Chapter 235

One of the Four Great Powers, the leader of the Jujeosa.

The King of Curses, Cheonju (天呪).

“Truly, thank you.”

Seeing Nangwon bow his head repeatedly, expressing boundless gratitude for the current situation, Alon found it curious why he was here.

…He actually looked quite normal when he was younger.

The Nangwon Alon saw in Psychedelia looked different from now.

The strange tattoos on his face and his heterochromatic eyes.

The long surgical scar, stretching from his cheek to his right collarbone, which was practically his symbol.

If not for those features, it would have been nearly impossible to associate him with Cheonju.

How could anyone link the bald, scarred Cheonju with the beautiful boy standing before him?

If he hadn’t heard the story that his sister had been the trigger for him becoming the King of Curses,

He might never have believed it.

“Sir Alon, are you planning to take him as well?”

The moment of surprise was brief.

A voice filled with hostility came from beside him—it was Rangban.

Just moments ago, Nangwon had been holding onto his sister.

Now, he hurriedly cried out.

“Pl-please—don’t abandon us! We are different from the Northern Demons!”

“All demons are the same. What different kind of demon could you be?”

At the cold response, Nangwon’s expression was drenched in despair.

Alon tried to recall Nangwon’s race from his memory.

‘Was he a half-demon?’

Half-demon.

A race known to have been wiped out centuries ago by the time the original Psychedelia story began.

Beyond that, he couldn’t remember much.

No matter how much he had played the game, he hadn’t delved into its lore so deeply as to memorize every past detail like the abyss itself.

From the conversation between Rangban and Nangwon, he could roughly grasp the situation.

After a moment of contemplation, Alon looked at the despairing Nangwon.

“I’ll take him.”

“……Are you saying you’ll take in a half-demon?”

Rangban asked again, as if he couldn’t believe it.

Alon nodded.

“Yes.”

“Forgive me for speaking out, Sir Alon, but he is a half-demon. Half-demons are a treacherous race—you never know when they might stab you in the back.”

“I-I’m not like that!”

Nangwon desperately denied it with his entire body.

But even his frantic gestures did nothing to soften Rangban’s twisted expression.

“Half-demons are dangerous. And, putting aside my personal opinion, taking one into the escape group will not be beneficial. Especially in a desperate situation like this, where we have no hope left.”

Indeed, his words made sense.

If the public perception of half-demons was as bad as—or worse than—Rangban’s, bringing Nangwon along would be a poor decision in many ways.

Even if one set aside personal prejudice, there was plenty of reason to oppose it.

However, despite all of that, Alon had already made up his mind to save Nangwon.

A brief silence filled the space.

“Even so, I will take him.”

Alon said calmly.

“……Are you serious?”

Rangban asked once more.

Alon understood his concerns but nodded anyway.

“Everyone here is in the same situation. None of them wanted to be brought here, and all have suffered terrible pain.”

They had witnessed horrors and endured agony beyond imagination.

“And yet, just because of a difference in race, you would deny someone a helping hand?”

Using race as the deciding factor for who lives or dies?

That would be like creating an even greater hell within this already existing hell.

“I’m taking him.”

If his mind worked a little faster, he might have come up with something more convincing to say.

—Or so Alon thought briefly.

“……Understood.”

Rangban eventually nodded.

“However, while you may take the boy, I believe you will have to give up on the girl.”

“N-no…!”

Nangwon panicked even more than before.

His eyes, now red with tears, showed his desperate refusal to let go of his sister.

Alon turned to Rangban instead.

“Why?”

Rangban’s gaze shifted toward one side.

“……The Baarma bastards have already done their work. Look at her leg.”

When Alon looked down, he saw a massive, pulsating egg embedded in the girl’s flesh.

“That is—”

“It is one of Baarma’s authorities. The moment an ‘egg’ is implanted into a body in any form, the host has no choice but to supply it with nutrients until the parasite is born.”

“…What happens when the parasite is born?”

“The host dies. And if we take her along, the Baarma cultists will track our location.”

“You’re saying they can trace us?”

“While regular cultists may not be able to, bishops likely can.”

“Th-that’s a lie—”

Rangban’s explanation shattered the fragile hope Nangwon had been holding onto, twisting his face in despair.

“It’s not a lie. If I wanted to deceive you, I would’ve made half-demons sound even worse.”

But Rangban’s grim expression was proof enough that his words were true.

“Ugh—cough, cough!”

Nangwon’s sister, who had been barely breathing moments ago, suddenly burst into a violent fit of coughing.

“Sister, sister—!”

Tears welled up in Nangwon’s eyes and began to stream down his cheeks.

His sister, brushing his damp face gently, looked at Alon.

“Truly, thank you.”

“……”

“Please… take care of my little brother… no matter what…”

A request to leave her behind.

But to ensure her brother’s survival at any cost.

Tears flowed endlessly from her eyes as she forced out her final plea.

Her little brother, unable to cry out loud, clung to her even tighter.

Alon, watching the siblings, unknowingly let out a deep sigh and lifted his gaze.

The sky was still ashen.

And beneath that gray expanse, too many tragedies were taking shape.

It was stifling, unbearably so, to the point where even his heart felt painted in shades of gray.

At that moment—

“Godfather.”

“……What is it?”

“Do you wish to save that sister?”

Rine asked calmly.

Alon turned to her.

