Ryuu Kusari no Ori -Kokoro no Uchi no 'Kokoro'-

[LN] Volume 2: Chapter 7.2

Volume 2 Chapter 7.2

Light Sinking in the Shadows Part 2

Translator : PolterGlast

Shina was sitting on the roof of the hut while hugging her knees. She said she was on the lookout, but she was far from being able to do that.

All that went through her head was frustration and regret.

When her homeland, the Nebula Forest, fell in the Great Invasion, that black demonic beast appeared before her stupefied eyes.

Its appearance was different from the one that appeared today, but there was no mistaking the black sludge that covered its entire body and its countless blood-red eyes.

What was more terrifying than anything else was the presence that the demonic beast was clad in. While it emitted a terrifying presence, behind it, Shina could see the presence of spirits she was familiar with.

And it was precisely because of this familiar presence that the beast's horror seemed even more prominent to her.

The sheer horror and inescapable sense of death coldly bound her mind and body like iron chains. She remembered the people who rescued her. Her beloved parents, her sister, and a small spirit that could be said to be her half-body.

"Run!"

"Don't worry, you'll survive."

The last moments of her family were recalled over and over again in the form of nightmares. She didn't want to run away by herself. She wanted them to run away together. She should have known that it was useless to fight when the Great Tree had fallen to the ground.

But neither her parents nor her sister would listen to her pleas.

Accompanied by the desperate screams of her father and mother at her back, she kept running away with her sister at her side.

However, the presence of death soon caught up with them. The presence of a demonic beast approaching from behind made Shina's sister, who had been pulling her hand, stop and let go of her hand.

"From here, you have to run away by yourself."

Her sister, who tapped her on the shoulder as if to persuade her, looked back at her with eyes that held the same resolve as her parents.

"Everyone, Razward, take care of my sister."

As if in response to her words, a light gathered and took the form of a small lapis lazuli-colored bird.

This was the spirit that had contracted with Shina, a being capable of taking on a definite form. The spirit that had contracted with her sister, who was a high elf, had long since been killed along with the spirit of the Great Tree.

The little lapis lazuli-colored bird called Razward began to glow as it circled around Shina, enveloping her in a cocoon of light.

The supernatural power that enveloped her and the will of the spirit that she could sense in it clearly told her what her sister and best friend were trying to do.

Shina was not ready to lose her parents and even more so, her sister and her other half.

Get me out of here and please save them. Shina's pleas were in vain, as her sister's last strength sent her flying out of the Nebula Forest.

Her home forest was shrouded in mist, but now smoke was rising from everywhere, and the place where the Great Tree once stood was shrouded in black mist.

*Giiiiiiiii!*

The shriek of a spirit echoed through her mind. Then, the remnant of the cocoon of light was shattered apart as if it were bursting. It was the final scream of the little lapis lazuli bird that Shina had contracted.

And that scream clearly made it clear to the young Shina what had happened to the two of them.

"A-, aa…… aaaaaah!"

With her hands clutching her face, Shina collapsed. She scratched her skin, trying to convince herself that the hard-to-accept reality was a lie. Then, with an inaudible scream, she lost consciousness.

From that day on, Shina lost her connection with the spirits, and her childhood friend disappeared, never to appear before her again.

The surviving Shina wandered with her remaining fellow survivors. She had no other choice.

On top of that, because the elves had ignored the warnings they had received just prior to the fall of the Nebula Forest, they were facing strong criticism from the other races.

Go back to your own homeland, which has turned into hell. There is nothing to feed the elves. Such words were directed at them wherever they went. Shina and the other refugees had no place to stay.

The elves were tormented by hunger and cold, but a turning point finally came.

Operation Fructus.

Humanity's greatest counter-measure against the invading demonic beasts. The surviving elves also participated in this operation.

For the sake of their remaining survivors and for the sake of their families, they fought with all their might and sacrificed their lives.

As a result, the elves were allowed to live in the Sumahya Union, a new country created by those who lost their country. However, Operation Fructus was postponed indefinitely before the recapture of Nebula Forest due to the exhaustion of various countries, and the animosity toward the elves could not be wiped away.

(That's why I came here. To change the weak me of twenty years ago. To reclaim my homeland for sure this time......)

Shina lost her spirit magic, so instead, she honed her archery skills and learned the magic used by humans.

Ignoring the ostracism directed at her, she continued to train desperately and managed to stay in the upper ranks.

