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Chapter 68: ‘Was I Lacking Consideration?’

Well… I feel sorry for that, but I hope you’ll commend my patience in explaining everything even though I want to put an end to this quickly.

“In-hwa!! That’s your brother!! You’re really going to believe the words of this scoundrel!? I don’t know what kind of sorcery he’s used, but how could a nobody like you…!!”

“Oh… they always call it sorcery when they lose. What’s wrong with using everything at my disposal, buddy? Plus, if we’re being honest, you’re the embodiment of sorcery.”

Sigh, arguing like this just hurts my throat. When someone’s mind is tainted, they only hear what they want to hear and say what they want to say.

That’s why it feels like our conversation has been oddly disjointed since earlier.

Baek In-hwa, who had been silent for a moment, slowly opened her eyes and spoke.

“…Can I ask you a favor, Choi Yeon-woo?”

“Y-yah, In-hwa!!”

At her calm voice, the man’s face brightened. Yeon-woo shrugged, as if to say, “Go ahead, speak.”

“At the very least, let me finish this.”

“I-I knew it would come to this…!? W-what are you saying, In-hwa!?”

“Ah, of course. I have no intention of interfering with the Ice Palace’s event.”

Stumbling a bit, Baek In-hwa slowly walked toward Yeon-woo. She stopped a moderate distance away and assumed a stance.

The starting movement of a dance. Gathering her breath, the territory of the Ice Palace began to manifest around her once more.

Yeon-woo stood between a man and an Undead. Just then, Shar, who had crushed the spine of a Frost Alligator, was clumsily approaching.

Compared to Shar, the Frost Alligator had grown unusually massive, but evidently, that was no match for the differences in species.

[How’s it going, Dad?]

‘It seems like it will end well if we leave it to them.’

[But before the regression, didn’t my sister die?]

‘Well, I’d like to say I’m waiting to prevent that from happening…’

The level of the two is glaringly distinct. Unless In-hwa uses her brother’s face to mentally attack, she stands little chance of losing.

However, In-hwa, having regained some composure and understanding of the situation, seemed determined to finish off her kin herself.

‘At some point, Saturday will definitely cast a curse. We just have to figure out how to counter that.’

[…Are you about to throw yourself at it again?]

Unable to deny it, Yeon-woo quietly focused on the fight between the two.

*

“Now, In-hwa. Remember this beat. Good, just like that. One, two, one, two. There, switch.”

“L-like this!?”

“Right, always be conscious of the second beat. Switch, switch. Switch, switch.”

Swoosh!!

Without anyone going first, their arms reached out. Their palms touched. It was the second beat.

Once upon a time, the two right hands that joined together to learn dance from an older brother were now swinging at each other to kill.

Bam!!

With the sound of ice shattering, they both spun their bodies simultaneously. The clash of strength twisted with centrifugal force. After one turn, the left hand. The scattered shards of cold air fiercely pierced through the void.

It was a smooth dance movement like the one from the past with her brother. Even though her dance had changed, her brother seemed completely unchanged since then.

Baek In-hwa smiled sadly and slid her feet.

“Perhaps it was destined that we would dance facing each other like this, Brother.”

“What on earth are you talking about? You’re trying to kill me…!!”

“When you first appeared, I saw the murderous intent deep in your eyes. I just couldn’t believe that this situation exists.”

“…Ha. Just what the hell are you saying?”

The man scoffed. He looked utterly lost.

Indeed, from watching like this, Baek In-hwa felt a sense of discomfort looking at her brother. She could feel a strong murderous intent directed at her, but the facade seemed completely oblivious to it. He wielded the death intent so naturally, yet genuinely didn’t want to kill her.

Despite that, that very facade’s temperament was different from the brother she knew. If you looked closely, even the skin tones of his left and right hands were different. If you imagined that his body had been pieced together using other corpses to grow the brother who died in childhood, a nauseating energy surged.

“We would have had to compete for the inheritance of the Ice Prince. If I had been of the right age, I would have surely done so. There can only be one ruler of the Ice Palace.”

“Yeah, it would have turned out that way. So what does that matter, In-hwa? Isn’t this brother back again? We could live as we did before. Why are you trying to kill this brother, why…!!”

“Yet, brother, you taught me the Ice Prince’s techniques. Slowly, step by step, starting from the basics.”

The beat quickened slightly. Centered around the territory, they began to spin in a circular dance like a waltz. Three-quarters beat. Strong, weak, weak. Strong, weak, weak. Precisely marked. The frost danced.

“I was always puzzled, Brother. You had no reason to teach me. Someone must have taught you. And yet, you chose to teach me.”

“I like to dance strongly on the third beat, In-hwa. See, like this. One, two, three.”

“Wow, that’s amazing, Brother!!”

“What on earth are you saying, Baek In-hwa!!”

One, two, three.

On the third beat, which should have been a weak dance according to the basics, the man’s dance suddenly became vigorous. Now, his energy began to flow freely, supporting his movements.

If permitted, bones would break, and even the strongest aura would struggle to protect against the force that could crush skulls, fiercely swinging toward Baek In-hwa.

The battle between Ice Palaces is undoubtedly determined by the strength of the energy and who can alter the rhythm at what moment.

Despite the freedom to change the dynamics at any time, there are rules within that freedom. Since they both understood each other’s rules well, someone had to take risks and make variations.

A deadly variation that an ordinary Ice Palace warrior could not have countered. However, it had no effect on Baek In-hwa’s body and faded away. It turned into an awkward dance. Lacking flair, speed, and power, it had become nothing more than a single mistake.

