Damn Reincarnation

e mental interference, Gargith’s expression was as serious as it usually was.

“It’s because a healthy mind dwells in a healthy body,” Gargith replied as he flexed his bicep in a demonstration.
“If you build as healthy a body as I have, young master, you will obtain a composure that will keep you from feeling anxiety under any circumstances.”

“Uhhh…” Cyan just gulped in disbelief and nodded.

Thanks to Gargith getting in between them, Cyan and Dezra stopped snapping at each other.
However, their situation still wasn’t all that great, and if they kept heading forward, there was no way of knowing what they might run into.

“It’ll be fine if it’s just demonic beasts; we can handle them,” Cyan declared after shaking his head vigorously.
“Seeing as the interference has grown so strong, the center of the forest must not be far away.
Since the Knights of the Black Lion have been directing their hunting efforts in that direction starting from yesterday… there might not be as many demonic beasts as we fear there are.”

This wasn’t just a random guess.
In fact, as the darkness of their surroundings deepened, the frequency with which they encountered demonic beasts had also reduced.

“…If something dangerous does happen, instead of the demonic beasts, it will probably be because of this thing affecting our heads,” Cyan warned direly.
“For example… Dezra, you might try to backstab me with your spear like you did during the Bloodline Continuation Ceremony.”

“…Are you being serious right now?” Dezra asked in disbelief.

“I’m just saying that it’s a possibility,” Cyan insisted as he took a deep breath.
“Of course, I believe in you two.
After all, no matter what might happen, we’ve come this far together.
Don’t worry about the demonic beasts becoming too dangerous for us to handle.
I am stronger than you, so I can protect you.
All you two need to do is try your best.”

“…You mean, I’m the one who has to try her best,” Dezra muttered with a lowered gaze.

After staring at her downcast appearance, Gargith slapped Dezra on the back.

“Aaargh!” Dezra cried out in pain.

“Straighten your back and stick your chest out,” Gargith advised.
“Such an unsteady and slouched posture will only tire out the mind.”

“Ugh…” Dezra groaned, unable to argue with him.

“Also, you have to believe in yourself.
That’s where true confidence lies,” Gargith said as he steadily began to stride forward.

Seeing Gargith open the path ahead of them, Cyan also followed after him without saying another word to Dezra.

“Since you’re weaker than me, don’t stand in front of me,” Cyan complained.

“Yes, young master,” came Gargith’s polite reply.

They walked like this for quite some time.
It was so dark that it was impossible to believe it could get any darker, and it became impossible to tell whether the surface they were treading on was dirt or gravel.
Just as Dezra had said while screaming, for some reason, it felt as if they were heading down inside the ground.

But it was just a feeling.
There were still a few trees surrounding them.
Whenever they tried to touch something that seemed to be shimmering in front of them, it turned out to be a tree.

…Yet, instead of reassuring them, this just made Cyan’s party even more nervous.
This was still the forest, but it didn’t feel like a forest.
If they hadn’t been able to touch the tree right in front of them, they definitely wouldn’t have been able to tell what it was.

“Should we take a short rest?” Cyan breathed out, feeling slightly light-headed.

Gargith also nodded in agreement at these words.

Although she was also dying to rest[1], Dezra didn’t feel comfortable expressing her opinion.
So she deliberately kept her mouth clamped shut and looked around at their surroundings as if surveying the location.

“…Ah…,” Dezra’s lips parted slightly as she stammered.
“…J-just now… th-that, I’m not the only one who can see that, right?”

“Are you trying to mess with me right now?” Cyan demanded angrily.

“N-no way.
J-just l-l-look over there,” Dezra continued to stammer, her face paling as she pointed her finger.

As Cyan felt irritation boil up inside him, he clenched his fists.
Apparently, this foolish chick was harboring the misconception that the next Patriarch of the main family was still afraid of ghosts.

‘Trying something at a time like this…,’ Cyan thought with a sigh as he turned to look in the direction she had pointed to.

