Chapter 38. The Hero's Epithet (2)
Chapter 38. The Hero's Epithet (2)
3
On the day the rain fell, it opened its eyes.
It had no name. It had no form. It would be more fitting to call it a shadow. On the day the rain fell, a certain shadow opened its eyes, and the moment it opened its eyes, it saw the first living creature to ever reflect upon it.
-Ribbit.
It did not know what this creature was. There was much it did not know. But the sound... the sound of rain. From all directions, the sound of ribbiting rose thickly.
The rainwater smelled sweet.
Like a snake—though it was a time when it did not yet know what a snake was—it instinctively crawled toward the creature before its eyes. Squirm. Squirm. The creature did not notice something approaching. Unaware, it gazed up at the rainwater and croaked.
A sweet scent flowed from the creature too.
It opened its mouth. It was over in an instant. The creature, which had been chirping so prettily, was swallowed into its maw in a single moment. Ribbit! Since it had no teeth, the creature's body was not torn apart. It simply melted. Falling into its stomach, pooling in its gut, slowly melting away.
The rain fell.
Around the time the creature pooled in its stomach had fully melted into mush, it realized that hind legs had grown on its body. Front legs had grown too. What the legs stepped on was the earth, and what the legs could not step on was the sky. The rain connected the sky and the earth. The world became a little clearer.
Ah.
The sensation of raindrops falling onto green, slippery flesh and shattering into pieces. Tactile sensation. The premonition of life.
-Ribbit.
It opened its mouth and let out a moan of joy.
-Ribbit.
The rain fell.
It began to want to live a little longer.
4
The first was a single strike.
Shwaaak!
My eyes couldn't even properly track the attack. Even though I had drunk an elixir that stretched time. I had stretched one second out endlessly, but the Demon King's strike was faster than my lengthened second.
[You have died.]
[Regressing 24 hours into the past.]
One day.
I drew the character for one (一) on my palm with a black ballpoint pen. So that even in the far future, even much later, I would not forget how many days today marked. Like an exiled prisoner in some jail proving his lost freedom with numbers.
-Zombie.
Yeah.
-His swordsmanship itself isn't anything impressive.
This is a prison. A prison of time.
-It's closer to just brutally smashing things with raw force. Of course, that alone is terrifying. Generally, if you're strong enough, you can smash through anything. But......
"But if I just know the direction he's attacking from, I can dodge."
-That's it.
What would happen if you proceeded through the quest normally?
In the last cycle, on that battlefield that raged like a torrent, how many soldiers had died?
Every time a single soldier dies, at least twenty years of remaining life vanishes. A human who could have lived twenty more years dies in vain.
If ten die, two hundred years.
If a hundred die, two thousand years.
To save that much time, I chose no role at all.
I simply gripped a single sword and stood before the Demon King.
Then, this one body.
[You have died.]
[Regressing 24 hours into the past.]
I would have to steel myself for exile into eternity.
-But the problem is whether you've got the chops to dodge even if you know the direction. You weakling! You corpse-like zombie bastard!
"Ah, shut up. Seriously."
-Heh heh.
[You have died.]
[Regressing 24 hours into the past.]
When I returned to the day, I repeated that single day.
Not only did I repeat it, I reviewed the past battles.
I studied them.
-You're still clumsy at handling Aura. That's your problem. Just focus your Aura into your feet and dodge. That's all there is to it.
"When I try to move with it focused in my feet, my stance collapses."
-That's why you have to let Aura flow into your thighs, your waist, your shoulders too. With balance.
"Yeah, easy for you to say......"
[You have died.]
[Regressing 24 hours into the past.]
-If you can't do it, then just die.
"Fuck."
A day.
Another day passed.
-How dare you.
How many times had it been now, facing the Demon King's enraged voice?
-Follow the proper order, Hero of the Goddess. To come here without making any choice at all—what insolence. Only one who has inherited the imperial crown may......
"Alright, go ahead and one-shot me like always."
-What?
Since the back-and-forth was getting tiresome, I said nothing more and drank the elixir first. Within the gradually slowing time, I charged at the Demon King and swung my sword. Clang! Unfortunately, my strike was easily blocked by the Demon King's sword.
