33
033 ― Dragon Sword
With the dragon's appearance, heaven and earth shook.
All the Magi in the world were being sucked into the dragon. Starting from it, the Magi of the 2nd floor were falling as if drawn by gravity.
I heard from Rona. Dragons are beings that inhabit the 5th floor, each individual forming an independent ecosystem of Magi like a star.
They don't actually have the massive mass of a real planet, but at least when it comes to Magi, it wouldn't be strange to call them the center of a star.
A world where dragons with absolute gravitational pull regarding Magi exist everywhere, forming complex ecosystems. That's what the 5th floor, accessible only to S-ranks, is like.
'She said that the ecosystem formed by multiple dragons is so complexly intertwined that it's difficult to even breathe without proper preparation.'
The soul of that dragon was summoned by Johan's call.
Since it's only a soul, it's not in perfect condition. It lacks a strong body and a deep mind. That thing, being merely a soul, couldn't even exert half the power it had in life.
But even with less than half its power, it was twisting and warping the entire 2nd floor.
Kugugugugugu―!
Looking at the world madly convulsing, overturning, and rotating, Johan, floating in the sky, let out a rough laugh.
"My victory."
A bold declaration of victory. But who would call it that, arrogance?
In this mere low floor of the 2nd floor, there is no one who can face the soul of a dragon. Even if the E-rank before his eyes is an existence beyond the norm, that won't change.
If it had been an original soul rather than an eroded one, it would have been certain.
Chwaak―!
Jin-woo drew his sword through the empty air, covered in black energy. The energy that had been spreading like thick bundles of thread was easily cut like spider webs when it touched Jin-woo's sword.
"!"
Johan flinched at the sight of the erosion energy, which should be dozens of times harder than ordinary Magi, being simply cut.
Though he had definitely sensed victory, an inexplicable anxiety raised its head. And that anxiety became reality when Jin-woo's sword reached the dragon.
Chwaaaaak―!
Following the trajectory of Jin-woo's swing, ice energy spread like a whip, slashing the dragon's wing.
"Impossible...!"
Johan was shocked on the back of the dragon that had lost its wing. Certainly, the power dwelling in that blue jeweled sword is extraordinary.
But even so, there should be limits. No matter how strong a sword is, to intercept a dragon's wing in one strike?
Since it was a soul, it didn't crash just because it lost one wing, but its power was greatly diminished. What was worse was that the enemy before his eyes was absorbing that diminished power.
"It's the first time something doesn't shatter in one strike."
Jin-woo was also surprised by this first-time experience. Should I call it a dragon indeed? I definitely cut it properly, but it was the first time flames weren't severed in one stroke.
But if once doesn't work, I'll just cut twice, three times.
Before Johan and the dragon could take any countermeasures, Jin-woo's second and third strikes were faster. The divine power contained in the blue jeweled sword faithfully reproduced Jin-woo's swordsmanship, tearing the dragon's soul to shreds.
"Ugh, uaaaaaaah!"
In the empty air where snow and ice sword strikes danced wildly, Johan fell alone. The dragon's soul had long since been dismantled. Its power flowed into Jin-woo through the sword.
That was truly...
'Huge.'
There was nothing else that came to mind except the expression 'huge'. The size of the flame, its presence, its overwhelming caliber.
It was larger, more distant, and more vast than any soul Jin-woo had absorbed so far. Even though the battle wasn't over yet, Jin-woo felt like he might lose his mind.
Painful, hot, cold, crushing. Every imaginable pain struck Jin-woo.
[ The blessing of the God of Ice Valley... ]
The reason he didn't lose consciousness was thanks to the divine blessing of working hard.
That didn't mean the divine blessing alleviated Jin-woo's pain or anything. The blessing was simply keeping Jin-woo from losing his mind.
In the end, Jin-woo had to accept the dragon's soul right there in his body, which couldn't even faint.
'Kuk...!'
Even wanting to scream, his mouth wouldn't open. Sometimes it felt like molten iron rods were being forcibly shoved into his spine, and sometimes it stung like being struck by lightning seven times in succession.
[ Memories of past life surface. That sword will covet all the Magi in the world. ]
But at some point, all the pain disappeared like a receding tide.
'How much time has passed?'
Enduring the pain that felt like eternity, he had no sense of time at all. With rough breathing, Jin-woo looked ahead.
"Uaaaaaaaah!"
Raising his head, Johan was falling from above. Not even enough time had passed for him to hit the ground.
Thud! Johan immediately fell, and dust clouds rose.
Jin-woo was surprised that it was much shorter than expected, and at the same time relieved.
If he had received Johan's attack during that situation, he would have been helplessly hit.
[ The God of Ice Valley urges. Keep your promise. ]
Jin-woo approached Johan, who had fallen to the ground. Step, step. Hearing his footsteps, Johan got up in terror.
"St-stop! Stop!"
