The 31st Piece Turns the Tables
chapter-62

Pour…

Karen calmly accepted her delayed fate. However, that only served to send a chill through Seol’s heart.

‘We were somehow… able to come out of this alive.’

It was a miracle.

Final Comeback’s effects only ended thanks to Galifa’s Corpse Night and Karuna and Jamad buying time.

‘No, she could have killed Karuna if she just felt like it. She simply spared us.’

Rather than surviving, Seol was simply shown mercy.

Obviously, if Karen went all out, Seol could have used other methods too, but in the end, neither party used all their powers.

‘Regardless, she is still incredibly powerful.’

Jamad and Karuna would have been considered immensely powerful if it were any other Adventure, but they were helpless before Karen. It was due to the difference in their stats, but even so…

Step…

Karuna, who had taken the full brunt of Karen’s Red Lotus Slash, wobbled over to her.

“Karen…”

Pour…

Karen, who looked like a demon when she burned down the surrounding forest, suddenly put away her sword.

Seol wasn’t surprised by this, though. He believed that Karen had an ending that she desired.

“...What are you doing? Why did you let go of your weapon?”

Karen responded like it was nothing, with a hint of laughter in her voice.

“Because I don’t have time left. I don’t want to do this anymore.”

“Hmph! You’re only starting to talk now because you’re at the disadvanta—”

“Jamad! Stop provoking her.”

“I got it, I got it. Sigh… The uninvited guest will leave now.”

Jamad, realizing that the situation was over, returned to Seol’s side.

Since Karen was accepting her death, Seol decided to just watch.

Pour…

Flash!

Karen looked at Karuna while being hit by the pouring rain.

“Karuna, my brother.”

“Sister.”

“During the time that I have left… I… want to hear your story…”

“...As much as you want.”

In this high-stakes situation where Seol could die at any moment, the situation took an unexpected turn.

First, Karen tried to receive an answer from Karuna.

“I’m still stuck on that day… What about you?”

“Karen.”

“What happened? No, let me change the question… I don’t have much time…”

Karen’s body was decaying away.

Not only had she fought, but she was also an undead without a master. The small amount of time she spent revived ruined her body.

“That day… Did you really come back?”

“I was headed there.”

“I see… I knew there was no way that you would intentionally break a promise. Yeah, right…”

“I’m sorry, Karen. I’m sorry I couldn’t keep my promise that day.”

Karuna stepped closer to Karen.

She was no longer able to maintain her decaying body.

Thud…

Karuna grabbed her back and carefully laid her down in a gentle, natural manner.

“But why… how did you become a shadow?”

“It’s because I died.”

“Haha… You died? That’s ridiculous.”

“Someone sealed my powers. I don’t know the details either, though.”

“Yeah, that makes sense then…. You were invincible, Karuna. You were even stronger than me.”

Crumble…

Half of Karen’s face had rotted at this point.

The two continued their conversation, though, ignoring it entirely.

“Why are you serving that uncouth human, though? Is… your memory of Jin gone too now?”

The human she was referring to was Seol.

Karuna shook his head.

“Jin is still my emperor. But now… I serve someone else.”

“He looks like he’s lacking a lot compared to Jin– krgh… though…”

“He’s a good person.”

“...Really? So you’re saying that he’s not a good king then.”

“Through following him and traveling with him, I was able to meet you again.”

“Hahaha… If you put it that way, he’s a-an excellent master.”

Karen’s body trembled.

The life that she had regained was about to be extinguished once more.

“By the way, what was… what was the outside world like?”

“Do you mean the world outside of the Empire?”

“Yeah, the world you stubbornly sought after.”

Karuna closed his eyes, like he was recalling something.

“There was the sea,” said Karuna.

“The sea? You mean that place that’s bigger and filled with more water than— urgh… a lake?”

“Yeah, I saw the sea. It really existed.”

“Haha… So… You went that far, is that right? How was it? Do ‘waves’ really exist?”

