Chapter 66
Chapter 66
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 66
Chapter Title: Sleepwalker IV: Shin Noah 6
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I can finish off the Ten Tribes with a single slash.
I had mastered the miracle that was originally permitted only to the Sword Saint in this world: the Aura of Starlight, which manifested as Sword Gang.
And yet, I rarely one-shot them. Even if it was a hassle and annoying, I always made sure to establish the "Korean Peninsula Awakener Alliance" and drag them into a battlefield against the Ten Tribes.
"It's been a while, Undertaker. Have you been well?"
"Oh, Undertaker! How have you been?"
Because, to put it in a slightly ridiculous way, the Awakeners needed to "awaken."
On the battlefield, I showed them clean and clear through actual combat—no need for lectures—how overwhelmingly powerful the Ten Tribes were, and how wrong their arrogance was in seeing themselves as transcendent beings.
It's the fate of Homo sapiens to only truly know if it's shit or soybean paste after tasting it.
Only after clashing in a life-or-death struggle with the Ten Tribes did the Awakeners of the Korean Peninsula realize, "Ah, if we don't form an alliance in advance, we'll all die together nicely when an A-rank monster shows up."
And to that, I added one more scheme.
"It's been a while. Have you all been well?"
"Of course. We've been doing great!"
"And you're getting used to Aura bit by bit?"
"Ahaha. Well, not quite yet..."
I advertised: "Free advanced Aura operation lessons as special tutoring, exclusively for Awakeners who join the Alliance."
Even after civilization collapsed, the zeal for education was etched into the DNA of the Korean people. Words like "advanced," "lessons," and "special tutoring" paralyzed their brains.
From the start, countless Awakeners had intuitively grasped how useful Aura was in fights against the Ten Tribes. Their tentacles were tougher than the world's chewiest squid legs, and without a blade infused with beautifully shimmering Aura, they barely even scratched.
"Undertaker!"
"Undertaker, I've been stuck on something in my training lately..."
In short, the Korean Peninsula Awakener Alliance took on the character of a sect revering me like a grand patriarch.
Originally, Old Man Show had played that role, but the old man had retired...
Of course, the Awakeners were all lunatics. Sycophants who groveled like dogs were everywhere.
That's why, even as I taught them advanced Aura techniques, I deliberately demanded nothing in return.
Guild management? Why would I interfere? Your guild is yours, so handle it yourself. Tuition? Nah, forget that—just suck all the juice out of these techniques from me. Go ahead. Take this, take that, take my liver and gallbladder too. It's fine. I don't need anything.
In the apocalypse, that kind of behavior made you a prime mark for suckers.
But what if that sucker casually crossed the Void teeming with monsters, traveled from city to city, butchered Ten Tribes heads—like deep-fried chicken—that they couldn't even touch, basked in the Constellations' favor, and flaunted friendships with the Three Thousand Worlds Guild Leader and the National Highway Management Corps Leader?
Even Awakeners with selectively rational skulls had no choice but to rethink the definition of "sucker."
-Teacher, when the hell can we settle our debt?
-Yeah. I could extract payment from you anytime, but I won't, and I won't in the future either. So just keep soaking up the Aura education tailored for you. Thanks to this technique, you'll dodge death and solidify your authority as Guild Leader, but you'll still wipe your mouth clean without giving me a thing—and you, me, Dang Seo-rin, No Do-ha, all of us will know you did.
-Teacher! No, big bro! Please!
This was the so-called Super乙 phenomenon.
To exaggerate a bit, if I just tossed out a pretext like, "Hmm, looks like the Incheon Guild Leader's been stirring up trouble on the Peninsula lately..." then the Guild Leaders here would cry, "The Grand Patriarch's going to smash the Incheon Guild!" and charge out with their full forces to wreak havoc.
And for the Meteor Shower subjugation, it wasn't just any pretext—it concerned the fate of the entire Peninsula. Guild Leaders who'd gotten something from me had no choice but to assemble like their asses were on fire.
