Chapter 59
Chapter 59
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Translator: crow
Chapter Title: Sword God
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What is the heart's eye? Heart 심心 plus eye 안眼. Literally, the eye of the heart.
People often mistake it for perceiving the world without using their physical eyes—whether through sharpened senses or unlocked intuition—but that's merely an extension of the five senses or basic instinct. It doesn't qualify as the true heart's eye.
Have you heard of the heart sword? Like the heart's eye, it refers to a sword born from the heart.
Some confuse it with an invisible sword, but that's just a formless blade. It's far from the true heart sword.
So what makes the heart's eye and heart sword so coveted? It's because they touch the pinnacle of nothingness.
The heart sword is a sword of the heart. The supreme realm where merely willing to cut something makes it so.
Heart Instant Kill—심즉살—the realm of slaying foes with a mere thought is akin to this.
The heart's eye shares the same essence. It can't kill with a glance alone, but it can capture the heart within one's eyes, unbound by living beings.
The heart is will. Will is the intent to bring something into being. Even if the foe before you harbors no such intent, the eye seizes the phenomenon it would unleash.
Seeking the heart in something without one is a contradiction without meaning. It's already captured in the gaze. The heart's eye is proof of the heart in the heartless.
And it seems our Enoch has glimpsed a form of the heart's eye.
"In the world...."
I knew Enoch was a genius, but... I never imagined it was to this extent!
"In the world...!"
I've clearly been underestimating him. The heart's eye...! Not content with mastering Heart Instant Kill, now this!
[Heart Instant Kill? Nah, he's not quite there yet.]
"I could die happy if Enoch acted cute for me."
Heart Instant Kill, Rione edition—but anyway.
Watching Rione babble on with utter adoration, Enoch had a hunch about what was happening.
Pathos.
The eternally cycling ring forged through emotions toward Rione. It must be its influence letting his left eye perceive a wider array of things.
Not that it seemed all that impressive, but since Rione was thrilled, he didn't mind.
More pressing was what to do about these lines visible only to his eyes.
"I still can't sense anything...."
A tangled mess of threads floated before him like a knotted ball of yarn, but his right eye saw only empty air.
What to do with this....
Pondering, Enoch let out a snort.
"Guess I'll just smash it."
Most things in the world yield to force. If they don't, maybe you lack enough force—then the rest sorts itself out.
"Take steady form, align in shape."
He shaped a railgun barrel. The target: a single point. Numbers meant nothing; he focused all power into one barrel.
Bzzzzt────!!!!!
A massive barrel erupted in eye-searing light. A thin trickle of blood dripped from Enoch's left eye as it locked on the tangled lines.
"Rai...."
"Enooock...! Stop!"
Pfft—the spell fizzled out with a deflating sound. Enoch tilted his head at Rione.
"Why?"
[Why?! You were about to blow this whole place sky-high!]
Undine fumed. Rione sighed in relief and drew her sword from her waist.
"I'll handle it, so wait just a sec."
She raised the sword skyward. Her stance was utterly still, no flow of energy detectable. Yet Enoch felt the hairs on his body stand on end.
"Hmm...."
As he took a subtle step back,
Shwick──────────
Something was severed. By the time he registered it, Rione's sword—once aimed at the heavens—now pointed to the ground.
"Will...."
Was that will? A faint sense of something. And in his left eye: hair-raisingly sharp lines sheathing the blade.
Take it further, and wouldn't that be the heart sword? The thought struck him.
Crack—
The cleanly bisected air revealed its innards. Rione gestured to Enoch, who watched her quietly.
"Come on in, Enoch."
*
"Rione. Can you use the heart sword?"
Rione's eyes widened at Enoch's question.
"Hehe, why? Think I can?"
"Yeah."
"Sorry, no. If I could, I wouldn't be Sword Queen—I'd be Sword God."
You typically needed to be half-divine for that. The heart's eye was similar, for reference.
