Diversion (1)
Diversion (1)
A special principle governs the Tower of Growth.
Positive changes are retained; negative changes return to the void.
What does that mean?
Growth achieved inside the tower carries over as-is, while injuries and lasting consequences are cleanly erased.
In other words, death is not a concern. Shattered mana circuits, ruined cores, becoming half-crippled—none of that happens. Even if your limbs are torn off and your body split in two, it's irrelevant.
This is a place optimized for recognizing your own limits, hammering against them, and expanding the reach of your growth. Which means you can act boldly without—
"Enough, enough... please, just stop talking... it's painful to hear..."
[Yes...]
The string of justifications that had been running without pause came to an abrupt halt. Lee Ha-yul pressed his lips firmly together and lowered his head.
[A lapse...]
'A lapse...'
He'd been concentrating too hard.
He had poured every nerve into blending the Three Ends, the Foolish Straight Twin Wheels, and physical manipulation all at once.
So absorbed in that experiment, he hadn't noticed a presence that had never approached his tent before...
"That... is only natural. Entering the tower is meant to provide experience indistinguishable from real combat, not to shove young sprouts onto a battlefield and damage them..."
Sierra pressed a hand to her swimming head, her eyelids trembling faintly.
[Yes, that's right. So I...]
"That function! It exists so you won't leave here carrying injuries and aftereffects—not so you can conduct human experiments on yourself."
A surge of emotion rose, sharpening her voice in spite of herself. Lee Ha-yul, already small of frame, shrank further. His hands, already regenerated, came together neatly.
Sierra steadied her breathing and reined in her feelings.
[...It isn't a human experiment...]
"Then what in the world would you call it...?"
Sierra lowered her gaze.
...To the hand discarded on the floor. Sierra lacked detection-type abilities or the Observation Authority, but as a superhuman who once crossed battle lines, her eyes were keen.
That was why she immediately grasped the hand's alien nature.
"That... what is going on with the circuits?"
She already knew. The fifth... from the records, a pseudo-magic developed by Lee Ha-yul. A madman's technique that rewired the very framework of his own nerves.
"And why are elemental forces jumbled together like that..."
She already knew. The third. A lunatic technique like a self-generating thermonuclear bomb, packing unique abilities with violently reactive mutual repulsion into a single body.
"Why... is the structure of the hand different...?"
The skin's properties were different. The glimpses of bone beneath were different. The state of the muscles was different...
A structure modified according to necessity.
...She thought she understood. The fourth. It resembled that peculiar and grotesque technique he'd used, assimilating and exploiting monster bodies...
[...Training techniques...]
"Who in the world trains by tearing off their own hand?"
[...Regenerators...]
"Regenerator training can be somewhat rough, but experimenting with brutal techniques with enough force to rip one's own hand off—and then tearing it away the moment it explodes—is not standard practice."
Lee Ha-yul's rambling reply trailed off. He'd noticed Sierra's eyes sharpening by the moment.
'What on earth...'
A dizzying sensation welled up in her head. Sierra squeezed her eyes shut.
Training? Well, in a sense, yes, it was training. He was, at least, honing and polishing something.
It simply also fell under the categories of human experimentation and self-harm.
"Why in the world... this kind of training..."
[Silence...]
The memories she possessed only went up to before Lee Ha-yul enrolled at Siyoram. And what she'd been granted a share of... extended only to fragments of the records from the observed world.
She didn't know the details of how Lee Ha-yul had been summoned into an empty body or how he had developed. The brief account he had relayed to her was all she had.
...Maybe because she'd only heard a brief summary? She hadn't foreseen this unexpected, extreme behavior at all.
Sierra opened her throbbing eyes.
She saw Lee Ha-yul with his head bowed. His two hands remained neatly together, fidgeting aimlessly.
"...Yes. I have no right to react to you so sharply."
A shadow flickered across Sierra's face.
"The ones—no, I am the one who pressed growth onto you, Lee Ha-yul, and drove you into mortal danger. I am in no position to dare find fault with your efforts."
[Ah, no... I don't see it that way...]
[Startled]
Lee Ha-yul's head snapped up, and he shook it vigorously with a pained expression.
[You've all been an enormous help. The Blessing of Growth, the status window that supported me in dangerous moments... the Authority of Harmonization too. Ariel's teachings and the Authority of Knowledge, even the Authority of Space and Observation I was given at the beginning... all of it...]
[Gratitude]
Flustered, he rattled off every piece of help he'd received.
The sight—the way he'd paid no mind to his own hand being torn apart but detected Sierra's melancholy as if by instinct and considered her feelings—drew a faint, bitter smile to her lips.
At this point in time, Sierra was only a mercenary who handled a sword reasonably well.
She had somehow ended up in a commander's role, but her adjutants and subordinates handled the practical work.
The future Sierra would become the Tower Master of Space and a political leader.
She would no longer swing a sword as she pleased, but instead monitor countless numbers and play moves on the grand stage.
It was an ill-fitting position. Her spatial aptitude had made her a Tower Master, but her disposition couldn't match it.
It finally reached the point of incompetence. Sierra could not prevent a foreign invasion.
And then she discovered Lee Ha-yul—and offloaded the burden onto him. She staked the fate of the world on a single person's potential.
Given that she'd shackled him with that burden, the sight of herself daring to pretend at worry was also repulsive.
"...Please don't push yourself too relentlessly."
Even so, she couldn't remain indifferent while Lee Ha-yul repeated this self-harm and experimentation.
Kneeling on one knee, Sierra carefully took Lee Ha-yul's hand. A moment ago it hadn't been there, but now it was a hand regenerated flawlessly, without a single blemish.
The Tower Masters had staked their fate on these small hands.
