Chapter 271: A Hundred Billion Lights. The Sky.
Chapter 271: A Hundred Billion Lights. The Sky.
Sometimes, it is important to know when to yield.
What use are stubbornness or pride?
They don't put food on the table or money in your pocket.
Of course, that doesn't mean you should sell your soul, but your opinions aren't like the structural pillars of a building that must never, ever bend.
Even if your theories seem flawless, there is always a flaw to be found somewhere.
If a small error causes everything to collapse, it’s no big deal if it was just a mere opinion. However, if that error lies within the mental concepts that form your very foundation, then you have a problem.
That is why we must keep our minds flexible, like bamboo.
The reason I’m being uncharacteristically pensive is simple.
The air around me has grown cold.
The grass serving as my bed has turned damp with dew, signaling that it is no longer a good time for sleeping rough.
Furthermore, as the darkness unique to residential areas began to shroud the surroundings, stars started to appear in the sky.
Some say you can't see stars in the city, but that’s just a matter of having too many light sources nearby or poor eyesight.
Regardless, seeing that cluster of stars made me realize how small I am.
And so, I drifted into mental exploration.
Shining stars and the dark night.
A world where all sound has vanished.
How long has it been since I’ve felt this way?
Feeling small was a story from a very long time ago.
It was an emotion I felt while gazing at a meteor shower pouring down beneath a sky where death had settled.
But from the moment I gained power and began to wield it, I stopped feeling small.
I had gained the strength to grasp the stars in the sky.
Yet now, I am feeling that emotion once again.
Because I met her.
The Queen.
An entity who did everything while doing nothing at all.
Thinking back, she obtained everything she desired. Even if her plans went slightly awry, she fundamentally achieved all her goals. She was merely annoyed at me because the scenario she had crafted had been disrupted.
For that reason alone, she is an irrational being who could erase a person simply by existing there, without doing anything to me.
Even now, when I have become capable of taking down a lower O-Rank entity—beings that rearrange the world—on my own, she is an existence I could only hope to slightly affect by being prepared to let my own body self-destruct.
Is she not like that meteor shower I looked up at while sitting among corpses in the past?
Back then, I reached my hand toward the sky, wishing for that light.
And I grasped it.
I desired it even though I knew it was out of reach.
And I held that desire in my hand.
A long time has passed, and having fulfilled that desire, I am looking up at the sky again.
Toward the stars that have newly entered my sight.
Though a meteor shower didn't happen to fall this time like it did back then, I reached out my hand once more.
Believing that one day, even that unreachable halo of light will be mine.
I reached out because I could see stars that had been invisible until now.
In the past, training my body was enough to reach the stars.
I could feel myself getting stronger through it, and everyone around me was doing the same.
But now, that method won't let me reach those stars.
Those who walked the path with me have all vanished.
I am the only one left on this road.
Looking toward that distant place, there are those who have traveled a similar distance, but the comrades who split off at the Fork in the Road long ago are walking in a place so far away that even my voice cannot reach them.
Since there is no one leading the way ahead of us, we must forge the path ourselves as we go.
So, I turned my gaze to look at the path, but all that lay there was an endless precipice.
A thick void indicating that there is no more road ahead.
It hasn't been long since I realized this.
I was a blind man who couldn't even tell where on the road I stood.
My eyes were opened during the fight with the Guardian Corps.
It was something I hadn't reached during the encounter with the Gray Eater, nor with the Curator.
The manifestation of my full power.
Thinking back, it wasn't that I intentionally suppressed my strength.
I had certainly released my Limiter.
Even so, the reason I couldn't exert my full power was likely a matter existing within the realm of instinct.
Even ordinary people instinctively know the limits of the strength they can exert.
It wouldn't be strange if my body knew it too.
It was only because I surpassed that limit that I first became aware of the problem with the path.
My power has reached the limit of what I can contain.
A limit reached by wielding stars and destroying space.
Perhaps my physical body will continue to be reinforced, and the ceiling of my power will rise bit by bit, but the growth rate of my body can no longer keep up with the growth rate of my power.
Even so, given my nature, it's impossible to stop the growth of my power.
Consequently, the mismatch between my power and my body will return to me as ruin.
If the price of wielding a hammer of infinite power is my own self, what meaning is there in that?
That’s just a suicide wish.
If that’s the case, I must find another path, not just simple strength.
Of course, I’m not talking about magic or martial arts.
I know all too well that I have no talent for training in those areas.
However, a hint was given.
The Queen's words.
'I tore off a hundred billion faces.'
'The power that exists within all Sentient Beings.'
The Queen herself declared that she was lying, but those two things are likely not lies.
Too many things are intertwined with those answers for them to be false.
In addition, while I can't even comprehend what the former means, The Queen showed enough emotion when giving those answers that it's hard to call them lies.
And that conveyed one possibility to me.
The End is a state that can be reached.
Even if it is rugged and far away.
Just as I once held a star in my hand, it is a realm that can be attained.
Somewhere in the endless precipice spread out before me, a path exists—even if it is only suspended by a slender thread.
And the latter point, combined with what happened during the fight with the Guardian Corps, showed me another possibility.
'Will shall turn into power.'
