Chapter 370: 195. The Boundary Between Life and Death -5 (Part One)

Translated by A Passing Wanderer

Edited by RED

Hjorth screeched deafeningly in sheer agony. It thrashed viciously from the pain as the blade of light pierced cleanly through its body.

Even though the magicians had hastily constructed defensive barriers around the creature, its violent thrashing shattered them all and began destroying the refugee camp.

When their spells were forcibly cancelled like that, the magicians experienced reverse Mana flow, causing them to vomit copious amounts of blood and fall down from their horses.

White, his face covered in cold sweat, urgently distanced himself away from the Mud Snake Hjorth.

“Really now, we went through hell trying to traverse the desert and burning lands, but we now run into the very culprit responsible for ruining our homeland in this place?”

White began gritting his teeth, and almost at the same time, Paladins began rushing out of the nearby forest.

Charlotte discovered him and looked quite surprised.. “Your Majesty!”

“Is that you, Charlotte? Does that mean Allen is somewhere, too? Well, how has he been doing lately, then?!” White greeted her and didn’t waste too much time catching up. Even as he did so, he made sure to keep his eyes locked on the body of Hjorth.

He urgently roared out. “Sorry about this, but our side also has quite a few refugees as well. We’d like you to protect them, since the number of injured are…”

“His Majesty the Holy Emperor has been incapacitated, sire!”

White instantly became stupefied by her words and stared at Charlotte. His eyes drifted over to the large tent that Hjorth had been trying to attack earlier.

The gigantic Mud Snake’s violent thrashing had torn and shoved aside the tent’s flaps, revealing the occupants within. White was now granted the full view of the Saintess Alice, diligently praying while holding the hand of the unconscious Allen, as well as the shivering Laurence desperately holding onto Roy with his whole body.

“Wha…?!”

“We need to protect His Majesty the Holy Emperor!”

White couldn’t quite figure out what was going on here, but Charlotte’s shout brought him back to his senses.

“…I see.” He turned his head and glared at Hjorth.

The Mud Snake had finally freed itself from the gravity barrier, and raised its head up high to let out a thunderous shriek. It glared murderously at White, who had managed to inflict a wound on the snake’s body.

-You bastard! A measly little insect dares to injure me?!-

“Oh hey, you even know how to talk, huh?” White quipped while yanking out his physical sword.

**

There was a boulder floating on the ocean of blood. Sitting on it was a grim reaper hidden under a black robe and hood, its hand firmly holding the large scythe and its glowing eyes burning eerily away.

A small boat passed by in front of the boulder. A skeleton clad in a tattered robe, its stomach bulging under the fabric, was silently working the oar to make this boat move forward.

The darkness was chased away by a lantern attached to the passing boat, and as it drifted past the boulder, the grim reaper silently fell into slumber.

Once it toppled over, the skeleton began resting its hand on its chest as if it could finally relax somewhat, although it no longer had a heart and could only feel its bare ribcage by doing so.

The skeleton’s old habit from when she was still alive was to blame for this gesture.

-Everything is alright now. You can come out.-

Held in the skeleton’s embrace and hidden under the fabric, Roy heard her and cautiously stepped aside. When he looked around, though, all he could see was the pitch-black darkness surrounding him.

He couldn’t see anything at all. Even sound itself seemed to have vanished as well, causing a seedling of fear to re-sprout within his heart.

Wondering about something, Roy peeked over the side of the boat at the ocean of blood. He could see souls flowing towards somewhere like streams of water, below the clear scarlet surface.

Skeletons were roaming the depths as well. They suddenly raised their heads and met Roy’s gaze. Their eyeballs glowed ominously as they tried to reach out towards him.

Roy gasped out in shock and stumbled back, and the skeleton accompanying him quickly grasped his shoulders. -That is the ocean of blood, child. If you look for too long, the dead beings will drag you under.-

“This place… it really is Hell.”

-Indeed, it is. A place where the sinners gather to pay for their crimes. It’s the same story for me as well, child.-

“Auntie, you…” Since the skeleton spoke in a woman’s voice, Roy assumed it had to be a woman. He looked at her straight and asked, “…What kind of a crime did you commit?”

