Chapter 129 – 129 – Castle Bantai
“Damn it, I promised myself I would never hit a woman!”
“Isn’t that because you’re weaker than most women you deal with?”
“It hits where it hurts. But it’s true, so I won’t bother to refute it.”
After rolling backwards a few hundred times, you get the hang of it. Stand up skillfully and at once, protecting your head as much as possible.
But damn, it would be nice to have some tips for winning.
I gritted my teeth as I wiped the blood from my swollen nose. Lilith looked pitifully at my face.
And I looked at the weapon in my hand with more pity than my bruised face. I shrugged.
“What?”
“Put that down and take a break. I feel like I’m being bullied, so it’s a bit difficult for me to deal with it, right?”
“Why are you scared of this?”
I twirled the thing in my hand like a martial artist. Lilith rubbed her face with both hands.
“I’m asking just in case, but you don’t really think you can do anything to me with that, do you?”
“Are you dissatisfied with the famous sword ‘Frost Blade’ made by soaking a leather jacket in the cold of space?”
“···It’s just frozen clothes.”
“That’s right. The situation was so unfair that I tried to comfort myself by saying nothing.”
Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck.
Die from a spear? After all, the matter was resolved, and if we just fight, it’s over? In terms of sheet music, it’s just like a bookmark inserted between the first and second movements?
It wouldn’t be unfair if I could even remember under what circumstances I was beaten and how I died. What on earth? I’m not an extra who gets caught up in other people’s stories and then disappears without a word.
No. That might be a position that suits me. Extra.
I don’t know whether the focus of the work is Adamantone’s satire, Thena’s heroic story, or the thousand-year-old tragic epic of that pathetic Edin bastard. However, I can assure you that if I were a screenwriter hoping for box office success, I would never make a porter or something like that as the main character.
My place is a supporting role. That’s also a supporting role that has left. Usually, things like resurrection chances are not given to damn supporting characters. I wouldn’t know if it was used as material for the main character to step up.
– The thoughts in your head are reaching the edge of depression. I truly feel sorry for you. Then why don’t you give up?
“Because there are only three things that stand between me and the people I love: the door to this world, your daughter, and the Frost Blade!”
“What happens when the winter wind blows on a night when you hang out your laundry without thinking about it, porter? Do you end up with multiple famous swords, ‘Frost Blades’?”
“You admitted it was nonsense. Stop teasing me, right?”
“If you don’t like being teased, then stop talking nonsense and struggling to no avail, right?”
This time, I glare at the side. Since you can’t tell which side is weak, step to both sides and use fakes to rush forward.
It was only after I saw Lilith touching her forehead as if she was truly disgusted that I realized that not only my movement path and speed but also my stamina was being wasted in zigzagging dashes.
When I think about it, the best moment in my fighting history was when I hit Adamantone out of nowhere. Other than that, all I remember is mostly humiliation. Even the local goblin, who swings a stick at stolen soap with his bare body, is not in a position to be sure.
Moreover, the opponent is a villain who beat up Eshen and Nidroga like children.
So what does that mean?
Her mom said so. She says you won’t know until you try.
Hearing that, when he was five years old, he was bitten by Tena and had her hair ripped out, but it’s still true.
Of course it’s bullshit. Now, in this situation, I think we can clearly say that her mother was wrong. Even if he went back in time, what could a pathetic adult who wasn’t sure if he could defeat five-year-old Thena do against the being who was the end of the ancient kingdom and the scourge of Visserk?
I guess I can do you a favor.
“Please, please. Get out of the way.”
“My job is to wait until you give up and accept death,”
“That’s enough, get out of the way.”
“Listen to the end. Before you give up. My job is to take you, who has accepted death, to Ishtar’s paradise. There are less than a few dozen believers left, so the scale of the afterlife is a little more shabby than that of other gods, but it’s still worth living in. I will do it.”
“There are people waiting for me. The longer it gets late, the more worried and angry they will get.”
