Chapter 146: 146
Chapter 146 – Dean and Fate
[Good boy . ]
Seemingly in a good mood, Dad tried to stroke my head .
Avoiding his hand, I complained because we’re still in the middle of battle .
[I’m not… a kid anymore . ]
[Hahaha . If that’s really the case, then you would’ve defeated the sacred beast on your own . ]
[Kuh…Dad!]
I was treated like a child, of course I would get mad . Ever since my dad passed away, I’d been forced to desperately stay alive for as long as five years .
Then he suddenly came back, unaware of what I’ve been through… Naturally, there will be a big gap between us .
But Dad could see through that feelings of mine as well .
[Oi oi, don’t give me that face . We’re gonna fight sacred beast together, but we won’t be able to cooperate if it’s like this . ]
[I’m stronger now . More than you might think, Dad . ]
[Sure you have a high stat . But isn’t that something you obtained from gluttony skill? There is more to that skill than you might think . ]
[That is…]
[You can obtain the stats and skill of any enemy you defeated . At a glance it’s certainly a powerful skill . But it’s not without any price to pay . Fate, the mortal sin skill… do you think why and for whom those skills were originally created?]
I certainly couldn’t answer Dad’s question . On the other hand, I could hear him mutter [I see…] when I didn’t give him any answer .
After that, I kept my mouth shut .
The sacred beast had began to make its move .
Despite everything, I was actually nervous, this being the first time I fight alongside my dad . That caused me to respond too late to the sacred beast’ attack . I was about to be struck right on my still recovering side .
[Fate!]
Dad pierced his black spear into the ground, generating huge ice stalagmites that encased the sacred beast in place .
That brief pause gave me enough time to react .
[What’s wrong? Do you want to rest on the sideline with them instead?]
[Kuu…]
I grasped the black sword in my hand tighter, and swung at the sacred beast that already managed to break through the icy confinement .
Not to forget, I reactivated 《Spirit Union》 and clad Greed with fire magic once more .
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『Again with the fire ball magic? You really have no sense of art . 』
[Wrong . It’s the mutated version . ]
『Do not overuse the power of gluttony skill though . 』
I mutated the fire ball magic, and finely infusing its fire element into the black sword .
The flame cladding the black sword increased its brightness as its color grew even closer to golden . At the same time, blood gushing out from my right eye .
After the fight against Rafal, I was informed that the Gluttony skill is slowly mutating my body . Now it’s just up to blood gushing out from my right eye . Later on… I really have no idea .
I had Raine to research on it . But she was kidnapped by my dad before the research reached any conclusion .
The fire clad sword collided with the empowered sacred beast’s pincer .
I still couldn’t cut through it huh… Even after raising the power this far .
The fire spread out and enveloped the sacred beast whole . My slash didn’t really cut through its carapace . Even so, the mutated fire magic, further empowered by spirit union, seemed to inflict some damage to the beast .
Shaking its body left and right, the sacred beast tried to extinguish the fire burning its body . When it realized that it didn’t work, it began burrowing into the sands .
[As if I’ll let you . ]
Dad made a follow up, striking with his spear . Apparently he’s building up power while I was attacking .
Pointing his weapon at the sacred beast, the spear tip emitted a freezing light .
[Freeze . ]
Transparent icebergs rose up instantly, entrapping the sacred beast .
There shouldn’t be not enough water in the atmosphere to produce this much ice . One can even say that Dad had conjured up ice out of nothing .
I instinctively knew that it’s a high level ice magic . Slashing with black sword alone won’t do anything to it .
Suffering from extreme heat followed by intense cold right after, countless cracks appeared on the sacred beast’s carapace due to the sudden change of temperature .
『Not half bad, Fate! Did you really aim to do that?』
[Uu… guess so . ]
Greed rarely praise me, so I just let him think that way .
I see… so there is something like that . I learned something today .
Dad and I proceeded to chase the sacred beast .
[Fate, watch out for the stinger . ]
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[I already knew that . ]
[Don’t bother attacking the tail and pincers . It could regenerate those back whenever it wants . It’s like lizard tail . ]
Earlier, when I was still teaming up with Roxy and Eris, our strategy was to get rid of the pincer and the stinger first because that’s the most annoying parts of the beast . In the end, we found out that it could easily regenerate it back by absorbing the darknesses .
Dad is really more familiar with this sacred beast…
[Be really careful with the stinger’s poison . Even a little quantity can kill someone like me . ]
[Yeah, got it . ]
Getting poisoned by that kind of thing, must be really bad .
I pierced the cracked part with my flaming sword .
There was something alright .
The sacred beast tried to twist itself away, but couldn’t do so due to the encasing ice .
[How clumsy, Snow . This will be the payback from that time . ]
After muttering that, my Dad tossed his black spear at the sacred beast’s body .
It’s obvious to me that the destructive power was so much greater than my attack just now .
