Chapter 165: This Is Ridiculously Lucky
After placing the egg in the pouch, I immediately started looking for the group.
It wasn’t hard to find them. They were in the storage building at the back of the estate grounds, a place I had visited before. Everyone except Lucy and me was gathered there.
“Oh! Sir Yong!”
Seseona was the first to greet me.
I instinctively turned toward her and froze at the sight.
“… Seseona. What happened to you…?”
She was drenched in blood and covered in wounds. One of her arms had been cleanly severed. And the deep wounds and burns were unprecedented. Her maid uniform was soaked with blood.
Even her clothes were reduced to rags, leaving her barely clothed.
“Oh… This? It’s nothing! Don’t worry about it!”
Seseona laughed awkwardly and waved it off, trying to cover her injuries.
“It’s nothing?! Are you insane? You’re not going to die, are you?!”
“Nah, I’m not gonna die. You’re overreacting! The minor wounds will heal quickly. I’ve saved the arm, so I can just reattach it later!”
Seseona tried desperately to conceal her injuries.
But the extent of the wounds couldn’t be hidden. The cuts and burns stood out even more.
Those cuts, surrounded by burns… I recognized them, and my eyes widened.
“… Hey. Could this be because of me…?”
At that moment, a metallic click sounded and something cold touched my temple.
“Don’t move. Park Jeong-yong.”
It was Knightrea.
The pale-blond revolver was aimed directly at me, her icy gaze piercing through me.
“This is a revolver loaded with Ether Core rounds. Even just a self-defense weapon, but at this distance… it could easily shatter the brain of even a high-level hero.”
Click. She pulled the loading lever with her thumb. The chamber spun, and a bullet was loaded.
Sizzle. Sparks crackled over the surface of the revolver. Unconsciously, I swallowed hard.
“Why don’t you ask first? Are you in your right mind right now?”
Knightrea said coolly. I immediately nodded.
“Yes. I’m fine. Probably.”
“Do you remember what you did?”
“I don’t remember clearly… but I have a rough idea.”
“Hmm.”
Unconsciously, I addressed her formally.
Given the situation where my life was being threatened, and the overwhelming aura of an older sister radiating from her, I couldn’t help but do so reflexively.
Knightrea sneered slightly before continuing.
“Judging by your behavior, it’s not the same state as before when you weren’t even responsive to conversation. I heard that the white-haired demon managed to bring you back to your senses?”
“The white-haired demon…?”
I looked up sharply at Knightrea. She immediately clarified, raising her eyebrows.
“You and that white-haired woman. She locked us here and ordered us not to move. She said if we all died, you would lose control again.”
“Ah.”
“…Anyway, we can deal with why you traveled with a demon another time.”
It was undoubtedly Lucy.
She must’ve sealed me away using her demonic nature. Apparently, the others had discovered her transformed state as well.
Fortunately, Knightrea was young, so she likely hadn’t considered that this “white-haired demon” might be none other than the immortal Demon King herself.
“Sorry, sir. I tried my best to stop you but… it wasn’t enough. I…”
Seseona finally sighed and admitted the source of her injuries.
Watching her scratch her head, I let out a helpless smile.
“No. Thank you. If you hadn’t stopped me… I might have gone even crazier.”
“Thank you? No way! Even in an unusual state, sir had a strange charm! Your smiles were so genuine, you spread positive energy…”
Seseona’s forced complimenting. She was trying to spread positivity nonsense.
I shook my head dejectedly.
“… Stop it. You’re making me feel worse.”
“Aha! Yes, sorry…”
Seseona turned her head awkwardly, stopping her nonsensical speech.
Watching her pretend to be calm, I felt an increased heaviness in my heart and sighed.
“Anyway, Park Jeong-yong, I have a question for you.”
Knightrea finally lowered the gun from my head. With practiced ease, she returned her revolver to the holster at her thigh and pointed a finger somewhere.
As I turned my head to follow her direction, Knightrea asked abruptly.
“I heard from the maid over there that you have a potion with an incredible effect. Can it save him?”
I couldn’t help but widen my eyes.
Knightrea was pointing at Adrang who was suffering gruesomely near death.
“Guh… Huff… Khra…!”
One arm was gone, his stomach was punctured with a gaping hole.
Cold sweat poured from his body. Instead of blood, thick black smoke continued to seep from the injury.
His skin around the wound was scorched black, looking as if it would crumble if touched. He gasped for air intermittently.
He was in a state where dying immediately wouldn’t have been surprising.
“… It’s surprising how he’s still alive.”
A normal person would’ve been dead long ago.
He was defying the norm due to his status as a superhuman and thanks to his stamina nearly equivalent to a medium-sized grenade.
“… Except, it isn’t a blessing, is it.”
Living this painful life without dying — I understood all too well the torment of such a stubborn existence.
“No, father. Please… Please open your eyes… Don’t leave! Don’t leave me alone again… like mother… Please!”
Beside him, Carhalas, severely wounded but conscious, was openly sobbing.
She clung to her pale father’s hand, her face buried against it. Tears flowed endlessly like a flood, and her voice cracked.
It wasn’t a human’s wailing. It was more like an animal’s desperate cry.
“…”
Listening to Carhalas’ broken cries, I suddenly wondered:
Did I cry at my father’s funeral?
I vaguely remember looking at the portrait on the memorial stand and muttering:
“Father, it’s been a long time since I’ve seen you smile.”
