How To Live As A Third Son Of A Failure [EN]: Chapter 181

Living as the Third Son of a Failed Novel – Chapter 182

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Time passed after I tasted the anxiety hidden within me due to Rahenna.

The basin in front of the cave had been transformed into a massive pit due to the countless sparring sessions held there.

You could say it looked like a crater where a meteorite had fallen.

Well, it was only natural. Since that day, Ruth, Ilia, and I had pushed each other to the brink of death.

“Get up, Ruth.”

“Can’t I rest a bit?”

“Do you still have the strength to talk?”

“……I’m going to die.”

At my urging, Ruth, who had been kneeling on one knee, rose to his feet.

Ruth’s body was covered in wounds. His grip was already torn, blood dripping down, and his beloved sword looked like a jagged saw with nicks all over it.

Ilia was no different. Despite having a broken arm in a splint, she gripped her sword with her good hand and faced me.

“Don’t whine. There are two of you.”

“What difference does it make that there are two of us? We can’t catch up to you anyway, Young Master.”

“Overcome it with willpower.”

“Willpower? Are you telling me to solve it with grit? But isn’t that the virtue a knight should avoid the most?”

“I wonder.”

Yeah. I used to think the same as Ruth. In fact, knights were trained in the same way.

What was important for a knight who wielded mana was not the grit to solve everything with willpower, but to objectively judge their own strength and skill and always maintain composure.

But I was different now.

What had changed? If you asked me to explain it clearly, I wouldn’t have a way to describe it.

But I could feel it. After seeing the hell Rahenna had shown me and experiencing extreme stress, I had mentally broken down, and something had changed in the process of pulling myself back together.

It wasn’t just that my range of thought had broadened. It was as if, like tempering metal, an inexplicable, unknown area had expanded in the process of reassembling my broken spirit.

What should I call this? Should I say that something within me had awakened?

“Anyway, fine. I’ll go again!”

As if squeezing out every last bit of strength, Ruth summoned the Avatar of Runcen.

A crimson aura flowed from Ruth’s eyes as if bloody tears were dripping down, and the same aura was present in the sword that was swung down as if to strike.

Ruth had named this strike Crimson Meteor. He must have named it that because it was like a red meteor.

As I watched the sword fall as if to devour me, I slightly raised my sword.

‘……’

In the past, I would have naturally deflected it or avoided it to conserve energy.

But I was different now. I could show the willingness to give up an arm and take a neck at any time.

And that also meant that I had decided to kill Ruth.

“……!”

That will alone became an excellent weapon just by showing it slightly.

Ruth, who had been about to strike down with his sword, suddenly stopped his attack and hurriedly retreated. Then, he stood there blankly, staring at me.

Ilia tilted her head at the sight.

“Ruth?”

To Ilia, it must have looked as if Ruth had been frightened and retreated.

But Ruth gritted his teeth and glared at me.

“……Young Master, I trust you didn’t mean that.”

“Right. It was a mistake.”

“Isn’t that dangerous!”

“Ah, sorry.”

At Ruth’s words, I raised my hand slightly.

It was definitely effective. Ruth probably saw death in me just now. Of course, if it had continued, I would have lost an arm and been crippled.

But Ruth saw that fate and stopped his sword, and the result was as you see now.

And I was able to gain confidence in the hypothesis I had established from that sight.

That indescribable sense of intimidation I had felt when I faced Lordain in the past.

That was probably the scar and resolve that only someone who had seen hell could exude.

Nodding, I looked at Ilia this time.

“Ilia, it’s your turn this time. You better go all out.”

Ilia, who had swallowed hard at my call, squeezed out her last strength and summoned the Avatar of Aslahina.

Then, as if a thick fog had settled, a dark cyan aura began to form around Ilia’s eyes and body.

It still reminded me of Aslahina, whom I had faced in the Elven Lake in the past.

Afterward, Ilia quickly swung her sword and unleashed a cutting attack. It was the unique, sharp strike that Aslahina had shown before.

‘Was it called White Fang?’

Ilia had given it that name because the sword strike, which quickly split into two, was like the fangs of a wolf.

‘Ilia has definitely grown.’

Although it had only been a few years since she had learned to handle mana, Ilia had made remarkable progress thanks to her experience with Aslahina in the Great Forest and the power of the Avatar.