That’s because the sturdy body of the sacred beast actually got bent into U shape by that spear throw . Not only that, the impact also destroyed the ice restrains .
Both the pincers and tail were shredded by the speeding shards of ice broken down by my Dad’s attack .
Strong… Moreover, Dad didn’t seem to be fighting seriously .
The Sacred beast seemed to have taken major damage, as it moved groggily, before finally stopped moving altogether .
But Dad didn’t stop just yet . Retrieving his black spear, he struck once more at the sacred beast’s side .
[Is that all… Snow?]
Roaring aloud, it rolled around on the sand .
The sacred beast shouldn’t have any more energy left to fight back .
When I approached Dad to help finish the sacred beast, something unthinkable happened . That giant of a beast disappeared all of a sudden .
[Eh?]
Ignoring the perplexed me, Dad walked forward .
Then, in front of where he stopped, I saw a red haired girl lying on the sand . There were countless wounds on her body, from where blood profusely seeped out .
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Could it be, the sacred beast was originally a human? That never crossed my mind .
Dad stood right next to the girl, and raised his spear .
[Appearing this young… I guess she had lost much of her original power . Once again, return to the other side . ]
He was aiming for the heart . A sure kill if it hit . The black spear dropped down without mercy .
But on the next moment…I stopped the spear with my black sword .
[Fate, what are you doing?]
[Dad…]
Sparks erupted from our interlocking weapons as we tried to overpower each other .
I shook my head as I looked at Dad’s face . Once I saw that red haired girl, I’ve lost my intention to continue fighting .
[You shouldn’t kill a helpless kid . I can’t just overlook this . ]
The girl was shedding tears when I laid my eyes on her . But not because she’s begging for her life or anything .
She rampaged because she lost her reasoning . If she lost her consciousness during our battle just now, then the meaning behind that tears is only obvious to me .
Me and Dad tried to overpower each other for a while, until,
[Do what you want . ]
The weight bearing down on my sword loosened up as Dad seemingly gave up .
He then turned around and told me .
[This kind of thing, you really are like your mom . Anyways, her name is Snow . She appeared to be resurrected by the Door to that Land, just like myself . But for some reason she lost a lot of her power, and probably turned wild because of that . That’s all there is to it . Fate… she’s still a sacred beast . Keep that in mind . ]
Dad left without waiting for my answer . On his way, he stopped by to have a little talk with Roxy who was supporting Eris at the moment .
Afterward, he disappeared into the darkness of the desert .
I sat myself down next to that red haired girl named Snow . The exhaustion finally set in, so I let my body relax under the cold night breeze . There were a lot of darknesses when we began fighting the sacred beast, but there was nothing left now .
All I could hear was the sound of sand swept by the wind . As my breathing relaxed, I noticed that Roxy approached with Eris in tow .
[Fai, are you alright?]
[Yeah, I think I’m okay . How about Eris?]
[She has calmed down… but not so good overall . ]
[I see . ]
Roxy looked at me, then to the unconscious red haired girl . Knowing what she’s curious about, I explained about what happened to her .
[This little girl’s name is Snow . She’s the sacred beast we fought earlier, and it seems Dad’s acquaintance in the past . ]
[I was also watching from a distance . But… to think that beast was originally a human . And such a little young girl as well…]
[She might look young, but that’s probably not the case . Take Myne for instance; she looks like a kid but is actually a hundred years old . ]
I told Roxy to take Eris back to Lishua’s mansion .
We couldn’t afford to bring back the still unconscious Snow as well . Just in case, since the town might turn into ruin if she turned back into the sacred beast once she woke up .
[I’ll stay around as a watch overnight while waiting for Snow to wake up . Once we can confirm that she’s friendly, I’ll take her back into the town . ]
[What if, she is not?]
[That’s… in any case, I have a feeling that things will somehow work out . ]
The sacred beast fought based on its instinct to survive . There was no malice there .
I could understand why Roxy was worried, but when I remember that tears Snow shed, I simply couldn’t see her as a threat anymore .
Either way, the decision has been made when I chose to protect her from my Dad’s killing blow .
I had to take responsibility and take care of her somehow .
I could also hear the astonishment in Greed’s tone when he spoke to me via 《Mind Reading》 .
『As if you haven’t had enough problems as it is . That girl is the sacred beast!』
[I’ll still take responsibility . ]
『You do understand the meaning of what you said just now, right?』
[Yeah… of course I understand . ]
Dad may not say it implicitly, but I knew that he missed Snow .
If something bad really happened, then I won’t pull my punches .
As she is the powerful sacred beast, it may not be something that can be resolved by talking .
Roxy left with Eris soon after, leaving me alone as I quietly waiting for Snow to wake up .
Speaking of which, I wonder . What did Dad say to Roxy earlier? Normally, she would’ve told me if it’s something important . But she didn’t this time around . I couldn’t help but to think that something is afoot here .