Completion of a Failed Myth

‘…At the very least, you could tell me why the summoning failed.’

Whether the soul simply didn’t exist, whether the Radiant Light couldn’t reach it, or whether the Broken Fragments of the Golden Rule he held were insufficient — there had to be a reason. The message’s sheer unhelpfulness left him feeling hollow.

Kuaaaaaah!

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Outside, the world was in uproar. The Supreme Dragon still hadn’t given up.

Waiting for the creature’s strength to run dry wasn’t the worst plan imaginable —

‘Still going strong.’

For something that had already fought for more than a full day, it was absurdly lively. If he simply let time pass, the corruption rate would only climb higher.

He rested his chin on his hand atop the Throne of Light and closed his eyes. The thunderous crashes around him began to sound almost like music. Names drifted through his mind in time with the rhythm — countless names, until one settled into place.

The one who could hunt the Supreme Dragon with absolute certainty.

‘With him… it would be possible.’

Player Talk was more agitated than it had ever been.

It seemed that challengers facing Sword Saint Ryleigh could choose their own displayed name. The only person known as a Sword Saint was Gracia, and MintChocoIsDelicious had simply used their own handle as-is. That meant “Randolph” was whatever name the challenger had decided to put forward — and the board erupted over whether it was the real one.

It was a sound argument. The name Randolph might simply have been chosen to sow confusion — an alias picked to hide the challenger’s real identity. Why that particular name, no one could say, but no one truly believed the attempt would succeed. Better to prepare for the coming Second Invasion than sit around praying.

Then —

The claim that someone had met the Death King set the entire board on fire. How could the Death King possibly know Randolph? Could the overwhelming Main Quest scores he’d been racking up somehow be connected to the Death King?

But it made no sense. The Four Lords of Kramdel hated humans. No one who faced them had ever lived. So the story of meeting the Death King was hard to believe in the first place — the idea that he’d been so pleased he only took one arm was absurd on its face.

Kramdel was a city no human could ever set foot in. Randolph going there and forming a relationship with the Death King? Impossible — at least by their understanding of the world.

But if it was Randolph… if it was Phantom… maybe it was possible after all.

The entire board flooded with question marks again — because of a sudden system announcement.

The one summoned to the Throne was none other than Sword Saint Ryleigh.

The message that his soul — long sunk into the Abyss — had reappeared through the Gate of the Golden Rule. Recalling that message was what had led him to summon Ryleigh.

「Supreme Dragon······.」

A voice. It felt as though Sword Saint Ryleigh were speaking from inside his own head. At the same time, the man’s memories began to pour in.

He had been a dragon. A being powerful enough to be called the Supreme Dragon. And yet he had also been human — a half-dragon, a man who carried dragon’s blood in his veins.

「My other half. My curse.」

But the dragon’s blood had tormented Ryleigh all his life. It had granted him overwhelming power and talent, enough to earn the title of Sword Saint — yet every time the blood awakened, everything around him was reduced to ash. To Ryleigh, the dragon’s blood was a curse. He had tried to separate it from himself and failed, every single time. Had the other comrades of the Six Heroes not joined forces to subdue him, he would have become a dragon forever and wrought nothing but destruction.

That cursed form before them was the shape of his failure.

‘A Myth distorted and rewritten by the other Six Heroes. Ryleigh wants to complete that Myth.’

Hence — Completion of a Failed Myth.

「If that curse stands before us, it means he is on the verge of becoming the Abyss itself.」

Ryleigh had sunk ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠into the Abyss. Afterward, he had sealed himself away. By guarding the final seal, he had chosen to become the Supreme Dragon — a fierce will declaring that he would never allow himself to become “the one who is the Abyss itself.”

“Don’t worry. This city will not be corrupted.”

Kyah-kyah!

Hel settled onto his shoulder. The little spirit had trembled at the Supreme Dragon’s first appearance, but now it seemed fully adjusted. As long as Hel was here, corruption would not take hold. If Hel refused it, warp-born corruption simply could not occur.

「Indeed······ one of the works jointly created by a ‘Heavenly Being’ and ‘the one who is the Abyss itself.’ And the Throne of Light, no less······ Who are you? I have never seen your like.」

He spoke as though he already knew something. Perhaps that was only natural after so long submerged in the Abyss. There were many questions —

“No time for small talk.”

There wasn’t. The Broken Fragments of the Golden Rule were melting away — five hundred times faster than normal. With over 1,500 hours’ worth of fragments, he could maintain this state for at least three hours, but every minute, every second, was precious.

「Entrust your body to me. I will sever my own curse with my own hands.」

“I’ll do it.”

