“You’re saying... you’ll save Joon?”
Jo Beomseok, who hadn’t seemed like he’d accept any offer.
The moment a crack appeared on his face.
‘Just like the intel said.’
The two were sure their proposal had landed, and nodded as they spoke.
“If we borrow our brothers’ power, it’s more than possible.”
When they heard the Expedition Force was coming.
The first people they had to neutralize were the two Awakeners who did the most in large-scale battles.
Jo Beomseok and Jo Jun.
‘And the intel said General Jo Beomseok is actually extremely fond of his grandson.’
Even if their brothers had failed during the previous raid.
Every brother who came back had reported the same thing.
The lower knight who commanded that battle.
His arrow had definitely succeeded in sniping Jo Jun.
Surviving that shot.
They’d said that was absolutely impossible.
“...Let me just ask, then. How is something like that even possible?”
“As you know, General, we ◆ Nоvеlіgһt ◆ (Only on Nоvеlіgһt) are spiritual beings. And... a soul that has only recently died doesn’t disappear immediately, it lingers near its body for a certain time.”
They had already successfully eliminated one of the most important figures.
And they thought taking care of the remaining one would be far easier than expected.
SLIDE.
They extended their hand toward Jo Beomseok as they spoke.
“We’ll harvest that soul and breathe it into a new, far stronger body.”
“...”
“It’s not an easy task even for us, but if that’s what you want, we’ll do it as much as you please.”
At those words.
Jo Beomseok clenched his fist tight, grinding his teeth hard enough to shatter them as he spoke.
“All right... I understand. What are the other conditions?”
“Heh, to think you’d want more on top of that... You sure are greedy. But our brothers are beings who know mercy, so we’ll tell you.”
The two now spoke with a relaxed air, as if completely convinced they’d already pulled Jo Beomseok over.
“First, as we said earlier. If you want your bodies’ initiative for yourselves, you’re free to have it. We’ve already obtained the bodies of the strongest in this region... Bodies with this much potential are better the more we have, but we’re not lacking even now.”
“Hmph, and what good is that supposed to be when, thanks to you, the temperature in this region keeps dropping and we’ll just end up freezing to death one day anyway.”
“We’ll even grant you a place for yourselves near that ‘Wall of Fire.’”
“...Hmph!”
“The heat there is so intense that our influence is weaker. We’ll give you the chance to spend the rest of your lives there. Not just that, if you really want...”
They looked around at the Expedition Force glaring at them.
“We’ll give not just Jo Jun, but all of you here the chance to become our brothers.”
“Brothers?”
“Human souls are weak, General. The original owners of these bodies were just the same. Even with such powerful flesh, when we unleashed our consciousness, they couldn’t last even half a day... Honestly, it’s baffling how a soul and a body can be so mismatched in rank.”
“What we’re offering is the chance to throw away such a feeble soul and be reborn with a soul of a rank equal to ours. To shed the fate of a mortal chained to flesh... and become a powerful spiritual being.”
To become their brothers meant, in other words.
They were offering the chance to become the same kind of race as them.
If you only heard it put that way, it might not sound like much.
The important part was that they were beings not bound to flesh.
‘Which means...’
The eyes of the listeners trembled faintly.
‘He’s saying they don’t die even if they die... that they become immortals, isn’t he?’
In a world where you had to worry about dying every single day.
It was an offer that could not help but be intoxicating.
“I see... That’s your proposal...”
“Heh, we’d like you to recognize just how excessively considerate we’re being toward you, General.”
At that offer.
Jo Beomseok slowly walked toward the two as he spoke.
“Then I should give you an answer.”
The two, convinced they’d made an offer that simply could not be refused, watched Jo Beomseok with relaxed expressions.
And then.
“The conversation’s over. Entire force...!”
“...Hm?”
“Rapidly subdue these two stray specters!”
Their eyes flew wide in shock.
*****
“What the...!?”
Jo Beomseok’s sudden order to attack.
The startled pair once again raised their weapons.
But it didn’t mean much.
“Yes, sir!”
KWAAAAAAANG!
From the start.
They had only opened their mouths after being pushed to their limits by the two leaders’ attacks.
So when those two resumed their assault—
“Guh...”
With only the power of two humans from the assault team, they couldn’t even mount a proper counterattack.
All they could do was roll miserably across the ground.
“These bodies belonged to comrades we fought with on the battlefield, so I was hoping to subdue you as gently as possible... but that’s not going to work.”
Looking down at the two as they rolled on the ground.
Jo Beomseok clenched his teeth hard enough to crack as he spoke.
“How dare you...!”
When the two had first seen his body shaking.
They’d thought Jo Beomseok was wavering in the face of their offer.
“How dare you use that filthy mouth of yours to say Joon’s name...”
“...!”
“No matter how hard I try to hold it in, I just can’t...”
But.
They’d been wrong.
“You’re the bastards who turned my grandson into that... and now you tell me to surrender? Did you seriously think I’d accept something like that?”
Jo Beomseok hadn’t intended to lend an ear to their proposal in the first place.
He roared with a presence you’d never expect from an old man.
“You’ll grant us land near the Wall? Nonsense! It was you who turned those scorching summer days into an endless winter. I’m sure you figured if enough time passed, you’d be able to snuff out even the Wall’s heat.”
“...”
“And even if that proposal were true, it means nothing to us.”
He might be old.
But age hardly mattered for an Awakener.
“Because one day, that Wall of heat is going to fall.”
“...What?”
“If we accepted your proposal and became monsters, then when that day comes!”
The former general shouted with boundless confidence.
“We’d just end up hunted down by the ones who come from beyond the Wall!”