“···At least one of them, Monica, will be with you. Like all other apostles in history, she will one day die and ascend to Ishtar’s side.”
Lilith closed her eyes tightly and the corner of her mouth twitched with sympathy that she could not hide.
And he added some nonsense.
“I might come to see you a little earlier than my lifespan.”
The intestines twist and air escapes through the mouth. How can you stay still after hearing that damn sound?
I put the melted, mushy jacket back under my feet. The whitish film created by Ishtar’s protection is slowly cracking. The jacket I’m immersed in is frozen solid in the cold outside.
The jacket that I rescued again sticks to me dizzyingly. If you do it wrong, your fingers will fall off.
The stars are far and cold. I can’t let the hearts of my estranged colleagues grow cold like this.
I am not that kind of porter.
“When I was crushed and cried, I couldn’t even breathe, but since the sport changed, I started talking a lot.”
“You crazy… No. What’s the use of getting angry? As you said, the game has changed. It’s not a situation that can be met with something like the goddess’s bet. I accept your end.”
“No, I’m going back.”
“In my opinion, unless you are reborn with aptitude, it is impossible to defeat me-“
A few hundred times a few times plus one challenge. Lilith was fed up as she saw me rushing forward.
Even the most incompetent Dunjae eventually opens his eyes after being repeatedly treated with injustice.
The first attack is on the left wing. Like a mosquito, it barely avoids being struck down like a fly.
The second is the right wing. I clenched my teeth and held on to what was trying to be pushed away. And the frost…Damn. He places the frozen jacket on Lilith’s skin.
Hitting is useless. The only way to get a reaction is to make them flinch due to the temperature difference.
It seems to be quite sensitive, perhaps because the skin is thin. Lilith, as expected, was disgusted and folded her wings.
“Oh, really! Please don’t do that-“
I don’t know the third. Before anything like that comes, he throws his jacket at Lilith’s face.
The leather, whose tissue had been sufficiently destroyed by repeated freezing and thawing, thankfully broke into pieces just as I had expected, obstructing Lilith’s vision.
It won’t hurt you, but the coldness will be unavoidable. Lilith closed her eyes tightly as she thought.
And now is your chance. Swinging the jacket hundreds of times is the build-up. The real weapon is different.
Something closer to me than life. A loyal artifact that thankfully followed me beyond the afterlife. Grappling hook.
Aim at the entrance surrounded by a curtain, and fire.
Tick.
Every swear word in the world.
Loyalty is a bitch. How absurd is it that it breaks down here?
As I ran past Lilith, my tail wrapped around my waist. And then he goes back to the first place.
Hundreds of build-ups and secret tricks all go to waste.
The body slid backwards and ended up next to Ishtar’s table. I asked in a mumbling voice.
“Goddess. This is not it.”
– What’s wrong? If there’s something ‘not’ here, it’s your attitude. Do you believe that you can overcome death and return?
“Let me put it bluntly. If this world is too far to overcome, why is the return door in sight?”
– GoodIs intelligent. That’s a Hero-only door.
“···Yes?”
– Not when the Apostles of God are mortal, but after they ascend, you mortals cannot win. But there is only one way.
Ishtar spoke while rolling her pen without even looking at me.
– Warrior’s sword. Only a warrior sword made of metal borrowed from outside our world can wound and subdue a being protected by the power of the godhead.
“Oh my god. I’m being treated favorably even here? Really? I can’t do this because the world is unfair.”
– Even if it’s unfair, I can’t help it. Only the warriors are given the opportunity to overcome the ordeal of death. Testing those qualities beyond the boundaries of death. Because that was what my brother and sister agreed upon when they overthrew the Creator God and re-established the rules of the world.
“···I beg your pardon?”
– What?
“···I think I just heard something very scary and incredibly important. Siblings? Creator God? Do you set the rules?”
– I think you should mind your own business. Do you still want to protest and say you will go back after what Lilith has done to you?
