Chapter 368: I’m Sorry, Hyung.
Chapter 368: I’m Sorry, Hyung.
I can feel it.
Focusing on the 'aura of water' with my Third Eye and Sensing, I could feel a powerful, related energy emanating from ahead. It felt... incredibly concentrated.
Just as I expected. The moment I heard the words 'effective range,' I suspected the Spirit Summoner might be close, and it turned out they were quite far forward.
I didn't know if they'd come out to catch me or to support the giant, but one thing was certain: the chances of a successful assassination had just skyrocketed.
The direction was almost straight ahead. The distance... roughly 100 meters. No, maybe a little more. But now that I had a lock on their presence, all that was left was to get there as fast as possible.
Normally, I could cover that distance in an instant...
But with so many enemies in my path, I couldn't just run recklessly. My heart began to pound. Biting my lip, I pushed myself to run even faster.
As I ran with all my might, the words my hyung had said to me suddenly pierced my heart like daggers.
'Do you think this is your playground?'
'What are you, some kind of hero?'
'No. Why does it have to be you?'
“……”
I knew. I knew this would all look abnormal.
Even so, the reason I volunteered wasn't because I wanted to step up for no reason, nor was it because I wanted to be a hero.
It was for my hyung. And ultimately, it was for 'me.'
If I were the same broken man from the 1st playthrough, I would have turned tail and run the moment I came to my senses. No, I wouldn't have even participated in the war in the first place. And if I had maintained that personality into this 2nd playthrough, I might have made the extreme choice of dragging Hyung away with me to escape (not that he would have ever agreed).
But I couldn't do that now.
No. Perhaps it's more accurate to say I didn't do that.
Hyung and I were no longer alone. We were the Lords of the Mercenary and Haemil clans, responsible for leading the Users within our respective folds. The Haemil Clan members who died for me in the 1st playthrough, and the Mercenary Clan members who trusted and followed me in the 2nd—they were no longer strangers to me.
The great axiom of the Hall Plain.
A world where you can do nothing alone.
Under this axiom, I learned to think of many, and I made my decisions accordingly. In other words, the singular 'Hyung' had expanded to the plural 'them.'
But it goes without saying that saving every single one of them was next to impossible. I understood that better than anyone, but even knowing that, I chose the path that would save as many as possible.
…And maybe that’s why I feel even more sorry.
Because the burden created by the path I chose fell squarely on the shoulders of Hyung and Vivian.
Though I'm not having an easy time either.
The thought was so absurd I let out a short laugh and raised my head.
The moment I left my previous position, I saw them. They were already closing in. Enemies filled the wide-open field, charging straight toward me. Their aura was terrifyingly hostile, as if they meant to repay in one fell swoop all the losses they'd suffered in the siege.
Soon, they seemed to spot me too. For a moment, bewilderment flickered in their eyes, which had been burning with a ferocious killing intent like that of an excited Tosa dog.
But that bewilderment quickly turned into an obvious sneer.
“Khahahahahahahaha!”
The axe warrior I'd noticed first twisted his face into a grin and laughed heartily. I must have looked like a moth flying into a flame to him.
Seeing them, I felt something stir within me—an old feeling from long before the 2nd playthrough… from when I lived and breathed for battle. It was a complex tangle of emotions, but what I felt most clearly was a blind madness disguised as killing intent.
From this moment on, I had to break through these countless enemies and assassinate the 'Spirit Summoner.'
I calmly centered myself. I cleared my mind of Hyung's lingering words and replaced them with battlefield calculations. Finally, I gripped the swords in both hands and explosively poured my magic into them.
I said I had to do it, but…
“Hoo.”
If I wasn't confident I could pull it off, I never would have started in the first place.
Vwoooom—!
Kiiiiyaaaaaa!
Gorged on magic, 'Victoria’s Glory' and 'Caligo Abraxas' began to wail madly, unleashing opposing auras of light and darkness.
Fwip-fwip-fwip-fwip-fwip!
Just then, with the sound of bowstrings snapping, a volley of arrows rained down. I had planned to open with a blast of sword aura, so I clicked my tongue in annoyance and quickly dodged. As I moved out of their trajectory, I heard the sharp whistle of wind followed by the thud of arrowheads striking the innocent ground. In that same instant, I let out a sharp cry and kicked off the earth, launching myself into the air.
Flap!
My hair fluttered in the wind rushing past my face. The distance to the enemy closed in an instant. No, it was more than closed—I was already inside their vanguard. Glancing down, I saw the enemies tilting their heads up to follow my movement. Most of them had looks of shock, clearly not expecting such a powerful leap.
After spotting an empty space, I descended. As I landed lightly on the ground, I saw I was surrounded by Western Continent Users, with a few Vagabonds mixed in. Right next to me stood an American man, his lips slightly parted and his eyes glazed over in a daze.
“Hi.”
In response to his look, I offered a simple greeting and a sword to his throat. Then I kicked him hard in the chest, sending him flying.
In the movements that followed—and from now on—there could be no hesitation.
Agility stat: 98. Positional Exchange. Bowstring Shadow Step. Orthros Boots, and more.
My Player Status is optimized for speed. I'm so fast that the average User's dynamic visual acuity can't keep up. That meant I couldn't give the enemy even a moment to track my movements. So, I shifted into an open space just half a step away. Then, to unleash the ability I was interrupted from using earlier, I swung both swords in a long, horizontal arc, crossing them as I brought them down.
