Chapter 248
He was afraid of death.
It was not the pain or the loss of consciousness that frightened him.
What he feared was being unable to continue pursuing magical achievements.
So, at a rather late age, he began searching for a way to overcome death.
He searched through forbidden books that his masters and fellow priests had forbidden him from reading, and he killed anyone who got in his way.
Whenever he found that a forbidden book had nothing to do with death, he felt incredibly empty.
After more than a decade of research that was almost madness, by the time no one remained around him, he finally realized something.
Anything that did not exist in this world could escape the world's law of death.
It felt like finding a path in an endless ocean without a single landmark.
He spent another decade searching for an existence that did not belong to this world.
And finally, he discovered a forbidden book that allowed him to connect himself with an existence from another world.
Without the slightest hesitation, he summoned that otherworldly existence and merged his body with it, an existence that had no concept of death.
At last.
He had obtained a body that could continue accumulating magical achievements forever.
After that, he continued his research.
He created magic without distinguishing between the benefits and dangers of its results, enjoying nothing but the achievements of his own magic.
Countless beings condemned him during the process, but he did not care in the slightest.
Having learned of the world beyond this world through an otherworldly plant and transcended death, the concepts of this world were nothing but trivial things to him.
After all, it was obvious that values would change as time passed.
An assistant approached him with an urgent expression.
His laboratory, which no one had dared to touch for hundreds of years, had been destroyed by a human intruder.
The moment he heard those words, his long-still heart seemed to sink.
Of course, he had kept his truly important magical research records somewhere else.
But seeing everything he had accumulated being destroyed was still shocking.
Even after transcending death, had there ever been a time in hundreds of years when his mind had been shaken this badly?
He could not possibly remain rational.
He told his subordinate that eliminating that man here was the most reasonable choice.
But in truth, he had only come to the front lines to take revenge.
He wanted to make that man understand the pain of losing something more precious than his own life.
Losing hundreds of years' worth of research was more painful than death.
It felt as though his very flesh was being torn apart while he was still alive.
However, the gray-haired human man had predicted all of it.
He had known how he would act after losing his laboratory and had moved to the northern front in advance to wait for him.
A deep sense of frustration and defeat that he had never experienced before crushed his soul.
No one in this world had ever made him feel so miserable!
In the end, he was willing to accept even his own death as he made his final move, wanting to put a crack in that arrogant face that intended to deny everything he had achieved.
But.
The seeds of the plague he had spread.
Above them, a faint red sword aura shot into the sky before falling down.
Baaang!
It looked similar to the sword strike of the First Legion Commander, but there was something different about it.
It cleanly erased the final move he had prepared.
“……”
His final counterattack had collapsed helplessly before that arrogant human.
It made all the years he had spent building everything feel meaningless.
He had prided himself on being closer than anyone alive to the laws of all things and the ultimate realm of magic.
Was… all of it meaningless?
The frustration and despair he thought he had forgotten tore his body and soul apart.
“Graaaah… Aaaaaaaaah!!”
He screamed until it felt as though his throat would tear apart.
His completely hoarse voice expressed the despair of that man, Kacerto Rienze.
“It seems… Brother succeeded.”
“……I-it’s over.”
Penelope spoke as though she was bewildered by his unbelievably ugly downfall.
“No.”
Romina raised the corners of her lips as she looked at him screaming while clutching his head.
Her amber eyes were raised eerily, filled with both anger and ecstasy.
“Ro, Romina?”
“It starts from now.”
Glenn woke up on the bed in his private room.
When he realized that it was inside the Ovenue Fortress he had been trying to protect, Glenn let out a deep sigh of relief.
I guess I succeeded.
When he recalled his final memory, Glenn remembered that his vision had gone completely black at the moment he brought down his sword.
It meant he had squeezed out every last bit of strength he had.
“Well, of course.”
He had used both gray rings twice.
On top of that, he had used holy demonic power twice while in that state.
It was almost impressive that he had not died from the aftermath of using those skills.
“……How long was I lying down?”
Glenn muttered while looking at the ceiling.
“Half a day.
It’s dawn now.”
He had wondered if anyone was there and called out.
As expected, Romina, who had been guarding his side, answered in a slightly sulky voice.
“Half a day…….
Considering how crazy you are, you woke up pretty quickly.”
The healing effect of the guardian spirit's blessing that he had received from the Banshee Queen must have been quite powerful.
But.
Glenn turned his eyes toward Romina.
Unexpectedly, she looked calm as she read a small book in her hands.
“……You’re surprisingly calm?”
“What are you talking about?”
Normally, she would have buried her face in his chest and made a huge fuss.
“I’m awake.”
“Yeah.
It doesn’t look like you’re sleep-talking.”
At the time, he had thought her behavior was just fussing over him.
But now that she was not worrying so much and was acting this calmly, he felt a little disappointed.
“……Sigh, you’ve changed.”
“What are you talking about?”
“You used to shed tears and tell me never to do something like that again.”
Romina frowned.
“You should have listened to me back then.
And you said that even if you died, Luceria could revive you with some miracle of resurrection, didn’t you?”
“That’s true, but it feels a little disappointing when you stop worrying about me after worrying so much before.”
“……You should feel disappointed.”
Regardless of what he said.
Romina turned her eyes back to the book.
“……It’s not like you’ll stop pushing yourself just because I or the others tell you not to.
More importantly, it’s true that there was no other way if you didn’t do that.”
“If I keep worrying more, I’m the only one who loses.
So I’m trying to become calmer.
Just like you said, if I don’t like it, I can become stronger and make sure something like that never happens again.”
The hand holding the book trembled slightly.
“So… I’m sorry.
It’s my fault.”
