Chapter 67: Gaiard’s Trauma
As Evan confidently stepped toward the door, the being resembling Hel stopped him.
“Wait.”
It summoned Evan’s sword, Venus, out of thin air.
“A final gift for one who seeks to abandon their life.”
“How generous of you.”
Evan gripped the sword and swung it.
It was no illusion but a real, tangible blade.
“Remember, in another’s memory, you could be trapped forever, unable to do anything.”
“Noted.”
The being overseeing the Black Sea opened the door.
Crossing it, Evan entered Gaiard’s trauma.
***
Red Count Gaiard Lecan.
The start of his trauma was a dimly lit room.
In the center of an opulent room filled with antique decorations,
Gaiard lay on a bed, his face covered by his arm.
‘It looks calmer than I expected. Or maybe it just seems that way?’
Unlike Evan’s own memories, which began in the midst of battle, this was different.
Yet, knowing it was a trauma, Evan stayed on guard, suspecting hidden secrets.
“Hey, what are you…”
Even approaching and speaking, Gaiard didn’t budge.
“Bellain…”
He only muttered someone’s name to himself.
‘Come to think of it, why’s it so noisy outside?’
The room wasn’t lit by candles but by red light seeping through tightly shut windows.
Beyond the light, intermittent noises reached his ears.
Soon, the noises formed a single sentence.
“…step down!”
It was the unified cry of dozens, perhaps hundreds.
“Gaiard, step down! Gaiard, who defiled the queen, step down!”
Based on their shouts, Evan made his own deductions.
‘Gaiard clearly had some emotional connection with the queen, and the king found out. So, this is after that incident? And those people outside came to condemn Gaiard, knowing about it?’
He wanted to open the door and check,
but the cries outside were too ferocious.
‘But Gaiard defiled the queen? That’s so different from what he told me.’
Perhaps Gaiard had lied.
But something else piqued Evan’s interest more.
‘Just because people are shouting like that, he’s this broken? That noble, mighty being?’
The aura Gaiard exuded was unmistakably different now.
If Evan’s past self at the same age was weaker than his current self,
Gaiard, in contrast, radiated an overwhelmingly powerful presence compared to when he was freed from his seal.
Incomparably so.
‘He said he was great back then, and it wasn’t just boasting.’
It was clear his claim of strength rivaling a Hydra wasn’t a lie.
But that made the current situation even more baffling.
Why was someone with such immense power so listless?
The answer came from the crowd outside, now shouting a different phrase.
“Kill the vampire who caused the queen’s death!”
“Kill him! Kill him!”
The queen’s death.
Their anger for defiling and causing the death of the nation’s mother was directed at Gaiard.
‘She’s dead? The queen? That’s why he’s so despondent?’
Of course, Evan didn’t believe the crowd’s words.
Or rather, he refused to believe them until he knew for sure.
‘It doesn’t make sense that he’d kill her and be like this. Maybe the king spread false propaganda.’
He didn’t know the full situation.
He was only following his instincts.
But his instincts were far from simple.
The instincts of a warrior and commander who had crossed countless battle lines.
In moments like this, they showed remarkable accuracy.
‘First, I need to find evidence.’
Before that, he needed to confirm the facts.
And before even that, he had to wake Gaiard.
“Hey, I’m here, so get up. Tell me something so I can help.”
No response.
Evan’s irritation began to rise,
and instead of words, he raised his sword.
“Let’s see if you stay down after this.”
He infused his sword with Qi and swung down.
―Slash!
The bed split in half, collapsing in the middle.
But Gaiard merely bent at the waist, otherwise unmoved.
‘Crazy? I put some force into that, and he’s still this sturdy?’
Trusting in a vampire’s regeneration, Evan had struck without holding back.
Yet, Gaiard showed not a single sign of being cut.
Despite the bed being halved and the floor dented.
‘It’s like striking steel.’
Amazed by Gaiard’s resilient body, Evan reversed his grip on the sword.
Then, Gaiard spoke softly.
“Stop it. I don’t even have the strength to deal with you.”
Finally opening his mouth.
Evan tried to persuade him.
“What’s got you like this? The queen’s death? Or the people’s resentment?”
“Bellain.”
“Her name, right?”
No response.
As expected, the former was the issue.
“Why not go confirm if she’s dead or not?”
“I can’t.”
“Why?”
Gaiard’s next words carried his sorrow and fear.
“Because I’m afraid it’s true.”
The reality he desperately wanted to avoid.
If it were true, and he saw it with his own eyes, he felt he’d completely break.
‘If he goes to find the queen in this state, it’ll be even more dangerous. I’ll have to check first.’
Evan sought a clue to pull Gaiard back.
If he followed that clue,
like his own case, there’d surely be a way to overcome Gaiard’s trauma.
Even if there wasn’t, he’d force one.
Only then could they escape being consumed by the memory and return to the Black Sea.
‘But how do I find the queen?’
To confirm her fate, he first needed to leave the room.
Opening the door revealed a corridor.
A grim hallway with all its windows shattered on both sides,
strewn with stones presumably used to break them.
‘What a mess. Yet the windows in that room are intact, so he must be scared.’
Evan peered through a broken window.
Below, an angry mob was staging a revolt.
“Gaiard, step down! Gaiard, who defiled the queen, step down!”
“Step down!”
Holding torches, crosses, and various farming tools, they shouted in unison.
Confirming the scene, Evan looked further.
‘At least this isn’t some hellscape, thankfully.’
A nearby forest.
Vast plains.
Not far off, a brightly lit city with a massive castle at its center.
It looked like the kingdom’s capital.
‘The answer might be there.’
