Chapter 24
Chapter 24
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 24
Chapter Title: Ancient Desert (4)
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A storm swept through a certain desert.
The monster... no, the being rejected by fellow humans finally realized.
What he had to do to survive, to avoid suffering.
Whoosh!
He swung his spear.
Endlessly.
He shoved blades into chattering mouths and tore out insolent tongues.
Blood sprayed, and organs spilled.
The more violence he unleashed.
The more slaughter he committed.
The chatter faded.
It grew quiet.
'Ah.'
The child was satisfied.
He thought his judgment was correct, after all.
If he killed every human in this desert, the negative malice directed at him would vanish too.
'You tormented me first.'
'You rejected me, so don't resent me for being rough.'
Fwoosh!
The pitch-black wings on his back twitched excitedly.
And so, the child gradually succumbed to slaughter.
Naturally, as he hunted humans, his combat skills advanced too.
From village to city, city to kingdom, kingdom to empire.
The wider his hunting grounds, the more fluid and sharp his spear became.
Energy began to frost over the spear—
And humans called it spear qi.
The energy dwelling in the weapon embodied what he yearned for.
The child infused the blade with the sight he had witnessed at his birth. The scenery.
The day he lost his vision.
The sun blazing in the sky.
A spear embracing the sun!
The sun-infused spear punished humans.
It burned, pierced, and skewered foes.
'It's so funny.'
The child found it amusing.
Why?
Because the more he killed, the greater the resentment and malice toward him grew—not less.
It defied common sense.
Humans were bizarre creatures; the more he tormented them, the more their negativity faded.
It turned to admiration and awe.
To fear and reverence.
As if begging him to torment them more.
'Fools.'
More people began following his savage self.
Some even worshiped him and massacred their own kind.
"......"
Solar Spear.
The epithet attached to the child at some point.
"Solar Spear!"
"Great hero and warrior born of the Desert Empire! We will follow you!"
"Lead us pitiful ones! Save us!"
The child accepted these humans.
To lead them? To save them?
Far from it!
The child knew well.
Humans were inherently vicious, redeemable only through violence.
What the desert ecosystem needed to revive was.
'Death.'
The child ruled the Desert Empire, aiming to exterminate all humans.
Once every human was dead.
No more victims like him would appear.
No one would have their life denied at birth.
'Take up your spears!'
The Solar Spear's followers took up their weapons.
Madness gleamed in their eyes, like cursed heretics.
'Now kill each other! Slaughter your kin mercilessly! Burn them like the parched sun!'
The child became the monster humans had called him.
[The skill 'Memory Recreation' (S-grade) ends.]
* * *
Flash!
In a bizarre, dark space.
A triangular chamber, like the pyramid's apex.
['Solar Spear' gazes at you.]
One being stared at me.
No, it couldn't stare.
Its eyes were grotesquely gouged out.
'That guy's the Solar Spear......'
My body shuddered.
The presence emanating from its pitch-black wings choked me.
'Is this really B-grade?'
I had no experience with B-grades, but.
This was excessive.
The Memory Recreation skill activation, that intense pressure.
'It's almost like the Old Man of Myriad Arts?'
That's when its mouth opened.
"Foul, vicious human."
It radiated intense killing intent.
Its primal malice and resentment toward humans stabbed my heart cold.
"Have you come to deny me too?"
Whoosh!
The 'spear' it held flashed.
It felt like being swallowed by a blazing sun.
"......!"
Faced with an awe-inspiring strike I couldn't even think to block, I squeezed my eyes shut.
'Hm?'
But.
Even after time passed, I felt nothing.
I cracked my eyes open.
'It missed?'
The spear, clearly swung at me, had veered left.
As if I'd instinctively dodged.
As bewilderment filled my mind.
"Tsk tsk, won't you snap out of it?"
A familiar voice rang out.
"Elder?"
Incredibly.
The Old Man of Myriad Arts stood behind me.
In that brief moment.
He had grabbed my sleeve and dodged.
"How?"
I was flustered.
My energy was at zero.
No way to summon skeletons or the old man.
"......You dared dodge my attack?"
Rage filled the Solar Spear's voice.
"Do you think a mere human can withstand the spear arts that ruled the Desert Empire for centuries!"
Simultaneously, the sun flashed once more.
But.
['Master of Myriad Arts' uses the skill Absolute Shield (Lv.Max).]
Wooong!
A gentle energy enveloped me, meeting the Solar Spear's spear.
Boom!
The immense force sent me flying into the wall.
Pain surged through my back and ribs.
"Urgh!"
Lucky the old man used his skill.
Otherwise, instant death.
"Tsk tsk, you fool."
"Elder?"
"Can't even distinguish illusion from reality, you disciple?"
"Illusion and...... reality......"
I furrowed my brow.
Then looked down at myself.
My body was transparent, like a hologram.
A ghostly form, like the old man.
Meaning.
"It's not real."
"Right, kid. This is inside your mind. That Solar Spear brat invaded while you're unconscious."
The old man had said before.
Our minds were linked, so sharing pain was no issue.
That's how he appeared without energy.
"Tsk, now you look awake."
The old man chuckled.
Then eyed the Solar Spear.
"That thing."
"Yes?"
"It's not your match yet."
"Yes."
I knew.
I'd read the monster's memories.
A monster that slaughtered tens, no, hundreds of thousands of humans.
I knew its strength.
I understood its 'grudge.'
But that was it.
No sympathy.
From a human perspective, it was a monster, nothing more or less.
"So, step back for now."
Shing!
The old man drew his weapon and said.
Killing intent poured from him.
