I Will Protect My Brother - Chapter 64

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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 64
As if reading my thoughts, the Great Annihilation let out a mocking laugh.
【What’s so great about that wretch who used to be the Lost Soul’s avatar?】
“How much longer are you going to keep bringing that up? Kalian Wynack was captured by the Lost Soul seven years ago. You said yourself you haven’t detected even a whiff of the Lost Soul from him since then, Sacred Relic.”
【There’s nothing. Nothing there, which is exactly what makes it strange. The avatar of Broken Chaos was forcibly separated from the Guardian Star, yet it remains intact—that’s what’s suspicious!】
I leaped lightly over a steep rocky outcrop, my tone sullen.
“Perhaps the Guardian Star of Wynack is protecting him.”
【The “Judge of Darkness and Chaos”? Surely not. …Though I must admit, I find it puzzling too. I thought lightning would strike the moment he even brushed against the Lost Soul.】
“…If that happened, it wouldn’t just be Kalian Wynack going to Gol—Rahnar itself would be annihilated….”
【What does it matter if one planet perishes or not? Do you think the stars concern themselves with such things? There are hundreds of millions of planets like this one scattered throughout the cosmos.】
“Yes, that’s true. But still, it seems the Guardian Stars of both Wynack and Kirges hold me in some regard.”
【You are… an exception, I suppose.】
The Great Annihilation grumbled.
【But be careful, Rosy. Do you truly think a mere human like you can even begin to fathom what the stars’ affection means? The stars transcend the boundaries of comprehension your small mind could ever grasp.】
“….”
【So don’t be too startled if you’re suddenly dragged into the cosmos one day.】
“Ha ha.”
I smiled wryly at the blade.
“I’m not making that promise.”
It seemed I’d brought it along for nothing. The Great Annihilation had been uttering these unsettling remarks before, and this wasn’t the first time.
【In any case, it’s strange. The stars are certainly watching this direction, but why don’t they deal with it directly? Why make you their proxy instead? There must be a reason it has to be this way.】
“I wouldn’t know. What schemes the great ones harbor is beyond my understanding.”
According to the Great Annihilation, the star of Wynack—the “Judge of Darkness and Chaos”—and the “Broken Chaos” were natural enemies. In fact, just from their epithets alone, one could infer their antagonistic relationship.
Well, if capturing the Lost Soul was the duty the stars had imposed upon me, then I should fulfill it faithfully.
Besides, I was a person who had to change the prophecy no matter what. I couldn’t passively walk toward a future where I destroy the Transcendents with my own hands.
So rather than thinking of it as a duty, I should view it as an opportunity. A chance to alter a predetermined future.
At that point, I cast aside my musings. I had nearly reached the summit of the mountain ridge.
I withdrew the map from my pocket and confirmed my location. It was a map depicting the terrain surrounding Wynack Castle, with the places where animals had died marked in red.
By understanding the past, one grasps the present; by grasping the present, one glimpses the future.
It was all the easier to predict because it possessed intellect. It surely moved according to some pattern.
Indeed, when I compiled and examined the marks, its movements became strikingly clear.
Most of the beast carcasses had been discovered in treacherous mountainous terrain, gorges, and along river banks.
Whether it was doing so deliberately or merely by coincidence, it seemed to avoid inhabited areas nestled between villages, cities, and mountain valleys.
In fact, after spending several days traveling through all the nearby villages, I found not a single location with human casualties. This stood in stark contrast to years ago, when it had ransacked the Capital of Abuye and committed murders indiscriminately.
‘But it still harmed Jake.’
Jake was merely the beginning. Until now, it hadn’t attacked humans, but perhaps it was now beginning to turn its attention back toward people.
The timing of its appearances was irregular. Yet even if I couldn’t predict when, I could roughly estimate where it would strike next.
‘It hasn’t appeared in the same location twice. It’s avoiding overlapping routes. And it doesn’t venture too far from Wynack Castle either.’
Moreover, after organizing the locations of the serial murders that had occurred up until three years ago by time period,
I discovered it possessed a habit of moving in a counterclockwise circle.
Then, based on his movements at that time, the next place he would appear would be.
I alternated my gaze between the map and the compass hovering above the Planetarium, gauging the direction.
‘North. It has to be north!’
The Planetarium illuminated the mountain valley like a lighthouse.
Far to the north, a shadow darker than the night itself undulated slowly.
“…Found it.”
