The Sword That Never Returned (3)

Thirty minutes had passed since Comet went in, with countless corpses piled up behind me.

I'd expected him to come right back out, but well over an hour had gone by without a sign of him.

At first I'd waited near the bodies, but the stench grew so unbearable that I'd eventually relocated.

I should have used Shadow Monarch more sharply against the Great Worm.

I was sitting quietly, replaying the recent battle in my head, when Dobby — the one I'd left behind — suddenly crossed my mind.

He should be fine, right?

Not that I expected an ambush — every heretic in the area had come for me — but still.

It was the survivors I was worried about.

The mercenaries I'd spared, unwilling to simply cut them all down.

Mercenaries were opportunistic by nature. Now that I was gone, would they get bold and try something? I'd given Dobby a signal device, but with the way that goblin loved his sleep, he could be ambushed in the middle of a nap.

No, stop it. I'm worrying way too much.

Dobby was a goblin who knew when it was time to work.

He'd collapse dead asleep the moment we reached the Waiting Room after a trial, sure — but he had never once fallen asleep inside a floor.

Just then, I felt a faint ripple of magic from the direction of the blue door.

A flash, gone in less than a second — a green aurora flaring into existence and vanishing again.

And beneath the aurora's afterimage stood Comet.

"Comet!"

He'd been standing there with a dazed look on his face. When I called out, he turned to face me.

He looked a little different than he had before going through the door.

He wore a necklace set with a green jewel around his neck, and in his hand he carried a sword that looked unmistakably precious.

"Master Kwon Suhyeok! Ugh!"

Comet, who had been calling to me with a glad expression, suddenly grimaced.

Ah — probably the smell.

Comet turned his head toward the mountain of corpses.

"Master Kwon Suhyeok? What in the world…?"

"Ah, after you went in, enemies kept attacking. I dealt with all of them so they wouldn't interfere with your trial."

"Still, this is…"

Comet stood there, mouth agape, unable to finish.

Well, fair enough. There were a lot of bodies.

I hadn't counted exactly, but between the humans, the scorpions, and the Great Worms, the total came to over seven hundred.

"Were you hiding your strength before?"

"I wouldn't say I was hiding it… I just moderated it. Go around being too strong and you stand out immediately."

"Even before this, you hardly seemed… normal."

"Haha."

Comet was looking at me like I was some kind of monster, so I just laughed it off awkwardly.

Instead, I turned my gaze to his sword.

"Is that sword what the goddess left behind?"

"Yes — the sacred sword and the goddess's necklace. They were carried by the goddess's final apostle."

"Why would she leave them here?"

"That, I don't…"

Comet trailed off. He clearly didn't understand it either.

Anyone could see that door had held the power of a god inside it. Of course, I'd assumed he'd met the goddess in there…

Reading my expression, Comet added an explanation.

"Inside the door was simply a place of testing. A trial to confirm my faith and my skill."

"So that's why it took some time."

"That's right. It was the process of becoming a Great Warrior."

"A Great Warrior?"

"Yes. Allow me to introduce myself properly once more. I am Comet Dret, Great Warrior of the Blue Dawn Wind."

From last apostle to Great Warrior.

Since I knew nothing of Comet's faith, I couldn't tell exactly what had changed — but one thing was certain: he ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠had become a considerably more important figure.

"What changes when you're a Great Warrior?"

"I can commune with the goddess, and I can draw upon more of her power. However…"

"It seems the communion isn't working right now, I take it."

Knowing he hadn't held a conversation with the goddess, the first point was a dead giveaway.

"Correct. I can use more of her power, but I cannot hear her voice. The only words she spoke to me before I left the door were these: 'Let there be a dawn. I shall come again ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠soon.'"

Let there be a dawn. I shall come again soon.

It felt like the words would connect to the trials of later floors, so I turned the Blue Dawn Wind's parting message over in my mind.

When I looked back at Comet, his expression had soured.

What was wrong? Hadn't he just met a goddess who'd been absent for fifty years? A radiant smile would have been the least of it.

I couldn't tell why his face was so dark. Had the goddess's trial been that grueling?

Either way, the hidden mission was done and dusted. Time to head back.

"Shall we return, then?"

"Yes. We should walk briskly. Though I'm glad we found each other faster than expected."

"Walk?"

"Pardon?"

Ah, right. Comet didn't know I had a portal skill.

We'd grown fairly close in a short time, so it hadn't even occurred to me.

Instead of answering, I pictured the spot where Dobby was waiting and opened a portal.

Staring at the golden shimmer of light, Comet's jaw dropped all over again.

"I— hold on… you can even use high-tier magic like this?"

"Ah, I'm no mage. Portals are about all I can do, so…"

How was I supposed to explain it? Calling it a "skill" would only confuse him.