"A monster that ruled a world. Interesting, very interesting."
The old man wore an expression he'd never shown before.
One of intense curiosity.
"Choosing you as my disciple was the right call."
The absolute being of this otherworld, unchallenged for centuries.
Now curious about another world's absolute.
"......Will you be okay?"
I asked unnecessarily.
Because.
The energy from that monster was no joke either.
The old man smirked at my question.
"Okay? Well, its spear arts are impressive. Several times stronger than mine, even."
"Gasp, that much?"
"Fool. What do you think the power of myriad arts is? I'm talking spear arts alone. Overall, it's far beneath me."
The old man's spear arts were just one of myriad arts.
He possessed ten thousand such arts.
When those ten thousand linked, synergized, amplified.
True myriad arts were born.
"Hahaha, anyway, this is exciting. To find the plaything I sought for so long only after death! How could I miss this chance!"
The old man's killing intent reached the Solar Spear.
"Strong. A human who transcended limits?"
Even the enraged Solar Spear felt the threat?
It eyed the old man warily.
'This.'
I swallowed.
I didn't know how it happened.
But maybe I could get out clean?
['Master of Myriad Arts' gazes at 'Solar Spear.']
['Solar Spear' gazes at 'Master of Myriad Arts.']
The two absolutes began their suffocating standoff.
Rumble.
Space shook.
Sand rained from the ceiling, stone fragments floated upward.
All I could do was.
'Elder, win!'
Cheer.
Shielded by the old man, I moved to the corner.
* * *
Kaboom! Boom! Boom!
Air tore, space crumbled.
The pyramid sector couldn't withstand the clash of two absolutes.
"Do you understand my grudge, human scum?"
"Your past means nothing to me! I seek only a foe who can match me."
Hundreds of exchanges.
Until my eardrums numbed from the impacts.
They fought.
One absolute yearned for someone to acknowledge its resentment.
The other pursued battle alone.
"Raaah!"
The monster roared.
"I just wanted to live! To see the world! To take in the blazing sun, warm sands, lush foliage!"
It repelled the old man's attacks with light bursting from its spear.
"But you humans ruthlessly stole my right. Bound my freedom. Gouged my eyes without reason!"
Solar Spear.
The cry from that voice was desperate.
Its intense killing intent prickled my skin.
"So I slaughtered the desert's humans! Conquered a world through spear-wielding followers!"
"......"
"You must know my pain too! I won't suffer alone!"
The old man grimaced and stepped back.
"A vicious grudge."
He muttered.
"I admit it. Mine seems laughable by comparison."
But victory already tilted toward the old man.
Even a total novice like me could tell.
The Solar Spear looked precarious.
"But that's all. If grudge alone won battles, the most wronged would be strongest, no?"
The old man drew a bow.
Creak......
Just pulling the string conjured hundreds of magic arrows around him.
An awe-inspiring skill by any measure.
Yet the Solar Spear's momentum didn't waver.
Even after killing so many humans, its rage unquenched?
It raised its spear and charged.
"......"
I watched their battle silently.
But a corner of my chest felt stuffy somehow.
Like I was missing something.
'This dungeon's difficulty is B-grade.'
No B-grade experience, but.
Not this brutal.
The mutation?
My mind spun.
'Come to think of it.'
On dungeon entry, this message appeared.
[Connection found between this dungeon and Hunter Joo-doon's class.]
A stage linked to my class.
What?
What was pressing on my chest?
As I puzzled for minutes.
"Ah?"
A flash in my mind.
Undead, spear, skeleton.
And related to me.
"No way."
My heart pounded.
Looking at the Solar Spear fighting the old man.
It resembled someone I'd watched for over three years.
"No way, that guy......"
Overlapping their builds... identical.
"Bones......?"
As if reacting to my words.
A message appeared.
[Ding!]
[Stage: Solar Spear's Grudge]
[Difficulty: Immeasurable]
['Solar Spear's resentment toward humans pierces the heavens.]
[Subdue Solar Spear to achieve 'Bone 2's true awakening.]
'Immeasurable!'
Insane difficulty.
A stage just for me, to truly awaken 'Bone 2'.
Ah.
Thrills ran through my body.
Simultaneously, I clearly knew.
What I had to do.
"Elder."
Step.
I moved.
Toward the two absolutes' domain.
"What are you doing?"
The old man furrowed his brow.
"Stop. It's dangerous if you step in. As I said, it's not your match yet."
"No."
I shook my head.
"Elder said it. This is inside my mind."
"......Right?"
It didn't add up.
My class quest.
Can't clear it without the elder? Bullshit.
"Look at that child."
I pointed at the Solar Spear.
Black eagle wings, gouged black eyes.
A grown adult body, far from its child days.
A form to chill anyone.
'But.'
Knowing it's Bone 2's past life.
I felt pity.
If just a monster, no emotion.
'Because it's my kid?'
How hard was it?
How painful?
I started understanding its suffering a bit.
"It was just suffering. Wanted to vent its grudge."
"So what will you do?"
"This is my mind...... I'll take it. Drain every bit of grudge. Let it collapse from exhaustion and submit."
"......"
The old man, about to stop me, hesitated.
"It's my summon. My kid. Whatever its grudge. If I can't bear it, how can I control it?"
"......"
"Yes, this was my stage from the start, not yours, Elder."
Step, step.
I kept walking.
The Solar Spear's gaze, fixed only on the old man.
Finally turned to me.
['Solar Spear' gazes at you.]
"......!"
Immense killing intent and pressure crushed my body.
Yet I walked steadily.
Toward it. Toward Bone 2.