[Translator - Night]

[Proofreader - Gun]

Chapter 363: The Weight of the Soul (4)

There is a kind of commonality in horror stories that are so overused they’re practically cliché.

People step into places they’ve been warned are dangerous, and they break the rule that tells them not to look back.

The lights suddenly go out, and even when they hear an unfamiliar knocking sound, they end up opening the door anyway.

And then……

“Director, I heard a strange noise from the flask?”

“Ah, it’s fine.”

Makile adjusted his rimless glasses and replied indifferently.

“That’s a special flask made of mithril glass. It won’t break even in the middle of an earthquake.”

“…….”

Whenever someone boasts like that about something being fine, something always goes wrong.

The moment Oscar stared at the flask with growing unease—

Tok, tok!

The cracks spreading across the flask like a spiderweb let out a sharp, light sound—crack!—and shattered into pieces.

“T-That’s impossible!”

“Wait…….”

Before anyone could stop him, Makile stepped toward the machine and muttered.

“A defective product that slipped past inspection? If not, then why…….”

The moment he shook his head and grabbed the shattered flask—

KWAaaaaa!

Something from inside surged upward and engulfed his face.

“Mr. Makile! Director!”

Despite Oscar’s shout, no answer came back.

“G-gggggggh…….”

His body stiffened as his head tilted back, trembling violently.

In the process, his pupils shrank and expanded like madness.

“…….”

Seeing that, Oscar slowly began to draw up his mana.

If it looked beyond saving, he intended to sever his head immediately.

“Director?”

At the same time he asked again—

Drip.

A single black line flowed out from Director Makile’s forehead and began to extend upward.

‘A line?’

At the end of that line, a black sphere began to gather like smoke.

At the same time, Oscar’s eyes widened, and he clamped his mouth shut.

‘Demonic energy…….’

It was a foul, indescribably vile demonic energy.

He instinctively covered his mouth, but at this level, there was no way to stop the demonic energy seeping in through every opening.

‘Damn it…….’

In an instant, his mind grew hazy and his vision blurred.

He bit his lip hard until it bled, and only then did his consciousness clear for a moment.

‘I have to get out.’

But as if he were sinking into the deep sea, his body refused to listen.

Just as his eyelids, having reached their limit, were about to shut completely—

-Get a hold of yourself!

With a booming shout, light burst from his entire body, clearing his mind.

Oscar breathed roughly and asked.

“Itaca?”

-Now that that wicked thing has vanished, I finally have the strength to speak. Are you conscious?

“Thanks to you. Thank you.”

-Unfortunately, this is not the time to exchange such words.

At Itaca’s words, Oscar looked around.

Inside the room, where red emergency lights flickered, everything was completely different from what he remembered.

What he had remembered as a black cloud could no longer properly be called a cloud.

Hundreds—no, thousands—of black lines flowing out from it were stuck to the walls, the floor, and the ceiling.

“This is…….”

The black lines writhed incessantly as if they were alive.

It felt as though the entire room had become a single living nest.

Even more, the lines were all extending outward through the door, the ventilation ducts, and even through the walls.

“What the hell is this?”

-It is something that resided within your soul. As for what kind of existence it is…… even I do not know.

The lines and the cloud pulsed rhythmically like a heartbeat, but they did not attack him immediately.

After staring at them, Oscar slowly approached Director Makile.

“Director, are you alright?”

“…….”

The director had his head tilted back, staring at the line emerging from his own forehead.

Of course, his pupils were unfocused.

Even when lightly tapping him, there was no meaningful response.

‘Is he dead?’

Placing a finger near his nose, Oscar confirmed that he was still breathing.

-Do you have any guesses?

“No. I’ve never even heard of demonic energy that operates like this…….”

It didn’t simply behave like demonic energy—it moved as if it were a living organism in itself.

Oscar followed the director’s gaze, then flinched.

“Don’t tell me those lines are all……?”

A dreadful thought struck him, and Oscar hurried out of the laboratory.

Running down the corridor, he opened the door where he sensed the most people at the same time—

-……This is bad.

On dozens of beds lay the volunteer subjects, and from their foreheads protruded black lines, unchanged.

The researchers monitoring their condition in real time were no different.

Having dropped the charts they were holding, they too had their heads tilted back, staring only at the black lines.

-Oscar, how many people are inside this research facility?

“When I was briefed, I heard around 130. Including the volunteers, maybe about 150.”

-But the number of lines flowing out of the black cloud looked to be in the thousands.

At that, a chill ran down Oscar’s spine, and he hurried to the window and opened it.

And then he saw it.

Under the bright moon, thousands of lines intertwined and twisted, descending toward the nearby city.

“……This is insane.”

The small northeastern city of Langle has a population of about 5,700.

The black lines were almost certainly targeting the citizens.

“This can’t continue.”

Oscar turned around and urgently drew up his mana.

Then he stretched out his hand toward the forehead of the nearest researcher.

“Wind Cutter.”

The blade of wind that shot out in an instant severed the line connected to the researcher.

“Ah…… huh?”

For a moment, it seemed like the researcher’s pupils regained focus—

“Ugh, ugh—Gweh-eeeegh!”

Immediately after, he vomited an enormous amount of blood.

An amount so great it was impossible to believe a human could expel it and remain alive.

“W-What……”

Oscar’s eyes trembled in confusion for a moment.