“If you call it a protest, it sounds like you are going crazy.”
I woke up in the hundreds plus one. Then he wiped the blood that was flowing and mumbled.
“I will say I believe I can go back. No, I will say I will go back.”
– I told you it was morbid. These kids will do just fine without you. Throw away your regrets.
“No, you can’t.”
– I can see your legs shaking. I won’t help you recover like Monica did. The sooner you give up, the less tired you will be.
“No, I’m not giving up.”
– That’s really funny. Do you think you can do anything?
“Not at all. That’s why I don’t want to give up even more! Yes, I know. If you’ve seen me through every moment, you’ll know that I don’t really love myself! Despite the porter’s pride and all, it’s just like a bug struggling to stand next to a person. I always think in my heart that I do!”
Those words that I wanted to shout out and make the whole world block their ears. Why should I suffer this humiliation because I was born with the aptitude to be a porter?
Why are you a porter? Why is he not a wizard who can manipulate heaven, a fighter who shatters all things like a bunch of paper, or a warrior who is stronger and stronger than anyone else in the world, but a mere porter? It would be fine to attach human feet to a donkey or a mule, but what bad taste do the gods have in entrusting the burden of baggage mules to humans?
Have you ever thought about what kind of teasing the porters had growing up and how they would have to live a servile life as adults?
If all the good things in the world were destined to be beyond my reach, why did I have to be born?
That’s what I thought. But I haven’t thought about that in the past few months.
Because I was constantly happy.
“But damn it, even though I can’t love Porter Tan Bantai, I know people I can’t help but love. There are people I love even if I don’t love my life! My proud brother, my proud colleagues, my proud All the brave warriors are out there!
No matter what the illness or whatnot, the essence of who I am is ultimately a porter. I hate my aptitude for being a porter, but I won’t run away and leave my luggage behind! “If it was something I could leave behind, I wouldn’t have to raise the bar like this!”
– If you have no meaning without them, then they will be just fine without you. Just need to get a new porter.
It feels like lightning is hitting my head.
– ‘You don’t have to have it’. That’s not particularly unfortunate. There are many people who envy the kings and heroes who rule the world and leave a mark, but most of them are also people who have no significant influence on history even if they were not born in the first place.
“···I want to stop talking about things that fifteen-year-olds would say while contemplating hanging themselves. I’m going back. No matter what the Goddess and Lilith say!”
– Your stubbornness is so stubborn. Then prove it.
Ishtar snapped his fingers. For some reason, a star seemed to be getting closer, and a flash of light fell between me and Lilith, who were tens of meters away.
Lilith flinched at the vibration, but I jumped up in the air. I hit the floor again and pondered my resentment for a moment.
– Prove that that desire is not a pathological obsession but will.
As the starlight dust clears, Lilith’s embarrassed expression can be seen beyond that straight path.
A metal as black as ebony, resembling the shape of a sword.
“That’s-“
– Hero’s sword. As I said, the only way to return to this world is to defeat the ‘witness of faith’ with that auspicious metal.
···What are you asking me to do? What do you want from me?
But there is no time to think. The milky floor slowly cracked, and the unrefined warrior sword blade began to fall into the abyss below. Like I left out my jacket.
Of course, I was holding one end of the jacket. That thing is too far away to reach. If you leave it like that, it will disappear.
The only hope to overcome Lilith and escape the underworld.
Lilith’s complexion turns white.
“Don’t do it.”
I wouldn’t have seriously expected you to listen to that.
I took a deep breath. And ran away. Lilith groaned, spread her wings, and rushed forward.
“Don’t do that!”
Because there is so much urgency, something is different. I think I figured out how to lift my body while running.
The lifting force is 10 times higher. Even if the acceleration doesn’t have 10 times the power, for the first time in my life, I’m almost as fast as a hero.
Hesitantly, I duck and avoid Lilith’s hand that tries to stop me. And I think for a brief moment.
