Steampunk Era: Mad Abield
Chapter 615 - 429: Heart as Tough as Iron (Part 3)

Chapter 615: Chapter 429: Heart as Tough as Iron (Part 3)

Fate painted each person’s life, some sail through with both parents, kind elders, and all the world’s beauty laid out before them. They stand at the crossroads of innumerable paths, each one bathed in golden light, each leading to the promised land. Conversely, others don’t have this life; their elders pass away, they lose both parents, all of the world’s beauty is irrelevant to them. Their path is thorny, and each step requires hardships unknown to outsiders.

There are many reasons why such disparity exists. Malin’s previous life was exceedingly difficult; the world was so painful. The only thing that kept him going was that phrase.

"We must grow old together, right?"

Yes, definitely. Even if I’m the only one to turn grey, I’ll still have fulfilled our promise.

Later, in this world, Malin still lived for others, for Maya, for Faye, for Clovis... for every girl who trusted and helped him.

Living for oneself sounds so wonderful, but Malin didn’t know how to do that because for a long time, his life consisted only of going to work, getting off work, drinking tea, killing time online, and sleeping.

Such is a life, bland as water.

So, Malin... didn’t live for himself, for he couldn’t find meaning in it.

That child must have felt the same.

Looking at the teardrop-shaped scorch marks beneath his feet, Malin watched in silence as they led into the depths of the Black Forest, vanishing after crossing a little stream, leaving behind only the ferocious footprints of Chaos.

Child, I can feel your pain, but you’ve taken the wrong path.

I understand you, but I must kill you. Crossing over the hilltop, Malin watched as footsteps turned to footprints, and saw shreds of straw sandals that resembled such prints. Kneeling on one knee, he picked up these fragments and tucked them back into his bag.

Here, Malin witnessed the entire transformation process of a child, twisting in despair.

May the Lord have mercy, may I ring the evening bell for this child.

"Your Excellency..." Hearing the warning bark of the Heavenly Hound ahead, the Punisher’s leader approached Malin.

"Spread out the formation," Malin commanded, making his way to the hilltop.

"Malin, are you alright?" Nova approached with some anxiety; she must have sensed something. Malin shook his head: "I’m fine..." Then he looked at Maya, "And you, Maya?"

"I can feel the sadness in your heart, let me do it," Maya said, her face full of worry as she looked at Malin.

"No, that won’t do. I’m the Church’s red-robed High Priest; it’s my duty to handle this," Malin ruffled her hair, then strode to the top of the hill.

There, Malin saw that pitiful child... who could no longer be described as a child. In Malin’s eyes, it was now a twisted monstrosity—a hunchbacked being nearly two and a half meters tall, with backward-curving hooves for feet. Its left arm was warped into a horrific claw-like pincer, while its right arm maintained a humanoid shape but mutated with only tendril-like twistings remaining for fingers.

The child’s head had entirely transformed into a fleshy mass, with sharp teeth exposed.

"Chaos Spawn... no, a Forgotten One. This child is too feeble," Nova murmured.

Chaos Spawn, those who had mutated because they couldn’t bear the Chaos’s "blessing." But Nova wasn’t wrong—in Malin’s view, the child’s body was too frail to withstand such intense distortion. Chaos claimed to have bestowed a blessing, but the unbearable cost was becoming such a dreadful being.

After some thought, Malin handed over his gun to Maya, extended his hand, and Fio transformed into a longsword in his palm.

"Let me handle this."

Malin declined the leader’s good intentions and then approached the child.

"Tom," he called out the child’s name.

This was the older brother; he also had a younger brother named Tommy. The two boys had only each other for support.

Malin’s call was met with nothing but the mutated Chaos Spawn’s roar as it lunged at Malin. Its right arm’s tentacles stretched out, sweeping towards Malin like a whip. But Malin easily dodged the attack, leaving behind only an afterimage for the flesh-whip to cut through.

"Advanced sword dance?" A Wild Elf from the Punishers’ ranks glanced at their leader.

He shook his head, signaling not to interrupt this duel-like battle... despite the disparity in their entities.

Appearing to the left of the mutated Chaos, Malin raised his left hand; the blade, enclosed in spiritual energy, sliced the Chaos’s left arm into pieces and even cut into its ribs.

Yet such damage didn’t stop its assault; it roared, spinning to try and catch Malin with its pincer. But it merely snipped the afterimage left by Malin’s Blink, while on its right side, Malin’s World Tree longsword had already severed its right arm.

Black ichor spurted out but failed to touch Malin.

