Chapter 42. His Time (3)
Chapter 42. His Time (3)
4
I crossed countless decisive battles.
I endured endless duels.
And so, at last, I arrived.
The thirteenth stage.
'A stage built on the ominous number 13, of all things.'
Was that why? This place radiated an extraordinary presence from the moment I entered. The instant I was transported to the stage, two completely different voices greeted me.
One was a joyful voice. The other, a dreadful one.
[Welcome, Death King.]
First, there was that familiar voice.
The Tower no longer called me "Hunter Kim Gong-ja." An alias. My second name, Death King (死王). Now I was rightfully acknowledged as a resident of this place, welcomed as a legitimate member of the Tower.
Was I too simple for finding such a small thing pleasing?
-Kraaaaaah!
And then.
-I will not forgive you!
There was also a scream that seemed fit to tear itself apart.
-How dare you! How dare you touch my children!
No.
The owner of that voice was literally being torn apart.
-To snatch away the children I gathered and raised as you please! Do you mock me? Do you seek to deceive me? Do you steal my flesh, my blood, my very soul?!
The Demon King.
The master of the red nightmare was oozing foul fluid from his entire body.
-I curse you!
The Demon King's form was, quite literally, being torn apart. Black blood. Bubbling, boiling filth bore stark witness to his agony. Looking even more wretched than when he had fled from the 12th floor, the Demon King screamed toward the sky.
-I curse you! The world! Everything that is not me! If the world seeks to erase me, then I shall devour the world! Your seas shall become my stomach acid, and your lands shall become my flesh! Your flesh! Your bones! Your hearts! I will chew every last organ to pieces!
"Ugh......"
Beside me, the Witch held her breath.
The Demon King's wailing scream was that menacing.
Vicious killing intent.
Even Sword Saint stepped back one pace and gripped his sword hilt tightly.
"A dreadful shriek."
Sword Saint muttered.
"I've never heard a voice like that. It's as if he has thousands of mouths."
"Right? What's he screaming about like that......?"
Sword Saint and the Witch raised their Aura and wrapped it around their bodies. Perhaps to avoid being swallowed by the killing intent. Even if only for a moment, it was clear they had been overwhelmed by the Demon King's momentum.
All except one.
-Hm?
Only my ever-composed guardian spirit tilted his head.
-What's with that guy?
And then the guardian spirit let slip something truly unexpected.
-He's weaker than before, isn't he?
'Excuse me?'
-I'm saying he's way weaker than when we fought on the floor below.
Way weaker?
I studied the Demon King again, carefully.
'...That thing?'
-Yep.
The guardian spirit frowned.
-Well, he took a massive Aura beating from that Witch girl or whatever, so of course he took damage. But, hmm, it's not just that he's injured or anything... his [grade] itself has dropped.
'His grade dropped?'
-Hmm. How should I put this? For example.......
The guardian spirit chose his words carefully.
-Right. Let's roughly compare that guy's combat power to a Goblin King. On the 12th floor, that guy was an SSS-class Goblin King made from Alexander and Arthur fusing with goblins.
'Your analogies keep getting more creative. Since when did you know about Alexander and Arthur?'
-A sovereign never neglects his studies. That's how one becomes a sovereign, and how one remains a sovereign.
'Ah, yes. Let's say that's true, Sword Emperor.'
I said inwardly.
'So, on the 12th floor, that Demon King was an SSS-class Goblin King like that.......'
-Yeah. And now he feels like a Goblin King with the SSS-class part ripped off? And not even the Goblin King who led an army on the 11th floor—more like that weakened Goblin King you barely beat by groveling and pulling a Brutus.
In Tower time, that had been only a short while ago.
But in my time, it remained a truly distant memory. Mentioning it, the guardian spirit kept tilting his head.
-Huh! How strange. Normally, the higher you climb the Tower, the stronger the bosses should get, right? So why'd he end up like that? Did that Aura grilling the Witch gave him have some kind of level-drain effect or something?
"......."
Listening to Sword Emperor, I looked around.
A temple reduced to ruins.
In the middle of it, the Demon King still howled at the sky. Like a lion struck by an unexpected blow. The nightmare of autumn rain was grieving, and above all, raging.
'...Could it be.'
That sight gave me a certain conviction.
'Did something unexpected change on this stage?'
That was when it happened.
[Calculating 12th-floor clear rewards.]
[Calculation impossible!]
A voice flowed into my head.
[You are currently undertaking a hidden quest.]
[All rewards will be calculated when you clear the 19th floor.]
[For now, only a simplified reward will be given.]
Whoosh!
Something translucent unfolded before my eyes.
[Blessing, the protection of the War God (戰神), is strengthened!]
It was a map.
But it was completely different from any map I had seen before.
[All maps from the 11th floor to the 20th floor are now unlocked!]
A world map.
The maps I had been given as a privilege until now were, true to their name, "minimaps." No matter how large, they were limited to the range of a single floor. But what now unfolded before my eyes was on a different dimension entirely.
A map of this world, and a map of another world (異世界).
A so-called "world map" had begun to appear before me.
"......!"
And the moment I saw the map, I understood.
"I've got it!"
"Huh?"
