Three Centimeters of Change

"I really did grow?"

My height, which hadn't budged even before the regression, had increased. I was never short to begin with at 170cm, but overnight I'd shot up a whole three centimeters.

Am I supposed to be happy about this… or not?

Anyone young or ordinary would have rejoiced at getting taller. But I had lived roughly forty years across both my lifetimes in the body I had before this growth. Getting taller meant abandoning the combat instincts I'd honed in that frame.

How am I going to recalibrate everything from scratch?

You could call it a mere three centimeters, but I'd spent so long inhabiting that body that adjusting to the change would take considerable time.

"Looks like I need to get into a gate."

When it came to rebuilding combat sense, nothing mattered more than real experience. And my kingdom was currently littered with gates. There would be no shortage of opportunities to sharpen my edge.

The real question was how long that readjustment would take.

I was planning to storm Lust's ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠territory soon, but that'll have to wait.

Lust herself I could handle in my current state, but the people trapped in her Bewitchment might find themselves hopelessly outmatched against demons.

One-on-one would be fine, but their numbers….

I couldn't be sure how things stood now, but one thing was certain — there would be a lot of them. Which meant charging in recklessly was out of the question.

Recover my combat sense as fast as possible.

I donned my equipment and left the royal castle.

"Hah… hah… hah."

I was gasping for breath. I'll admit it — I'd underestimated this place.

But I never expected it to be this bad….

The gate I'd entered was supposedly one of the easier ones even among S-ranks. Fewer monsters, weaker ones, compared to other S-rank gates.

I'd only heard that in passing, so I didn't think it could actually be true….

Now that I was living it, I understood completely.

Clearing this S-rank gate would take at least a month.

The monsters were on another level. Their numbers were so overwhelming that even weaving my footwork through them with my current strength left me outmatched — and every single one of them was strong in its own right.

Then how monstrous must an SS-rank be…?

Frankly, I'd assumed someone like me had already reached SS-rank territory. I'd always known there was something above me. I just never grasped how high that ceiling really was.

"The mistake was coming straight into an S-rank gate."

I'd chosen it for the sake of my combat instincts, never imagining it would become my undoing. With my combat abilities incomplete, this place could very well become my grave.

First things first — stay calm.

The monsters here were Silver Wolves. Though they bore almost no resemblance to the silver wolves I remembered.

Still, knowing their habits helped.

The reason I could hide my body and rest like this was precisely because I'd exploited those habits. The beasts kept something like a territory — and they never strayed beyond its bounds.

The problem was what might be waiting outside that territory….

As luck would have it, the area beyond was designated a safe zone. The real issue was that food there was nearly nonexistent.

I'd packed light, planning to clear this place fast and walk out….

At this point, my inventory held little more than monster carcasses.

Chew, chew.

I pulled out some jerky from the corner of my inventory and tore into it.

The moment the sun rises tomorrow, the hunt begins again.

I stretched out in a suitable spot within the safe zone and promptly fell asleep.

"Grrrrr!"

"Hah… hah… hah."

The beast growled; I heaved ragged breaths. We both knew it. We both knew the other was exhausted.

"Just fall down already…."

"Grrrr!"

As if to refute my words, the beast rumbled deep in its throat and sharpened the blades of its claws. Sighing, I tightened my grip on the crescent blade.

"This settles it."

"Grrrr!"

Anyone watching would have asked what on earth I was doing. Talking to a monster was the mark of a madman.

But this one understands me.

I'd forced myself to ignore it from the moment I first laid eyes on the wolf, but I couldn't look away any longer.

This place is connected to Hati.

The rescue of Hati, promised to Sköll. And the map leading to where Hati was sealed — that was the origin of the Black Ferocity's core: Hati's Essence. And that Black Ferocity was now singing — the Sword's Cry ringing out.

First — beat this thing.

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

I engaged my footwork as a final gamble. The Nameless Footwork. One step.

Pacheon — Sky Splitter.

The heavens around me shattered away, and I came surging toward the Boss Monster. Matching the momentum, I raised my crescent blade and threw myself at the beast — and it answered my charge with its own last stand, everything it had left.

KWAAAK!

Monster and man collided, and the roar of impact thundered through the forest. When the dust settled, two figures — man and beast — lay side by side in the wreckage.

