NOVEL NEXT WORLD Chapter 149
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“The Butterfly Castle…”
There’s this hollow, oddly lonely feeling to the grand purple castle, but the interior might be a whole different story.
The Butterfly of Covenant started with Amelia Morest. In the 50 years since, no mage has surpassed her in purple magic, nor has there been anyone with greater purple talent. She is the master of all illusions and fantasies. While it might be a stretch to call her the strongest, nobody dares to challenge her.
Because, well, she’s a handful.
No one understands illusions and fantasies as she does. Everything you see, hear, and feel could be a lie in the blink of an eye.
And this is the Butterfly Castle. The stronghold of the Butterfly of Covenant. No one knows what the inside looks like.
But even if that’s the case, getting in isn’t tough at all. The door wasn’t locked, after all. As if daring anyone to take a shot at it. The moment I stepped inside, an unspeakable sense of discomfort washed over me. My vision seemed to spiral and converge at once. Strange, but that’s the only way to put it.
I immediately deployed detection, but there was nothing to sense.
However, unlike the detection, my acute hearing picked up some unpleasant sounds. Not just one or two, but dozens or hundreds. It felt like nails on a chalkboard, eating away at my sanity… I was suddenly thankful I hadn’t brought the Fairy with me.
The long corridor stretched longer than the massive castle I’d seen from the outside. An endless path. When I opened a door, it revealed yet another corridor. It was like a never-ending Möbius strip of hallways.
Corridor after corridor after corridor…
From the endlessly winding hall, black mist slowly seeped out from the Wolf. Twisted and gnawed magic—black magic easily dispelled the illusions.
When the blinding hallucinations disappeared, I stood exactly where I had first entered.
Yep. I hadn’t moved an inch.
The Wolf didn’t show an ounce of confusion. No need for that. Shrouded in black magic, the Wolf walked and walked until it finally spotted a staircase. But this was no ordinary staircase. It twisted, warped, vanished, and scattered like fog… It wasn’t a direct threat, but that was even more annoying.
Yet, as long as the black mist was there, no illusion could touch it. No, the Wolf was clearly seeing beyond the illusions that tried to beguile it.
Having walked and walked, the Wolf suddenly halted. Time was running out. But…
“Agail Morest.”
The sign on the door bore his name. It had probably been a while since it was last opened, as it was covered in dust.
Peering through the door with its clairvoyance, the Wolf saw a stuffed parrot and a room that felt sparse, or even desolate. It didn’t seem like there’d be anything left in such a room… Yet, for some odd reason, a strange sense of unease made me tilt my head in confusion.
Looking up again, there was only one remaining staircase. Meaning that this was the top floor.
As I consumed the illusions and ascended the staircase, I finally arrived at a narrow room.
[Amelia Morest]
The name was written in cursive. This must be the room of the Butterfly.
The Wolf, trying to scrutinize the room, frowned. Perhaps it was because this was the Butterfly of Covenant’s room? This was one room that couldn’t be peered into at all. It was the same for detection.
There was nothing to sense inside. The Wolf momentarily hesitated before casting black magic. No matter how stealthy it was, if it consumed the very magic itself, it would surely be exposed.
Chances were high that the Butterfly of Covenant was outside the castle. If not, it would have made an appearance by now.
But an inexplicable apprehension kept its feet rooted. Yeah. Chances are high. There’s always the slim possibility—one in ten, or even one in a hundred—that the Butterfly of Covenant could be here.
There were two options. To enter or to back away.
The Wolf shook its head. If it were going to retreat, it wouldn’t have entered in the first place. This was the inaccessible Castle of the Butterfly. At the top floor, there had to be some clues to catch.
Even Anela couldn’t enter this room. I was sure of that because her scent had completely vanished after a certain floor.
Even if there had been a room with her name on it.
…Yeah. That meant no one had lived in the castle for a long time. The Butterfly of Covenant, except for just one person.
The Wolf resolutely shoved open the lonely room of the Butterfly.
***
“Retreat! Retreat!”
The order to fall back came as there was no longer a way to stop the encroaching swarm. At that moment, a soldier looked up at the floating island high in the sky. Although he wasn’t a hunter, he could instinctively tell that the mages were preparing for something after having been out in battle for quite a while.
He swapped out the spent magazine and started spraying bullets without even aiming. Because it would hit somewhere no matter where he shot. After all, those things didn’t have any vital spots. While they varied individually, the tougher ones wouldn’t die even after being chopped into dozens of pieces.
Shells popped out as the heated barrel became hot enough to chase away the winter’s chill. Just as he was about to switch magazines again, someone from behind hit his helmet hard.
