Chapter 74
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 74
Chapter Title: Emperor's Sword (7)
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"Th-then, please help us...! A Bl-Black Ghost has appeared in our village..!"
Black Ghost.
The man's words announcing the emergence of a disaster-grade beast
momentarily brought my mind to a halt.
"Reinhardt."
Pulling my deeply immersed thoughts back to reality in that brief moment
was the now-familiar voice of Aden.
However, that voice lacked its usual subtle playfulness
and lighthearted tone.
It simply carried a heavy atmosphere
as it called out to me.
"Let's go. We have to save them."
"...Yeah, let's go save them."
At his words,
I snapped back to my senses and turned to the man who had brought the news.
"Lead the way."
For now, it was time to set aside my worries about the era of nightmares returning.
It was time to ignore the anxiety... the fear that fact brought.
Right now,
all that mattered was dealing with the beast bringing danger to our doorstep.
And so,
after running for a while following the desperately arrived man...
KieeeEEEEEEK-!!!
From afar,
amid roaring flames and smoke,
a horrific shriek echoed out, incomparable to the monsters we had just subjugated.
'That thing...'
And then,
the closer we got to it.
On the path leading to a place all too familiar,
hearing that dreadful roar emanating from there,
an ominous premonition began to stir.
'Beyond that mountain range lies the knights' fortress.'
One of the evacuation sites the villagers had always mentioned after we cleared the monsters.
"Pick up the pace."
A fortress where trained knights were gathered.
Its location matched exactly.
And so,
forcing aside the inescapable anxious premonition.
When we arrived at full speed...
"S-save...!"
Splurt-!
Ugh... Uwaaaaaah!
"P-please... please spare me!"
"I d-don't want to die...!"
The stomach-churning stench of blood,
screams and terror.
Only despair
was etched deeply into the scene.
'I d-don't want to die.'
'Even the Sword Saint is dead... this world is done for...'
'S-save me...'
That sight felt all too
familiar.
"Reinhardt-!!"
Overlapping so perfectly
with memories of the past.
"Hey-!!"
As if that sight itself
was declaring that the nightmare would never truly vanish.
'Ah...'
My body wouldn't move.
My mind wouldn't function properly.
The fear of the nightmare I had begun to forget
was devouring me once more.
Just standing there frozen in panic—
Thwack-!
"Snap out of it-!!"
The stinging pain on my face and the voice calling me forcibly yanked my mind back.
"Get it together! You're the only one here besides me who can take that thing down!"
Before I could even collect my thoughts again,
Aden grabbed me by the collar and continued.
"G-got it. So let go of me."
At that, I quickly pulled myself together from the panic and prepared to fight the enemy.
'I messed up...'
A disaster-grade beast, far stronger due to the nightmare's corruption.
A beast that would be hard to subdue even at full mental capacity,
still rampaging and endlessly creating casualties.
Facing such a situation,
letting myself be paralyzed by ghosts of the past was a clear mistake on my part.
"Sorry about that."
So,
after confirming I had regained my composure,
I assisted Aden, who was barely blocking the Black Ghost's tentacles, and offered a brief apology.
He glanced at me apologizing
and continued in a tone that said it was no big deal.
"Whatever. Try your second sword form."
"Right now...?"
Those words
were completely unexpected.
I could only reflexively ask again,
"Yeah, right now."
Aden said it as if it were the most obvious thing,
urging me to use it immediately.
"My second sword form... isn't complete yet."
To his natural prompting,
I replied that the second form wasn't finished.
Thus,
using it right now was impossible.
Emperor's Sword Second Form
[Emperor Arrives at Heaven's Gate]
"No, it's complete as of today. So use it."
His response was still
delivered with utter certainty,
nothing more than a simple 'try it.'
'No way...'
An absurd statement.
With countless lives hanging on our hands right now.
In a situation where even combining our strength to repel the disaster-grade beast empowered by nightmare corruption wasn't enough.
Using a technique for the first time,
one whose completion we weren't even sure of,
was pure madness.
