Chapter 23

[Are you kidding me? You can’t even do this? Are you planning to live as a disgrace to the family?!]

The boy’s mistake was…

He had no interest in swords.

[Why are you so weak-willed? Are you planning to tarnish the family name? How on earth do you expect to welcome them like this—!]

Another mistake of the boy was…

He couldn’t muster courage in the face of threats.

[You, cooking? Praise? Have you ever seen such a lunatic? Bring the cane right now!]

Loving cooking and wanting to show it off…

This, too, was the boy’s mistake.

[Why did a child like you… Sigh, you should’ve been born in the slums, not from my womb—.]

Perhaps the boy’s biggest mistake was…

Being born in Blackthorn without knowing his place.

* * *

“Kuhahahahahahaha!”

A roar-like laughter burst out as Pollu thrashed around like a madman.

The black liquid that had gushed from his body had already returned through every orifice.

He walked through the snowy field.

Beside him, a yeti, also corrupted by the black liquid, followed Pollu.

“Siiik, siiik.”

Though it spoke with a slurred, almost brain-damaged pronunciation, the yeti was clearly walking toward its target.

Before long…

Arriving at the frozen stream, the scouting team’s comrades came into view.

“Pollu…”

“It really is you.”

At Isaac and Meladik’s mutterings, Pollu grinned, lifting the corner of his mouth.

“I’ve returned, everyone.”

A completely different appearance from his timid self.

His once pale skin now bulged with bumps, and his complexion was turning black.

If not for the ‘bone’ still piercing his heart, no one would have recognized him as Pollu.

“I’m here! I even tamed a yeti! Kuhahahaha! Do you see? I’ve been useful to you all, right? Right? Huh? Right?”

The scouting team couldn’t answer Pollu’s obsessive questioning.

Amidst the confusion, only Isaac slowly stepped forward.

“Pollu, listen calmly.”

“Huh? Isaac? Who do you think you are? You abandoned me! Let Silbern tell you!”

Frowning, Silbern approached. Pollu then opened his mouth wide. The drool dripping down reminded one of a monster’s maw.

“Abandoned me? Silbern? Huh? Abandoned me? It’s fine. You’re pretty, Silbern. So it’s fine. But you abandoned me? Was I that useless? Did I mess up that badly?”

“…Pollu?”

“No, no. Don’t be scared. I won’t kill you. But I might. Actually, I don’t know. But Silbern, you’re really pretty. I thought that from the first time I saw you. You’re good with a spear, so different from me.”

Pollu rambled on unnaturally.

It seemed the filter in his cognition and thoughts had disappeared.

As he poured out words driven by instinct, the light in Pollu’s eyes faded, and he nodded.

“I should kill you.”

Whoosh!

The yeti’s fist swung down. Silbern, already anticipating it, leaped back to dodge.

“I’ll handle the yeti! The rest of you, subdue Pollu!”

The first to respond to her command, ironically, was Pollu himself.

“Subdue? Subdue?! Subdue Pollu! Yes! Kill him! Kill that trash! The gray of Blackthorn! The darkest star among stars! Execute the family’s sinner!”

“Why is he like that?”

At Anna’s bewildered question, Isaac bit his lip.

Leaving Silbern to deal with the yeti, everyone charged at Pollu.

The first strike came from Sharen Helmunth.

Whoosh!

To end it quickly, she unleashed ‘Crimson Descent’ from her entire body and lunged at Pollu.

Clang!

“……!”

Sharen’s red eyes trembled.

She stared in shock at Pollu, who had effortlessly blocked her strike with a thin sword.

There wasn’t even a tremor.

It was as light as catching snowflakes falling from the sky.

“Huh?”

Even Pollu seemed surprised by it.

He stared at his sword with wide eyes. As he began to push Sharen back with force, the corners of his mouth stretched into a grin.

“Kuh, huhu! Hahahahaha! Father! Do you see this? Are you watching meeee! I’m pushing back Helmunth!”

As Pollu burst into maniacal laughter, a spear pierced his side this time.

“Huh?”

Hidden behind Helmunth’s Crimson Descent, Anna had thrust her spear, but…

The blade bounced off as if striking steel, and Pollu lightly swung his arm to knock her spear away.

Meladik, who had rushed in late to throw a punch instead of using his sword, also stopped in his tracks.

