Chapter 4 - Everything Within Me (4)
"Somebody, get up!"
Then, someone shouted.
"Aargh! Are these guys really all dead? That would be a problem... No, wait a minute... You there! The one twitching! You're alive!"
A face clumsily covered by a mask, a large, shabby, ragged outfit.
It was a minion of the Poison King family.
He prodded me with his foot, shouting continuously.
"Get up! Get up now! I don't need a live one who can't move! If you don't get up, I'll kick you to death! Get up now!"
But there was no way my body would move just because of that.
I was just half a corpse, paralyzed and suffering from hallucinations.
Suddenly, new hallucinations began to appear before my eyes.
Me.
It was me.
The me in the hallucination lay on the floor, identical to reality.
The minion, who had been shouting and flailing, at some point couldn't control his anger and began kicking me.
Continuously, like a madman.
Kicked repeatedly, I eventually coughed up blood and went limp.
Was this a hallucination?
Or a predetermined future?
If so, did I just see the future?
The future where I'm kicked to death by that minion?
"Get up, you frog bastard! If you don't want to be kicked to death, get up now! Argh, damn it, I'm getting angry! This bastard, I'll just..."
But I couldn't die like this.
I had kept wishing for death.
But now, I couldn't.
I couldn't just die.
I had to do something.
To live.
Everyone died protecting me.
Tiber, my brother, my sister too.
It was a meaningless sacrifice.
But it didn't matter.
Everyone's hearts had entered me.
Perhaps it was more than just their hearts.
Everyone was within me.
So I couldn't die.
Even if I were to die, I had to struggle.
If I died, everyone would vanish with me.
I couldn't forgive that.
I couldn't forgive myself.
Of course, I didn't know what meaning this would have, but...
"This bastard? Not getting up? This one needs a beating to come to its senses... Huh?"
Then my body moved.
It was still stiff and heavy, as if paralyzed.
But I could barely move.
"Ugh..."
Why was I moving?
I don't know.
Something had changed, but I couldn't quite grasp it.
Now, sensation was gone, so I couldn't even feel pain.
Did my body just react to the thought of needing to move?
Like a puppet, was I controlling myself?
Then the hallucination that had overlapped before my eyes disappeared.
The other me, dead from the minion's kicks.
That future where I died had just vanished.
I had just changed the future.
It was a future that shouldn't have changed.
But a body that shouldn't have moved, moved.
"The bastard finally decided to get up... Anyway, follow me. At least we salvaged one. Won't be blamed later."
"Ugh..."
But still, words wouldn't come out.
There was nothing I particularly wanted to say either.
Only an intense desire to beat that minion in front of me to death.
"Ha, look at this one's eyes?"
"..."
"Don't even think about it. It's useless to try anything with that corpse-like body."
"..."
"Don't let my appearance fool you, I'm a veteran among the toxic soldiers, if you know what I mean. I can take you down with just one finger."
It was probably true.
It didn't matter if the opponent was a veteran or a toxic soldier.
In my current state, even a casual bump from an ordinary person walking down the street would send me toppling over.
Just moving my body was an immense struggle.
Even just walking required my entire concentration to be focused.
If I lost focus, I'd collapse instantly.
For now, I just kept moving.
One step at a time.
That's how I reached the entrance where the caves converged.
An empty clearing.
A faint light was visible outside the cave.
If I passed through that path, I could go outside.
Then someone entered.
"It's about time to start."
It was a minion who seemed to be of a higher rank.
Was he the manager of this cave?
"Is the check complete? How many are left?"
"Three."
"No, one just died. Two left."
"Only two left in total? We dragged over 300 frogs here?"
Crack!
The manager snapped a twig on the ground with his foot.
Then one of the minions scoffed.
"Ha! Frogs are frogs, right? They're weaklings who just sucked honey in the south. How could these guys endure this potent stuff?"
"Still, it's disappointing. The Vice-Cult Leader said children under 18 had a chance of enduring it, but..."
"Anyway, isn't it good that only two are left? Only one has to remain in the end anyway, right? And it doesn't necessarily have to emerge from this poison leyline."
"Hmm..."
The manager turned his head and looked outside the cave.
A minion spat on the ground, asking with a displeased tone.
"They say three poison leylines were used this time? Only one has to succeed, right?"
"...That's right. The Incarnation doesn't necessarily have to emerge from here. Anyway, I just hope it emerges from somewhere. The cult has staked its life on this great endeavor. It must succeed. We can't do this again. The Poison King Cult has poured out all the resources it prepared for over a hundred years."
What were these guys talking about?
What was the Poison King Cult?
Weren't the enemies the Poison King family?
"Alright, here's the last frog."
Just then, a new minion returned, dragging the last survivor.
It was a large child.
Not actually big in size, but more like swollen skin.
In any case, it seemed full of strength and agile in its movements.
At least, more so than me.
"Oh, this is already a masterpiece."
The manager exclaimed, looking at the swollen child.
"To think the mutation has already begun. Isn't this already at the level of a poison human?"
A poison human refers to a warrior of the Poison King family whose body has transformed into a monster after absorbing poison.
"Poison human, my foot. Do our Protectors look like a joke to you?"
"Still, this is a masterpiece. In a few days, even we won't be able to handle it. Compared to this one..."
The manager scoffed, looking at me.
"This one looks like it'd die if you just poke it. Hey, you skinny one. Can you hear me?"
I nodded.
