Chapter 180
Chapter 180
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: penny
Chapter: 179
Chapter Title: Zealot's Defeat and the Prince's Birth
-----------------------------------------------------------------
"My thoughts are different."
"You bastard...!"
With a roar, the two Edwards clashed. The zealot swiftly withdrew his sword like lightning and swung it, wrapped in aura, aiming for Edward's neck.
But.
Retreating Step.
He simply took one step back, evading the sword tip. Instead of lingering on the failed strike, the zealot used his full-body armor to charge with a body slam, trying to topple Edward. It was an attempt to shift into sword wrestling.
Brush Knee Twist Step.
He swept it away lightly. The zealot's body, flying in like a cannonball, spun around in an absurdly pathetic manner.
"'Brush' means sweeping the hand below the knee. From there, extend the left foot while spreading the right hand, then advance the right foot while spreading the left hand..."
Edward lacked what was commonly called battle sense.
A dullard who couldn't make the optimal choice in every life-or-death moment, as if walking on a knife's edge.
He couldn't distinguish feints from real attacks, nor engage in psychological warfare or set up the battlefield.
Against an opponent of equal realm, he would inevitably lose. His battle sense was far too great a hindrance in combat.
But now.
Amid exchanges as fast as beams of light, his offense and defense were near perfect.
'You're a blockhead, so just hammer the forms into your body.'
'Ah, that's too harsh!'
'Less whining, one more time.'
Edward was oblivious to his body and dim-witted to boot, but he had one relentless tenacity: once he set his mind to something, he never gave up.
If his head was a rock, just carve the forms into it like letters.
Edward closed his eyes, recalling Re-yeon's teachings.
"Slowly. And lighter."
"Yes, Your Majesty."
"More."
"Yes."
When an attack came, he countered 'as prescribed.'
No different from a fighting game character. Defense followed the script, attacks followed the script. Combos flowed like a perfect 10-hit chain, all prescribed!
Of course, it wasn't a good method. If the opponent read the patterns, he'd be toyed with helplessly until death.
In truth, if he lacked talent to train this way, he shouldn't learn martial arts at all... but Edward's situation was different.
Even with trash battle sense and intelligence no better than a fool's, it was fine.
As an epic character, he possessed mythic spiritual talent.
Clang! Thud!
The sword clashed against his hand and bounced off with a metallic ring. Internal energy flowing over his skin protected his flesh.
Boom!
"Urk...!"
The zealot flew like a stone and slammed into the wall. As he spat blood, Edward's hands softly traced a circle.
Beneath his feet, the ground had sunken into a Taiji pattern.
"See that."
His body gleaming brightly, Edward said.
"You're fucking weak."
"You...! You...!"
The zealot trembled in rage. Edward's taunt, equivalent to a middle schooler's on Earth, was potent enough to shatter reason.
"Everyone, attack!"
Snap! Snap! Snap!
The holy knights, who had only watched until now, moved.
"Look at this ugly bastard. And he calls himself my future. Tsk tsk."
"You...! You scum! I'll nail you to a cross alive! You'll crawl like a dog, begging for mercy, praising God until your throat tears! I'll make it happen!"
He screamed with a mad expression. And it was entirely possible. If he and his holy knights attacked together, even Edward's sturdy defense would eventually break.
Sure.
If the zealot were still alive.
Thud!
"I'll... Huh?"
The zealot's mad curse cut off. Staring blankly down, a massive hole gaped in his chest.
He was called a 'light cockroach' for his tenacious vitality... but a mere heroic-grade life force couldn't survive such a wound.
Thump.
As he collapsed, even Edward was surprised.
"Oh... It worked? I was gonna Recall if it failed."
It was the result of Edward's light-attribute true qi injecting into the zealot's body and exploding. A technique from the Ninety-Nine Rays Sword Stance he had briefly learned—more accurately, read—before Taijiquan. Even with light-attribute talent, successfully landing an untrained art in real combat on the first try proved his genius for manifesting sword qi after just one day of reading.
[You've defeated the Zealot!]
[Hell difficulty of the False Light Sanctuary (Advanced~Heroic) has been cleared!]
With the dungeon clear condition met, the encircling holy knights vanished. Edward relaxed his stance and caught his breath.
"Whew. Honestly, it was risky. Lucky the blockhead came at me one-on-one... Hell difficulty really is on another level from Hard."
He dusted off his clothes and checked his rewards. Before him lay a hefty pile of gold, some metal armor pieces, and.
"...Huh?"
[Acquired Advanced Class Summon Ticket!]
It was a rarer drop than most rare gear. For normal monsters, you'd need to kill 100 million for a chance—what more needed saying?
Yet in Revenge, it wasn't hailed as a jackpot. Despite abysmal drop rates, it was on [every monster]'s drop table, so auto-farmers got them occasionally.
