Chapter 206
Translator: penny
Chapter: 206
Chapter Title: The Birth of the Holy Sword
A blindingly pure white light.
And erupting alongside it was a razor-sharp sword strike that seemed ready to cleave the world once more.
It was an intense, piercing slash unlike anything even the current rankers could replicate.
A beautiful sword strike that no one in Babel could match.
But.
Whoosh!
It was all dyed black, as if ink had been spilled over it.
Crunch.
The swung slash was once again caught in Go Yohan's hand.
"......"
Yun Seung-ah's shadows enveloping the surroundings.
Added to that, the high-floor managers who had suddenly appeared.
Rustle!
Even the flower petals drifting down unnoticed.
In the corner of the fifth floor, this small dojo.
Boom!
Felt just like the very center of Babel.
And in truth, there was a center to this dojo.
White light and black ink.
Everything else in the world felt erased, save for those two.
"Go wild."
Go Yohan said.
"Feel free to rampage as much as you want."
Now, part of Yu Baek-gyun's body seemed fused with the sword, rippling with light.
"It must have been exhausting holding back all this time."
No one would have realized.
Not even Yu Se-hwa.
What they couldn't see.
Whoosh!
Go Yohan could see it.
That was why.
-You are fated to wield the sword.
The meaning behind Yu Baek-gyun's words to him.
What Yu Baek-gyun had been enduring.
"I will wield the sword."
What Yu Baek-gyun had endured.
"Really... is this okay?"
Finally, the voice of Yu Baek-gyun, whom they'd thought had lost his reason, rang out.
His trembling voice sounded like it was holding back tears.
Drip.
In fact, tears were streaming down his face.
"Yes. As much as you want."
Crunch.
As Go Yohan gripped tighter, Yu Baek-gyun's blade began to shatter once more.
"Feel free to rampage."
Boom!
The blade finally shattered, but it soon surged back up, emitting an even more intense light than before.
A white light devouring the world.
It soon turned into golden radiance.
Swoosh!
It swung, as if to dye the entire world.
"Urgh!"
The mere wind pressure pushed Kim Tae-san back, and the Taesan Guild members collapsed.
Slash!
A sword gale sharp enough to shred the dojo and the earth itself.
[Protected by Babel.]
Without Babel's protection, they would surely have been reduced to scraps of flesh.
Amid it all, Go Yohan casually blocked the sword.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Yu Baek-gyun was swinging like a vengeful ghost harboring deep resentment.
To a degree unimaginable how he'd held it back until now.
Boom!
Relentlessly, continuously, fiercely swinging the sword.
"Hah!"
Finally, Yu Baek-gyun's exhaled breath felt like uncontainable joy.
"Hah, hah..."
Yu Baek-gyun staggered, as if he'd poured out everything.
Yet even then, brighter golden light burst from his sword.
"What a tragic fate."
Go Yohan's speech had changed.
"Born human, yet fated to become a sword."
And slowly, Go Yohan adjusted his stance.
All changes happened in an instant.
Whoosh!
Black shadows further enveloped the dojo, and high-floor managers hoisted the Taesan Guild members onto their shoulders and moved.
In the same way.
Rustle.
Drifting petals surrounded Kim Tae-san, soon forming a protective barrier.
As if, for Kim Tae-san at least.
-It's okay to watch.
Granting him the right to witness from the front row.
And he could see it.
Rumble.
The blade pouring forth black light.
The Great Sin revealed itself.
"How hard it must have been searching for someone to wield that sword."
Rumble!
Black light pouring out.
And.
"Shatter, and be free."
Boom boom boom boom!
The world flickered black.
*
*
*
"......"
Go Yohan stood on the vast scarred earth.
"Thank you, both of you."
At Go Yohan's words.
-No problem.
[You did well.]
Yun Seung-ah and Yu Se-hwa replied simultaneously.
Behind their fading protection.
Rumble.
The cleaved earth fully revealed itself.
A single strike.
An absolute slash incomparable to Kim Tae-san's.
Crunch.
Sounds echoed from Go Yohan's entire body.
To swing that one sword, his sealed stats had exploded momentarily.
[System recovering.]
It must have paralyzed the systems across Babel's fifth floor.
And before him, nothing remained.
Not even Yu Baek-gyun.
"......"
Go Yohan fell silent once more.
Then.
"You..."
The seal broken by the sword strike.
Swish.
Go Yohan's hair, stirred by the wind, had returned to silver.
"Go... Yo... han..."
Kim Tae-san swallowed hard, barely squeezing out his voice.
As Go Yohan turned to look at Kim Tae-san, the man flinched and trembled.
He had faced countless monsters called such while active as a ranker.
"......!"