“What are you doing? You idiot! Don’t shoot, just run!”
At the senior’s words, the soldier nodded. The soldiers in the rear had already retreated far into the distance. To survive this hell, discipline was a basic requirement. Those who couldn’t manage that had died long ago.
“How far are we going?”
“We’re ditching Tehran. For now, to Baramin.”
“Damn… It’s endless.”
“Anyway, the rats are out.”
Tehran to Baramin was nearly a 30km distance. But considering the swarm was pushing in and the mages’ bombardment, that was a distance they had to abide by.
“Where’s the car?”
“There’s got to be one! If you don’t want to die, shut up and run!”
As he ran and the distance grew, the soldier glanced back. The more they ran, the more the swarm chased them. Thank goodness their speed wasn’t that fast, but the ground they stepped on was rotting away.
As the grass beneath his feet decayed, the soldier frowned. Sweat filled his body, and the mist blurred his sight. But still, the soldier didn’t stop; he kept running.
As soon as he crossed the borderline, a claymore exploded behind him, tearing through the swarm.
No matter how corrupted they were, they couldn’t move without legs and with arms severed. They didn’t regenerate but simply wouldn’t die unless under extreme conditions.
But they got tangled up, causing delays. Luckily, he got a moment’s respite. After climbing into the back of the running truck, it took off immediately.
Even as bombings rained down from the air to prolong the encroaching corruption, it seemed that wouldn’t do much to stop it. The soldier, staring blankly, couldn’t hide his astonishment as he saw the fighter jets wobbling out of control. Suddenly, they lowered in altitude and ended up crashing. The bombs on the aircraft exploded all at once, creating a huge bang.
“Tsk.”
The senior clicked his tongue, and the soldier shook his head. The corruption seeped into not only humans but machines—causing them to rust. A firearm might have just jammed, but…
“Seems like it really is coming down.”
It wasn’t just the aftershock that caused the fighter jet to fall from hundreds of meters in the sky. The Plague. Once it was clear that it had shown itself, the senior began banging on the driver’s seat.
“Speed up…!”
He was going to say to increase the speed, but he got knocked on the head from a sharp turn. A soldier who had gotten up first reached out to help the senior, but upon realizing he was unconscious, he dragged him out of the overturned truck. …And upon escaping, the soldier chuckled softly.
He realized why they had made such a sharp turn. The corrupted swarm was creeping towards them.
And they were dressed in the same military uniforms as them.
…The front had already been breached. With the Plague appearing, there was no way to stop it, no matter what they threw at it. The sky was painted gray with smoke and gunpowder. As the truck toppled, for whatever reason, it became hard to breathe.
He lifted his gaze upward, but the floating island still held its position. The soldier let out a dreary curse. …He knew it was just a stall for time.
Even when he pulled the trigger, nothing fired. Squinting as he was about to swap magazines, the soldier frowned. There weren’t many bullets left. Could he really stop them with just this? No, it seemed impossible.
Yeah. Because of that, a more proper usage came to mind.
He aimed at the fallen senior and pressed the barrel tightly beneath his chin.
Either way, the swarm was getting closer. His trembling finger rested on the trigger as he let out a heavy sigh.
“Damn, how did it come to this?”
He thought there hadn’t been any mistakes… But when he caught sight of a long tail of something enormous in the distance, he gave up on life.
In the midst of the approaching swarm, such thoughts crossed his mind.
What the hell were those grotesque things, and what the hell was I doing here?
The stench in the air made him feel like it was getting through his gas mask.
Long ago, it was said that there were no such things. No, in truth, he hadn’t believed those really existed until he had come to see them for himself.
…It’s absurd. Why the hell did these things appear? No, disease and plague, dungeons, and monsters—everything about it. Staring at them naturally deepened the feeling, and anyone other than a soldier would surely think the same.
And for decades, no one has been able to figure it out. Humanity was just irrationally being driven into a corner.
He wished it was all just a dream….
If only in a world where those things didn’t exist, even for just a day. But the pungent stench clung to him, dragging him back to reality.
“Damn…”
In a desperate attempt to escape the miserable reality, he ultimately pulled the trigger.
But even that didn’t resolve anything. The body of the fallen soldier rose again. Yeah. Even suicide and death couldn’t become an escape.
Still, he must’ve been somewhat satisfied.
At least in the eternal dream beyond, he could live as he had wished…
And thus, the swarm of the Plague marched unceasingly towards Tehran. For those still remaining in the city, to devour them whole, even the bait.
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