Chapter 39- Embodiments of Power

Coran could not believe his eyes.

He could feel the shivering of Berith as she held her hands on his shoulders, clinging to him.

The four beings who had fell into the craters emerged. While they may have seemed to be clumsy at first, Coran could not help but think that there was an elegance to their clumsiness... it was almost as if a king tripped up in order to make light of himself... the sort of feeling where you didn't know whether you were supposed to laugh at his joke or remain silent due to the rudeness of laughing.

The magical aura he felt from the group was astounding. Monsters who could use magic naturally had a sense for mana, and while Coran couldn't use much magic, the amount of power he sensed coming from the group was almost like a nuke waiting to explode.

They didn't even make an effort to hide their aura either. Their goal was likely to terrorize any monsters in the vicinity. Or perhaps simply to attract the attention of the wild monsters, who did not feel fear.

Either way, it was horrible.

Berith closed her eyes and flinched as the elf shot off volleys of arrows, killing many of the large spiders in a single shot. While she seemed to have no hesitation when killing someone who couldn't fight back, it seemed that she was only strong in that respect. At the end of the day, Coran and Berith were nothing more than weaklings who had been pampered all their lives up to this point. Looking at the remaining spiderlings, Coran wasn't sure if he could even kill a single one of them at this size if they came over and attacked.

What skill the elf used! Each arrow perfectly hit the target in their vital spots, killing them in an instant.

There was no doubt in Coran's mind that these were beings from another dimension. Were they demon lords? Or perhaps beings even stronger than that? Coran had never seen anyone stronger than his mother, and as such was astonished and mesmerized.

"D- don't worry, Berith... I... don't think those things will come over here... maybe... hopefully...", Coran's reassuring words trailed off. Even he didn't believe them as he muttered them. His only hope was that these beings were merciful. They were so powerful that even if Coran and Berith stayed hidden, or if they tried to escape, they would likely die in an instant.

But even as Coran was thinking about how intensely strong these beings were, something that left him without the ability to even take a single breath happened.

Gone.

Everything was gone.

In just a single instant, the girl who seemed to be some sort of spirit started spinning around and hurling fireballs- here, there, and everywhere.

The entire cave was shook from its very foundations. Coran's ears were ringing from the vibrations, and he wondered for a second if he was even still alive.

All he could see was fire.

Fire everywhere.

How fortunate it was for him that he had been hidden inside this alcove. If he and his sister had not been as far away from those.... those complete monsters... those beings of ultimate power... they would have been scorched to a crisp before they even knew what had happened to them.

There were no spiders remaining, once the flames cleared.

Despite the fact that they were hundreds of meters away, Coran could hear something from all this distance.

He heard the evil laughing of that girl....

Terrible.

Demonic.

The horrible laughter filled the heart and mind of Coran, as if it were directed at him in particular. Yet right now he felt no grief at the loss of his siblings, despite the fact that he felt so conflicted about killing them himself.

He would have been relieved that he no longer had to kill them anymore, if he was not so worried about the next issue.

But he could not even utter a whisper due to how terrified he was.

Coran fell onto his lap, sitting down on the cold floor, his eyes filled with despair.

"Hope... hope does not exist. This world is nothing more than a series of hells. If it isn't one thing, its another. Forgive me sister. I give up. There is no chance we could win against that. No amount of strategy or plotting or haggling or skill could get us to even touch those beings, much less go against them. Lets beg for our lives when they come over here, right?"

"Brother..."

And that was when the four beings began walking towards Coran and Berith.

"Ah. See. I knew it. Of course they would notice us. I'm sorry for not being able to protect you sister."

"That is nothing you should be sorry for, brother! This has been a disaster from the moment that our mother forced us down here!"

"Ah. You're right. This is all mothers fault. This is all her fault for considering us to be inferior to her. This is all her fault for forcing us to take place in this stupid bid for superiority. WHAT SUPERIORITY!? WHAT STRENGTH!? WHAT DO YOU MEAN PRESERVE THE BLOODLINE!?!! IF BEINGS LIKE THAT EXIST ON THE SURFACE THEN IS THERE ANY POINT IN EVEN LIVING!!??!!"

"Calm down, brother!! They're looking this way!!"

"Ah. You're right. Forgive me, sister. I may have just jeopardized our only chance at survival. I will offer my head to them if they are displeased... I can only hope that they will let you live..."

"No."

"What?"

"We will either live together, or we will die together. I refuse to go on living at the cost of your death."

Coran bitterly smiled.

"Thank you, sister."

----