There Is No World For ■■-Chapter 172: For Whom Does the Bag Open? (3)

“Everyone, get down...!”

The moment Seti’s voice reached him, Yeomyeong immediately reacted. As he kicked off the ground, he unsheathed his sword.

Behind the flash of the blade, Yeomyeong’s time accelerated. Thoughts outpaced his senses, and he took in the incoming spears all at once.

There were five spears flying toward their group.

Of those, two were headed for the Saint.

Yeomyeong didn’t hesitate. Quickly thinking of the best route to block the spears, he extended his sword like lightning.

The sword, coated with sword energy, cleaved through the body of the foremost spear and moved forward.

Before the shattered spear fragments could even scatter, Yeomyeong wove another spell for the next spear.

Crack! The telekinetic force changed the second spear’s direction. In the next moment, Yeomyeong’s sword collided with the third spear’s tip.

The magic embedded in the spear collided with the sword energy, exploding outward, causing Yeomyeong’s sword to tremble. Instead of enduring the shock, Yeomyeong let go of the sword and twisted his body slightly.

Fortunately, the fourth spear was the one coming directly at him. It skimmed just past his earlobe, grazing it.

Though it didn’t touch directly, a long wound appeared on his cheek, and his ear was roughly severed.

Yeomyeong gritted his teeth and threw himself toward the final spear, reaching out with his hand. Desperate, and even more desperate.

However, the spear casually brushed the tips of his fingers and passed by.

The sound of a spear piercing someone’s body reached Yeomyeong’s ear as he collapsed to the ground.

Without turning around, he already knew what had happened.

His heightened senses, pushed to the extreme, felt that Seti had shoved the Saint out of the way, taking the spear for her, and he sensed her breath growing shallow.

A ringing sound echoed in his head. It was like being struck in the head with a hammer.

A silence that refused to open.

Before the silence could stretch, a scream tore through it to pieces.

“No! Sister, Seti—!”

Amidst that scream, a decadent woman’s voice could be heard.

“...Ah, what a pity.”

Yeomyeong immediately got to his feet and charged toward the direction where the voice came from, the same direction the spear had flown.

Yekaterina’s face rapidly grew closer. Yeomyeong threw a punch straight at her face.

Bang—!

The translucent barrier in front of her blocked Yeomyeong’s punch, but it couldn’t withstand the brief moment and shattered entirely.

Immediately after, Yeomyeong’s fist landed squarely on Yekaterina’s face.

Thanks to her mana, her face didn’t explode, but that was all. The immense shock caused Yekaterina’s neck to snap violently.

Yet, she did not die. Even with her neck twisted, she burst into a twisted laugh.

“Haha, so that’s your lover?”

A blatant provocation. Yeomyeong didn’t hold back his murderous intent.

“Still, you got something out of it.”

It seemed the five spears just now had been her power, as Yekaterina made no attempt to resist.

“You little brat, fighting is...”

Her mouth moved as though she was trying to provoke further, but Yeomyeong didn’t give her any more openings.

He sliced with his hand, pierced with his fist, twisted and yanked.

Not allowing her to resist or mock him, he relentlessly attacked. Until there was no longer any human form left in her body.

Soon, the corpse that was once Yekaterina collapsed onto the bloody puddle.

But Yeomyeong’s anger didn’t subside. He glared at the corridor beyond the iron door.

The hurried footsteps echoing from the other side of the corridor... it was undoubtedly Namgung Jeongbaek fleeing.

Yeomyeong, intent on chasing him down, stopped suddenly, his feet halting. The Saint’s cries had caught his ankle.

“Seti, please, please...!”

It was then that the rage and fury consuming his mind cooled into a cold stillness.

Weak arms, uneven breaths.

Yeomyeong turned his body toward Seti. As he saw her with a spear lodged in her abdomen, he couldn’t speak.

No matter how hard he listened, he couldn’t hear Seti’s heartbeat.

