บท 336: The Mating Room (6)
sswaaaaa-
The rain was pouring down like a torrent.
A raging flood that seemed intent on destroying the world with water.
Sawdust, bowls, wheels, and buckets of water were swept away in the torrent.
Everything in the kennel began to swirl violently.
...And in the middle of it all stood Vikir.
Truth and lies. Revelation and silence.
At the crossroads, Vikir made his usual dry judgment.
"I am Night Hound."
Those words were the beginning of everything. It was a statement that would change many things.
The first change was the look on Sinclair's face.
Horror. Disbelief. Confusion. Doubt.
All of these complex emotions stormed across her otherwise lake-clear retinas.
And then.
…Quack!
Vikir flipped his picaresque mask completely over, transforming into a dog, and used the difference in size to escape the Ryumajin's fist.
Whirriik-
The madam cub riding on Vikir's back spewed out a spider web and snatched Decarabia.
pas-
Back in his human form, Vikir wrapped his arms around Sinclair's waist in the blink of an eye and leaped into the air.
Just like before against Belial.
Hanging from Vikir's waist, Sinclair mumbled through empty pupils.
"Why, why, brother, why."
"...."
"Then why did you save me, then... and now...."
Sinclair's voice began to tremble more and more.
All alone in the world. The one person she desperately wanted to get rid of, but couldn't.
"Why were you so good to me...."
Drops of water finally fall from Sinclair's eyes, which are filled with rainwater.
But Vikir can't stand to watch Sinclair's condition.
The rain is pouring down, the rapids are rushing, and everything is being swept away!
'One last chance to escape.'
Soon, the rising waters were overflowing the middle of the kennel.
with a splash! paas-
Vikir jumped onto the floating wheel.
With all his might, he slammed down on the wheel and yanked at the spider web around his left wrist.
with a plop! kkoleuleug-
The wheel that had served as Vikir's foothold shattered and sank to the bottom of the water.
A high wave rose up and swallowed the pile of sawdust completely.
Narrowly avoiding the wave, Vikir tugged with all his might at the spiderwebs tied to his wrists and ran vertically up the translucent wall.
And then he jumped again.
…BANG!
His knee slammed into the corner of the cage, but it was only enough to shatter his kneecap.
Feeling the searing pain and the sensation of it healing, Vikir did a backflip and landed on the outside of the cage.
Thud!
Vikir landed on the ground with Sinclair in his arms.
At the same time, a status window popped up in front of him.
<Mission Complete> – Escape from the Ryumajin's Kennel!
※ It's surprisingly comfortable inside the Ryumajin's kennel. Water, food, and a partner to love are provided. Is there any reason to get out of here and return to the harsh world?
※ A world with everything but freedom, or a world with freedom and nothing. It's up to the challenger to decide which one to choose~♥
Finally, the mission is complete, and it's been a harrowing escape.
Vikir dropped Sinclair from his waist onto the black stone floor.
Vikir and Sinclair's gazes met.
"...."
"...."
After a moment of silence, Sinclair spoke first.
"That's a familiar gaze."
"...."
"You have a goal, and you'll do whatever it takes to get there."
For a moment, Vikir paused.
He'd had this conversation with Sinclair once before.
'I've only ever seen one person with eyes like yours, and that's my father.'
'....'
'He's the kind of man who pushes forward with goals that ordinary people like me can't even fathom. I can see it in your eyes. Brother, you're the same kind of man my father is.'
Rainwater from Sinclair's eyes trickles down her cheeks.
Vikir didn't know whether to wipe the tears away or let them fall.
But.
A status window popped up in front of Vikir's eyes, putting all of that to rest.
<Special Mission> – Pursuit of the Angry Ryumajin
※ If you think that escaping is the end of the story, you're looking at the world from the wrong angle.
※ If a bug you usually keep escapes, you try to catch it again, right?
※ If the bug manages to hide in a crevice somewhere... ugh!
※ Now let's run and run until the gate opens ... Good luck!