“Is there a way?”

“That thing—if we act now, we might be able to remove it.”

Without revealing any emotion, she simply observed the girl’s leg and spoke bluntly.

“I think so too.”

As if agreeing, Penia nodded as well.

Rine took another step closer to the girl.

“That parasite is currently draining the host’s life force and converting it into some kind of energy before feeding it back in. It seems to be trying to integrate itself into a vital organ of the host.”

“…To prevent itself from being removed?”

“Exactly. But since it hasn’t progressed too far yet, I think we can still extract it. However—”

“However?”

“In order to remove it completely, we need to extract it from the root, but it looks like the parasite has already deeply embedded itself into her leg. That means, to save her life, we may have to amputate her leg.”

Given the circumstances, a delicate procedure was impossible.

The only option was to remove the entire infected area.

It was only a half-formed hope, but just as a solution emerged—

“No, maybe… we can save her leg.”

Penia, lost in thought, suddenly spoke up.

“A-Ah—”

Hope began to shine in Nangwon’s eyes.

###

It had been exactly two weeks since Alon took in Nangwon.

In the end, Nangwon’s sister was saved without having to lose her leg.

The reason it was possible was thanks to Kalannon’s divine power.

“That parasite appears to be made of a weak form of divinity. Normally, magic and divine power repel each other, so trying to extract it with magic would put her life at risk. But with Kalannon’s divine power, we can safely remove it.”

Following Penia’s advice, Alon used Kalannon’s divine power, and successfully saved the sister without much difficulty.

And—

“Brother, I brought you some food.”

“You didn’t have to.”

“No, even if it’s something small like this, I want to be of help to you.”

Thanks to that, Alon now had another younger brother(?).

A truly devoted one.

As he accepted the roasted sweet potato Nangwon handed him, he idly noted that heterochromatic eyes could sparkle like that.

“Thank you.”

“No, I will serve you for life.”

He almost responded with ‘You don’t have to go that far’, but—

Seeing Nangwon’s firm resolve as he nodded with determination, he couldn’t bring himself to say it.

Alon ended up nodding back without thinking.

At that moment—

“Ah!”

Ryanga, who was also carrying a sweet potato, grimaced as she approached Alon.

“Hey! It was my turn!”

“What do you mean ‘your turn’? You were too slow, and I brought it to Brother before he got hungry.”

That was the spark that ignited a squabble between Ryanga and Nangwon.

Considering their future status and power, the thought that these two, who could wipe out entire nations when they fought, were now just bickering over food momentarily filled Alon with a strange sense of grandeur.

“……Sir Alon, so you were here.”

Alon turned to Rangban, who had come looking for him.

“How’s the situation?”

“It’s good. Especially this time, we have a high number of survivors, and most of them are soldiers captured from the Union rather than civilians.”

That was good news.

Over the past two weeks, Alon had attacked more than five different temples, rescuing people in addition to Nangwon.

As a result, even more people were now gathered in the hideout.

“Also, thanks to you, morale isn’t too bad either.”

“Because of me—?”

“Yes. A god’s mere presence is enough to be a source of strength for people.”

Rangban’s words reminded Alon of when people first started calling him a ‘god.’

‘If I remember correctly, it started when I saved Nangwon.’

Since then, Alon had healed several others at the temples, similar to Nangwon’s sister.

First, it was a member of the Dragonkin.

Then, a race covered in horns that even Alon had never seen before.

Lastly, an elf.

Because of these miraculous acts, Alon had come to be revered as a god by those around him.

He didn’t outright deny it.

For now, simply not rejecting the title came with many benefits.

It didn’t seem like he had actually developed a divine presence yet, but just being called a god and giving people something to believe in significantly improved the atmosphere in the hideout.

Where there had been only fear and despair, a faint but undeniable sense of hope had begun to take root in their eyes.

“However, not all the news is good.”

“……Oh?”

“Yes, it seems the Baarma cult will be making a move soon.”

“That makes sense. We’ve been rampaging for two weeks—they were bound to react eventually.”

“Technically, there are still dozens of temples left, so we could take more time if we wanted, but—”

“You’re saying we should prepare.”

“Exactly. We need to gather the remaining and move north as quickly as possible.”

“How many are left in this area?”

“About three. Once we rescue everyone there, we can continue moving upward while gathering more people.”

And then—

After hesitating for a moment, Rangban spoke.

“It’s about Dalma.”

“Have you heard anything about Ryanga’s homeland?”

Rangban fell silent for a moment, then cautiously opened his mouth.

“I have something to tell you about that.”

“…?”

His expression was somewhat grim.

###

“What did you say?”

Hidan, who had just returned from the North on Red Moon’s orders, had received truly bizarre news.

No—bizarre wasn’t the right word.

At least from Hidan’s perspective, it was something much worse—infuriating, ominous, something that could bring catastrophe.

So, with a serious expression, he asked Yuna again.

But the answer he received—

“……Great Moon has perished.”

“That’s impossible.”

—did not change.

No matter how many times he asked, the answer remained the same.

So utterly, devastatingly the same.

And then—

“……Have the other Moons been informed?”

“No. But since the information started spreading five hours ago, within a day or two—”

As Yuna continued speaking,

Hidan fell silent.

Because he instinctively knew.

What would happen once this news spread.

His eyes began to tremble uncontrollably.