-You......
"The hero cuts down the Demon King."
[You have died.]
"The Demon King cuts down the hero."
[You have died.]
"What more words are needed here?"
-......
"Come. Demon King."
[You have died.]
"I am the sword of the Empire."
-Good!
[You have died.]
-Then prove it before me!
[You have died.]
-Show me your proof!
"Fine."
[You have died.]
"I'll show you."
[Regressing 24 hours into the past.]
This world had stopped.
And in the stopped world, the only thing that proved time was my sword.
My sword was the sole hour hand.
For one second (秒) to flow in this world, my sword first had to extend one more second (招).
I was nothing but a sword living a single second.
But this world drew one more breath only by riding upon my single second.
Just as a flood of water must first flow from a single droplet before it can overflow to the base of the sky.
Even if I wished to live for eternity, I had no choice but to live in seconds.
I lived my life.
"Well done, Kim Gong-ja!"
One day.
"My goodness! You're about to clear the stage in under an hour!"
Another day.
"Probably fewer than forty hunters died!"
And at some point.
"Maybe even fewer than that died... Ahh! It couldn't get any better than this!"
The witch's words began to change, little by little.
The 11th-floor stage.
A quest where you hold the Black Dragon Master's hand, transfer together, and smash the boss monster. It was like a rite of passage I had to go through to repeat the day. After dying through days and living through days against the Demon King, the shape of the 11th floor had gradually changed as well.
Little by little.
"Well done, Kim Gong-ja! My goodness! You're about to clear the stage in under fifty minutes! And that suggestion of yours to cooperate with that shield senior soldier named Tomund to reinforce the right flank was exquisite! Probably fewer than thirty hunters died!"
But definitely.
"Under forty minutes! Probably fewer than twenty hunters died!"
A little faster.
A little more efficiently.
A little more lethally.
With every repeated day, the witch's face grew a little more elated. Her voice brightened. Compared to the witch of a year ago who said only fifty had died, the witch of yesterday who smiled and said only twenty had died seemed a little happier.
"Ah......"
I died through a day.
"This is absurd... Well done, Kim Gong-ja! Just by healing that knight named Jeshua as you said and having him face the golem together with us—ahh, maybe fewer than ten died...... For something like this to be possible. It was possible. On a battlefield like this, yes. It was possible......"
I lived through a day.
-You.
On one of those days, the Demon King asked.
-Why do you do that?
"Do what."
-I asked why you are smiling.
I smiled.
"Because I'm happy."
My heart pounded.
"I smile because I'm happy."
The Demon King raised his sword.
-Is there happiness even for one who is about to die?
"You wouldn't understand. No one will understand."
-How arrogant, Hero of the Goddess.
"It's just modest."
I swung my sword.
-Pitiful thing.
The sword cut me.
[You have died.]
[Regressing 24 hours into the past.]
But I did not give up.
There was no reason to give up anywhere.
My sword is faster today than yesterday.
Tomorrow it will be faster still.
Because I am alive.
Because I am living.
"......"
That day came without a sound.
The witch took my hand. Squeeze. She didn't know it, but my palm was inscribed with countless hundreds (一百) in black ink. To me, those numbers were like wrinkles without trace.
Wrinkles that told me how many days had passed in this place, this prison of time.
"Just now......"
The witch's voice trembled.
"I just checked. Kim Gong-ja. Not a single one......"
The witch's hand, held in mine, was trembling too.
"Not a single one died."
The trembling became sobbing.
"I checked all the way to the Pantheon, and they said none...... There are idiots who stupidly got arrows stuck in their forearms, but... but still, they said no one died."
The Black Dragon.
The guild that had reigned at the top since the day the Tower opened in this world.
The rank-2 hunter who commands the Black Dragon. The Black Witch had challenged the 10th floor dozens of times. She failed every time. The rank-2 hunter was defeated, but they say she still brought back every hunter who participated in the raid alive.
She was that kind of person.
"Thank you......"
That person leaned her face against me.
"Really, thank you......"
The witch was crying.
And she was also smiling.
