Reflexively, I raised both arms to block it, and she smiled brightly.
“Take this!”
The kick, clearly aimed at my face, struck me in the stomach.
Like a snake squirming, her leg changed trajectory and struck below my guard.
My body was forced up, making it look like I stood up.
Then she punched my crossed arms.
I felt my arm being crushed.
I try to steady myself to fight back, but she disrupts me with sneaky footwork.
I dropped them reflexively, and she landed an uppercut. I was thrown into the air, but she grabbed my foot and forced me into the ground.
The next moment, she pinned my two wrists above my head.
“What are you doing?”
[Ugh…!]
With her foot pressed against the center of my chest, she stared at me incomprehensibly.
This allowed me to take a good look at her.
Her hair was jet-black.
Her skin was white and smooth, and I had no idea what her skincare was, but one thing was for sure: she was one of the most beautiful people I’d ever seen.
She wore a black, gothic dress.
Her shoulders were bare, and from the knees down, her dress looked like it had been torn off on purpose. She wore nothing on her feet.
And, of course, her huge, imposing horns. (TN: She had two horns apparently.)
Beneath them crimson-colored eyes with vertically slit pupils that could not possibly be human.
Those eyes held a gleam of genuine bewilderment.
“What is it, what happened… Why are you so weak, my dear? Could the three hundred years have caused you to decline so much…?”
She muttered that as if she didn’t really understand.
Then she looked at me with a puzzled expression.
“Huh? This mana can’t be….”
While she was momentarily distracted, I took a gamble.
I carefully opened the status window and used the power enhancement.
The target was, of course, the King of Thorns.
[Enhance the power ‘King of Thorns’]?
The following changes will occur.
– The King of Thorns’ duration will increase.
– Increases the buff amount for stats.
– Status will be buffed more.
– Thorn Spear, Thorn Bird, and Thorn Crown will be more powerful.
– Reduces the penalty from King of Thorns.
I immediately pressed the window to enhance, but all that followed was an unexpected notification.
[Your attempt to strengthen is returned as invalid.]
[Your inner voice interrupts you.]
[Warning!]
[Another voice you thought had been silenced unleashes its presence on you!]
Your inner voice.
The one Svangali warned me about.
A being that could blend in with me yet wield the power to nibble away at me.
As if intercepting my thoughts, Minerva muttered.
“Margo….”
She stomped her foot on my chest.
At the same time, I tried to use Henir’s Shadow to escape from the spot, but I could not do so due to the strong hand that grabbed me by the throat.
(Urghhh!)
“Where are you going to run? Have you forgotten how much trouble you got me into with that trick?”
She shook her head and lifted me by the scruff of my neck as if she were plucking a radish.
Henir’s Shadow and the branch of the World Tree attacked her, but she made all resistance futile with a few slaps of her hand as if they were merely a nuisance.
The time I had for King of Thorns was running out.
But she didn’t want to wait, so she grabbed the thorns wrapped around my chest and ripped them off.
Soon, I could vividly feel her cold palm touching the area where my heart was.
“…Even under these circumstances.”
Minerva murmured quietly.
“Your heart doesn’t beat much. Do you have any faith in it?”
(…….)
“You don’t even answer me now, or perhaps you don’t have the strength.”
Minerva laughed, a wistful laugh.
Then she glanced at me and spoke cautiously.
“Then… answer me one question, just one question, really.”
Her palm moved against my chest.
It was as if she was trying to better feel my heartbeat.
“Does…does it really….”
She pursed her lips a few times, chewing, then snorted.
“Does our promise really mean nothing to you?”
I responded to her question with blood sputtering out my mouth.
She held me tightly, not caring that my blood stained her hands.
(…I don’t know what to tell you.)
I began to move my stiffened tongue and mouth to answer her somehow.
(I’ve…really…never seen you before today…You, really…really misunderstood.)
“…….”
(In the first place, how can a human live for over three hundred years…)
At that, Minerva stiffened and shut up.
After a moment, she muttered in a trembling voice.
“…Why?”
(…….)
“It’s true, it’s true, you don’t remember me…Your heart, your temperature, your breathing, everything says so…”
We sat in silence for a moment.
“You really didn’t know who I was…Since you’ve never seen me, it’s no wonder you don’t remember our promise…”
She swallowed hard and sniffled once more.
“Why….”
She huffed.
“…Why don’t you remember?”
She jerked her and looked at me.
Her crimson eyes seemed to moisten with emotion.
“Why, why can’t you remember? Why? How could you forget all that? I-I’ve endured all this time, from when I was sealed until today, thinking only of that promise….”
Her hands began to tremble slightly.
After a moment, her hand slipped away from my chest with a loud thud.
