Chapter 31. Red Sword (1)
Chapter 31. Red Sword (1)
1
No one knew.
No one knew exactly when, where, or why it had appeared.
It did not seek anyone's understanding for its existence.
-Pitiful things.
Only, whenever it appeared, red rain fell.
-You who do not see humans as human.
Where the rainwater fell, blood soon flowed.
-You were born as people, yet you devour people. Do you console yourselves by calling it the fate of humanity? I shall call it the karma of beasts. What reason have I to refrain from slaughtering beasts today?
The rain of nightmare.
It was when I deliberately let the general NPC kill me on the 11th floor stage. I glimpsed the general's trauma. In the nightmare, the general was screaming.
Not just the general, but countless humans as well.
-Retreat!
-The rain, again.......
-Flee to lands where the rain does not fall!
The small border nations collapsed first.
The great nation that had united the small nations collapsed next.
The other small nations, which had endured by making the great nation their fortress, crumbled silently. Each time a nation fell, humanity's territory shrank a little more. Each time a royal line's ancestral altars vanished, humanity's history grew a little shorter.
Still, the rain fell.
-To a place where the rain does not fall.......
The rain fell.
-This is the end. The apocalypse.
The rain fell.
-Goddess, do not abandon us.......
And the rain fell.
Humanity's territory, which had been shrinking little by little, was now no more than a handful, and humanity's history, which had been growing shorter little by little, now had only one page left.
The royal chroniclers used their worn quill pens sparingly. The scribes silently accepted the fate that they would one day write with their own hands, on the final page of the history books, the sentence: "And so humanity perished."
Now only a single empire remained on the continent.
-Pitiful things.
The master of the nightmare.
The king of all demonic beasts.
Therefore, the last chroniclers gave it a name.
-Be devoured by your own malice.
The Demon King, 魔王.
2
The rain fell.
Light shone.
The rain poured down upon the earth, and the light surged up into the sky.
The light of the holy sword I had drawn pierced through the red storm clouds.
"Oooh......."
Where the light shone, the drops of blood ceased to fall.
With faces caked in blood, the soldiers looked up at the sky.
The rain had stopped.
"Goddess......."
But that was all.
The red raindrops had merely stopped.
Not all the rain had ceased.
It was nothing more than the rain stopping only where the holy sword's light shone.
A small pause. A small light.
"The Goddess......."
"God protects the Empire!"
But sometimes, a small thing was enough.
It was so for humans who had nothing but small things left.
To the people of the Empire, their territory was no more than a handful of land. Their history was nothing but a final page not yet filled. The kingdom's citizens knew this fact, the soldiers and generals knew it, and the low-ranking officials and high ministers knew it.
Because everyone knew, there was not a single NPC in the throne room.
Because the chancellor had abandoned the affairs of state.
Because the grand general had abandoned the army.
Because the imperial guard no longer guarded the emperor.
Because the knight order no longer upheld the duties of knights.
An empire abandoned by all.
And so, the Tower must have chosen the Empire as its stage.
Just as the children abandoned by all had been placed in a mansion on the 10th floor.
"Rise!"
The Black Dragon Witch shouted.
One by one, the soldiers forced strength into their knees and stood. Some soldiers rose by bracing their hands against the castle wall. Some soldiers barely stood by leaning on their spears. Some soldiers stood by grasping their comrades' hands and pulling them up.
"Rise!"
The witch commanded the soldiers to become the Empire's final wall. Yes. They would be a wall. Just as a single shout strikes a wall and echoes back, the witch's cry flowed through the Empire's soldiers and echoed.
"Rise!"
"His Excellency the Chancellor is here! He stands with us!"
"The Founder's sword protects us!"
And so the wall became a wall, the spear became a spear, and the soldier became a soldier.
"Rise, rise at once!"
"What disgrace is this before His Excellency the Chancellor!"
The adjutants moved about, slapping the soldiers on the back. The soldiers snapped to their senses. They straightened their helmets.
Bright red raindrops trickled from the edges of their helmets. But the raindrops could no longer obscure the soldiers' vision. The Empire's soldiers faced forward.
"Hoo......."
The witch let out a small sigh.
