v4c4 (2/2)

Eve said this then closed her eyes and didn’t speak anymore She was already asleep She didn’t need

to sleep if she wanted but she could also sleep whenever she wanted

Add

“……She indeed changed a lot”

She became more assertive with personal relationshi+ps and started to express her opinions more

strongly

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Of course, what Eve was saying was still based off cold and reasonable decisions… But Eve

co that was iinable from previous Eve

“Nasod that evolves and changes…… Truly a”

Even though there was an influence from the Memory of Time and space, this was truly wondrous

Wasn’t she probably the first Nasod like this in history?

Add repeatedly ad Eve Gaze of Add as exa academically

then headed towards Eve’s core

I want it

It’s extremely desirable

Before, he had only wanted it because it was an important key to time travel… But now he desired

the core because it should have records of the process of how Eve’s action patterns and thought

processes were changing Even if it wasn’t related to time travel, it was a treasure he wanted to steal

no matter what

Add as ly stretched out his hand towards it Of

course he couldn’t reach it while he was lying down

But if he got up, no, if he attacked now using the Dynamos, he could at once…

“It’s not the time yet……”

He had to observe a bit more He had to let it ripen more

He couldn’t see these kinds of changes anymore if he took Eve’s core now What will happen? How

would she change? Infinite possibilities were hidden inside if he left the core alone

“Yes, it’s not the time yet……”

Add suppressed his greed as he stared at sleeping Eve

Of course, he wasn’t planning to observe her forever He couldn’t endlessly delay his own goals so

he should take Eve’s core in the end But he wanted to collect as much data he could until that time

came

“That’s right Kukukuk……”

Add who got excited as a researcher in a long tihtfully He finally understood why

he had been having a hard tied Eve

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He had been avoiding facing her because he couldn’t understand the fact that Nasods changed But

shouldn’t researchers be obviously excited about results that defied common sense?

Add laughed quietly from the pleasure that he hasn’t felt in a while

It felt like he couldn’t sleep tonight because he was too excited This wasn’t because someone was

beside him This was certainly an excitement that a researcher felt when he encountered a new test

subject

He got too excited

“……”

Add was finally able to fall asleep late at night He got up while stretching Although this place was

underground, he could tell it wasin from various cracks on the

ceiling

“Yawn”

He could barely get any sleep last night because he was staring at Eve while i

her action and speech patterns all night long Add was about to get up as he recalled the enjoyable

tiht But he realized that the tent was empty

“What?”

Chair that Eve had been sitting on was ely stroked the empty chair then

clicked his tongue There was no way any heat would be re when she wasn’t even a human

“Where did she go?”

Add had only slept for about 1 or 2 hours This ot up and

moved

Add got out of the bed then wore his jacket as heso

hts were asleep except for lookouts

“Where’s Eve?”

Where did she go when she was the one who volunteered to keep him on surveillance? Add had

now decided to give up on the idea of going to the Temple of Water alone But shouldn’t Add’s

decision and Eve’s surveillance be separate matters?

It was difficult to ask around because it was so early in the ht find

some clues in Eve’s personal tent so he headed there When he approached and looked, he could see

a faint silhouettefrom inside

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“What, why are you here……”

Add muttered as he entered Eve’s tent then froze up Eve also saw Add enter and froze

Eve was in htly wet fro from the

bowl beside her, she htly wash herself

“……Uh”

A suddenly established silence Add desperately tried to keep cool while organizing his thoughts

Didn’t Nasods not require bathing? Of course it’s not like they didn’t have any concept of

cleanliness But they didn’t require it often If you also took the events from before into account,

you could only conclude that Eve beco was because of Rena and Ara’s

influence

Ah, a Nasod that can be influenced by her surrounding environ,

how graceful!

“……”

“……”

Add instantly wrote down a page in histo

change about this situation fros in his head

Eve looked surprised and was blankly staring at Add

“Wait, wait a second”

Add took a deep breath then looked down at his toes Why was he so startled searching for what to

say?

Eve was changing? So what? This wasn’t even the first time

Add htly at Eve As if his gaze was some

kind of a signal, Eve slowly adjusted the clothing she was about to wear

Alright, let’s play this cool

“N-n-n-n-ext tio somewhere…”

Playing cool or whatever, it all went down the drain Add wanted pull his tongue out His face

turned red at the same time

“How rude……”

Along with Eve’s freezing sentence, Moby and Reby jumped at Add

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After getting hit by Nasod gear attacks and exiting Eve’s tent, Add sat crouching down and sighed

“……What? What was that?”

