Chapter 50: The Eve (3)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 50: The Eve (3)
“White Fang? Hahaha! Student Hae-in, you certainly have a keen eye!”
As if he’d been waiting for it, the Chairman welcomed me with a booming, hearty laugh.
“That weapon was acquired by our founding chairman himself, in a bloody battle with none other than the Monstrous Dragon Aldebaran!”
His shoulders squared with pride. He raised his voice, his tone smug as if to praise my choice.
There was only one reason he was so thrilled. Despite countless appraisals, this weapon had never once shown any special reaction.
There was a reason it had been left to gather dust in a corner of the warehouse.
He looked utterly satisfied.
I smiled and asked simply, “Is that so?”
As if it were nothing, I gave the spear in my hand a light twirl.
And then, immediately—
I closed my eyes and drew upon all my mana.
I felt my body grow hot as the mana flowing through my veins focused in one spot.
I immediately began to channel it into the spear.
Then, I gathered the mana from the Fragment and poured it in with all my might. The verdant energy of Demon Slaying slowly flowed into it.
My hands began to tremble, and a dull ache started in my head.
“Student Hae-in, what are you…?”
I heard the Chairman’s voice, but I had no time to pay it any mind.
Before anyone could react, a change began.
The silver slowly burned into a searing red. Soon, even that red was stained black as the color continued to shift.
It was no longer a simple steel weapon.
The once-silver spear had transformed, now gleaming like black obsidian.
Ugh, my head.
A headache washed over me from wringing out so much mana.
At the weapon’s clearly extraordinary transformation, the Chairman’s jaw dropped.
He was speechless, his lips barely managing to move.
I lifted White Fang—no, ‘Catastrophe’—in one hand and said simply, “I’ll make good use of it.”
Then, I turned to leave.
In that moment.
The power of Demon Slaying?
My mind reeled.
No, “reeled” wasn’t a strong enough word.
A voice struck my mind like a thunderclap.
The moment I heard the words, a resonance spread through my head.
A shock that seemed to shake my very existence.
…A mere fledgling has awakened me from my slumber.
My head felt like it was splitting apart.
My body staggered.
But how curious. Why is it that the depth of time I feel within you is something even I cannot fathom?
Neither the path of the tyrant nor the path of the righteous… It’s a complete mess….
My tilted vision swayed slowly, and the floor suddenly rushed up to meet me.
…Defying Heaven.
My eyes began to slowly close.
Fixing an axis to defy providence? Hahaha! How interesting.
Very well. Since you dared to awaken me, I shall, as your price, pick apart the very essence of your being.
Thud!
My body hit the ground.
When was the most agonizing moment of despair in your life?
“…Hae-in!”
Someone shouted from far away.
I could faintly see Yu Hana and Cheon Yeo-wool rushing toward me.
Feel it. And remember it.
But even that soon faded as my vision went black.
My consciousness… was severed.
Who you once were.
*
“Hello?”
I’d been hiding in the cargo hold, and now, I finally jumped out.
The members of Vanquisher stared at me, shocked by my sudden appearance.
“Jung Hae-in!” Seong Ara was the first to shout.
I looked around.
This was the base point near the raid location.
The operation would begin nearby very soon.
“How did you get here?”
I’d snuck in, of course.
Because I knew they wouldn’t let me join if I asked.
I knew this operation was a route that led to annihilation. And I was certain I could stop it.
Their reaction, however, was cold.
“…Go back.”
The voice was firm.
It was Lee Do-hyun. With twin swords strapped to his back, he spoke quietly.
“This is no place for you.”
His gaze was frigid.
The other members facing me also wore troubled expressions.
“Then I’ll just help with communications with the Association from here. That should be fine, right? I can’t go back now anyway.”
I knew they wouldn’t permit it.
So I offered the next best thing, something they might just accept.
Once the battle started, I could just run and join them.
I was brimming with confidence—no, I was absolutely certain.
I’d safely passed the Fragment to Seong Si-woo, and the characters’ growth was proceeding smoothly.
Even Medusa, despite some sacrifices, had ultimately been defeated.
‘Am I going to get through this without using Death Regression even once?’
I hadn’t died a single time so far. It meant the ten-year plan I’d laid out was perfect.
This time would be no different.
However.
“Hello?”
CRUNCH!
My first death was so incredibly anticlimactic.
“Heok!”
I opened my eyes in the back of the truck.
It wasn’t even a proper fight. Just two exchanges, that was all.
The first attack, my defense was shattered.
The second attack, my head was crushed.
“Hey! Hae-in, what are you doing here?”
It was Park Gwang-cheol.
He must have heard a noise and come to check the cargo hold.
I grabbed my head and staggered to my feet.
My mind was a mess.
When I stepped outside, the members of Vanquisher were looking at me.
I met their eyes.
A chill ran down my entire body.
I could feel it from that last death.
Something… had begun.
The second death.
My body was torn in two.
The third death.
I barely avoided having my head smashed, only to have a spear from behind pierce my neck.
And the eleventh death.
“Uweeeghk!”
I fell to my knees and retched. After the first death, the accumulating mental anguish from each one that followed was simply unbearable.
It was around then that I began to question the plan I had made.
‘Vanquisher was annihilated.’
The death of Vanquisher, something I had described in a single line of text just to heighten the story’s atmosphere.