The black aura rising from her body gradually subsided. Had she overexerted herself using her aura? On the witch's forehead, not only red raindrops but also a few clear beads of sweat had formed.
"...What?"
The witch turned to look at me.
"First time seeing a Ukrainian give a speech?"
"Uh......."
"There are a lot of reds in my country."
The witch's lips curved up slightly.
I realized belatedly that it was a smile.
"I hate communists, but they sure know how to give a speech. There was something to learn from them."
"Excuse me?"
"...Never mind."
The witch's face returned to expressionless. The corners of her lips lowered again. What? I had no idea what the Black Dragon Master had just said.
-Nah.
The guardian spirit cut in.
-I think she's just embarrassed because her dad joke didn't land.
'Huh. That was a joke?'
-Dunno. That's what the mood says. But if you react like you just did... no, forget it. Zombie. Don't ever join a group and try to get along with your boss. Just walk the hunter's path like you're doing now. Got it?
I had no idea what he was talking about.
I didn't know, but one thing was quite clear.
"Kim Gong-ja, what are you going to do now?"
Thanks to the witch's speech just now, the tide of battle had turned, if only slightly.
"First, we'll need to hold out on the wall."
"Right."
I glared at the red horizon.
Countless monsters surrounded the Demon King. The witch's S-rank skill was instant teleportation. But even if she teleported over there, there was no guarantee she'd be the one to die to the Demon King. She'd probably be surrounded and killed by monsters in the blink of an eye.
First, we needed to create a one-on-one situation with the Demon King.
"We need to pull the hunters in while the soldier NPCs hold out. Then we won't be pushed back in the fight. If the Demon King commits more monsters to force a breach in the wall......."
"If he commits more?"
"Teleport me in front of the Demon King."
The witch stared at my face.
"A suicide squad, then."
"Yes."
"Are you planning to die?"
It was a natural suspicion.
I was still nothing more than an E-rank hunter. No matter how powerful the Demon King was, if he were weak enough to lose his head to a mere E-ranker, the continent would never have been destroyed in the first place.
Outnumbered and outmatched. Beyond my strength.
No modifier I could summon could fully express my disadvantage.
But to me, death did not mean defeat.
"I'm planning to win."
My death was a staircase leading to victory.
"I have a trump card of my own. Try trusting me."
"......."
The witch sighed.
"Fine. As you said, every hunter has at least one secret. I'll hope your sword is sharp enough to work on that boss monster."
Of course, that was the plan.
-What an amusing jest you play, Goddess.
That was when it happened.
-Even to call it a final struggle is laughable. Light, you say. What use is light falling upon those who will not harvest tomorrow's grain? You comforted the pitiful things, and now have you yourself grown pitiful?
The Demon King's voice swept across the battlefield.
-Then I, too, shall show you light.
In that instant, a thunderous roar rang out.
The witch and I did not let down our guard. We had been watching the Demon King's movements the whole time. So we could tell what the source of the roar was.
It was a sword.
Slowly.
From the distant horizon, the Demon King slowly swung his sword. Time seemed to slow. A different time from ours seemed to flow within the Demon King's sword. And so the sword seemed to be trying to cut time itself.
But the Demon King's sword did not cut time—it split the sky.
By the time it split the sky, the sword strike was already a single beam of red light.
The beam aimed precisely at the castle gate, and pierced through it.
With a massive explosion, a storm of dust swept over us.
The witch and I instinctively squeezed our eyes shut. While our eyes were closed, everything around us was buried in dust, and from beyond the dust came screams. The screams of soldiers. The sound of something collapsing followed.
A moment later.
"Hup, hack......!"
When the storm had subsided a little, we turned our gazes toward where the screams had come from. The dust stung our eyes painfully, but our shock was greater than the pain.
The witch spat out a dry cough and muttered.
"...He really is weakened, right?"
The Empire's castle gate had collapsed.
The Demon King sneered.
-Pitiful things.
Red rain poured down onto the dust-choked sky.
The laughter mingled with the dust and flowed through the sky, and mingled with the rain and flowed across the earth.
Mockery echoed from sky to ground.
-Are you still an empire?
3
The castle gate was not the only thing that collapsed.
The red beam had obliterated the gate and stretched far beyond. The streets were crushed. The buildings lining both sides of the main avenue were pulverized. At last, even the imperial palace towering at the end of the street was caught in the beam.
