Sword God (3)
Privilege Ability, ‘Regression’, has been activated.
This is your twenty-first regression.
“Ghhhk…!”
Hyun Si-woon spat out a ragged breath and bolted upright, torso snapping forward. The regression point was right after clearing the second floor.
Urgh.
He pressed a hand to his forehead. The residual sensation of his skull exploding still clawed at the edges of his mind. His entire body was slick with cold sweat, and his heart hammered out of control, thrashing like a wild animal.
And then—
“Hey.”
Yu Jae-jun, brushing dust from his clothes as he rose, called out to him.
“You. What the hell was that just now?”
“…….”
Right. It had been like this back then too. After watching him take down the Phantom Horse, Yu Jae-jun had been so shocked he’d asked immediately.
“That last move… didn’t look like something a normal person could pull off.”
Looking at Yu Jae-jun’s yapping face made rage surge through Si-woon. If that bastard hadn’t thrown the first attack, he wouldn’t have died so miserably to some crocodile-headed freak.
Grit.
His teeth ground together. He wanted nothing more than to drive a fist straight into that punchable face right now, but—
I can’t.
The Baek siblings and Kang Si-a, who would become his team later, might look at him strangely. He needed a party to reach the third floor, and right now there was no one more suitable than them. If he meant to keep those relationships intact?
Maintaining the same stance as before seemed better in every way.
Even so.
“Do I have any obligation to tell you that?”
The words came out less than kindly.
“……What?”
“We weren’t even a team, and I only managed that one lucky hit thanks to the gold medalist over there. Let’s just go our separate ways.”
Whip!
Si-woon turned his back. Yu Jae-jun, who had wanted the same thing, accepted it at once.
“Hahaha! That so? If you put it that way, well. Good luck out there.”
“You too.”
Si-woon strode away without the slightest hesitation. He had no idea how the future would flow this time, but if it followed a similar path he would face the Bursting Ears again. The situation would develop roughly the same way, and then he could rebuild the relationships with those people just as before.
Once he reached a deserted spot, Hyun Si-woon drew the Formless Sword first. What happened to the sword spirit when he returned to the past? Did he have to go through the whole training process at Tae Min-seok’s dojo again just to wake her up? That was the thought drifting through his mind when—
Wooooong!
The sword flared with light, and a cute little spirit form floated up into the air.
Ha-wol.
“Huh?”
—Hm?
Their eyes met. A moment later Ha-wol’s eyes widened until they were as big as lanterns. A sound of pure incomprehension slipped from her tiny open mouth.
—You, you, you… what are you?! Eh? Ehhh?
“…….”
—How is this possible?! Just moments ago that crocodile clearly smashed your head—!
“Hey, could you not say ‘head’ right in front of someone’s face? Head.”
—Th-that’s not the issue! If this lady’s judgment is correct, you didn’t simply come back to life… it seems time itself has been rewound…!
All of Ha-wol’s usual dignity and composure had vanished without a trace. Her spirit form wavered unsteadily, her voice thick with shock and confusion.
—Did this lady see an illusion? Or did you cast some sort of illusion art on her?! Impossible! This is simply impossible! A power like this…! The power to reverse time?! An absolute authority that not even the Tower Lord or any Ranker could ever possess—and a mere Climber has it?!
Si-woon was just as stunned. He had wondered, but he never truly expected Ha-wol to regress with him.
Is it because she was recognized as one of my possessions?
No. That didn’t fit, because—
◈ The sole reward remaining in inventory
The only item in his possession was the 100 TC he had received as a reward. TC didn’t accumulate across regressions.
Or is she recognized as part of my ability?
That seemed far more likely. After all, stats and skills carried over when he regressed.
—What in the world are you?! You are clearly no ordinary Climber! Don’t tell me even finding this lady was…! Yes, it never made sense. The Tower Lord sealed this lady away in a corner no Climber could ever reach, intending eternal exile—how could a mere Climber locate her?!
Questions poured out like a waterfall. Si-woon simply felt his head throb and let out a long sigh. Twenty-one deaths and regressions. How was he supposed to explain that secret to this lofty Sword God?
Still…
In that moment an unexpected emotion rose in Hyun Si-woon’s chest. The ability called Regression. On the surface it looked broken and magnificent, yet behind it lay a crushing loneliness. No matter how much pain he endured, how many bonds he forged, or how many experiences he shared in the endlessly repeating time, everything reset with death. Only Si-woon remembered it all; to everyone around him, those events had never happened.
In other words, no matter how close he grew to someone, he would ultimately be alone. That thought had always lingered somewhere inside him.
But Ha-wol is different.
She remembered. The horrific death just moments ago. The overwhelming power of the crocodile-headed Ranker. And this impossible reversal of time. Her shock and confusion proved it.
—What is it, you? Instead of answering this lady’s questions, why are you smiling so creepily?!
“No, from the start you’ve been really…”
Too much. Calling his head “head” was one thing, but describing this quiet little surge of emotion as “smiling creepily”?
“Just calm down for a second. Explaining’s going to take a while.”
He found a suitable spot and dropped to the ground. Then, slowly, he began to tell her everything—from the day the Tower of Despair appeared on Earth, all the way to clearing the thirtieth floor and obtaining the “privilege.”
