Mistaken for Hiding My Power as an Irregular (3)

A soldier let out a long sigh. "Haa..."

'How did the once-mighty Babel Empire fall so far...'

The Babel Empire. The supreme power that had once ruled the entire continent. That glorious reputation was now nothing more than a faded memory. You could tell just from the fact that a farmer like him had been dragged into the army during harvest season. The empire was finished. And it looked like his own life was about to reach its end as well.

"Large number of monsters spotted ahead!! Everyone get ready!!"

"If this line breaks, countless women and children behind us will die!!!"

"Hold them off as long as possible, even if it means total annihilation!!!"

"Glory to the Babel Empire!!!"

The area erupted into noise. The soldier added his own shout to the chorus. But no matter how loudly he yelled, the terror of death refused to loosen its grip. Disheartened, he muttered under his breath.

"It's all over now..."

"Oh? I'd say it's just getting started."

"......?"

Only then did he notice the soldier sitting nearby. No—a slave. The wretched young man's eyes were... sparkling.

'So this is the slave they were talking about!!'

He'd heard the rumors. How the man had saved an entire unit from certain doom. The soldier's gaze instinctively swept across the ranks.

'Someone here must have seen him in action.'

A force this size had been assembled. Whoever had been in that previous unit was probably here too. If he asked around, he'd learn the truth—what the slave's real ability was like, and whether they had any chance of making it out alive.

'Can't put much faith in a slave's own words, but if there are witnesses... Hm?'

After quickly scanning the crowd, he realized something else. Most of the soldiers were just blinking at each other with the same lost expressions he was wearing.

'What the...? Why does everyone look like they have no idea?'

How could they? The slave who should have been making a name for himself on the thirty-first floor had instead been busy dominating an entirely different tower. Naturally, no one here had ever seen him before. And the man himself—Hwimin—had zero intention of clearing up the misunderstanding, which only made the confusion worse.

'This is definitely different from Egen Tower~.'

Hwimin let out a quiet whistle of admiration. This was his first time climbing the Tower of Challengers, and the scale was completely different from what he was used to. For a veteran of the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Tower of Beginners, it felt refreshingly novel.

'If the Beginners' Tower is the hope route, this one feels like the despair route.'

Hwimin casually looked around. Not a single trace of heroic spirit could be seen on his face. Thanks to that, the soldiers' morale plummeted even further.

'That clueless guy is our hope?'

'Is this some noble's idea of a joke?'

'This is too much, damn it...'

One soldier was even on the verge of tears. Not a single person expected anything from Hwimin.

But Hwimin didn't care. 'I thought they'd be all "You're our only hope!" and cheer me on... Ah, whatever. Doesn't matter.'

"Trait Enhancement Swap. Inventory."

He rose to his feet. The sword in his hand gleamed with a cold, clear light.

"Hey, slave. Stay right there. You can just shoot arrows with the rest of us..."

The nearby soldiers tried to stop him, but—

-Tap.

"...Huh?"

'He's gone?'

The slave's figure suddenly blurred and vanished completely. The soldiers exchanged bewildered glances, then began frantically searching the ground and sky, wondering if he'd sunk into the earth or flown into the clouds.

The correct answer was that he had leaped upward.

"Th-there!!"

A soldier pointing at the sky drew everyone's eyes upward. There, bathed in bright moonlight, Hwimin was soaring toward the top of the castle wall.

'This spot should be perfect.'

-Thud!

The sound of rare-grade boots landing on the watchtower roof. It wasn't intentional, but the position naturally drew every soldier's attention. It also offered the best vantage point to look down over the entire battlefield.

"Hmm."

Hwimin's eyes swept across the battlefield. After a quick assessment, he came to a simple conclusion.

'Five minutes should be plenty, right?'

Five minutes. That was the time he had estimated for clearing the thirty-second floor.

Any other Awakened who heard that would have been horrified. By the time most people reached the thirty-second floor, they were usually hovering just below level 250. Trying to wipe out a thousand level-240 monsters in five minutes was supposed to be impossible.

'The standard strategy is to hold the line like in the Battle of Red Cliffs, but...'

In reality, Awakened were only expected to handle a few dozen monsters on this floor. The normal strategy was to barricade the gates and stall until reinforcements arrived. Hwimin knew the proper method perfectly well.

He just had no intention of following it.

'They said you had to hold for about three hours?'

"Who has time to wait around for that?" he muttered.

Hwimin gripped his sword. All that remained was to swing it.

"Space Slash!!"

Shrieeeek—!!!

The slash ripped through the air, hurtling forward. At the same time, the pattern on Hwimin's forearm blazed crimson. The fivefold-enhanced third-tier stigmata, Space Slash—the power that had shocked the entire world the moment it first appeared—now swept across the battlefield.