He had clashed with monsters beyond Babel that were incomparable.
But he could declare it with certainty.
'The pinnacle of this era.'
The Go Yohan before him was truly the pinnacle of this era, the genuine monster.
And.
'It will never crumble.'
As long as the wall named Go Yohan stood, the newly established order was an impregnable fortress that would never fall.
"What..."
Kim Tae-san barely steadied himself and opened his mouth.
"What happened?"
Kim Tae-san slowly approached Go Yohan.
No, walked past him.
Sift.
Clutching the ashen earth.
"What happened to Yu Baek-gyun... my dear friend?"
Though Go Yohan was much younger, honorifics came naturally.
"He found his fate."
"...Fate?"
"A fate to wield the sword."
Words Yu Baek-gyun had repeated like a mantra, the reason he'd become known as the madman.
Words he'd repeated obsessively like a lunatic one day.
And conversely, the day he'd become fated never to wield a sword.
"Having become the sword himself, he can no longer wield it. Ether Blade, or otherwise..."
Go Yohan said.
"It's also called a holy sword."
"Holy... sword."
"It's called sword-body unity. Becoming one with the sword, turning into something else."
The problem was.
"The laws of the world wouldn't allow it."
It wasn't the goddess's blessing.
The pantheon, their system, had surely judged Yu Baek-gyun as such.
-Error.
An error in the world.
That's why he'd gone mad.
The realm he'd reached had festered within, destroying him from inside.
He needed to extend the sword, but he'd become the sword himself.
"He was fated to become a hero."
The title of hero, fewer than five even in Travania.
"He could have been one of them, but it broke. It must have been agonizing."
Go Yohan placed a hand on Kim Tae-san's shoulder.
"Now freed at last, he'll be at peace."
"He's dead?"
Kim Tae-san asked.
"No."
Go Yohan answered.
Then.
"I received his soul well."
From one side of the dojo, a figure appeared, ageless as child or adult.
Cheol Jung-bae.
The dwarven leader, one of Travania's dwarves.
"To find a holy sword even here. His body perished, but his soul..."
Cheol Jung-bae said.
"I have his sword soul safe here."
In the hand he extended, a ore blending gold and black gleamed.
"Freed from his fate, but I'll preserve his will, so no worries."
"That means..."
"Since he sought to become a holy sword, I'll make him one."
Go Yohan and Cheol Jung-bae met eyes and nodded.
And.
"Reach the 50th floor."
He said to Kim Tae-san.
"If the time is right, you'll meet your friend once more."
"......"
Kim Tae-san clutched the earth again.
He had much to say.
'Was this truly the best?'
No, before that.
'Can I trust you?'
But such doubts were unnecessary.
'Baek-gyun.'
Yu Baek-gyun's final expression Kim Tae-san saw was true relief and joy at his liberation.
A profound happiness at having poured out everything at last.
At having fulfilled that fate.
"50th floor."
"Yes. Become a knight. If you're fated to wield the holy sword, to wield the blade, you will be able to."
"And you..."
Kim Tae-san looked at Go Yohan and said.
"You won't wield it?"
Earlier, Kim Tae-san had seen it.
Go Yohan's single strike.
It was.
'Something beyond words.'
Something that transcended this world.
Why Go Yohan was called the absolute of the era, why even demons feared him.
'Even angels.'
No.
'A being even gods fear.'
He clearly understood the meaning.
If such a swordsman wielded Yu Baek-gyun's sword soul, wouldn't that be ideal?
"I cannot wield a holy sword."
"......?"
"It was the same in the past. Seems the same now."
He had felt Yu Baek-gyun's final soul slip from his hand.
"So if you wish to stand with your friend again, become a knight."
At that voice, Kim Tae-san turned his head.
"What you saw here will remain secret. I'll ensure mouths are sealed tight, so no worries."
Kim Tae-san walked out of the dojo.
Before him were the dazed Taesan Guild members, seemingly lost in shock, and the dojo attendants with mouths agape.
They caught Kim Tae-san's glare, glanced back at Go Yohan.
Nod, nod.
They nodded frantically in agreement.
Go Yohan had been here without revealing himself, and they'd witnessed his power.
Having seen those who moved to block the aftermath, they wouldn't dare speak loosely.
"Will I see you on the 50th floor?"
"Probably."
Satisfied with the answer, Kim Tae-san left without another word.
Left behind were Go Yohan and Cheol Jung-bae.
"A holy sword appearing again..."
Cheol Jung-bae said, incredulous, holding Yu Baek-gyun's sword soul.
Teleported by urgent summons, but the priority was the sword soul and the holy sword's manifestation.
"Travania truly..."
Cheol Jung-bae trailed off.