Plus, what if you cracked it and got common grade? All for naught.
"I heard these barely drop... Hmm. Will it beat my High Warrior?"
Muttering, he tossed the card.
Ting~!
As the card spun in the air, a goddess statue with a playful smile flashed in the corner of Edward's vision.
Flash!
Light burst forth. The goddess, always passing with a smirk, now looked startled, her smile vanishing. Edward's jaw dropped.
"Huh? This reaction?"
In his surprise.
Boom!
A staff plummeted from the sky, embedding in the ground. The swirling golden light was what all players craved, but Edward could only feel disappointed.
"Ah, a staff... And this length means priest, right?"
Muttering, he yanked it free.
-I am His sword. His wrath. And His final mercy.
[Acquired Paladin (Heroic)!]
"Huh? For a priest job..."
With faint hope, Edward swapped classes.
Paladin. It screamed melee combat, didn't it?
But the moment he changed.
A [memory] engulfed him.
-God, save me.
-Do you truly think that's right?
-To protect, sometimes you have no choice...
It was one man's record. A hero utterly unlike the zealot Edward.
"Urgh...!?"
Class card memory inheritance inevitably altered one's alignment in various ways.
[Memory] was the root of self.
Hayes, interpreting gained memories via [Regression], didn't think she'd changed, but Chrome Kingdom nobles suspected brainwashing. How could she mock the king's orders after loyally serving state and nobility?
Naturally. Edward could change similarly. Perhaps prioritizing [Paladin] identity over his current [Edward]!
Yes, it could happen.
If he weren't an incomprehensibly stubborn fool.
"Fucking. Fucking. Fucking..."
He gnashed his teeth, sneering at the memory trying to reshape him.
"Weak, isn't it?"
He already had an absolute [standard]. No heroic memory of fighting injustice could surpass the shock from the [Emperor].
His character trait was Zealotry.
Once set on a path, he never turned back.
"Hmph!"
With a snort, he reverted. Thus, the Paladin memories remained as mere knowledge.
"Disappointing. Twenty years and that's all you managed?"
He dusted his hands and exited the dungeon. Unbeknownst to him, he now wielded his light attribute perfectly.
"Ah... I wanna train with Your Majesty soon."
A blond pretty boy smiled beautifully, wearing a smile Re-yeon would abhor.
* * *
"No way..."
Everyone stared in shock.
"He... He stood..."
"He stood..."
In disbelief, all were stunned.
"How could this happen..."
"He stood. He actually stood."
Doctors, priests, maids—all gazed with trembling eyes.
"The baby... on two feet...!"
"Impossible..."
I held the exhausted Flower in my arms, watching the child stand proudly on two feet.
With taut skin and lush brown hair unbelievable for a newborn, the child blinked curiously around, spotted me, and reached out both arms.
"Kyaa~ Ah!"
An innocent laugh. I chuckled in absurdity too.
"Good thing he didn't declare himself supreme over heaven and earth."
I extended my hand, and the newborn toddled toward me.
Then.
Hop!
He leaped onto my knee.
"He, he jumped..."
"He jumped!?"
"No way... The baby...!"
Ignoring the gasping crowd, I stroked the child clinging like gum to my body. Wiping away the lingering amniotic fluid with water-attribute power, a maid finally snapped to.
"I-It’s a boy! Your Majesty."
"Yeah. I see."
The child, resembling me, looked up with big eyes—a sight that tugged at my heart.
'Is that so. My son...'
"Ah..."
Then Flower regained consciousness and took the child. Though stuck to me, he didn't resist her touch.
"Kyaha..."
Flower gazed at the laughing child in a daze.
She said.
"Your Majesty... must be so pitiful."
"...Suddenly?"
"Yes. You'll never feel this emotion I'm feeling now..."
I looked at Flower. Despite hollow eyes and gaunt cheeks, she smiled like a blooming flower.
"Well, maybe."
I smirked at the maids.
"Let her rest."
"Yes, Your Majesty! Congratulations!"
"Congratulations!"
"Yeah."
Handing Flower and child to the maids, I left the room. Servants bustled about.
"For now... we got through it fine."
As expected, the born child was no ordinary human.
Human in form, yet different. Beyond superior physical prowess, a physical dantian—[Great Vessel]—pulsed in his abdomen.
"So all my kids end up like this now... Not some divine bloodline or anything special."
Of course, mass-producing such children was impossible. Cloning bio-factors devoured tens of kilos of my bones and muscles each time—how could I casually do that?
I still hadn't fully recovered from two relations' muscle loss.
"Guess I'll stay in Ardenia without logging out for a while."
Muttering, I headed to my office.
And so.
Ten years passed.