-Slice.

"...Kkrrgh?"

The neck bone of one skeleton soldier was severed clean. A foe that ordinary soldiers couldn't even touch had lost its head in a single strike. And that was only the beginning.

The slash continued with power to spare, carving through the orderly ranks behind it and sending heads flying in droves.

Crack, crunch—!! Crackle-crack-crack!!!

Every time the silver sword energy flew, it produced a sound like dry reeds snapping. The skeleton soldiers' skulls tumbled through the air.

When the Space Slash finally lost its power and faded, the monster kill count had jumped to seventy-three. A single attack achieving that much—even with the enemies packed tightly together—was far beyond even Hwimin's expectations.

"Strike!!!"

Hwimin struck a victory pose. The awkward uppercut celebration looked utterly ridiculous. But no one called him out on it. From below the wall it was hard to see clearly anyway, and the soldiers on top were too busy gaping at the monsters that had been swept away.

"What... what the hell is this..."

"Those aren't normal skeletons, right? The demon race strengthened them. Normal weapons don't even scratch them unless they're coated in holy water, yeah?"

"Should I try shooting an arrow? ...Wait, it actually hit?"

"Then what the hell is going on?!"

Belatedly, awe filled the eyes staring at Hwimin.

"How is a slave doing this?!"

He was a slave, wasn't he? He shouldn't have received proper training like a knight. He probably hadn't even eaten properly. Yet he had just slaughtered dozens of monsters with a single swing of his sword.

No one could understand how someone like that had remained a slave until now.

'Wait, for a slave he's surprisingly well-fed... Could he carry imperial blood?!'

"Everyone, loose arrows!!! Do not let any enemies approach that man!!!"

The commander who had been watching roared the order. Any disdain he once held toward Hwimin for being a mere slave had completely vanished.

"O-ohhhhh!!!"

"I don't know what's happening but shoot!!!"

"Don't hold back on the holy water—coat every arrow!!!"

The soldiers sprang into frenzied action. In their eagerness to help Hwimin, they even brought out the holy water bottles they had been saving until the very last moment.

But before they could even nock their arrows, Hwimin moved again.

"Space Slash—Wild Barrage!!!"

Tatatatatata—!!!

Dozens of slashes tore through the air. The motion was so fast it sounded like a helicopter rotor. The pattern on his glowing crimson forearm blazed brighter as the stigmata's power erupted in blood-red light.

The result was spectacular.

'...Oh. That's pretty.'

Dozens of silver arcs shot forward like a flowing galaxy. Hwimin continued swinging his sword, scattering starlight across the battlefield. The soldiers watching. The skeleton monsters looking up. Everyone had the exact same thought.

It looked like a miracle.

-Slice.

"......"

The head of a skeleton marching toward the wall fell. It died so peacefully it felt almost ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠gentle, its body crumbling into dust on the wind. Maybe it was just their imagination, but some soldiers thought the skull had been smiling in its final moment.

Hwimin paid it no mind. He was too busy being impressed by the stigmata's performance.

'And it doesn't even hurt.'

Even after firing dozens of Space Slashes, the only side ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠effect was the faintest hint of muscle fatigue in his arm. If anything, he was running out of mana faster than stamina. The self-damage was practically negligible.

-Grab.

'The mana consumption can be covered with this too.'

There was one more factor. The unique-grade sword in his hand—the Moonlight Sword—was finally displaying its true worth. It steadily drained the mana it had stored over three days of moonlight charging, completely offsetting his low mana stat.

'I was planning to do the fourth-floor boss on hard difficulty... Maybe I should charge it up a bit more before going?'

Even in the middle of battle, Hwimin's mind wandered to classic underdog thoughts. But regardless, he kept swinging his sword.

Shushushuk—!!

Every swing sent dozens of skeleton soldiers flying. The kill counter rose steadily.

"Okay, cut."

'Took about three minutes?'

Just three minutes. That was all it took for Hwimin to turn every skeleton soldier into bone dust.

Only then did the cheers finally explode.

"Uwaaaaaaaaah!!!!!!"

"What the hell is that slave?!"

"What else? He's the hero who's going to save the empire!!!"

"Long live the Babel Empire!!!!!"

The soldiers on the wall shouted with everything they had. The others caught the infectious joy and joined in. They wanted to thank Hwimin over and over for saving their lives, but—

-Pause.

"...Huh?"

The moment they tried to express their gratitude, Hwimin suddenly leaped down from the wall. They didn't know it, but he was heading straight for the shimmering portal.

'Up to the thirty-fifth floor it's all normal difficulty...'

Hwimin's mind was solely focused on clearing the fourth floor as quickly as possible, but—

"...Oh?"

'If things go well, I might finish this in a single day?'

A shortcut had just revealed itself.