The King's Hall
I spread my palm wide. Slowly drawing up my light power, a cluster of golden radiance flowed through my veins and pooled in my hand. Saaaah—. I condensed the cluster into a spherical form. Gripping the fist-sized orb of light as if holding a ball, I sharpened my focus. Lowering my upper body in that stance, I held my breath and waited for the man to enter striking range.
Though it was winter and the trees bore no leaves, the thick branches heavy with snow were tangled enough to conceal most of my figure. Like a cat perched atop a wall, I watched him quietly through the gaps between the branches. His expression was flushed with satisfaction, as though he had accomplished his goal. His arms hung loosely at his sides. His gait and gaze were relaxed and unhurried.
‘Yes, keep letting your guard down like that.’
It was human nature to loosen up and grow complacent once a battle ended. Because one thought it was all over. After slaughtering his party members, this Jin swordsman had also lost his vigilance. He was even humming a tune under his breath, utterly at ease, unaware of what awaited him. This was why they said complacency was a warrior’s most fearsome enemy.
‘Thanks to that carelessness, this should be easy.’
I intended to land a lethal blow with a preemptive strike. Thud, thud, thud. The man had entered range before I knew it. The instant his foot landed on the coordinate I had marked as the impact point, I hurled the orb without hesitation.
Shwaaak! The orb of light shot forward like a cannon shell and struck him squarely. Boom! The exploded particles of light scattered in all directions. Through them, the man’s figure sprawled across the snowfield came into view.
“Kuhk!”
Blood gushed from his mouth and stained the snow red. The left side of his upper garment had been torn away, and his left shoulder and forearm were drenched in blood. The once-white snow around him quickly turned crimson.
‘The destructive power is greater than I expected.’ This was the first time I had used a light-power bullet. In the previous run, even when I stacked restraint, freezing, and flame magic to attack him, I hadn’t been able to inflict a fatal wound. Yet this time the damage had landed properly—with a single light-power bullet.
“Krrk…… Damn…… it……”
Even while coughing up blood, the man gritted his teeth and pushed himself up from the ground. Once on his feet, he drew his sword.
“How dare a mere human brat lay a hand on me? If you had passed quietly, your life would have been spared. Yet you foolishly hasten your own death.”
‘If he’s coughing up blood, his insides must be a mess……’ Every time he used his muscles, his body would be wracked with pain. Yet he could still move his limbs. ‘So that energy is keeping him alive again.’
I could see the blue aura swirling around his entire body. At first I had only suspected, but now it was clear. That blue energy was undoubtedly an ability with physical-enhancement properties—one that dramatically boosted both defense and offense by elevating overall physical capabilities. An absurdly powerful force.
‘The energy offset the damage.’ Without that blue aura, the lethality would have been far higher. He might have been unable to stand, or his windpipe might have been nearly severed.
‘But……’
The blue aura now was noticeably weaker than it had been in the previous run. Before, it had resembled a raging river; now it was little more than feeble drips from a half-closed faucet.
‘Because of the light power?’ That seemed to be the case. There was no other difference between this run and the last. The light power I had just thrown had dealt a decisive blow, rendering him unable to restore his strength. What did that mean?
‘My power holds the advantage.’
The light power had overwhelmed the blue energy. The scales of martial prowess had tipped. The outcome was already decided.
I descended lightly from the tree to the ground. Supporting the space beneath my feet, I stepped softly onto the snowfield. The hem of my robe fluttered in the cold wind before settling with a soft rustle.
“We meet again, long-eared mister.”
“What? Long-eared? You insignificant human whelp, how dare you—!”
The killing intent in his eyes as he glared at me burned even hotter. Apparently “long-eared” was an insulting term to the Jin race.
“I’ll kill you!”
The man charged, eyes bloodshot, swinging his sword with lethal force. As a professional swordsman, his blade still carried considerable weight. Yet the swordsmanship that had once felt like a crushing mace now seemed small. My hand, already brimming with light power, released what it had been holding back.
Flash. Blue light and golden light. Two rays of different colors crossed in the air. The golden light tore through the blue and cut down the enemy beyond it.
Swish. Thud.
The bisected body collapsed. The man lay dead with his eyes open. In the moment his breath left him, had he seen the golden light cleaving his waist? The emotion frozen in his wide eyes was confusion—why he had fallen to a single strike from a mere boy. The question went unanswered as his life ended in an instant.
‘So he was this easy after all.’
He had seemed like an insurmountable powerhouse, yet now he looked like nothing more than a swordsman skilled with heavy-blade techniques. A faint sense of emptiness lingered, but it only meant I had grown that much stronger.
‘I should have asked what that blue energy was.’
His killing intent had been so thick that I doubted he would answer even if I asked, so I had simply finished him off. Now a twinge of regret surfaced. ‘He mentioned the Blue Sun Gate, didn’t he?’
One day, when I traveled the world exploring every form of magic and supernatural ability that existed, I planned to visit the Jin Realm and seek out the Blue Sun Gate. There was no hurry to resolve that question today.
