Chapter 51: The Eve (4)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 51: The Eve (4)
If you just set your mind to it, it's not hard to do?
If you just have the will, it's not hard to do?
What a load of bullshit.
Crrrack.
The 758th death.
I woke up and immediately tumbled out of the trunk. My face met the ground, and for a moment, the breath was knocked out of me.
My fingertips dug into the dirt.
I tore out a handful of innocent weeds as I pushed myself to my feet.
What I had to do now was simple. A routine ingrained in my body over hundreds of deaths.
Before Park Gwang-cheol could hear the noise and come to check, I had to sprint down the slope and head for the battlefield.
And then, I’d just pick one of the three Apostles, put up a decent fight, and die.
No, I probably couldn't even call it a ‘decent’ fight.
An endless cycle of death and rebirth repeated without promise. I could now perceive the attacks flying toward me.
If I focused solely on dodging, it felt like I might just manage.
The problem, however, was attacking. Without a Fragment, none of my attacks could pierce their skin.
Eventually, I had to admit there was a limit to repeating this brutish method.
It wasn't that I'd gained nothing. It was just that I had plenty of time, so I had to try other methods as well.
So, I decided to watch them fight.
But the level of their combat was on another dimension; it was difficult to even follow with my eyes.
Analyzing their movements with my Intuition was no easy task.
Their battle would be over in an hour.
One Apostle would charge in, laughing. But faced with the Vanquisher’s unexpectedly fierce resistance, he would retreat, one of his wings torn off.
And then, this time, the three Apostles would attack simultaneously. After that, only the obvious result awaited.
The battlefield, collapsing once more.
Death, repeating.
To simply watch my comrades die, concentrating on every single moment, and then to analyze those deaths…
This was no way for a human to live. At some point, I felt something trickling down my cheek. I wiped it away.
It was a tear. I had been crying without even realizing it.
[『Mirror-Still Water』 evolves into 『State of No-Self』.]
My mental state, forged through countless deaths and regressions…
was close to Nirvana.
The battle ended. I pushed myself up and headed toward the battlefield.
I cleared my mind completely.
At some point, I had stopped fearing death.
“Who’s that?”
The Apostle who had just killed the Old Man asked the one next to him.
I didn't even answer. I just took my stance, fought, and died.
There was nothing I hadn't tried. I'd even urged them to run.
But for some reason, the Apostles noticed immediately. I defined this as the World's Suppression Force.
There was no other way but the established route.
Then, there was this one time.
“Hey, you fucking bastards!!!”
The three Apostles turned their heads in unison.
I screamed.
“Please, just let me try stabbing you once! It’s not like it’ll even leave a scratch, right? Just let me try once!”
The Apostles didn't even sneer. They simply drew their greatswords. However, the Apostle next to them, the one with no facial features…
The Apostle with a pure white face chuckled.
After exchanging a few words with the other Apostles, he slowly approached me.
“Would you like to try?”
‘Blag.’
I knew that face.
He spread his arms wide.
Without taking any defensive stance, he simply waited for my attack.
I had a feeling this one would agree.
I condensed as much mana as I could into the tip of my spear. Then, I thrust with all my might.
Crr…unch.
“Haha, not bad.”
Crack.
The moment I woke up, I was lost in thought.
Even an attack with every ounce of my strength had failed. The amount of mana I was born with was woefully insufficient.
I had to make a decision.
Defying Heaven.
The method I had saved as a last, last resort. The time had come to use it. To reverse the flow of mana and pressure points throughout my body and boost my output.
The reason I’d hesitated, however, was that the moment I chose Defying Heaven, my ‘path of growth’ would be permanently fixed. Reversing the flow and then turning it back to normal was nonsensical.
I took a deep breath. And then—I forced my mana to flow in reverse.
It felt like every blood vessel in my body was being incinerated in an instant.
All the energy flowing beneath my skin ran wild, going backward.
It felt like my organs were tearing. Like my bones were shattering. Like every nerve was on fire.
Splat!
I vomited blood and died.
It was my 912th death.
My 1100th life.
At last, I succeeded in Defying Heaven.
[You have partially acquired the 『Art of Defying Heaven』.]
But only partially.
What I realized after countless deaths was that my pathetic body couldn't even fully withstand Defying Heaven.
Simply reversing my mana flow wasn't enough.
Defying Heaven was a technique that explosively amplified one’s output by completely reversing the flow of mana.
My body was too weak to handle it.
It might have been different if I'd drunk Iano's Elixir, but it was impossible to improve the quality of my mana in such a short time.
Therefore, instead of strengthening my pathetic body, I focused on increasing my proficiency with Defying Heaven.
My 1104th death.
I died coughing up blood.
My 1492nd death.
My heart exploded.
My 1671st death.
My mana veins burned out. My own body broke down before an Apostle could even kill me.
My 2001st death.
The conclusion was simple.
I had to perfectly control my body so it could accept Defying Heaven.
My 3910th death.
Failure. My body still couldn't adapt to Defying Heaven.
My 4399th death.
My body was, little by little, adapting to Defying Heaven.
