[297] Ruler of Ceremony (1)
The carriage carrying Armin and his party ran to the gate.
The wagon wheels kicked up the knee-deep rainwater and spewed water out.
The wagon turned into a rough mountain road and bounced off the rocks. Amy and Reina gripped the handle tightly with both hands.
“Looks like it will arrive soon. I’m glad it’s not far.”
Amy poked her face out the window. From the other side of the sky covered with black dark clouds, I saw a huge pillar of light descending as if there was a hole in it.
As we entered, the sound of the rain disappeared and a meadow spread out in the warm sun.
After getting off the carriage, Armin and his party looked back on the way they had passed. Lightning like static electricity was occurring between the dark clouds and the horizon, which were almost touching.
Even where the sun was shining, the coachman’s face could not be identified. Even Sirone, Amy thought, was someone who didn’t have much of an impression.
Sirone was sitting in the meadow under the hill and looking at the flowers.
He was on his back, so he couldn’t look at his face, but the only person in Geumgangtae’s realm was Sirone.
As he turned his head to follow the fluttering butterflies, the side of his face was showing a beautiful smile.
Reina, who now understands the mental world, admired it.
Even in the terrible situation of reality, Sirone’s spirit did not waver in the slightest. I felt like I knew why he was able to make accurate judgments in numerous crises.
‘But… can I talk to you?’
Reina couldn’t come close.
Strictly speaking, it is not Sirone, but an incarnation of Sirone. Because intimate emotions are integrated, you could be hurt by an unexpected response.
“Let’s go. There is nowhere to back down anyway.”
Armin pushed Reina on the back and approached Sirone. Sensing the presence, Sirone turned her head.
Saliva trickled down Reina’s throat.
“uh? Mr. Armin? Reina’s sister too?”
Sirone greeted the two with a bright expression.
“long time no see. How have you been?”
Armin looked closely at Sirone.
‘It’s really amazing.’
Sirone’s incarnation was almost no different from her usual appearance.
Among the incarnations that Armin had met so far, there were also famous personalities in the world. However, even such people rarely reveal their disappointing nature at the stage of incarnation.
You can’t blame that person.
because it is human
But Sirone was different.
In an invisible place, everyone is bound to commit deviations, but Sirone’s heart had reached a pure state regardless of the gaze of others.
It was a form of incarnation that could not come out without refining and polishing the inside from childhood.
‘It wasn’t a vain rumor that he was the best prospect in Tormia.’
Even after they broke up a year ago, it was Armin who was constantly seeing Sirone’s achievements. This mental perfection was backed up by his unusually wide-ranging behavior that could not be explained by talent.
“But what are you doing?”
Hwashin knows that this is the spirit world. However, it could not be separated from the dimension of reality. It was as if in a dream he could not know that this was a dream.
Reina asked Armin.
“Does Sirone not know why we are here? You kept injecting keywords until now.”
“I can’t draw a clear line on how far I know. Incarnation dominates the whole, but strictly speaking it is not the whole.”
“It’s like some kind of core code.”
“That’s right. All of this is the work of the incarnation, but it does not contain the will of the incarnation.”
“Hey…”
came Amy’s voice.
When the two of them turned their heads, they saw Egoist, over 2 meters tall, holding Amy with four arms. The upper right arm had turned into a rope and was holding her neck.
‘There must be no projectiles?’
Rayna looked around and realized the coachman was gone.
But why did it manifest as an egoist? Wasn’t Sirone obviously friendly to them?
“Sirone, why is that?”
“It’s just… I’m annoyed to see Amy.”
Armin sighed.
What I feared happened.
Linking cause and effect is the realm of reason. Conversely, sensitivity is faithful to the emotion of the moment.
In reality, the two are strictly separated, but the problem was that incarnation, the mental body, couldn’t.
“Sirone, you have to restrain your emotions as much as possible right now. As you probably feel, Sirone-kun’s life is in danger. You must have our cooperation. Of course, Miss Amy’s cooperation.”
Armin’s persuasion didn’t make Sirone understand, but he had no choice but to follow because his life was at stake.
As I suppressed my emotions, Egoist faded and turned into black smoke.
Amy, who was coughing while stroking the nape of her neck, looked at Sirone with sad eyes. I was prepared, but when I was treated like this, I felt sad.
“What is the reason? Shouldn’t you tell me so I can fix it too?”
Even Sirone doesn’t know why. Memories related to Amy rise like a fountain, but Hwashin, who cannot arrange cause and effect in order, can only feel the emotions of the situation.
Sirone turned away from her and turned to Armin.
“What should I do now?”
“First, we will infiltrate the depths of Sirone-kun. There is no way to recover the situation unless we catch up with the intruder.”
“But I don’t know the way down.”
“No, I know. The reason Sirone-kun accepts the current situation without feeling uncomfortable is because he knows. It’s just that the logic system has collapsed and we can’t draw conclusions. Think you have to go down. And tell me the first place that comes to mind.”
Deep in thought, Sirone pointed to the western mountains.
“It’s not exact, but…”
“That’s enough. Now let’s go.”
Armin sat in the coachman’s seat instead of the coachman who had disappeared.
After driving for about an hour in the direction Sirone pointed, we arrived at a small village.
