MTM 159

Zed unleashed his holy power and streaked through the streets of Carseon at a speed approaching that of light. Even in that moment, he closed his eyes and focused all his senses so as not to miss a single clue. Driven by a desperate need to catch even the faintest trace left by Harto, he read the memories of a small animal wandering nearby.

Reading memories without direct contact placed an extreme strain on his mind, but at that moment, Zed had no time to consider his own well-being. Yet all his desperate efforts proved futile. No living creature knew Harto’s whereabouts.

“Harto…”

Whoosh

Just then, a cool breeze blew in from deep within the forest. Zed immediately felt it. Harto must have gone into the forest. Without hesitation, he set off toward Silpirnoa.

Silpirnoa was dark and silent. Tangled, ancient trees blocked the sky like a net, allowing almost no light to filter through, and the damp scent of earth pierced his lungs.

As Zed wandered through the dark forest, the conversations he’d had with Harto crossed his mind.

‘I don’t know if you realize this, but Hartiros is a being of evil on a completely different level from monsters or demons like you.’

‘That said, it’s hard to be certain he’s in Ruinbelt. I’ve heard that if you encounter Hartiros, it’s hard to survive… Everyone’s just speculating. They say Hartiros likes damp, dark places.’

‘Like… like me…?’

He recalled how Harto would flinch every time he gave a gruesome description of Hartiros.

‘Come with me.’

‘Huh? Where? Why?’

‘To kill Hartiros.’

Zed realized all too painfully that the declaration he had made was a wound to Harto.

“……”

Zed withdrew the holy power enveloping his entire body. As the light that had illuminated the forest faded, he stood alone in the darkness.

‘I… Zed, I didn’t mean to…I….’

The image of Harto, desperately trying to convince himself while shedding tears, was vividly etched in his mind. At the time, blinded by jealousy and betrayal, he had turned a deaf ear to that desperate plea. It was a petty and selfish heart that prioritized his own pain over the hell Harto must have endured for so long.

“What… have I done….”

Zed’s voice trembled as he murmured to himself in the darkness. Even if he found Harto now, could he heal the countless wounds he had inflicted with his own hands? Did he even have the right to stand before Harto anymore?

‘I’m… I’m sorry. Zed…. I’m really… sorry….’

The image of Harto, crying and begging for forgiveness with tears running down his face, blurred before his eyes. It felt as if his heart were burning from within. He felt miserable at the realization that he had shattered that heart with his own hands. He felt so cowardly and repulsive that he thought he might vomit.

“Ugh….”

Zed staggered and grabbed hold of a tree trunk.

…Rustle.

“Harto?!”

At that moment, Zed turned his head urgently at the sound that broke the silence. But what was there was not Harto, whom he had been searching for so desperately.

“Sleepy…?”

It was an Aju, the same species as Sleepy, the rabbit Harto had brought. And there wasn’t just one. From Read onthe darkness, countless blue eyes glowed as the Aju appeared, and without so much as a glance at Zed, they all moved deep into the forest.

As if spellbound, Zed followed after them. The deeper he ventured into the forest, the more bizarre the scene became. It wasn’t just the Aju. Unnamed animals native to Silpirnoa, forest spirits, and even giant monsters were all moving toward a single spot

‘Something… is leading them.’

Finally, as the dense old trees parted and the forest curtain lifted, a vast expanse of land came into view. At its center, Zed witnessed a strange sight he had never seen before.

Hundreds of spirits and monsters, including animals, were arranged in a giant circle, surrounding a pit. These creatures, who would normally be hunting one another, stood reverently in their places, as if they were priests awaiting the descent of a great god.

“That is…”

Zed remembered the contents of the old diary Edmund had shown him.

[…The forest’s predators and prey, who normally fought for survival by devouring and being devoured by one another encircled the pit.]

“No….”

Zed staggered toward the pit. A hazy mist swirled from it. It looked like the hot spring area of Etheria, but the heat was more intense.

“Harto…?”

He wasn’t entirely sure. But his heart was beating so fast it felt like it would burst. Beneath that scorching ground, Harto was crying.

As Zed approached, the animals blocking his path parted to let him through. The closer he got to the center, the hotter the ground became. The geothermal heat rising from beneath the earth felt as if a river of lava were flowing there.

“Harto!”

Driven by a sense of foreboding, Zed lay flat on his stomach at the edge of the pit and shouted. The rising heat instantly drenched his face in sweat, and the air was so heavy it was suffocating.

“Harto! Is that you? Are you here?!”

With a hissing sound, white smoke rose from beneath Zed’s palm as he pressed it against the ground. The pain from his flesh burning was excruciating, but the power within his body instantly healed the wound.

“Harto! It’s me, Zed! Harto…!”

A shout bordering on a scream poured into the pit. Fearing he might miss even the smallest reply, Zed held his breath and focused all his senses.

“Please…. Please, Harto, just answer me once….”

It was just then, as Zed shouted desperately, that a very faint vibration echoed from deep within the earth. It was a sensation that resonated directly visit our site within his mind, not through his ears. It sounded just as it had when Harto had become a giant dragon.

[Zed….]

“Harto!”

At the sound of Harto’s voice, Zed’s expression brightened instantly.

“Harto! I’m sorry. It was all my fault! I shouldn’t have said those things….”

As if an apology alone wasn’t enough, Zed began digging into the pit with his bare hands. Hot sand dug under his fingernails, and the smell of flesh burning filled the air, but he didn’t stop.

“Harto, where are you? Please come out and show me your face. I want to see your face and apologize. Please….”

[Ah… No. It’s hot. Don’t do that….]

At the sound of that refusal, Zed hesitated for a moment. But soon he resumed digging through the dirt even more urgently.

“No. Don’t say that. I want to see you, Harto. I don’t care what you look like. Please, just show me your face….”

The ground trembled slightly at Zed’s [unauthorized copy]desperate plea. Soon after, Harto’s dry voice pierced through the earth.

[I… I just… look too… hideous right now….]

“It’s fine, Harto. You don’t look hideous to me. But why does your voice sound like that? Harto, are you in pain…?”

His voice sounded too strange to be attributed simply to the heat. Upon hearing that hoarse, unstable tone, Zed asked again, overcome with anxiety, but Harto remained silent for a while.

Swish….

Finally, the inside of the pit began to ripple, and Harto forced himself up onto the surface.

“Harto!”

As Harto’s black, slime-like body emerged from the pile of dirt, Zed quickly reached out. But Harto’s warning rang in his mind.

[It’s dangerous! Don’t touch me!]

“Harto…?”

As Zed withdrew his hand, Harto slowly rose to his feet and emerged completely. At that very moment, Zed held his breath as he felt a wave of dark, scorching magic. The heat, intense enough to burn through his lungs, was so overwhelming that even breathing was difficult.

“Zed…. A-are you there…?”

“……!”

The moment Harto’s trembling voice reached his ears, Zed froze like a statue at the sight before him.

Harto’s eyes, once as clear and blue as if they held the sky and a lake within them, were nowhere to be seen. In their place were blank, white eyes that reflected nothing but a faint glow. Harto had gone blind.

Tap, tap.

Unable to see, Harto cautiously felt his way around with his black body, from which hot steam rose. It was a delicate touch, anxious lest he touch Zed and hurt him, yet desperate to feel his lover’s warmth.

“Ze-Zed….”

Zed felt as if his entire world were crumbling as he watched Harto groping in the air, unable to find him even though he was right in front of him.