NOVEL WEB Chapter 154
The wolf, trapped in the world of illusions, had no idea how much time had passed in there.
Maybe it was less than a second, or maybe eons had gone by.
In the continuity where time was unrecognizable, the wolf had to fight against all sorts of things.
A world where purple butterflies flew.
Sometimes, the butterflies became monsters, and at other times, they turned into weapons that threatened the wolf. They could also become magic, transform into unknown mystiques, and sometimes, even change the very landscape of the world.
The world of void twisted into glaciers, then deserts, creating a world turned upside down.
Gravity reversed, and as the moon sank, the wolf found itself facing a monster it had never seen before, deep in the abyss.
As the wolf calmly counted the moments, it suddenly felt a rush of urgency and could no longer do so.
The situation was growing increasingly dire. Countless illusions loomed closer, the world itself pressed in to kill it. Who wouldn’t despair in such circumstances?
As it consumed everything, even its once steadfast mind began to blur, losing definition and understanding.
All that kept it tethered were the trials it had overcome and the evidence of its perseverance.
But if something is alive, it eventually wears down.
It rusts, rots, and decays.
In the eternity of illusions, the wolf was no exception.
Gradually, despair loomed, and the illusions whispered constantly to give up.
“It wouldn’t be bad to just sit down here. If you fall and give up, it’ll be easier.”
The wolf agreed with those words.
In fact, there was nothing wrong with that sentiment.
It was the answer that had fallen into this world after countless thoughts.
In a world destined for destruction, wouldn’t it be somewhat acceptable to collapse and die quietly here? To meet a death free of pain… At that moment, those thoughts turned into an irresistibly strong temptation that ensnared the wolf.
…And so, the wolf was crumbling.
Dropped into an inexplicable world, frustration was swelling up.
—Not now, but a little further back in time.
When it almost died at Hong Yu-ri’s hands, that was when its fury first erupted.
Should I just give up and let it all go… such thoughts crossed its mind.
No matter how positively it tried to perceive things, it had faced the threat of death too suddenly too many times, and its very identity as a human started to waver. The bleakness of feeling isolated as if it were the only one cut off.
In that state, what barely held on to the wolf was ironically the voice of the system that had brought it here.
…Could that possibly be true?
The wolf gritted its teeth.
The void that had been hesitating, acting according to its blurry self and will, surged once again.
Everything was just a trigger.
In the end, it was the wolf itself that chose, acted, and made it this far.
If it was going to stay down here, it should have collapsed way earlier.
The wolf wouldn’t allow despair.
Reacting to that indomitable spirit, the void swelled even more.
Endlessly inflating void — as the promise to consume everything without a trace was etched once more, the wolf’s will was reforged.
—The illusions transformed back into purple butterflies, and the world of illusions, a collection of those butterflies, slowly began to vanish under the watchful gaze of the wolf’s red eyes.
What filled those eyes was determination.
As the devourer, the will to consume everything flared, the void swelled endlessly until it became large enough to cover the false world, engulfing all the butterflies that formed the illusion’s world.
***
What greeted the wolf, having consumed the world of illusions, was nothing but bloodstains. With its keen sense of smell, the wolf recognized it as the blood of the Butterfly of Covenant, realizing it had not yet dried.
It wasn’t an eternity. In reality, it was probably less than ten minutes.
‘Right now…’
It could still chase after it.
Where it had gone was painfully obvious. The wolf ran toward the distant Butterfly Castle, and it would soon catch up to the Butterfly of Covenant.
Bound by chains, Anela dropped her head in resignation.
The wolf, having descended before the Butterfly of Covenant, flared its red gaze.
In that moment, many emotions crossed the Butterfly’s eyes.
Complex, unreadable emotions… As the wolf saw those emotions, it came to a halt.
It had no choice but to halt.
The purple city, the Purple Square, was tainted black.
A city turning pitch dark. Before that, the wolf clenched its teeth.
…In the end, she did come.
The prime of the dissident — the leader of the traitors. The master of the fifth… No, the first square, the Black Square, the Master of All Things.
Also, the founder who spread magic in this world.
***
The only sound that echoed was that of a girl walking, darkly staining the purple city reminiscent of a black night.
Just by appearing, the air became heavy.
The fact alone made Amelia, the Butterfly of Covenant, feel despair and sit down.
Her existence was the utmost despair for Amelia.
Despite being the one who spread magic, very few knew of her existence because she didn’t want anyone to.
—No one could read her true intention. An unfathomable existence.
