LIGHTNOVELONLINE Chapter 09 - Humans Are–
Chapter 09 – Humans Are–
Bastille’s body was slowly recovering, but in the process, he had grown much thinner.
Leonhart, who had barely managed to stop the bleeding using divine power, looked at Bastille, who stood silently with his eyes closed, and said, “You didn’t have to go this far for me….”
“Because we’re comrades.”
Leonhart was honestly surprised by his curt reply.
Bastille rarely expressed emotions. The only emotions he typically displayed were anger, regret, anguish, and despair.
It was unthinkable that someone like Bastille, who was like a bundle of negative emotions, would say something as warm as comradeship.
Leonhart prided himself on reading people. As a high-ranking noble and someone who had lived through the extreme conditions of a decades-long war against the demons, he had seen it all.
Political scheming, betrayal and deceit. Conspiracies, slander, hope, and death.
After being worn down and giving up on humanity many times, he eventually reached a state of detachment.
Although he wasn’t a god and couldn’t claim to know everything, he had a 100% accuracy rate when it came to categorizing human behavior into broad types.
But Bastille didn’t fit into any of those categories.
Shaking off his thoughts, Leonhart spoke again.
“Crazy bastards. They just started shooting. Isn’t this supposed to be South Korea?”
“1.5 kilometers away….”
Bastille examined the bullet holes left in the wall.
“Can you stop them?”
At his question, Leonhart shook his head.
“No. It’s impossible to do it alone.”
“What if we had surveillance magic and equipment?”
“That’s a foolish question.”
Bastille slowly nodded as he watched Leonhart laugh.
“We’ll need to secure capable mages and magical gear first.”
“Luckily, we’ve bought ourselves some time, thanks to the Tower Master of Einshaten being on our side. That guy was really terrified.”
The natural enemies of humanity, the Evils of Eclipse.
Bastille was a being who had reigned like a demon lord in the southern regions, feeding on those creatures.
With a bitter smile, Bastille said, “Once they go back and think for a bit, they’ll soon realize my weakness. With just two snipers and an endless supply of bullets, this weakened body of mine could be incapacitated in no time.”
“But they can’t kill you.”
“….”
“That’s what scares them. If they can’t kill you, it means they don’t know when you’ll return to seek revenge. That Judah guy seems like the type who’s obsessed with survival.”
Leonhart stood up from the sofa. His legs wobbled, still unhealed, but he stood straight without leaning on anything, ignoring the pain.
At that moment, a few thugs rushed into the reception room.
“Commander! Are you alright?” Jeong Yangdeuk shouted as he took in the blood-soaked room.
“You figured it out pretty quickly.”
“Well, the glass in the lobby suddenly shattered, so we went to investigate… Who the hell were those guys?”
Leonhart spoke to Jeong Yangdeuk. “Inform the intelligence department. From now on, be especially wary if someone from Xariot shows up. It seems like they’re after the same thing as us.”
“The monsters?”
Leonhart nodded.
“Anyway, handle things as we discussed earlier. While we’re away, make sure even the smallest matters are decided through meetings and recorded.”
“I understand.”
“And don’t act like punks. You’re not thugs anymore; you’re knights now.”
Jeong Yangdeuk glanced at Bastille.
He always felt uncomfortable around him, perhaps because he had wronged him in the past, but Bastille seemed completely indifferent.
When Jeong Yangdeuk looked at Leonhart, he felt he understood what he meant when he spoke about knights.
But Bastille…
Whenever Jeong Yangdeuk looked at him, he couldn’t help but think of a demon, not a knight.
As Leonhart and Bastille left the reception room, Jeong Yangdeuk bowed his head toward them.
—
The two of them were drinking in front of Leonhart’s convenience store.
Dahye, the evening part-timer, came outside and said, “Manager, are you drinking again today?”
“Again, you say.”
“You drank yesterday too. Oh, right! Mincheol oppa was saying that some gangsters came by earlier, and it was total chaos, right? But why did the gangsters clean up the store and repair the windows?”
“You didn’t give them any attitude, did you?”
“Nope. They were actually really polite, cleaning up every shard of glass.”
“Then it’s fine.”
Leonhart chuckled as he downed his soju.
“Ah, see, strong alcohol is the best for wounds. Whether you pour it or drink it, it seeps into the wound just the same.”
Bastille gave a bitter smile.
“Doctors must love that theory.”
“You mean undertakers?”
Dahye, who was nearby, scolded him.
“Manager! If you’re hurt, you should go to the hospital. Do you know how shocked I was earlier? Your flesh was torn open, and you asked me for disinfectant!”
“It was fine before, but I lost my footing earlier and it reopened.”
“What were you doing to get hurt like that? You didn’t fight with those gangsters, did you? That guy… he looks scary.”
Dahye had completely misremembered the events of last night.
In her mind, Leonhart had heroically fought off the gangsters and chased them out of the store.
She didn’t even think of it as reality. Her brain seemed unable to accept the true memory of how Bastille had drained their life energy, turning them into mummies.
“If you’re bored sitting alone at the counter, bring a glass and sit here. I’ll pay you properly.”
“No way! That’s not allowed.”
“It’s the owner’s decision.”
“Nooo! But I can’t!”
Even as she protested, Dahye had already grabbed a paper soju cup and chopsticks for the snacks, locking the door behind her.
