Chapter 104
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 103
Chapter Title: How to Survive in Fusion Punk
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If you had to sum up Jin's fights in one sentence, "Don't Try This At Home" fit the bill perfectly.
It was a fact proven early on by the people close to him.
Kalifa, the owner of Anecdote who was the first to recognize Jin's talent in the past, had said:
"That kid fights by grinding his body to dust."
"I don't know how he got to Solo level and all it does is make me worry like he's some abandoned kid left out in the elements," she'd sighed deeply.
"That's always been my concern too."
Even Poh, standing beside her, had nodded right away.
He was the kind of guy who inspired trust equal to worry—a real two-faced charmer, like Janus.
Of course.
He passed out during fights all the time.
Honestly, it happened pretty damn frequently.
If you had to compare it, it was like cigarette breaks during grueling grunt work back in his military days. Of course, this is from the perspective of a non-smoker.
Didn't those guys just smoke? Already going again?
That was how often Jin blacked out.
Passing out mid-fight, or right after. At this point, he was basically a fainting artist.
Of course, it couldn't be helped.
Jin fought squeezing out 120% of himself.
Leaving not a shred of reserve meant his body taking the strain was just the natural consequence.
In fact, this fighting style was probably how he'd survived so many threats up until now.
Anyway, Jin had passed out again today.
And here's the fun part.
Sometimes, Jin's flickering consciousness would fly off to unexpected places when certain conditions were met—like rewards from the status window or chance discoveries.
*Reward Perk XP 30,000, ‘????’
This was one of those moments.
*
Hm?
Jin tilted his head.
He realized he was standing tall.
It felt like something had cut out in the middle.
Naturally, his eyes narrowed, lips twitching side to side. His chin clenched like a walnut shell, as an afterthought.
Let me see.
The Apostle bounced, the Sword Saint showed up (late), the holy relic he pointed to broke (that one), and right on cue, the quest completed.
He vividly remembered the ground rushing up to greet his face.
But now here again.
Not waking up to a soft bed under an unfamiliar ceiling, but still, once more, in the front courtyard before the holy relic chamber.
Where'd everyone go?
Jin muttered as he looked around.
No Sword Saint. Not even Kendrick, who should have been collapsed far off. The air, heated to a boil by Crow and the Apostle just moments ago, had settled calm as a lie.
Looking up at the sky with question marks popping in his head, it was too damn clear.
Fluffy sheep-clouds and all.
As Jin blinked at the scenery that felt more alien than welcoming...
"There you are."
The voice from behind pulled his gaze rearward.
"Found you." She bowed her head as she added. What to call her? A woman dressed in something straight out of another era.
That outfit was a habit—nun's garb, precisely.
Back in Jin's hometown, it'd been a hit when an actor from the Kang family nailed the lead in an exorcist flick.
These days in 202N, you hardly saw it unless it was on a theology student.
Korea was like that—what about Lost City?
In a world where cyborgs strutted around with robot limbs dangling, facing someone so neatly dressed made Jin inwardly reverent.
Hallelujah.
The warm weather, perfect for spreading a mat and crashing, only added to the vibe.
But he couldn't tie his personal feelings to the situation.
Who might you be?
As his head cocked at the unfamiliar woman...
"......?"
Jin felt something off at the same time. The air in his mouth kept trying to escape, against his will.
What the hell.
Jin consciously clamped his lips shut.
And the world stopped.
The breeze brushing his cheek, the woolly clouds flowing like water, the woman in front of him—even himself.
Everything just halted.
Like hitting spacebar on a playing video.
So in this moment.
Jin had two choices.
Stubbornly hold out in this state for days, or spit out the trapped breath on a whim.
He picked the latter after about an hour, subjectively.
"What's going on."
An unfamiliar voice.
The sound born from breath spilling from his mouth.
"He's come. This time, the head of the Anarion family is with him. They're dead set on seeing you, Knight."
With a low reply from the woman's reopened lips after so long, Jin slowly turned.
Clank. Clad in platinum armor, somehow.
