Black Killer Whale Baby - Chapter 217

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 217
I froze.
Between my eyelids, I could see eyes of a murky hue. The gaze was unfocused.
Parched lips moved soundlessly, their words incomprehensible.
The head that had lifted briefly dropped again with a dull thud.
A heavy silence settled between Levai and me.
“…Is he dead?”
“Dead? Who’s dead? You want to die?”
Levai shrugged his shoulders. Somehow he’d managed to keep his glasses on.
Though the lenses were cracked, he wore them as if nothing had happened during the wrapping.
“It’s just that the Matriarch seemed so serious.”
“How could I not be excited seeing him in this state?”
“Who is this person you’re referring to?”
For a moment, I was at a loss for words.
‘Ah.’
…He didn’t remember, did he?
‘What is this? For a moment there, he was speaking like it was my third cycle, so I answered naturally without thinking.’
Even as I thought this, I found myself watching Levai with suspicious eyes.
“From my perspective with medical and pharmaceutical knowledge, he doesn’t seem like he’ll die immediately. Orcas are remarkably sturdy creatures, after all.”
Speaking as if talking about someone else. Well, he was someone else, wasn’t he?
Yet somehow, his attitude resembled the casual way one treats an acquaintance they’ve known for a long time, and it unsettled me.
This guy kept being oddly ambiguous.
“Anyway, let’s move.”
The fortress had collapsed. There was no immediate opportunity to retrieve Lineius.
As I decided to move and tried to hoist Hauser onto my shoulder again, I sensed a presence in the distance.
“Hey! Matriarch!”
A spray of water shot up, and two figures leaped down from it.
It was my Second Brother and the Dragon Duke.
“What? The fortress collapsed faster than you said it would? What did you do? Wait, hold on…What’s that guy on your shoulder? Don’t tell me….”
“Yeah.”
I gave a brief explanation of the situation.
My Second Brother seemed to recognize Hauser at a glance, just as I had.
Well, he wasn’t the type of person whose features were easily forgotten.
“Huh, what’s that bastard doing here? I swear….”
Atlant started to grumble but then noticed Levai and the Dragon Duke were present, so he made an effort to keep his mouth shut.
Despite everything, seeing an old comrade in such a wretched state cradled in my arms seemed to weigh heavily on his heart.
‘Rough around the edges, yet so sentimental.’
I let out a small laugh for a moment, then hardened my expression again.
“Hey, let me carry him instead.”
“No, forget it. Let’s just head back.”
“No, Matriarch, you’re saying you’ll carry something even bigger than yourself on your body…!”
“How tedious.”
During wartime, when there weren’t enough people, I’ve even carried cannons myself. What’s there to be surprised about?
Of course, back then I could use the power of water freely.
Atlant seemed to realize he couldn’t break my stubbornness and gave up easily.
While I was talking with Atlant, Levai had already administered first aid.
“Ah, thank you.”
“Don’t mention it.”
And when we escaped from the fortress, there was no choice—I couldn’t carry him like a sack of rice, so I had to piggyback him instead.
Suddenly, my back felt lighter.
“What are you doing?”
When I turned around, surprisingly, the Dragon Duke was holding Hauser.
I started to frown, thinking it was Atlant, but then I was actually surprised.
‘Hmm, look at that physical ability.’
So this is what it means to be a dragon. I was astonished by the strength with which he lifted that massive frame so effortlessly, and I clicked my tongue inwardly.
“Come to think of it, there would have been no problem even if I hadn’t evacuated you. More importantly, can you give him to me?”
“….”
“Dragon Duke?”
“….”
“Dragon Duke?”
When I called out while raising my eyebrows, only then did the man’s lips part slightly.
“I’ll carry him.”
“Why would you?”
Why does he keep clamming up like an oyster? It’s absurd.
Perhaps my feelings showed on my face, because the Dragon Duke’s lips opened.
“In this group, only you and the other Orca know how to fight.”
“And?”
“If you carry him, your hands will be tied… this way is more efficient.”
He was saying his reasoning was sound. When I thought about it, he was right.
I looked at the unconscious Hauser, then slowly withdrew my outstretched hand.
“Alright then, I’m counting on you.”
“…Is he an important person?”
“You could say that, yes?”
Looking at Hauser, I felt complicated emotions just like Atlant did.
I wondered if he ended up imprisoned there after fighting with the Shark Beastkin.
