Chapter 209. Give Me Back My Husband
“Build a road here!
Build a road of corpses!
On the day that road reaches the altar, I will gladly return what you have lost.
Offer blessed sacrifices.
Then the ones who have met death will return to your side.”
On a deserted island in the South Seas.
A land so barren, it should be treated as a large rock rather than an island, where there stood this gate.
Baek-ui Maze. Or, the interior structure painted entirely white, resembling the entrance to the Fairy Kingdom, with a marble altar at the end of the corridor.
This was a special type of dungeon where no monsters appeared.
“Offerings…”
Yet, this place was undoubtedly within Greece’s territorial waters.
Interestingly, an enigmatic inscription in Slavic language was written on the dungeon’s altar.
If a road of corpses were to be built, the dead would return to your side.
“‘Blessed’ offerings?”
The Beast had always had a liking for EX-Class dungeons.
There wasn’t much thrill in capturing giants like Nukelavi, but it had its own charm, akin to a puzzle game.
At first, she carelessly gathered the corpses of wild animals and laid them in the dungeon.
But nothing changed.
Next, she dug up graves in some nameless border nation to build a road of human corpses.
Even then, the dungeon remained unchanged.
“What exactly does ‘blessing’ mean?”
Should she kidnap the Pope and make him pray over a corpse?
Just as such thoughts crossed her mind, the Beast finally grasped a clue to the mystery of this place.
Twinkle!
In a moment of desperation, she cut off a segment of her pinky finger and placed it in the corridor.
Thud.
This time, the dungeon seemed to acknowledge her answer, creating a red and elegant ‘path’ where her flesh had fallen.
*
Returning to the present.
With her identity revealed, the Beast held her signature bone mask in her hand, contemplating for a while.
What should she do next?
And how did that Oriental guy figure out her identity?
At this moment, Gi-ryeo spoke to the Beast through his translator.
In truth, he was not at all interested in her reply, but he had no choice but to stall for time.
“Just letting you know in advance, I have no intention of blabbing your identity, Brooklyn.”
“……”
“But this is just in case, but… what the hell did you do to Jeong Ha-seong? What’s the reason? Did Ha-seong do something incredibly rude in the past?”
He maintained a friendly demeanor while asking, like a gambler.
The Beast tilted her head and replied.
“Dungeons are mysterious.”
The somewhat random sentence led to an explanation of the true culprit of the incident.
The mysterious EX-Class Gate discovered while wandering alone around the world.
Brooklyn openly revealed that she had gathered the corpses of Awakened ones in accordance with the commands of that gate, saying this with surprisingly good humor…
“You know, if you’re a Hunter, you’d understand. Dungeons don’t lie to us, at least.”
There was a time she wished to return to an era without magic.
But when Brooklyn met this enigmatic dungeon, she realized the possibility of getting her husband back.
She didn’t actually want to return to a time when dungeon shock had not yet occurred; she simply missed the everyday life she had with her spouse.
If she had to live on in pain, she would rather wish to return to the distant past, a time when happiness was unknown…
“There’s a gate that claims to return the dead?”
However, upon hearing the Beast’s story, Korea’s fourth S-Class reacted negatively.
“No, wait. Brooklyn, listen to me. You’ve been scammed.”
“Scammed?”
“I know because I went through a similar case myself. I swear it’s true!”
The alien standing here might not look like much, but he was a great mage who analyzed souls.
Thanks to that, he understood just how absurd a promise to resurrect the dead was.
And as Brooklyn’s explanations continued, he suddenly realized.
That EX-Class Gate was a trap set to toy with the hearts of humans.
When he thought about it, the text on the altar she described never once borrowed the blunt word ‘resurrection.’
“Maybe the best reward it offers is just conjuring some form of a creature based on the memories of the conqueror.”
Moreover, the method of ki-simche had already been attempted in Alphauri.
After working hard to complete the task outlined in the feeding box, rewards like a twisted loamy golem of the afterlife were thrown at them, right?
The despair of efforts turning to nothing.
And the sadness of his choices leading to his memories with his loved one being handed off to such a clumsy creature.