Her efforts were genuine, and her feelings were undoubtedly sincere.

Of course, she has not forgotten to regain her spirit magic.

(Even so, nothing could be done when it came down to it......)

Feeling frustrated and pathetic, she clutched her arms around her knees and squeezed them tightly.

Her feelings were getting worse and worse, but the anger she felt toward herself kept swirling in the depths of her heart. Honestly speaking, she felt as if her heart was about to fall apart.

(Don't worry, it's okay, it will go away soon. I'll try not to be bothered by it......)

Regardless, she wanted to be alone now. And yet .......

"Good grief, I couldn't find you around the hut, so I wondered where you'd gone, and here you were on the roof."

The person Shina least wanted to see called out to her.

"What are you doing? In a place like this......"

In response to Nozomu's question, Shina turned away and remained silent.

"Anyway, why don't you try getting something to eat? I made a simple soup, in case you want to try it......"

Nozomu sat down next to Shina, a body's length away from her, and offered her a bowl of steaming soup, but she did not even look at the bowl.

"Hey. I'd like to ask you something......"

"W-, what?"

"Why did you volunteer yourself to be the bait?"

"Huh?"

Nozomu tilted his head at the unexpected question.

"Why you ask? There was no one else who might have been able to do it ......"

Indeed, not everyone was in a condition to fight at that time. The only way to escape was to have someone be a decoy, and Nozomu was the only one who seemed to be able to do that.

"There was no one else? It would have been fine if it was me who stayed! Since I was the cause, it makes more sense for me to stay!"

Nozomu's words were inexplicably justified, but they conversely caused Shina to become agitated.

Even she understood this with her rational mind. She knew that she could not even stop that demonic beast by herself.

Negative emotions erupted violently. More than anything else, the fact that she herself had caused the crisis completely severed the threads in her heart that had been tautly stretched over the years.

"You're in the tenth class, aren't you!? If you think about it, there is no way you can escape from it! Why would you do such a thing if you knew you were going to die!?"

"W-, well, I'm alive though ...... -eh, wa-, wait!"

Shina, with her eyes dilated, grabbed onto Nozomu's chest and brought her face so close to his that he could feel her breath on his face.

Nozomu was startled by Shina's sudden action, but he noticed the boulder-like tears in her eyes and couldn't say anything.

"Yeah! Surely you were different from me who couldn't do anything! They said you were the weakest in our grade, but you were actually strong! But that beast is a lot more dangerous than that! Why are you being so reckless!"

Her incoherent words and actions were the result of the trauma she had experienced and upon seeing Nozomu, who had acted as a decoy.

Meanwhile, Nozomu was attracted to the dark emotions behind Shina's furious eyes.

It was a color of disappointment and resignation toward herself that began to spread in her heart as the threads of tension were broken.

"Why, why ......"

She turned her head down and kept muttering these words with tears in her eyes. She did not even know to whom these words were directed to.

◆

Having had its torso severed by Nozomu and blown away by [Light of Annihilation], [Gray] crawled on the ground with only its upper body to reach a place in a hazy state of consciousness.

A tributary flowing into the Vein River. Its riverbank. The place where his family was buried.

On the freshly dug-up soil, [Gray] lays himself down.

The sludge-like blood leaking from his body seeps into the ground, as if his life is spilling out.

*Gurururu……*

[Gray] growled in a calm voice, his whole body stained with the blood that flowed out. It was as if he was relieved to be able to sleep where his family slept.

His eyes, which had been dyed red, somehow returned to normal, and his body rapidly lost its strength.

His body was already as good as a corpse.

His heart had originally been crushed. On top of that, his torso had now been cut in half.

He has not long to live. He cannot move any longer.

It was a war of survival to gain new territory. Above all, it was a battle to avenge the deaths of his family members, but it ended in vain.

The hatred that disappeared along with his life, and the instinct to live. What came instead was regret and relief at the verge of death.

[Gray] had already realized his own death. The reason he came to this riverbank was because he wanted to at least end up at the place where his family was laid to rest.

Drenched in his own blood, he slowly closed his eyes.

However, the "existence" assimilated into his body did not allow [Gray] to die.

Suddenly, the ground soaked in [Gray]'s blood rose up.

What appeared was [Gray]'s family, the Direwolves, who had already died.

*Kyuuu, kuuu......*

[Gray] was surprised to see his family members suddenly resurrected.