She ears’ attacks were bearable Of

course, they were still circling above Add’s head and hitting hinore that

Ignore it

His head felt like it was going to explode

“……Am I crazy?”

He could only explain it this way No, why did it matter if whether Eve was naked or not? Or even if

she was disasse herself?

Eve was a Nasod Not a human

So a clay doll was changing its clothes…where would you find soot embarrassed after

seeing this? Seriously, what kind of crazy person was that?

Of course there ht be a human who had that much delicacy and ability to sympathize Since Eve

was a Nasod that boasted perfectness that had never been seen before in history, since she was ever

so close to a huht be idiots that made such mistakes

But that wasn’t Add

Eve was a beautiful research subject She was a treasure house that Add wanted to discover

everything about To make a comparison, Add was a ruins explorer and Eve was an ancient ruin that

held ancient treasures buried within While an explorer could look at the ruins in admiration and

compliment its beauty…he should never be embarrassed from it

Add was actually like this too This wasn’t the first time he saw Eve’s bare body Didn’t he just pass

it over indifferently last time?

But this second time…

“……Am I crazy?”

He repeated his words Add shook his head rapidly He couldn’t understand his own reaction This

was now a situation where he had to dissect himself before he dissected Eve

There were couple similar instances due to Eun’s foolery Add had been startled and embarrassed

every time in those instances… But that was only because the other person was a life form

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He had never shown that kind of reaction towards Eve

“I did react during that time with the swimsuit……”

It was an honest confession he could say because no one else was listening According to Add’s self

examination at the time, that was because the swimsuit suited Eve well It was because she had

stirred up from within Add a fashi+on sense that he hadn’t realized before That’s also how he had

analyzed hied appearance from Memory of

Time and space

But it wasn’t even because of that this ti any clothes

“No way No way……”

He wasn’t reacting to Eve’s attires He was reacting to Eve Add’s clever brain had already made this

cold evaluation but hisit

“ThereI’ve missed……”

For him to confuse his sense of distance with his test subject? He had to get rid of his title as a

researcher like this

Add kicked the ground and got up after shooing away Moby and Reby that were still hitting his head

“What did you miss?”

“……”

Add froze fro back a te pompously came into

his eyes

Of course, she earing clothes

They exchanged gazes, but Add unknowingly avoided her gaze Eve spoke stiffly

“There should be so you should say to me”

“……Wake Rena and Elsword up Let’s getfast as possible”

“…”

Eve’s gaze became even colder but Add forcefully turned around to show his back If this was

hu he should say in this situation He had already

said it couple tiize had been almost brainwashed into him by Ara

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But even if everything was to break down, he couldn’t apologize here He shouldn’t apologize here

Add had to always treat Eve in an engineer’s perspective

He had to oal if this was to break down

He knew that apologizing now and proain……would be beneficial to

h this incident hadn’t been intentional, it was a

coizes first looks much better

But he couldn’t do that even though he knew He’ll break down if he did

After sorettably rotating above Add’s

head also followed Eve as Add pushed it away

“……Although it wasn’t intentional, I apologize for intruding rudely I’ll be careful next time”

Words that had been clumped up inside him finally came out after no one was around to hear it

The words came out because he just couldn’t hold them in anymore Those void words broke up

solemnly in midair

Still buried in his sense of regret, Add clenched his fists then shook his head

“This is not good……”

Add avering and not responding properly fro will be ruined if he

couldn’t control his sense of distance with Eve

Add’s ultio back in time

He couldn’t give any attachive attachment was fine… But

he couldn’t let his true feelings waver as well It will ruin everything

“Looks like I’ insane too…”

For hie in his test subject It was to the point where he

began to doubt himself

A juh space

Ara arrived through the diate and blinked This space was colored all in blue and white

There was a golden throne at the end of the hall

A seductive voice came from above her head

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“I brought her just like you asked”

Karis who also ju Ara looked towards where Karis’

words were directed then instinctively grabbed her spear tightly

There was aon the throne There were no emotions in his narrowly opened red eyes

“Good job”

“……Elder Brother Aren!”