Their proposal.
Had been meaningless from the start.
“The Wall will fall? What are you talking about?”
At those words brimming with conviction.
The two men rolling on the ground couldn’t help but be flustered.
The human intel they possessed was that of the ‘assault team.’
They had no way of knowing anything.
About intel that had only recently been delivered to the Association—intel the assault team had never learned.
“To begin with... you talk about urging us to surrender.”
Looking at them like that.
Jo Beomseok chuckled in scorn as he spoke.
“Isn’t that nothing more than proof that you bastards find us burdensome?”
If they were truly overwhelmingly strong.
They wouldn’t need to urge surrender. They could just trample us.
The reason they hadn’t done that was...
Because the thought of fighting the Expedition Force bothered them.
“...I don’t know the details, but I do know this: you refused our offer.”
“Right. Now get lost, you stray specters. Thanks to you, we’ve been able to confirm that we have a real chance of victory.”
At Jo Beomseok’s words.
The pair rolling on the ground spoke with a bitter smile.
“So the Wall will open, hm. Seems some new intel we don’t know about has come in.”
They were now wretchedly beaten down by the Expedition Force’s attacks.
But aside from that wrecked appearance.
“...There’s just one thing you’re wrong about, General.”
“Heh. To think that once the Wall opens, the ones from beyond it will be able to wipe us out.”
They spoke instead with a tone of utter derision.
“The point when that was possible... has already passed, long ago.”
“...?”
“The reason we urged you to surrender wasn’t because we found you burdensome. If anything, you’re nothing more than a far too light enemy to us.”
“Ha, then why did you urge us to surrender?”
“We already told you, didn’t we?”
When they’d first shown their true colors to the Expedition Force.
The very first reason they’d given.
“It was consideration for you.”
“It wasn’t a lie that, once we took these bodies, we felt a bit of familiarity toward you.”
The instant they took human bodies, they had come to feel closeness toward the humans in those memories.
So they’d wanted to offer one last mercy.
And.
The second reason was...
“We just didn’t want to start a fight near our homeland...”
In that moment.
The light already began to fade from their eyes.
“To refuse the last mercy we offered out of goodwill... It is a bit of a shame, I admit...”
“Well, it won’t matter much.”
The two slowly closed their eyes as they spoke.
“We don’t know about your souls, but in the end.”
“Your bodies will come with us...”
With those words.
Their heads, as if they’d simply lost consciousness.
THUNK.
Dropped to the ground.
“...”
Only heavy silence filled the space among the Expedition Force as they watched them.
Looking around at the Expedition Force.
Jo Beomseok thought.
‘We’re nothing more than ants, huh?’
The countless monsters the enemy had shown them.
And the sight of immortals tossing their flesh aside without hesitation and leaving.
‘This is bad.’
Unease was spreading.
Through the Expedition Force after watching that.
*****
—You really aren’t a simple old man after all, Jo Beomseok.
Looking down at the bodies they’d just been using.
And at the Expedition Force staring at those bodies in heavy silence.
—To think you’d choose revenge over saving your grandson.
The two souls.
The [Belsnickels] thought.
—Maybe the intel that you’d do anything for your grandson was a bit off... No, more likely, he cut off his personal attachment to his grandson for the sake of the Expedition Force.
—Maybe that’s even why the brothers’ raid failed.
—Odds are high he even saw through the lie about saving his grandson. So it wasn’t for nothing that he survived that raid and managed to haul the Expedition Force all the way here...
The two souls who had stepped forward to subdue the Expedition Force with ease.
Their plan had unfortunately ended in failure.
—...However, this may have actually worked out better.
They’d lost two precious bodies.
But they’d be getting new bodies in short order anyway.
Among them would be people like Park Junggu and Heo Yunchang.
Bodies far more useful.
All they had to do was switch over to those bodies later...
—And we succeeded in planting fear in them.
Jo Beomseok’s momentum had certainly been considerable.
But the words they’d left at the end would undoubtedly have planted unease in the members of the Expedition Force.
—You did your best alone, but it’s unfortunate, General Jo.
—This contact seems to have ended in our favor.
That unease.
Would exert an influence far greater than the value of the two Awakener bodies they’d lost.
—For now, we’ll go home and report this to the brothers.
—The Wall might fall, he says—new intel... We must discuss it with the brothers and... hm?
Thinking that.
The two souls turned their heads toward their homeland.
But.
Right then.
FWAAAAAASH!
—...What!?
They existed as spiritual bodies that could not be seen by ordinary human eyes.
Those bodies.
—What is this...!
Suddenly, as if color had been painted onto them.
Their souls were laid bare for all to see.
FWIP FWIP FWIP!
From far away.
Several daggers came streaking in, racing to hunt the two souls as if they had wills of their own.
—Pointless...!
In spiritual form, they were unaffected by physical attacks.
Even now that their forms were visible, that should have still been true.
SLASH—
‘Huh?’
‘Impossible...!’
Their thoughts.
Did not last long.
*****
“Mercy, huh... what a long tongue you’ve got.”
“...”
“But you all know this, right? That it’s always the empty cart that makes the loudest noise.”
I bent down.
Picked up what had fallen to the ground.
“And it seems those things really are spooked. To the point that they’re...”
[Processed Soul of Belsnickel]
[Frozen Soul, Belsnickel has been processed into bite-sized pieces.]
[Because the chef’s soul-cuisine skill is still immature, there was some slight damage, but it is still fresh, as it hasn’t been long since processing...]
“Bluffing that hard when they’re nothing much themselves.”
Clutching the neatly bite-sized processed souls in my hand.
I spoke to the ones standing behind me, watching my back.