If you wonder how that could happen, it was because Baek In-hwa was the Ice Palace’s minor ruler. It was because she was recognized as a prodigy with the greatest talent to inherit the Ice Palace above all else.

“I believe I understand now, Brother.”

Though the sleeve of her hood had been torn away, there were no injuries on Baek In-hwa’s fair skin.

Gently tapping the tremendous force behind the man’s arm with just a finger, Baek In-hwa buried her face into the empty chest of the man with no flesh.

Drops of hot water splattered onto the ground.

“I see now you were wanting to hand over the position of minor ruler to me. Was that why you smiled at me even in the face of such a cruel death? What could have made you so unburdened…?”

Drip, drip…

“Now, please rest peacefully, Baek In-gyeol.”

In front of the man who had completely frozen from the dance, Baek In-hwa offered her farewell in a quivering voice.

[D-Did he die…!?]

‘Well, yeah. The gap in skill is even greater than I thought; this was a fight where he had no chance of winning in the first place.’

Knowing your opponent’s habits in a fight among warriors is the ultimate advantageous position.

Even though it should have been a battle with a few exchanges, seeing Baek In-hwa overpowering Baek In-gyeol in a single move makes it obvious.

At this point, it’s almost a mystery how he died. No matter how much he found an opportunity in a mentally unstable moment, the difference in skill was such that he shouldn’t have died even if he allowed one move.

And more than anything, it baffled me why Baek In-gyeol, that man, hadn’t used the curse in the end.

Curses can be broadly divided into two types: artificial and natural. The former is generally caused by black magic, while the latter refers to the accumulation of impurities, like items unearthed from dungeons.

Naturally, the necromancy dwelling within Baek In-gyeol falls under the artificial category. If you listen closely, Baek In-gyeol seemed to have died quite cleanly, without leaving anything behind. Of course, there may have been some small stray thoughts at the moment of death, but that wouldn’t be enough to raise a corpse.

To transform life and death, it would take more murky, sticky, and heinous emotions. While there are methods to gain the consent of the sorcerer, that can be set aside.

The important thing is, to raise that corpse, Saturday would have added numerous curses to that soul, thus compromising it, and since Saturday himself is the source of that sorcery, he could trigger the curse whenever he wanted.

……So, what’s the reason the curse didn’t activate in the fight with Baek In-hwa?

‘Does it mean there’s still something else at play…?’

[Hmm, but saying that it’s the Demon King’s plan seems a bit lacking, doesn’t it?]

‘That’s only because we came in together…’

[If I had entered alone, it would have been terrifying. A sudden ambush from a crocodile skeleton and a person who doesn’t make any sense at all…!]

‘That’s true… Wait, hold on. If I think like that… doesn’t that seem strange?…?’

[Huh? What do you mean?]

Yeon-woo, deep in thought while rubbing their chin, suddenly turned his head sharply.

The neck bones connecting the neck and body, the deceased Frost Alligator, whose tail and limbs had been severed and now wriggled upside down. That monster, seemingly unable to do anything anymore.

“I had to smash that thing completely…!!”

The moment he realized that, dark, tainted, gem-like mana shot up into the sky from the frozen body of Baek In-gyeol.

Like a flare, it soared high into the air, overlooking the world from a dizzying height.

As someone who had faced numerous curses, the magnitude of this one was enough to send chills down my spine. This was not just a result of the alligator and Baek In-gyeol’s corruption. I couldn’t even fathom how many living beings’ lives were sacrificed to create this.

“Damn it…!!”

When Baek In-gyeol first appeared atop the Frost Alligator, it was obvious he was the trap’s orchestrator and that the Frost Alligator was merely a supporting tool. I thought, after all, that a monster, especially one usually found in cold places, posed little threat to Baek In-hwa.

But upon reflection, Baek In-gyeol seemed to have attempted to engage in conversation to lure them into the trap, yet their initial action was an ambush. An attempt to drown her by tossing her into a lake.

From this perspective, it might superficially appear they were on the same level, and although Baek In-gyeol protested, the alligator insisted on carrying out the attack.

However, based on the principles of behavior of someone pretending to be her brother, if it truly had been an equal relationship, he would have actively tried to stop the alligator. After such an ambush, pretending to be friendly with his sister would yield no results.

Even so, they carried out the ambush and made contact to break Baek In-hwa’s mental state, ultimately leading to their defeat.

Thus, neither were they in an equal relationship, nor was Baek In-gyeol the dominant one. What remained was one thing.

“The relationship was the opposite…!!”

It was the Frost Alligator that had come to kill Baek In-hwa, not Baek In-gyeol.

Baek In-gyeol engaging her in conversation had merely been a means that seemed effective to kill her.

Baek In-gyeol didn’t refrain from using Saturday’s curse; he simply couldn’t. The very source of the “curses” used to resurrect him was the Frost Alligator.

“I can’t believe this, but can I ask you one thing, Baek In-hwa!?”

“What, what is it…?”

“Are you perhaps familiar with that Frost Alligator!?”

Rubbing her eyes with the sleeves, Baek In-hwa turned around after not having seen the fully manifested curse yet. Yeon-woo was on the verge of exploding from her leisurely movement. Goodness, this is infuriating!

“…I see, it’s the same size as the one that killed my brother eight years ago. I killed it seven years ago.”

“AAAH!!”

Yeon-woo screamed. This is bad. Everything is connected. It’s the Rictus Rictus show. Holding his sore neck, Yeon-woo moved his body.

(Continued in the next chapter)

 

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