Dark Fantasy Normalized - Chapter 77



76 – Verbandes /// (5 AM: 1,000 words added following the end of the existing content)

The embers of an unquenchable disaster must not be passed down to future generations.

For Sahila, for Kehlin, for the dark elves.

The hero Sahila had made every effort to completely destroy the demon Verbandes’ existence.

It was an effort that even entailed her own sacrifice.

The final measure reached as a result was sealing the demon Verbandes’ existence within her own body.

The great hero’s will would surely suppress the demon’s existence.

No one doubted that fact.

***

“…”

The whispered murmur of the demon.

A sound as faint as the breath escaping the lungs of a dying old man.

Sahila simply ignored it.

***

“Noisy.”

A devil’s whisper, slithering in.

Sahila spat it out, disgusted.

***

“Stop. Stop. Stop.”

A devil’s whisper, slithering in.

Sahila closed her eyes and mumbled.

***

“UaaaH!!!”

A devil’s whisper, slithering in.

Sahila covered her ears, screaming in a fit.

***

“SHUT UP!!!”

A devil’s whisper, slithering in.

Sahila swung her fist at the mirror.

***

“…Madam! Clan Head!”

“…!”

Sahila barely regained her senses.

“Ah, Father…”

The first thing she saw was the small boy crushed beneath her.

None other than her son.

One hand was reaching for his throat.

And another hand, restraining that hand.

Retainers surrounded her, armed, yet frozen.

“What… happened…”

“You suddenly rose from your meal and approached the young master. And then…”

The retainer couldn’t finish, but it was enough.

From noble mtl dot com

Sahila had been consumed by the devil’s power, losing herself for a moment.

And that brief moment of loss almost led to irreversible consequences.

“Father, a-are you alright…?”

Even in the midst of it, the child was worried about his father.

It wasn’t so much that he was composed as that he didn’t understand what had happened.

How could he even imagine?

That his father had just tried to kill him.

Sahila hugged her son tightly.

“My Lord…”

It was a single, short word from his retainer.

But it held so much meaning.

It was a time to endure humiliation.

“Prepare for the transfer of the seal.”

In the end, the great hero had to accept it.

The humiliating fact that bearing the existence of Verbandes was too much for him.

That completely obliterating Verbandes’ power and existence was something close to impossible.

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The power of Verbandes had vanished.

That was the conclusion Kella reached, belatedly realizing her own condition.

The mighty demonic power that had been part of her until just moments ago was gone without a trace.

“Impossible…”

That power was unlike the petty forces that other demon followers received from their masters.

It was a result of sealing the power contained within the ‘Eye of Verbandes’, a part of the very essence itself.

In other words, it was Verbandes’ existence itself.

To obliterate Verbandes’ existence?

Even the great hero, Sahila, who had been on the verge of reaching the 8th tier and claiming a star’s name, could not accomplish it.

So then, who, what, could dare to extinguish the power of Verbandes?

And so Kella denied it.

She retraced her previous sensations and once more roused the power of Verbandes.

Then, joy filled her face.

A certain power, responded to that feeling.

It was clear.

That power was surely the authority of the mighty and wicked desert demon, Berbandes.

Kella drew upon the power of the being she served, with all her might.

A pure, unadulterated desert energy gathered at her fingertips.

“?”

Why?

Kella stared, dumbfounded, at her own hand.

-Thwack!

Until the moment she lost consciousness, struck by Kaylen, who’d broken free from the mental interference and regained his senses.

“…”

Kaylen was bewildered.

He looked down at the hilt of his sword, which he’d used to knock Kella out.

Was it really okay for it to be resolved this easily?

Having felt Kella’s power with his entire body, and having been driven to the brink, he felt a sudden pang of conscience.

He suspiciously watched her collapsed form, wondering if this was also part of Kella’s cunning plan.

It was then.

-Guh! Hrk!

Kella’s body, collapsed on the ground, began to heave and spasm.

***

-Where am I?

It questioned itself in an empty world where nothing existed.

-…

It tried to recall, but ultimately gave up.

Because there seemed to be a more important question.

-Who am I?

It questioned itself.

-…

It was the same as before.

No matter how hard it tried to remember, it couldn’t.

And just when it was about to give up—

-No…

A self-awareness, arrogant in its clarity, raised it up.

-I am… a sand mountain obscuring the sun…

-Who dares to judge me… to confine me…?

An empty world, where nothing exists, filled with a swirling sandstorm.

***

It was a bizarre sight.

Kela, that demon worshipper, was rolling on the floor with her eyes rolled back.

Upon the dark, bloody vomit she had just expelled.