All he could hear was ◈ Nоvеlіgһт ◈ (Continue reading) the pounding of his own heart.

The Saint, kneeling beside her, was wringing out her mana in an attempt to heal her, but there was little effect.

No matter how powerful the Saint was, she couldn’t revive someone whose heart had burst.

Yeomyeong felt an odd sense of detachment, like he was dreaming. Is this reality?

There was no scream, not even a cry.

The Saint’s tears, spilling enough to soak her blindfold, and Neti’s screams, went unheard.

He was numb. The whole world seemed so.

Yeomyeong sat beside Seti, placing a hand on her cheek. Her body was growing cold, losing the last remnants of warmth.

Once this warmth disappeared, it would never be regained.

“...Seti.”

He uttered those words with great difficulty. Yeomyeong paused to look down at Seti’s closed eyes, then turned his gaze to the shadow pooling in the corner of the control room.

Meeting the shadow’s gaze, Yeomyeong inhaled sharply.

If, at this moment, he were to ask Mignium to save Seti...

Mignium would surely revive her. But in return, she would demand numerous offerings.

Would she ask for the lives of dozens of innocent people?

Perhaps she would demand the launch of the nuclear missile before him, claiming the lives of tens of thousands, perhaps even millions.

Seti’s life, and the countless innocent lives he didn’t even know.

Yeomyeong closed his eyes and weighed it all. His thoughts grew deeper, and then, suddenly, the World Tree’s words came to mind.

—Just as we did in the past, you too will weigh the weight of life. Hundreds of millions, no... maybe even more extreme, billions versus one.

Is this the moment the World Tree spoke of? The moment of weighing lives?

He clenched his teeth. The many versus the one, without a doubt, it was right to save the many.

But what if that one was Seti?

Enduring loneliness without her, he’d rather kill a million.

Losing family once was enough. Why should he lose someone he cared about for the sake of faceless strangers?

Maybe Mignium would only demand light offerings.

Yeah, better beg for Mignium’s mercy. That seemed the wisest choice.

With his thoughts concluded, Yeomyeong parted his lips toward the shadow.

“Mignium, I give you everything...”

He couldn’t finish his sentence. The voice of Meridith echoed in his mind.

‘I trust your choice.’

Yeomyeong turned his eyes from the shadow to the Saint.

Her face was a mess. The tear-soaked blindfold was half off, and blood flowed from her eyes, nose, and mouth due to overuse of mana.

But even so, the Saint did not give up.

Instead of calling upon the gods, she squeezed herself while calling out Seti’s name.

Yeomyeong looked down at Seti. He paused to look at her face, eyes closed, and then closed his own eyes as well.

Knowing it was pride, he dug into his heart.

To find the answer, not in Mignium, nor the World Tree, but within himself.

It was still the moment before Seti’s warmth left her.

****

Yeomyeong’s group, in the corner of the control room, drowned in sorrow.

Vikoff was quietly crawling on the floor.

His broken and mangled body screamed in agony, yet his will for revolution kept him moving.

If he could just reach the control room’s iron door, and summon the Rat Beastmen to escape—

‘...I can escape.’

Namgung Jeongbaek, that fool, actually came to his aid at the critical moment.

They say you can make kvass from leftover bread, and this was exactly that.

Of course, his time was running out. He had to open the iron door before the thousand or so people regained their senses.

So, dragging a long trail of blood on the floor, he crawled.

Vikoff finally reached the iron door. Instead of calling the Rat Beastmen randomly, he knocked on the door in Morse code.

Fortunately, the rat leader at the officer level seemed to understand his signal, and there was movement beyond the door.

With a squeak, the iron door slowly began to open, just enough for a person to slip through.

Seeing the gap, Vikoff smiled. It was the smile of a victor.

Now, the revolution would begin.

The imperial capital would become a sea of fire, and comrades working in the shadows across the world would rise.