"Where."
"They were in the southern baptistery just now. No idea anymore. He's wandering the cathedral like he owns the place."
"I'll go."
Jin—no, "the one called Knight"—stepped forward.
The cathedral in his advancing view was slightly different from what Jin knew. No major exterior changes, but it looked less weathered, subtly.
As if time had rewound.
The sparse people he passed felt the same.
"Knight."
They nodded and greeted silently as eyes met, dressed in archaic garb like the woman before.
The Knight nodded back lightly each time. Naturally, Jin's will had no say here.
After handing over control by opening his sealed lips, he was too busy experiencing this 1st-person 8K UHD VR possession.
If you can't dodge it, enjoy it—perfect attitude.
At some point.
Clank. Silver sabatons trod the corridor.
Amid hymns praising the divine echoing from afar.
Two men gazed up at a massive stained-glass window etched with holy artwork (depictions of religious tales).
Sensing the presence, perhaps.
They turned toward the approaching Knight on their own.
With smiles that weren't exactly thrilled.
"Ah. There you are."
The hooded man said.
A face Jin knew.
Or rather, the voice and demeanor were familiar.
The Foreseer.
The man said to have ushered in a new era with the seven heads.
The one who emerged from behind the throne after the Emperor's death.
And beside him, another man with a sword at his waist, eyes holding faint transcendence.
Naturally, this was the head of the Anarion family.
In other words, Sword Saint grandpa's great-great-great-great-grandpa.
......Not even that—someone from even further back.
Meanwhile.
The Knight, silently receiving their gazes, slowly spoke.
"What brings you two here."
The hooded face, shadowed save the jaw, replied.
"To pay audience to the Holy King, naturally."
"Then you've come to the wrong place. No such person here."
"We'll see. Everyone calls you that. Aldemain."
Jin listened to the exchange, munching invisible popcorn.
Jin wasn't an idiot.
He knew this moment was a slice of the past he'd glimpsed once before. And it was the root reason he'd gotten roped into this regression—
The next instant.
The Knight—Aldemain—continued.
"...What are you trying to say."
The Foreseer turned his head in response.
His unseen gaze landed on the stained-glass holy image.
A painting holding a saint's teachings, felt even by the illiterate through eyes and heart. A work of art in glass. After staring long, he spoke.
"The light fades, and the roses wither. You know it too. Our era is like a dying elder—better to let go than cling."
He shifted his gaze.
"Join us. You could be the beacon of the new age. It's not too late."
"......"
As Aldemain held his words.
The silent Anarion head spoke up.
"A world without gods to pray to. How long do you plan to kneel?"
"Head."
The Foreseer murmured something beside him, but the head pressed on. His tone sharp as his transcendent eyes.
"The Dwarf King, the Elf King—they never bent. And what happened? After their downfall, if you still feel nothing, how are you different from the mad Beast King? Speak."
Is euthanasia the end you want?
The words pierced the Holy King's heart like a wedge.
Sharing the gaze, perhaps.
That's how Jin felt it.
So his next words rang even firmer.
"Head. Can't you hear this song?"
Aldemain's voice blended softly over the hymn's melody.
"Forsaken or not, we're still here. Living today with the same sincerity as yesterday. That's more vital to us than treading new horizons. So my humble strength will light them to the end, as it always has. As one knight. That's enough."
The talk ended there.
The Anarion head turned wordlessly and left the corridor. Watching his back, the Foreseer followed, saying,
"One day, I'll erect a statue in your honor. Holy King."
"You're as willful as ever."
Aldemain let out a hollow chuckle,
and tossed after the departing Foreseer.
"I'll respect your ways. If they're forgotten, so be it. That's all I can say."
"......"
Those words briefly halted the Foreseer's steps. But only briefly. As the footfalls faded, the now-alone Aldemain quietly lifted his head.
The next moment.
His wistful gaze fixed on the stained glass's pinnacle, depicting light shining through clouds. Watching it, he murmured,
"...Have you truly departed."
