Author: 年终 / Nian Zhong
Translator: Kinky || https://kinkytranslations.com/
Chapter 21: Nurturing Love
Huh? What did you say?
Myss perked up at once.
Hailey was stunned by Salaar’s question. She parted her lips slightly, as if she had forgotten how to speak.
“The anomaly here is very likely connected to the strange illness. We need to go out and investigate.”
“But your mental state is very poor and not suited to action. I have to take that into account. Can you understand?”
Hailey nodded blankly.
“I know a spell that can erase your personality and emotions.”
Salaar’s voice started trailing off. “If you agree to receive it, you’ll no longer feel panic, wavering, or fear. You’ll become a, hmm, purely rational machine of flesh.”
“Listen carefully. Undoing this spell is very troublesome. If we can’t leave this place within forty-eight hours, you’ll never be able to recover.”
For a living person of flesh and blood, this would be tantamount to death.
“That counts as black magic, doesn’t it?” Myss said with keen interest. “I didn’t expect you could do this.”
Salaar didn’t answer directly. “I can’t split my attention at all times to look after her. That would slow the entire investigation.”
“Yet if we leave her here alone, she won’t be able to hold out. Even so, I’ll respect her choice.”
“…Uncle.”
Hailey moved her lips and only on the second try managed to make a sound. “Uncle Huey may be in danger, right?”
“If I go with you, can we find him faster?”
“Yes. You know Huey better than anyone and you are clearer on how he would act,” Salaar said honestly.
Hailey pressed her lips together and gradually stopped crying.
“All right,” she said in a hoarse voice. “I accept your spell.”
Salaar said nothing. He simply stretched out his left hand and gently patted Hailey’s head.
When his palm moved away, Hailey’s body jerked violently, like a small animal pierced through the skull by an arrow. She widened her eyes a little, as if she wanted to ask something, but she could no longer ask anything.
Myss blinked. Her Magibase tit had gone rigid on her head. The little bird no longer hopped or sang. It was as quiet as a specimen.
Hailey was still breathing, but she was only breathing. Other than that, she was no different from that bottle of dried ink.
“I remember now. You used this trick when I was still sealed,” Myss said.
“There are times when ‘having emotions’ is itself a curse.” Salaar didn’t deny. “Even my companions couldn’t withstand darkness that was too long.”
Myss didn’t hide the mockery in his tone. “Ah yes, companions. You turned some ‘companions’ into walking corpses and personally killed quite a few—”
Salaar glanced at him, his eyes without the slightest ripple. “I already said I would respect their choices.”
“…All for the sake of ending the Night Scourge,” he added with a smile.
Myss suddenly felt bored. Sprinkling salt on Salaar’s wounds was fun, but if you sprinkle hard when there is no wound, people usually call that a “salt-bath massage”.
Did Salaar truly have no mental weak points? Myss sympathized with Mina for once.
When they left the room again, Salaar stood at the front.
Hailey followed quietly at his right. Her steps were steady and her face expressionless. It took her a long time to blink once. The tear tracks on her cheeks hadn’t yet dried.
Mr. Hero held a cluster of golden light in his left hand, like holding a tiny sun. Myss used Salaar as a meat shield and looked around curiously.
The darkness felt solid and pressed down low over their heads. The air was stifling and damp. Within a few steps of leaving the room, Myss’s clothes were almost entirely stuck to his skin, and even breathing became labored.
That sweet bloody smell grew more obvious, so thick that Myss’s throat itched. It was less like they had left the room and more like they had entered something, even though the outside seemed far more spacious than that room.
From the depths of the darkness came sticky rubbing sounds from time to time, along with indistinct dripping.
Whenever they slowed their pace, there would be footsteps nearby that hovered near and far. Yet when Salaar shone the golden light, there was always nothing at the source.
The only good news was that the city’s layout hadn’t changed much.
The houses they passed were still there and all were lit, although their appearance was a little off. They all had the same gray little windows, with cracks in the glass that were exactly identical.
