LIGHTNOVELWORLD Chapter 32 - Nortemus
✦ Chapter 32 — Nortemus ✦
「Translator – Creator」
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Jonathan had spent his childhood in a church that was run like an orphanage in the city.
His only friends were fellow orphans dwelling within those holy walls.
Among them, he was the timid one who always lingered at the back of the group.
That was Jonathan.
[Hey, you dog! Bark for us!]
[Go fetch some shit from the sewer! Let’s make him eat it!]
Tormenting the neighborhood strays –
The most innovative entertainment available to orphaned children with neither money nor parents.
‘I’m different.’
Even at his tender age, Jonathan felt superior watching them.
He took pride in being the most mature, following the nun’s teachings and refusing to torment the strays.
Until that shocking day arrived.
[Aaaargh!]
[God! Tom’s been bitten!]
Had the dog’s tail been stepped on?
The stray dog from the neighborhood suddenly bit Tom, one of the boys, by the neck.
It happened in an instant.
Tom, their friend, collapsed clutching his throat, blood gushing freely between his fingers.
The children fled in terror, searching for the nun.
But Jonathan, unlike the others, remained perfectly still.
‘Kikhhiii.’
Watching his friend being torn apart by the dog, young Jonathan realized something.
‘Kikhii Kikiii.‘
That he wasn’t mature at all.
If anything, he was worse, not better.
‘Keke Kekee.’
That day, he redefined himself.
‘I’m different.’
Far removed from ordinary human emotions.
For years, Jonathan worked hard to conceal his true nature.
But every night, the haunting image of Tom’s tragic end, which appeared in his dreams, was too sweet and alluring, like a succubus.
Eventually, Jonathan went out for his nightly escapades.
Nothing elaborate –
Just visits to the city’s entertainment district.
Where chaos reigned nightly.
Over drink, shoulder bumps, or women,
Fistfights frequently escalated to knife fights in those streets.
That night was no different.
Slipping out of the Church before dawn,
Like a hyena hungering for blood, he prowled the streets.
Until he overheard the drunken laments.
[Did you hear? They say a flock of man-eating ravens is roaming nearby.]
[They’re in an uproar trying to subjugate them.]
[Ah, my son’s in the guard force. I’m worried.]
In that moment, Jonathan felt his body burn with excitement.
Man-eating ravens — beasts roughly the size of humans.
‘People will die.’
Many of them.
The mere thought stirred excitement and ecstasy he’d never known in his life.
It seemed time to bid farewell to Tom, his longtime dream companion.
For soon, the scenes created by the man-eating ravens would fill his nightly visions.
And days later,
Before Jonathan could seek them out, the man-eating ravens soared over the city walls.
[Jonathan?!]
Breaking free from the nun’s grasp, Jonathan rushed out of the church.
The acrid scent of blood.
The familiar scenery, now painted with flesh and entrails, squeezed Jonathan’s heart with excruciating intensity.
‘Kikhii!’
A laugh escaped him.
‘Kuhehe!’
Never had he imagined he could experience such emotions.
It was euphoria.
It was ecstasy.
It was pure bliss.
[J-Jonathan!?]
From behind him came the nun’s voice, trembling with fear.
His bizarre display was a betrayal of the woman who had raised him his entire life.
And with arms spread wide, Jonathan joined in her sorrow, her sobs becoming his rhapsody.
Tears of conviction.
‘Ah, I am-‘
This is how I shall live.
Though I wear the guise of a human,
I shall live as one who is not.
This is how I would-
*BOOM!*
The sky, which had been darkened by black clouds, split in two. It wasn’t clouds, but the swarm of man-eating ravens; their wings flapped as they plummeted to the ground.
A crimson sword aura.
While all agreed it resembled rose petals,
In truth, it bore closer resemblance not to roses,
But to freshly spilled blood.
[…………….]
A man with crimson hair billowing in the wind walked indifferently down the main street, wielding an enormous greatsword.
His name was Arandel.
Arandel Helmund.
The noble Patriarch of the great House Helmund.
‘Ah.’
In that moment, before he realized it, the piles of corpses ceased to exist in Jonathan’s eyes; the thick scent of blood retreated, replaced by the subtle fragrance of roses.
‘Ah-!’
Though it was but a single sword strike,
…so much was cleaved apart.
What he had severed was not merely a flock of beasts.
He had cut through the tragedy that had befallen the city.
He had cut through death that had invaded their peace.
He had cut through the chaos the ravens had brought.
And finally.
He had cut through the life of Jonathan, which had been spiraling out of control.
And so.
‘O great Helmund-!’
Jonathan’s life was utterly transformed.
{T?N:- Fcking poetic!!!}
🎕
“KINSMAAAAN!”
“SILENCE!”
Tears, blackened with corruption, streamed down Jonathan’s cheeks. Jonathan’s voice, raw and desperate, cracked with emotion as he screamed with every ounce of his defiance.
“Why do you betray us! Kinsman! Do not deny your blood!”
Nortemus wailed with sorrow so palpable it bordered on despair.
And yet Jonathan clenched his teeth, unmoved.
“I am! A knight of Helmund-!”
“Mere knighthood?! Your blood is not of Helmund! Do not delude yourself, kinsman!”
“What-! What does that matter!”
Jonathan’s will stood as unwavering as his steady greatsword.
