The Demon King Sealed by the Stars
The Demon King's seal had been broken, and he had resurrected. However, it would take a long time for him to regain his full strength. Therefore, before he could fully recover, she had to plunge the Holy Sword into his heart and seal him once more.
That was the mission she remembered.
But if that were true, what on earth was this massive, ominous entity looming before her? How could a being that hadn't even regained its strength exude such a terrifying, malevolent aura?
— "!@#$%^"
It was a colossal skeleton wearing a crown.
Its overall skeletal structure resembled a human's, but it was far too massive to be human bone. Its ribcage was bloated to grotesque proportions, and its arms and legs were so bizarrely elongated that it almost looked like a crouching ape.
Inside that ribcage, a pulsating heart was visible.
Yet, what that beating heart produced was not blood. With every throb, surges of pitch-black energy spilled out, bleeding into the air.
'…I can't win this.'
She knew the moment she faced it.
Even if this thing hadn't recovered its strength, it was not an opponent she could ever hope to defeat. In the first place, did the concept of "strength" even apply to a being capable of shattering the world?
She had been naive. She should have become stronger.
If she had undergone bone-shattering training, if she had glimpsed the next realm of power, would she have been able to defeat this entity?
'What was I thinking…?'
Was it because of the title "Demon King"?
She had simply assumed it would be slightly stronger than the demons she had faced so far. It was an absurd delusion. That thing was no mere sovereign of the demon race. It wasn't some king seeking to conquer the nations of humanity.
'A demon god…'
That thing was a god.
The demons were nothing more than maggots spawning from its corpse. They were mere byproducts born from the black Demonic Qi that leaked out with every breath it took. To think she had dared to try and kill it. What on earth had she been thinking, bringing the Porter all the way here?
She had to run, right now.
At the very least, she had to take the Porter and escape.
"Porter, right now—!"
— "!@#$%^"
CRASH!
Before she could even finish her sentence, an immense force slammed into her. Like a nail driven into a solid wall, her body was blasted deep into the stone. Dust billowed around her, and the cracked wall crumbled down a moment later.
Physical strength. It was pure, unadulterated physical strength.
The colossal skeleton had merely swung its hand, yet her body, fully reinforced with mana, was violently rattled by the impact.
"Cough—!"
'The Porter…'
Even as her vision blurred from the excruciating pain, her eyes desperately searched for the Porter. Fortunately, he was already running away. The massive skeleton also seemed to focus its attention solely on her—the one holding the Holy Sword—showing no interest in a mere human porter.
She didn't resent him for fleeing.
If anyone knew he would only be a hindrance in this fight, it was him.
"Ugh…"
Gritting her teeth, she forced her body to move using mana.
An enemy of a caliber she had never even dared to imagine. Yet, it hadn't killed her in a single blow. Not because it lacked power, surely. That attack felt more like the rough, clumsy flailing of someone who had just woken up.
But regardless, it meant she wasn't so weak that a single gesture would turn her to dust.
In that case, she could escape. She swung her blade, coated in Sword Force, and dashed toward the door. The giant hand swept down toward her once more, but since she was prepared, she managed to dodge it by a hair's breadth.
'What kind of bones are these to withstand Sword Qi…?'
These bones wouldn't even take a scratch unless she used Sword Force. The way it swung its hands mindlessly, as if trying to swat a bug, was terrifyingly threatening. Perhaps the only saving grace was that its trajectories were simple. Like that, she somehow managed to escape the Demon King's chamber—
— "!@#$%^"
"…Huh?"
The Demon King, crawling on its massive, elongated limbs, began to pursue her with a sickening clatter. It was coming out of the chamber.
'It could leave?'
No. Of course, there had never been any guarantee that it couldn't leave that room. But the atmosphere had suggested as much. The way it sat there, flailing its long arms, made it look to anyone like a corpse rotting away inside that chamber. That was why she had thought she could run.
'Wait, if this keeps up, the Porter will also—'
A cold dread washed over her.
What if she ran like this? What if the Demon King kept chasing her? What if she met up with the Porter again? And what if she failed to stop the Demon King and died?
Would the Demon King simply turn back and leave the Porter alive?
Not a chance.