"Hah! Don't blame me if it fails."
Yet,
somehow, those words from Aden rang with trustworthiness.
"Yeah, blast that red eye with a clean strike."
'What a refreshing swordsmanship! This kid's going places!'
Hearing his words brimming with conviction that I'd succeed naturally,
I couldn't possibly imagine failing.
"I'll hold everything off in the meantime."
'Next time, you save the world. I'll hold everything off until then.'
In an instant, he shifted the momentum,
repelling the Black Ghost's tentacles with overwhelming power to protect the people.
And his resolute words that no one would die until I succeeded.
He looked so utterly reliable,
that figure overlapping with someone whose name... whose face I couldn't recall.
'Who could it be...'
I don't know who.
However...
'My name is ■■ ■■■! I'm a great mage despite appearances, you know?'
The forcibly erased memories of that forgotten existence
were slowly returning.
"Right. I'll save them."
That sensation,
that feeling...
filled me with even greater certainty.
That I
would not fail.
So, I assumed my stance
and began preparing the sword form.
'Mana aggressively, from the heart toward the sword—'
Mana aggressively,
'Stance long and straight, in thrusting form—'
Stance straight, thrusting form—
'Impact point singular, minimize as much as possible.'
Impact point singular,
piercing only one spot—
And so,
the strike originating from my hand finally—
The child of the Emperor advanced straight,
despair fading before unyielding steps.
The nightmare recoils before unbent resolve.
Thus, the Emperor at last
reaches Heaven's Gate.
It advanced straight,
emitting golden mana toward the Black Ghost.
The Black Ghost, sensing danger, frantically
wrapped tentacles to defend,
but—
BooOOOM-!!!
The golden strike pierced straight through
the defensive tentacles,
up to the Black Ghost's red eye weakness.
Piercing everything and soaring toward the heavens.
Kwaaang-!!!
The thunderous crash as the Black Ghost's massive body, pierced through its red eye
and most of its upper torso, collapsed announced the end of the crisis.
'Phew...'
Hearing that sound,
I let out a quiet sigh of relief inwardly.
'That was close...'
Fortunately, Reinhardt successfully executed the Emperor's Sword second form
in one go, allowing us to escape the sudden crisis.
And through this Black Ghost's appearance,
one thing became clear.
'It's definitely progressing faster...'
The Emperor's Trial.
The trial to obtain the Emperor's Sword—perhaps because I accelerated Reinhardt's realization of it,
was advancing far quicker than anticipated.
Thus the sudden event,
but luckily, I hadn't used Defying Heaven while subjugating monsters today.
So we held out until Reinhardt could unleash the second form.
"Good work."
Inwardly sighing in relief once more,
I approached Reinhardt, who stood there after unveiling the second form,
and offered words of praise.
"Yeah, we somehow made it through this time..."
His response
held no joy or relief at the resolution.
Only worry and anxiety about the current state lingered.
"This incident has confirmed it. A disaster is reviving in the world once more."
Soon, I heard the reason from him.
'He sensed it, huh...'
The disaster—namely, the nightmare's revival.
Reinhardt must have realized it from the recent strengthening of the nightmare's corruption
and even disaster-grade beasts falling to it.
'Not exactly a revival, though...'
To be precise, it wasn't the nightmare reviving,
but the remnants left in the world gathering
to usher in another disaster.
'I thought we'd end it before then...'
Of course, it was an event from the actual game,
but I hadn't worried much, thinking we'd complete the Emperor's Sword first.
However,
'Who knew the speed would change based on progress...'
In the game, it always progressed at a fixed pace.
I hadn't expected the trial's speed to vary with progress.
Even so,
"It's fine. We can win."
An unexpected development was no problem.
Once Reinhardt completed the Emperor's Sword's final form,
nightmare remnants would be no match.
"So focus on completing the sword form."
What we needed to do now was,
before the nightmare remnants fully revived,
implant as many hints as possible into Reinhardt's mind
about the final form.