At Ran’s word, Ara grabbed her spear then collected her breath Her goal was to turn Ran back into

Aren, they finally met each other

But Ran didn’t give any eye to Ara and spoke towards Karis

“Go now”

“You got what you wanted so you don’t have any business with me anymore? That’s harsh”

“Go back to Velder”

“Alright, you want ht?”

Karis opened a di There was only Ran

and Ara left in the Hall of Water now

Ara took a deep breath then slowly approached Ran Ran was looking up towards the empty air

“Elder Brother”

“Yes”

He didn’t even stare at her as he replied Ara internally called Eun but she didn’t answer It seemed

she was asleep Eun had been fine just until their last conversation but sootten

tangled up when they juate

“You are…Elder Brother Aren right?”

“There was a time when I was called that”

Ran finally lowered his gaze towards Ara His eyes were so cold that Ara felt the chills Even while

terrified, Ara bravely fixed her spear

She finally arrived at the goal of her journey

“I’ll turn Elder Brother back to how you were So…”

“Fine, try it”

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Ran answered softly It was an extrehtered the town’s people

together with Karis

“Haaaah……”

Ara collected her energy then charged in front right away Her legs looked like they just kicked the

ground then she was already cutting across the air Ara stepped on the air to instantly close the

distance between her and Ran then et up from the throne

at Ara’s swift attack

Spear tip perfectly aimed at Ran’s neck flew in

Pause

“……”

Ara stopped her stab right in front of Ran’s neck Skin on Ran’s neck got cut frohtly

grazed by the spear tip and a drop of blood oozed out

“What’s wrong?”

“That’s………”

Ran will die if she stabbed hi her spear on Ran’s neck quickly

withdrew the spear and backed up

She wanted to turn Ran back into Aren Not kill him

“Why are you just sitting there and not fighting back?”

“To turnwith my full capacity Is this

what Eun told you?”

“……”

Ara didn’t kno Ran knew about this, but she nodded To separate Aren before he completely

becaht with his full capacity then shatter Ran’s soul to return

Aren’s soul back to normal This was the method Eun told her

“Those words are not wrong”

“Then why……?”

Thus, stabbing Ran asn’t fighting backher journey, Ara

had only worried about her skills not being enough to defeat Ran… she had never iined Ran

not resisting

Wasn’t it obvious? Demon or not, ould anyone sit still and let someone kill you?

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“Because the end of ti”

“Pardon me?”

“I’ll explain it in a way you can understand It doesn’t matter if you try to stab me But if you try to

again and fail, I’ll go to Hamel Think about it carefully”

“What do you mean……?”

“You cannot stop me”

Would Ara’s strength be enough to stop Ran if he made up his mind to destroy Hamel? It would be

too much even in Celestial Fox state

“But I won’t do anything long as you stay here That’s the condition”

“……”

Tip of Ara’s spear shook She couldn’t kill Ran But Ran arning that he’ll kill everyone in

Hamel……if she tried to threaten him despite this

Just like how he turned the village that Ara grew up in into a sea of blood

“Elder Brother…… you already har such

things?”

“So what are you going to do about it?”

Ran got up fro across Hall of Water

“Will you stabto kill me to appease the souls of those that I

killed?”

“……”

She had never even thought once about killing Aren Ara got scared then stepped back as Ran

approached her

But Ran’s steps were faster

“You cannot stop me or kill me You also cannot revive those that I killed You cannot do anything”

“……”

He was right Visions ran by her head in that moment…… Ara had already seen hoerful Ran

was every night in her dreams

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Difference between Ara and Ran’s strength ay too big……and even if Ran didn’t resist like he

did before, Ara couldn’t take his life

When Ara stood still shaking, Ran stretched out his hand to grab Ara’s chin Ara couldn’t even turn

her head away to avoid his gaze anymore

“So stay here with me”

“……Elder Brother”

Ara couldn’t decide on what she should do While Ara was in turmoil unable to decide, Ran

whispered heartlessly

“Let’s watch the end of tiether with me from here”

Darkness that gathered on the tip of Ran’s hand consumed Ara

Before she had any time to decide

Before she had any moment to be scared

Into deep darkness

Ice cave leading to the Tehts back to

Hah the cave in order to head towards the Temple of Water

“This reminds me of the time ent to capture Banthus”

“It sure does”

Elsword and Rena alking in front and talking It was a relaxing conversation considering they

were heading into the ene

Hisat Eve’s back as she walked in front

“……”

It was probably obvious, but Eve hadn’t said a word to Add ever since that time Eve had been

treating his were back to point zero

Actually Add was feeling very regretful about it Did he lose so important because of his

pointless stubbornness? Did he miss a very rare and important opportunity? Did he mess the whole

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thing up because he was too confused about finding out that he had been shaken up all this time

because he was looking at Eve and not her attires?