Still, the Chaos Spawn didn’t abandon its attack; it stretched its neck in an attempt to bite Malin, its mouth seeming to split open.

Once again, the bite inevitably missed, and even without the use of Blink, Malin was now beside it; the raised longsword fell and decapitated the Chaos Spawn.

It collapsed to the ground, motionless, and after Malin plunged the World Tree Sapling into the corpse’s back, he allowed Fio to begin absorbing and purifying the Chaos-shrouded shell.

"Have you confirmed the existence of the coordinates?" Malin turned and looked at the person in charge.

"No, your Excellency." The person in charge saluted with a hand to their chest.

Malin nodded, he turned back to the headless shell and noticed the black object in its tattered waist pouch, which Lorrin picked up from Malin’s wrist and laid on the ground to retrieve for him.

It was a small piece of black bread.

There was also a tiny bag with "Happy Birthday" written on it.

This child’s brother was named Tommy.

Malin picked up the bread, carefully purified it, then wrapped it and tied it with the slender strands separated from the Sapling.

Why can’t this world fulfill even a child’s small wish, why has Chaos come to this world, look at what they’ve done, look at the damage they’ve caused to this world, if they are gods, then I must become someone who will kill them.

"Are you alright, Malin?" Nova came over, noticing the small bag in Malin’s hand.

"It’s nothing, this is a little gift a brother prepared for his brother... Let’s fulfill this wish for him," Malin said, breaking into a sincere smile.

If killing Chaos, preventing them from hurting this world any further, requires a price from me, I am willing to pay everything.

I, Malin, swear.

.........

Back in the village, Malin dug a small grave for Tommy, purified his remains, and laid them down, along with the gift from his brother, and a small bottle of Holy Water that Malin provided.

"Your Excellency Malin, you needn’t go this far. In the wilderness, such things happen every moment," the person in charge said, standing beside Malin.

"I know, I always say mortals eventually exhaust their strength, mortals should be aware of their limitations, but I feel... I feel none of this should have happened, Fate should not have dealt these two children such a cruel hand, just because of their birthright, good turns to bad, a hopeful tomorrow never arrives... all because of the Evil Gods of Chaos... what do you think? Wouldn’t a world without them be wonderful?"

"That would surely be a utopia. I dream of living in such a world, your Excellency. Though it may be presumptuous to say, such a world really is too beautiful, as beautiful as a dream crafted by an Evil God," the person in charge sighed deeply, and Malin also sighed.

Yes, for this supervisor, a world without deities seemed like the Heavenly Kingdom, but to Malin, there really was no difference.

Sometimes, humans are more terrifying than Evil Gods, just like Mr. Zhang said in his diary, those bastards in North America, they cry for fairness while creating injustice, they demand justice while committing wrongs, they confess ceaselessly yet continue creating their sins.

Now, the real Deities have arrived, come, enumerate your sins to these Chaos Evil Gods and please them.

With such reflection, Malin led the team back to Carterburg, leaving behind plenty of jerked meats and vegetables for the Proxies dealing with the aftermath; these supplies were easily gathered by Malin, so it was no difficult task.

Upon return, perhaps because one of the accompanying girls had said something, Malin’s dinner preparation was, unusually, not his task; instead, he sat waiting for his meal, having to repeatedly assure everyone that he truly was fine. However, unable to withstand the motherly outpouring of the girls who heard the story, the tale of the two brothers also made listeners weep.

The girls were very pleased with Malin fulfilling the brother’s wish.

After dinner, Malin instructed Fio to wash the dishes and then gathered the girls to explain his situation—basically, letting them know he was alright and that a bit of sorrow couldn’t crush him.

After Malin spoke, Faye and Nova exchanged glances.

"It’s getting late."

"Yes, it’s getting quite late."

Malin, looking at the conversation between the two girls, pulled out his pocket watch to check the time: "What time is it really?"

Then he was embraced by Clovis, who had grabbed his arm: "When the sisters say it’s late, it’s late, don’t argue, and don’t accept any arguments."

"But we are Mages," Malin unconsciously replied.

"Mages seek Truth, but they do not blindly follow it," Rewo said, standing in front of Malin and, together with Clovis, pulling at his arm.

"To sleep now, isn’t that a bit early?" Malin was puzzled.

"Early to bed and early to rise, Mr. Malin. Tomorrow we still have to go to Rongma," Faye looked at Malin: "Don’t let it interfere with business."

"...Alright." Seeing that things had come to this, Malin did not protest any further.