“Of course. The water ebbed and flowed. The people there also ate fishy sardines to the point they got sick of them and smoked tobacco.”

“That sounds like such a boring life. Really… But even so… I want to see it.”

“See them?”

“No, the sea, you dumbass.”

Crumble…

Karen’s lower half had completely decayed.

A foul smell filled up the area, but the rain even washed that all away.

“K-Karen!”

“Karuna… so you’re still someone’s knight.”

“Let’s go together, Karen. Let’s go see the sea together.”

“Do you really think I could? My body… my heart… they have all burned up. The only thing I have left… What do I have left? What is a knight with no one to serve? Yeah, that’s just a monster…”

“You’re not a monster, Karen. You’re my one and only sister. We’re going to go together! W-We can finally be together now!”

Karuna spoke more hurriedly than before, while Karen only became increasingly calmer.

The exchange between someone leaving and someone trying to hold on was always this painful.

“No, I can’t go with you. The king that you serve… is too weak. He can’t take me.”

“That’s… that’s…”

“That’s why… this is where I end my journey, Karuna. Urgh…”

Splatter…

It was the spine-chilling sound of intestines breaking through skin and hitting the floor. Seol and Karuna knew that she was moments before death.

Karen’s fading eyes simply looked at the open space. Her cloudy eyes had lost their color.

“Karuna, are you there? H-Hold my hand.”

Karuna gripped Karen’s hand tightly.

He wanted to let her know that he was there with her.

“I see… I can’t feel anything. Dying is always scary… by the way, Karuna…”

“Karen… don’t die… don’t die, Karen. Stay with me!”

“To be honest… A part of me hoped that… you could take me along with you… even though I’m like this…”

“KAREEEEEEEEN!”

Thud.

There was no special farewell.

Pour…

The rain simply washed everything away. Whether it was the ash from the burned forest or the regrets of the dead corpses.

She spent her final moments letting go of them.

The reason that Karen didn’t kill Seol, Karuna, and Jamad was because she still had regrets to let go of.

Even so, she wasn’t able to empty all of them.

Her final words for Karuna lingered in the Great Forest.

It was almost like she was still alive.

Her voice repeated in their ears like an echo.

Though now, she was nothing more than a skeleton.

[You have defeated Karen, the Red Lotus Knight.]

[You have earned the special achievement 'An Insurmountable Gap'.]

[You have earned the special title 'Challenger'.]

[You have received additional rewards.]

[If the Remaining Time runs out or if you choose to take your reward, you may choose to finish your Adventure here.]

These messages which always appeared when Seol killed an enemy, appeared.

Seol paid no attention to those messages and watched Karuna.

He was in pain.

“No, Karen! Don’t leave me! W-We just barely managed to meet each other again…”

[Karuna is unstable.]

[Karuna's loyalty decreases.]

[If loyalty continues to fall, something unexpected may happen.]

Though the message said ‘something unexpected may happen’, Seol knew what would happen. He saw many players lose their summons from being unable to recover their low loyalty before.

* * *

Translator - goguma

Proofreader - Karane

* * *

‘I guess the time has come…’

Pour…

The rain continued to pour down like there was a hole in the sky.

“Ahh… Ah…”

Inside the raining forest, Seol had gone through the unluckiest streak he had gone through so far in The World of Eternity.

‘It was about time something like this happened, though.’

Not only was he unable to find Chao, he was forced into dealing with the secret ceremony, trapped inside the corpse's mind, and almost died there. He was then almost killed by Karen, who woke up because of him.

But that wasn’t the end. Seol was now unsure what would happen to Karuna, who was perfectly fine before.

‘In the end, the travel luck is causing a mess.’

- Travel Luck Dice has rolled a 2.

- You are quite unlucky.

The unfortunate circumstances were way too intertwined to simply blame it all on the dice though.

“I… I…”

“Karuna.”

“My sister… my sister…”

Nod.

Seol stepped in front of Karuna and raised his hand.