The Otherworld Erosion I uttered.
Even now, I don't know how I did it.
But it was certain that I had unleashed an Otherworld Erosion.
And I heard something from the Thunder God, who had also awakened her own Otherworld Erosion.
She said it was about bringing out the world one holds inside.
To stop me, the Thunder God had desired her strongest self from either the distant future or the distant past.
Thus, she awakened the Otherworld Erosion: 'Time shall dwell in the high places.'
And the strongest version of herself she summoned was her current self.
She said that it continues to affect her even now.
"I definitely thought I summoned the strongest version of me, including the future, but I'm stronger now than I was then... Maybe because I'm still alive, the future changed, and the future me is getting stronger too, which affects me."
She said that with a half-smile, but if we fit that into our understanding of O-Ranks, one hypothesis holds up.
Those who have awakened to Otherworld Erosion continue to be affected by it, even when they aren't actively speaking the words, albeit faintly.
Thinking about it, it makes sense.
O-Ranks are beings who are complete unto themselves, circulating and forming their own worlds.
If that’s the case, even if they don't change the surrounding world, they themselves should at least be under the influence of the world they created.
'Turning will into power,' huh?
Is it a concept like psychokinesis?
I focused my mind on a chicken box rolling around near me.
As a result, the chicken box wobbled, but I couldn't tell if that was due to my will or the cold wind that had been blowing for a while.
In the Magic Kingdom, even if it was a one-time thing, I managed to create a massive platform capable of withstanding my strength.
Back then, I had completely lost my mind, so I have no memory of how I succeeded in that along with the manifestation of the Otherworld Erosion.
...I'll have to train bit by bit.
Because this path likely leads to those stars in the sky.
Anyway, even Otherworld Erosion is a form of power.
Since my body has reached its limit and can't manifest any more strength, I'll manifest power without going through the body.
Even I have to admit, that's quite something.
With those thoughts concluded, I stared blankly at the sky, which had grown a bit darker.
A moment ago, looking at the stars brought up long reflections, but now no thoughts come to mind.
Is it because I finished my train of thought?
The things that popped up afterward were nothing but trivialities.
I wonder when the kids are coming back.
* * *
How much time had passed since then?
By the time the moon was hanging somewhere in the sky, boisterous voices began to drift in from somewhere.
"That movie was fun, wasn't it?"
"The character based on Master had too little screen time, but it was okay!"
"I didn't even participate in the battle back then, so why did I appear...? And I don't even look like that!"
"Well, it's a movie. There isn't much information on you, Senior."
Familiar voices full of joy.
'Senior' and 'Master,' huh?
By my standards, only two months have passed, but it feels like I haven't heard them in a long time.
I had imagined the worst-case scenario, but fortunately, that doesn't seem to be the case.
For example, a worst-case scenario like them taking Un-ho and leaving on a long-term mission.
If that had happened, I would have had the amazing experience of sleeping rough in my own yard before tearing down the veranda door with the morning sun.
I slowly pushed myself up.
After gathering the trash, including the chicken box that had been rattling in the wind, I trudged toward the front door.
Then, timing it perfectly, I ran into the two people turning the corner of The Wall.
"You've been well?"
The moment I raised my hand in greeting...
"Heek!"
"Who are you!"
"Gwaaaaah! A burglar!"
I was met with my two disciples and the 'plus-alpha' screaming and leaping backward.
"Who else would it be? It's your master."
Snap.
As soon as I spoke, the porch sensor light triggered and turned on.
"Oh... It's you, Senior?"
"Huh? It really is."
"Ah, you're back."
As if they only just realized who it was, the two disciples and Un-ho, perched on A-bin’s shoulder, stared blankly at me.
In that awkward atmosphere, I lowered my hand, which had been hanging uselessly in the air, and spoke.
"Why did you suddenly scream?"
"Wouldn't anyone scream if someone suddenly appeared in a dark place?"
"Master! It's been a long time!"
That’s true.
It just so happened that the kids had just turned the corner, and the porch sensor hadn't caught someone coming from inside the yard. The light only flickered on just as I stepped forward.
If someone suddenly appeared at a dark house, it would be natural to scream.
Anyway, this isn't the atmosphere I was hoping for.
The master has returned home after a long time; why is A-bin being so calm?
"Anyway. Open the door."
"...Wait, were you in the yard because you couldn't open the door?"
Only then did A-bin seem to realize the gravity of my situation. She approached me and carefully inspected my body.
"Oh my, your clothes are a mess. You should have brushed yourself off."
"I just woke up."
She began to pat me down, brushing off the grass and dirt.
"I'll open the door!"
In contrast, Baek Si-hyun jumped toward the door and began hammering in the passcode at an incredible speed.
Tap. Beep-beep-beep-beep-beep.
Chime.
And so, after a long time of hardship, the door to the house opened.
"Let's talk inside. I need some rest too."
I dodged A-bin’s hands as she continued to brush my clothes and followed Baek Si-hyun, who had already dashed inside.
"Welcome back!"
In that short interval, Baek Si-hyun had kicked off her shoes haphazardly—one of them was upside down in the entryway—and bowed deeply to greet me.
"I'm back."
By answering her, I was finally home.