Trash of the Count’s Family - Chapter 565

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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 122. A Night of Possibilities

Park Jin-tae found himself doubting his own ears.

“What? Three of them?”

He dug at his ear and approached Kim Rok-soo.

“No, I can’t even handle one by myself. What? Three? You?”

His face twisted in disbelief.

“Do you have a death wish?”

He had managed to accept the incredible ability called foresight, however reluctantly.
No—he trusted it now.

‘But what? Taking on three Grade-1 monsters alone? With this frail body of yours?’

Park Jin-tae approached Kale with his brow furrowed as if he were about to grab him by the collar right then and there.
But Choi Han blocked his path.
The intensity in Choi Han’s gaze as he stared silently pressed down upon Park Jin-tae.

‘This crazy bastard!’

Both Kim Rok-soo and this Choi Han seemed utterly insane.
Park Jin-tae opened his mouth.

“You can’t die.”

And he added:

“Not if we’re going to survive.”

For them to live, Kim Rok-soo absolutely could not die.

“…hyung.”
“Yeah.”

Lee Jin-ju and Lee Chul-min exchanged glances between Park Jin-tae and Kale Heniatus, utterly at a loss for words.
Then, one person stepped forward.

“Um, excuse me, sir?”

It was Bae Pureun.
He scratched his head awkwardly as he spoke.

“Min-ah and I lose when we fight Grade 1 monsters, you know?”
“Hey. Bae Pureun. Stay quiet for now.”
“…Okay.”

At Kim Min-ah’s restraint, Bae Pureun, who had stepped forward, immediately retreated without another word.
Yet his eyes still trembled with anxiety as he looked at Kale Heniatus.
Kale Heniatus spoke to Bae Pureun.

“Go bring your brother.”
“Huh?”

Bae Pureun’s gaze turned to Kim Min-ah. When she gave a small nod, Bae Pureun immediately took flight toward the building they had come from.
That was where Kim Min-ah’s brother was.

Kim Min-ah watched Bae Pureun depart without a glance, simply folding her arms and keeping her eyes fixed on Kale Heniatus.

Kiiiiiek—!
At that moment, a sharp sound pierced everyone’s ears.

Boom!
Simultaneously, vibrations surged up from the ground.

“M-Monsters are approaching!”

Lee Chul-min’s urgent voice followed immediately after.
Then Kale Heniatus spoke.

“All seven won’t attack this building at once.”

Over Kale Heniatus’s shoulder, Kim Min-ah could see two Grade 1 monsters approaching at the front.

A Grade 1 monster with the appearance of a skeleton.
And a wolf-shaped monster draped in black serpent skin.

Kale’s voice reached her ears.

“Two, then two, then three. They’ll come in sequence.”

The reason was simple.
Those monsters’ mission was merely a taste test.
They were thorough about their role.

“Among them, the Grade 1 monster that looks like a blend of lion and tiger—the ‘Dark Tiger.’ That one is the leader of those seven.”

Park Jin-tae’s eyes fixed on the Grade 1 monsters standing in the rear, excluding the two that had advanced forward.

‘Hmm.’

The tiger’s black eyes were directed precisely toward the rooftop.
Those eyes were far too sharp to belong to creatures he’d thought lacked reason, or possessed only minimal intelligence.

A chill ran down his spine.

But Park Jin-tae couldn’t afford to be consumed by that fear.

“It’s Grade 1!”
“What do we do! How—how do we stop that!”

The confusion and anxiety of the people in the Shelter on the rooftop were rapidly amplifying.
Park Jin-tae felt the terror of death etched across their faces, and with it, the hope slipping away.

‘This won’t do!’

This couldn’t happen.
More than twenty hours remained to endure.
And there was still the night ahead.

It would likely be the longest night of his life.
To spend such a night drowning in fear, stripped of all hope?
That was impossible.

“I’ll go first!”

Park Jin-tae opened his mouth.

“I’m going out first!”

Everyone’s gaze turned toward Park Jin-tae.
But Park Jin-tae spoke while looking at Kale Heniatus.

“You said I have the ability to catch at least one of them, right? So I’ll catch one.”

Boom. Boom!
At the sound of the two Grade 1 monsters approaching slowly, like prey being driven in a hunt, Park Jin-tae’s palms grew slick with sweat.
The pressure bore down upon him.