I developed an immediate response method for right after I adjusted my output.
My 4529th death.
Ten seconds.
The maximum duration was ten seconds.
I realized I had to end it within that window.
At a point where I'd even forgotten how to count the deaths.
The battle with the Vanquisher.
Before I knew it, I had become able to fight in sync with them.
But being able to fight and being able to win are two different things.
Everyone died.
This time, too, I was supposed to follow them.
Shunk!
Just as I was thinking that.
A fist pierced through my stomach. It missed my heart, but I felt my organs rupture.
But it didn't hurt. It wasn't that there was no pain.
I was just so used to it that my senses had grown dull.
I had died countless times.
What meaning was there in dying now? Just like I'd always done, if I died, I would just go back.
Therefore, there was only one thing for me to do now.
Kill.
I gripped the arm of the Apostle that had pierced my stomach.
With my other hand, I drew my spear. Then, I drew up my mana with Defying Heaven.
Kill.
The Apostle's eyes wavered.
But it was too late.
The mana of Defying Heaven gathered at the tip of my spear, condensing powerfully. An immense energy, incomparable to anything before, began to bloom.
Ten seconds.
The swirling mana bared its fangs, waiting only to carve out evil.
The Apostle tried to pull his arm back.
But the muscles of my pierced stomach held him fast, and my other hand gripped his arm.
The Apostle frowned. He slammed his other hand into my face.
BAM!!
My head snapped to the side. But I felt nothing.
And then, the spear I thrust forward finally pierced the bastard's shoulder.
CRUNCH!
“Kghhhhk!”
I'd finally wounded him. The bastard groaned.
Had this ever happened before?
Had I ever seen them in pain, even once?
I couldn't remember.
My arm trembled violently. A little more, just a little more.
BAM!
But there wasn't just one Apostle.
Another Apostle who had been waiting on the side struck me hard, sending me flying.
“What are you doing, you idiot?”
The Apostle with the spear in his shoulder let out a hollow laugh. He threw the spear embedded in his shoulder back at me. His eyes were filled with rage.
He tensed his entire body as if he were about to spring forward.
But…
“Leave him.”
The Apostle beside him stretched out an arm, stopping him.
"He's dead anyway. We have to go back now. We've dragged this on for too long."
Looking again, I saw the sun was setting. This was the first time we had fought for so long.
Leaving bloody footprints behind them, they departed.
Only then did I feel the strength drain from my entire body.
I unconsciously bent over.
What?
The Apostles before me were gone, but I had survived.
Even though the Vanquisher had been annihilated.
It was only then that I saw a glimmer of hope.
It was the first time. The first time I had changed something with my own hands.
It was the first time. A small change had occurred on a battlefield where only death had repeated.
The deaths I had long since forgotten how to count had finally brought a result.
Blood flowed from my body.
I could feel my insides tearing, my muscles ripping apart.
“Heh, hehehehe…”
I was about to die, but I smiled, pleased. I was finally getting the hang of it.
No matter how long it takes, no matter how many times, I will kill them all.
And.
I will save everyone.
My breathing grew ragged. In place of pain, I felt the limits of my breath.
Now, it was time to go save my comrades. I took out my spear and stabbed myself in the neck.
Squelch!
Going back. Again. To the Base Point.
Just you wait. I will kill every last one of you.
However.
When I next opened my eyes…
“Ugh… huh?”
It was the battlefield.
The very spot where I had just died.
My body still had a hole in it, and blood was still pouring from the wound.
For a moment, I couldn't understand.
‘Am I not dead yet?’
I raised my spear again and stabbed myself in the neck.
Stab.
I opened my eyes again.
Still.
I was in that place.
I had a gut feeling that something was wrong.
I was sure I had died, so why…
Just then, a voice called out from the distance.
“Reinforcements are here!!!!”
It was the Association's Rescue Team. For a second, my breath caught in my throat.
And I realized.
I frantically stabbed myself in the neck one more time.
Squelch!
I opened my eyes again.
And still, I woke up in that same spot.
A single hypothesis screamed inside my head.
I tried my best to ignore it as I scrambled across the ground, trying to get away from the Rescue Team.
“Quickly! The Recovery Holy Method!!”
Someone shouted.
And—
A sacred energy seeped into my body.
“N…no…”
One possibility.
The Apostles had fled.
At the moment they left, I, Jung Hae-in, had survived.
And the System had deemed this ‘situation resolved.’
It didn't matter to the System whether the Vanquisher was annihilated or not.
A new Save Point had been set for me.
“Aaaaaaaargh!”
A scream tore from my throat.
I clutched my head with my blood-soaked hands.
I tore at my hair, writhing on the ground.
Hundreds of deaths, thousands of deaths.
I had endured it, I had withstood it.
And I thought I had finally done it.
The moment I was certain I had changed something with my own hands.
The light of hope I had seen was the last dying ember of their lives.
“Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaargh!”
Even after that, I raised my spear and stabbed myself in the neck, again and again.
Stab!
I opened my eyes.
Stab!
I opened my eyes.
But I would never return to that place again.
It was all over.
I…
In the end, I…
couldn't save anyone.