KWAAAAANG!
A part of the palace collapsed. Like a ship struck by an iceberg and sinking, the magnificent palace tilted. And then... it slowly sank downward.
From afar, the sound of the Empire's palace being destroyed could be heard.
[One hero has died.]
From nearby, a voice rang out.
[He was not a servant of the Demon King.]
A voice announcing a death.
"......."
My ears were ringing.
The witch and I looked at each other for a moment.
"...That was where the throne room was."
The witch was the first to speak.
"Sword Saint, Heretic Questioner, and Viper won't be in the throne room anymore. They'll each be leading the knight order or the imperial guard here. Paladin will be busy searching for the emperor on your orders. So the one left is......."
The Count.
"...To die first."
The Count was not a traitor.
"Bastard."
The witch muttered quietly.
That was all.
When sending off a comrade's death, the witch did not see them off with many words. Instead, she shook her head from side to side a few times. It seemed to be her own way of bidding farewell—shaking off a comrade's death.
"Black Dragon Master. If the Count really has fallen in battle, then the outside world and......."
"For now."
The witch spoke in a low voice.
"For now, let's focus on what's in front of us."
The hunter said to be the second strongest in the Tower simply glared.
At the prey beyond the horizon.
"No matter how powerful the Demon King is, he won't be able to keep firing attacks like that. Kim Gong-ja, help me hold the collapsed gate."
The red dots on the minimap changed.
The monster army had been approaching in a wide line, like ocean waves. That changed. The red dots sharpened into a point, like an awl.
Were they attempting a breakthrough?
"Yes."
The point was aimed at the gate.
The gap the red beam had shattered.
"I was thinking the same thing."
I took the witch's hand.
She nodded.
"Teleport."
We moved to the collapsed gate.
-Kirrrrk!
-Kek, ki! Kikigik!
-Grooooar!
Before we knew it, the monsters had surged right up to our noses. Arrows flew through the air. The archers on the wall were firing. But it was not enough to stop the red tide. Goblins, orcs, skeletons, all manner of monsters howled like beasts and charged.
Barely two minutes until the first wave reached us.
-Zombie.
The guardian spirit's voice came.
-Even one minute is fine. No, even thirty seconds is fine.
Dozens, hundreds of monsters burst through the dust cloud and bore down on us.
Beyond them, dozens, hundreds of times more monsters were approaching, kicking up dust.
-Hold out alone.
There were no allies standing in front of me.
-To win this war, you have to become hope for these people.
Therefore, I stood alone on the front line.
-Hold out alone. Even thirty seconds is fine. What matters is showing them the sight of you holding back those monster bastards by yourself. A hero isn't someone who survives for thirty years. In the moment when everyone desperately needs thirty seconds—the person who gives them those thirty seconds is a hero.
I dropped my backpack to the ground.
-Become a hero.
I took a glass bottle from the backpack.
The one who would one day, far in the future, be called the Alchemy Ministry Head.
The glass bottle containing that pharmacist's elixir.
-I'll help you.
One gulp. Two gulps. Three gulps.
I poured the entire elixir in the glass bottle down my throat.
-I promised to teach you swordsmanship up to the 20th floor, right? It's a little early, but this is practical training.
Thump.
My heart beat.
-Plant your back foot at an angle.
At one-second intervals, my heart lurched.
-Plant your front foot straight on the ground.
My heart beat faster and faster.
-Now look straight ahead.
I looked.
-There are two goblins at the very front. They normally have bad eyesight, but because of the dust cloud, they're squinting completely right now. When they're like that, they instinctively try to swing their swords wide. They're thinking they'll land a hit no matter where the enemy is. Stab before they swing.
My heart beat faster and faster.
And the one-second intervals grew slower and slower.
-Your holy sword is only good for shining, but it's perfect for stealing vision. In a fight, an absolute one second isn't what matters. Only a relative one second matters. Steal your opponent's eyes with your sword, and take one second from them.
And so my one second was slightly faster than my heart.
-Here they come.
My sword would be slightly faster than my one second.
-Let's go, partner.
The guardian spirit stood beside me, shoulder to shoulder.
-Time to become a hero.
I swung my sword.