The questions continued endlessly in his head His body alking but hisup

in the air When Add let out a groan unconsciously, Eve took a slight look back towards him

In that instant, Add turned to glare at the cave wall as if it was his sworn ene that Add

was displaying intense hostility towards the wall, Eve looked at him for a bit then turned her head

forwards again

“……”

Just as this? Was this a situation as if a little kid was stubbornly refusing to apologize after

causing trouble? It was stupid, but Add realized that the comparison wasn’t too different after

exaht patterns

“Tch…”

Add clicked his tongue as he forcefully broke his gaze away from Eve Then he made eye contact

with a boy as following behind hi

“Co us?”

“I’m sorry”

Add pressed his palized politely

Add thought that Chung will go back with the Velder Knights but it had already been decided

beforehand that he will act together with the El Search Party Rena must have allowed it

“I know you want to get revenge… But we’ll prioritize Ara first”

“I’ with that”

Chung spoke softly while looking at Add

“My life was saved thanks to you MrAdd So would you allow me to help you this time?”

“Do whatever you want”

Chungwhen he was unconscious from

Karis’ attack

This felt like a great opportunity so Add added a condition

“But promise instead that you won’t act rashly when Ran is in front of you I won’t let things go if

the plan is ruined fro to return with everyone alive I’ll get rid of you

first if you are going to get in the way of this”

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“I promise”

Chung nodded without any hesitation at Add’s warning Heup his mind

while Add was unconscious

“I was able to survive thanks to MrAdd and also MsAra It will be difficult to withhold my

eainst Ran…… But I’ll help you two much as I can for now”

“……I’ll look forward to it”

Add was all open ariant destroyer, and

his skills of supporting together with Rena from the back was top notch

The El Search Party was coe of close quarter combat,

Add and Eve carrying out e of long range

support…… Now their long range firepower had been increased significantly fro

“We’ll be able to see the Teh this cave”

“There’s almost no attacks from the demons”

“Yes, this path isn’t too well known after all But…”

Chung spoke this then took a deep breath as he airees forwards Elsword

and Rena ere in front noticed this and quickly n of

apology then fired a cannonball up at the ceiling

Boom!!

Icicles that were hanging on the ceiling shattered Add looked up wondering as going on and

then his face quickly turned pale Countless amounts of spiders dropped down from the hole that

was created after the ceiling was shattered

“Blegh…”

“There’s so many”

Elsword and Rena also looked up and were startled

“They lie in ast the icicles then drop down if a traveler passes by

below You cannot see them well normally”

Chung spoke this then shot one roaned

“It’s a sight I never want to see again”

“I’et past these couple more times”

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Eve who had been watching silently said so out of the blue

“Ara Haan ht have fainted if she saw this”

“Yes, she hated spiders”

Didn’t she get frightened and cling to Add inside Banthus’ Cave? Add who had been unknowingly

re the past event suddenly realized that he just conversed with Eve Eve must have realized

the saaze forwards

“Let’s hurry up and get out of here”

Just like Chung said, spiders were laying in ambush in couple more locations But they were all

cleaned up neatly by Chung’s cannonballs Actually, the spiders weren’t that threatening but the fact

that they felt unpleasant to directly use weapons on and that there were so many of them was

botherso’s Destroyer could handle both of these issues

Thanks to hih the ice cave without having to fight the

spiders directly

“That ahead must be the Temple of Water Let’s all wear our coats”

At Rena’s words, everyone except Eve wore the coats that they prepared beforehand Just as they

heard, there was a snow stor near the Temple of Water

“It will be difficult to s like this”

“It’s been said that it’s not cold inside the Temple itself So we can take them off inside”

“Big Sister AraLet’s hurry!”