If my prediction was correct, she would probably enter the Expert level within a few years.

But that remarkable growth was only true when compared to ordinary people. The one standing in front of Ilia now was none other than me.

“Hmph!”

As I straightened my sword, Ilia widened her eyes and gasped.

Ilia had clearly seen something in me, just like Ruth. But Ilia was less skilled than Ruth, so she couldn’t pull her body away in time.

“Kyaaak!”

Ilia screamed as she closed her eyes, seeing my swinging sword.

Ruth, who saw her, hardened his face, and Rahenna, who was watching from afar, lightly clicked his tongue.

Thud!

However, what touched Ilia’s head was not the cold blade, but the pommel [the rounded knob on the end of the hilt] at the end of my hilt.

“…….”

Ilia, who had been hit on the head by me, slumped down powerlessly with a blank expression.

I looked down at her and sheathed my sword.

“All training ends today. Both of you, go back to the Sky Fortress and get some rest.”

“…….”

“…….”

Leaving behind the dazed Ruth and Ilia, I approached Rahenna.

“I didn’t know you had a hobby of tormenting others until today.”

“That ends today as well.”

“It’s over?”

I nodded at Rahenna, who was tilting her head.

“Because I’ve realized exactly what has changed in me.”

After finishing my words, I continued to walk, and Rahenna slowly began to follow me.

“What do you mean by realized?”

“Do you know what Lordain and Hashunar have in common?”

“A common point……? I don’t know why you’re asking such a thing all of a sudden, but wouldn’t it be that they both possess monstrous talents?”

“That’s what most people would think. I thought so too until recently. But not anymore.”

“Not anymore?”

I nodded at Rahenna’s question.

“They are both people who have lost everything that could be called the entirety of their lives.”

“Lost everything? But isn’t that something that anyone experiences countless times after the war?”

“I’m not talking about those who simply lost something precious and collapsed.”

For Hashunar, it was the destruction of his race.

For Lordain, it was the death of his wife.

Having tasted hell like that, the two of them once collapsed helplessly.

But they didn’t stop there.

Hashunar gained a sense of duty to protect his race, and Lordain gained a duty to avenge his wife.

Those who recovered in that way were reborn thanks to their original talents.

“Rahenna said that Hashunar awakened after seeing you. Yes. I think that’s right.”

“……So what does that have to do with what you realized?”

I stopped walking at Rahenna’s question.

How far had I walked? Arriving at a mountain ridge quite far from the basin, I looked at the panorama of the blue mountain range spread out below.

“If you ask what it has to do with it, I can only say that I have gone through the same process as those two.”

“What on earth are you saying……?”

Rahenna, who was questioning me, couldn’t finish her words and took a big step back.

Then, she began to glare at me. What did she see in me just now?

“Rahenna is right. Until now, I was just a puppet who imitated the talents that accumulated power just by breathing and the abilities borrowed from others.”

“Does the phrase ‘until now’ mean that you’ve changed now?”

“Of course. Did you say I had a rotten mentality? That’s right. Until now, my mental state could be said to be trash. Until I saw the hell you showed me.”

I feel like a robot whose emotions have dried up. The more I recall my eventful journey so far, the more I feel it.

Until now, I had regarded this world as just a piece of fiction, and the events that took place here as a fairy tale or an adventure story.

I lightly regarded everything, from the black-haired man who was aiming for me and tightening the noose, to Rodkius and the Nebiros Order who were trying to hinder my purpose, and even the upcoming racial war.

If I die, I die. Maybe I can wake up from a dream and return to reality.

Since the people of Midland are just pieces of text, is there really a need to try to save them? I can just clear the game quests step by step.

But that thought was wrong.

What if my death here means annihilation?

Then the hell I saw will become a reality.

What if I am still absent from reality as the ending of the novel gets delayed?

That hell will also become a reality.

And I knew that, but I had deliberately hidden it deep inside and lived as if I were fine.

It was a rotten mental state. It was so soft that it couldn’t be softer. I can’t believe how pathetic the composure I’ve shown so far has been.

‘A fake world? No, at least to me, this world is no longer fake.’

Midland.

This world was not fake, but a real obstacle blocking me. And I had been committing the shameful act of turning away from that obstacle until now.

