The World After the Bad Ending - Chapter 11



10 – Melting Steel, Blazing Determination

In front of the Empress of Steel.

I, who had shaken off fear, lifted my head.

While coming here, I hesitated several times, wondering if I should choose another way.

But now, I have resolved my will.

The Empress of Steel started running towards me.

She intended to take away even the warmth possessed by humans.

I opened the bag I was holding.

And took out a bottle.

The bottle contained a red liquid that was sloshing around.

A potion containing the miracle created by an alchemist.

The effect is partial immunity to flames.

I wish it were complete immunity.

Unfortunately, such a thing does not exist on the side of the flame butterfly.

‘Unless it’s the ultimate potion, the elixir.’

What doesn’t exist, doesn’t exist.

Without hesitation, I opened the potion bottle and swallowed it.

Then the thick and foul liquid inside passed down my throat.

Bitter.

But I forced myself to swallow it all.

Clang!

I threw the potion bottle to the ground and lifted the bag.

Inside the bag.

What filled it to the brim was a red crystal imbued with heat.

Whoosh!

The heat emanating from the crystal flowed out.

These crystals were all the essence of fire.

The corpses of the spirits began to burn their last embers.

“Damn it, please hold on. Me.”

I closed my eyes tightly.

As I recalled what was about to happen, cold sweat formed on my face.

But my body was already moving.

I pulled the heat-protective magic cloth that was wrapping the essence of fire with all my strength.

Sssssssssssssss!

At that moment, the essence of fire in the bag poured out such intense heat that it burned the bag.

The heat that had barely been suppressed by the magic cloth until now burst out.

“Ughhh!”

And it was I who had to endure that heat.

My skin and muscles couldn’t withstand the heat and melted away.

My eyes rolled back, and my breath was stifled.

Hot.

It was as hot as if my body was burning.

In fact, my body was burning.

This was a fortunate situation.

If I hadn’t taken the flame immunity potion, my skin and muscles would have burned, and my bones would have melted.

Thanks to the potion, it stopped at this level.

[!!!]

The Empress of Steel, with her eyes turned, rushed at me.

It was an intense heat I had never felt before.

It was natural for her to lose her mind, wanting the heat.

The Empress of Steel, who had rushed right in front of me, reached out her hand towards my body.

Seeing this, I desperately held onto my sanity.

Before the Empress of Steel could touch my body.

I threw myself forward towards her.

Whoosh!

With the scorching heat, my body collided with the Empress of Steel.

Eventually, the coldness that the Empress of Steel possessed enveloped my body.

Cold.

This side was truly cold to the bone.

But now, this coldness was so welcome.

Because the heat and coldness flowing from the essence of fire were canceling each other out.

I could breathe a little easier.

The heat-induced haze in my mind cleared.

Crack-

At that moment, the body of the Empress of Steel began to melt little by little.

She had never taken something like a flame immunity potion.

So she received the heat of the essence of fire with her whole body.

The heat of the essence of fire was intense enough to melt even a steel body.

But the Empress of Steel didn’t care at all and hugged me even tighter.

As if she had longed for this warmth so much.

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She cried out and hugged me fiercely.

She was definitely crying out.

But somehow, there was no sadness felt in it.

Rather, she was rejoicing in regaining the warmth.

Tears of steel flowed down her cheeks.

Seeing this, I steeled my resolve even more.

Yes, hug me.

Even if I have to melt the resentment I had to bear instead of Lucas, who couldn’t become a god.

You hug me like that.

From now on, it’s a battle of time and mental strength.

Whether my mental strength breaks down first.

Or whether the Empress of Steel melts away completely first.

It became a battle between the two.

Of course, even if my mental strength breaks down.

The Empress of Steel will not disappear, leaving me behind.

I will simply melt away, holding onto me until I meet eternal rest.

But that must not happen.

If it does, there would be no reason for doing this in the first place.

Crunch!

I clenched my teeth until they almost shattered.

The heat and cold pierced through my skin, causing pain.

I have never felt such pain in my entire life.

However, as long as the pain persisted, my mind remained clear.

I held tightly onto the thread of my waning mental strength, preventing it from snapping.

If I endure, and endure again.

Eventually, the end will come.

Waiting for that moment, I endure once more.

* * *

Time flowed endlessly.

I have no idea how much time has passed.

One thing is certain, even an eternity wouldn’t be longer than this.

My vision is blurry.

I can barely feel any strength in my body.

It was a miracle that I was still breathing.

The heat of the essence of fire that had enveloped me had now completely diminished, losing its light in the end.

My breathing is faint.