After surveying the view, Evan planned to scout before making a full strategy,
descending to the mansion’s first floor and opening the main gate.
―Creak.
He came face-to-face with the mob surrounding the mansion.
“There’s the vampire’s minion!”
“Boo!!!”
The crowd jeered and threw stones at Evan as he emerged.
“Ugh, I’m not a minion.”
“Capture him!”
“I said I’m not!”
As the citizens rushed him despite his protests,
Evan focused strength in his legs and leaped into the air.
“Grab that guy!”
The mob’s anger turned toward him.
But Evan ignored it, stepping on their shoulders to move forward.
―Tadad!
‘If I can just get out of the mansion…’
Then, an arrow flew from the crowd.
―Whoosh!
Dodging it, he lost balance and landed on the ground.
The citizens parted, forming a small circular space,
and hooded figures stepped forward one by one.
‘These aren’t just ordinary citizens.’
They all seemed skilled, wearing familiar rings.
The snake-coil rings, symbols of the Viper Organization, which Evan had faced recently.
“Are you the vampire’s minion?”
“I’m not.”
“Then why are you running?”
“Because I’ve got no connection to him.”
“Prove your innocence. Join us in killing that vile monster.”
Evan shook his head at the Viper hunter’s proposal.
“Sorry, I’ve got things to do.”
Evan tried to defuse the situation with a smile.
But the hunter aimed a crossbow at him.
“You’re hiding something.”
“Sigh… My life never lets me resolve things peacefully. All because of guys like you.”
As he spoke, the hunter fired an arrow.
―Twang!
Simultaneously, Evan lunged forward, thrusting his sword.
The hunter stepped back to avoid the blade’s reach.
“Ugh!”
But Evan slightly released the sword, grabbing its tip to extend its length.
Caught off guard by the unconventional attack, the hunter’s wrist was sliced.
“Tricks!”
“That’s not all.”
Evan infused Qi into the sword’s tip and swung.
The sword aura cut through the hunter’s wrist and shattered the crossbow.
“Argh! What are you all doing? Grab him!”
At the hunter’s cry, others who had been watching rushed in.
Evan gripped his sword tightly and faced them.
―Clang, clang, clang!
The ambush succeeded, but these were all Aura-level warriors.
Their skills rivaled instructors or assistants, with excellent teamwork.
‘These guys are on a higher level than the ones I fought before.’
One-on-one, Evan had no reason to lose.
But facing five or six at once, with arrows flying like ghosts whenever a gap appeared, was overwhelming.
―Thud!
“Ugh!”
An arrow lodged in his thigh.
The relentless assault was too much for Evan to handle.
‘This is gonna be tough.’
After dozens of exchanges, Evan was gradually overwhelmed,
and ultimately met his end at their hands.
“Pant… What a monster.”
“He looks young, but that skill…”
This was the outcome after Evan took down seventeen Aura-level hunters.
***
When he opened his eyes again,
he was back with Gaiard.
‘Unlucky or lucky, his mind hasn’t been consumed yet…’
The problem was that Gaiard lacked even the will to break through.
Looking at Gaiard lying on the bed, Evan shook his head.
“What a mess.”
He flushed, wondering if others saw him like this too.
“Sigh…”
To find a breakthrough, Evan observed the mansion’s surroundings this time.
‘The main and back gates are out of the question. I’ll climb to the roof and jump toward the eastern wall. There aren’t many people there.’
Then, he’d hide in the forest.
‘Let’s go.’
With a plan, Evan climbed the stairs instead of descending.
Reaching the roof, he crouched low.
‘It’s a bit high. If I land well, my legs shouldn’t break.’
He focused Qi into his legs.
―Tap!
He leaped, crossing the wall toward the forest.
―Rustle!
Landing in the bushes, he felt sharp pain the moment his feet touched the ground.
Thankfully, nothing broke, but his joints were severely strained.
‘Ugh.’
Limping, he moved into the forest.
―Crunch.
Soon, pursuers followed.
The same Viper hunters from before.
“Sigh… They’ve got this place completely surrounded.”
They aimed their weapons at Evan in unison.
“Who are you?”
“Shut up and raise your weapons. You’re not planning to let me go, so why ask?”
Thus, Evan began another battle with the Viper group.
Of course, defeating their organized hunt was, as expected, impossible.
―Thud!
A sword pierced his heart, and he returned again.
‘Hmm…’
While devising another escape plan, he suddenly felt a strange sensation.
From his own body.
‘What’s this? My Qi feels different.’
Those who wield Aura prioritize honing their combat senses.
Like mages achieving mana through meditation,
Aura could only be enhanced through real combat.
Through his two previous actions, Evan had used Qi,
and though faint, he felt an increase in it.
‘Regression, yet there’s change?’
In his own memories, despite dozens of regressions, his body remained unchanged.
Time rewound, so his body stayed the same.
But this was different.
Trapped in another’s memory, Evan experienced change upon returning.
Since he forcibly entered Gaiard’s memory, he wasn’t bound by its rules.
‘Maybe there’s a breakthrough…’
Unlike Gaiard, Evan had the potential to grow.
A few more attempts might let him break through the mansion.
‘As long as Gaiard’s mind doesn’t completely collapse first!’
What was Evan best at?
Fighting.
Crushing opponents with force was his specialty.
So, Evan decided to build his strength.
‘I’ll fight a hundred, a thousand times.’
The man who never gave up was the only variable in Gaiard’s trauma.
That variable set out from the mansion once more.
“I’m Gaiard’s friend! If you want to kill him, you’ll have to kill me first!”
He raised his sword, declaring war on all.
Specifically, on the Viper Organization hiding among the crowd.
‘I’ll use you as fuel to grow stronger.’