The Cursed King's Blade

"So the reason he attacked us was to find the person who carries the Gate?"

"Yes."

Hearing my explanation, Song Baek-hwa and Elder Song Cheong both frowned. They couldn't bring themselves to ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠accept that people had been sacrificed over something like that.

"From what I hear, wearing this ring will lead us to the Gate."

I held out the ring as I spoke.

"Let's have the two of you test it first."

"Us?"

"Yes. If one of you two is the Gate, there's no need to go telling everyone else."

At that, both of them wore expressions of pure bafflement. The part about not telling anyone else probably made no sense to them at all.

"Would people want to accept that their families were hurt and killed over something so trivial?"

"No."

"Then they'd come to resent that reason they can't understand. Even though it was no fault of the person who bore it."

Let that rift of feeling deepen little by little, and in the end it could race straight into catastrophe.

"So you are saying it would be best not to tell them, Your Majesty?"

"If such a situation never comes to pass, then by all means, tell them. But I will not have those words split you apart."

I was a king, and the people gathered here were my subjects. No king, I imagine, wishes to see his own people divided.

"Let's confirm it first."

At my words, I had the two of them try the ring on in turn. The elder showed no reaction whatsoever, but the moment Song Baek-hwa slid it onto her finger, the ring blazed with brilliant light.

"It seems you're the Gate, Ms. Song Baek-hwa."

"Me... the Gate."

Confusion clouded her eyes. Honestly, I could have offered her comfort, but I deliberately didn't. This kind of emotional pain only means something if you stand back up on your own.

'If I carried her through it, she'd just lean on someone else the next time something like this happened.'

That was no way to grow.

Just then, a system message unfolded before my eyes.

The message left me mildly dumbfounded. The Gate was standing right in front of me—who exactly was I supposed to go meet?

'The system's updates really are slow.'

Reading the messages, my eyes went wide. It hadn't even been that long since I learned SS-rank existed, and now I was staring at the tier above it.

'SSS-rank was real!'

Which meant there was a good chance something even higher existed as well. Which meant I needed to set my sights beyond SS-rank.

'I'll keep this fact hidden for now.'

Her heart was already in enough turmoil; there was no need to hand her one more thing to carry.

"Elder, is there a cave anywhere around here?"

"There is a cave."

Once I'd gotten the location from the elder, I set off. She wouldn't need me hovering nearby while she sorted through her feelings.

"So this is where the hidden piece is?"

This hidden piece didn't exist inside a gate—it was one that existed outside of one. From what I'd been told, crossing a certain point within the cave would grant a quest.

'But where exactly is that point?'

I'd been walking deeper into the cave for ten minutes already, and still no system message had appeared. Only after another ten minutes did one ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠finally come.

After checking the quest, I picked up the pace and pushed deeper. The moment I'd read the description, I'd had a fair idea whose weapon this was.

'A king who ruled this land and commanded it with a roar—it has to be him.'

A mythic figure of Goguryeo. Gwanggaeto the Great.

If my guess was right, then the weapon buried in this land belonged to Gwanggaeto the Great himself.

I pressed on for quite a while longer, and at last a vast cavern opened up before me. And at its very center, a single crescent blade stood driven into the rock.

"So that's the Cursed King's weapon..."

The quest description had said the king's regret was steeped into the blade. And when it came to Gwanggaeto the Great's regret, only one thing came to mind.

'The northern campaigns.'

Expanding his territory with campaign after campaign northward, Gwanggaeto the Great had breathed his last mid-conquest. That was probably the regret soaked into this weapon.

Kieeeeee!

The instant that thought ended, maddened demonic energy came erupting out of the weapon.

"Why is there demonic energy in that weapon...?"

The sudden surge struck me dumb. But I couldn't fall back here, either. Enduring the pressure, I advanced one slow step at a time.

'My body hurts.'

Every step felt like it was tearing me apart. I was unmistakably shielding myself with mana, but the demonic energy hammered into me all the same, as if such a thing were beneath its notice.

"What could possibly have happened, to steep such regret into a weapon?"

I shouted the words as I walked, half hoping that if my voice reached it, the blade might tell me its story. If the lingering will sealed within a relic were to wake, that was entirely possible.

But the ancestor's will offered no answer to my voice.

'Nothing for it, then. All or nothing.'

Checking the demonic energy with every last thread of mana I could muster, I walked up to the crescent blade and seized it. And in that instant, my mind went black.