I began to want to live a little longer.
Yes.
Time flows.
It flows within my heart.
-How dare you!
As long as my heart beats, I swing my sword.
-How dare you say you will stop me alone! Without even the Empire's aid!
"Yep."
A vast plain.
In the middle of stopped time and a frozen world.
With a heart that would not stop and a sword that would not stop, I aimed at my enemy.
"Heroes are supposed to fight alone, you know."
-Foolish thing!
The Demon King raged.
It had no name. It had no form. It would be more fitting to call it a shadow. The shadow raised a greatsword, red as blood, high into the air. The sword strike flew at me, shaking the air with menace.
I dodged.
-You......!
The next strike too.
And the next strike too.
-My shadow is your malice!
It was then that the change occurred.
The Demon King swung the red greatsword. That fourth strike, which had blocked my new single second for nearly a year, was deflected with a crash!—the sound of a mirror shattering. The incoming blade was pierced by shards of light and forced back.
"...Sorry, Kim Gong-ja."
Someone alighted softly beside me.
Long black hair fluttered in the air, rippling gently.
"I tried to stay put in the audience chamber like you asked, but I got restless right away."
The master of the Black Dragon.
The witch smiled, lifting the corners of her lips.
"I figured I'd die of boredom if I waited any longer. So I chased after you, wondering what you'd asked us to do and then gone off to do on your own... Hmm. Having fun playing by yourself?"
"Playing hero."
"Is it fun?"
I smiled too.
"Feels fucking amazing."
"Well, it does look like a beast worth hunting."
Five mirrors rose into the air.
"I can't let you have all the fun alone. I'm joining in."
"Wow, I already had it all set up. Is it legal to come steal the kill now?"
"Didn't you know? Stealing someone else's prey is the tastiest thing in the world."
"I'll give you that."
Laughter flowed across the desolate field.
-These bastards......
The Demon King growled.
Those who cannot laugh along when others laugh—that's what makes a Demon King, I suppose.
"Sorry, man."
I shook my sword.
"I was going to take you on alone. But thinking about it, heroes are supposed to gang up on the Demon King after all. It's a method that boasts history and tradition, right? Something you can understand as a matter of custom."
-You seek to cover the sky with such pathetic tricks!
Bubble.
The foul water covering the Demon King's body seethed.
-I will no longer indulge you with the sword!
The foul water spilled onto the ground.
As if the fluid flowing from the Demon King's body was limitless, the foul water flowed and flowed across the ground, dyeing the field black in an instant.
It was as if a massive shadow had been cast upon the earth.
-Hundred ghosts, answer my call.
Bubble. Tremble.
The shadow boiled up and spat foam.
-Kirrrrk!
-Kek, kiiii!
Every bubbling shadow was a monster. The black fluid took form.
Some bubbles became goblins, others became orcs.
A single orc shook its head, flinging off the fluid. Once the foam drained away, thousands of monsters surrounded us on the plain.
-Kroooooh!
The beasts howled savagely.
"This is......"
The witch looked around and narrowed her brow.
"This isn't something we can handle on our own. Sword Saint! What are you standing there gawking at? If you can't help—"
"I was going to watch a little longer. It hasn't even been thirty seconds since that young man started fighting the foul water. Who could have known that filth would summon monsters?"
The Sword Saint, who had been watching me for thirty seconds, said as he drew his sword.
"He's right. I was going to hold out for a minute and then call for help."
I, who had been under his gaze for over thirty weeks, answered with a smile.
"Men, seriously... Forget it. Kim Gong-ja, take my hand. I'm getting us out of here. Sword Saint! You get over here too. Can't you see these numbers?"
The witch threw a fit as she reached her hand out to me.
"No, it's fine."
But I did not take that hand.
The witch furrowed her brows as if puzzled.
Instead of answering her question.
I murmured lowly.
"Hundred Ghost Summoning (百鬼召喚)."
Flinch.
The Demon King was momentarily taken aback.
-You. What did you just......?
But before the Demon King, there was a voice that reached me first.
[Activating skill.]
It was the voice that proved my qualification.
Soon, the plain turned upside down.