The Witch and Sword Saint both turned to look at me. The Witch with a puzzled face. Sword Saint with a stoic one.
"Got it... what do you mean?"
"I know why the Demon King is like that. Black Dragon Master. Think back to the previous stage."
I spoke quickly.
"The history of the Demon King invading the capital itself disappeared. The city completely changed too. The refugee camp and all that vanished without a trace."
"What about it......?"
"Wow, think about it with common sense! Where would refugees have fled from? From every corner of the Empire—no, not just the Empire, but the entire continent, right? But even the refugee camp where all those people gathered completely disappeared."
"...Ah."
At last, the Witch's expression showed she had caught on to something.
"I see."
The Black Dragon Master narrowed her eyes.
"It wasn't just the history of the Empire being invaded that changed. The refugees who fled from all over the continent disappeared entirely, to the point that......."
"Yes."
I nodded.
"It wasn't just the Empire—the entire continent changed. We've gone back to [the era before the Demon King began his full-scale invasion of the continent]!"
That's right.
"And right now!"
That was it.
"Right now is the moment this temple is being attacked!"
Looking at the world map, it finally became certain.
This world's continent was split in two by a massive mountain range. The range was so high and wide that not even birds could cross it without risking their lives.
But in the middle of that high, wide mountain range, there was a section that narrowed like a waist. A kind of gate, you could say. The continent, divided into east and west, could be traversed through that section.
This temple was built in exactly that place.
A temple connecting the east and west of the continent.
There must have been a vast history, countless legends, behind its construction. For reasons I could not even begin to guess, this place resembled a fortress, resembled castle walls, and thus functioned as a temple.
This temple was the shield of the Goddess, standing across the mountainside.
Inside that shield, to the east, there were plains. Small nations were situated on those plains, and beyond them lay the Empire. Since only the sea existed beyond the Empire, the Empire's borders began at the horizon and ended at the waterline.
It was a human domain of boundless green.
On the other hand, beyond the temple, the west was entirely red.
All the land beyond the Goddess's shield was dyed crimson.
That place was the Demon King's territory.
The Demon King had shattered this shield and pushed eastward. And so he had devoured the small nations, then the Empire. In the end, he had driven all the way to the ports.
In the original history.
If history had flowed as it originally did, that was what would have happened.
'So this is what it means for history to be altered!'
I understood.
This world's time was regressing into the past.
History alteration.
A phenomenon that might more properly be called [history regression].
-Kraaaaaah!
That's right.
Why the Demon King was screaming so wretchedly.
Why Sword Emperor had remarked on the Demon King's grade.
Now I could understand it perfectly.
I murmured inwardly.
'That's a level drop.'
-Huh?
The guardian spirit furrowed his brow.
-A level drop?
'You know, Sword Emperor. That voice we hunters hear every time our level goes up.'
There is one.
The voice that sounds whenever a hunter grows stronger is fixed.
「Your existence becomes more distinct.」
「Your level increases.」
The guardian spirit seemed to recall the same phrases immediately.
-Are you talking about that "your existence" whatever thing?
'Yes, exactly that!'
The part about leveling up was easy to understand. But what on earth [your existence becomes more distinct] meant, I couldn't tell. I had just thought it was a bit of stylistic flair.......
Looking at the Demon King now, I understood perfectly.
"That boss monster probably grew by killing countless Imperial citizens and refugees. But all that slaughter and hunting has been turned into [something that never happened]. So."
Therefore.
"That much growth has been deleted."
His existence was becoming indistinct.
"The path the Demon King has walked so far... the history of repeated slaughter has been erased."
Because I had completely changed the history of the 12th floor.
Because of my time, stitched together thread by thread while enduring endless duels and countless decisive battles.
-Kraaaaaaah!
The Demon King's time had been pushed back by a single thread.
[Demon King of Fall Rain is enraged.]
[The existence of the Demon King of Fall Rain grows faint.]
The voice that came at that moment proved my thoughts were correct.
-You bastards......!
The red nightmare growled.
Killing intent not one bit diminished from moments before.
But no hunter was overwhelmed by the Demon King's momentum anymore.
I, the Witch, and Sword Saint all stared straight at the Demon King.
"Let's go."
I said.
"Let's light the beacon of counterattack."
5
-Hundred Ghosts!
Seethe!
The Demon King's body churned.
-Ten Thousand Demons!
A voice that, at a glance, sounded like a scream.
-My children!
Answering it, monsters rose from all over the stage. It wasn't summoning. They were probably monsters prepared on the 13th floor from the start.
From the temple pillars, from the ruined debris, monsters slowly rose.
-Uuuurgh.
Zombies numbering in the thousands.
Were they the humans who had been in this temple, the [Shield of the Goddess]? There were zombies wearing priestly caps, zombies dressed in Paladin uniforms, and zombies in merchant's clothing. They rolled their vacant eyes and moved their bodies with groans of "Uuurgh."
The Demon King shouted.
-Kill them!
The horde of zombies charged at us.
Beside me, the Witch sighed.
"Haah. I've always hated zombie movies......."
"I'm not exactly fond of them either."
"Can you handle it, Death King?"
"It's not a matter of whether I can or can't."
I raised my sword.
"I will win."