For a moment, the auras imbued in the swords seemed to freeze. But then they surged explosively, and a single stream of sacred light and dark energy flowed from the tips of the blades. The energies followed the trajectory of my swing, leaving a long, curved afterimage in the air.
In less than a second, the image drawn in the air transformed into two undulating waves, each carrying a different energy. I unleashed them, and they shot out mercilessly toward the enemies who were just beginning to charge.
Swish-swish-swish-swish!
“Whoops!”
“Noooooooo!”
The two charging waves swallowed the enemies blocking my path whole. The white wave sliced through them cleanly, while the dark wave tore them apart voraciously. Struck by the waves of magic, the Users screamed gutturally as parts of their bodies were severed. The red blood that sprayed into the air disintegrated like crushed autumn leaves the moment it touched the lingering afterimages.
I wanted to keep watching the bloody festival the waves were creating, but there was no time. I immediately activated Bowstring Shadow Step and leaped into the space they had cleared for me.
Thump. With a lurching feeling in my gut, I found myself face-to-face with an American woman with golden hair. Her helpless expression looked rather pitiful, but I didn't hesitate to thrust my sword upward.
Shunk!
Caligo Abraxas slid smoothly into her throat. She must not have even had time to process it, as her eyes went wide for a second. Just as I twisted the blade to pull it out, I felt a faint shout approaching from behind, buried in the chaos of the battlefield. As I finished pulling my sword free, I swung 'Victoria’s Glory' behind me without looking.
“Catherine…! Keuak!”
CRUNCH!
I felt the sensation of the blade tearing violently through something. Glancing back, I saw a man clad in rather thick armor. His breastplate had been brutally ripped open from left to right.
In that fleeting moment, my eyes met the man's. His were filled with disbelief, his mouth agape. He must have had some special relationship with the woman I'd just killed. It seemed he'd been trying to attack me from behind to get revenge. I let out a small breath.
I could finally take a breath. But it was only for a moment before I snapped my head around. The chaos from my first strike had been temporary. Now, needles of killing intent pricked my skin from all directions. To use Positional Exchange, I had to find an empty space within range, so I quickly scanned the impenetrable battlefield.
Any small gap would do. Of course, there was one condition specific to this battlefield: I had to make my path overlap as much as possible with the Spirit Summoner's location.
I couldn't fight every single enemy. The goal was, after all, an assassination (though calling it that at this point was a stretch). I had to kill my target and get out as quickly as possible. The longer I stayed, the harder it would be to escape.
Once, twice, three times.
And thankfully, the moment I found an empty space, I activated my magic without hesitation.
Flash! Flash! Flash!
I activated the ability three times in a row. I blinked three times, and with each blink, the scenery before me changed.
Just as I was searching for another space to activate the ability again, I urgently snapped my head back. A short spear, accompanied by a chilling sound, grazed past the tip of my nose.
Fwip-fwip-fwip-fwip-fwip!
At the same time, I heard the sound of more arrows.
'Crazy bastards.'
I cursed under my breath, quickly parried the spear, and this time, bent my body forward.
Of course, with my Noble Mithril Shirt and my durability, I could probably withstand a few hits. But I never thought they'd fire arrows into a chaotic melee like this. A petty thought crossed my mind—let's see how they like getting hit by their own arrows. Of course, I also held a sliver of hope that the arrows might clear a path for me.
After the rain of arrows slid past my back, I straightened up, only to find my expectation had been wrong. The arrows hadn't pierced their allies. Instead, they seemed to pause awkwardly in mid-air before spinning around to aim at me again. It looked like they were imbued with some kind of archer-exclusive Homing ability.
“Tsk.”
I clicked my tongue lightly and tossed Caligo Abraxas high into the air. Then, I shot out my right arm and grabbed the throat of the man who had just attacked me with the spear.
The moment the volley of arrows was about to strike me, I yanked him in front of me without delay, using him as a shield.
Thwack, thwack! Thwack, thwack, thwack!
With each arrow that struck, the man's body shuddered violently. He wasn't dead yet—I could feel him trembling faintly—but I had already wasted too much time here. The enemies were continuing to swarm in, packing the space tightly.
So, I crushed his throat and threw his body forward. I immediately moved my hand and felt the hilt of Caligo Abraxas land perfectly in my palm.
There was still no empty space in sight. I could, of course, leap into the air again and use Positional Exchange to land, but now that the enemies had come to their senses, the risk was much higher. Once I was airborne, ranged attacks would become more focused, and if by some chance I couldn't find a place to land, the situation would become extremely difficult.
No choice, then.
In that brief moment, I came to a decision. I still had plenty of strength left. More than enough, in fact. So, rather than taking a gamble so early, I decided it was better to try and forge a path with what I had.
I had originally planned to save it until I reached the Spirit Summoner, but…
In the end, I thrust Victoria’s Glory forward. Then, charging fiercely, I activated the sword's latent ability, 'Sword Light.'
Vwoong!
For a second, Victoria’s Glory seemed to erupt in a brilliant light.
Clang-clang-clang-clang-clang-clang-clang-clang-clang!
Soon, nine streaks of light in the shape of swords appeared, letting out a clear, ringing hum.
The Sword Lights then seeped precisely and deeply into the necks of the nine Users blocking my path.