Fired Characters from an Idle Game

51. 5★ Mother of Ill Omens, Karne – (2)

[5★ Mother of Ill Omens, Karne, is watching you!]

In Disaster Order, a dedicated quest was prepared for every 5-star Calamity.

Just as it had been for Selene and Mirien, there was a special quest for Karne, Mother of Ill Omens.

She was recruited to the base while burdened with a debuff.

Commonly known as the Curse of Ill Omen, this debuff restricted skill acquisition. Unless you presented her with a unique item to lift the debuff, Karne would have to be operated with only her unique skills instead of the common ones, an inconvenient situation. This was a major disadvantage for Karne, who prided herself on her versatility.

The item requested in the quest was a 5-star piece of equipment: the Source of Life.

However, Karne, standing before me in reality, did not possess that equipment.

No, that wasn’t quite right.

[5☆ Twisted Source of Life (Corrupted)]

The equipment I had gifted her, the Source of Life, resided within Karne’s embrace, marked with the tag of “Corrupted.”

In other words, like Asteria, the Queen Who Swallowed Stars, she had ruined the item I had given her with her own hands.

That fact alone was enough to easily understand the resentment Karne held towards me.

“Karne.”

As I quietly spoke Karne’s name, she lifted her head and looked at me. Golden eyes, vertically slit pupils. In the dark night sky, only her two eyes shone with an eerie brilliance.

“Actor, I have so very many questions for you,”

Karne answered my words with a bitter smile.

Thankfully, unlike Mirien, she seemed to retain enough reason to converse with me. Karne spread her black wings wide as she continued.

“Why abandon an immortal body and be demoted to a mortal existence, what reason to relocate to this higher dimension, where did you leave your dominion within the existing rifts, so many…, so very many… questions.”

Karne, who had referred to herself as Mother, paused and abruptly shook her head.

“However… all are but trivial pleasantries. There is only one question I truly wish to ask.”

Karne met my eyes squarely as she spoke.

“Why did you abandon your mother?”

*Swaah-*

And.

A cold bead of sweat traced a path down my spine.

Each and every word from Karne carried with it such a chilling sentiment.

“…Karne, it’s all a misunderstanding.”

Indeed, Karne believed herself to have been abandoned.

It wasn’t entirely untrue.

Selenne, Mirien, Asteria—I had dismissed them all with my own hands.

Worse, from what I’d gathered, their memories of my dismissal remained vividly clear. Selenne was left in despair, Mirien denied the reality. And Karne, she held a deep-seated resentment towards me.

“I didn’t abandon you. It was an unavoidable situation.”

Even as I was crushed beneath an oppressive weight that made me feel as if I were about to faint, I spoke the words I had to say.

“There’s a reason for everything. Selenne, Mirien, they all understood. I can’t explain in detail, but I merely….”

“Merely?”

Cutting me off, Karne leaned closer. The darkness arrayed around her stirred, her black wings twitched.

A raven’s call echoed slowly through the silence.

“Actor, my precious child. There’s no need to strain yourself with lies.”

“…It’s not a lie….”

“I have already suffered two betrayals. Once, abandoned by the world, and again, abandoned by one who was more precious than the world itself.”

It was unnecessary to state explicitly who the latter individual was.

“This mother of yours… possesses a terribly selfish nature. Once abandoned… I can no longer bring myself to trust.”

Being able to converse was not necessarily an advantage.

Karne resented me with a cold rationality that surpassed all others.

To continue the conversation would only prove counterproductive.

“Actor, are you intent on inflicting another grievous wound upon your mother?”

“…”

“Truthfully, I was planning, at first, to ask you with resentment why you abandoned me. But… facing you directly now… it seems it’s all my fault.”

Karne gave a bitter smile, hugging her own shoulders.

“Once, this mother was the creator of all life. I birthed, nurtured, and loved.”

“So…”

“But I was abandoned. In the worst way possible, wretchedly, desperately. My heart was pierced, my wings were ripped off, and in a single dawn, I went from a sacred god to a filthy harlot.”

Caw—!

A multitude of black wings fluttered.

The familiars born from her embrace continued to wail.

As if empathizing with their mother’s sorrow.

“Actor, I don’t resent you. But to be betrayed twice, and to fall into the mire… it must mean there’s something wrong with this mother, after all.”

Karne chastised herself.

She tightly gripped the source of life clinging to her chest. From that device, which should have been pouring out pure energy, a sinister red liquid dripped, drop by drop.

“My lord.”

Selene, who had been listening in silence, obliquely raised the Wedge of Infernal Flames.

Had she sensed some ominous movement?

Sure enough, Karne spread her arms wide, a mocking smile on her face.

“So… this insufficient mother won’t blame her child.”

“Karne, just listen to me—!”

“It’s alright, Actor. I can understand everything. So…”

[Karne, the Mother of Ill Omens, sings of destruction.]

“Fear the night.”

[Fear the night.]

Simultaneously, a thick darkness was scattered around Karne.

Immediately after being enveloped in the pitch-black void, a system message appeared before my eyes.

[Entering dungeon: “The Nest of Ill Omens.”]

[Subjugate the dungeon’s master and acquire ownership.]

“…Insane.”

[＊Warning＊ Dungeon: “The Nest of Ill Omens” is a 5-star dungeon!]

So it wasn’t that she didn’t have a nest.

Kareu herself was the nest.