Cyan’s expression abruptly stiffened.
Gargith, who had also turned to look, widened his eyes in shock.
Gargith immediately reached out to try and grab Cyan, but Cyan preempted Gargith by racing forward.

“Young master!” Gargith shouted after him.

But his cry couldn’t reach Cyan’s ears.
Instead, the only thing audible to Cyan was the sound of his heart beating so fast that it was almost about to burst.
White flames explosively erupted into life around Cyan’s body and flew outward from him like a mane.

Cyan’s thoughts were solely on his one and only younger sister, ‘Ciel.’

Cyan’s golden eyes grew bloodshot.
That precious sister of his was now hanging off the ground in the middle of this stark darkness.
Her body couldn’t be seen, with only her head standing out in this gloom; her eyes closed in her pale, bloodless face.

This scene caused Cyan to imagine a terrible scenario.
Demonic beasts that ate humans weren’t rare.
No, in fact, all demonic beasts could and did eat humans.
However, among them, there were some especially terrible ones who would mark their territories by hanging up what was left of the corpses of the humans they had eaten.

Could Ciel really have been eaten, leaving only her head behind?

He didn’t even want to think of this possibility.
Cyan let out a scream as he raced towards Ciel.

Whoosh!

But fortunately, he hadn’t fully lost his sanity.
Instead, at this very moment, Cyan’s head was cooler than ever.
So he was still able to react to an unexpected event with a leap forward.

‘What’s going on?’ Cyan thought as his body twisted in mid-air and saw the sword that had struck at him.

Something like black slime was clinging to its blade.
But the attack didn’t end there.
Just as he thought that the darkness in front of him seemed to be writhing, the sword shot toward Cyan once more.

He couldn’t allow himself to be cut by it.
Cyan immediately reached this judgment and raised his left arm.

Chachunk!

The vambrace wrapped around his left forearm split apart and formed a shield.

This was Gedon’s Shield, a shield that could deflect all the attacks it received into empty space.
The shield’s ability was quite broken, but it wasn’t invincible.
It was impossible to completely block an attack that surpassed the limits of the wearer’s mana.

Wooooo!

The space around them shook.
Although it had drained quite a bit of Cyan’s mana, he had succeeded in deflecting this attack from his unknown assailant.
As Cyan landed back onto the ground, he immediately took a guard stance.

‘She’s still alive,’ Cyan realized with a glance at Ciel.

Although her face was pale and bloodless, she was still breathing faintly.
If so, then everything was fine.
Cyan regained his composure and glared ahead of him.

“…Who is it? Are you a demonic beast? Or perhaps… a human?”

“It’s me.”

Cyan’s face contorted at the reply that returned from the darkness.

“…Eward?”

“Mhm.”

Although Cyan could hear his voice, he couldn’t make out Eward’s appearance.
He still didn’t know what in the world was going on.
Why was Ciel hung up like that, and why had Eward attacked him?

…But did he really not know? It was just that Cyan didn’t want to believe it.
Cyan felt such great rage that he could hardly believe that such an emotion could belong to him.
As if sympathizing with his rage, the flames that engulfed Cyan flared up in size.

Cyan growled, “You, a child of the Lionheart clan… you really have gone crazy! Do you know just how much father did to protect you—!”

Eward interrupted him, “Twins really are twins, after all.
How is it that you say the exact same things as Ciel?”

Eward still didn’t show his face.
Crouching in the darkness, he chuckled to himself.

“Eward…! If you’re feeling so self-satisfied with your crimes, then stop hiding and show yourself! You damned son of a bitch!” Cyan cursed loudly.

“But there’s no need for me to show myself,” Eward rejected his demand.

Squeak… squeeeak.

As Eward drew a pattern on the floor in red blood, he absently muttered, “I don’t really enjoy fighting.”

Cyan cursed once more, “Fuck your bullsh—”

Bang.

The sound had come from behind him.
Cyan flinched and turned to look at his rear.

The first thing he saw was the sight of Dezra, who had fallen to the floor bonelessly.

Beside her, Gargith’s giant frame was also lying collapsed.

“This fucking…,” Cyan ground out as he clutched the hilt of his sword.