“How many things have you taught me…Have you forgotten them all? Didn’t you teach me the nursery rhymes, too? It’s not just the nursery rhymes; you taught me many other things, too… addition, subtraction, multiplication, division…and nursery rhymes, too, and… and….”
After rambling, she cleared her throat and snorted once more.
“I-I’m good at multiplication now….”
She gulped.
“You always made fun of me for being good at everything but math…I was really like a child…So, I’ve been practicing really hard so that I can surprise you when we meet again… And….”
“I practiced really hard….”
She mumbled, sobbing.
Looking at me, her head gradually turned downward.
“Why… why can’t you remember….”
And then it happened.
The light from Aegis flashing in the corner of my vision had gradually faded.
I forced myself to look in that direction and soon saw a sight I couldn’t comprehend.
Minerva was there.
Not in human form, but as a dragon.
Burned and scarred but otherwise whole, it let out a roar of rage into the air.
(How the hell did….)
Is she, the woman before me, not the original Minerva?
As far as I knew, Minerva never had any of these abilities.
Then, she seemed to notice where my gaze had wandered.
“You don’t even remember this? Because of you, I….”
At that point, she shook her head in disbelief.
“No, that’s enough. It doesn’t matter anymore….”
Then Minerva, in her dragon form, unleashed another bolt of mana, followed by a massive explosion in the air.
A pure white obelisk crashed down along with the island in the sky.
She had smashed one of the Aegis.
(Ugh….)
I tried to move her trembling hands to free my wrists but was helpless.
With a mixture of emotions, Minerva quietly closed her eyes.
“Don’t worry, my dear. I’m a woman of my word, no matter what.”
Minerva muttered.
“None of them are dead yet. The man who was just kicked and sent flying by me and the girl who was overcome by my poison are still alive. I will retreat after killing only half… yes, five, to be exact, of those who stood in my way, as I promised at the beginning.”
With that, she slowly raised her hand, trembling weakly.
She placed it gently above my heart.
“And you will be the first, my dear.”
(….)
“Now is the time for the 300-year promise… No.”
She gave a small shake of her head.
“One hundred and eighty thousand, three hundred and twenty-seven days… the time has come to fulfill that promise.”
I can think of only one way out.
It’s a way I’d rather not show right now.
But I’m not in a position to hide it now.
As I slowly made my preparations, Minerva continued quietly.
“Since you don’t remember your promise, let me repeat it…I don’t know if it will make any sense to you…”
After muttering that, she took a few breaths and looked straight at me.
Her crimson eyes flickered for a moment, turning amber.
“Yoo Ji-Hyuk and I, Minerva. We fulfill the oaths and promises we have made in blood and name here and now.”
There was emptiness in her eyes but no wavering.
“The promise was… that if I, Minerva, remained sealed for a hundred thousand nights, you and I would once again fight for everything we had, and you were willing to accept it. And now, right here, the winner is decided.”
Her crimson eyes fluttered open.
A small, bloodshot tear slid from the corner of one eye.
“I have won, and as promised, I will take everything you have, and the first thing I will take will be your heart…….”
She paused, barely able to continue.
Her voice was so mournful that I stopped what I was doing and stared.
“I will chew on your heart for the rest of my life and remember you. I promise I will remember you.”
“You who don’t remember me, but I remember you.”
“Farewell, the only human I’ve ever loved.”
With those words, she reached out, aiming for my heart.
I focused on the timing.
I had only one chance after all.
“What!”
Something flew by and hit her in the head.
She flinched momentarily, and I used all my strength to kick myself away.
Hitting the ground, I managed to steady myself and look toward Minerva.
Overhead, I could hear the loud flapping of wings.
“Well, you’re still alive and unharmed, thank goodness.”
It was none other than Svengali.
He chirped and laughed like he was genuinely relieved.
“Svengali!!!”
Minerva clutched her bleeding wrist and glared at him through clenched teeth.
Svengali eyed her carefully and muttered.
“As I suspected, this is possible.”
As soon as he said that, an odd collection of thorns sprouted from her scarred wrists and shoulders.
They proliferated and wrapped around her body, sealing her movements.
“You, you stupid thing…!”
Minerva was a far cry from the woman she’d been just moments ago.
It made me cringe and tremble momentarily, but Svengali could only chuckle.
“This body is stronger and better than my original one, and there’s…hmmmm. I almost want it.”
As he muttered that, he began to fly toward my back.
Minerva tried to move, but the thorns were tenacious, growing faster than she could pluck them.
“You’ve weakened quite a bit.”
(…Thank you for the observation.)
“You’re welcome.”
He smirked.
(By the way, where the hell have you been all this time–)
“I should thank you since you have enabled me to execute my plan successfully.”
Cutting me off, Svengali muttered, his voice full of laughter as always.
With those words, the thorns that emanated from Svengali’s body dug roughly into my back.
A roar that sounded like someone’s scream rang out simultaneously.