“Add, do you have a plan?”

Add shook his head sideways at Eve’s business like question Teoal

But it was a building that had been built so long ago that they had almost no information about its

interiors

“Then allow o in first and have a look around the surroundings together Then

depending on the situation, you’ll find Ara and escape Then we’ll retreat as well

“……”

“Let’s do that after exa the situation inside”

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Rena mediated in between them when Add made a face as if he wasn’t too keen on Eve’s plan Add

didn’t knoas going on inside the Temple of Water either so he had to admit Eve’s

suggestion was reasonable

Ran or Karis wouldn’t juht? There shouldn’t be any problems if he

located Ara soon as possible

“Then let me lead the way”

The El Search Party followed Chung’s guidance and headed towards the Temple of Water

She felt warmth amidst the darkness

Ara who had been holding on to her blurry consciousness opened her eyes Large and warm hand

was stroking her head She wanted to give herself over to this generous hand and go back to sleep

absent fro was

wrong didn’t let her fall asleep

Also, she still had her spear in her hand Her mind started to wake from the familiar sensation of her

spear

“Elder…Brother”

“You’re awake”

Ara immediately came to her senses at Ran’s words The hand that was on top of her head right now

was Ran’s Ran was sitting on the chair and Ara had been asleep while leaning on the chair’s armrest

Ran had his eyes closed and was deep in thought Ara saw his face then added strength to the grip

on her spear But she couldn’t continue to the next step If Ara made up her mind…it wouldn’t be

difficult for her to take Ran’s life right now

But that wasn’t what Ara wanted Also, Hamel will turn into ashes if she failed for some reason

“…Why are you doing this?”

Her thoughts were still complicated Ran answered calmly when Ara who still couldn’t decide on

what to do asked with much difficulty

“To achieve what I desire”

“Just what is that? Why do you have to do all this?”

“You wouldn’t understand even if I told you in this time”

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Ara stared at Ran with a hurt expression when Ran cut off the conversation Even though there had

been Karis’ , Ran didn’t look particularly troubled or pained fro a demon

“Do you……not regret beco a demon?”

“I’ll do anything in order to achieve oal”

“……”

Although she didn’t knohat that goal was, she knew that it contained a will that Ran wouldn’t

hesitate nothe process Didn’t Ran actually hurt many

people already?

Ara backed out to distance herself froround with

her spear

Wouldn’t leaving Ran like this bring about a disaster to the world? Could it be that Elder Brother

Aren doesn’t exist any Ran for the sake of the world

be the righteous thing to do?

“If you’re going to do it, don’t fail”

Ran answered dully as if he read Ara’s mind

“If you have a killing intent, hide it Key to our Haan fa

faster than anything while not , energy

arts, shadow and exorcism all have their key point in speed”

“……”

“Dispatch your enemies before they even notice your attack, faster than anyone, without haste

Taking life like the falling flower petal, this is the truth of Haan family’s martial arts”

It was the sath left Ara She couldn’t

hold on to her spear anymore

She couldn’t do it after all She had no courage to point her spear towards this person No, she could

point her spear but she didn’t have the resolve to take his life

Ran finally opened his eyes when Ara dropped her spear with shaking hands

“Look at your appearance right now”

“Ah……”

At Ran’s words, Ara finally looked at her own appearance then becaht attire with

the same color as Ran’s More of all, there were horns on her head

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“……”

Ara’s face turned pale as she touched the horns She didn’t want to say it no matter what… But her

appearance couldn’t be described as anything else but a demon

But Ran denied

“You did not beco the shadow in your heart It’s a cheap act that

this broken ti”

“But…”

But what else could her appearance be but a deht noould say at a

single glance that she was a dehed coldly

“De that’s so easy to become Relax”

“……Just what did you do to me?”

“I already told you It’s only the shadow in your heart co out to the surface”

“That’s……”

“No one ever looks closely into their own shadow But you’ve become able to look at it closely”

Her changed appearance was confusing but Ran’s words must be true There was no reason for him

to lie

This appearance that’s ever so si to be

beside Ran even if she had to change herself like this was her true desire? After struggling so much

to figure out if defeating Ran would be the just thing to do Her choice in the end was this?

It would…rather have been better if Ran had forcefully turned her into a demon to