School Ghost Story (2)
“Guhk!”
The phantom-headed greatsword had pierced straight through my throat. The feeling of flesh tearing and bones shattering was so vivid it refused to fade.
I groped at my neck in a panic.
“Huk… huk…”
The disconnect between my senses and my body sent me rolling across the floor, clutching my throat. I have no idea how long I stayed like that.
“…”
A pure white, empty ceiling filled my vision. My head was still firmly attached to my torso. I had definitely died, yet here I was, alive.
I had lived ten years with death hovering at my side. I thought I had mentally prepared myself, but actually facing it was something else entirely.
Only then did the hologram window register.
What Matters Is an Unbreakable Mind
Grade: Unique
Upon death, you regress.
Regression. Yeah… I had regressed. The man who had spent every day simply waiting to die could no longer die. It was ironic, but the realization didn’t strike me as hard as I expected. Instead of relief at still being alive, what rose first was rage at having been killed so pathetically and the cold pain that had sliced through my neck. The wet sensation of collapsing onto the floor still clung to me.
Still clutching my throat, I slowly pushed myself up.
Thump. Thump.
It was still there. Even after regressing, the sacred flame I had created with the Heavenly Demon Divine Art remained. If anything, its size had grown slightly.
[23:51:16]
The waiting room’s time limit had reset as well.
“Haa…”
I let out a long breath. The qi floating in the air now felt completely natural.
The Kim Yushin statue had struck first. That damn Kim Yushin. The decapitation pervert who took his anger out by slicing necks after his own mistakes had cut my head clean off in a single stroke.
The real problem was that I hadn’t even properly registered his speed. That massive body moving at such velocity. Thinking about it alone wouldn’t give me answers.
I opened the gallery.
They were holding another cyber funeral. But the gallery itself didn’t seem affected by my regression?
I immediately hit the create post button.
I had decided to reveal my trait to the people in this gallery. If I wanted to properly learn even a scrap of martial arts, hiding it would only hold me back. Fortunately the status window didn’t send any warning like “You will be fucked if you reveal Regression to the gallery.”
Only CuteHighSchoolGirl truly paid attention to me. The pain of being decapitated seemed to ease a little.
A hundred more decapitations? She had to be crazy. If I got decapitated a hundred times my mind would break first. So that’s why the trait was called “What Matters Is an Unbreakable Mind.”
That thought led me to look for other weapons, but the waiting room only contained swords. Short ones, at that.
A preemptive strike technique. What would be good?
After a short wait, the blonde posted a new thread.
I closed the comment window and focused on the blonde’s explanation. The Three Swords of the Heavenly Demon was a truly basic sword art consisting of the horizontal cut Danak, the vertical cut Byeokhae, and the thrust Pacheon. The forms themselves were simple, but the formulas and qi manipulation were quite complex, and the art was built on the foundation of sacred flame. It was a sword technique that deliberately imposed the restriction of having learned the Heavenly Demon Divine Art. The name “Heavenly Demon” was no coincidence.
I picked up a sword and swung it.
Whoosh.
My body staggered. Even swinging an 80-centimeter blade was difficult with pure physical strength. Compared to my lower body that struggled to stand without qi assistance, my upper body was in far better shape.
When I recalled the Three Swords of the Heavenly Demon formulas, the sacred flame in my middle dantian stirred. I divided the qi according to the blonde’s diagrams and sent it flowing through the meridians in my arm. It felt like flames burning through my blood vessels. Intense, but bearable.
Was this it?
I swung the sword through the air.
Danak.
The first form of the Three Swords of the Heavenly Demon, the horizontal cut.
Swish—!
The sound of air being sliced changed once qi was infused. But something still felt off. The sacred flame was supposed to flow from my dantian through my entire arm and all the way to the edge of the blade, yet it scattered around the hilt.
Danak again. Failure once more. The moment I drew the horizontal line, part of the sacred flame spread thinly along the blade before immediately dissipating. It was better than before, but the energy still didn’t remain intact all the way to the tip.
[23:00:59]
Twenty-three hours remained until entry.
Inside the waiting room, all physical fatigue was restored.
Danak. Danak. Danak.
Recalling the pain of decapitation, I swung the sword like a madman. My muscles screamed and spasmed, only to be healed by the waiting room’s effect. Simple endless repetition of the horizontal cut. The more I repeated it, the more the sacred flame began to settle completely into the blade.
[21:00:11]
I adjusted my grip. Next was the vertical cut, Byeokhae.
[18:00:11]
Then the thrust, Pacheon.
[14:00:06]
Finally, Danak, Byeokhae, Pacheon. I linked the simple three forms and repeated them endlessly. The time the sacred flame remained on the blade gradually increased.
How long had I trained? At first it felt like my wrist was on fire, but at some point the sword began to feel like an extension of my hand. If I viewed the sword as a meridian extending from my hand—
Sssss— The blade glowed red and vibrated.
Now.
I poured every ounce of strength into the swing.
Shwaaaaa—!
The sacred flame exploded outward along the blade. Success. I still wouldn’t be able to match the Kim Yushin statue’s speed, but with this I should be able to cut it.
[00:05:12]
The time limit was almost over. Nearly a full day had passed, yet the gallery remained silent. Were they waiting for me to post?
I replied.
CuteHighSchoolGirl had suddenly posted how to deal with the Kim Yushin ghost story. I thought she had gone quiet to teach me martial arts, but she had been thinking about this the whole time. Well, among the Cheonma Gallery members she was the only modern person who would know about ghost stories, so it made sense.
Do not avoid its eyes.
The moment I recalled those eyes that looked like a mass of black earthworms, goosebumps rose all over my body.
“Whew.”
I took my hand off my neck without realizing I had been touching it and took a deep breath.
Damn Kim Yushin. This time would be different.
Tick. Tock.
The second hand sounded.
Comments poured in one after another. I closed the window. I didn’t even know their faces, but they gave me a strange sense of comfort.
The waiting room time limit has ended. Moving to the First Floor World.
My vision blurred and the white room collapsed. Pitch-black darkness and the damp, moldy smell that stung my nose. Then, the heavy metallic sound echoing from far away that made the back of my neck ache just to hear it.
The moment I opened my eyes I ignited the sacred flame and kicked off the ground.
This time it’s my turn, you decapitation pervert bastard.