I recall how my father and I struggled with debts, our relationships so battered, resulting in an embarrassingly quiet funeral. I remember the wallpaper patterns I traced with my eyes on the otherwise blank walls of the funeral hall.
But whether I cried or not during that time… I simply couldn’t remember.
“Answer me, Park Jeong-yong. Can you save him, or can’t you?”
Knightrea tapped her arm impatiently, prompting me.
Startled as if scorched, I quickly responded.
“That…”
He couldn’t be saved.
All Ether had been exhausted. We couldn’t even save Lucy. How could there be any left for Adrang?
I opened my mouth to explain that, before my voice faded away.
[Skill Success – Ether Collection (Passive)]
[A sufficient time has passed, and Wind Ether has been collected into the Ether Condensation Bottle.]
[Time remaining until the next Ether generation – 3 hours.]
It was precisely three hours since I drank the Ether from the bottle. Timing couldn’t possibly get worse.
And Wind Ether? What a comedy.
Fuck. Is this some kind of sadistic teasing? Who the hell are you mocking right now?
“Heh… hehe…”
I couldn’t help but let out a bitter laugh.
Knightrea, thinking “this guy is losing it again,” instinctively reached for her revolver. I quickly spoke up, trying to justify myself.
“… Hang on.”
Suddenly, a lightning bolt struck my thoughts.
“Random factor?”
That’s right. The generation of Ether is random.
An uncertain variable. An unfixed future.
It changes every time you reset, like the opponents in the preliminaries of the Divine Tournament.
“He isn’t fated to die. Hehehe.”
I muttered those words under my breath. Knightrea, naturally, voiced her confusion.
But I turned away from her gaze and started carefully observing the other injured individuals. Upon finding a way out, it’s only reasonable to act quickly.
“The rest of the wounded…”
Elfride was still visibly exhausted, gasping for breath. Carhalas was also injured heavily.
And Seseona, with smaller but significant burns and sword wounds, like Krainade.
“If anyone else has a fatal injury, we’re done for.”
Elfride looks fine, with no visible major external wounds, so she’s okay. Carhalas crying like that means she still has a fair bit of strength left, so it doesn’t seem like she’ll die anytime soon.
Thus, it came down to…
“Krainade. Can you make it?”
I slowly approached Krainade and asked.
Krainade had his eyes closed but opened them at the sound of movement. Our eyes met, and he gave his characteristic chuckle.
“Kelkel. Is that you?”
“Yes. I apologize for earlier. I caused some of those wounds.”
“Kelkel. Sure, you’re quite strong. Maybe they can call you Strong Silly from now on.”
“… Huh. Thanks for that.”
He still had enough strength to joke around, so it didn’t seem like wounds severe enough to send him to his death.
Once I confirmed this, I gave him a bitter smile and turned away. I returned to where Knightrea stood.
“… Water Ether. That’s all I need.”
With it, at least everyone here would survive.
It’s worth the investment.
CHAAANG! I forcefully drew my twin swords.
“Sir Jung?!”
Seseona, startled, abruptly sat up, her expressions filled with worries that I might’ve lost it again.
I quickly scribbled something down on a memo and placed it in the Box of the Dead before speaking to reassure Seseona.
“Don’t worry. I’m still sane.”
I quickly glanced at Seseona and Knightrea.
Both looked like they were experiencing cognitive dissonance due to my erratic actions.
“… Hmm.”
Perhaps, at the moment I started thinking this, I was already insane.
With a sly grin, I deployed the Seven Sword Spears in the air and simultaneously transformed my cloak into sharp thorns.
“Probability one in four. One life on the line!”
I cheerfully shouted, raising the twin swords I held and suspending them with the Dark Sword Art. Dozens of sharp-edged blades began floating around me, emitting faint lights.
As I inspected each blade, I subconsciously swallowed my dry throat.
And then, like casting a spell on myself, I screamed,
“Fuck this! This is ridiculously lucky!!!”
Damn it, who cares.
I clenched my fists tightly and activated all my skills at once. Though varied, the target of all these skills was the same.
My body.
“Gyaaaaaah! Sir Jung! Nooo!!”
With Seseona’s desperate scream, WHOOSH! SNIP! RIP! POOF! NAZARITE!
Powerful skills flew from every direction and tore through my body into shreds. Thanks to the overwhelming saturation, my consciousness faded almost instantly.
“SSR Ether, Gacha Show… let’s start…”
My life was abruptly ended again, with my sentence unfinished, by a final cut from Vestark slicing my neck cleanly off.
—
[A sufficient time has passed, and Earth Ether has been collected into the Ether Condensation Bottle.]
At that point, I still wasn’t aware.
[A sufficient time has passed, and Fire Ether has been collected into the Ether Condensation Bottle.]
“Whoa, this is a bit…!”
[A sufficient time has passed, and Fire Ether has been collected into the Ether Condensation Bottle.]
[A sufficient time has passed, and Earth Ether has been collected into the Ether Condensation Bottle.]
[A sufficient time has passed, and Wind Ether has been collected into the Ether Condensation Bottle.]
…
…
This lunatic Indian rain dance consumed way more than ten lives.
“Cut it out! Get lost, X-Baal!!”
To all those spinning the gacha wheel somewhere out there on this planet right now, don’t believe the system-stated probabilities. They’re all lies.
Remember the wise words of the sages. The probability of getting the item you want in a gacha is always 1 in 2.
You either get it.
Or you don’t.
And most of the time… you don’t.