As if greedily scooping up fallen gold from a pouch.

“My lady! Stand back!”

Kairen hurriedly stepped in front of the lady.

Setting aside the ominous and strange nature of the scene, Kela’s power was being restored by the minute.

However, it was not as stable as before.

-Crack

-Crack

Grotesque movements defying the structure of the body.

It was no longer a being wielding demonic power.

It was a being being wielded *by* demonic power.

The power of Verbandes that Kela had accepted.

The demon’s ego, subtly melted within it, had reacted to the rampaging will of the main body from somewhere, eventually devouring and dominating Kela’s own ego.

“Ggrrraaagh-“

What *was* Kela spat blood-tinged saliva, swinging its hand towards Katria and Kairen.

A rising darkness became a wave of sand, threatening to engulf them.

Kairen immediately scooped Katria up, creating distance.

After safely setting Katria down, he launched his counterattack.

***

Even at full strength, Kela had shown unease towards a head-on fight with Kairen.

There was no way an equal fight could occur now, in a state where Kela had lost her ego and was blindly wielding power.

The battle was resolved in an instant.

The ominous sandstorm that had filled the room subsided.

Thud.

Kela’s head, severed from its body, dropped to the floor.

Everything was finally over.

Keiren wanted to savor this victory with Katria.

“Keiren, we need to get to the mage tower, right now.”

But all he saw was the agitated figure of the young woman.

“What is it?”

The series of strange phenomena Kela had displayed.

Katria recognized its nature immediately.

Verbandes.

He was going berserk.

Why?

She didn’t know.

What was clear was the sheer force of the aftermath.

Even Kela, a being with power unburdened by self, had lost his mind and gone into a frenzy.

Then what about Leeshir, who contained that whole self within his body?

“Leeshir. He’s in danger…! We have to help him right now!”

***

“Oh, Katria. You’re here just in time. Here – I think you should take this back.”

Leeshir.

He was still in Master Meltas’s laboratory.

With Master Meltas, and another… *something*.

He showed Katria an object placed on the desk.

Verbandes.

His last struggle had been for naught.

He’d thrashed within the prison of Leeshir until he’d finally lost himself.

The great sandstorm with its wicked intent was no more.

“Little one. What’s your name?”

-I’m Verbandes! The sand man that covers the sun!

“It’s not *Berbandechu*, it’s *Berbandes*~”

-Beru… Beru… That name is weird!!! I want a different name!

What stood there was a sand spirit in the form of a small girl.

“…”

***

Borahd Sahila, the family head.

He took his father’s will as his life’s work: to destroy Barbandes, but ultimately failed.

However, the vast accomplishments he left behind became a legacy, passed down to future generations.

─────

D’hron Sahila.

He inherited the will of his ancestors, making the destruction of Berbandes his life’s work, but also failed.

However, he detected the movements of Berbandes, who was secretly growing in power within the seal, and discovered and repaired flaws in the seal.

─────

Yona Sahila.

She gave up on destroying Berbandes and focused on the seal.

Realizing that no seal could prevent Berbandes’ power from multiplying, she sought a new sealing method.

Through her efforts, she established a contract seal that binds the target and consumes its power, thereby preventing the proliferation of its strength.

─────

Lophis Sahila.

He realized the limits of the contract seal and sought a new sealing method, but failed.

Realizing that no more efficient sealing method existed, he once again focused on destruction.

And after failing again, he learned a new fact.

He warned future generations that Berbandes’ reappearance was imminent.

─────

The current head of the Sahila family.

Rshana Sahila.

The sealing and destruction of Berbandes was not her concern.

The warning of her mother, the previous head of the family.

Rshana knew that she could not stop the reappearance of Berbandes, and that it was close at hand.

Perhaps, she would be the first Sahila to stand against Berbandes since the first head of the family.

Is there a greater glory than this?

…Is there a greater burden than this?

Resignation. And resolve.

Leshana Sahila began laying the groundwork.

To prepare for Verbandes’s imminent return.

To protect her people and her ancestors’ legacy from that powerful being, who could not be fully sealed away, nor destroyed.

The burden choked her.

It was a grand task, to inherit the glory of her ancestors, but simultaneously, a terribly heavy weight.

She frequently questioned herself.

Could I truly do this?

The answer was meaningless.

Because regardless of the possibility, it was something she absolutely had to do.

And so, Leshana Sahila spent her days in unease and resolve.

So that she could accept it whenever the day of battle arrived.

***

Her son’s sudden loss of contact, along with the ominous movements detected within and outside of Kehlin.

The number of demon followers already captured by the Sahila family alone was considerable.