Everyone realized that no attack would work on Pollu now.

“He suddenly became a monster.”

“My spear’s been getting blocked a lot lately.”

Sharen and Anna stepped back.

Though they had surrounded Pollu, he paid no mind, simply reveling in his joy.

“Hahahaha! So this is it! Father! Mother! This is why you told me to grow stronger! To wield a sword!”

“Go! Train! I told you every day!”

“……”

“Ah, seriously! I really didn’t want to swing a sword or anything like that! But now that I know, I understand what it means!”

Polu, slumped over, dropped his head and sniffled.

“Still, I don’t want to do it.”

The scouting team members, seeing Polu’s chaotic emotions and state, also felt confused.

“He’s like a lunatic.”

“What on earth happened?”

Sharen and Meladik muttered in bewilderment.

On the other hand, Anna unconsciously glanced at Silbern, who was facing the Snowman.

It seemed like they couldn’t handle it themselves.

“Silbern can’t do it.”

Isaac, seeing her gaze, calmly judged and replied.

“Huh?”

“The Snowman isn’t in a normal state right now. It might not be as extreme as Polu, but it’s definitely being controlled by the black liquid.”

It was clear as the Snowman’s body began to take on a murky glow.

Especially since its strength and speed were incomparable to before.

Originally, it would have been a situation where they should have gone to help Silbern.

“Right now, while Silbern is holding off the Snowman, it’s our biggest opportunity.”

If Silbern loses to the Snowman, it’s over.

None of them here had the ability to withstand the combined attack of the two.

“Do you have a plan, Isaac?”

At Anna’s question, Isaac once again focused on Polu. The black liquid seemed to oxidize, emitting a black aura like smoke around him.

To Isaac, it looked like a roaring bonfire, burning fiercely.

“If we drag it out, we can win. That state can’t last long.”

“……”

“But we can’t afford to drag it out. So, our target is there.”

Isaac’s finger pointed to the ‘bone’ embedded in Polu’s chest.

The Snowman’s first ambush, which had taken Polu, was essentially the starting point of the current situation.

“We’ll use that to kill Polu.”

At those words, Meladik and Sharen looked at Isaac with shocked expressions.

Even though he was a comrade, did they really have to kill him?

“We have to kill him.”

There’s no hope left.

Isaac knew that state.

He had never seen anything like the black liquid before, but he had seen people transformed like that in his past life.

“Once they reach that state, they’re no longer human.”

Isaac’s voice was heavy.

“If you can’t do it, I will.”

There was no tremor in his hand as he gripped the sword.

Watching Isaac step forward, Anna cautiously asked.

“What exactly do you know? Please, tell us.”

“……Familiarization.”

“Familiarization?”

“It’s a spell the Transcendental Tribe uses to turn humans into their possessions.”

It rapidly enhances the body but causes a very bizarre mental distortion.

They act purely on instinct.

They blurt out whatever comes to mind.

They forcibly pour out their true feelings.

“I’m sorryyyyy! Father! Mother! I’m so sorryyyyy! I’m sorry for being a worthless brat!”

“What are you saying-.”

“Ughhhh! I shouldn’t have been bornnnn! Even though I have this power, I don’t want to swing a sword! Someone like meee!”

Anna’s gaze, filled with fear, turned toward Polu.

“Kill meeeee! I shouldn’t have been born, this disgraceeee! The unfilial child who made my mother cry! The sinner of the Black Hand!”

Every word he was pouring out now was his true feelings, without a hint of falsehood.

“I’m a sinner! A sinner! Ahhh! Ughhhh! Kill meeee! That way, Father won’t be disappointed anymore! That way, Mother won’t cry anymore! I, I must atone for my sins!”

The sinner of the Black Hand confessed his true feelings while pounding his chest.

His life, marked by tears and regret, seemed to have already forgotten even the name Polu.

Perhaps that’s why.

“Polu! Snap out of it, you idiot! You can’t lose to that!”

Meladik, feeling something overwhelming in his chest, shouted in agony.

Feeling rushed by Isaac’s words that they had to kill him, Meladik struggled to find another way.

“Ughhhh!”

The sinner of the Black Hand turned his head sharply.

He looked at Meladik, nodded, and drooled.

“Right, right, right.”

And then.

“I want to live.”

He immediately charged at Meladik, swinging his sword.