She even carefully hung up a sign that read, ‘Sorry, we’re temporarily closed,’ before taking a seat.
“See, you do love drinking.”
“I like the atmosphere, not the alcohol.”
Despite her words, she downed her first cup of soju without leaving a drop and then looked at Leonhart.
“By the way, are you really the owner of this convenience store?”
“Yeah.”
“I didn’t know that. You’ve always kept a low profile.”
“What’s the point of bragging about that?”
“Everyone is busy boasting about themselves, even mixing in some lies.”
“They’re doing it to impress you.”
“Hehe, I guess I am a bit pretty.”
“I hired you just for your looks, and now I’m suffering for it.”
“That’s too much!”
“I’m joking.”
After finishing her second drink, Dahye refilled Bastille’s empty glass.
“Bastille… is it? Is that your name?”
Bastille nodded.
“Are you a foreigner? Or is that just a nickname? Come to think of it, what’s your relationship with the manager? You seem to know each other.”
Despite the barrage of questions, Bastille remained silent, simply lifting his glass. Leonhart answered on his behalf.
“He’s a comrade.”
“A comrade? What game do you guys play?”
“Leonhart, the Golden Lion of the Northern Wall. From now on, call me Leonhart.”
“…Were you gaming buddies? The Golden Lion of the Northern Wall… So what do we call him?”
“He’s the master of the Tower of Einshaten.”
“Pfft.”
“Don’t laugh. Do you know how important that title is?”
“Sorry. I’ve heard about it from my friends. They say being a lord of something like that costs more than running an actual castle, with weapons costing billions.”
After brushing it off as a joke, Leonhart spoke to Dahye again.
“Anyway, the world is going to become more dangerous.”
“Have you been watching the news too, Manager?”
“What news?”
“They say some kind of monster appeared at Eunbuk Station. It was a mutant caused by radiation exposure, but luckily, the government task force took care of it quickly. It’s been all over the news today.”
“Really?”
“Don’t tell me you didn’t know?”
“I mean, I knew a little. That’s what I was going to talk about.”
“Isn’t it scary? Thankfully, I don’t take the subway often….”
“It’s not just the subway. Soon, even the night will become dangerous.”
“I’m always careful. Oh, right, you probably don’t know about this news either.”
Dahye pulled out her phone and placed it on the table.
— “Seoul Aquarium, the largest in the country, suddenly closed! Radiation monster suspected!”
“They say the government is responding to it in a similar way to the subway monster. Police have cordoned off the area, and civilians aren’t allowed in. There’s even a rumor that some suspicious people, not military, went into the building.”
Leonhart asked, “Is the Seoul Aquarium underground, by any chance?”
“Come on, Manager. You really don’t keep up with anything. It’s under the Dragon Superior Tower.”
At the mention of the Dragon Superior Tower, Leonhart whistled.
That building was the third tallest in the world, a landmark in Yongsan. A tall building meant that the underground space would be just as large.
The monsters that hadn’t yet undergone the process of “Eclipse” would first start taking over underground spaces.
“This drinking session is over.”
“What? Already?”
“You shouldn’t be out this late.”
“I’m twenty years old. And it’s only 7 p.m. It’s still bright outside.”
“I’ll give you money for the fare. Take a taxi home. Got it?”
“Oh, well, I’ll accept that.”
Dahye beamed as she saw the fifty-thousand-won bill Leonhart placed on the table.
—
The redeveloped Yongsan looked completely different from before.
High-rise buildings, envisioned as a futuristic city, stood side by side like gleaming glass fortresses stretching toward the sky.
At the pinnacle of these towering skyscrapers was the Dragon Superior Tower.
Bastille paused not far from the building.
“Night… is coming.”
Anyone who had lived in Revenheim would hate the night.
The Evils of Eclipse, who despised the sun, became fully active at night. Even though they could blot out sunlight with their eclipse, there was still a difference between the complete darkness of night and the faint halo of daylight.
“There’s no way to like the night,” Leonhart said.
Bastille nodded in agreement.
Just then, the ground around the Dragon Superior Tower began to tremble, and several massive sinkholes opened up.
The areas that collapsed were where police and reporters had been gathered, surrounding the building.
Monsters shaped like humans began to pour out of the darkness beneath the ground. They snatched screaming people by their legs, dragging them into the shadows.
The police had no effective means of dealing with them. Except for a few who swung their batons, most officers fled in all directions, just like the reporters.
What made the surreal scene even more vivid was the smell of blood and the stench of death.
“This world is so peaceful,” Leonhart clicked his tongue in disapproval.
Policemen standing unarmed beside the building, which was now being overrun by the monsters, and reporters still holding cups of coffee—it was a foolish scene of senseless death.
Ignoring the chaos, the two leapt into one of the sinkholes.
“Let’s go straight for the heart of the eclipse. If they’re coming up to the surface like this, it means the maze of the eclipse has already formed.”
As Leonhart said this, he glanced at Bastille. And then he shuddered.
Bastille’s body was already throbbing with excitement for the feast to come. His usual expressionless face now seemed meaningless as every muscle in his body trembled with joy, exuding a dark aura.
He was ready to devour everything.
Every last monster.
Watching this silent frenzy, Leonhart felt both fear and awe at the same time.