104
104 ― As If They Were One
The child's appearance was a little different from what he remembered.
Black energy had invaded his skin like blood vessels, and his eyes showed no whites. The space where the whites should have been was stained black, resembling a demon.
But it didn't look uncomfortable.
His rock-like skin and tough muscles remained the same, and his sword-wielding posture was not awkward at all.
The look in his eyes as he stared straight at Jin-woo was no different from what he remembered. Neither was the will contained in those eyes.
"Are you the... Owner of that arm from the battlefield?"
Jin-woo asked. Instead of answering, the child silently raised his sword and took one step toward Jin-woo.
"!"
There had clearly been quite a distance, but it was closed with just one step. Jin-woo reflexively responded to the sword strike that shot out without even a blink of an eye.
'Heavy.'
The sword was heavy. How could such a small body possess such strong muscle power? Even though it seemed to be swung lightly, the burden on his hands felt like blocking a large chunk of metal.
After deflecting one strike, a second sword strike came. After blocking two, came a third. Even after enduring three, the child's sword strikes didn't cease.
'...It was like this in my memories too.'
It was exactly the same as the memories he recalled. The aspect of the fight might be different, but what he was doing was no different.
When day broke, he would raise his sword and wouldn't put it down until the sun set. There were even countless days when they exchanged sword strikes like dancing under the moonlight.
There was no sun or moon in this place. A place where you couldn't feel the passage of time at all.
In his memories, when the sun set or the moonlight dimmed, they would stop fighting because rest time was necessary.
Each time they briefly put down their swords like that, the child would make a very disappointed expression. As if he wasn't satisfied, even though he had already swung his sword for a long while.
So maybe that's why this space has no sun or moon.
[ You block well, as expected. ]
He was a little surprised by the voice that suddenly rang out.
The child had spoken. His voice was thicker than expected. A voice of someone around middle age.
It had a slightly cracked feeling that reminded him of dried and split rocks. It was very different from the youthful voice in his memories.
"What. You can talk?"
[ If it's words worth saying. ]
"So my question from earlier wasn't worth answering?"
[ There's no need to explain something you can tell just by looking. ]
The child spread his arms and showed the Erosion covering his body. That tattoo-like thing pulsed on its own as if it were alive.
Rondar. One of the twelve lords who accepted the seed of Erosion into his body.
The Erosion spread through his body was one of the deepest, oldest networks of Erosion. The source of those Erosions that always caused headaches.
However, as mentioned earlier, that appearance wasn't uncomfortable. He had already assimilated with the Erosion and was freely using it like his own energy.
"I heard that among the lords, there are some who reject Erosion..."
Some try to remove the seed of Erosion from their bodies or find ways to seal it.
But Rondar didn't look like that at all. Rather, he actively accepted the Erosion and wielded that power. In terms of type, he was similar to the God of Sky's type.
[ Foolish fellows. To reject an opportunity to enlighten themselves and head toward an even higher realm. ]
Opportunity?
"You're saying that if you handle that power, you can go higher than now?"
[ Of course. Isn't that something you know better than I do? ]
Those words were directed at Jin-woo, but also not directed at Jin-woo.
Rondar was seeing through Jin-woo's previous life through Jin-woo.
"What do you mean I know better?"
Rondar chuckled.
[ If you don't know, then there's no need for me to answer. ]
Rondar twisted up the clashing sword and struck it away strongly.
Power concentrated in an instant, making the already heavy sword strike unbearably strong. His sword struck away Jin-woo's sword as if cutting it off.
Clang―!
Jin-woo's sword was indeed cleanly shattered and flew away.
Jin-woo grimaced as if defeated and leaped back to create distance. Then he put the broken sword into his inventory and tried to take out another sword.
'Huh?'
The sword he was sure had broken was intact when he looked again.
What was going on? It had received enough pressure to break, and he had actually felt it snap. But the sword that should have broken remained in Jin-woo's hand in perfect condition.
It was like an illusion. This space, the opponent before his eyes, the fight itself - everything.
[ You've become weak. Sadly so. ]
But the fact that he had crossed swords with him was the truth.
Looking at Rondar, who threw provocative words, Jin-woo gripped his sword again.
"You've become shorter with words."
At Jin-woo's words, Rondar laughed. Pleased that the fighting spirit hadn't disappeared from Jin-woo.
***
They crossed swords for a long time.
But it was also very short, because time didn't flow in here.
The absence of sun and moon didn't simply mean it was his preference, but that time in this space was stopped.
How many times had his sword broken during that time?
At first, he counted them one by one. He tried to feel the passage of time through this, but at some point, he stopped counting.
Feeling the passage of time was meaningless. There was no need to count days in a space that was deliberately stopped.
Regardless of how many times his sword broke, Jin-woo continued to swing his sword at him.
'This time I'm the challenger.'
In his memories, Rondar was the challenger. He had challenged his previous life countless times and didn't stop until countless swords had worn away and disappeared.