But that death was more than I could have ever imagined.
“Hae-in!”
And just before my twelfth death.
Park Gwang-cheol threw himself in front of me. His abdomen was pierced. At the same time, I died too.
Was it around the 57th death?
It was about then that I was finally able to withstand his attacks for more than a few exchanges, if only just barely.
Clang! Chang!
“Not bad.”
The Apostle of the Evil God.
The man, who looked ordinary on the outside, had killed me within two exchanges at the start of every battle for the past fifty-seven lives.
The members of Vanquisher would turn and run toward me, but they were always too late.
But—
This time was different. I had already parried three, four, even more of his blows.
Exchanging blows with an immeasurably strong opponent. It was forcing me to grow.
“Jung Hae-in!”
Seong Ara and Park Gwang-cheol reached me. This was a new development. As they rushed over, the man before me clicked his tongue and turned in the opposite direction.
Park Gwang-cheol spoke to me calmly.
“Now that you’re here, you have to survive. Hae-in. Get a grip.”
He didn’t reprimand me at all for breaking my promise.
I clenched my teeth. I had to succeed in a counterattack, somehow.
‘If it’s just one Apostle….’
But the number of figures that unfolded before my eyes was more than enough to drive me to despair.
I had thought there was a high chance there would be no Apostles, and at most, only one.
As if mocking my prediction, the Apostles standing here…
numbered three in total.
I knew it instinctively.
This fight…
was going to be much longer than I expected.
152 deaths.
239 deaths.
399? No, probably 400 deaths.
I died, over and over, without rest.
And in my 401st life.
I couldn’t even get up from the trunk.
My whole body felt heavy. Even breathing was difficult.
‘Let’s just give up.’
That was the conclusion I reached.
Even if everyone died, as long as Seong Si-woo was alive, he could still clear it.
This was the original story’s flow. I was just a variable that never belonged in it to begin with.
By that point, I was going mad, and I was far too weak.
I had been drunk on success, and at some point, under the pretext of raising Seong Si-woo, I had neglected to improve my own martial prowess.
My stamina, my weakness, was holding me back.
And I hadn’t prepared a way to fight against Demonic Force, relying instead on Seong Si-woo’s Fragment.
BOOM!
An explosion in the distance signaled the start of the battle.
I covered my ears.
‘I’m sorry… I’m so sorry….’
This was beyond what I could handle.
There were three Apostles, and I was weak.
According to the setting, I thought there would be one at most. It would take the entirety of Vanquisher just to face a single Apostle of the Evil God. I had never predicted that so many would appear before the Evil God’s revival.
My plan had been to quickly relay the weakness of whichever Apostle appeared, to give them an edge in the fight.
One Apostle was manageable. That was the plan I had laid out.
But now, I realized.
All of it was the delusion of someone who had never died on a battlefield.
Until now, despite having the ability of Death Regression, I had never once died.
The first defeat I faced was so hollow, and the first death I met was miserably short.
There was nothing I could do.
I wasn't just dying; I was breaking against a wall I could never hope to overcome, no matter how much I struggled.
And that wall was one I had created with a single, thoughtless line of text.
A wave of self-loathing washed over me. Dying and regressing 400 times changed nothing.
I still died in a few exchanges, I still couldn't do anything against them, and…
I still died, unable to change a single thing.
This fight was not my domain.
It wasn’t a battle I had any right to interfere with.
And so, I gave up.
The explosions in the distance began to fade.
The trembling in my hands, still covering my ears, subsided as I felt the end of the battle approaching.
But then.
A thought flashed through my mind.
If I run away now, will I ever be able to live with my head held high?
No matter how I tried to avoid it, no matter how I tried to rationalize it, I didn’t have the confidence to turn my back on this battlefield and these people and go on living a normal life.
This was the result of the world I created.
I had to take responsibility and change it.
If I ran away now, I wouldn’t even have the courage to face Sion again.
I closed my eyes.
I took a breath.
My heart was still pounding.
Even after 400 deaths, my fear hadn’t lessened one bit.
Even so, I had to do it.
This was my fault.
“……”
I took my hands away from my ears and opened my eyes.
A sense of clarity washed over my clouded mind.
I, at last, decided to accept death.
====
[Authority: Death Regression (死亡回歸)]
① Regression
— Upon death, you will unconditionally regress. Your memories will be retained.
② ??? (Unreleased)
③ ??? (Unreleased)
====
The system window appeared before me.
The second slot, marked as unreleased, began to shine brilliantly. Soon.
====
② Unyielding Spirit (不屈之魂)
— A spirit that will never yield.
====
I drew in a breath.
My whole body was still trembling.
But I couldn’t turn away any longer.
I will use death. The only thing I have more of than them is time.
I pushed myself up and headed toward the battlefield.
The members of Vanquisher were already all down. All except one.
The Old Man.
He was fighting to the last, standing even with a severed arm.
But finally, he too fell.
I watched the Old Man fall, burning every last second of it into my eyes.
Just then, a figure vanished in the distance.
Simultaneously, a massive greatsword came flying at my face.
I knew death was upon me.
CLANG!
My straight spear met the greatsword.
The spear was slowly being cut through by the blade.
But, just one more time—
To burn their movements into my eyes.
I forced my eyes wide open.
If they are strong, I will learn from them.
No matter how long it takes.
This was the real beginning.