—Hah, insane…!
Throughout the entire explanation Ha-wol could not stop marveling. The Hyun Si-woon before her was no mere second-floor Climber. He was a tiny monster who had every opportunity and strategy up to the thirtieth floor memorized cold.
I heard our world had something like that as well.
The world Ha-wol had lived in. An age when sword and qi ruled everything, when masters who carried weapons debated the fate of the realm.
Fragments of Calamity, they called them.
Strange rifts had appeared everywhere, and entering them let people practice inside formations that simulated the Tower of Despair. Quite a few masters used them for training. Of course Ha-wol never bothered. Even the greatest eccentrics under heaven had thrown up their hands and raged about who the hell created such nonsense illusion arts.
—You… you actually climbed all the way to the thirtieth floor alone? Before even properly starting the ascent?
“Yeah.”
—……I took you for a worthless insect, but you turned out to be quite the piece of work, didn’t you.
The way Ha-wol looked at Si-woon was already changing. Until now she had regarded him as nothing more than a temporary means of escaping her seal and reclaiming the forgotten glory of the Moon Spirit…
Now her thoughts had completely shifted.
Experience and knowledge up to the thirtieth floor. And above all, the power to reverse time—an authority even gods would not dare covet lightly. This was far beyond a merely useful Climber. Properly nurtured, he was a raw gem with the potential to put a crack in that arrogant Tower Lord’s authority—or perhaps aim even higher.
That Tower Lord bastard.
Ha-wol naturally harbored no fond feelings for the one who had exiled her. He was so overwhelmingly powerful that she had tried not to nurse any desire for revenge at all, but—
This changes things.
She began to circle Si-woon slowly, examining his body with care.
—Ahem. Your bone structure itself isn’t bad, but it isn’t particularly good either.
Before, she would simply have tossed him a few sword techniques suited for climbing the Tower. But now?
It was different.
—Very well.
“What is?”
—This lady shall teach you the true sword. Not some clumsy imitation—the true path of the sword.
Not a sword merely for ascending the Tower, but a sword for becoming the greatest after the ascent!
Her eyes, locked straight on Si-woon’s, held absolute seriousness.
—This lady’s swordsmanship is the essence of the Moon Spirit Swordsmanship that once commanded the world. Yet I cannot say whether simply pouring it into you as-is would be best. Considering your bone structure… it may be necessary to create an entirely new sword path for you alone.
The declaration that she would found a new martial art. Even for Ha-wol, once called the Sword God, those were not words to be spoken lightly. That was how highly she now rated Si-woon’s potential, and how ready she was to pour everything she had into him.
—Can you handle it? This lady’s teachings will be harsh. You may suffer pain worse than death.
“I’ll have to handle it.”
Si-woon’s answer held not a shred of hesitation. He recalled the memory from moments ago—himself bursting apart like an insect, unable to do anything against that crocodile-headed monster. It had been utterly different from previous deaths. A despair and helplessness of another dimension entirely.
I’ll get stronger. Strong enough that no one can treat me lightly ever again.
Pain worse than death? He had already died twenty-one times. He had come this far through countless agonies. What mattered was what he obtained at the end of that pain.
“I’m used to pain. If you teach me properly, I’ll accept it properly too.”
—Your resolve, at least, is excellent.
“But there’s one thing.”
Si-woon continued.
“The sword is important, but I’m going to train other weapons as well. In the process of clearing the Tower there will definitely be times I need something other than a sword.”
From his experience, certain floors and certain monsters were simply too troublesome to handle with a sword alone. He needed other options to deal with every situation.
—What nonsense is that? This lady ascended the Tower with nothing but a sword!
“If you take the easy routes without any hidden paths, sure. But if I’m going to walk every route I know? I’ll definitely need other weapons.”
—And what exactly are you trying to say?
“I’ll learn swordsmanship first and foremost, but I have no intention of neglecting other weapons.”
—Wh-what? This insolent little—?
Ha-wol’s brows twitched. She was offering to transmit her life’s swordsmanship, and this Climber had the gall to eye other things as well!
“I have a question.”
—What is it?
“Among the Tower’s Rankers, is there anyone who uses a sword better than you?”
—Hmph. What kind of question is that? Do you think the title of Sword God is handed out lightly? In the way of the sword, no one can place this lady beneath them.
“And yet you only ranked fifteenth? And that was just a flash during your prime?”
—Y-you… the way you talk…! There are hundreds of thousands of Rankers! Do you have any idea how hard it is to enter the top hundred?!
“I used my ability to gain the privilege of handling all six weapons. Ignoring that privilege and only learning the sword would be stupid.”
—Khh…!
He wasn’t wrong. After becoming a Ranker Ha-wol had met countless Climbers, yet never once had she seen someone who could choose six weapons on the first floor.
—There is certainly an advantage to it. Fine. This lady acknowledges your greed. But you must never neglect the swordsmanship this lady teaches you!
“Of course.”
—Ahem, good! Then let us properly assess your current state first.
Hyun Si-woon decided he would not seek out Tae Min-seok in this life. With a Sword God stuck to his side teaching him, there was no need to learn Western swordsmanship.
Until the members meet the Bursting Ears…
Until then, he planned to train like a madman in the vicinity.