And in place of Moscow's trash, he would bring about the true resurrection of the Soviet Union...

As Vikoff was being led outside by the Rat Beastmen, dreaming of the sweet future ahead, the world stopped.

First, the hands of the Rat Beastmen who had grabbed him froze.

Then the telekinetic girl, and the Saint, who had been shedding tears, froze as well.

‘What... is this...?’

As Vikoff swallowed his fear and confusion, the bodies of the thousand or so men began to tremble. In the frozen time, he, thinking himself an exception, slowly rose to his feet.

Soon, a massive shadow spread across the control room floor, wrapping everything around him.

As if trying to ensure that no one would see what was happening here.

Vikoff, feeling an indescribable fear, wanted to look away, but his frozen body refused to obey his command.

With an unopened mouth, Vikoff screamed.

‘What is going on? Someone, please cover my eyes! Marx, please!’

A moment later, his wish was granted. The moment Yeomyeong opened his eyes, something that should never have been revealed reached out, using his left eye as a sacrifice.

****

Understanding came like a dream, only realized after it had passed.

“You... you bastard, I clearly cut your throat...?”

The Player's last words.

“Never compromise. The gods of this land are watching you.”

The last advice from Mignium.

And even the words of the janitor from the vision relic.

In the space that could not be told if it was realization or a dream, countless words passed by.

Yeomyeong did not look back at the passing words.

He just had to remember. To recall and keep remembering, moving forward.

Thus, he faced the bag within him.

The first thing that appeared was the disgusting leather bag made from the Player’s skin. It bared its teeth instead of a zipper, cursing at him.

When Yeomyeong took a step closer, the bag's form changed.

This time, it was the money bag that had contained the money of the officer he had killed. It vomited out Benjamin Franklin-printed dollars and screamed.

One more step.

This time, it was the body bag he had seen during his janitor days.

One more step.

The weapon bag he bought from the black market.

One more step.

The academy’s book bag.

And finally, the weapon bag that Mr. Jang had packed for him before he left Incheon.

“...Yeah, this bag is the most precious.”

As Yeomyeong said that, he grabbed the bag’s handle.

The moment he did, all sorts of information began pouring into his mind.

Giant strength elixir, odds and ends, relics of the Le-Rak family, dimensional gate security employee ID, thug ID, golden beetle shells, imperial palace blueprints...

From trivial items to criminal tools, even expensive treasures.

The dozens, even hundreds, of items that the Player had accumulated stacked up in his mind.

It wasn’t convenient. Yeomyeong felt the horrific sensation of his brain being crushed and the agony of his blood vessels twisting in his body.

He felt as if he could faint at any moment, but he bit his tongue and clenched his fists.

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If this was the pain to resurrect Seti, he could endure it.

...How long had passed? A time both long and short, after which his pain finally ceased.

Yeomyeong slowly opened his eyes. The bag that had been in front of him was gone, but it didn’t matter. That bag was already firmly planted in his heart.

The Player’s versatile spatial pocket, commonly known as the Inventory.

Inside it, surely...

As Yeomyeong continued his thoughts, he reached out and ‘grabbed’ the air.

Immediately, a small glass bottle appeared in his hand. A plain, tiny glass bottle.

The liquid inside, which looked like clear water, appeared as if it contained nothing but water.

However, having just absorbed the memory of the bottle, Yeomyeong recognized it. This potion was none other than the elixir.

An elixir that suppressed aging, extended life, and could even bring the dead back to life.

It was a treasure the Player had kept to himself until the very end but was unable to use because Yeomyeong had severed his arm.

To steal the enemy’s treasure and save his family—this was the completion of vengeance.

With that thought, Yeomyeong awoke from his realization.

And when he opened his eyes, he was greeted by a completely unexpected presence.

[Player! I cannot allow you to turn the scenario any further!]

A massive red arm shot out from Vikoff’s eyes. It pierced through the frozen world and struck Yeomyeong.