At the same time. Something huge fell down from above.
…Rumble!
The fist of a Ryumajin, falling like a bolt of blue lightning.
There was no way he was going to let the forage he'd fed to them escape with a sting in his hand.
Quack! Ujijig!
He had to use his bare hands to deflect the heavy lightning strike.
"...keug!?"
An overwhelming weight. An unimaginable shock.
The fist of a dragon, once the most powerful ruling species, with demonic power in its body.
It was definitely too much for Vikir, who was unable to unleash his original strength.
u-deudeudeudeudeug!
Hides burst, muscles tear, and bones break. Every hair on his body seemed to be on fire, and every internal organ seemed to be melting away.
The pressure inside his body was exploding.
The veins of mana that connected his body to the rest of his body were broken, and the lost mana stretched out in all directions.
If it weren't for the Basilisk's regenerative powers, the mana surge would have come sooner.
Then.
"...!"
Vikir's eyes narrowed.
Tsutsutsutsuts...
Behind Sinclair, he could see the gate to the lower level opening.
A black oval-shaped gate. Judging by its size, it was a one-person gate that led to different places.
-Ding!
[You've found the 10th floor of 'Lost Paradise'].
An escape route to the lower level.
It told Vikir and Sinclair that the plateau was close, that it was right in front of them, that they were only one step away.
However, Vikir was unable to enter the gate because he was currently holding up Ryumajin's fist.
"Bro, brother!"
Sinclair scrambled to her feet.
Sinclair grabbed her last bit of mana and drew a magic circle.
…Flash! kkudeudeudeudeudeug-
A golden hand protruded from Sinclair's hat and began to support the ground and the Ryumajin's fist.
The pressure on Vikir's entire body decreased ever so slightly.
As the veins in his eyes subsided, Vikir's vision also returned to some extent.
The moment.
"...."
"...."
Vikir and Sinclair's gazes met again.
For a split second, Sinclair saw.
Vikir's eyes were shaking.
And those eyes are soon obscured by the large soles of the feet.
'...?'
Sinclair's head spun as the mysterious sole filled her vision for a moment.
Pugh-
The next moment, Vikir's sole was in Sinclair's face.
"...!?"
Sinclair threw her head back with a lone scream.
But there was nothing Vikir could do about it.
With both hands cradling the Ryumajin's fist, there wasn't much Vikir could do.
He could only kick, sending Sinclair flying through the gate on the other side.
"...! ...! ...! ...!"
Sinclair was sent flying backwards and landed in the gate at the bottom.
The darkness inside the gate gradually engulfed Sinclair's body.
But all the while, Sinclair desperately struggled and flailed her hands.
Once again, Vikir's gaze met Sinclair's.
It was only for a fraction of a second, a split second, but the conversation between the two eyes was much faster than that.
'The demon is an absolute evil, you can't be too stupid to know that, can you?'
'You're treating me like a child... There's not much difference in our ages....'
'Being the opposite of absolute evil doesn't necessarily make you good, but at least you know which side you'll be on when it comes down to it.'
'....'
'What you choose to see, what you choose to believe, and what you choose to do is entirely a matter of personal choice.'
These words were spoken by Night Hound on the night of Bartolomeo's death.
The conversation of that day becomes complicated in Sinclair's mind.
And then there was Vikir's last words, which summarized it all, loud and clear.
"Decide for yourself. What you will see, what you will hear, what you will believe."
You decide what you believe.
It was Vikir's advice to Sinclair as much as it was to himself.
The fist of a Ryumajin.
An irresistible force.
And Vikir's choice to risk his life at the last moment to keep Sinclair alive.
And the responsibility that came with it.
"A, no... no, no...!"
Sinclair squirms as she tries to force her way through the neck.
…thud!
In front of her, the Ryumajin's fist slammed into the ground.
Of course, everything that was underneath didn't even leave a proper shape.
Pis.
This happened almost at the same time that Sinclair's vision went black after she fell through the gate.
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