A voice filled with fear echoes in his head. But I am not a warrior.
An irritated voice rings in my head. So?
What the fuck is a hero?
“Don’t grab that!”
Got it.
Even a newborn child can catch something. The time when your grip strength is strongest compared to the size of your body is while you are wrapped in a swaddle. It’s ironic.
However, anything beyond catching is not something an adult can handle. Committing suicide by setting yourself on fire is not something worth doing.
My fingers are burning. The heat from the palm spreads to the back of the hand. Although these parts of the body can be said to be resistant to heat, they send a rescue signal to the brain, crying out that they were never designed to endure this kind of pain.
And the signal is ignored. I hold the hilt of the sword more firmly.
Don’t follow everyone, just be aware of it. Well, when the fire magic spreads to my forearm, I start to hallucinate.
A pain on a different level from holding a hot object overtakes my entire body. We reflect on how cruel we are to firewood on a daily basis.
Warrior’s sword. A sword made of auspicious iron beyond the stars. However, because it is so noble, it does not allow anyone to touch it.
The guy got very angry because he was touched by dirty hands. They are trying to purify the filth with fire.
Suddenly, my heart aches. Was your mother this sick too?
Mother didn’t come back. She didn’t come back.
You knew we missed you too. He also knew that the longer we were away, the worse it would be for us.
She said she only had to complete this request. She would be able to buy decent furniture and books, she said.
And this new request swallowed her mother. She was engulfed in flames.
Her belongings were found, but her mother was not.
Understanding pain means trying to avoid repeating it.
I’m going back. I am the only one who has been overwhelmed with sadness. I can’t cry like I did for Eshen and Monica, for Nidroga and Villena and Morgan, for us siblings who understood what loss is. I can’t hurt my younger brother again, who is probably worried about what kind of nonsense he’s going through with his name change and cross-dressing.
I wonder if it’s really the pathological aspect that’s helping me. I stood upright even as the fire ripped through my intestines and tore apart my soul.
And walked shakily. A black sword with a pulsating fire was pointed at Lilith.
“···How can it be like this? It’s unbelievable.”
Lilith let the clumsy swing hit her shoulder.
The blade is dull, but it is as Ishtar said. Just by brushing, a jagged scar is lightly etched into Lilith’s fair skin.
Lilith, letting his messy sword cuts scrape his skin, grabbed his deflated warrior sword and shewed it to her side.
And he slowly wrapped his arms around my trembling shoulders.
“Is he no different from ‘that guy’ who was stupid?”
The light slowly goes out. The pain fades away.
The soul that was chased away by pain and went away for a while comes back. Without blinking, I hurriedly pushed Lilith away. And I tried to swing by imitating the cutting posture of my colleagues who had learned it with my eyes.
But there was nothing in my hand. I looked down at my hands in confusion.
There are no traces of the flames running through my body anywhere. The pain that was so vivid disappeared without even leaving a trace.
“I’m starting to envy my younger brother. I don’t want him to be sad, so I’m willing to sacrifice myself like that.”
“···What happened?”
“Well, you were tricked and played with, and I was used to do as I was told and to show off. It’s always like this. My mother treats my emotions as if they were toys.”
– Not at all. I want you to be happy.
“I’d like to think not, right? That’s how I feel, right?”
Lilith turned her head away from me and made a snoring noise.
“Damn it, I can’t do this anymore.”
– Did you lose this time too?
“Yes, I agree. Is it okay? Is this what your mother wanted? I hope it turns out as you wished!”
– All I ask is for you to desire what is yours to your heart’s content. I didn’t want to lose, but it’s a shame if I lost. But not all desires come true. What dream would be fun if everything came true as you dreamed?
“It’s only fun if it comes true. If you wake up while dreaming, it’s not fun at all!”
Ishtar made a low giggling sound. Lilith lowered her head, spread her huge wings, and floated somewhere in space. He left a quiet comment.