“But you have to tell me the method right now.”

Yet if one could not overcome the pressure, nothing could be grasped.

When he had held the youngest Olympic gold medal in his hands.
That was what Park Jin-tae had realized.

But Park Jin-tae had to open his eyes wide at what he was seeing.

“This is why Park Jin-tae must be kept alive.”

Kale Heniatus smiled as he looked at Park Jin-tae.
Then he turned his back to Park Jin-tae and gazed toward the South Side.
Two monsters approaching. And five standing still, staring at the Shelter people.
Kale Heniatus quietly observed those seven creatures.
He took a step forward.
At his movement, Lee Jin-ju spoke urgently.

“Rok-soo! What are you trying to—”
“For me.”

Kale Heniatus’s mouth opened.

“It’s only half.”

In truth, I hadn’t quite reached half yet.
The corners of my mouth lifted.

“There is a power engraved upon my soul.”

Though no voice could be heard, from the moment I opened my eyes, I could sense the power that made me realize I had come to this place as Kale Heniatus.
I walked toward the rooftop railing.

“Let me fight first.”

In that moment, I could see someone walking beside me.
It was Choi Han.

“You must not cough up blood.”

I gazed quietly at Choi Han’s eyes as he looked at me, then nodded.

“…I’ll try.”

The moment Choi Han heard that answer, he stopped in his tracks.
But I did not stop.
I continued walking.

“Kim Rok-soo!”

Park Jin-tae and the Lee siblings rushed toward me in shock.

“Hey, you madman! Won’t you stop?”

In that instant, Park Jin-tae could see my feet stepping into empty air.

“Rok-soo!”

With Lee Jin-ju’s cry that was almost a scream, I vanished.
My body fell straight down past the rooftop railing.
Park Jin-tae and the Lee siblings rushed forward and grabbed the rooftop railing.

“Hey, you bastard—”
“Hyung!”

They lowered their gazes with urgent expressions.
That was when it happened.

Rustle.
Lee Jin-ju’s hair swayed in the wind.
Her mouth fell open naturally.

“…What?”

Wind surged upward from below.
Her hair fluttered in the breeze.

Park Jin-tae’s mouth opened as he gazed downward.

“…The wind—”

Wind wrapped around Kim Rok-soo’s body.
Park Jin-tae found himself uttering a single word without thinking.

“A… a multi-ability user?”

In that moment, he lifted his head and met the gaze of Kim Rok-soo looking down at him.
Kale Heniatus shook his head at Park Jin-tae.

‘No.’

I was not a multi-ability user right now.
Kim Rok-soo’s abilities had not yet awakened.

Whoooosh—
I closed my eyes, feeling the wind enveloping me.
I recalled what White Star had said long ago.

‘Right. Kale, you don’t even know how to properly use Ancient Powers.’

White Star had told me that I didn’t know how to properly use Ancient Powers.

Furthermore, I recalled a conversation I had with Mercenary King Bud while heading toward Wind Island.

‘…Kale. Why is the Ancient Power speaking?’
‘Aren’t the Ancient Power Owners supposed to communicate?’
‘What are you saying? I can hear the Ancient Power’s voice? That doesn’t make sense.’

Bud had said he couldn’t hear the Ancient Power’s voice.

Kale’s body, which had been plummeting rapidly downward, gradually slowed its descent toward the ground.

He recalled a conversation that had followed after that exchange with Bud.
Scary Rock had spoken then.

‘Ancient Power is a force engraved upon a single person’s body and soul.’

Because of this, Jjandol said that White Star had confined a powerful Ancient Power within his soul and carried it with him through each successive life.
Thanks to that, as time passed, the power grew stronger and more complete.

And then Jjandol had spoken.

‘Do you want to defeat White Star?’

Both then and now, Kale naturally wanted to win.

‘I’ll tell you the easiest way.’

Wind, Water, Fire, Earth, and Tree had all spoken simultaneously.

‘Destroy us.’

A power that dwells within a single person’s soul.
The Ancient Power had dwelled within Kim Rok-soo’s soul for over thirty-five years, and now it dwelled within Kim Rok-soo, who had suddenly opened his eyes in Kale Heniatus’s body.

And the Ancient Power only became truly complete when it belonged entirely to that soul.