However, the resurrected Direwolves clearly had a different air about them.

Their eyes, like those of the [Gray] before, were dyed red. The gaze they turned on their former leader was vacant to the point of emptiness, not something they would ever turn on their own kin.

*Gurururu......*

Those were the eyes of a corpse. [Gray] roared as it realized the "existence" lurking in the depths of those eyes.

That "existence" is what kept him alive when he was supposed to die.

That "existence" focused its eyes of hatred on [Gray], who could no longer fight- ...... no, who had given up his will to fight.

[...... Then, I don't need you anymore. Be my food.]

Such a declaration echoed in the [Gray]'s mind. The next moment, the resurrected Direwolves surrounded [Gray], and began to pierce [Gray] with their fangs one after another.

*Gyau, guuuu, giuuuuu……!*

The groans of [Gray], accompanied by intense pain, wafted through the darkness of the night.

Direwolves devoured [Gray] and dug their heads into [Gray]'s body, eating away at its flesh with a gnawing sound.

The bodies of the Direwolves dissolved, and only their crimson eyes were seen as they were pulled into [Gray]'s body.

As a result, [Gray]'s body underwent a change as well.

The lower half of his body, which had been severed by Nozomu, began to regenerate.

The flesh on the severed surface bulged out, forming a reddish-black bare hind leg.

The vertebral arch of his spine grew sharply like swords, and his tailbone split and enlarged. Finally, transformed into three gigantic tails.

Furthermore, his lower jaw, which was severed by Nozomu's [Phantom], also regenerated by fusing each of the Direwolves that had bitten into it.

And when all the Direwolves fused together, [Gray]'s consciousness completely vanished, and there stood a bizarre-looking beast with countless crimson eyes all over its body.

*Vuooooooo~o~o~o*

A roar of overlapping voices echoed through Spasim Forest.

The bizarre beast rushed out into the forest, radiating a thick, black light of source element as if its entire body were a muddy mixture of paints.

Ahead of it, there was Shino's hut, where Nozomu and the others were taking shelter.

◆

Sheena kept crying, but eventually calmed down and quickly let herself go.

"....... Sorry. I said a lot of strange things."

"N-, no. It's okay ......."

The two of them sat on the roof of the hut and looked up at the sky.

The two of them were neither close to each other, nor were they pushing each other away, but there was a small distance between them, enough for a single person.

The wind of silence was flowing through this gap.

"Thanks. For listening to my complaints without saying anything......"

"Eh?"

What broke the silence was a word of thanks. Nozomu was surprised to hear these words.

"It's not like I did anything worth mentioning......"

"That can't be true, can it? You let us escape from that thing. Taking care of us, and cooking meals for us. On top of that, you listened to my filthy complaints without saying anything to me."

"...... There's no such thing as filthy complaints, is there? Everyone has times when they feel down. Sometimes we even lose it ......"

Shina smiled, although it left her somewhat tired. However, Nozomu could see that her smile was only on the surface.

It was the expression of someone desperately trying to hide a weight they had been carrying. It was the same mask that Nozomu himself still couldn't remove.

A fake smile, a look of resignation and disappointment. An inexpressible anxiety welled up in Nozomu's chest.

"Thank you so much. And I'm so sorry. I've said a lot of terrible things to you until now."

"Hey, is that demonic beast somehow related to you?"

I have to say something. Nozomu thought so, and as he spoke these words on the spur of the moment, Nozomu involuntarily put his hand over his mouth.

Shina was silent for a few seconds, then slowly opened her mouth.

"That mutated Garm was the same demonic beast that killed my family, my friends, and destroyed the Nebula Forest."

"Eh?"

"Of course, it was a different individual from the one that destroyed my homeland. I don't know why it's here in the Spasim Forest, but there's no mistaking those crimson eyes."

Shina's past was recounted in a way that seemed to push it out of her mind. If one were to look closely, one would see that her eyes, staring into the distance, were filled with tears that seemed to be on the verge of spilling.

"Did you lose someone, as well?"

"Hm?"

"A grave. It was right next to this hut."

Nozomu's gaze turned toward Shino's grave beside the hut.

"She's my mentor. Sleeping Death Syndrome, and just recently......"

"Is she someone important to you?"

"...... Yeah. My benefactor."

"It's painful, isn't it? Losing someone important to you......"

After her meek monologue, silence once again fell over the two of them.

The quiet wind gradually became stronger and began to rustle the branches and leaves.