Leshana Sahila had a premonition.

It was on one of those days.

“Matriarch!!!”

Finally, what was coming had arrived.

The head of the Sahila closed her eyes with a sigh.

A fair amount of time passed, and then Leshana Sahila spoke with resolve.

“Speak.”

“Verbandes’s curse…!”

Verbandes had cursed the Sahila.

The curse, which had been locked away by sealing Verbandes’s existence, was about to engulf the Sahila with Verbandes’s return.

And the first target would be none other than the head of the Sahila.

Leshana smiled, composed. In that experienced smile was a power to calm the other party.

“Calm yourself. I’m alright.”

“The curse of Verbandes… it’s extinguished…!”

Leshana Sahila.

By obliterating Verbandes’ existence in her own generation, Sahila has finally completed her long-standing task.

“Why?”

Anyway, completed.

***

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[Title: Man, this game’s late-game is so goddamn tough I can’t play more than an hour a day

Content: What the hell? This fate quest boss minimum level is 70?!

-: Seriously, I’m shitting blood trying to take down level 50s now, and the minimum is 70? Yeah, I’m quitting

-: Nah, that’s seriously late-game zone talk lol

-: Minimum level 70, where is that? Gotta be after Kar’dum at least

-[OP]: Darkanp Village

-: Ah, Kehlin lol

-: That place is a real wall of screams

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***

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[Title: Woah, but Kehlin’s timeline here is so fucking absurd lol]

Content: If only that b*stard Kela didn’t stop Katria from landing the final blow back then

This shit wouldn’t have happened, right?

-: For real, that crazy b*tch Kela unleashed Verbandes’ seal and came back to Kehlin and started free farming

And her growth speed is just insane

Seeing the time that passed in-game, she grows faster than even the players lol

-: So, Kehlin was destroyed because of us?

-: Well, it’s Darkanp, so my guilt is less ㅠ

-: Today, I’m grateful for their darkness.

-: They’re the kind of b*stards that even Verbandes would take a step back from

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***

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▷Location: Kehlin – Deactivated

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▷Fated Being: Verbandes of All Sand and Wind [Lv 78] – Deactivated.

▷Fated Being: Kella, the Sand Bearer [Lv 73] – Deactivated.

▷Fated Being: Sandstorm Chuangers [Lv 71] – Deactivated

▷Fated Being: She Who Swallows Sand Eternally (Rshana Sahila) [Lv 71] – Deactivated.

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Perks awarded.

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New System [Faction Enhancement] unlocked.

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▷Faction Enhancement: Allocate experience to grant beneficial effects to your allies.

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Choose a target to allocate experience to:

[Self], [Faction]

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If a selection is not made within the time limit, a target will be automatically selected.

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***

“Please, let me stay as your maid, Master, just until I pay off my debt to you!”

That was the first thing Kartia said to me after the string of incidents had wrapped up.

Living together, I’d come to realize that having a maid who handles the household chores and provides various comforts warmed a man’s heart in many ways.

“Troublesome.”

But I refused.

I’d been leeching off the Magic Tower for way too long, using the excuse of mediating between the Tower and its various patrons.

But everything has to end eventually.

Most of the mediation was over, and I’d gained most of what I could from staying at the Tower.

Now, all that was left was to delve deeper into magic theory, or receive professional, practical lessons from Master Meltas and the other masters.

But those weren’t things I could just dabble in while hanging around the Tower under the guise of earning my keep.

The moment I did, I’d be reborn as a hybrid, an Honorary Magician, a bona fide Honorary Magician.

Any further would be greed and putting the cart before the horse.

To maintain a positive relationship with the Tower moving forward, it was time for me to solidify my own foundation.

In short, I was planning to leave the Tower soon and lose my fixed abode once again.

I couldn’t afford a maid, nor did I have a reason to keep one.

Especially not when that maid wasn’t some homeless slave, but a noble lady from a great house that ruled the South.

Kartia couldn’t argue with such a logical reason.

“Alright! Then, soon, I will visit you formally, and proudly, in my true form, not this false one!”

And with that, the dark elves cheerfully returned home.

With a promise to repay the kindness shown to them—

” ‘It’ holds a great meaning to our family and kin! I leave it with you! Please think of it as a token of my sincerity and trust in you!”

And they left behind a small, mischievous imp from the hills, the desert’s pest demon Ber-whatever-it-was.

And so, while I was fidgeting around in the Tower’s lodgings, preparing to move out, it happened.

“…Huh?”

Something strange caught the edge of my vision.

If I wasn’t mistaken, that thing was—

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New system unlocked.

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