Myss walked up to the nearest house to him, opened the window without ceremony, and peered inside.
He wasn’t very surprised to find that the furnishings inside were exactly the same as in Scintilla’s home. It had been kept just as they had left it. Brilliant golden flames from Salaar still danced in the hearth.
The debt receipt was set squarely on the table, and line after line of “Mother sends you her regards” was unusually clear.
With Salaar’s silent cooperation, Myss opened several more windows. The scenes inside were exactly the same… Perhaps all the thousands of lights they could see at the moment were all “Scintilla’s home”.
“If I walk inside now, will there be many of me at the same time?” Myss mused.
Salaar’s expression was solemn. “I doubt it. This is more like a simple environmental replay… Something like ‘you can go home anytime and anywhere’.”
Myss actually thought that was quite convenient. They could return to the room to investigate at any time and wouldn’t have to sleep on soggy mud at night.
“I see. Scintilla is ‘Patience’ and Mina is her mother.”
Myss felt this trip had yielded a great deal. He cheerfully stepped on the muck and listened to it gurgle.
“Ten years ago Scintilla used the Magibase Summoning Ritual to resurrect her dead mother. It has to be that.”
Philomina’s signature and the handwriting of “Mother sends you her regards” in Patience’s letters were exactly the same. Myss could tell. As for what came after, he didn’t know yet. For the moment that was the only physical evidence.
Salaar didn’t reply. Holding the radiant ball of light, he headed for the city wall not far away.
Rosha’s wall was still very high. The weeds in the gaps were nowhere to be seen. In the glow of the golden light, lumps of shadow writhed in the cracks between bricks. Pale pink magic twisted slowly, winding through like veins.
They disliked the light and were struggling to burrow deeper into the wall.
Myss grabbed one and yanked hard.
The thing was slippery and really did feel like a blood vessel. Looking closely, it was clearly one of the threads of magic that tainted food, only far more solid than it had been outside.
Myss had already pulled out two or three meters of it, yet the pale pink filament still didn’t end.
Salaar: “Stop playing around. Keep an eye on Hailey. I’ll go up the wall and take a look.”
“Mina’s range of influence must be limited. We need to confirm the boundary of the abnormal area first.” He added this in case Myss didn’t follow.
Myss said, “If I’m not by your side and you die, what then?”
“Over this distance, there’s no problem.” The corner of Salaar’s mouth gave a twitch.
A sudden idea struck Myss. He rushed forward dragging the pale pink filament, tied it around Salaar’s waist, and even thoughtfully finished it with a tight knot.
Both the filament and Salaar gave a simultaneous struggle, and neither seemed very pleased.
“Now it’s fine.” Myss swung the pale pink filament. “Hey, off you go—”
Before Salaar could speak, Myss whirled him up like a flail and slung him onto the city wall. Fortunately, Mr. Hero had ample combat experience. He adjusted his posture beautifully and landed steady upon the parapet.
Golden light illuminated the top of the wall, and both Myss and Salaar fell silent.
—The outer side of the wall was completely sealed.
The barrier was a deep red. Its surface gleamed wetly, and the veins beneath were visible in every detail. From time to time it twitched, giving off the warm, gamey reek found only in entrails.
The wall of flesh fit snugly over the city wall, like a half-round cloche on a dinner plate. Myss couldn’t see its edges at a glance. It might well have covered the entire city of Rosha.
Salaar lifted his eyes. He raised his hand and slashed with his ritual dagger, slicing through the wet fleshy membrane.
With a stomach-turning stench, pale pink slime erupted. It congealed rapidly in midair and turned into countless pale pink threads that shot down into the ground.
Seeing the slime about to splash Salaar, Myss gave the filament a fierce yank. Salaar was pulled down from the wall first, and not a drop of slime touched him.
The instant Salaar landed, Myss sprang lightly onto the wall. He swung his fork and drove it deep into the wound Salaar had made. His magic poured into the membrane at once, and an ominous black spread outward.