“Such incredible willpower…!”
There was but one reason he had not succumbed to Nortemus’s temptation.
The shock of that day remained vivid in his mind.
The symbol of Helmund, etched into his very being.
No matter how sweet the whispers, Nortemus could not surpass the sheer awe Jonathan had felt that day.
“Kinsman! How can you deny yourself! To deny your own instincts is to declare our very existence as evil!”
“………..!”
Jonathan hesitated, wanting to retort, but no sound came out.
The black smoke pouring from Nortemus’s body surged into his mouth, choking his throat and silencing his voice.
Yet.
“How tiresome.”
A calm voice answered in Jonathan’s stead, coming from the other side.
A gust of wind split apart.
A crescent moon-like slash—sharp and pristine.
“What-!”
*Slash!*
Nortemus’s right arm fell to the ground. His eyes bulged with burst vessels as he gasped, blood spraying through the air.
“Human!”
It was Isaac.
With flawless precision, he severed Nortemus’s arm at the elbow in a single stroke.
*Thunk!*
Before Nortemus could process the pain, a spear flew through the air, piercing his abdomen; the spear lodged beneath the greatsword forced blood from his mouth instead of words.
Silverna glared at Nortemus, maintaining her throwing stance.
Though his view was blocked by the greatsword, Nortemus understood exactly what had transpired, and spewed forth his rage.
“GAAAAH! You! YOU-!”
They had no intention of listening.
Swifter than anyone, Isaac gripped his swords in reverse and drove it into Nortemus’s flank.
*Squelch!*
“Gurk! KUEEEGH!”
His screams were drowned in the blood surging up his throat, leaving him unable to even speak.
Yet Isaac didn’t stop there, already moving to draw another blade.
His hand reached not for the Falchion but for one of the two remaining swords at his waist.
His eyes traced the trajectory ahead.
[The moment the blade leaves its scabbard, it carries its ending.]
“………….!”
[This is called killing intent.]
A red line appeared across Nortemus’s pale throat.
Where the blade’s tip had already passed, blood gushed forth, silencing even his screams.
Though he frantically grabbed at his nearly-severed head with his remaining hand, Nortemus fixed Isaac with a terrifying glare.
“PUAAGH!”
Whatever had happened to his nerves, even with his head barely attached, Nortemus opened his mouth to spew forth smoke.
[Listen well. This is not something easily learned.]
‘Why teach this to someone who can’t even walk?’
[Even if you beg later, I won’t show you again, so take this as your only chance.]
The bitter words of the Grand Master seemed to echo in Isaac’s ears as he hastily stepped backward.
“I should have watched more carefully.”
A perfect opportunity for the killing blow, lost.
*Squelch!*
Silverna’s spear, responding to her aura, dislodged itself and returned to her grasp.
Meanwhile, Jonathan retreated, almost fleeing, through the opening Isaac had created.
Though the thick book and greatsword remained lodged in his heart,
A spear wound gaped in his abdomen,
His right arm lay severed on the ground, his head barely attached—
“He’s still not dead?”
— Yet Nortemus stood firm on both legs, glaring at them with unrelenting malice.
“Guh… urrrgh!”
Nortemus staggered, gasping hoarsely, his wheezing breath filled with anguish. The others’ attention, briefly on Jonathan, now shifted to Isaac as Nortemus howled in bitter rage.
“How dare you-! Mimic our sword technique!”
Isaac offered no response.
Such words weren’t worth acknowledging.
“Haah! Haah!”
Nortemus’s once-flowing long hair, now sheared short by Isaac’s earlier strike, fluttered in the breeze. He was, for all intents and purposes, a walking corpse.
Black smoke billowed from the wound where the greatsword pierced his heart, spreading outward like a dark tide.
“Is he trying to escape?”
Silverna swung her spear infused with aura, creating a fierce gale; the wind carried her sword aura, dispersing the encroaching smoke.
Yet when the smoke cleared, Nortemus was no longer there.
Instead, he had reappeared elsewhere—
“Haah! Haah!”
— standing amidst a pile of corpses, the bodies of the village residents.
“Stop him!”
Isaac shouted urgently, but before he could act, Shauren was already on the move. Her greatsword, infused with Helmund’s signature reflexes, arced toward Nortemus the moment she spotted him.
Red Descent gathered along her blade.
Like water thrown from a bucket, her greatsword unleashed the Crimson Wave, but-
“Kuurgh!”
Nortemus sacrificed his remaining left hand to block it.
His limb was crushed into a mangled heap of flesh.
And finally.
Now bereft of both arms, with a greatsword still lodged in his heart, Nortemus continued to spew black smoke into the air.
“My kinsmen-!”
Shauren swung her greatsword again, aiming to ensure his end.
“Forgive me for not staying with you until the end!”
As her blade traced the same arc Isaac’s had failed to complete, seeking to sever that head completely-
“Farewell!”
*Slash!*
Nortemus’s head separated cleanly from his shoulders, spinning through the air before landing amidst the pile of corpses; the black smoke pouring from his heart was scattered by Shauren’s greatsword, dissipating in every direction.
“We did it!”
Just as Shauren cried out in bright triumph,
The black smoke, now untethered, began coalescing —this time toward the pile of corpses, where Nortemus’s severed head rested.
END of CHAPTER
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