In the voice Jin had heard in the grand cathedral before.
Time accelerated.
A flow too fast to track with the eyes.
But enough to feel the outline of Aldemain's life.
So Jin understood.
He'd kept his word to the end.
Until that fading era's brilliant light slowly dimmed at its close, he was the grand cathedral's guardian knight.
Time flowed on, until one day when nothing remained to protect. With a somewhat serene face, he poured his energy into the battered sword he'd wielded lifelong.
The weapon sharing the Holy King's feats was holy relic enough, and later, when his statue rose in the cathedral's heart, it was enshrined in a glass case in the relic chamber.
A tale unrecorded in history.
Hm.
Jin opened his eyes.
And realized at once.
This time, he was truly awake.
An unfamiliar ceiling confirmed it, backed by big data from countless novel intros.
Still, not fully at ease, he slowly opened his mouth to check if the voice was his.
"Ah, ah—ah! Yeah, that's me."
Sharing another's senses was as novel as it was unpleasant. Jin clenched and unclenched his fist a few times, sighing in small relief at his body's obedience.
As he did, he thought.
Holy King, huh.
He got that the guy stuck to his principles till the end.
And the rough state of that "light and roses" era's twilight.
The gods abandoned the world?
From the head and Holy King's talk, that seemed the most plausible. Churches shunned aside, dwarves, elves—non-humans were gone from the current age too.
Said to have fallen over a millennium ago, so hard to find now made sense.
Then what were the Foreseer and head after?
Why'd the Holy King reject it to the end?
"Hmmm—"
As Jin rubbed his chin, brow furrowed in complication.
Click.
The door handle turned, someone entering.
"Sleep well?"
"Eh?"
Jin's dumbstruck eyes caught the approaching Sword Saint.
Hold up.
Normally, at this timing, shouldn't it be a maid? Servant? Butler? Some hired help first?
Spotting him awake, freak out a bit, then yell out the door "He's up!" That role. Then meet the bigwig after things settle. Standard route.
Skipping all that for the Sword Saint left Jin blinking in confusion.
"Uh, y-yeah."
He nodded reflexively, but the thought of the snapped holy relic flashed.
Sent him to guard it, and he smashed it.
Well, didn't let it get taken, so okay? But it was pretty damn valuable.
So Jin thought inwardly.
You showed up late too, so call it even.
But the Sword Saint's next words were apology, not scolding.
"Sorry about that. Got delayed trying not to cause casualties on the way out."
Jin cautiously prodded.
"W-Well, what if you hadn't sent me in the first place...?"
"Hm? Why? To break through a wall, you challenge someone stronger than you. That's obvious. If I could've, I'd have sent Ryukard too."
Crazy bastard?
Fuck, he knew and sent him anyway?
The nape of his neck throbbed. Like glimpsing why the guy was called Mad Sword.
There was backstory, actually.
The Sword Saint's delay stemmed from sensing Crow's power, which defied the Apostle's aura, upon arrival. Otherwise, he'd have made it on time.
Still, the premise of sending Jin and Kendrick into the cathedral didn't change, so his radical training method was batshit insane, nothing else to it.
Thus, Jin eyed the Sword Saint like a lunatic, just as his old foes had.
Until the Sword Saint's expression turned deadly serious.
"...Anyway, about the relic."
Here it comes.
Jin's face stiffened as he scrambled for excuses.
Then a tickle in his heart made him scratch it unconsciously.
Something snagged his fingertips; he pulled it out unwittingly.
"Don't sweat it too much. It's an ancient thing, bound to happen some—...Hm?"
The Sword Saint's pupils dilated.
Right after spotting the slender light-rod in Jin's hand.
But the shocked one was Jin too.
"Wh-What the hell is this?"
Like finding a sparrow perched on your shoulder mid-stroll without consent.
As Jin gawked, the status window predictably popped up before his eyes.
「???」
NEO ?? ??? Jahad
Bygone Era's Light ?? Devourer of Pure Blood ????
?? ??? ?? ?? Someone's Ember