The moment I detected the suspicious movement, I pushed off the ground and leaped.
This time, I wouldn’t let it slip away. It was time to see its true face. The Planetarium’s orbit twisted wildly, inscribing dozens of layers of rune circles.
As I uttered the incantation, the rune characters blazed with brilliant light.
[ᛏᛖᛚᛖᛈᛟᚱᛏ (Teleport)]
The target displacement spell activated first. A sharp wind whistled past my ears. In the blink of an eye, I moved from the mountain ridge to the Northern Mountainside.
Where the Planetarium’s light shone, there was a darkness moving slowly.
[ᛏᛖᛗ ᛈᛖᚱᛖᚾᛏᛁᚨ (Bind and confine)]
The second spell, the binding incantation, crashed down. A colossal net of magical force unfurled in the void and surged toward the ground level at a terrifying speed.
Almost simultaneously, the final spell shot upward into the sky.
[ᛚᚢᛦ (Illuminate)!]
A flash.
A massive sphere of light exploded from the heavens like a detonating star. The entire area became bright as midday.
‘There’s no way to escape!’
The moment I rushed toward it with exhilaration.
In the depths of darkness whose size and depth I could not fathom, something I had never noticed before entered my field of vision.
It was someone’s back.
A tall figure, broad shoulders with a thin silk shirt clinging and fluttering, golden hair whipping wildly in the gale.
‘Ah…?’
In that critical moment, I withdrew the magical net that was about to cover the ground.
The backlash threw me off balance, and I stumbled. I landed almost crashing into the earth, but I had no time to feel the pain.
“You….”
A bewildered gasp escaped my lips. The figure, who had been facing away, slowly turned his head.
Over his shoulder, his eyes met mine, cold and piercing. I muttered stupidly.
“Kalian Wynack.”
Why was he here?
‘I clearly saw him say goodnight and enter his bedroom this evening…?’
Goosebumps erupted across my entire body.
Then was what I saw an illusion?
I calculated the days Broken Chaos appeared, analyzed his range of movement, predicted his trajectory, and came to this very moment.
And in the place where it should have appeared….
“Why… why are you here?”
Clearly, I had seen with my own eyes a shadow that did not belong to this world undulating menacingly!
I sprang to my feet and shouted.
“Why are you here?!”
I couldn’t fathom why such a thought had suddenly seized me.
Why the young man before my eyes had abruptly become a stranger.
Why suspicion clawed at my mind. Why….
“Jake said it himself. That there’s a monster being harbored in the castle…!”
Why did the woman’s scream from days ago echo so vividly, so perfectly, in this very moment?
“Rosien.”
Kalian Wynack turned toward me and took a step forward. One step, two steps. It took no more than five strides for him to reach me.
“Ah, I needed you!”
I read gladness in Kalian Wynack’s approaching face. As always, he spread his arms toward me with childlike innocence and purity.
“My princess always comes when I need her.”
“What are you talking about right now?”
“I couldn’t hold back any longer, not today.”
As the distance between Kalian Wynack and me narrowed, a fierce heat rushed toward me. It felt like a blazing fireball drawing near.
Seongyeol pushed to its absolute limit.
Kalian Wynack pulled me into his embrace with such force I nearly cried out. The heat was searing.
He buried his face in my neck, inhaling my scent deeply, and released a trembling moan.
“Ah, I feel alive….”
This was the first time I had faced Kalian Wynack consumed so thoroughly by Seongyeol.
His reason was clouded. He likely had no idea what he was saying.
Unfortunately, I was no different.
“…Let go.”
I twisted my body roughly. This was not something to brush past so carelessly.
‘It’s exactly like what happened in the Harem of Delpiam seven years ago…!’
Without the Elixir, forced awakening by Seongyeol. And the Broken Chaos hovering around it. Could the same situation repeat itself so identically?
‘Could it be…!’
A new hypothesis struck me like lightning.
Perhaps I had been thinking about this entirely wrong all along.
‘The Lost Soul didn’t follow me….’
What if it had been with Kalian Wynack all this time?
Then it would explain why the one committing murders in Abuye three years ago suddenly vanished, only to reappear in Delpiam.
It had followed Kalian Wynack.
It came ‘with’ Kalian Wynack!
I glared at him with blazing eyes.
“Kalian Wynack. Where were you five nights ago?”
“Rosien…?”
“Were you wandering through the forest like this then too?”
“….”
“What about a week ago? Ten days ago? Answer me straight!”

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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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