But Kale had not achieved that.
He had not ‘completely’ absorbed the Ancient Power into his soul.
The wills of several Ancient Power Owners remained within him.

That was not ‘complete’ possession of the power.
He possessed only a ‘portion’ of it.

An unbreakable shield. The Glutton Goddess had spoken of it.

‘Devour us.’
‘Swallow our existence. With each of our voices disappearing one by one.’

Each time I erased the will of the former Ancient Power Owners and made their existence vanish.
Each time Cale’s Power, Jjandol, Meokbo, The Thief, and Sky-Devouring Water disappeared.

‘You will grow stronger.’

It meant my soul would completely possess the Ancient Powers.

“I finally understand the true meaning of those words now.”

Coming to this place, I grasped the exact meaning of those words.

The moment I opened my eyes here, I could not hear any of the Ancient Powers’ voices.
But I felt a portion of the power dwelling in Kim Rok-soo’s—my soul.

‘Not even half.’

I could only feel about half of the original Ancient Powers.

Of course, even that was a considerable burden on Kim Rok-soo’s fragile twenty-year-old body.
But it was precisely this power that made me resolve I could fight without fully awakening Kim Rok-soo’s abilities, that I could save everyone.

Just as the time I lived as Kim Rok-soo now gave me great strength.
The time I lived as Kale was the same.

‘And thanks to that, I can now make one assumption.’

Watching the power dwelling in this soul and Choi Han, I grew increasingly certain.
The uncertain parts began to reveal themselves bit by bit.

This place might not be merely a trial ground.

Could there be an illusion that transfers even one’s soul?
I could not yet arrive at a complete answer.
Because a significant problem still remained.

The problem is.

“Even with these powers, I cannot defeat an out-of-rank monster.”

But the situation had changed.
Drastically.

Choi Han had arrived, and with the thought that this world might not be an illusion, my resolve hardened.

“Hehehehe.”

I would cast away all burdens of the heart, all regrets.
I lifted my head.

I swept my gaze across the people watching me from the windows of the 2nd and 3rd floors of the building, then looked toward the rooftop.
I could see Park Jin-tae, Kim Min-ah, Lee Jin-ju, and others staring down at me from the railing.

Park Jin-tae felt his gaze meet mine—cold and unwavering.
That was the moment.

“Watch carefully.”

Choi Han spoke to those gathered at the rooftop railing.

“Observe and learn.”
“What do you—”

Park Jin-tae, about to respond to Choi Han’s words, suddenly felt his entire body bristle with goosebumps.
His gaze dropped downward.

There was no visible change.
Kim Rok-soo simply stood there.

Yet a profound transformation had come over Park Jin-tae.
But he was not the only one who felt it.

“…Insane. What is this?”

Kim Min-ah’s hand trembled as she gripped the rooftop railing.
Park Jin-tae’s mouth had gone completely dry.

‘I’ve never felt such overwhelming pressure from Kim Rok-soo before—’

An immense pressure radiated from Kim Rok-soo.
At that moment, Choi Han conveyed to those who couldn’t tear their eyes away from Kim Rok-soo the words that Kale Heniatus had asked him to speak.

“You will now witness the true potential you possess. Your futures. The genuine power within you.”

Kale Heniatus, wrapped in a dominating aura, moved forward with deliberate steps.

“Kiiiiiii—!”
“Grrrrr—Krrrr—”

The attention of the Grade 1 monsters converged upon Kale Heniatus.
Choi Han, witnessing this, continued with his final words.

“Humans grow. Grow by witnessing.”

The moment those words reached their ears.
Kale Heniatus spread both arms wide as he faced the two monsters displaying hostility toward him.

Crackle, snap.
Golden flames and electrical current bloomed around his body.
Simultaneously, a small whirlwind swirled at his feet.

“Shall we begin.”

His body surged rapidly toward the monsters.
Yet Kale Heniatus’s expression remained composed.

The monsters’ patterns, attributes, weaknesses.
Added to Kim Rok-soo’s records, the power I had gained as Kale Heniatus.

“It’s been a while since I’ve warmed up properly.”

Recalling his time as Team Leader Kim Rok-soo, Kale Heniatus smiled.

“Kiiiiiii-!”

Kale Heniatus advanced toward the skeletal monster charging at him.
In both his hands, a crimson light coalesced like pistols gripped tightly.

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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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