She had conviction. She had poured her heart and soul into working for his sake, but it was not a decision she dared boast about.
[...I'll try. Still, I thought it would be all right since it's the Tower of Growth...]
"Thank you for not taking it poorly."
Smiling bitterly, Sierra rose to her feet. Lee Ha-yul, mouth working slightly, asked tentatively.
[Um... may I ask one favor?]
"Yes, what is it?"
[Could you keep this a secret from the others? If it gets out, I'll be in huge trouble...]
Huge trouble. Would it really end at that level? Lee Ha-yul inwardly rejected the thought.
He'd already been caught once and been in huge trouble. If he was caught again it would be the second offense—and that might add contempt charges with increased penalties.
That punishment might become an incredibly happy time for Lee Ha-yul, but it wouldn't do his growth much good...
"You've been doing this while knowing full well it would get you in huge trouble?"
[Averting gaze]
He felt the narrowed gaze land on his face. Lee Ha-yul turned his head and played innocent.
"...Sigh. For now, very well."
[Thank you]
[Joy]
Lee Ha-yul immediately bowed his head. Sierra, who had been studying him with a complicated look, cleared her throat and unnecessarily straightened her clothing.
'Uncomfortable.'
Her chest felt tight. It wasn't just because of what she'd just witnessed—it was physically tight.
Breathing was a bit uncomfortable. Not enough to hinder combat, but when she stayed still the discomfort kept surfacing.
For the current Sierra, it was merely a mildly uncomfortable sensation.
But the future Sierra—whose memories had been conveyed—had long since resolved it, and the tangle of both memories made the tightness press in on her for no good reason.
And yet, if she simply resolved it now, the current Sierra would feel resistance...
[Anyway, did something happen before you came?]
That was when Lee Ha-yul's question flew in. His face as he asked wore a look of genuine worry.
Sierra brushed at the corner of her own mouth. As usual, it was a flat line—no, it was curved slightly upward.
"...No. Nothing in particular. It's just..."
[Just?]
Lee Ha-yul tilted his head. The corner of her mouth rose a fraction more. Sierra used her finger to press it down.
"A slightly unpleasant memory merely surfaced."
There'd been no need to press it down with her finger. The moment she recalled memories that weren't her own, it had dropped on its own.
After a brief hesitation, Sierra continued.
"As you know, Lee Ha-yul, this tower entry is scheduled to let you experience the reality of the Demon Realm Frontline."
[Yes]
"Not that any place on the Demon Realm Frontline is safe, but—to only experience a safe frontline through the Tower of Growth's real combat would be a waste."
Real combat with no death and no injury. A space that allowed outrageously fast growth without side effects.
Entering such a Tower of Growth and merely lazing about would be a waste that would make even a pig recoil in horror.
"This battlefield suits those conditions. It is among the most intense sections of the Chaos-Period Demon Realm Frontline, and it is about to face a major threat."
Even at the mention of a major threat, Lee Ha-yul showed no sign of disturbance. Sierra nodded.
"As expected, you anticipated it—or rather, should I say you observed it?"
[Yes, I found out by observing]
Lee Ha-yul bobbed his head.
The Observation was running at full tilt. He had massively expanded its range, capturing most of the isolated space.
And at the very edge of that broadened scope, something was barely, faintly being caught.
A colossal sense of presence. Yet paradoxically so hazy and dull that it was almost a presence he'd miss even with Observation.
"Soon, an entity at 3rd-Rank Alpha or higher will lead a monster force in an assault."
Sierra's expression hardened for an instant as she said it.
Because of that assault, this frontline would collapse.
It was an incident in which the mercenary company led by Sierra and the superhumans remaining on the frontline would be almost entirely annihilated.
.
.
.
The next day.
"Hmm..."
"Hm?"
"Mmm..."
Three pairs of half-lidded eyes stared fixedly at him.
"Why are you all looking?"
He tilted his head, making his snow-white hair sway.
The unconsciously coy gesture was enough to make those stealing glances at him momentarily hold their breath.
"......"
Hong Yeon-hwa tilted her head as well and studied Lee Ha-yul once more.
A pure-white winged garment floating behind his back. In his hand, the staff that was said to be a top-grade artifact, sometimes wielded like a spear.
He was out of his cadet uniform, wearing instead a white outfit and robe he'd received during his visit to the Tower of Knowledge.
He was filled with a lovely whiteness from every angle. A dark impulse to stain it with her own color surfaced for a moment.
Hong Yeon-hwa cocked her head.
"Ha-yul."
"Yes."
"Is that a doppelganger?"
"Yes... uh..."
Lee Ha-yul had answered without thinking, then blinked.
Wait, how in the world did she know?
* * *
Incompatibility.
The Giant did not precisely know the word incompatibility. Though its elevated rank had granted it reason, the Giant still preferred instinct.
"......."
Its intuition seized on a discrepancy. Its sharp senses caught an anomaly.
Something was off.
It couldn't pinpoint the reason. That brought frustration, and a sense of displeasure rose.
But it could hardly stop the hunt. The Giant turned its gaze.
A distant place. Likely filled with strong humans.
It didn't know exactly how many or how strong. So for now it had sent a considerable number of the soldiers it had subjugated toward that place while advancing on its own.
No subordinate had returned alive. Which meant it had obtained no information.
Uncertainty. The Giant, having survived in the Demon Realm, recognized how dangerous that was.
'......'
But it had no wish to hesitate in the hunt. The Giant rubbed its starving belly.
The surrounding space had recently closed. No prey was entering from outside, and it was hungry.
In the end, the Giant followed its instinct. It accepted the risk and set out on the hunt.
- Slip...
The Giant's body dissolved into the shadows.