EIITAB - Chapter 136 < Is Also Here >
Even if it is Trampled and Broken
Hestia couldn't see anything.
Just like the dark space she stayed in before drinking Silphium poison and going to the Land of Rest to meet El Rafa.
“Hestia.”
Aslan stretched out his arm and wrapped his arms around her shoulders.
With his warmth touching her skin directly, Hestia was finally able to calm down.
"It's okay. You're stuck with me."
Hestia swallowed her dry saliva and nodded her head.
The two paused from going any further.
It was impossible to rekindle the fire because there was no flint or anything.
However, she was reluctant to turn around and go outside.
'Couldn't I use divine power?'
Her divine power had a soft golden glow.
It was so clear that even ordinary people could see it with the naked eye.
Hestia stared into the dark side, concentrating a little on what she was thinking. Soon her dark-adapted eyes could discern what looked like a thin membrane floating in the air.
It may not be as bright as a torch, but it may be enough to ensure visibility.
'Let's at least give it a try.'
That was when Hestia, having made up her mind, tried to infuse the barrier with more of her power.
".....Huh?"
The golden light of the barrier sparkled and then faded.
Hestia quickly focused her powers to understand the situation, and she soon realized that her divine power had disappeared as if it had been sucked somewhere else.
'This.....?'
This unpleasant sensation was something she was familiar with.
At that moment, a voice came from not far away.
"You've come, this far."
It was a familiar voice.
As soon as she realized who the main character was, the wick of the torch caught fire and burned again.
Soon, a large clearing was revealed where the two people, Hestia and Aslan, were standing, and a woman sitting leaning against the wall caught her eye.
Her red hair hung down to the floor, and she smiled brightly at them with a shadowy face.
Hestia, who was quietly staring at the scene, spoke her name in a low voice as if she would run out of breath at any moment.
“Anette.”
She was looking up at Hestia and Aslan, holding the head of a skeletal bull beast. And that too with her red lips pulled up into a smile.
Aslan clicked his tongue.
"You were here as expected."
He slightly moved Hestia behind him and covered her body.
Then, without taking his eyes off Anette, he slowly placed the torch he was holding on one side of the floor.
He raised his upper body again and naturally placed his hand on the sword sheath hanging on his waist.
Behind him, Hestia continued to look at Anette.
She couldn't shake the feeling that Anette's relaxed appearance somehow seemed like she was made up of evil.
If so, that means Anette is nervous.
Hestia finally opened her mouth.
"What on earth are you?"
"Well..."
Anette answered, humming as if she were about to sing.
"Wouldn't anyone know? Even I don't know what I am?"
Hestia and Aslan frowned at the same time at the pun-like story, without worrying about who would go first.
Anette, who was laughing at the sight, spoke vaguely.
"Saintess Hestia. I don't ask for much."
Hestia pursed her lips.
She didn't answer anything and didn't return her question, but Anette continued to say what she had to say as if it didn't matter.
"Give me your strength."
"...... What?"
Hestia's brow furrowed even more as if she had heard a ridiculous story.
"All I need is your strength. So, I went to the south, believing only the name I heard in passing."
Anette grinned.
"And for once, I achieved my dream. Once I made your power mine, everything became so easy that it was frustrating."
Anette's words were incoherent.
If Aslan had not told her the story he heard from Dulcinea in advance, she would not have understood it at all.
Anette hugged and stroked the bull-like corpse of the beast even more strongly.
"This is my mother."
The blue eyes looking at the dead demon beast looked very sad.
Meanwhile, Hestia and Aslan couldn't believe what she said and raised their voices and asked back.
"What?"
"What on earth do you mean?"
The two people naturally scanned the appearance of the bull demon beast with their eyes.
That thing was a beast, and Anette had a completely human appearance.
There is no resemblance anywhere, so how can they be mother and daughter?
Anette opened her mouth again as if she knew what the two were wondering about.