“It would be faster to show you directly what I’ve realized than to explain it a hundred times.”

Nodding, I took off the cloak and shirt I was wearing and threw them away.

The Hashunar crest engraved on my exposed upper body stood out vividly against the eternal snow.

“Show me, what on earth?”

“If you taught me, shouldn’t you, as a teacher, check what I’ve learned?”

At the same time as I finished speaking, the black wolf engraved on my upper body began to glow.

“You……!”

Rahenna, who had hardened her expression at that, emitted a blue light from her whole body and rebuked me.

Rahenna’s voice, filled with power, echoed loudly and pressured me, but I ignored it and drew up the power of the crest.

In an instant, the world changed. At the same time as the white snow mountain turned into a black and white landscape, I leaped over Rahenna’s head.

Having reappeared in that way, I immediately summoned the Avatar of Bain Lyndiarr and drew my sword.

「My sword is the wind,」

Flash!

A white flash struck down towards Rahenna as if lightning had struck from the sky.

From Rahenna’s point of view, it would look as if I had suddenly appeared in the air and attacked.

But the opponent was a druid who had lived for hundreds of years, and as if those years had not been in vain, Rahenna simply avoided it and stretched out both hands.

Saaaaaa!

The eternal snow that had been laid around her fluttered and began to create a blizzard. She was probably trying to block my vision.

But I wouldn’t have started if I was going to be blocked by this much.

「A whirlwind that fells giant trees,」

The stretched-out flashes gathered together to create a rough whirlwind, and the whirlwind that was created in that way absorbed even the blizzard that Rahenna had created and began to rush in.

“…….”

Rahenna, who saw it, hardened her expression and waved her hand once again.

Then, dozens or hundreds of Rahennas appeared on the barren mountain ridge.

Is she really an illusionist?

As I didn’t know which one was the real Rahenna, I couldn’t choose where to concentrate my power.

But that didn’t mean there was no answer.

‘If I don’t know which one is real, I just need to encompass all of them.’

Gritting my teeth, the crest shone and guided me into the air once again, and from there, I burned the will of the Avatar and opened my mouth.

“It is a gentle breeze that lays down reeds.”

「It is a gentle breeze that lays down reeds」

Gooooooo…….

At this moment, Bain Lyndiarr’s will was my will, and according to that will, the sword wind that had been gathered in one place for a moment dispersed in all directions and spread its power.

It was the power of the third verse of Bain Lyndiarr’s esoteric skill.

If the first verse, One Flash, had the property of quickness faster than the wind.

The second verse, Whirlwind, had the property of strength that concentrated power and devastated a narrow area.

Then the third verse, Gentle Breeze, had the property of gentleness that dispersed that power and encompassed everything.

Saaaaaa!

The sword wind that spread out in that way swept through the countless Rahennas located on the mountain ridge, as if laying down a vast reed field.

‘Where is it?’

After that, there was nothing left.

Even the eternal snow, which had been solid like metal for hundreds of years, was swept away by the sword wind, and the soil that had been in its original place revealed its appearance.

After unleashing a burst of power, I straightened my body and looked around.

“Krrr…….”

Rahenna, who had reappeared in that way, was in the form of a giant wolf, her true form.

The size of a house was still the same.

The fluttering white mane fluttered with a blue light, and each of the protruding fangs was sharper than a dagger.

However, judging from the blood flowing from the scratches all over her body, it seemed that she had not completely escaped my attack.

The fact that the sight told was clear. Even for Rahenna, my attack just now could only be avoided by giving it her all.

Nodding, I stretched out my arms towards the giant wolf.

“How is it? Was I a good disciple?”

I had drawn up the power of Bain Lyndiarr’s Avatar to the third verse, and even though I had used the crest repeatedly, I didn’t feel any particular aftereffects.

I was sure.

Having gone through the same processes as those that Lordain and Hashunar had experienced, I had surpassed my limits.

My rotten spirit is now gone. All that remains is the desperate sense of purpose to defy the hell I saw.

And Rahenna will surely be able to feel this side of me as well.

Saaaaaa…….

Rahenna, who had returned to her human form in that way, wiped the blood flowing from the corner of her mouth with her hand and wore a cold look.

“I’ve created a monster.”