Gulp, gulp.

A black line slowly brushed past his face, then reattached itself to the severed end.

The researcher, now even more gaunt, tilted his head back again and stared at the black line.

[Translator - Night]

[Proofreader - Gun]

-It seems cutting them is not the correct option.

“……The moment they’re connected, they synchronize, is that it?”

-Or perhaps you should try using my power.

At Itaca’s words, a bright light burst from Oscar’s fingertips.

Drawing it out and shaping it like a blade, Oscar swung.

“If this doesn’t work either, sorry!”

At the same time the sword forged of divinity fell, the previously calm black line writhed.

Thud!

From the researcher’s forehead, the line split and shot toward Oscar’s heart like a bullet.

‘It reacts to divine energy.’

Oscar calmly lowered his stance and dodged, smoothly rotating his body and cutting the line.

Slash!

The line severed by divinity flopped like a live fish, then scattered like dust along with its main body.

Immediately after, the researcher collapsed to the floor with a far more peaceful expression.

Catching him quickly, Oscar checked his condition.

“He’s alive. Just deeply asleep.”

-As expected, it seems that using divinity can sever them completely.

“How did you know?”

-Because when that thing resided within your soul, I suppressed it with my power. If it’s a force so incompatible, I knew it would work.

To summarize, cutting with mana is meaningless, but cutting with divinity is highly effective.

Not only does it sever them, but the lines themselves are completely annihilated.

However, lines that detect divinity will attack in order to avoid being destroyed.

-In that case, there are two choices you can make now.

Itaca calmly organized the situation.

-One: go down to the city quickly and cut off all the incoming lines. Then you can certainly save thousands of the city’s citizens.

“That’s true. But what about the people left here? We can’t be sure they’ll survive.”

-Correct. They will likely become the sacrifice of the few for the many.

Oscar frowned and fell silent.

He hadn’t heard it yet, but he already knew what the second option would be.

-I’ll say this in advance—the second option will be extremely dangerous.

“Of course.”

The line he had just cut was only a single strand, so it was easy to avoid.

But if he returned to the laboratory where Makile was and tried to cut all those lines?

Thousands of strands would split and attempt to kill him.

‘And I can’t even cut them with mana.’

If he cut them with mana, he couldn’t guarantee the lives of the people connected to them.

They had to be severed using divine power alone, so he couldn’t fight as usual either.

In other words—save the many safely, or risk everything to save everyone.

“…….”

Gently laying the researcher down, Oscar looked around.

There were the people who worked at the research facility, as well as the volunteers lying on the beds.

Among them was Randy Garol, with whom he had spoken earlier.

-I've started wanting to find a stable job.

The innocent words he had said with a bright smile came to mind.

Though he hadn’t spoken with all of them, each of them surely had families, people waiting for them.

Thinking that, this dilemma suddenly felt absurd.

“…….”

Without a word, Oscar turned and began walking somewhere.

At that action, Itaca let out a small sigh.

-As expected.

“You’re not going to stop me?”

-You must bear it. If you weren’t this kind of person to begin with, I wouldn’t have chosen you as a vessel.

“Well, that’s true.”

Letting out a light chuckle, Oscar asked.

“Itaca, what’s the maximum time I can maintain divinity?”

-At the same output as before, about 4 minutes.

“That was a bit excessive earlier. What about half that?”

-About 7 minutes.”

“That’s all? Haven’t you been saving up power all this time doing nothing?”

-……I don’t know how many times I must say this, but I have not had a moment’s rest while suppressing that thing.

Letting Itaca’s nagging go in one ear and out the other, Oscar hurried back down the corridor he had run through earlier.

The laboratory had already become a grotesque nest.

As Oscar slowly stepped inside, he spoke.

“Itaca.”

-Speak.

“Let’s go.”

-With pleasure.

At those words, divine energy surged forth.

A sublime sensation, as if his mind had connected to a distant existence beyond the heavens.

At the same time, the writhing black lines all stopped at once.

“Is it just me, or does it feel like they’re staring at me?”

-It may not be your imagination.

Each of the lines, frozen as if alive, seemed to recognize him.

More precisely, they must have sensed the divinity he carried— Itaca’s power.

“They’re coming.”

Shwaaak!

Thousands of lines split and rushed to cut off his breath.

From all directions—above and below as well—the black lines poured down like rain, leaving no escape.

“If there’s no path—”

‘Then I’ll make one!’

With divinity gathered at the tips of his right hand, Oscar suddenly plunged to the left.

Shwaaaak!

Ignoring the thousands of lines chasing him, he pushed forward, carving only ahead.

Thud-thud!

As soon as one black line was severed, another surged in like a tide to replace it.

He cut those as well. More came—he cut them again.

“They just keep coming…… endlessly!”

After cutting dozens of lines at once, Oscar glanced at where he would move next.

Srrrk, srrrk.

The black lines rushing toward him suddenly all retreated at once.

“……?”

-What is this?

As both Oscar and Itaca questioned the unfamiliar sight—

Step, step.

As the black lines parted, someone forced their way through them and walked out.

‘A person?’

An unnaturally stiff gait, like a mannequin.

And the face was familiar.

“This body…… feels, somewhat…… better.”

The level 7 martial artist who had brought him here—

Chen opened his mouth, his jaw creaking as he spoke.

[Translator - Night]

[Proofreader - Gun]