Of course, the ki-simche, not fully understanding the deception, didn’t intend to trick anyone; it just ended up using this method as it yielded energy well, resulting in the generation of feeding boxes.
Nevertheless, the truth that this was a trap set by an alien life form to devour negative emotions remained unchanged.
But why did the Beast have to fall for such a thing?
“I can assure you that whatever is resurrected there is NOT the person you remember! The gate will simply read memories and create a shabby doll, that’s it.”
However, the response she received was shocking.
“Oh, really?”
“Yes!”
“But I don’t care about that.”
Pause.
Gi-ryeo doubted his ears upon hearing her words from the other side.
But even when he calmed himself and tried to continue the conversation, the response remained the same.
“I don’t mind even if it’s in that form. Even if a machine comes out that awkwardly imitates a dead person, I would like it.”
“Huh?”
“It’s not necessary for everything in this world to be real. All I want is to repeat the things that happened in the past.”
Though he couldn’t grasp exactly what she meant, did she intend to harm someone just to get some doll or something?
“Then why not just grab any corpse from a graveyard? Why go through the trouble with Jeong Ha-seong…”
Gi-ryeo questioned, flustered by Brooklyn’s attitude.
But the woman standing before him, with all her hair cut, merely swept up her scalp and laughed heartily.
“Hahaha. A graveyard. I can’t say I haven’t thought about it, but acquiring the body of an Awakened is harder than I expected.”
I hate that I relate to this sentiment.
Gi-ryeo squeezed his eyes shut, suppressing his emotions. Meanwhile, the American Hunter continued.
“…And the word ‘blessed’ on that EX-Class gate also implies ‘fresh’. So corpses that have been dead for a long time weren’t deemed suitable materials for the road.”
“Brooklyn.”
“So ultimately, in the comfortable identity of the Beast, I had to kill Awakened ones to supply the corpses…”
“……”
“I had a hunch that a day like this would come, regardless of whether or not it was that altar.”
She muttered it without changing her expression. Included were statements that were difficult for anyone else to understand.
“I killed people. More precisely, a considerable number of Awakened.”
“That’s right.”
“But I don’t feel guilty about it. What does it even matter? After all, superhumans always cast spells at their whim. So I suppose I can be justified just this once.”
“Excuse me?”
“Mana works this way. That’s why I found this mystery disgusting. As you can see, the emergence of superhumans has made the world even shittier.”
Instead of whining about a few people, she should be grateful that she didn’t go around killing every Awakened person in sight.
Brooklyn spat out harsh words filled with distaste for sorcery.
Gi-ryeo looked like he had a lot he wanted to say, but ultimately couldn’t voice anything. Without the strength to openly counter others’ opinions, given his diminished abilities at the moment.
“Anyway.”
Just then, only about three minutes had passed since someone began stalling.
“Personally, this situation is sad. Honestly, I didn’t want to harass someone like Mr. Jeong, who works so hard.”
“Then let me go.”
“But now there’s not much time left until I receive my gift. I’ve filled the roads, and once I offer the ‘most blessed corpse’ that altar requires, it’ll be over.”
Brooklyn discarded the beast mask she was holding.
Then she began to scrutinize the man before her with a peculiar gaze.
“But how unfortunate that the S-Class from Korea had to come to this dungeon. Especially you, Gi-ryeo. What a waste.”
“A waste?”
“I had you marked as a candidate for the Beast.”
The blond man paused at those words.
“A superhuman whose origins are unclear and who is perceived externally as exceptionally strong. Oh… what good conditions, aren’t they?”
As she said, Brooklyn Morgan had been keeping an eye on Hunter Kim Gi-ryeo’s potential for a long time.
If things went well for him, he could easily take the fall for the Beast.
179cm.
Matching height with him without high heels.
Similar physical condition. Stylish silhouette. Air of mystery.
Plus, he was registered at the highest level of Awakened in the system.
“When the S-Class gate emerged in Japan, it was the busiest time since my birth. The guild demanded a lot.”
