The End of Paradise (3)
Nanse-yeongung ().
‘It means that heroes are born in chaotic times.’
“...A hero, huh.”
Yeah, I know you guys want a hero.
But you sons of bitches, there’s a limit to how much you can push someone.
This isn’t right.
This place isn’t a chaotic world or a dark age; it’s just an Abyss.
Because it was truly a bottomless pit of despair, with no end in sight.
I was sinking deeper and deeper, endlessly.
My consciousness was fading, as if I were drowning.
In that muffled silence, there was even a moment where I felt a sense of warmth.
‘Hyunwoo, wake up.’
The voice of ‘that person’ echoed.
Master? Is that really you, Master?
Am I... dead?
‘Hyunwoo, wake up.’
Ugh, Master, isn’t this kind of dramatic entrance a bit outdated?
At my words, the voice grew stern with anger.
‘You crazy bastard. No, you crazy bitch.’
Did you contribute anything to my life?
‘I told you to become a hero, so what are you doing becoming a young lady?’
Ugh, I’m going to be a hero, okay?
I never said I wouldn’t.
‘Well, it’s not like you can’t be a hero just because you’re a woman.’
Right. Hearing you say the same old things, I know for sure you’re my Master.
Memories of the past flowed by like a stream.
‘Do you understand? Don’t just follow the path of Martial Arts, you must also seek the path of Chivalry.’
‘You said Chivalry is about justice.’
‘That’s right.’
‘But the dinner tonight was stolen from those hunters.’
‘Ahem. That, too, is Chivalry!’
‘Huh?’
‘Aren’t we fairly distributing the belongings of those who have plenty?’
‘...If you put it that way, is cutting off heads also making the living and the dead equal?’
‘Where did you learn to talk back, you little brat?’
‘Ouch!’
Hmm, the top of my head still aches from that hit.
Thinking back, it seems Chivalry didn’t matter much to him; he just cared about his own next meal.
‘That’s not true, you brat.’
Is it really not?
Master, do you want to read that line again?
‘...Now, it’s time for the hero to shine!’
With a feeling of being pushed from behind.
My muffled hearing snapped back into clarity.
Kwah-ang-!
“Arghhh!”
“Son of a biiiitch!”
“Save me!”
A cacophony of screams and shouts.
“Ugh... so this is reality.”
I inhaled dust inside the collapsed tent.
“Haa. Cough. Cough.”
Along with the excruciating pain that threatened to make me lose consciousness.
I realized I was still alive.
“To think an A-class would be this strong.”
I had been hit by a casual swing of Teramok’s arm.
I had been sent flying all the way near the gate.
To think I was sent flying just by being grazed by a swing, not even a direct attack.
It hurts my pride.
My ribs must be broken, as that familiar pain flared up.
“It hurts like hell... ugh.”
Every time I moved or breathed, the pain surged.
“So, this is my fate, huh? To die in the Tower.”
That was the catchphrase of ‘that person,’ my Master.
‘It is your fate to die in the Tower. Suppress your killing intent and calm your heart.’
I tried my best, you damn old man!
No, actually, I tried very, very hard.
It was so difficult.
But I endured it.
But this isn’t right.
You said so yourself.
Problems are meant to be solved, and the Tower is meant to be climbed.
That as I climb, I’ll get stronger, and the problems will disappear.
You said that.
I stood up, feeling my ragged, sharp breathing.
As I rose, a bone-chilling cold washed over me.
It was because I had lost too much blood.
Staggering, I cleared away the debris of the tent, and the entrance where people were flying about came into view.
“Damn it...”
The situation was nothing short of grim.
They weren’t blocking it; they were just sacrificing their lives to hold on.
A mountain of corpses proved that reality.
“Cough.”
Blood mixed with my coughing.
“This is... bullshit.”
“Judging by your tone, you’re alive.”
Cha Il-do, who had found me, smiled and handed me a potion.
Unlike his smiling face, his body was in tatters.
Cha Il-do handed me a small potion bottle.
“This is the last one.”
“...Mister.”
His right arm was torn off.
His head was covered in blood.
Yet, Cha Il-do’s expression remained calm.
“C-can’t we reattach your arm with this?”
Even a small, low-grade potion could sometimes preserve a severed limb if used correctly.
“If we carefully select and connect a few blood vessels, we might be able to save the arm...”
“It was eaten.”
Ah.
“Potions and all that are meaningless now, so don’t worry about my arm.”
I bit my lip and scanned the surroundings.
“By the way, where are Yeon Eunseo and Park Hyung-tae?”
“Oh, right.”
At my words, Cha Il-do shouted.
“Hey guys! Hyunseo is over here!”
At Cha Il-do’s shout, a man and a woman came running from afar.
Eunseo ran over and hugged me.