Seol, before speaking, thought of Karen’s words once more.

- No, I can’t go with you. The king that you serve… is too weak. He can’t take me.

To Seol, who accomplished countless achievements in Pandea, it was humiliating.

Clench.

Seol clenched his teeth and rustled through his inventory. He was looking for something that he prepared a long time ago for a situation like this, which he knew would happen someday.

“I knew… that something like this would happen one day.”

“Master…?”

Seol pulled out food that was roughly the size of a small bean and tossed it into his mouth without hesitation.

And after that, black energy surged out from within him.

Frsss…

[You had an excellent meal.]

[Jelly From a Cloudy Day’s Bonus Effect activates.]

[You are able to use 'Miracle of a Cloudy Day', a volatile skill, for an hour.]

The skill fit perfectly with the drizzling rain.

Gather…

Seol slowly gathered black energy into his hand. The energy, which looked like a rain cloud, completely filled up his hand.

Though weak and young, he was still someone’s king.

“Serve me!” shouted Seol.

Flash!

A lightning bolt struck somewhere in the Great Forest.

At the same time, Seol’s final means were activated.

[Snowman used the volatile skill Miracle of a Cloudy Day.]

[You forcibly use Shadow Summon on Karen, the Red Lotus Knight.]

Crackle… Crackle…

Black lightning wrapped around her body.

Even at a glance, Seol could tell that the black lightning had immense power.

However, the message that Seol was waiting for hadn’t shown up yet.

Seol, with a composed expression, observed the lightning’s movements.

And then, after a while…

A clear change had occurred.

Bzzzzzzt!

[Miracle of a Cloudy Day is successful.]

[Karen’s consciousness is being awakened.]

Clench.

Seol clenched his fists as tight as he could.

The viewers, watching this, were all in shock.

- This is insane… Maybe…?

- This can’t be real right? Someone tell me it isn’t…

- It is.

- He really saw this far into the future?

- This is crazy… I thought the game balance was destroyed because of her but it was destroyed because of him?

- What the hell?! How did things end up like this?

Black lightning wrapped around Karen’s body as it started to float up.

Kang Seol.

He had rolled many different types of dice over the past 17 years.

And he believed that the most difficult die to handle was the six-sided die. The same die that most other people considered the standard, ordinary die.

It was because the difference between each of the numbers was very large.

Between 1 and 2.

Between 3 and 4.

Between 5 and 6.

These numbers look similar at a glance.

But, through his experience with The World of Eternity, Seol quickly realized that he was mistaken.

Rolling a 4 on the travel dice simply made good things happen every once in a while. Rolling a 3 on the travel dice, however, gave random odds of both good and bad things happening.

And 2 was an unlucky roll. It was awful to the point that it sometimes even directly influenced the difficulty of the Adventure itself.

As such, there were some people who quickly left the area as fast as they could if they rolled below a 3.

But here, there was also someone like Seol who ignored the rolls.

The person who defeated the Red Lotus Knight, an extremely powerful existence, has been fighting for a long time with the dice.

To turn a 3 into a 6.

To turn a 2 into a 6.

To turn a 1 into a 6.

He fought.

He always fought to create the best result.

And he always prepared with the worst in mind. Through that, he was able to achieve something like this.

He was someone who overcame the six-sided die.

“Serve me, Karen!”

He overcame the dice, he was someone who took seven steps.

[You have earned the special achievement 'Dice are Merely Numbers'.]

[You have earned the special title 'Outlaw'.]

Flash!

A bolt of black lightning struck again, wrapping around her.

And then, there was another change.

Crackle!

“Argh… Ahhhhhhhh!”

“Karuna?”

The lightning that surrounded Karen suddenly expanded and devoured Karuna.

“No! Karuna!”

“M… ast… er…”

Karuna’s voice disappeared with the lightning, leaving Seol alone.

Pour…

The only thing next to Seol now was the sound of rain.

Along with one message.

[Karen’s Connected Soul activates.]