"They call it a mutation. I am that kind of thing. So I don't know why I was born like this."
She laughed helplessly.
Hestia and Aslan secretly exchanged glances with each other and swallowed their saliva.
Anette continued.
"I just wanted warmth, but no one was willing to be there. Only him... He alone tried to reach out to me, but after years of seeing and experiencing things firsthand, I ended up avoiding him."
It was clear that she was referring to the long-dead Count Penlot.
It seemed clear that she had feelings for Count Penlot.
Hestia, who was quietly listening to her story, asked.
"You mean Count Penlot? If he was so precious to you, why did you steal the Northern Spring? You said you wanted to fit In with everyone, but why did you push people into suffering? Why did Count Penlot, who gave you your name and loved you so much....."
"I didn't want to do that either!"
Anette let out a terrifying scream. Her roar echoed off the walls of the cave.
"What on earth would you know!"
Anette's eyes became red as all the veins burst.
"It's a topic where I can't even use my powers properly!"
Anette, who had gritted her teeth, soon relaxed her strength.
After laughing vainly, her face hardened again and she spoke in a cold voice.
"The moment I was born, I had to be the closest to death."
Anette stroked the fur of the bull's body with her trembling fingertips.
"I came into this world sucking up all the life force of my mother who gave birth to me."
"What is that....."
"I absorb everything. If it touches me, it dies, so even animals and demonic beasts are afraid of me."
Anette stared at Hestia with red eyes.
"Don't you understand? I don't understand myself either. If it's going to be like this, why were I born?"
When Anette became excited and raised her voice, the temperature around her suddenly dropped.
"Do you even know the loneliness and solitude of being born wrong?"
Anette, who had been grinding her teeth, suddenly laughed loudly, almost like a crazy person.
"Then I realized. No, I guess I've found a way?"
"What method are you talking about?"
"A way to release the life force I stole from someone else in my own way."
Anette stretched out her arms. She turned her palm down and gave it a moment of force, causing a flower to quickly bloom on the dry floor.
But the strange phenomenon did not last long.
This is because as soon as Anette closed her hand, it withered again.
Since it was happening below her, Anette must have been aware of the situation, but she pretended not to see it.
"If no one can be by my side, I just have to create an environment where that can happen."
Hestia raised her voice, her face frozen.
"That is sophistry. Actually, you know that too, right? I can't live like that forever."
Hestia realized the reason why El Rafa was so intent on preventing the second Great Wave by using herself as his representative.
What Anette was thinking now was very young and reckless.
If all life force is taken away like that, in the end, no living thing will be able to survive on this earth.
If that happened, Anette would be alone again, but she felt frustrated because it seemed like she was so blinded by her immediate loneliness that she didn't want to see it.
Hestia tried to remind her of that, but Anette had already fallen into stubbornness.
"Anette, listen to me for a moment...."
With a strong swipe, she cut off Hestia's waist.
"I don't need anything else. I just want to save my mother."
Her blue eyes, deeper than usual, looked straight at Hestia as if her tears were welling up.
"As long as I don't touch it, it's okay. I don't want anything like that anymore. So just.... I wish I could just stay alive. I don't need anyone else."
Anette kept repeating her stupid words.
"The only thing that will love me blindly is blood. At least My mother won't leave me or hate me. She won't look at me with disdain! Because she gave birth to me!"
She was engulfed in madness and even evoked fear.
"So I decided to steal all the other life force and pour it into my mother."
Anette's gaze once again turned to the bull who was lying on her thigh.
"You guys take a look at this too."
She smiled brightly, like someone filled with joy, and caught the attention of Hestia and Aslan.
"You opened your eyes."
As soon as Anette finished speaking, the bull's carcass' eyelids lifted.
However, the pupils of the eyes were open. So, of course, it was out of focus and just looked empty.
"Whew. This is really crazy. It's not someone I can communicate with."
Aslan, who had been silently listening to Anette, let out a long sigh.
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