◈ 266. [STAGE 10] Humans and Monsters
Leaving behind the captive Lunared, I headed towards Quilan and Kureha.
“Kuh… !”
I smiled bitterly at Kuylan, who blocked Kureha with my whole body as if to protect it.
“I know that wolf monster is Kureha.”
“… !”
“Don’t worry, get out of the way. Because I have a story to tell.”
Quylan staggered and stepped aside. I cautiously approached the fallen Kureha.
“majesty… .”
“Kureha.”
Looking down at the bloodied wolf monster, I nodded heavily.
“You did a great job. He did really well.”
“I just did what I had to do.”
He was dying.
There was a large crack on his chest, which had been disfigured. It was not difficult to guess that it was a wound from the Wolf King.
“… sorry.”
At my apology, Kureha let out a faint laugh.
“No, Your Highness. If Your Highness hadn’t handed over this operation… … I would have died in vain on the spot.》
“… .”
“Thanks to Your Highness, I was able to save my younger brother. Thank you.”
His grotesquely contorted fingers brushed across his chest.
“My human heart has already stopped. As a human being, I am already dead.” Even
in the form of a hideous monster, Kureha’s eyes were still kind. Those two eyes slowly looked up at the sky.
《The only thing left here is the wolf monster that is kept alive by the magic of the full moon.》
“… .”
“I finally… You die as a monster.》
“No.”
I said in a steady voice.
“You are a person.”
Kureha and Quylan, who was listening next to me, looked at me with surprised eyes. I nodded.
“I will not admit it. I, who is the principle, principle, standard, and law here, acknowledge it.”
《… .》
“You are more human than anyone else, Kureha.”
I turned my head away from the speechless Kureha and looked at Quylan next to me.
“Quylan. The rest of the night is short.”
The magic power provided by the moonlight of the full moon holds the wolf Kureha alive.
In other words, after the moon goes down. Kureha dies.
“Soon it will be dawn. Until then, spend time with your brother.”
“… .”
Quylan had a face that didn’t know what to do, but that was the brother’s business.
I hope you have a last without regrets.
***
Crossroads. in front of the southern wall.
Except for Lunared, all captured ‘werewolves’ are gathered here and imprisoned.
I hurried here to determine their disposition. and.
“Kurrrrr!”
… Found a blonde knight who looks more like a beast than wolf monsters.
“Lucas?”
Lucas, who was almost prostrate on the floor with his whole body chained, exhaled white breath from the corners of his mouth with his fangs exposed.
Two deep blue eyes shine like those of a beast. oh my god
“He’s been in this state since the battle ended… … How did you subdue it?”
Fox and Rabbit of the magic corps said hesitantly.
“Even we don’t know what to do… .”
“… .”
I ran my hand over my sore forehead. Looks like you’ve abused your beast shoes again.
“Hey Lucas. Can I find out?”
As I approached, I asked, and Lucas’ fierce face immediately softened.
Should I consider myself lucky that this fierce dog still recognizes me? … .
“Put this sword in your hand. Tie it up so you can’t let it go.”
Lucas, who became noticeably calmer when I was nearby, stayed still even as the other soldiers tied [Carmatizers] to his hands.
I thought about what to do after this, but the conclusion came quickly.
“Put yourself in jail. in the strongest place.”
I don’t know what to do in this state. It’s best to keep him locked up until he comes to his senses.
Lucas was quietly dragged into prison as a dog with a tail down.
“Eh… .”
Looking back, I let out a low sigh.
“Ooh us too!”
“Please put us in jail too!”
A shout came from behind.
“… .”
I slowly turned around.
The ‘things that used to be werewolves’ who were bound and knelt on their knees with animal hair remaining all over their bodies shouted desperately with their red eyes shining.
“okay! We are human!”
“You have the right to be judged by the law! Give me a trial!”
“Who is our monarch? Where is Lunared-sama?! By negotiating with him… … .”
“stop-!”
I cut off the words of those who were talking.
“I will tell you the rules of the monster front here.”
I growled as I approached them.
“People protect.”
one step.
“Monsters kill.”
two steps.
“And you guys are monsters.”
three steps.
Looking down right in front of the guys who were looking up at me with a terrified expression, I spat out unforgivingly.
“I, the rule setter here, made that decision. you are absolutely a monster So never kill.”
“Ooh, we are human! Look at our appearance! He has a heart that bleeds like any other human! A human like you!”
“It is not your birth or racial features that determine what you are.”
It doesn’t matter what kind of heart beats in your chest, whether you’ve been raised from hell under the lake, or whether you’re a normal human, mixed with wolf blood.
“You decide what… It is what you think and what you do.”
They invaded my city.
No noble cause, no urgency for survival, just for slaughter.
I tried to destroy my city and then to destroy the royal family.
Killed my soldiers, killed my citizens, killed my heroes.
“Don’t pretend to be human just because you wear human skin. You are monsters.”
I spoke mercilessly to those who were once human.
“You have no right to die as a human being. There is no right to trial.”
death.
“You are like monsters. They die like worms.”
death.
“Immediately, right here!”
death for death!
Stepping away from them, I raised my hand and shouted.
“Aim shooter!”
The archers brought along lifted their own aimed crossbows.
However, despite my order, some archers couldn’t bear to take a firing stance.
The people in front of me were not monsters, at least outwardly, but perfect humans. Yes, it may be hesitating.
slap!
So I took the crossbow away from the archer. And I aimed at the ‘things that were werewolves’ instead.
“Those in front of me are monsters. I, the commander here, made that decision. So all you have to do is follow my decision.”
“… !”
The archer, who had been deprived of his crossbow by me, gritted his teeth and took out a spare small bow, loaded it with an arrow, and aimed it forward.