-I committed a truly horrible crime, child. I was blinded by greed and ended up harming my own family,- the skeleton replied in a hollow voice. -And now, the God of Death, Yudai, has entrusted me with a task that will ultimately purify my sin.-

“Task? And purify?”

-Yes. It is to guide the souls that had been purified, from here in Purgatory to the location connected to the Heavenly World.-

“For how long are you supposed to do that?”

-Around three hundred years.-

Roy’s mouth clamped shut. She needed to stay in Purgatory for that long?

“…Isn’t it difficult?”

-Well, it is the price of my sins, after all.- The skeleton spoke as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

“…Can you help me, though? I need to go to the Heavenly World right now, you see!”

-Although it is not allowed, normally speaking…- the Skeleton replied in a sad voice, -…I shall specially help you.-

“Sorry?”

-It’s been a long time since I was able to chat with someone like this, after all. It’s a gift of gratitude from me, child.-

The skeleton began working the oar. The boat quietly drifted along through the darkness, and a short while later, some kind of a wall could be seen in the distance.

“What is… that?”

Roy’s brows shot up high. His eyes were now taking in the sight of a transparent boundary line up ahead. Just beyond that was a beach filled with pristine white sand, as well as Allen sitting down on the ground and an old man standing next to him.

-There you go, child. You must hurry and go on.-

The skeleton grabbed Roy and carefully pushed him beyond the boundary line. But something else also happened at the same time.

-Halt!-

The skeleton turned her head around to look. A grim reaper was flying above the surface of the ocean of blood, directly heading in her direction. It raised its scythe up while its eyeballs burned angrily.

-You are not allowed to send a living soul across!-

-Hurry, child! You must leave at once!-

The skeleton pushed Roy across the boundary line and almost at the same time, chains shot out from seemingly nowhere to tightly bind her.

“Auntie!”

-How dare you break the law governing the officers of death?!-

The grim reaper’s scythe stabbed right through the skeleton’s body. She cried out in pain.

The grim reaper didn’t stop there, however, and began glaring at Roy, now standing on the beach beyond the boundary line. When the boy faltered, the undead reached out towards him.

Its bony hand began digging past the transparent boundary line. Even though its hand caught on fire, it still struggled mightily to grab Roy.

-Hurry, child! Run!-

Roy stumbled back. “Your name, auntie! Please tell me your name!”

The skeleton’s eyeballs grew wider just then. Her jawbone clattered as she told him her name.

Roy engraved that name in his heart and shouted back at her, “Thank you for everything!”

When the boy ran away from him, the grim reaper had to withdraw its hand. It plunged its burning hand under the ocean’s surface, and all the injuries were healed in an instant.

The grim reaper was clearly enraged as it cast its glare at the skeleton.

-What you’ve done today deserves a severe punishment. I declare that another one hundred years will be added to your sentence!-

Four hundred years…

The skeleton now needed to spend that additional amount of time in Purgatory to pay for her sins. Despite the grim reaper’s ruling, though, the skeleton didn’t try to argue. She simply stared at Roy getting further away, her hands slowly reaching towards him.

-Go. Hurry to your destination, child.-

A tear of blood quietly trickled down from her eye socket.

-My child, Ruppel Olfolse…-

**

(TL: In 1st person POV.)

“I’m in a precarious position, you say?” I tilted my head side to side at what Kelt said just now.

“Indeed. The proof is with how your ‘body’ is stuck in this place, which is kind of halfway inside the boundary line.” Kelt replied, then grinned deeply. “In any case. I’m sure it’s rather chaotic back on the other side, isn’t it?”

He spoke in an amused voice, as if we were discussing something happening in a distant foreign country or something. This dude, he used to be the guardian of the entire continent once upon a time, so I didn’t quite get why he was making such an amused smile right now.

“Yeah, it’s a complete mess, grandfather. The Kingdom of Frants has been isolated all by itself, while both Aihrance and Lome have fallen. As for me, I was in the middle of running away only to have a throwdown with a giant named Surtr and ended up in this half-dead state, as you can see.” At the end of my reply, I shrugged my shoulders.

“That… sounds rather entertaining.” Kelt sighed and made a rueful face.

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