"Kgh…!"

Dark blood spilled from my mouth. Proof of internal injuries.

Did I… barely win?

While I retched up blood, the beast lay collapsed without so much as a twitch. I waited, and a system message appeared.

The moment I read the system messages, my eyelids slid shut of their own accord. And just like that, my consciousness faded out.

"Ungh!"

I woke in bed to a wave of searing pain. Both of my hands were clutching flowers.

"Where are Ae and Yujin?"

I had no idea how I'd gotten here, but one thing was certain: this was my room in the royal castle. As I lay there blinking blankly, Hyuk and my personal physician came in.

"Ah — Your Majesty. You're awake!"

"Yeah. How long was I out?"

"Forty days by the calendar of the gate you entered. Ten days have passed since you emerged."

"I see."

While Hyuk and I made small talk, the physician came to my side and examined my condition.

"How is he?"

"Hm. As ever, Your Majesty's recovery defies belief. It borders on the miraculous."

"So what's the verdict?"

"Perfectly healthy. You could get up and move about right now with no trouble at all."

"It hurt when I woke up, though?"

"You most likely mistook psychological damage for physical pain. There is nothing wrong with your body."

Watching him answer each of my questions without a moment's hesitation, I clicked my tongue. This was Baron Park Geon-hee — my personal physician and the chief of all the castle's doctors. One of the rare overseas-trained academics in North Korea, he'd built a reputation as a genuinely skilled physician.

"So? How did this happen?"

"Well…."

"You walked in promising us you'd clear it in no time, didn't you?"

"Th-that's…."

"And yet more than a month has already passed."

Under Hyuk's interrogation, I found myself utterly speechless. Baron Park Geon-hee had quietly slipped out the door at some point, so I could safely assume I had no allies left in the room.

"I'm sorry…."

"Hah… Then at least explain what happened."

When I apologized quickly, Hyuk didn't press his anger much further. As expected — apologizing fast is the best policy. I gave him a brief account of what had happened inside the gate.

"You've been through a great deal, Your Majesty."

Hyuk looked at me with genuine sympathy. Even I had to admit my situation was pitiable — though since it was entirely of my own making, I kept that thought to myself.

"So — are there no more S-rank gates left in the kingdom?"

"Let me check."

Though I'd entrusted Hyuk with the authority of my political proxy, the kingdom's status window could only be viewed by me.

Checking the kingdom's status window, I tilted my head. Despite having cleared an S-rank gate, the window still showed one remaining.

"Hyuk."

"Yes."

"Was there a gate where I was?"

"The one you entered has already vanished, Your Majesty."

At Hyuk's words, I pressed a hand to my forehead. A gate vanishing meant ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠it had been cleared. Which left only one possibility.

"Another S-rank gate appeared somewhere else…."

I dealt with one, and a new one sprang up in its place. I'd just walked out of an S-rank gate with a newfound respect for how terrifying they were — going back in solo was the last thing I wanted.

Come to think of it, the S-rank I entered was probably one someone had picked out with care for me.

The Association President and Guildmaster Han Min-joon. Selecting a gate suited to my level wouldn't have been difficult for men like them.

Just then, a system message appeared before my eyes.

Staring at the quest that had popped up out of nowhere, I was dumbfounded. The kingdom advancing to its next stage — that was a good thing.

Is "perishes" a warning that if I can't even manage this much, the kingdom dies?

There was no other condition for failure, so that was probably exactly what it meant. But it was the clear conditions that gnawed at me.

Having to break three S-rank gates means one more is going to appear beyond what's already there.

I hesitated, unsure whether to be grateful for the advance warning — or to dread it.

"What's the situation, Your Majesty?"

My face kept shifting as I read the status window, and Hyuk couldn't contain his curiosity. I explained it to him simply, and his face darkened as well.

"That won't be easy."

"Tell me about it."

The cities were fine. But the S-rank gates and the restoration of electrical power could prove tricky. The technology for power generation had been lost, making reconstruction difficult — and with foreign technical expertise out of reach, our options were grim.

"Let's worry about it later."

"Agreed. Think about it now and my head might burst."

Hyuk and I gave up on thinking at exactly the same moment. But just as we were letting our minds rest, a new system message appeared.