Surely he didn’t cooperate with those shark bastards, did he?
‘This isn’t the third cycle after all.’
This man won’t be the same one I knew. People change far too easily, almost absurdly so.
I know this all too well.
“I don’t know. Whether he’ll truly become an important person.”
“Then it should be fine if I take him with me.”
“Yes, understood. He’s injured, so be careful with him.”
“…All right.”
I stopped mid-step, forgetting to move forward.
The male was smiling faintly.
Ever since losing his memory, he had maintained an expression as barren as a parched desert, with only his gaze moving.
His lips curved only slightly, like a crimson flower blooming on a pristine snow-capped mountain, yet my gaze was completely captivated.
I opened my mouth.
But the words that were about to leave my lips never found sound and were swallowed back down my throat instead.
‘Why is he happy?’
When I turned my head, my Second Brother and Levai were looking at me.
“What? What are you looking at?”
“Nothing. What. I didn’t see anything.”
“What?”
“Sigh. We still have a long way to go.”
“…What are you talking about? Levai, why is he acting like that?”
“I’m not sure.”
Levai shrugged his shoulders.
“I also thought the Matriarch carrying that man wasn’t ideal. I believe this is a good outcome.”
“Why, because I won’t be able to fight? You worry a lot too.”
“…Yes, please think of it that way.”
In any case, I had reunited with the group and partially achieved our objective.
“Let’s depart.”
There was no need to delay any further.
However, our departure was postponed once again.
Because of some man who had suddenly appeared before us.
“Isn’t that the guy we were dragging around with us?”
“The Remora Shark?”
A man covered in dusty earth was gasping for breath before us.
‘What? He shouldn’t have been able to survive.’
How on earth did he survive that massive collapse?
I narrowed my eyes.
‘I’ve never heard that the Remora Shark has any special ability that would aid survival.’
It seemed entrusting Hauser to the Dragon Duke was the right call.
Something about this didn’t feel right.
“Ha, ha, please, save me, cough, please….”
Gamora, the Remora Shark Beastkin, desperately stretched his hand toward us.
His appearance was a complete mess.
One of his arms was missing, and his legs were tattered beyond recognition.
His hair was singed away, leaving only sparse patches.
The collapse triggered an explosion, and he was clearly caught in it.
“How did you survive?”
“I can’t… I can’t hear. Could you… come a little closer…?”
What was this trick? I narrowed my eyes but continued walking forward.
“Matriarch!”
“It’s fine. You two prepare for backup.”
I ordered Atlant and Levai to stand by, then approached him.
Up close, the sight was far more gruesome.
‘This is strange. This is…’
It was miraculous that he was even alive.
Yes, “walking corpse” was the perfect description. The very act of breathing, let alone walking here, should have been impossible.
With broken legs, he could never have walked this far.
And I knew the method that made such a thing possible.
Gamora’s lips curled upward as if she’d been waiting for this moment.
Stretched far beyond where a human mouth could naturally reach.
“Ha, haha. Hahaha.”
“How are you alive?”
“Haha, hahaha. Me, why, alive?”
“By the Sea’s Oath, you shouldn’t be able to lie.”
“Ah, lies. Can’t do it. No, can’t.”
Gamora’s pupils focused on me as she giggled like a madwoman.
I had seen eyes like these before.
But not in this life—in a previous cycle.
“You didn’t know? Me, not me, but the one I serve? I don’t have to keep the Sea’s Oath.”
Gamora laughed, her tongue flicking, as her head tilted abruptly to the side.
She hadn’t tilted it herself.
Her neck had already been broken when she came here.
“Who was I again? Ah. Aah. Ah! Aaaah!”
Gamora reached out, but her hand couldn’t touch me. Her left arm was also broken, after all.
Soon Gamora’s gaze settled upon me.
No—it wasn’t settled. It was cold and filled with madness.
“Hello, Calypso?”
Gamora’s skin cracked like a thorn doll’s, pieces flaking away.
Though her limbs were broken, only her lips moved with the grace of a doll.
“Yes, it’s been so long. Such a very long time.”
I know this voice. No—I know this manner of speech.
“The party I prepared ended far too easily.”
Gamora’s lips curved into an enigmatic smile.
“What a shame.”
How could I not understand?
In my first cycle, the one who tempted me so persistently, urging me to survive and fight on.
The Male Protagonist of this world.
Was the Crown Prince.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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