"You're always so popular, no matter when I see you."
After a hearty round of handshakes, Dang Seo-rin greeted me with a weary face.
"Why don't you just settle down in one city? You're always wandering the country. I mean, are you diligent or undependable...?"
"Hey, I have settled down. All of Gangnam in Seoul is my territory. You mocking Gangnam real estate now?"
"There's nothing left there but your guild buildings."
"That's called buying low. When civilization rebuilds, Undertaker's life will go down in history as the ultimate real estate legend."
Dang Seo-rin snorted.
"So, no plans to settle for real? No one you're seeing? I hear plenty of people are into you."
"Romance is kinda..."
Anyway, the Meteor Shower wouldn't come until sunset.
We chatted idly while each gripping our broomsticks, waiting for night. Why broomsticks? You'll see soon enough.
The air was taut with tension.
To deliberately chip away at that callus of atmosphere, light banter and small talk flowed softly through the camp.
Maintaining normalcy to ignore the abnormal was wisdom humanity had grasped long ago.
"What? You eunuch or something?"
"I'm just not interested in romance. Honestly, my mental age is around a thousand. No way I can bicker and date kids, right?"
"Pfft. What're you saying."
Not just Dang Seo-rin and me—all the Awakeners traded silly jokes.
It was natural. The Meteor Shower descending on Gyeongsangnam-do airspace was in the 7th regression year.
Not a single elite soldier gathered on this Kimhae Plain hadn't crossed the wall of life and death dozens of times.
They all knew bone-deep how crucial it was to regulate mental tension right up to combat.
"Honestly, I can't picture big bro dating anyone."
"Y-yeah. On the surface, he seems perfect, no rough edges, but he totally has that lifelong bachelor look. That's our Guild Leader vibe."
If this were after the 50th cycle, SG Guy Seo-gyu and villain Sim A-ryeon Goryeo Jang would join the roast.
"Hmph. Above all, we should worry about his future partner... 70% of couple talk would be Romance of the Three Kingdoms, 20% Records of the Grand Historian, last 10% Water Margin—who could endure that...? Even a thousand-year love would cool..."
After the 55th cycle, National Highway Management Corps Leader No Do-ha would sip ginger tea, exhaling hot breath and equally scorching sarcasm.
"Ahaha. Sometimes I think senior should drop the Three Kingdoms talk too! Honestly, I don't get why it's fun. Well, that Dong Zhuo burning Luoyang scene was cool!"
After the 109th cycle, Baekhwa Girls' High School Student Council President Cheon Yo-hwa would beam and pile on.
"......"
[.......]
Lee Ha-yul and the Saintess would always stay quiet.
And in my life up to the 1183rd cycle, allies occasionally joined or left.
But today was the 42nd cycle.
Our blood alliance wasn't complete yet, so let's depict the most grueling, fiercest battle of them all.
"―――, ――."
"―. ―――. ……."
"……. ……, ……."
Voices of countless people faded.
Above, only Dang Seo-rin and I breathed white mist from our mouths.
Two portions of breath flushed red.
My companion through time muttered.
"Well. I'm not into romance either."
Sunset sank from the sky.
A pleasant tension seeped into my whole body.
[――It's coming.]
The Saintess's low murmur.
Instantly, the world's crimson glow burned even redder.
It was like flames, a massive fire ring.
The sky's center, the zenith, blazed scarlet; the edges turned blue, black, pitch black, quietly.
The flames lived and moved. The scarlet sunset core endlessly exhaled toward the dark blue night sky's periphery, inhaling in reverse.
The sky—the world—breathed with sunset light and starlight.
"Dang Seo-rin."
"Yeah. I know."
Dang Seo-rin had already begun her magic incantation.
How much time passed as song flowed from her lips?
Suddenly, the darkness at the sky's edge swallowed the entire celestial dome. As if sunset never existed, heaven and earth darkened.
Night sky.
It wasn't a physical or astronomical change. Like a mother gently covering her child's eyes with her palm, the whole world was instantly veiled by something.
