LIGHTNOVELWORLD Chapter 73
“I missed it.”
He picked up the rat corpse from the alley corner and scratched a pattern into it with his fingernail. Then, he tossed it into the air toward a shard of mirror that was gleefully spitting images back at him.
*Kaboom!*
The rat hit the shard, causing a small explosion that turned the mirror pieces into dust. However, one shard at the center remained intact, maintaining its hexagonal shape, reminiscent of something roughly sanded down.
Bizarrely, the hexagonal mirror fragment didn’t reflect light even under the sun; instead, it greedily absorbed it. Yet, while it consumed light, it reflected the scenery around it, making it an object far from ordinary.
“The boundary magic of Annwn. Among which, the pass of Tylwyth Teg.”
Jinseong clicked his tongue at the shard.
The boundary magic of Annwn is a branch of Celtic magic predominantly used in Europe, especially by shamans from Wales. Using “mirrors” as a magical medium, this power blurs boundaries, allowing adept practitioners to flee from any situation.
Typically, the common method utilized by diviners is to throw themselves into the mirror to escape, but those who have reached a certain level can even use another person’s gaze as a mirror to make their escape.
Jinseong observed the floating shard with intent and then closed his eyes quietly.
He recalled the pattern he’d seen yesterday through the insect. The pattern it sent him upon dying after being “cleaned.”
A bizarre shape resembling a distorted whale swimming.
It swirled as if the eye was spinning, floating in the air and making a form with lines and planes.
A pattern that could only be seen when looking up from a low position;
“The human sacrifice altar pattern of Crom Cruach.”
* * *
“Ugh— I have no idea where it went wrong?”
In an abandoned bunker in the wilderness of Russia.
A bearded man emerged from the mirror at the back of the bunker.
He was the diviner who had fled from Jinseong’s attack.
He looked around the moldy, dust-covered bunker and sighed as he stared at the mirror he had just come from.
In a place so deep with no light entering, it was impossible for a reflection to appear, but there, a clear silhouette of a person, unmistakably human, was visible in the mirror. Moreover, as if to prove that it reflected the man’s own actions, the figure mirrored him, rolling its eyes all around.
“What rotten luck to meet some monster. Damn it.”
The reflection spoke with curses.
The figure didn’t mimic the man’s movements; instead, it independently moved its mouth and uttered words—even as a mere reflection.
“Think you’re clever, huh? What do you think? Hmm? How do you feel about that?”
The man outside the mirror, with a feminine tone, questioned the shadow.
The shadow pondered for a moment before replying.
“There are two possibilities.”
The diviner stroked his beard, contemplating the shadow’s words.
“Hmm. Two?”
“Yup.”
“One is that we’ve been figured out. What about the other…?”
The shadow smirked at him, playfully asking.
“What’s that? It’s just that the thing is a monster.”
“Oh my?”
“Do monsters weigh pros and cons? They just pounce if it looks delicious.”
“Oh my, so delicious? How embarrassing to say such things?”
The diviner’s face, contrary to embarrassment, radiated a fierce aura.
“But I—really don’t like this. Huh? Not a fan.”
“Who do you think is okay with this? I got hit unilaterally and I’m not feeling great either!”
“It’s not like we’re doing anything wrong—we’re just trying to do something good, so why meddle!”
*Bang!*
He kicked a piece of junk rolling around the bunker as if he were furious.
“Don’t you agree? I’m trying to bless my younger sister, and is this the treatment I get?!”
“Can’t be helped. The guardian doesn’t want it. Damn it.”
“If we sacrifice one worthless girl, good things will happen to both beauties! Opportunities like this to accumulate merits don’t come often!”
The diviner, almost in despair, grabbed his head.
With a crunch, his long hair was pulled out in chunks, blood trickling down his head, yet he seemed oblivious to the pain as he continued to fume, until a tickling sensation brushed past his cheek, prompting him to turn his head.
In the mirror, he saw himself reaching up to stroke his face.
“Let’s calm down and sort this out.”
“Sort out what?”
“First, let’s establish that we can’t let this opportunity slip. Right?”
“Uh… sure. But with that monster around, it won’t be easy.”
The diviner recalled the ordeal he had just faced.
The nightmare battle where hordes of evil spirits attacked him.
Where the spirits, with grotesque appearances, pounced at him like starving beasts around food—it was a sight that even he couldn’t handle.
Moreover, the shaman who sent the spirits was nowhere in sight.
They sent spirits from hiding and constantly tormented him while refusing to reveal themselves, so he had no choice but to flee after getting beaten up.
“Yeah, it won’t be easy. But are you going to just give up?”
“Oh come on.”
Doing good builds good karma.
Celtic magic says that the path one walks in life becomes a record, and when this record accumulates meaning, it exponentially increases the influence one can have on the world.
A human that can significantly influence the world?
In Celtic terms, that’s called a “hero.”
“How could you give up on such a good opportunity? Are you crazy?”
“Of course! How could I give up on such a great chance!”
Before him, Iarin and Ella appeared like gifts from the heavens. A perfect opportunity to increase his accumulated merits and get closer to his goal of becoming a hero.
That the method involved human sacrifice was ironic…
But so what?
If one person is sacrificed, two can gain from it.
Isn’t that a good deed?
“Let’s look for opportunities, opportunities.”
“If we get them all, great. If we can’t….”
“I mean, it looks tough to target that girl, but I think we can manage the other one?”
“Oh, of course! If we’re going to do this, we have to target them!”
“Exactly! We’re talking about accumulating the merits of saving someone; it makes sense to prioritize this over mere enlightenment!”
The two faced each other, coming to a conclusion.
If possible, both.
If only one had to be chosen, the rabbit.
“Alright. Let’s seize the opportunity.”
The diviner recalled his top priority.
Long, snow-white hair.
Eyes redder than the blood dripping from the first child on the altar.
Skin whiter than the white clouds drifting on a drought day.
A chest voluminously puffed with traces of her sister.
“I’ll need a lot of materials.”
The diviner twisted into a smile at the thought of the white witch.
* * *
Upon returning to the hotel, the first thing Jinseong did was head to the lodging where Iarin and Iserin were staying.
He strode into the room without hesitation and straightened up the two girls, who were playing on the bed, before sitting opposite them.
He proceeded to show them a bizarre shape he had drawn on paper.
“Do you know this pattern?”
The pattern was truly peculiar.
No, it might be better described as bizarre.
With swirling eyeballs, it resembled something that a primitive person might conjure imagining a whale, or perhaps, a depiction of a squashed monster from the depths of the sea. At first glance, it looked like a child’s doodle, but it could easily pass for something cultish that briefly flourished and disappeared.
“Elder Brother, what’s going on all of a sudden?”
Iarin looked at him with surprise.
It was all too sudden.
He barged into the room, drew strange pictures, and then asked what it was.
“What’s the matter? And what’s this drawing?”
Seeing his serious face, it was evident this wasn’t just a simple quiz, yet she could not recognize it, no matter how hard she looked. But Iserin, sitting beside Iarin, seemingly received a whisper from a demon, spoke up.
“Is it, is it Crom Dubh?”
Jinseong nodded at her words.
“Indeed. Crom Dubh, or what is also called Crom Cruach’s symbol.”
He extended the paper drawn with the pattern toward Iserin.
“Starting now, you must find the divine objects that bear this mark.”
Iserin looked at him in bewilderment.
Her face filled with the question of why that was necessary.
“Uh, umm?”
As if to clarify her doubts, the demon whispered something in her ear.
Iserin’s eyes widened in shock, and her face turned pale.
“Human sacrifice?!”