━We won’t go far, you penniless foundation. Now rot away deep underground, out of our sight.
Click.
The Communication Orb turned off.
The figure sitting on a crudely made wooden chair, as if someone had cobbled it together, froze.
“Well, I overheard a bit. What a bunch of bastards.”
Behind the Communication Orb of Nicholas, who had been pretending to be a hero.
Cain’s face was reflected.
He looked down at the small goblin, nothing but red flesh, through the Communication Orb.
[‘Summer’ gritted his teeth at the sight of his old friend who had been stripped of even his skin.]
[‘Winter’ sighs.]
As the lamentations of the two seasons faded, a new quest window appeared, as if updating.
+
『Summer’s Remorse Ⅱ』
There was once a weak and timid goblin. Subject to all kinds of contempt and mistreatment, he evolved into a Golden Goblin and inherited the name ‘Lesbos.’
He had a small dream.
Peace.
That no one in this world would suffer the same fate as him.
And ■■■ whispered.
With gold.
With money.
You can create peace.
So sacrifice yourself.
For your own sake.
World Line Fixation: 28%
Clear Conditions: The Golden Goblin ‘Lesbos’ finds peace. Rewards will vary depending on the degree of peace achieved.
Success: Increased World Line Fixation, contact with Ain.
Failure: None.
+
‘Summer’ had already begun to grieve the moment he saw the Golden Goblin Lesbos.
Therefore, ‘Summer’s’ sadness, which had ‘Failure’ as a possibility, disappeared.
“Thief……”
Cain looked at the lump of flesh in front of him.
“Cardinal.”
“……Understood.”
No further words were needed.
Aurelia, drawing upon the holy power of ‘light,’ approached Lesbos, who was sitting on the chair.
“Stay away!”
Lesbos struggled, trying to block Aurelia’s approach.
“We’re trying to heal you.”
“The hero told me not to trust or look at anyone but him!”
“…….”
Aurelia knelt down with pitiful eyes. She was about to say something while facing what should have been his eyes, when…
“You were tricked.”
It was Cain.
“That was a fake, just now.”
“No! That’s the communication line the hero made for me! That guy may have been a fake, but he must have been the hero’s subordinate!”
“Oh. So you’re not just a fool.”
Cain raised one corner of his mouth.
It wasn’t a genuine smile, but a forced one.
Clench━.
A mask to hide his anger towards those who had exploited this innocent Golden Goblin who only wished for peace, down to his very core.
“That’s right, Lesbos isn’t an idiot!”
Cain noticed that the creature’s open mouth had no teeth.
If it was worth money…
They would pull out tusks.
Skin him alive.
Even extract and sell his teeth.
‘Commons.’
Seven Wise Men.
He had been wondering where their endless wealth came from, and now he had his answer.
That infinite gold stemmed from the sacred sacrifice of a single being.
“Then use your not-so-foolish brain and think. Should you listen to me, who stands before you after breaking through all those traps, or not?”
“I……”
What seemed to be his shoulders slumped.
Cain signaled Aurelia with his eyes and continued,
“Stay put when you’re penniless.”
“That’s right, I have no more gold…… I can’t buy peace……”
The fierce resistance stopped.
Aurelia, channeling her holy power, immediately unleashed her highest-grade healing spell on Lesbos.
Fwaaaaaaaa━.
Blinding white light.
A pressure so intense that it shook the fake golden mobiles surrounding Lesbos swept over him.
“…Cain-nim.”
The lump of flesh remained unchanged.
The highest-grade healing spell, capable of reattaching severed limbs, had no effect.
“These are not wounds. They are scars etched over a very long time.”
“Scars.”
“They cut him, applied potions to heal him, and then cut him again.”
A cruel act that no ordinary human could commit.
An act that only those blinded by greed could carry out.
“His body is already so accustomed to the regenerative effects of potions that he’s barely clinging to life. It wouldn’t be strange if he died soon.”
“Hmph. I wasn’t tortured. I sacrificed myself for peace!”
[‘Summer’ sheds tears.]
Lesbos had possessed an unimaginable amount of gold.
But the humans craved more.
When his vaults ran dry, he offered his golden skin, which could be used like gold, and then his shimmering eyes, teeth, and hair, all without hesitation.
As she listened to Lesbos’s story, Aurelia wiped away her tears and turned her head.
Cain, too, looked up at the sky for a moment.
The sacred sacrifice of a single goblin.
And the story of the humans who had leeched off that sacrifice.
Thud.
Cain planted his holy sword in front of Lesbos and declared,
“Lesbos, there was no peace in this world.”
“Lies……”
“Not even once.”
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