Nozomu's breathing becomes shallower accompanied by the rustling sound of the wind.

Little by little, Nozomu felt his uneasiness growing.

"About your late family and former friends-......"

He tried to cover up his growing uneasiness by continuing the conversation.

But Shina stood up as if she was trying to stop him, and then she quickly turned around.

"I should head back. Thanks for the meal......"

With the cold soup in her hands, Shina got off the roof.

Without realizing it, Nozomu clenched his fists tightly.

What he felt for Shina was a kindred spirit and admiration. At the same time, however, he also sensed a stark difference between himself and her.

Both of them had built high walls against others, both of them held secrets that they could not tell others, and both of them were looked at coldly by those around them.

However, while Nozomu ran away to protect himself, Shina persisted in her struggle.

Shina's attitude of never losing sight of her own goals and moving forward was dazzling to Nozomu, who had turned his eyes away from reality.

But the current her was beginning to wear the same air of resignation as the past Nozomu.

This caused Nozomu to feel frustrated, even though it was not about himself.

But even with the same hesitation and darkness, Nozomu and Shina's feelings did not intersect.

Because neither of them has yet to take the first step in the true sense of the word.

Because they were too busy trying to endure, and because they were used to carrying the burden alone, they had not yet developed the courage that was truly important to them.

And Nozomu's premonition came true in the worst possible way.

The next morning, all Nozomu and the others found was an empty blanket of Shina's and a note from her saying, "I'll take care of the rest, please take care of Mimuru and the others".

◆

*Jingle-jingle*, *creak-creak*.......

The dark lakeside. Deep in the depths of Nozomu's soul, a giant dragon stared begrudgingly at the chains that had once again been placed upon it.

Tiamat herself had never thought that she would be defeated and absorbed by a human being.

An unexpected situation. However, these strange circumstances brought a ray of light to the giant dragon, which had been sealed up in that world for thousands of years and submerged in a swamp of darkness.

Although being absorbed by a human being was an unpleasant experience, this was fortuitous.

With astronomical probability, it would have been possible to capture the giant dragon, but the sealing vessel was only a human being.

Even the slightest loss of balance between power and mind would easily cause it to self-destruct. Then, in a real sense, Tiamat could be revived.

*Grrrrrr......*

(Then, for now, let's just accept these chains. Either way, this fragile host cannot escape its fate. And at that time ......)

*Jingle-jingle*, one of the chains that bound Tiamat was released.

A resurrection. Tiamat waited quietly, convinced of that future.

The time to break this seal, which was constructed in an exquisite balance, will come.

◆

"What is she thinking!? She told people not to be reckless, and now she's doing this!"

Nozomu, who had learned of Shina's arbitrary action, was stunned and asked Mimuru, Kevin, and the others to escort the wounded, leaving him to pursue after her alone.

She had some kind of connection with that demonic beast. From the way she looked yesterday, it was obvious that Shina had gone to settle the score with it by herself.

The past that she wanted to forget but could not, her desire not to involve her friends, and her guilt over the danger she had brought upon her friends.

All of these complicated factors led her to act arbitrarily.

(What a troublesome person!)

While swearing in the back of his mind, Nozomu's mind recalled the figure of the girl who had unintentionally revealed her overflowing emotions at Shino's hut.

Indeed, her dismissive attitude would make her seem cold-hearted. But it was a mask she wore to protect her own heart.

Certainly, her way of thinking would seem rigid and inflexible. But it was a frame she had put in place to keep her from losing sight of her own dreams.

A girl who was kind but could only speak harsh words. A girl who was weak but desperately trying to be strong.

(...... I guess I'm just as much of a troublesome person as she is.)

Shina could not tell Mimuru and the others because she was afraid of involving others in the confrontation with the Black Demonic Beast.

Nozomu, too, could not tell Irisdina and the others about his secret because he was afraid of the power he possessed within him going out of control.

In fact, the two were very similar in this aspect. That is why Nozomu was so concerned about Shina. While he felt repulsed by Shina's refusal to believe his words, he couldn't help but worry about her delicate and imbalanced mental state.

If she were going to settle things with that demonic beast, the place she was headed to was probably where they had encountered that demonic beast yesterday.

Considering the time she left, there was no time to spare.

"Damn it, please make it in time!"

At any rate, he decided to speed up his pace to get to her first. Now, he just felt frustrated that his legs were slower than he wanted them to be.

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