"Hah..."

A sigh escaped me before I knew it. The space I'd entered the moment I gripped the weapon was none other than the Mindscape. The problem was that a war was raging inside it.

"Attack!"

"Take the fortress and expand our territory!"

"Uwaaaa!"

At their commander's cry, ranks of soldiers roared and hurled themselves at the fortress. And before them, a general on horseback—a familiar crescent blade raised high—was charging at their head.

"No way..."

I wanted to deny it, but I couldn't. This Mindscape belonged to the crescent blade. And the blade being gripped in that man's hand right now could only mean he was its master.

"I, Damdeok, stand at the forefront! Let no man among you know fear!"

Damdeok. The name of the conqueror-king, the greatest and strongest Goguryeo had ever produced.

"So it really was Gwanggaeto the Great's weapon."

What I still couldn't figure out was why I'd been drawn into the Mindscape at all. Simply to show me Gwanggaeto the Great's valor? That couldn't be it. If there was a reason, it was testing me. But I had no way of knowing what it was testing, or how.

Just then, a figure appeared atop the fortress walls.

"All forces, draw! Loose!"

The instant the man shouted, countless arrows came streaming down from the fortress. And every last one of them was steeped in demonic energy.

'Demonic energy? Here?'

But there was no time to think; my body moved first. I deflected every incoming arrow out of the air.

And the man on the wall, having watched me do it, began to shriek, trembling all over.

"Th-that's impossible! Those arrows carry His authority!"

Anyone could see who "He" was—the demons. And roughly speaking, I could guess what this meant.

'Gwanggaeto the Great's regret might be the fall of this fortress.'

Arrows overflowing with that much demonic energy could maul an army just by raining down into the earth. And for Gwanggaeto the Great and the Goguryeo army to take this fortress without help of any kind was all but impossible.

'So the trial is to help him bring this fortress down...'

That had to be the trial the crescent blade had set within the Mindscape: aid Gwanggaeto the Great and destroy that fortress.

"Now! Charge! Break the gate and push inside!"

My sudden appearance seemed to have stunned both sides, but Gwanggaeto the Great collected himself quickly, rallied his army, and launched the assault anew.

'I can leave the army to him.'

If not for the demon's interference, this fortress would have fallen without trouble in the first place. These were the conqueror-king and his soldiers. Weak was the one thing they could never be.

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"All I have to do is deal with the demon."

I moved to handle the demon alone, and before long I had its location.

'The stench of demonic energy is rolling off it in waves.'

Dead center of the fortress. The only patch of color in that gray stronghold—that was where the demon was. At that point, it might as well have been putting up signs that read, "Come find me."

"Let's finish this quickly and go home."

There was still time before Gwanggaeto the Great arrived, and that would be more than enough to deal with the demon inside. I could be that certain because this was the Mindscape.

The moment I stepped into the footwork, lightning dropped from the sky and smashed into the fortress. Of course, factoring in a demon's cockroach-like vitality, it wouldn't have died from that alone.

"Who— who dares lay hands on my castle!"

Even as it rose, snarling, the demon's body was already a mangled mess. Judging by the demonic energy it radiated, it was top-grade—perhaps even holding a title as high as Knight.

"So what? This is the Mindscape."

Here, I could draw out and wield the power I'd held before my regression. Which made me invincible.

"Some insolent wretch dares—my castle!"

"You're loud."

For the thing that had been wailing nonstop, I stepped into the footwork a few more times.

"Kieek!"

The first.

"Kyahak!"

The second.

The third.

From the third strike on, it didn't so much as scream. To be precise, it couldn't. The lightning had burned it dead.

"Tch. Lost control of my strength."

It had been a while since I'd last used the technique, and my touch had slipped. Done properly, I'd have knocked it around, let it recover, and repeated the cycle until it broke—but the fumbled control cut the game short.

'Still... the demon wasn't the end of it.'

I'd killed the demon, yet the scent of demonic energy still hung in the air. And it wasn't coming from this fortress.

'There's demonic energy on another fortress farther out, too.'

Just then, Gwanggaeto the Great finally smashed through the gate and poured into the fortress.

"Sweep them all away!"

"Uwaaaa!"

Once inside the walls, Gwanggaeto the Great and his army began carving through the garrison. And I watched it all from above, sinking into thought.

'First, I need to speak with Gwanggaeto the Great.'