The streets could hardly be a hindrance to her. Same as ever, she approached with a rare smile, as if genuinely pleased.
Humming a tune, strolling with her hands behind her back, she appeared naïve but completely matched the situation.
Yet, the wolf had to swallow hard.
Even with its keen insight, it could not read her true essence.
Not just unreadable, but twisted and warped. Like it had seen something it shouldn’t, the wolf grit its teeth and endured.
Perhaps it needed to kill the Butterfly of Covenant right now. It tried to move, but it couldn’t. An unknown force was pressing down on it.
She had gotten closer and slowly shook her head.
“—Don’t kill her. She’s still useful.”
Even though she was so close, all the wolf could do was grind its teeth.
However, as the will to devour surged, the void consumed the ignorance binding the wolf — and still, the result remained unchanged.
“……!”
Finally, the wolf realized what this power was.
It wasn’t a special power.
Just magic. An infinite, almost endless amount of magic was weighing down on the wolf.
The world of illusions? Even if it was a world manifesting, it couldn’t truly create a world. It was not a clever fake made by the Butterfly of Covenant. It felt as though the world itself was pressing down.
—That could never be true. Yet at least to the wolf, it felt that way.
As if all of creation was rejecting it.
That was why she was called the Master of All Things.
Only then did the wolf realize how naive it had been.
It shouldn’t have come to the Square from the beginning. Stealth? Invisibility? What use would those serve against her? It should have accepted if the Butterfly of Covenant had joined in.
A difference far beyond what it initially thought. Even in the parallel world, in the story that met its demise, the Master of All Things couldn’t be defeated.
—It had presumptuously jumped to conclusions.
Since the Square couldn’t stop Disease and Plague, she wouldn’t be able to either.
…What a ridiculous misconception.
If she wanted to, Disease and Plague would have been eradicated long ago.
The seemingly empty eyes looking innocently contained not diseases or plagues. They were gazing far beyond that. To her, those beasts were nothing but insignificant bugs.
So, it meant that it shouldn’t have come here from the start…!
With an outstretched hand reaching for the immobile wolf, it tried to resist to the very end but couldn’t budge. As it awaited its impending death, it lifted its eyelids at the voice just then reaching its ears.
“Don’t worry.”
It was an exceptionally gentle voice. The touch as if caring for a child made the wolf feel—
“I won’t kill you.”
It was as if she was saying I would never kill you. Those two eyes contained clear goodwill.
—In response, the wolf bared its teeth.
Following its raging will, the void spread, swallowing her hand. As she looked at the vanished hand in confusion, her expression began to change gradually,
“Ah…?”
Pure ecstasy emerged.
It was madness that could only be called that. Even though her hand had been eaten away, she was genuinely happy. Not a hint of pretense in it.
The Master of the Traitors — standing before the ruler of All Things, the wolf did not back down.
Even if it meant dying, the moment it strongly decided to struggle and fight until the end, the skill that had been stalled progressed to the next level.
[Consumption (C) Lv.9…]
It had only consumed a mere hand, yet.
“Yeah. Already this far…”
She hid her emotions no longer and expressed pure happiness. And the next moment, as if it had never happened, her lost hand grew back again.
The wolf couldn’t even perceive that moment with its heightened senses.
Regeneration? Recovery? When on earth? Faced with the incomprehensible, the wolf furrowed its brows.
But it must proceed.
The energies spread beneath its feet raised into countless thorns in the pitch black as they couldn’t pierce her.
The black mist, possessing an upper hand over magic, could not drive away her black magic.
The void that consumes everything could not engulf her like it did before.
…It couldn’t comprehend what it had done. All it knew was that it had become this way.
The energy stopped, the black mist vanished, and the void was pressed down.
With it being unable to move once again, the wolf fueled its last great magic, but still, nothing changed. It was utterly useless.
Compared to the overwhelming magic pressing down on it, what the wolf had was nothing but a drop in the bucket.
Yeah. There never was any chance from the start.
Gritting its teeth, the wolf tried to resist to the last, but it had nothing left it could do. Even as it revealed what it held, there was no chance of victory.
An overwhelming difference. In the face of such intense helplessness, the wolf displayed strong emotions and raged, yet it could do nothing. Even were it to use the remaining skill points to acquire new skills, the outcome would not change at all.
—As she approached, the girl whispered quietly into the wolf’s ear, freezing it in place with her soft voice.
In the next moment, the city that had been tainted black regained its original color, but the wolf’s mind was tangled with the last words she left behind.
‘You are the hope of the lost.’
It was a fact she could never have known.