Becoming a Hunter in a Dark Fantasy - Chapter 95
Only Noblemtl
Episode 95: The Resurrection of a Lion (2)
‘Why am I here? Where am I?’
Zeraph Gnaud was currently in a strange space.
‘Is this the afterlife that the Gwangmyeong Church advocates? Hmm, I don’t believe in religion.’
His last memory was of the manticore’s gaping mouth, the abyss closing in.
Then, my whole body was chewed by sharp, saw-like teeth, and I felt terrible, excruciating pain─
‘… … I think it would be better to stop thinking about it.’
It was such a horrible feeling to look back on.
In any case, the human named Zerap Gnaud would have been torn to pieces and reduced to mere pieces of flesh.
Or else it would have entered that huge stomach, mixed with the sour gastric juices, and melted away without leaving a single bit of flesh behind.
But how is it that we exist so well in such a strange space?
‘No. Do I even ‘exist’?’
Although it was clear that he was dead, somehow Zerap was able to continue his thoughts and reasoning.
As if the consciousness had been severed from the body.
‘… … How much time has passed?’
It felt like a very long time had passed, but it also felt like a fleeting moment of time had passed forever.
This was a place where I didn’t have to think about anything, so I didn’t feel any pain.
But as time went on, one thing became clearer.
He said, ‘Zeraph Gnaud’ was a failure.
‘Hahaha! I never thought it would be used as a discard pile like this.’
Zerap smiled bitterly.
‘I guess I shouldn’t have believed it… … .’
Zerap Gnaud. He was the head of Deficio and the brother of the Old Man of the Mountain.
Two biological brothers, born from the same mother’s womb.
-Dear brother, trust me. After all, aren’t we blood brothers?
Zeraph closed his eyes. He didn’t know if he had a body or not, and he didn’t know if the eye organ had opened or closed its eyelids on its own…
His memories slowly began to drift back to the distant past.
It was several decades ago.
“Zeraph! Come quickly! Let’s go play at the river today!”
“Ah! Let’s go together, hyung!”
As children, the brothers were no different from most other brothers.
We would have fun hanging out together, then fight over something trivial, and then quickly make up as if we had never fought before.
“We, the Gnaud clan, can purify polluted nature and return it to its original state.”
These brothers were born with powerful magical powers and were treated most specially within their clan.
So much so that the elders of the clan and the highly capable knights personally guide and teach them.
“Everything in this world can be reduced to nature… … We, Gnaud, can be said to be the representative of nature.”
The teacher of their brothers, who had been given to them by the Gnaud clan, placed his tree roots in the polluted lakeside.
Paaaaah!
As the tree roots rustled and sucked up the poison mixed in the water, the lakeside became clear and purified as if it had never been dirty.
“Wow! The dirty lake turned clean in an instant… …! Awesome!”
“Master, that’s amazing! I want to try it too!”
“Hahaha! You two can do it in no time.”
Zerap loved his clan, his family, his brothers with all his heart.
‘I want to grow up to be a great person someday and contribute to my beloved clan together with my brother.’
That was Zerap’s dream and wish when he was young.
Then one day, Zerap meets someone who turns his smooth life upside down.
Like an inevitable coincidence, or a twist of fate.
“… … Sir, Sir Zerap. You must never enter that forest, nor come near it.”
He always emphasized the adults of the Gnaud clan, including the master, with a scary expression.
“That forest is cursed. Terrible monsters live there… …! It is dangerous for you two, young and weak. Make a pact with me.”
“Okay, I understand! I won’t go in. I promise.”
“… … .”
My brother immediately replied that he understood. But Zerap didn’t answer until the end.
He was curious.
“It looks like an ordinary forest to anyone… … Why are you telling me not to go in?”
Zerap, who was born with a strong curiosity, entered the ‘Cursed Forest’, which was taboo, without telling his brother and his clan.
Because secrets always have a hidden and strange power.
However, in the forest they arrived at, contrary to what the adults had said, there were no curses or monsters.
“Who are you?”
There was a person there. A girl with long, lime-colored hair.
Like the dew that falls at dawn, faintly transparent.
“I, I… … am called Free.”
The girl was trapped. In a small, one-room shrine that was as wide as her legs could stretch out.
Zerap had many conversations with Prie through the tightly packed iron bars.
“Who are you? Why are you here alone?”
“… … .”
“Would you help me get out? With magic.”
“… … .”
“Hey. Can’t you talk? No, you didn’t. You answered me the first time. This is too much. People keep talking to you, but you don’t even answer. If you keep doing that, even I would get hurt.”
“… … ! Are you, are you hurt? Because of me?”
At first, she didn’t want to give any answer, but when Zerap persistently approached her and spoke to her, she gave a cautious answer.
“What? After all, you can say it.”
She was of the same species as him.
“Are you a Gnaud clan member too? Just like me! Then come with me.”
“… … No, my lord. I cannot leave this temple. This is my fate… that I must endure.”
Free said with a faint smile.
“Go back. Your family will be looking for you. And don’t come to me again.”
“… … .”
“I’m so glad you came to see me. I really do.”
But Zerap had a frog-like temperament since he was young.
It wasn’t for nothing that he committed the madness of trying to free the ancient monster. The sprouts were yellow.