“Mom,” Hailey suddenly said, stretching out a hand and pointing at the massive wound.
Almost at the same time, the hair on Myss’s body stood on end. For the first time in his life, he tasted a living creature’s crisis instinct—
The membrane convulsed violently. The gash blew open and spewed countless black and red arms.
The tainted portion turned entirely into graceful arms. As if they had been struck by something tremendous, they reached toward him like anemone tentacles, seeking to give him a fervent embrace.
Bad. Myss’s pupils trembled.
The membrane’s strength was completely off. It easily expelled his black magic and returned it to him doubled—in an instant those deformed arms wrapped around Myss. Hot, sticky emotion surged and was forced into his skull.
… You and I are the closest people in the world. You and I are the closest people in the world. You and I are the closest people in the world.
The pale pink magic enveloped Myss. He felt himself sink into a sweet, scalding swamp.
…Rely on the one who bore you. Rely on the one who bore you. Rely on the one who bore you.
That damned swamp boiled his brain and tried to brand the “nurturing love” into his consciousness by brute force.
The emotional interference Mina had warped earlier had been like a fingertip that touched and withdrew. Now it was more like a blade thrust into his chest, stirring his heart without mercy.
…I love you. I love you. I love you.
The “nurturing love” was right ahead. It was flawless, beautiful, and safe, waiting for him with open arms. Myss knew that if he threw himself into its embrace, all pain would cease to exist.
How perfect, except it had chosen the wrong target.
The Archdemon regarded that love with something close to contempt, as one might watch crows peck a corpse. No matter how thick the stench of decay, no matter how blissfully the crows ate, it didn’t stir any desire in Him.
Myss gathered his black magic at his fingertips and tore at the pale pink power engulfing him with all his strength. Yet the unlucky stuff only grew more numerous, wound tighter and tighter, and swiftly wrapped him into a cocoon.
When Salaar had attacked the membrane a moment ago, the reaction hadn’t been this intense. What did that mean? It meant that in Mina’s eyes he was more dangerous than Salaar!
Myss flailed and found grim amusement in the thought. He knew it, that dachshund-fragile guy Salaar was only long in the body, not in the nerve*.
*Clarity: He’s basically saying Salaar outwardly looks big/tall (long), but it doesn’t necessarily make him tough, using a dachshund as an example (it’s has a long body but is quite small and not all that threatening).
Rip.
A seam opened in the magical cocoon. A hand gleaming with golden light reached in and clamped down hard on Myss’s shoulder.
Myss: “?”
No, how could Salaar be completely unaffected? That guy still had a little humanity left… right?
Had Mina’s magic targeted only him? Or—
“Mom,” Salaar whispered to him.
Myss: “……”
Myss immediately drew back into the cocoon, forced the slit shut, and wished he could stitch it up twice for good measure.
Things outside were too insane. Perhaps he should simply die in here.
The author has something to say:
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From the 21st to the 23rd, Sunday through Tuesday, updates at 00:10. On the 24th, Wednesday, update at 23:10. After that, back to daily updates at 20:00.
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Here is a bit of promo for my upcoming novel. See my author page for details or click through from the latest chapter note.
“A Crime Unworthy of Death”
On the night of their decisive victory, General Luo Xia was mysteriously attacked and his consciousness slipped into a parallel world.
In this unlucky timeline, they failed to stop the apocalypse, the base was destroyed by enemy espers, his special-ops unit never even existed, and he lost contact with all his subordinates. His childhood best friend and brother-in-arms, General Yi Beiwang, had no memory of him at all.
Then Luo Xia discovered that in this worldline the enemy organization’s world-ending boss—whose identity was shrouded in mystery and “deserves a thousand deaths”… seemed to be himself.
Grim, justice-obsessed gong × adaptable, sly shou
Post-apocalyptic espers. A story where he tragically becomes the enemy boss and, while being hunted by his comrade (?).
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