The Righteous Shield and the Last Sword Saint
This inexplicable, hallucination-like voice he could not identify no longer mattered. He kept walking forward with a composed expression, his mind astonishingly calm. Perhaps being pierced by a spear thousands of times over had numbed him to death itself.
“Let’s go. Forward.”
He was prepared to do whatever it took to survive. Now that he had found a means to grow stronger, there was no reason to surrender his life so foolishly. Hyun-jun shoved hard against the iron door before him.
Creak.
With the groan of rusted metal, the door swung open. It was dark inside, but the green glint of eyes was unmistakable. There was no time, nor room, to shine a flashlight and confirm what waited there. The owners of those green eyes, Skeletons, sensed Hyun-jun’s presence at once and came rushing forward with a chilling clatter of bones.
“Hup!”
With a short breath, he raised his shield. Carthago’s knowledge remained with him, faint but intact. The spear thrust by the Skeleton was blocked by Hyun-jun’s shield.
“Kuh!”
Even as he groaned, he swung his sword in a counterattack exactly as the knowledge in his head dictated. The Skeleton whose core had been destroyed in a single blow collapsed powerlessly. Realizing Hyun-jun was not an easy target, the Skeletons spread out and surrounded him in a semicircle.
-Carthago’s Righteous Shield protects you. Do not fear. You are not alone.
Carthago’s blessing had begun. At the same time, knowledge related to the conditions required to trigger it flooded into his mind.
It activates when protection is needed?
Carthago’s blessing would manifest when the recipient faced a danger that required protection. But he also realized, as the information continued to pour in, that it could be forcibly drawn out through mana.
Even with a blessing, there was no hope in sight. There were five Skeletons, each a C-Class monster, and two Skeleton Sergeants, who were B-Class. Not only were there many of them, but the Sergeants were powerful enough that victory seemed impossible.
“I’m going… all the way…”
Hyun-jun’s eyes flashed sharply. That was the instant the monsters charged him.
-The Last Sword Saint, Sidenmiller, is forcibly intervening, impressed by your rapid growth and unwavering resolve. Rejoice! For now, for but a fleeting instant, the Last Sword Saint descends into your body.
It was a strange voice. He was curious about its source, but Hyun-jun decided not to care.
“This will be the one and only time.”
This time, the voice was not strange. And it came from nearby. Hyun-jun tried to turn his head and look around, but he could not. His body would not move.
“I’ve taken control of your body for now. I have no intention of harming you, so put your mind at ease and leave yourself to me.”
Speaking thus, he picked up the sword Hyun-jun had somehow dropped. Only then did Hyun-jun realize that his body was moving on its own, completely apart from his will.
“Regrettably, because this is a forced descent, I do not have much time. I shall omit explanation and act at once.”
Cold eyes swept over the battlefield. Seeing five Skeletons and two Skeleton Sergeants pointing their weapons toward him, Sidenmiller frowned. Hyun-jun could simultaneously sense the same irritation.
“Undead scum daring to point weapons at a sword saint? Insolent.”
He raised his sword. Faint aura gathered along the blade and shone. It was impossible for an F-Class hunter to manifest an Aura Blade, yet Sidenmiller’s expression was still dissatisfied.
“So this is the limit with this body...? It is, of course, excellent enough to be called highly gifted, but I cannot say I am satisfied.”
With the rattling clatter of bones, the Skeletons charged.
“Kneel.”
The sword swept down. With a piercing shriek of air being torn apart, the lower halves of the Skeletons vanished. The same was true of the B-Class monsters, the Skeleton Sergeants. Their lower bodies were all shattered into pieces, and they crumpled onto the cold stone floor.
W-What just happened?
It all happened in an instant. Hyun-jun’s consciousness could not even grasp what had occurred.
“Now to finish it.”
The heads of all five Skeletons and two Skeleton Sergeants were crushed. This time, he could not even perceive the motion of the sword. By the time his senses caught up, the headless Skeletons were rolling across the floor.
“A Knight this time, is it...? This far, I can aid you.”
Though it sounded like a muttered remark to himself, Sidenmiller was in truth speaking to Hyun-jun, whose inner self had retreated briefly under the force of the descent. As soon as his words ended, Skeleton Knights appeared, monsters considered elite even among B-Class beings, the realm known as transcendence.
Four B-Class elite monsters...? Hyun-jun despaired. I’ve lost...
From the perspective of an F-Class hunter like him, a B-Class elite monster was no different from some distant, godlike existence. Monsters capable of sweeping away an entire city if even one of them burst out of a dungeon.
