What Happens When The Second Male Lead Powers Up [EN]: Chapter 701

Sub Male Lead’s Hiatus – Episode 701 (701/920)

#701

Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil (3)

“Who is it?”

A whisper, like the slither of a threatening snake, escaped his lips.

However, the jet-black scythe remained as still as if it were carved from the air.

Werner felt chills and sweat race down his spine simultaneously. His vision blurred.

He had the sudden, unsettling illusion that Martier’s body, lying nearby, was drifting away.

A sensation of gravity disappearing and sound evaporating followed.

The ink-like darkness was spreading rapidly, centered around his back. Subsequently, the fog ensnared his limbs.

With torn and bleeding lips trembling, he thought about his wretched fate.

-Swishhhhhh…

“……”

Bandits? Imperial soldiers? Subordinates of the Crown Princess come to capture him? Or perhaps his sister’s henchmen?

The number of people who wanted him dead was as numerous as the pebbles in a mountain range.

His coldly chilled body instinctively trembled.

He was already too exhausted to resist or run.

If only this were just an extension of a nightmare.

“I asked, who is it?”

The air that filled his lungs was chilling, and the scythe that had begun to scratch his neck was sharp.

The flow of hot blood was clearly felt. His scarred Adam’s apple bobbed erratically.

Werner closed his eyelids like a beast about to be slaughtered, anticipating the end.

However, he still yearned for life and wanted to continue living.

Even though he had been abandoned by everyone, he desperately wanted to. Earnestly, very earnestly…

He wanted to reach the royal palace.

“Why do you wander in a forest without carvings?”

“Heok!”

His eyes snapped open at the familiar voice.

His breath returned as if he had emerged from underwater, and the blade that had been cutting his neck vanished without a trace.

The oppressive weight that had been pressing down on his body also lightened.

However, Werner had no time to catch his breath. Before his eyes…

“You, you are… How could you be here…”

“……”

The one who sold him a ripe apple and offered him a robe that was no better than a rag.

The being that had allowed him to pass through the labyrinth.

‘I am one of the three.’

‘The Main God is watching.’

“You were… that old woman back then?”

A tremor ran through him. The tip of his left hand, pointing at the old woman, trembled pathetically.

His right arm prosthetic and right leg prosthetic were both in Martier’s luggage.

Suddenly, a prophetic word he had heard somewhere echoed in his ears.

‘Do not worry. The Main God’s creation can never kill Your Highness… Schneider will not fall before the Temple of Boundary comes to the royal capital.’

‘You will become even more precious. The glory of the past cannot be compared.’

Soon, anger surged up.

“…How dare you lie to the King’s consort! What safety did you know and do that for!”

‘You humiliated me!’ A desperately cracked voice screamed.

However, the echo did not return, and there was no answer.

The old woman only tilted her head with empty eyes, as if she hadn’t heard the King’s consort’s voice.

‘Click.’ For some reason, that sound rang out. The smell of ink mixed with metal permeated from all directions.

Werner felt a chilling fear and awe at the same time.

“Huk, hoo. Heok……”

“……”

This was a deep valley in the Memphis Mountains.

Martier Jielstra had been wandering for a long time like the pilgrims of the desert, with Werner in a blue cart.

She, too, was alone, as Werner had once been.

Since escaping from the prison of the Northern Territory, she had lost her loyal warhorse and had no money or even a decent piece of metal. Nevertheless, she never stopped.

The King’s consort and the priest hated and despised each other to the point of wanting to kill each other, and they survived by that power.

It would be an understatement to say that the two relied on each other, but the existence of the other was clearly vital for their survival.

Now their destination was the same.

“If I, if I return to the royal capital, I will not leave you alone. Keulkeul, I will hold you accountable for deceiving the royal family… !”

“The revelation is firm.”

“……What?”

‘What is firm?’ Werner’s face went blank.

The old woman moved her corpse-like pale lips.

“But you, precious one… Why are you not fulfilling your role?”

“……What?”

The old voice questioned.

“Weren’t you heading to the royal capital?”

“That is……”

Well, he was. But Memphis was by no means an easy mountain range.

‘The vessel of the Divine Kingdom’. As befitting a mountain range that guards the royal capital, the terrain here was very rugged, and there was hardly anything that could be called a road.

Martier was a strong battle priest, but there were too many difficulties for her to pass through Memphis without a map.

Her divine power, as well as her physical and mental strength, had all reached their limits, and to make matters worse, the forest weather was very bad.

The days when the priest succeeded in hunting were decreasing.

If they found a place where clean water flowed, it was common to solve both sleep and meals there.

It was truly a miserable existence.

“No… Only an impious and ghostly mouth is alive… How dare you try to manipulate me.”

Soon, Werner said in an angry voice.

The old woman was looking at him with unfocused eyes.

The woman’s black robe hung like a curse in the darkness.

“Do you even know my hardships? Losing one leg and one arm, suffering from terrible phantom pains day and night, and do you even know the ordeal of seeing dirty commoners in my dreams! Can you even imagine the hell of being abandoned by both my daughter and my sister? Just coming this far with this body is enough… !”

“I understand.”

He flinched. A chill ran down his spine at the tomb-like cold voice.

Werner couldn’t even think of continuing his anger and looked at the old woman.

For some reason, his stomach churned.

Under the power of the cart, her gray eyes were slowly darkening.

Soon, the old woman’s wrinkled cheeks drooped down, and her spatula-shaped jaw began to open abnormally.