“I don’t like it. Why should I? I’ll keep coming back to you.”
Every day, he would sneak out of the house and go see Prie.
Free was always in an awkward position, but he didn’t seem to hate Zerap.
As time passed between the two of them, their feelings for each other gradually grew.
“… … I want to see you soon.”
Today, too, with the desire to hold her hand through the iron bars, Zerap left earlier than usual.
That was the beginning of the tragedy.
“What is that…?”
Soon, Zerap witnessed it.
The giant tree trunk surrounding the shrine where Prie is is taking ‘something’ from Prie’s body.
And in an instant, the sight of Freee drying up and turning into a tree… …!
“Free! Free-!”
“… … Master Zeraph? Why are you here?”
The one who stopped the running Zerap in shock was the teacher who was teaching his brothers.
“I clearly told you not to come. Why did you come, Master… .”
“More than that, why, why did Free become like that? Is that tree Free? Teacher, please tell me… … !”
There was no time to wonder at his deeply pitiful appearance. Zerap grabbed him desperately and asked.
“Do you really want to hear the truth? Once you know, you can never go back.”
But Zerap was young and brave. There was no hesitation in his voice as he answered.
“I want to know!”
He didn’t know.
“… … Is that true?”
Sometimes the truth is so cruel it’s ruthless.
The secret the clan kept so closely guarded had more weight to it than that.
“The history of our Gnaud clan is too long and ancient. It may even date back to before the gap in history.”
He said.
“We… … have always been the weak throughout our long history. We have always been ‘preyed upon’ by the strong, in every era.”
A unique trait of the Gnaud clan.
‘Sacrificial prey.’
It wasn’t a convenient ability to gain strength by preying on things offered as sacrifices.
‘Something eaten as a sacrifice.’
The sacrifice offered was the Gnaud clan. That was the essence of the Gnaud clan.
Those words that referred to them as agents of nature were purely their wish!
“There was only one time when we saw the light of day. It was when the Water King was in power. It was when the Water People had all humans under their feet.”
Suddenly, sparks flew in his eyes.
It gave a strange feeling, as if the already burned ashes were burning again.
“In order to avoid repeating the fate of being ‘eaten’ again, we must achieve the second coming of the King of Water.”
In other words, this meant that they were willingly sacrificing their own lives to revive King Suin.
“Wow, wow!”
It was disgusting… … !
The day that Zerap learned the truth about the Gnaud clan, his older brother also heard the truth.
“… … I see. I understand. It can’t be helped.”
And unlike his brother, who accepted the fate of his clan as his life’s mission, Zerap couldn’t bring himself to do so.
In the darkest night, Zerap stole Prieh, who had turned into a tree, and ran away.
And so… …the fate of the brothers was divided.
As the ‘Sacrificial Predation’ progresses, Zeraphu runs around in every possible way to revive Prieh, whose body is gradually withering away.
His older brother, who became the first leader of Deficio from a race other than the Assassin Clan or the Umbra Clan, and inherited the title of ‘Old Man of the Mountain’.
‘I went to see my brother as a last resort to turn back the completely tree-like Freee.’
When I earnestly asked and begged, my brother told me the method as if he had no other choice.
He said that he could save her if he brought her the Manticore, an ancient monster sealed in the underground labyrinth of Mediale.
‘But in the end… … .’
At this moment, Zerap couldn’t tell what he was feeling.
Is he angry and resentful for being betrayed by his brother, or is he sad and sorry for not being able to save the woman he loves?
‘I don’t know.’
In reality, everything seemed clear, but in this strange space, everything was unclear.
Just like his ideal, which was always within reach but never quite there.
─That was it!
“Jera… … .”
I heard a breathy voice, as if someone was whispering right next to my ear.
“… … Ph, g… … .”
I heard it again!
At first he thought it was an auditory hallucination, but his intuition as a wizard told him that it felt like someone was calling him.
So the question here is: Who is calling him?
A brother who took advantage of his younger sibling and then threw him away?
A lover who has already become a tree and is hidden in a secret place that no one knows about?
Unfortunately, Zerap didn’t have any proper relationships with anyone other than these two.
He was proud that he did not have a square personality, but his life up until now had been too tough to live a rounded life.
“Je… … Ph! Gna… … De!”
But the voice calling him grew louder and clearer.
“Zeraph Gnaud!”
For a moment the voice sounded as loud as thunder.
A brilliant light poured down.
Zerap closed his eyes reflexively at the sudden flash of light, and when he opened them, he saw… … .
“Welcome to the Rebirth! Is this your first resurrection?”
There was a boy with dazzling blond hair.
“……ah?”
Reborn? Resurrection? What?
Zerap was dumbfounded. He had no idea what was going on.
But without any consideration for him, the boy continued to make shocking statements.
“I know this is very embarrassing, but I have someone I want to introduce to you.”
He pointed to the gray-haired man who was standing next to him, looking extremely stupid and clueless, and shouted brightly.
“Now, let me introduce you. This man is the father of the newly born Mr. Zerap!”
“… … Huh? What is that… … !!”
“… … Me? Why? No, why-?!”
The two people’s astonished voices formed a duet and spread out beautifully far and wide.