“Hyunseo, I thought you were dead.”
“You flew away like a piece of paper. I thought you were a goner for sure.”
“Yeah, I survived like a miracle.”
It seemed the tent had cushioned the impact.
As Eunseo hugged me tightly, a stabbing pain flared up.
“Argh.”
“Oh, I’m sorry!”
Eunseo, with a tearful expression, opened the lid of the potion bottle I was holding.
“Drink it quickly.”
“But...”
Besides me, everyone had plenty of minor injuries.
Not to mention Mr. Cha Il-do.
Yeon Eunseo and Park Hyung-tae were also in a sorry state.
“We’re official hunters, so we’re fine. But you’re not.”
“Yeah, if we don’t give it to an unregistered hunter, how could we live with the shame?”
Hyung-tae chimed in with a grin.
“And besides, looking at it, you’re more important than the three of us combined.”
At Park Hyung-tae’s words, I sighed and swallowed the potion in one go.
As I drank the potion, my lungs, which had been hurting like they were being stabbed, felt a little better.
“How much time is left?”
“13 hours.”
“Ha... still?”
13 hours is impossible.
They look like they can barely hold on for 3 hours.
They’ll all be dead before a few hours pass.
No, in the first place, we could hold on if it weren’t for that Teramok.
If only that Teramok wasn’t there.
“...Wait a second.”
‘If there is a problem, you just have to get rid of the problem.’
It was an old hunter’s maxim and my Master’s teaching.
But, how do I get rid of the problem?
There is no hunter who can hunt that guy alone.
Even back in my days as the Dokhaengmawang, I chose to avoid it rather than hunt it.
It was a stupidly tough and annoying guy.
‘In the first place, we can’t form a strike team to run a raid in this situation.’
If so, I have to lure it away from the battlefield.
“That might be possible.”
Teramok isn’t very intelligent, so it will follow if I lure it.
If I can pull Teramok away from the entrance while blocking the Screen-ters.
It might be possible to hold out for the remaining 13 hours.
“W-we might be able to hold out.”
“What?”
“Really?”
“What are you talking about?”
“That Teramok guy, he loves human corpses.”
If so.
“We have to throw the corpses off the cliff to lure it!”
As I shouted, the rearguard near the entrance looked at me.
“If we lure Teramok and block the Screen-ters, we can hold out! We’ll lure Teramok with the corpses!”
As I shouted, chest pain followed immediately.
“Argh.”
A few hunters who caught on to my intent communicated with each other.
Lower-ranked hunters began moving the corpses to the opposite side of the entrance.
Fortunately, it seemed there were hunters who knew Teramok’s habits.
A strategy to hold out by using the corpses of our allies as bait.
It meant we had to lure Teramok even if we had to create more corpses if they ran out.
It was an act that was no different from doing something terrible to the deceased.
But it was far better than the entrance being breached and everyone dying.
“Horrible.”
“The inside of the Tower was always hell.”
“...Poor things.”
Cha Il-do stroked my hair with his one remaining hand.
“Ha, come to think of it, Mr. Cha Il-do is now a one-armed swordsman. Or a one-armed tanker?”
“Ahem.”
At Cha Il-do’s clearing of his throat, Eunseo and Park Hyung-tae said in confusion.
“Hyunseo...”
“Heh, our Hyunseo, you’re really not human, are you?”
“Why? A one-armed shield-bearer. It’s cool, isn’t it?”
At my words, everyone reacted with bewilderment.
Hmm, do other people have different sensibilities?
That person loved the story of the one-armed swordsman so much.
While we were talking like that.
Corpses began to pile up in the back.
Someone started luring Teramok with a corpse.
Kwooooo-
Teramok, so massive that the ground shook with every step.
Finally, its eyes turned away from the entrance and toward the corpses on the other side.
“It worked!”
“Oh, Teramok is...”
“Moving away from the entrance.”
“If this is the case, it might be doable.”
The moment everyone’s expressions softened, even if only slightly.
Along with another ominous tremor that shook the earth.
Kugugugung-
The ground began to split.
“H-here, it’s splitting?”
“Right below?”
The massive rock where the safe zone was located was splitting in two.
“What is this...”
“Ah...”
A new notification window appeared before everyone’s eyes.
“Why is a boss appearing here..?”
“This makes no sense!”
“Bosses were only supposed to appear in boss rooms!”
“Bullshiiit...”
My strength left me in an instant.
Is this playing with us?
That no matter what we do, we’re going to die here today.
That not a single person can get out.
That this is an unbeatable quest.
It felt like it was declaring exactly that.
While I was staring at the rising Oblite with a bewildered expression.
A sound of air being sliced could be heard.
Followed by a horrific sound, like a leather bag bursting.