Could he still rescue Ciel and escape? If so, didn’t that mean he would have to abandon Gargith and Dezra? No, in the first place, was it even possible to save anyone else from the current situation? The most important thing right now wasn’t to care about someone else, but to take care of himself.
So for now, he should run away on his own….

This wasn’t a situation where he had a lot of time to think.
Cyan forcefully cut short his train of thought and leaped forward.
With Ciel, Gargith, and Dezra, no matter what he tried to come up with, it would be impossible to run away with all three of them at once.

As the next Patriarch, could Cyan really abandon his younger sister and his vassals to run away all by himself? That was impossible.
Thus, his sudden charge wasn’t meant to be an escape attempt.

“Hector!” Cyan shouted as he swung his sword.

Hector Lionheart raised his hands with a bitter smile on his face.

“It’s so much harder to subdue someone without killing them,” Hector muttered.

Hector’s body tensed as he lowered his stance.
As Cyan swung his sword, Hector ducked beneath it.
The sword’s trajectory twisted mid-swing.
Hector’s eyes sparked as he brushed the falling sword aside with his shoulder.

Pang!

Hector’s hand caught the blade.

‘He caught it even though it’s covered in sword-force?’ Cyan thought as his eyes widened in shock.

With his hands clapped together, Hector held the sword firmly so that it couldn’t move.
Cyan quickly released the sword and tried to retreat.

But Hector wouldn’t let Cyan go off so easily.
By the time Cyan had taken two steps back, his opponent had taken four steps forward.
Like this, Cyan and Hector’s bodies collided.

Tching!

The aura shield protecting Cyan’s body was shattered.

“Gagh…!” Cyan gasped as his body bent forward at the waist.

Bam… bam bam bam!

Hector’s fists smashed through his armor and pounded his solar plexus.

Baaam!

His left elbow then slammed down on Cyan’s spine, causing Cyan’s eyes to roll back in his head.

“Phew,” Hector let out a sigh he had been holding back.

His hands stung as he picked up Cyan, who had fallen face-first onto the ground, and swung him over his shoulders.
A glance down at his hands revealed that they were covered in blood.

“Indeed, as expected of the main family’s young master,” Hector muttered in appreciation as he clenched and unclenched his blood-stained hands.

It was true that he had resorted to barbaric means in order to subdue Cyan quickly, but to think that his hands would become this damaged… Had he really bled so much?

With these thoughts, Hector headed deeper into the darkness.

“Is it going to take much longer?” Hector asked impatiently.

“Not too long, but it still needs some time,” Eward answered.

“Hm… I suppose it would be unreasonable to expect you to control that with your own power, right?” Hector eventually conceded.

Eward broke into laughter, “Haha….
If it were possible for me to do something like that… then I wouldn’t even need your help.

“Well, that’s true,” Hector agreed.
“Would you like me to help out with an earnest prayer? If not, you can also tell me if there’s a simpler method.”

“Prayers are something that only apply to gods and Demon Kings,” Eward corrected.

“Heh…” Hector shook his head with a huff as he looked down at Cyan.
“If that’s the case, then I’ll be back later.”

“Where are you going?” Eward asked.

“Young master Eugene is approaching,” Hector revealed.

Squeak… squeak.

Eward’s hand, which was still in the middle of drawing the pattern, paused for a few moments.

“Can you subdue him?” Eward confirmed.

“It would be easier to kill him,” Hector said uncertainly.

Eward recommended, “Try to subdue him if it’s possible.”

“I’ll give it my best shot,” Hector promised.
“In a place like this, I might still be able to subdue young master Cyan, but it will be difficult for me to subdue young master Eugene.
Because all our plans will be ruined if you also get caught up in the fight.”

“What if I help you?” Eward offered.

“Just keep praying… no, requesting,” Hector waved off the offer with a grin as he turned away.
“So that the other Captains won’t be able to interfere.”

1.
The Korean version of this use of ‘dying’ is ‘like a chimney.’ It might be similar to the English use of being ‘stoked’ to do something, which has to do with stoking a fire.
☜