「Don’t be foolish. You aren’t even a Swordsman class, are you? Even if you were, you could never match the rank of my Dragon Swordmaster.」

Only he could wield his own power — that was the claim. Fair enough. No one would handle his abilities better than he could. But this was also an opportunity.

‘Dragon Swordmaster. A class that has never appeared even once.’

As far as he ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠knew, it had never shown up in the game at all — a name of a different caliber, one only the true half-dragon Ryleigh could possess. But he already held the class of Star’s Successor. One person, one class. Even if a class could later be transcended, the core name remained singular.

But not for him.

“Leave it to me, Sword Saint Ryleigh.”

「The initiative is yours. But think carefully······ Hm?」

Ssssss.

In an instant, scales spread across his hand — scales identical to the Supreme Dragon’s. Blood rose to the surface of his skin and shaped itself into the form of a crimson blade.

······.

···.

Messages kept flooding in without end. Once the adaptation was complete, he swung the crimson-tinged Dragon Sword — and Sword Qi bloomed like an afterimage.

That distinctive aura that appeared only after breaking through Sword Mastery Lv. 20. But simply reaching the level was not enough to call it forth. Drawing out Sword Qi required a particular knack — something only those who had truly become one with the blade could possess. It was never something mere adaptation could grant. It was the mark of a powerhouse who had arrived there entirely on their own!

「······ Unbelievable.」

Sword Saint Ryleigh was stunned.

What was Sword Qi?

It was a realm one could reach only after endlessly scourging and honing oneself until, at last, one arrived. Most swordsmen died without ever drawing it out. Even those who trained for ten years, twenty years, longer still — without enlightenment, Sword Qi was impossible. And yet this man was calling it forth as casually as if he were playing with a toy.

‘This man isn’t even a Swordsman. And yet······.’

He held no Swordsman class. His Sword Mastery itself was thin and low. Under normal circumstances he shouldn’t even be able to ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠handle his own skills, let alone Sword Qi.

‘It’s said that Swordsmen aren’t the only ones who can draw out Sword Qi.’

True enough — there were those who manifested it through spears or bows as well. Masters who had reached the extreme of their craft and attained the realm of the Adept.

‘But he isn’t even that.’

The problem was that the man before him had achieved mastery in no weapon whatsoever. Sword Saint Ryleigh could instinctively gauge an opponent’s skill — their mastery level, for instance. He had always believed that true powerhouses were those who combined high mastery with genuine enlightenment, and that those who merely inflated their physical level were not worth facing.

And by that measure, this man was —

‘······pathetic.’

Pathetic. Sword Mastery that hadn’t even reached Level 10. A man who had never properly learned the sword. Even if Ryleigh’s own soul had forced that mastery to its absolute maximum, there was no reason to believe the man possessed the foundation or the insight to use it correctly. It was like suddenly being handed a sword a thousand times heavier than the one you’d always carried — the idea that you could simply wield it defied all logic. Anyone who hadn’t been lifting that thousandfold weight from the start should have staggered under it and given up.

And yet······ he had drawn out Sword Qi.

Sword Qi could not be called forth by accident, either.

‘Will his swordsmanship be the same?’

The Throne of Light and a spirit of the Heavenly Realm already marked him as no ordinary man. If he could produce Sword Qi, what of his actual technique?

Sword Saint. In ages past, he had stood at the absolute peak of the blade. Beneath the heavens, no one who crossed swords with him had ever won. That was how he had entered the Six Heroes as a full and rightful member and become a legend. Even among the Six who upheld the Gu Empire, he had been exceptional.

「If it becomes too much, hand over your body at any time. The Supreme Dragon is not a being that can be defeated by Sword Qi alone. You will need my power.」

So if it grew overwhelming, he was not to stubbornly cling to control — he was to surrender the initiative. No one could handle Ryleigh’s body better than Ryleigh himself, and no one knew how to fight the Supreme Dragon as well as he did.

“Hmm······.”

He used the skill, swung the sword, moved his body this way and that. Corrected and amplified stats, skills etched into Ryleigh’s soul, the Dragon Swordmaster class itself — nothing was lacking. Vitality surged through his entire body; he felt as though he could take flight. Compared to moments before, his physical condition had transformed completely.

Most people would have needed an age just to adapt.

“Not bad.”

The basic sustain function — the passive option. Sitting on the Throne of Brilliant Light granted a kind of invincibility that blocked surrounding attacks. A shame to lose it, but necessary for the clear.

‘I can just reapply the Radiant prefix later.’

······Though reapplying it often would be ruinous. Half the fortune he’d seized from Greed, plus the Myth-grade Bow of Shatiros, had gone into creating it. But if he could obtain the Dragon Swordmaster class, it would more than pay for itself.