*

It was ten minutes later that the Chinese Awakened Federation and Yoo Jun-seo arrived at the First Refugee Camp.

Refugee camp in name only; it was effectively a prison. A massive complex, a human tower stacked high, floor upon floor. Yoo Jun-seo was aghast.

“…Those crazy Chinks.”

Truth be told, whatever China was doing was none of Yoo Jun-seo’s concern.

He’d been pushed and shoved until he arrived here, but he had no intention of sacrificing his life for China.

“Nam Ju-yeon, that son of a b*tch… Where the hell did he go?”

Yoo Jun-seo involuntarily shook his head, resisting the onrush of panic.

Nam Ju-yeon had vanished on the Storm Dragon. At first, he thought he’d escaped like some ninja. But he reconsidered. The Great Flame Emperor, an S-Class Awakened, wouldn’t abandon him!

“…Would he?”

Yoo Jun-seo wasn’t entirely sure himself, but it was better to console himself that way.

“Sir Yoo Jun-seo, they say the wave is arriving soon.”

“…Mm.”

An Awakened of Chinese descent was looking at him with a strangely expectant gaze.

She wasn’t alone. Dozens, no, nearly hundreds of expectant eyes were stabbing into Yoo Jun-seo’s back.

The Chinese Awakened Federation only had one S-Class Awakened, Lei Hu. Since Yoo Jun-seo was also classified as S-Class, they were anticipating his performance.

“Jiayou!”

Someone shouted in Chinese.

As if in response, a unanimous roar erupted.

Chinese was a cursed language, as ever. Not the language of civilized humans, but something closer to the cries of primates.

Jiayou or Jiayou Jiayou or whatever, Yoo Jun-seo was going crazy.

“A-ahem. W-well… Guess I should… show off a bit, huh?”

But Yoo Jun-seo wasn’t strong-willed enough to no-show after receiving so much expectation.

“It’s coming!”

Hearing the briefing, Yoo Jun-seo looked up.

A swarm of calamities, obscuring the sky.

Unlike what he’d heard, that there would be hundreds of thousands, there seemed to be at least millions.

“…You’ve got to be kidding me.”

With a grimace, he summoned the Guardian of Crimson Flames. This calamity, with its extremely enhanced tanking ability, would serve as a sturdy shield for the Chinese Awakened Federation.

If there was even the slightest sign of the defensive line breaking, he planned to abandon everything and flee.

But Yu Junseo wouldn’t get the chance to put his thoughts into action.

“Ugh!”

The Awakened groaned.

Yu Junseo, too, felt it.

A nauseating sensation that felt like his insides were being churned.

Yu Junseo had experienced this feeling before.

When hunting the Storm Dragon Tempestura, and when entering the tower in Yeouido.

Which meant this sensation was…

[Entering Dungeon: “Omen’s Nest.”]

[Subjugate the dungeon’s master, and obtain ownership.]

In an instant, the surroundings turned pitch black.

The impenetrable darkness amplified the sense of dread.

*Ding!*

[＊Warning＊ Dungeon: “Omen’s Nest” is a 5-Star Dungeon! It does not match the level of Dominator ‘Yu Junseo’!]

[It is strongly recommended that you evacuate immediately!]

The warning window that materialized before his eyes was enough to throw the Chinese Awakened into a panic.

Loud voices erupted.

He couldn’t understand the specifics, as they were speaking in Chinese, but the gist of it was probably something like this:

‘We’re so screwed!’

Yu Junseo was too flustered to indulge in such simple thoughts. His teeth chattered.

Having faced the Great Calamity Scorched Saintess Selene twice, Yu Junseo knew.

He could never win against a 5-Star Calamity.

He had to escape.

Yu Junseo turned, ready to flee, but was blocked by an intangible barrier, bouncing back with a thud.

“Damn it!”

It seemed that once inside the dungeon, escaping unscathed was impossible.

Was he going to die like this?

As Yu Junseo contemplated his fate, a vertical, stark white line appeared before his eyes.

But it wasn’t a line.

It was a fissure in the dungeon’s outer wall. Abruptly, the crack blossomed horizontally, revealing a glimpse of the world beyond. Light trickled in through the newly formed gap.

“…N-Nam Juyeon-ssi! I wasn’t doubting you!”

Yoo Junseo, wiping tears from the corner of his eye, shouted. But it wasn’t Nam Juyeon who stepped through the breach.

Hair as dark as night, imbued with a bluish sheen; eyes that shone with a vivid azure light. A woman of such exotic beauty that any would gasp at the sight.

But Yoo Junseo had no leisure to calmly admire her face.

[5★ Storm of the Northern Seas, Mirienne]

Because he saw the words inscribed above her head.

Mirienne, the Great Disaster, Storm of the Northern Seas, cast a fleeting glance at the slumped Yoo Junseo.

Her face was contorted in a fierce scowl, a barely contained fury. Mirienne addressed Yoo Junseo.

“Where is that wench?”

“…Th-that… wench?”

“Never mind.”

Mirienne paid Yoo Junseo no further mind. She took a step forward.

[5★ Storm of the Northern Seas, Mirienne, casts skill “Spatial Leap.”]

And vanished from sight in an instant.

“…”

Having witnessed this much, Yoo Junseo could endure no longer.

“A-Aghh… Son of a….”

His panic disorder, so desperately suppressed, flared anew.