Heavy rain was pouring there too, but when Sirone entered, the weather cleared like a lie.
Sirone led the party to a shabby stable. I hugged a handful of soft straw on the floor and moved it to the side, and a door leading to the basement appeared.
“Oh, is there really a door?”
“Rather than that, it would be more accurate to say that it was specified. There is a door where you think Sirone-kun is. Remember how you feel now. At this speed, we should be able to catch up with Arius and Zeon.”
Upon hearing the names of the two, Sirone’s face contorted fiercely.
Armin looked around in amazement. It’s gone now, but for a moment I felt a life that was not real.
‘What was the situation just before?’
Armin realized the need to revise his thinking.
Sirone’s incarnation looks the same as usual, but maybe that’s not all.
* * *
Spirit of Sirone Level 8.
Arius penetrated the depths, collecting information on his own.
The place he is currently exploring was a landfill where it was difficult to even breathe due to the stench.
Ji-on covered her mouth with a handkerchief as the unpleasant smell blew in the wind.
‘What the hell does this smell like? It doesn’t even smell like a corpse.’
The fear Sirone felt was embodied in the smell. It was the smell of death that could not exist in reality.
Arius, who was already familiar with it, didn’t care about the stench and grabbed the man passing by and asked.
“Where is the library nearby?”
The man covering his nose only pointed in the direction and hurried on his way.
Arius headed to the place the man told him to. When I entered the library, the stench disappeared and I felt like I could breathe.
Ji-on shakes off his handkerchief and throws it on the ground as if he thought it couldn’t be revived. Then he looked around and said.
“Is this the library?”
Arius ignored Zeon’s words and focused on examining the book. The books were sorted by category, but the title on the cover was sluggish like an earthworm, so I couldn’t tell what kind of book it was.
But some of the books in the corner had clear titles.
These were books related to Sirone’s major, photonics.
Arius walked along the bookshelves, examining only the covers. Then, I took out a book called ‘God Particles’.
When I hit the wall with the book, a rectangular incontinence was drawn. The walls disappear as if they permeate the air, revealing a staircase leading down.
“I’ve been curious about this before, but how the hell do you find something like this?”
“It is to trace the flow that is connected to Sirone’s unconscious. Every object has its own meaning. This is an area that requires study. Would you say that an excellent understanding of psychoanalysis is required?”
“Right.”
By the time Arius explained halfway through, Zeon had already attracted attention.
As always, complicated tasks should be left to the experts. I just wanted to extract Ataraxia and get out of here as soon as possible.
When I opened the door on the 7th level, a plaza spread out. There was no heavy rain that seemed to submerge the world, no cold wave that seemed to break bones, and no stench that seemed to rot my nose.
Zeon rearmed his mind by adjusting Armand’s leather strap around his waist.
“It’s worth living here.”
As soon as Ji-on finished speaking, a man fell. The man fell face down and died with his brain draining.
I looked around and saw people going up on every roof.
Those who surrendered appeared one after another. A window of a building showed a woman hanging herself on a chair.
“What the hell is it?”
Arius, who was watching from behind Zeon, spoke.
“Stage 7 is the gateway just before entering the realm of REM. It is a strong layer. The projectiles that are about to die show symptoms of a nervous breakdown.”
“Kyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!”
Two sisters falling from the fourth floor let out a tear-jerking scream.
Zion frowned.
It doesn’t matter what the sister’s death is, and it doesn’t matter what the corpse looks like. Please don’t make noise when you die, I hope you die quietly.
“Let’s go quickly. This is an annoying floor.”
“no. I will stay for a while. If, by any chance, they encounter the incarnation of Sirone, it will be a headache. They will be able to reach the depths much faster than we can.”
“Hmm, then?”
Arius pointed to a castle beyond the city.
“Here you will meet the Master of Rituals. Sirone’s super ego. In diver terminology, it is called the antithesis.”
“Antithesis?”
“It is a ceremony to criticize Sirone. It is strong enough to be comparable to an Egoist, but it must be considerably weakened as it is currently facing death. That will buy you time.”
Arius turned to the north. Passers-by were sensitive enough to commit murder at the mere touch of their collar, so they had to be careful about their behavior.
The place they arrived at was a castle so small that it was nothing more than a miniature compared to reality. But there was a cute taste. Seven red spires stood over the wall, and guards guarded the entrance beyond a moat that was nothing short of a creek.
As we approached the arch, they crossed the window and blocked the entrance.
“Stop. Who are you?”
“I came to meet the ruler of this place.”
“Ignite is on sick leave. go back.”
Arius gave a meaningful smile.
As for the name of the ruler, it is common for the concept that has the strongest impression among the opposite sex to be adopted. And Ignite was the name of ignition magic.
“That’s why I came here. I have a medicine that can cure my illness.”
The guards were confused. After exchanging glances with each other, one guard entered the castle.
After a while he returned and granted Arius entry.
Once inside, it was far from glamorous. It was like seeing the barracks of a corps deployed on the front line.
Like the citizens, the soldiers were on high alert, but they were carrying out their duties without distraction thanks to Ignite’s control.
At the end of the festival, where the red carpet was covered, Ignite sat with her chin resting on her chin. It was a huge body of nearly 2 meters, and a handsome brown beard stood out.
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