“…”
“So it genuinely happened that I conveniently took a break from the Beast activities. When I saw you participating in that raid, an idea suddenly struck me. I was even pretending not to understand English for fun during this role play. So it wasn’t impossible to set forth a Korean Beast.”
Of course, if she were to encounter the treasure of Justitia from England, this shallow tactic wouldn’t hold up.
Brooklyn only intended to subtly steer the atmosphere, not to trouble herself excessively.
Deliberately timing her activities during the hours that Koreans typically slept.
Having learned the [Binding] skill for a certain plan in the future.
She would be satisfied with merely spreading rumors that Kim Gi-ryeo might be the Beast.
But today’s encounter ruined all those plans.
Gi-ryeo and the Beast.
The two who should never have been in the same place faced each other today.
“Moreover, your past remains ambiguous, making you an even better fit as a candidate for the Beast.”
She attempted to create a fake Nukelavi Killer.
So that’s why she hesitated initially and didn’t attack me!
Gi-ryeo comprehended the unfolding situation. And at that moment, Brooklyn summoned her magic powers to activate a spell…
“Hmm.”
Swish.
With her simple gesture, her previously barren skin returned to normal.
Modern-shaped golden bob. Defined, arched eyebrows.
With one swift motion, Brooklyn flawlessly regenerated her facial burns and previously removed body hair, making Gi-ryeo immediately realize the secret of her innate magic.
‘The process is crude!’
A power that crudely achieved what she wished without proper medical knowledge.
Yes, that was undeniably an act deserving of being called magic.
At the moment Brooklyn laid her eyes upon her husband’s corpse, the desire to restore him ignited the recovery spell within her.
Having suppressed her violent personality for a lifetime, the longings established in her mind for freedom led her to master space manipulation.
Whether it be body recovery or spatial control.
Unfortunately, Brooklyn’s abilities related to activation all shared the unfortunate trait of devouring many sacrifices.
Moreover, she omitted all the principles she needed to consider and, with a complete lack of knowledge regarding magic, realized her miracle, which resulted in even more severe side effects.
The consumption of mana was twice as great as that of others with whatever skill she used.
Especially when using healing spells on things that were not under her direct control, serious aftereffects could occur, causing injuries to mend incorrectly.
“Since it’s all out in the open, I don’t want to keep up this appearance in front of you.”
The excessive consumption of fuel. And her individualistic spells, which couldn’t be used in a sacrificial manner.
But ironically, this supposedly hate-filled magic user was one of those rare individuals profoundly blessed with mana.
Her awakening level surpassed that of Jeong Ha-seong by a notch.
[World Hunter Ranking]
[1. Brooklyn Morgan]
This ranking was a chart listing the ‘amount of magic power’ of the Hunters publicly displayed globally.
Thus, she could endure all these issues.
Like water trapped behind a dam, thousands of tons of it was stored within her, a source of miracles that needed no purification.
“But since you’ve been such a good sport during this boring conversation so far, if it’s alright, Gi-ryeo, could you also repay me by answering just a few of my questions?”
Clang.
Brooklyn seized her real weapon, the Battle Axe, with both hands instead of her display rapier and addressed him.
“What exactly did you do in the past?”
“……”
“You couldn’t even keep your eyes on my one chop, and yet how did you know the identity of the Beast?”
“……”
“Gi-ryeo, what is your awakening attribute? Telekinesis? Can you use the Binding spell that you supposedly used in Japan again?”
But that was as far as the conversation went.
Following that, Brooklyn, as if a ‘switch’ had flipped within her, quickly murmured in a low, thick voice.
“No, no, that’s enough. There’s no need to listen… I think I should just kill that one too and put it on the altar.”
“Brooklyn?”
“That way, whether you’re S-Class or a fraud will be revealed right away.”
What followed was the sound of an axe splitting a ripe watermelon.
“This damn Asian. Who did you think was unaware that you were waiting for Ghang’s support!”
Crack!
Immediately afterwards, the American S-Class Hunter transformed into a starving beast, brandishing her weapon and charging at him.
And of course, there was no way for an F-Class to evade this.