I had a feeling what was about to happen.
"Your body doesn't move well, does it?"
I nodded again.
This wasn't good...
"As expected. This one failed to adapt. It's a miracle it survived this long. A tremendous amount of leyline poison must have accumulated in its body."
"What does it matter? Only one needs to remain in the end."
One of the minions shouted, as if annoyed.
"Hey! You two! One of you dies here!"
"..."
"..."
"Didn't you hear? Only one can survive! So, fight each other starting now! Only the one who wins the fight can live!"
Yes.
I knew it.
I thought so from the beginning.
We were the last two poisonous insects left in the jar.
Now the final battle begins.
This is the process where the victor devours the loser and gathers all the poison into one.
They were horrific bastards.
Why were they doing this?
If possible, I wanted to tear those bastards to pieces right now.
And escape this place with that poor child in front of me.
But it was impossible.
Even if the opponent was just a minion, he was a proper warrior of the Poison King family.
On the other hand, I was half a corpse barely able to move my body.
So, if I fought, I'd die.
But fighting the child in front of me would likely yield the same result.
They said I failed to adapt, after all.
"Grrr..."
The child facing me growled threateningly.
He snarled like a beast.
His eyes alone showed he wasn't normal.
Was I crazy?
I don't know.
But that child clearly seemed to have lost his mind.
"Grrr... You... I'll kill you..."
He even frothed at the mouth, trying to kill me.
Why me?
Since he's already mad, wouldn't it be better if he unleashed his anger on those minions instead of me?
They're the enemies, not me, aren't they?
Then a new illusion unfolded before my eyes.
A corpse was visible.
A horribly mutilated corpse.
The identity of the corpse was none other than me.
It was an illusion of death.
I would fight that child and lose my life miserably.
And in multiple ways.
Trying to twist my unresponsive body to throw a punch, I would instead be counterattacked and beaten to death.
Turning to run, I would be tackled from behind and crushed to death.
The moment I kicked the enemy's groin, both my shoulders would be seized and torn apart, ripping me to death.
Dying, and dying again.
Innumerable different illusions flashed before my eyes like landscapes.
The future was not one.
But even if the process was different, the result was always the same.
I die.
The opponent was a beast.
A human fighting a beast without preparation has no chance of winning.
So, I needed a tool.
A sword would be ideal, if possible.
Of course, in this situation, such a convenient tool wouldn't appear.
Then, what about a stick instead of a sword?
Is there a chance that an ordinary stick could be placed in my hand right now?
"Sti..."
I looked at the manager's feet.
A broken twig.
I had noticed it since I first arrived here.
It meant nothing then, but now it might.
"Sti, stick..."
I desperately forced my mouth open.
The manager showed interest in my words.
"A stick?"
Nod.
"Oh, you could talk?"
The manager picked up the twig that had fallen at his feet.
"You want this? You're planning to use it to fight?"
Nod.
"Ha! That's amusing. Fine. I'll give you this much."
"Wait, is that allowed?"
Then one of the minions interjected.
"Didn't you hear the cult's directive? We're not supposed to give them weapons when they fight, are we?"
"Does this look like a weapon to you?"
The manager spread his palm and measured the length of the stick.
"What are you going to do with this one-span twig? It would break if it just brushed against something. This isn't even a weapon."
"Then I'll ask you in reverse. What's the point of giving it to them?"
"How should I know? They asked for it, so I'm giving it. That corpse-like thing wants to try something, doesn't it?"
"Well, alright... Do as you please. It won't change anything, though."
The minion shrugged. The manager quickly approached and placed the twig in my hand.
"Here you go. Now do your best."
"Ugh..."
"Might as well make the fight entertaining, right? It's no fun if one side is too dominant. Alright, then..."
The manager, along with the minions, stepped back and shouted.
"Begin!"
Then the child facing me hunched its body.
"Grrr..."
It looked ready to charge and snap my neck at any moment.
To that child, I had become an entity that must be killed.
Was this also the effect of that red poison we had absorbed?
If a few more seconds passed like this, everything would be decided.
Death.
Or survival.
But those few seconds didn't pass easily.
As if time was slowing down...
At the same time, new illusions unfolded.
Endless, as if to fill my entire vision.
Did that mean my situation was that urgent?
In the illusions, I was still beaten to death by that child, or torn to pieces, or kicked to death, or trampled to death.
Even with the stick in my hand, nothing changed.
Even if I used the various swordsmanship techniques I had learned with the stick...
I still died.
Even if I was faithful to what I learned, I died.
Even if I used the "Strong Flow," a higher stage of swordsmanship, I died.
Even if I entrusted my body to the "Natural Flow," a stage higher than that, I died.
Ultimately, it wasn't my lack of learning or skill that caused my death.
My body was simply in the worst possible condition.
With such a body, I couldn't respond to the opponent's attacks.
And there was a bigger problem.
Every time I tried to do something, the stick wouldn't last even a moment before breaking.
This was a half-rotten twig.
It was so weak that it would crumble if squeezed too hard.
Therefore, killing a person with this was impossible to begin with.
It would break before that.
Nevertheless, I had to survive.
I had to kill that poor child somehow to save myself.
To do that, I couldn't let this rotten twig break.
But how?
No matter what method I used, the result wouldn't change.
Innumerable illusions of the future.
The world was now filled with illusions of the twig breaking.
Illusion, or future.
Is there really not a single one?
Does a future where I survive simply not exist?