Right now, it was pursuing her because she held the Holy Sword, but it wasn't hard to tell that this entity harbored a deep, fundamental malice toward life itself. It would undoubtedly slaughter everything in its sight.
'I can't run.'
She had to kill it. Here. Was it possible? If not, then… she had to die.
At least, somewhere out of the Porter's sight.
She had to buy enough time for the Porter to escape, and then die inside this Demon King's Castle.
'…No. Stop thinking so weakly. I can win. I am… the Hero.'
Win. Kill. Plunge the Holy Sword into its heart. Seal it. Focus only on that.
Yes. After all, she had come all this way to defeat the Demon King. Do what she came to do. Do what must be done.
She could do it.
Because she was the Hero.
— "!@#$%^."
"Ugh, you're just a pile of bones—!"
Sword Qi Condensation: Sword Force. She swung her Sword Force, slicing at the hand lunging toward her. With a clatter, a single finger fell. She had aimed for a clean cut, but it was closer to shattering it.
The bone fragment on the ground vibrated violently on its own before turning black and dissolving into nothingness.
As if it were nothing, the Demon King snapped off the tip of one of its ribs and attached it to the broken finger. The action was so utterly casual and defenseless that it was almost absurd.
Seizing the opening, she tried to lung inside to inflict a deep wound, but—
"—"
A sudden, chilling goosebumps broke out over her skin, and she scrambled backward.
The Demon King's hand, now augmented with the rib bone, was enveloped in a pitch-black, malevolent aura as it slammed down toward her. The ground where she had stood shattered with a deafening roar, sending countless stone shards flying into the air.
It was using mana—no, Demonic Qi.
And to think its physical swings alone had been threatening enough.
'How the hell am I supposed to beat something like this—?!'
Her Sword Qi lacked the power. Her Sword Force had the power, but its range was too short to reach the Demon King. Meanwhile, every single one of the Demon King's attacks was fatal.
It was a horrifyingly unfair fight.
And just as despair was about to take hold, a voice echoed from the end of the corridor.
"—Hero!"
"Huh?!"
The Porter? Why?
Hadn't he already run away?
. . .
"Ah, ah…"
The dream. She had to remember. She couldn't forget. Demons, Demon King's Castle, the Porter, the Demon King, Sword Force, Demonic Qi, the Porter, the Porter, the Porter—
She must not forget.
Ah. Right. There was the notebook her sister had bought her. It should be right by her pillow…
"Before I forget…"
Porter, Demon King's Castle, skeleton, finger… (…)
She scribbled down whatever came to mind in a chaotic rush.
She forcibly pinned down her fading memories onto the pages. First words, then sentences. The fragments she managed to grasp quickly were nailed to the paper, slowly connecting to form a concrete memory.
Yes. That's how it was.
She had run because there was no way she could defeat the Demon King, then she heard the Porter's voice, and then—
'…What happened next?'
"Ah…"
A soft sigh escaped her lips without her realizing.
Fearing that the memory would slip away with that breath, she quickly clamped her mouth shut. She read over the notebook again and again, carving the memory back into her mind.
So she wouldn't forget. So she wouldn't lose it.
So she would never forget that precious person again.
"I still can't remember his name…"
Why hadn't her past self ever called the Porter by his name?
If she had called him by his name even once, she surely wouldn't have forgotten it. Their childhood memories as playmates felt as distant as a dream within a dream, and in the face of those intense battles, there was never a day she had called him by his name.
Porter. Just, Porter.
She blankly murmured that familiar title under her breath.
'Porter, Porter, Porter…'
Perhaps she had slept too much. Feeling a slight dizziness, she stumbled to the bathroom and splashed water on her face.
'…Exactly the same.'
The reflection of S-Class Hunter Han Haneul in the mirror was identical to the Hero in her dreams.
Was it because it was a dream? Or had the traces of her past life carried over to this one? She didn't know.
If the appearance of one's past life truly carried over to the next—
'I wonder if the Porter was reborn too.'
Other worlds made known through the Gates. The billions of people on Earth. Among those countless worlds, countless planets, and countless people, maybe—just maybe—there was a chance she could meet him again.
She entertained the thought for a brief moment before shaking her head.
There was no way such miraculous luck existed. Yes. A dream was just a dream.