I brushed the question aside and guided Comet toward the portal.

Just then, he caught my right arm.

"Master Kwon Suhyeok. There is something I must give you."

"Yes?"

Comet drew a small ring from his ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠breast pocket and held it up.

"Please, accept this ring."

"Didn't the goddess give that to you?"

"What the goddess bestowed upon me were the sacred sword and the necklace. The ring, therefore, I believe belongs to you, Master Kwon Suhyeok."

I took the ring carefully.

A green band. As I examined it closely, an information window floated up.

The "sealed" status was something I'd never seen before.

It probably had something to do with the Blue Dawn Wind's disappearance.

Chances were I'd be able to break the seal as I fought my way through the coming floors.

Windpath, hm. Carrying the power of a divine Seat, it promised to be no ordinary skill.

Let's worry about the seal later.

Even with the Seraph Queen's ring on my finger, I still had ten fingers — plenty of room for more.

I slid the Ring of the Dawn Wind onto my middle finger, then met Comet's eyes.

A stream of cool water came crashing down over my head. The chill threaded through my hair, traced my neck, and ran down the length of my spine.

Shaking the water from my hair with a shudder, I felt the grime of the last two days finally loosening its grip.

Every inch of me had felt filthy, and now it was all washing away. I toweled off roughly and stepped out of the bath.

"Hm?"

The first thing my eyes landed on was Dobby, curled up and fast asleep right in front of the bathroom door.

He looked so bedraggled it was almost pitiful.

Still, hygiene was hygiene. I shook him awake.

"Kkiik?"

"I'm done washing. Go get cleaned up too."

"Kkiik! Yes!"

I'd been yielding the bath to him every time I saw how worn out he was, but this round there was no helping it.

Normally I'd have offered him the first bath without a second thought, but I'd been far too grimy right after finishing Floor 23.

Thirty-six hours of fighting and sleeping in the desert…

There had been sand in places sand had no business being.

Dried blood on my skin I could tolerate. But blood mixed with sweat and sand was another matter entirely.

Washing up first for once, though, left me feeling wonderful. A clean body was a luxury I hadn't appreciated until now.

Well then — time for the usual.

Time to check my status window.

I flopped onto the bed and pulled it up.

Apparently thanks to clearing the hidden mission, every one of my stats had gone up by two. Agility had risen by another two on the ring's account.

And enduring the desert's scorching days and freezing nights had nudged my Flame Resistance and Cold Resistance up a little as well.

Shadow Monarch had gained a level too, reflecting how much I'd relied on it in the night battles.

Windpath's sealed, and my two-way portal skill didn't level up — a bit of a shame, but…

My magic pool was still far too shallow to use the two-way portal at its full potential anyway.

The portal could grow at its own leisurely pace.

Ha. All this time I'd been checking my status window while caked in grime — reviewing it clean and relaxed like this felt like pure bliss.

Hm, now that Dobby was getting bigger… maybe I should just wash first from now on?

I was weighing this with genuine seriousness when a message arrived from Ha Heijeong.

It wasn't the kind of thing I could cram into a couple of short messages, so I gave Ha Heijeong a detailed account of everything that had happened on Floor 23.

The contents of the trial — and the fact that while we'd faced trials in the same world, the trials themselves had been different.

The trials would change that much?

I'd anticipated some deviation, sure — but I hadn't imagined it would be enough to worry her.

So Comet really had been that significant a figure…

Fighting the plant supervisor I'd met back on Floor 21 was becoming routine now.

In the second bout, I'd faced the supervisor at standard difficulty and won without much trouble, even against the original version of him.

Once Floor 24 was behind me, I figured I could ratchet the difficulty up a notch — the only question was how steep that climb would be, and that uncertainty nagged at me a little.

Ha Heijeong had told me that the stronger the opponent, the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠harder the combat training got in turn.

Well, that was a decision to make after clearing Floor 24.

Which means — shopping time.

My current balance sat at roughly 93,000 achievement points.

Another 10,000 or so would roll in once the next floor was cleared.

I had no intention of buying a weapon right now, but I needed to keep enough banked for an axe, just in case.

A unique-grade axe ran between 50,000 and 70,000 points.

That left me with a comfortable margin of about 30,000 to 50,000 points to play with.

There was no sense letting the points gather dust, and besides — people find a certain happiness in spending, now and then.

So I resolved to spend boldly this time around.

Armor, gauntlets, and an axe were already covered… and Kashatum's Sky Shoes were still serving me well.

Hm. What to buy, then?

Other climbers were probably crying themselves hoarse over a shortage of achievement points — and here I was, shop open, agonizing over an embarrassment of riches.