Sweat belatedly formed, one drop at a time, on the edge of my forehead.

My mouth was parched.

I slowly lifted my head.

With blurry eyes, I looked around.

The Empress of Steel was nowhere to be seen.

She, who wandered aimlessly in search of warmth until the end.

She, who became a mystery instead of a god, no longer remained in this world.

An inexplicable sorrow passed over me.

The burnt crystal fell from my bag and rolled on the floor.

Clang-

Then, the floor, which had turned into steel and collided with the crystal, began to crack.

The cracks soon spread throughout the entire forest.

Crash!

Finally, all the steel shattered, and the forest returned to its original form.

The shattered steel pieces floated up into the sky.

Carrying the wish of the Steel Empress, who wanted to become a god until the very end.

The steel disappeared into the sky.

Thud-

I fell to my knees.

I had no strength left to move.

The skin that had wrapped around the heat was now completely peeled off, leaving no form behind.

Instead, something else was filling the exposed skin.

Steel.

It was steel.

The remnants of the Steel Empress, who had melted, were clinging to my skin in a haphazard manner.

It looked as if it had been plated.

I had been waiting for this all along.

I forced myself to sit up straight.

I immediately began to melt the steel with the faint heat remaining in my body.

Then the steel started to melt evenly and seep into my skin.

This is not ordinary steel.

It is the mystery that made up the Steel Empress.

The protagonist, Lucas, after melting the Steel Empress,

gains a mystery as her steel melts into his body.

‘The Body of Steel.’

As the name suggests, it is a sturdy body like steel.

The Body of Steel synergizes with Lucas’s flame of determination, greatly enhancing his growth.

However, the situation between Lucas and me is fundamentally different.

Lucas can melt all the steel that has seeped into his body with the flame of determination.

But I can only use the residual heat from the essence of fire.

I cannot fully melt the steel.

‘So I.’

I do my best.

My skin began to be completely covered with the steel that had melted into it.

Even if I couldn’t have a body of steel like Lucas.

It was to possess something else.

‘From today, I have the skin of steel.’

I stubbornly covered my melted skin with steel.

Anyway, the pain had faded.

There was no hesitation now.

Steel continuously covered my skin.

The moment my body was completely dyed in the light of steel.

Clink-

All the residual heat in my body disappeared.

The heat was gone, and I could breathe.

I slowly raised my hand, regaining my senses.

Then I saw my hand covered in steel.

The hand moved without any problem.

Finally, I had obtained the skin of steel.

“Hoo, hoo.”

I repeatedly exhaled the breath I had been holding.

I looked down at my sagging body.

The special equipment, the shroud bandage, does not disappear with the essence of fire.

Just as the flame of will could not melt the shroud bandage.

I was still Hanon Aire.

There, the shroud bandage made one change.

The shroud bandage began to change the steel skin back to its original color.

At some point, I had completely returned to the appearance of Hanon.

Regardless of what was inside.

I was no different from Hanon on the surface.

“Heuu, heuu.”

My mind is almost at its limit.

No matter how much I covered it with steel, my body was still full of wounds.

Originally, the future Spirit Lord would come out, thank me, and heal my wounds.

There was nothing in front of me.

Where did they all go?

The spirits were nowhere to be seen.

“Heu, heuheu, yeah, I’m not Lucas, am I?”

A hollow laugh escaped my lips.

That was always Lucas’s fortune.

Someone like me, with no spirit sensitivity at all, wouldn’t matter.

It’s fine.

I never intended to become a Spirit Master anyway.

I crawled on the ground and picked up the bottle I had placed near the tree earlier.

It was a high healing potion I had prepared at great expense.

I poured the crimson potion into my mouth.

The potion that entered my stomach spread evenly throughout my body.

I lay down on the ground as if collapsing.

I could feel the sensation of my wounds healing.

I had also used a partial flame immunity potion. The Empress of Steel had partially offset the heat.

Thanks to that, only my skin and outer muscles were burned.

This much could be somehow recovered with a high potion.

However, mental strength was a different story.

No matter what, having gone through such an ordeal.

Due to mental exhaustion, I could no longer endure.

I had obtained an important card that would take responsibility for me in the future.

‘Now, what’s left.’

Is just to train for the mock battle.

Fortunately, training was a field I had some confidence in.

I went this far.

If I don’t win, all this effort will be in vain.

‘…I will definitely win the mock battle.’

With the last breath that escaped my lips, I slowly closed my eyes.

The wind blowing from the Great Forest of Spirits brushed past my face.

It feels like I can have a pleasant sleep.

I hope my efforts are not in vain.

I let go of my consciousness, holding onto that wish.