Puck-
Countless tentacles flying from Oblite’s back were piercing the hearts of the hunters.
“Uh..?”
“E, Eunseo?”
“..!”
Nearly a hundred people fell in an instant.
And in between them.
Eunseo was included.
“Cough.”
Dark red blood poured from the mouth of Eunseo, who had been standing in front of me.
In her chest, there was a hole the size of a fist.
“...”
I drew my sword without a word.
Yes, the Tower is that kind of place.
Whenever I tried to hold onto something.
It would snatch it away, as if to say it would never allow it.
If I got food, I had to break a bone somewhere.
If I was lucky enough to get an item, I lost a comrade.
Like Sisyphus, unable to escape the cycle.
I am nothing more than a cursed human who forever loses what I hold in my hands, screaming and searching for the blade.
A low, gloomy voice echoed from somewhere.
Were you worried that your paradise would be destroyed?
Now that paradise no longer exists.
There is nothing to worry about, is there?
The misfortune you so desperately wished for is here.
“Stop it! You sons of biiiitches!”
Just as I was about to jump out.
Mr. Cha Il-do grabbed my hand tightly.
At the same time, the whispering voice vanished.
“You can’t jump in to die, Hyunseo! Don’t lose your mind on the front lines!”
“Hiccup.”
Tears burst out in an instant.
“Eunseo. Eunseo.”
“I, I’m not dead yet...”
Eunseo, who had fallen, smiled weakly.
“Hyunseo. This is the first time I’ve seen you cry.”
“W, we only lived together for a month, so don’t act so high and mighty.”
“Yeah, we were all going to go together. Why are you sorry, you fool?”
“Yeah, that’s right. What...”
“Still, I...”
Eunseo’s mouth, which was about to say something, stopped.
Park Hyung-tae, who was kneeling, held Yeon Eunseo’s hand tightly.
“I’m sorry because I’m weak. I’m sorry.”
Listening to Park Hyung-tae’s voice.
I stood up from my seat.
“...”
“Hyunseo.”
“Hey. Kang Hyunseo, no. You stay here...”
The sword I drew glowed blue for the first time in a while.
‘A blue light, huh.’
They said it glows when you have a noble heart.
Something about sacrifice or whatever.
Come to think of it, ‘that person’ had also said something similar to Mr. Cha Il-do.
‘We call the heart of laying down one’s own for the sake of others sacrifice.’
‘So what?’
‘Even if it looks foolish, it is the first step that separates humans from beasts.’
Of course, that was just a ploy to steal my food.
Well, it wasn’t much different from Mr. Cha Il-do’s words in the grand scheme of things.
Just as hunters are different from monsters because they are here to protect those outside.
My challenging the impossible for the sake of others is also different from simple combat.
The sword I received after clearing the Tower of Earth.
It emitted a bright blue light.
I walked toward Oblite, step by step.
I’ll kill you, and I’ll end this before Eunseo is beyond saving.
“If the price is my life, you can take it as much as you want.”
Because that’s something I’m giving you.
“But you won’t be able to take what I was trying to protect.”
As the glowing sword swung.
A thick tentacle pierced through my heart.
[Inheritance Quest – Proving Strength (Complete)]
[Hidden Class Inheritance Process Initiated]
[Notification: Extreme Quest Cleared]
[Notification: EX-class Body Acquired]
[Notification: Hidden Class Acquired]
[Special Reward: S-class Safe Zone – Star’s Heart]
A flood of notification windows popped up endlessly.
Kang Hyunseo smiled, feeling her consciousness fading.
“That wasn’t... much.”
Dark nights are bound to pass.
The sun always rises again.
And darkness cannot defeat the light.
“It’s bright...”
Her lonely nights and endless despair.
Were sparkling so brilliantly.
“I’ll rest a little...”
As soon as Kang Hyunseo closed her eyes.
The fallen hunters stood up one by one.
Life Tower 1st Floor Cleared.
Clearer: Kang Hyunseo
“W-what.”
“Did that kid just catch the boss? Alone?”
“No, how on earth...”
“Ah, it’s a safe zone.”
As the desperate defense battle ended, people began to flock around Kang Hyunseo.
“I-is she dead?”
“Looks like she’s alive, right?”
“Skills are back! Supporters!”
Several supporters attached themselves around Kang Hyunseo.
Park Jungsoo pushed past the people and approached.
“Save her somehow. Does anyone have more high-grade potions?”
As healing skills and high-grade potions poured in.
Kang Hyunseo gradually regained her color.
“Ah, she’s alive!”
“Skills are working!”
“Pour more potions!”
The girl lying in the center of the bustling crowd had a faint smile on her face.
A faint, but unwavering smile.
This young child had not yet realized the meaning of that emotion.
But precisely because of that.
It looked miraculously beautiful.