“Do not worry. This body is far too strong to be compared with such mongrels.”
The tip of the reclaimed sword pointed one by one at the Skeleton Knights. They surged around Hyun-jun, now host to Sidenmiller’s descent.
Deep in the darkness, green aura gleamed. Then Sidenmiller cast them a cold, contemptuous look.
“Reincarnation... you would do well to engrave my movements deeply in your mind.”
He finished speaking briefly, and from the raised sword, a faint aura glimmered. The next moment, every last one of the Skeleton Knights lay sprawled, each and every core destroyed.
W-What on earth...
Though it was his own body, he could not understand what had happened. It was a fleeting instant beyond the reach of his thoughts.
“Do not be too astonished. You too shall become this.”
Cold eyes swept over the surroundings.
“We will make you the strongest. Until that day comes,”
What do you mean, that day...? Just what are you saying?
He could not force the words out. So he asked in his mind instead. Fortunately, it seemed Sidenmiller could hear Hyun-jun’s voice shouting from within.
“I would like to explain in detail, but with your flesh as it is, this appears to be the limit. I must return now.”
There was much he wanted to ask. But at some point, the flood of mana he had felt throughout his body vanished, and control over his body returned to him as before. Mana was something hunters could ordinarily begin handling only upon awakening. Hyun-jun was already familiar with it now, but even he had never felt so much of it before.
“What in the world...”
Exhaustion and confusion crashed over him, but there was no time to stand still. The dungeon had not yet been cleared, and the gate leading back had closed. He had no choice but to press onward, and this dungeon was only a C-Class elite to begin with. For a normal F-Class hunter, it was the kind of place where he would be little more than a cold corpse at the entrance.
-Be at ease. You are no longer an ordinary F-Class hunter. The 990,000 past lives are watching you.
The strange voice carried no emotion and was so curt it offered no explanation at all. But Hyun-jun could understand one thing clearly.
Sidenmiller wasn’t bluffing when he said he would make me the strongest.
*
-Carthago’s Righteous Shield protects you. So long as the great guardian stands with you, nothing can threaten you.
The shield reinforced by Aura Shield deflected the spear. Hyun-jun did not miss the instant the Skeleton’s stance wavered, and he darted in at once. His sword, driven forward with force, destroyed the undead’s core. The Skeleton’s entire body collapsed as though it had been shattered from within.
“Haa, haa.”
Hyun-jun staggered, gasping harshly for breath. His body was slick with sweat. Even with Carthago’s blessing, it was not easy for someone who had been an ordinary F-Class hunter until yesterday to clear a B-Class elite dungeon.
Has everything around here been cleared?
He looked about. Nothing seemed to pose an immediate threat. Dungeon monsters generally did not stray far from their territory unless something drove them. Checking the time, he saw that it was already past 10 p.m., and his stamina had reached its limit. He needed to rest now. In large dungeons, it was often difficult to clear them in a single day, so it was not unusual to sleep rough in a safe spot.
He unpacked his bag against the wall and lay down, using the backpack as a pillow. No sooner had he stretched out than sleep, overwhelming and irresistible, took him under.
“W-Where is this...?”
When he came to, he was inside a dream. Confusion rose first, followed by relief.
How many rooms are there in here...?
The walls of a vast chamber, so wide that the end could not be seen, were covered with iron doors. Unlike the others, the one before him had no lock.
“Righteous Shield...?”
Hyun-jun read the words engraved on the iron door out loud. They were not Hangul, nor English, nor Japanese, but letters he had never seen before, as though they belonged to no world he knew. Yet he could read them. He did not know why.
Before he knew it, his hand had taken the doorknob and was slowly pushing the iron door open. The moment he stepped inside, the door slammed shut with a bang, and the lights came on, brightening the dark room.
At the center of the spacious room stood Carthago.
“You have come?”
Carthago’s gaze fell on Hyun-jun. His expression was impassive, but some faint note of satisfaction lingered in his voice.
“I have only one question. Can you make me stronger?”
“And did you think this would be the end of it here? I can guarantee you this much: before long, you will ascend to a realm you could never have imagined.”
His heart would not stop racing.
“Is an SSS-Class hunter possible?”
“You speak of the level reached by only four in your world?”
Hyun-jun nodded at the sharp question.
“Ridiculous.”
Carthago shook his head. Even so, Hyun-jun did not feel disappointed. He had never expected to become an SSS-Class hunter from the start. He had only thought that if he could grow strong enough that no one could look down on him, that would be enough.
“You were content to settle for only that level?”