Since Jin-woo was just recalling memories, it didn't feel real, but just how much time had passed?
How much time would it take for one sword to wear away and disappear, and how many hundreds, thousands of swords would be made and consumed like that?
The years felt through this indirectly were distant, but at the same time, there was something unfair about it.
'Mine breaks and his wears away and disappears.'
That difference was unfair. He had fought with his previous life and was defeated every time. But his sword never broke.
On the other hand, he challenged him, and his sword broke every time. Only the number of sword strikes he could receive differed, but it always ended with breaking - that didn't change.
Such combat continued endlessly. He had no idea when or how it would end.
Still, he had a goal for now. Not breaking his sword.
'If it just doesn't break, maybe I too can swing it until it wears away to nothing.'
That was his goal. It would be impossible in reality. His stamina wouldn't last until one sword wore away and disappeared.
But it might be possible in this space. So he set it as his goal. Hoping to recreate the battles in his memories, those days.
'...Was this how it was done?'
Jin-woo moved his sword while recalling his memories. No matter how much he possessed those memories, actually doing it was completely different.
Perhaps because of that, his own movements weren't very satisfactory. Much more crude and unrefined movements compared to himself in the memories.
Clang!
But even with just that, Rondar's sword was deflected much more easily. It was a little different from until now, when it would just break helplessly.
[ ...... ]
Perhaps Rondar felt it too, as his gaze became much more serious. What had changed was certainly very little, but it had definitely changed.
The sword that broke in one strike now endured two. Even when he tried to break it more forcefully, the sword flowed like clouds, deflecting his monstrous strength.
Two became three, three became four.
In the stopped space with no sunrise and no moon rising, only Jin-woo's sword was changing.
Just like in his memories.
***
"Ugh."
Jin-woo made a groaning sound and straightened his back. In the sky he looked up at, a bright moon was floating. He had no sense of how long it had been since he last saw the moon.
'Has my sense of time also become strange?'
How long had he crossed swords with Rondar down there? He wasn't sure since he hadn't counted the days. There wasn't even a sense of days passing to begin with.
The ground he had come up to was still at night. The 3rd floor's sky is full of stars.
In Jin-woo's hand was one sword. Not the white gem sword he originally favored, but an unfamiliar sword.
That huge sword Rondar had used to cut through the Moonlit Forest and the red cliff. His divine artifact which he had finally seized after crossing swords with him countless times in that stopped space.
―Hmph.
At the last moment. The guy who had his sword taken had an expression full of dissatisfaction.
He thought he might immediately spit out curses, but surprisingly, he didn't. No, rather than surprising, hadn't the Rondar in his memories also not had a foul mouth?
―In the end, that woman's prophecy was right. She said it would go round and round to find its master.
That woman?
He wanted to ask who it was, but there was no time. As soon as the words ended, his illusion crumbled to dust and disappeared. At the same time, that space also left no trace.
Jin-woo examined the sword in detail - the only thing remaining with substance.
It was a texture he had never touched in his life. Whether the material was unusual or the forging method was unusual, or maybe both.
In appearance, it was an ordinary sword, not much different from other swords, but the aura it naturally emanated cut through everything it touched.
He had thought the white gem sword Rona gave him and the sky sword Bulkar made were considerably famous swords, but this sword was incomparable to them.
He had even confirmed not just the craftsmanship but the actual performance.
'The sword that cut the red cliff like paper.'
It was a sword that had casually cut through a sword that remained intact even from Kalesian's breath. Of course, Rondar's swordsmanship was important, but the sword's own performance couldn't be ignored either.
'The name... I don't remember. Maybe it originally had no name.'
There was no name for this sword in the memories he recalled. He remembered everything from when the sword was made to wielding it, but he hadn't particularly given it a name.
'Should I call it the Nebula Sword?'
Since it was a sword forged with a star's core, that kind of name would seem fitting.
Now it was time to return. The liberation of the 3rd floor was successful, and Rondar's influence had all disappeared.
'I got other divine artifacts too.'
Not just the Nebula Sword, but several divine artifacts, so there was no reason to remain in the 3rd floor any longer.
There were still remaining temples, but there was no need to attack them.
However, before returning.
'Just one thing.'
There was one thing he wanted to check. Jin-woo took out the God of Sky's scabbard from his inventory.
A scabbard emanating Erosion energy, just like the Nebula Sword. He carefully tried putting the Nebula Sword into it.
'It fits perfectly.'
The two fit perfectly. It didn't simply mean they were the same size. The Nebula Sword was originally that huge sword that cut through the Moonlit Forest, so comparing sizes was meaningless.
The sword and scabbard matched as if they had been one from the beginning. Their energies are intertwined and connected to complete each other.
'So there was a reason he coveted the scabbard.'
Now he understood why Rondar had coveted and tried to obtain the God of Sky's scabbard.