-Kaga Gaga gak……

“What, what is this……”

Beyond the jawbone that drooped to the bottom of the old woman’s heart, a black cavity was forming.

Her eye sockets were also dyed black, making it look like holes had been drilled.

It was a shocking sight.

Werner hurriedly stepped back at the sensation that even his breath was being sucked into it.

Cold sweat poured down his forehead. His horrified voice could not exhale and choked.

From the mouth of darkness, hundreds of long, black protrusions were sprouting.

-Baga Gaga Gaga gak……

“Heoeok, step back, step back! Don’t come closer!”

-Keureureureureuk……

“Heueok! Jielstra! Jielstra……!”

Werner frantically struggled with his left arm and left leg, but his screams did not reach.

As in the past, Martier did not notice the old woman’s presence this time either.

While she was curled up and fast asleep like a fetus, the black tendrils rushed towards the King’s consort.

It was terrible. It was unclean and ominous, and he couldn’t stand it.

“Aak! Get out of here, you! Can’t you let go of this!”

-Badeudeudeudeuk……!

“Heuaaaaaak!”

Finally, the moment the tentacle grabbed his right shoulder, the sensation of crushing bones tore his brain apart.

Sparks flew before his eyes, and blood burst from his nose. Werner screamed at the top of his lungs and twisted his body wildly.

It was a reflexive and meaningless reaction, like a chopped fish flapping its belly.

While he was convulsing in overwhelming pain, other tentacles aimed for his right leg.

It was the spot that had been cut off by the Crown Prince and only had severe burns left. ‘Badeudeudeudeudeuk……!’

“Aak, Aaaaaaaak!”

It was a stimulus that was better to die. ‘Keuheoeok!’ Werner foamed at the mouth and rolled his eyes.

The dry body moved violently, and soon streams of dark red blood poured out of his earholes and eyeballs.

The black tendrils were penetrating his severed shoulder and thighs, penetrating relentlessly into the bones.

Even when his limbs were cut off by the sword of fire, it was not this painful.

Torture – yes, this was like torture that killed both the body and mind of a person. He felt his vision turning white and black and lost consciousness…

“Is it done now.”

“Keuheoeok!”

Werner Venetian, once again, jumped up.

He didn’t even know how much time had passed.

He immediately grabbed dirt and gravel in both hands and reached out to the old woman—

He paused.

“…Hand. My hand is……”

The man looked down at his right hand with a dazed expression.

Cold, damp dirt fell from his powerless grip.

He couldn’t believe the miracle of the Main God that was happening before his eyes.

The spot that had always been empty or had to wear a prosthetic since the temple incident…

“How, how……?”

It was back to normal. He was out of breath.

He checked his right leg with the momentum of a madman.

-Rustle!

“Heoeok! This, this can’t be. How…… What is going on……”

The leg, too, was in place as if he had never lost it.

When he tried to move, he even moved as he wanted.

‘No way. No way……’ Werner laughed and cried repeatedly at the thunderbolt-like harmony.

The contrast between the pale instep without a single wound and the thigh with burn marks looked like a poorly repaired rag doll, or a corpse that had undergone the training of a novice undertaker.

“Ah, you are……”

“Take this.”

The man looked up with tearful eyes, but the old woman had returned to her usual insensitive appearance.

The black and disgusting tentacles and the grotesquely drooping jaw were gone like a lie.

Only the faint mist and the scythe in her hand remained. And…

-Sreung!

“……”

The old woman’s weapon, which was clearly sharp, now contained Werner’s blood and had a red blade.

The man staggered to his feet and got up from his seat.

“Aheuk……!”

“The phantom pain will not disappear.”

“No, that’s……”

Why? He wanted to ask the reason, but even Werner knew that this much grace was not easily given.

He swallowed the rising sentence and quickly chose another word.

Every time he looked down at his right hand, he was overwhelmed with emotion and choked up.

Literally, he felt like he was born again.

The man’s new fingers slowly moved and grabbed the scythe.

“…The Main God has truly chosen this body.”

“……”

“God is watching me. I have received God’s blessing.”

“Yes.”

The old woman replied. Then, Werner strode out with a triumphant expression.

The chocolate-colored eyes glistened like mud. The place where he swung the scythe without hesitation was—

-Wheeeeik!

-Kaga gang!

Above Martier’s crown, the weapon stopped without going any further.

Werner was horrified to find the wrinkled hand under the creaking blade.

“You… You are……”

-Kigigigik……

The old woman was blocking his attack with her bare hands.

A chill ran down his spine at the palm of his hand, which did not shed a single drop of blood.

It was a miracle that was difficult to accept even after seeing it with his own eyes.

“It is not permitted to kill Your Highness.”

“……”

“Do not change the sacred flow.”

It was eerie. It was an incomprehensible warning.

“Have you forgotten your purpose?”

“……”

However, he could clearly understand the meaning of those words.

There was one person who immediately came to his heart.

Werner took a deep breath and took a few steps away from Martier.

Then the old woman said to him.

“Take the cart and leave. And fulfill your will.”

*

Will it really work?

“If Maiker Rasso is really a new patient, and if he has been monopolizing the halo grass inside and outside the territory until now… I think he must have hidden it properly in a very deep place.”

I said carefully, stopping to tear off the pig’s forefoot.

The mountain children were watching me eat from a distance.

“That’s right. The medicinal herbs are probably piled up in my mother’s bedroom or… in the study safe.”

“Oh, dear.”

Francois clicked his tongue as if he was in trouble. Then, Duke Rasso carefully added.

“Still… There will be a birthday party soon, so I think there might be a way to get in…”