It Won't Break

It won't break.

Word was that somewhere in this place lurked a real boss — not the simple one Wind Gale Sword had just slaughtered with his buff, but the genuine article.

Wind Gale Sword led me deep into the cave, and before long we reached its far end.

He dismounted and fumbled along the cave wall. Between the stones jutted something like a small rod. The moment the boy grabbed it and pulled down, the wall began to move.

Rrrrrumble!

"Originally my hyungs and noonas said this one was too hard for them and to save it for later… but I figured if you're Rank 1, you could take it even with your feet."

"I'm not Rank 1."

Ranked matches simply weren't popping, so I was still stuck outside the top 10 while Sword God held an overwhelming first place. Then came Leo at second and Michael at third.

The boy shook his head.

"Sword God's washed up now that he lost to you, so you're basically first. You'll probably beat Leo too."

I gave a hollow little laugh at the brat's scathing assessment. Hard to call it wrong — but it wasn't exactly right either.

Sword God had lost the sword that held the demon race, the source of most of his power. His strength and his aura had diminished greatly compared to before, but Sword God was still Sword God.

His talent exceeded Leo's. Even without the sword, without the demonic energy, his genius for the blade remained. If they fought right now, Leo would win — but if Sword God found a new weapon and honed himself again, he'd pull ahead.

Not that Leo's just going to sit around, though.

The door opened. A sliver of light spilled into the dark cave, and soon a flood of it washed over us entirely.

A vast grassland stretched before us — but it was markedly different from the plain we'd crossed to enter the cave. It seemed to be one of those dungeons that shifted you to a separate space entirely.

The boy clattered impatiently onto his waiting horse.

"Hurry up! My hyungs and noonas are coming, so we have to finish fast."

"Maybe you should just call it quits if you think you'll get scolded…"

"Ugh! They won't scold me much. Come on, let's go!"

Will they, though? He'd promised me a boss here, after all, and I intended to milk this for all it was worth.

"Alright. So what quests do you have left?"

"Uh… Red-Horned Dark Horses, 50%? Kill 30 of them… and two Red Horses too."

"Then let's get going."

Whoosh!!

Once again, Wind Gale Sword's entire bearing sharpened. He wove back and forth across the grassland, cutting down Dark Horses and Red Horses alike. While the boy was drunk on his new strength and losing his head, I made straight for the edge of the plain in a single bound.

Level 100. Exceedingly high for a field boss of the continent, but nothing compared to the boss of that ruin dungeon a while back.

I drew out the pristine white staff. Divinity gathered into it, and the collected radiance bloomed in brilliant light, binding the Red Horse's four legs.

The beast's horns flared red.

What?

Before I could even ask, threads of light crumbled apart and came barreling straight at me.

Let me correct that. Whinny! What had charged at me was an illusion.

I stood above it. My overwhelming divinity became a single plumb weight, pressing down upon the Red Horse in full. Unable to bear the crushing force, the beast was driven into the ground itself — and it lost its life just like that.

But its death lasted only a moment.

"…?"

Whinny! With a bizarre sensation, the crushed Red Horse scattered somewhere and reassembled on the very spot it had died, looking perfectly hale.

The horns flared once more.

"Double?"

An ability that delayed a player's revival. Normally, a player's respawn timer started at 10 minutes, then 30 minutes, then 1 hour, and after that locked at 10 hours. That lock only rolled back once every stage of the timer had fully elapsed — meaning once you were locked at 10 hours, you had to wait 10 hours, respawn, then wait another 10 hours before it returned to 1 hour.

But this Circulation ignored all those rules and stretched the timer however it pleased.

Now I understood why the Red Moon Guild left this hunting ground alone beyond simply holding territory. Forget how strong they were — if you died while Circulation was active, you'd be locked out ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠of the game for ages.

And worse, the thing revived no matter how many times you killed it.

"There are usually two ways to deal with something that revives itself."

Whether it was true resurrection or a Life Vessel anchored by the soul, the answer was the same.

KRAKA-BOOM!!

"You break its will."

…

My distant divinity bore down on the Red Horse once more. Its body regenerated.

Doubling again, just as expected.

Whin— KRA-BOOM!

Circulation — 4.

Whi— KRA-BOOM!

Circulation — 5.

…

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

…

…

"It won't break."

What a stubbornly spirited friend.

Eleven deaths, and still the Red Horse's eyes burned fiercely. I had divinity to spare and could keep hammering away, but the problem was time — not the respawn timer, but my Fourth Awakening.

Because I'd kept it active for the testing and for Wind Gale Sword's buff, only five minutes remained. Five minutes wouldn't be enough to snap this thing's will.

"Well, no choice, then."

I stowed the staff and released my Fourth Awakening. The distant divinity faded, and so did the translucent cloak of light that had draped from my shoulders. With my healing power weakened as well, the Red Horse sensed its oppression vanish and charged straight at me.

In place of the staff, a new weapon settled into my hand — one the Red Horse had never seen, but one endlessly familiar to me.

CLANG!

Ah. Now this is the good stuff.

…!

KWAAA-BOOOOM!!!!

The hammer form of White Savior smashed into the Red Horse with explosive force on a dimension apart from anything my divinity had managed. The beast went sailing into the distance, becoming a star in the sky.

"Home run."

"Uwaaagh!!"

"Oh, right."

The kid was still here.

◇◇◇◆◇◇◇

The buff I'd given Wind Gale Sword was an ability built on the power of my Fourth Awakening. Even my current self could grant a fairly meaningful buff, but only the Fourth Awakening made it possible to one-shot an Lv. 80 field boss with a Lv. 60 body. So when I released that state, his buff released with it.

"Ugh… I thought I was gonna die."

"I thought you had them all cleared. You're slower than I expected."

"No, I mean — the grassland is really big, okay…"

The boy grumbled as he picked himself up off the ground, but his expression wasn't too sour — apparently he'd finished all his quests.

"Hoo! Level up! I'm Lv. 70 now!"

"So we're actually done now?"

"Yep! There's one left, but that's the real boss. That one's yours, noona."

Wind Gale Sword said it as though it were the most obvious thing in the world. Given his personality and everything he'd shown me so far, I'd expected him to get greedy again. Surprising.

"By the way, I heard some shouting earlier. Were you in the middle of a boss hunt?"

"Yeah. I got launched into orbit, but the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠rewards never registered, so I was about to go check."

"Oh! Then I can watch too—"

"HEYYYYYY!!!"

A monstrous shriek rang out from far away. A man with a wild mane of hair came tearing toward us like some vengeful spirit. Beside me, Wind Gale Sword went heep! and bolted in the opposite direction, whipping his horse around at full speed.

Up close, his features came into focus: a man with a reddish-brown mane and clothes drenched in red from head to toe, twin swords strapped across his back, and an expression of pure, blazing fury.

So that's the Red Moon Guild Master. From what I'd gathered, Red Moon was one of the higher-ranked guilds, which would make its master a ranker in his own right.

"Where do you think you're running?!"

"Nooo! Hyung, I'm sorry, I said I'm sorry!!"

"Stop running and LISTEN to me, you little brat!!"

Red Moon's Guild Master, Jeoksa, shouted with a stricken look — and his eyes had landed on me, too.

"Get away from there NOW! The Circulation is starting!"

"The Circulation…?"

"Why on earth did you keep stacking the Circulation li—"

The man couldn't finish his sentence.

Screeeech.

Because space itself moved before he did.

The world turned upside down.