“The orb is probably already in the long-eared mister’s possession……”
I flipped his upper body over and searched his robes. I was looking for the white orb he had taken from the pond in the cave. Because I had arrived late to the sixth room this run, I assumed the man would have already secured the orb by now.
And indeed—
“As expected.”
Inside a pouch on his person, I found the snow-white orb. I took it out. A pristine crystal imbued with a soft white radiance. It was the same orb that had floated in the pond.
‘In the end, it always ends up in my hands!’
Thinking back, the swordsman had probably killed his party members to monopolize this orb. He had likely left the party member alone in the second room because he expected travelers like me to finish them off anyway. I still couldn’t understand slaughtering one’s comrades over a single item, but it no longer mattered to me. Conversely, it only proved how extraordinary the orb truly was.
“I wonder if this light can be absorbed too?”
As I turned the orb over in my hands, a sudden curiosity struck. If my affinity with the light attribute was compatible, perhaps I could claim the light sealed inside the orb as well. Having already obtained light power, I felt confident.
The green door to the tenth room had appeared beside me, but satisfying this impulsive curiosity took priority. I plopped down beside the corpse. Snow continued to fall. If I stayed seated too long I would turn into a snowman, but I didn’t care. Such concerns were the last thing on my mind.
Would it work?
‘My hands are shaking.’
I placed my hand on the orb and closed my eyes. The moment I sensed the light within the sphere, I gasped in surprise. Without any special effort on my part, the white light inside the orb resonated with the light power already within me!
Startled, I opened my eyes without realizing it—and froze.
The scenery around me had changed completely.
‘What is this?’
The snowy forest I had been in moments ago was gone. The deep snow, the bare trees—everything had vanished. I stopped what I was doing and stood up, looking around.
‘Where am I?’
The place before me was a vast hall within a palace. There were carpets, windows, chandeliers, and ornate decorations, yet no soldiers stood guard. It was a desolate palace.
“Welcome to the palace, young mage.”
Even in this empty hall, a king was present. The owner of the voice, tinged with a hint of loneliness, was a young man seated upon the throne. My gaze instinctively went to his ears first. They were not pointed, so he was not Jin. He might have used transformation magic, but I sensed none of the clear aura unique to the Jin race. He was definitely unrelated to them.
He had called this his palace.
‘Come to think of it, every monster I met kept babbling about offering me to their lord.’ So that lord was……
“The master of the erosion is here.”
“Indeed. I am the sovereign who rules this world and the lord of every room. You are the first human to enter the King’s Hall, young mage.”
His eyes were murky and hollow. His frame was gaunt, like a skeleton draped in skin. He looked alive, yet not truly living.
“Fear not. I would hardly harm my first welcome guest after waiting so long.”
I realized, unconsciously, that I was genuinely feeling a sense of crisis. The gap between the king and me was on an entirely different level from any being I had encountered while traversing the rooms. The monsters that had charged at me, the Jin I had met earlier—they were nothing compared to the powerhouse seated on that throne. ……They were mere specks of dust.
‘I can’t gauge his level.’
Whether it was because my own skill was still shallow or because the king’s existence was simply too lofty, measuring his strength proved difficult. The only thing I could clearly perceive was the intense pressure that seemed to compress the very air in the room with his mere gaze. It was not a difference that could be explained by simple martial prowess. It felt as though some vast, intangible quality beyond human language composed the king’s very “existence.”
‘What is he? Neither living nor dead……’
Of course. A being who ruled over every monster in this erosion could hardly possess an ordinary identity. Yet my instincts told me something else: if the king so wished, he could take my life in an instant without lifting a finger.
However……
‘I sense no killing intent.’
Strangely, his words carried no scent of falsehood. If he truly intended to kill me, he would have done so already. On the contrary, I got the impression that he wanted to converse with me. Even if I died, I would regress automatically, so death held no fear. Since things had come to this, talking with him and asking what I wanted to know didn’t seem like a bad idea.
“Are you human or monster? What exactly are you?”
“A curious mage, aren’t you. What do I appear to be in your eyes?”
He had referred to himself as “what” rather than “who.”
“Someone standing on the boundary between human and monster.”
“At least that means I look human.”
The king let out a faint, almost imperceptible smile. There was a hint of satisfaction at my answer, yet also a self-mocking twist to it—a crooked smile.
“Well. Even I don’t know who I am anymore. I once had a name, but now I am called only King.”
My ultimate curiosity was directed at the source of the king’s power. I wanted to know what the unidentifiable force beyond my comprehension truly was.
“What is the power you possess? Magic? Some mystery?”
The king gazed at me with hollow eyes and spoke.
“Are you curious about my power?”
“……”
“No. The correct question would be whether you desire my power.”
“What if it’s both?”
“Human greed is drawn to great power by nature. Of course, what you possess seems closer to pure passion.”
I tilted my head inwardly. When it came to magic, I was greedier than anyone.
“Young mage. Then how about making a deal with me? If you grant my wish, I shall give you my former power.”