"You have no idea how ridiculous your eyes are, do you, Enoch?"
"Hmm... not really."
"You might not yet."
But soon enough, he'd realize. What insane feats become possible with the heart's eye.
"Anyway, focus now. Can't let your guard down in a dungeon."
Rione scanned their surroundings.
"'Desert...?'"
All life force around them had withered. Even a desert shouldn't be this barren.
Extending her senses in puzzlement, she detected something.
"Huh?"
Rione's expression soured. Her rolling eyes met Undine's.
[You felt it?]
"You too?"
[Yeah.]
Undine scowled deeply.
[What kind of dungeon is this?]
...
Rione led Enoch onward cautiously. Even she could run into trouble here—swarming with threats that could spell danger.
......
Enoch wisely kept silent, glancing about. Far off: an endless procession of people. Looked like an army.
"'Elves...?'"
Every one of them at master level or above. Absurd power. What kind of dungeon housed something like that?
"Enoch, this seems like a pretty unusual dungeon."
Turning at her voice, he saw her surveying their surroundings with grave eyes.
"Looks like a recreation of some historical scene...."
"Historical?"
"Yeah. If I'm right, about three thousand years ago."
Three thousand years. An unfathomably distant past, roughly three Rione's worth. Enoch's expression grew odd.
"Enoch? What's with that face? It's making me feel weird."
"...Nothing."
Enoch swiftly changed the subject.
"Dungeons can recreate the past?"
"Who knows...? It's here before our eyes, so yeah?"
As Rione tilted her head, another group appeared—distinct from the elven army.
Horns on their heads, bizarre patterns etched on their faces. Their aura was ominous, but their power undeniable.
"As expected, demons."
"Demons? What's that?"
Enoch raised an eyebrow at the unfamiliar term.
"A race name. Extinct now."
[They went extinct three thousand years ago.]
Three thousand years ago? Didn't she say the dungeon recreates that era?
Undine nodded at Enoch's doubt.
[Right. Ever heard of the Dragon-Demon War?]
He had. Vaguely, from Rione's classes once or twice. Some massive war long ago.
[It was dragons versus demons. Later, every race piled on to thrash the demons.]
Poor things. Total outcasts across the continent.
[They summoned the Demon God to grind the continent to dust.]
"Deserved it."
Just then, the armies clashed.
The sky was dragged earthward and shattered. The ground gaped endlessly, exposing raw crimson innards, as surrounding space fractured, blending landscapes into chaos.
"...Rione. Are we good staying here?"
It didn't look safe at all. As Enoch edged backward,
Chill────────
His body froze rigid. He couldn't even breathe. Something immense had descended here.
Sword 劍
The single word seared into his mind buckled his knees. He had to bow his head, worship it. Heed its will. Become a sword himself and—
"There, there. Slow breaths. Out... and in."
Good boy. Rione's voice snapped him back.
He stared at the battlefield in a daze.
A sword shaking the heavens, a fist rending the earth, spells shattering and reassembling space—all poured toward a single elf. Wait, was that even an elf? A hazy, noise-veiled form swung something elongated.
Dare he guess: a sword. The scene unfolding next...
"Urk...!"
Blood gushed from Enoch's mouth. Memories were being sliced away. The truths of all creation glimpsed by his left eye scorched his brain. When only the recollection of severing something remained,
──────────────
A long scar tore across the world. What was that? Even seeing it defied understanding. Space wasn't cut. The world was. Neither black nor white—an empty void existed there. No, it didn't exist. Nonexistence stood before his eyes.
Nothingness. Merely beholding the incomprehensible truth made blood pour from every orifice.
[Ugh, all that useless eyesight.]
A cool hand covered his eyes. Only then did he realize he'd forgotten to breathe.
"Gasp...! Gasp...!"
As Enoch gulped air raggedly, Rione's worried voice reached his ear.
"Fairy Sword God."
True name: Kyle Estor. He knew it.
"That's my dad."