“Love that child, as much as I never deserved.”
I was fluttering my eyelids as I watched Lilith receding like a dot, but soon I realized that I was completely disheveled and disheveled.
And I looked back to see what kind of mess this was.
Ishtar wasn’t there. All I could do was a piece of paper fluttering from the sky and caught in my hand.
The same paper that Ishtar had been pretending to write down just a moment ago.
I unfolded it. And his face scrunched up. There was only one word written.
“···Pass?”
– Leave it to Monica when you get back. You probably know how to crack the password.
The low sound of God’s laughter is heard. Now you’re trying to sound somewhat devilish.
– Now I understand. And I decided.
“What?”
– What I said I knew was that you are a crazy person who has gone astray. It’s a pity that you don’t know how to desire properly because you’re caught up in the ghost-like sound you’ve brought into yourself, but that passion is so lovely that you want to put it all aside and think about it.
“Is that a compliment? There’s something strange about it.”
– And what I mean is that I will declare a temple. You have qualifications that rival any warrior. You are the great warrior of my temple.
“···Holy War? Daejeon Temple?”
I don’t know what it is, but I feel like I have to decline. It’s embarrassing to say that they won’t leave their luggage and run away, but there’s something ominous about that.
– Whether you like it or not, you and I have no choice. There has to be a legal justification for sending you back through that door. The only person who can cross the gate of the underworld is the great warrior chosen by God.
“Aha. So… What happened just now was entirely a qualification test?”
It hurt terribly. Is that what you’re going to do?
– That’s right. It was a test to see how far you could go. And it is a gift, and also a hint about the future. You’ll soon find out what I mean.
If I tell you clearly, what is more?
– Do you want to cross the door safely? Now, say it. Chaos and desire are my life.I will take on Ishtar’s ministry. I will become a great warrior who carries out the will of the goddess at one end of the twins.
“If you accept the verbal contract…? Chaos and desire are my life. I will take on Ishtar’s ministry. I will become a great warrior who carries out the will of the goddess at one end of the twins.”
– It’s nice to hear it in one go and finish it cleanly. The contract was concluded. Edin and Mitra seemed to have been wary of me making such a decision, but their clumsy attack actually encouraged my decision.
“···The scale is really, really big. Can you take it out?”
– HaLet me tell you, Tan Bhan Thai. Mithra’s great warrior is Edin.
“···What? You’re not saying that there should be a duel between great warriors…?”
– Appointment of Daejeon Temple As for the meaning, go back and ask Monica. Be sure to show me the paper I gave you. It’s time. Run beyond the door. You deserve it
I deserve it.
Those words fill my heart in a strange way. Without hesitation, I turned and walked towards the door. This time, beyond the black curtain, it was calling me, as if pulling me. It felt like that door would swallow me up even if I didn’t approach it.
– The rule of this world is that only warriors can cross the gates of the underworld or choose to become a great warrior in the temple.
And looking down at me from somewhere, the goddess of chaos and desire sneered.
– Rules are meant to be broken.
“Wait.”
The footsteps stopped right in front of the threshold.
“Why does someone who treats the rules as something that can be broken say that only the Great Warrior can go through that door?”
It could have been covered with some theological excuse. If she were a goddess, it wouldn’t have been a problem to fool a guy like me to the end.
But her dishonest goddess was honest in her own dishonesty.
– Oh my. I got caught.
“Already-“
————-
“The writer Chin. He is a powerful man and his mother-in-law is sweet, so he openly slaps his back-“
Since he is a mind reader anyway, I just let it out.
And only a little later did she realize that she had spoken from this world and not from the other side.
Feeling something ominous, I slowly turned to the side. Hualien Taiga was looking at me with a cigarette in his mouth.
“What?”
“Could you give me some time to sort it out?”
“It looks like the level of difficulty is very high. I’ll give it three days.”
“It’s ample.”
“Time to commit suicide.”