"...It's here."
"Shit. It was real."
Murmurs rose.
Some Awakeners stirred at the utterly incomprehensible phenomenon. The tension they'd barely suppressed through meticulous strategy meetings, tactics, and deft jokes surged to the surface.
Some clenched fists at the long-prophesied monster's arrival, foretold six years prior.
In an era where power lines and streetlamps had closed their eyes, only the elite soldiers' eyes emitted dim light. They gazed up at the night sky from their meticulously arrayed formation.
['Saintess of National Salvation' announces.]
[Special-rank monster 'Meteor Shower' appears in the skies over the Korean Peninsula.]
Flash—
The night sky's darkness spat out infinitely condensed starlight. As if some giant playfully prodded the sky's balloon with scales.
But the result was anything but playful.
"Starlight!"
"The strategy was right after all...?"
"My god. That's not shooting stars. A monster controlling the entire sky."
Originally, the Meteor Shower would linger in the upper atmosphere for a full six hours.
But from observations across cycles, it wasn't just runway-walking—or Milky Way walking—over the night sky, showing off its pretty starlight for free.
In truth, over those six hours, it slowly cast "curses" on ground humans.
Hypnosis or brainwashing—call it what you will. The point: the more humans looked up at that starlit night sky, the stronger the Meteor Shower grew.
['Saintess of National Salvation' advises non-combatants to avoid looking up at the night sky as much as possible.]
Thus, the top priority in this boss fight: coordination and speed.
Not waiting patiently until it powered up fully to fall, but striking at its weakest moment.
In other words, settling it in the early phase—that was my strategy.
"Ah――."
To execute it, Dang Seo-rin opened fire first.
First Melody, Repetition. Second Melody, Expansion.
The song always favored for large-scale battles echoed across the plain.
Even this alone sufficiently backed up allies within range with her magic. But for this fight, we'd prepared to the hilt.
-......static, ......ah......
Every combat unit had a radio strapped to chest or waist. Prepared solely for this battle. Nearby, even base stations were built.
A method possible only because, as a Regressor, I knew the battlefield's exact position.
Proof we'd poured every scrap of civilization's remnants into this battle.
If just broadcasting Dang Seo-rin's song made each radio amplify the magic, that'd be too good—but no such cheat.
Thus, one more melody was needed.
"Ah――ah, ah――."
Third Melody, Medium.
Magic making pre-designated materials resonate like mirrors with Dang Seo-rin's song.
Naturally, the radios distributed to Awakeners were all designated "Mediums." Designating them required extra magic, so Dang Seo-rin had cast spells on them piecemeal whenever time allowed.
Time spent on this: three years total.
And the gear Dang Seo-rin designated as "Mediums" wasn't just cheap radios.
Finally, our last preparation—executed by Dang Seo-rin—the most crucial Song Enchantment rang out.
"Aah―― aaah―――."
Fourth Melody, Flight.
The fourth song swept the sky once, then endlessly da capo'ed via [Repetition].
Grip.
The 900 Awakeners assembled on Kimhae Plain—700 selected for combat—squeezed their hands as pre-arranged.
Every single fist clutched a broomstick without exception.
"Bit late to point it out now, but... were broomsticks really the best choice?"
"Yeah. Obviously."
Dang Seo-rin, now with leeway after the Fourth Melody, answered. Her face said, "Why ask something so weird?"
"Witches have nothing but broomsticks to fly the skies with."
Tap. Dang Seo-rin kicked the dirt with familiar footwork. Perfected through thousands, tens of thousands of repetitions? The great witch's pose was relaxed, elegant.
Prrr— From her petite frame, a black cloak three times larger billowed like a flag.
I chuckled. Then spoke into the radio.
"All units, launch."
That was the signal.
700 Alliance Awakeners kicked off the plain simultaneously, soaring into the night sky.
Boss fight.
Continent-level threat.
Meteor Shower.
Combat begins.
Phase 1, Takeoff.