I nodded and shouted.
“aiming-!”
chuck! chuck! chuck!
The archers no longer hesitated. Dozens of archers raised their crossbows in unison.
“launch!”
His finger cocked the crossbow’s trigger back
and push! Push!
Wedge-Ae-Ae-!
Dozens of arrows shot by the archers pierced the ‘werewolves’ as they were.
“Aaaagh!”
“Save me, save me!”
“You damn humans! I will curse you to the end… … !”
“Lunared! Make sure to do a great job… … .”
Arrows rained down on the bodies of the monsters who were shouting, screaming and cursing.
The exhausted monsters all collapsed and died.
I lowered the crossbow and returned it to the archer.
Fox and Rabbit, who had been watching this scene with dry saliva, asked me cautiously.
“The disposal of the corpse… What should I do?”
“Isn’t there a manual for disposing of monster corpses?”
I let out a dry breath and turned around.
“Gather what’s useful and burn the rest.”
“… Yes, Your Highness.”
I opened the system window and called up enemy information.
All werewolves have been wiped out. White, gray, and brown all have 0 remaining.
What’s left now.
“It’s only Lunared.”
I turned my gaze to the north.
I had no intention of killing Lunared with my own hands.
because… .
***
A night when the east dawns in the distance, but the moonlight still remains.
Kureha and Quylan talked a lot.
From the story of the past that Quylan can’t remember, to the story of the future to come.
Quylan heard all about the clan’s secrets and identities, including that he was the vessel of the curse, that his brother burned down the village to save him.
And
“After I die, your share of the curse will fall on you… .》
Quylan and the Punishment Unit.
The fact that the wolf’s curse returns to five people.
The monstrous Kureha’s pronunciation became more and more muffled and difficult to understand, but Quylan tried to listen carefully to everything.
“I’m sorry, I tried to hold you until the end… .》
“Do you have anything to be sorry about, hyung?”
Quylan placed a hand on his brother’s twisted knuckles and smiled softly.
“It just goes back to the way we were born.”
《… .]
Kureha’s eyes, looking up at the sky with a disfigured face, turned to the northern forest.
“The leaves are turning… .》
Kuilando looked at the forest in the north with his older brother. I saw the autumn forest dyed with colors.
It was on the night of the full moon in autumn that the two brothers reunited.
《… I always felt sorry for you.”
The wolf’s curse slowly began to escape from Kureha’s body.
“I stole your luck. I live as a person instead of you. Because I locked you in that tree and raised you as a monster, ignorant and happy outside alone. I was always sorry.”
“… .”
《Will you forgive me, Kuylan… … ?”
“What nonsense are you talking about, hyung?”
Quylan burst out laughing.
“I have nothing to apologize for. Are we brothers?”
《… Thank you.”
Although he has grown big, he is still small in his older brother’s eyes and puts his younger brother in his sights for the last time.
Kureha’s eyes slowly closed.
《Thank you for being alive.》
A younger brother with whom skin and bones were small and young.
A cursed child who regrets being born and suffers from living.
Was this child really happy growing up with him?
I didn’t know.
《Every moment you grew up alive was a miracle to me.》
Kureha was happy while raising his younger brother.
Every moment of feeding, teaching, fighting, and sleeping was brilliant.
Although his body withered and hardened, he eventually became a monster.
There were no regrets.
“Because I can have a younger brother like you… I’m really lucky… … .]
Kureha’s breath stopped.
Is it an illusion? A faint smile lingered on the long mouth of the hideous wolf monster.
“… Meeting you was the miracle of my life.”
Slowly laying his brother’s body on the floor, Quylan smiled.
“I’m a really, really, really, really, really, really, really lucky kid.”
Quylan’s fists were clenched.
“Thank you bro.”
The curse is returned to the surviving clan.
Cuilan’s body was covered with red hair. He grew taller and more muscular, and his eyes shone like beasts.
But he did not lose his sanity. No, on the contrary, his consciousness sank more coldly than ever before.
Slowly rising, Quylan looked down at his fists and growled.
“okay… I guess I know now.”
A ferocious smile formed on Quylan’s lips as he turned around.
“The last fist my brother taught me. I think I know how to write.”
At the end of that line of sight was the bound Lunared.
Lunared’s curse was also being restored, but God Hand thoroughly tied him up with a silver chain, making his movement uncomfortable, and the speed at which the curse was restored was slow as the curse was strong.
Lunared, half transformed into a werewolf, shouted when he saw Quylan stride toward him.
“stop! stop! We are kin! Shouldn’t we join forces as one!”
“Don’t be silly, monster. I am human.”
“This profit! I am your ancestor! It’s like your father!”
“That’s good.”
Dumb, dumb.
Unclenching his fists and straightening his posture, Quylan snarled fiercely.
“I always wanted to give Dad a shot.”
Just like my brother taught me.
Stand firmly on the ground with both legs, lower your body as much as possible, put your left hand forward in a dangsu position, and your right hand clenched into a fist in front of your chest.
Stepping forward, vigorously stepping on the Jinkaku (震脚), then rushing straight ahead –
striking the opponent’s spiritual core.
Misconception.
Single-hearted storm.
It is a handed down ritual and an ultimate skill awakened by Quylan.
Facing the fist flying straight ahead, Lunared laughed at the absurdity.
It was because the secrets of the descendant he had looked down upon were impeccable.
Giving up on being servile in order to somehow survive and fight back, Lunared praised the achievements of the descendants.
“It’s wonderful, forty-four generations.”
Jjaeok-!
Quylan’s big fist dug into Lunared’s chest.
The spirit core of the nightmare corps commander was shattered.