No matter how dumb Jin-woo is, he at least knows the English word 'stop'. But he didn't stop. He raised his sword and stabbed Johan's flame.
"Kheuk―!"
Light quickly faded from Johan's eyes, and his flame writhed. As usual, that flame should have been absorbed into Jin-woo through the sword... But it wasn't.
The writhing flame stuck viscously to the sword and wouldn't return to Jin-woo.
Was it thanks to that? Johan wasn't completely dead yet, either.
"Ugh... Ah..."
Of course, it wasn't a normal state. He lost focus in his eyes, and dirty saliva foamed at his mouth.
Then the blue jeweled sword shone, and a huge ice door appeared on the floor where Johan lay.
On the pure white ice door, murals were carved depicting all kinds of races endlessly suffering and writhing in pain.
[ I am the Lord of Snow and Ice. ]
'Lord?'
Didn't you say you were a god?
[ As that name suggests, I symbolize snow and ice, and govern the frozen past and winter of reincarnation. ]
The expression 'winter of reincarnation' was unfamiliar. But looking at the context of the current situation...
'A god of death, no, a lord then.'
Creeeek― The door on the floor opened.
"Ugh... Aaaaaaaah!"
Johan, who had fallen from the sky to the ground, fell even further down from that ground.
Jin-woo glanced down, but couldn't see the end of the floor below the door. Even though he didn't have acrophobia, just looking made his mind dizzy.
[ It's dangerous to look any further. ]
Creak, the door closed again.
The closed door disappeared as if it had never been there, leaving only the broken floor.
Normally, when a Hunter dies, their inventory bursts and spills out all their possessions, but there was no such thing. It seemed like everything was taken along as a bonus.
However, there was one thing left: Johan's Ego Sword that had deployed the wind spirit.
"Haah..."
Jin-woo collapsed to the floor with a thump.
Only then did he notice that the blue jeweled sword he had been holding until just now had also disappeared. It seemed to have disappeared along with the door.
'It's over.'
So many things had happened.
Time-wise, it wasn't much. From when he was attacked by the controlled Cheon Ju-hyeok until now, not even half a day had passed.
But in that half day, the labyrinth was destroyed, a dragon's soul appeared, one S-rank died, and he briefly glimpsed the divine realm. No, was it called Lord, not God?
With his legs giving out, Jin-woo lay sprawled on the floor and regulated his breathing while examining his own flame.
The flame he naturally thought would be tremendously enlarged was, surprisingly, even smaller.
The flame that had grown considerably by absorbing hundreds of Elf souls during Tokyo's erosion was now only the size of a child's fist.
But he could feel it. The quality of the flame had completely changed.
'It's almost like it molted or something.'
Fire and molting were completely mismatched word combinations, but that was the only expression that came to mind.
After examining his own flame like this, something suddenly occurred to him.
'...I don't regret dropping Johan into hell.'
If Johan had been an ordinarily bad guy, he might have thought it was too excessive.
But Johan used Erosion. At that point, he had already gone off track. Erosion was humanity's enemy, the world's enemy, and the planet's enemy.
However, what he was thinking about was himself.
'You said I would deviate from normal reincarnation.'
According to the god's words, black mages who lose part of their soul deviate from normal reincarnation. They're supposed to suffer endlessly in hell or wherever until they rebuild what they've lost.
That was the price and risk of dealing with souls.
The Ego Sword that fell over there was also, in a way, an existence that had deviated from reincarnation. An Elf's soul that should have originally died and returned to the World Tree was trapped in a sword.
Erosion is the same. Souls devoured by Erosion cannot enter reincarnation and live for eons as slaves of Erosion.
Then what about those cut by oneself?
What exactly happens to souls absorbed after being cut by oneself?
'...'
What exactly was my past life?
Seeing how Rona and Shartia liked him, he thought it wasn't a bad past life. Even this time, didn't the wind spirit follow him?
But considering the ability to absorb souls, there could be no more evil existence.
The World Tree of the Elf world also similarly feeds on souls as nourishment, but the World Tree washes those souls with the water of oblivion and grants them new life.
On the other hand, I only devour. Just like the dragon that was devouring Magi earlier, merely greedily.
'If I find more memories and abilities, will I also remember the means to do something with the devoured souls?'
If I recall such means, then I'm a benevolent existence close to the World Tree; if not, then I'm absolute evil close to Erosion.
My past life, no, it's not about past life anymore. It was a matter of what kind of existence Kang Jin-woo would become.
Even if there were no such means in past life memories, I would have to find out somehow.
***
After a brief rest, Jin-woo got up.
He wasn't home yet. Since he was still inside the Gate, he couldn't rest carelessly.
Well, after seeing the recent battle, there probably wouldn't be anyone bold enough to approach this area...
"Is this an Ego Sword?"
Kiing―!?
When he picked up the fallen Ego Sword, the sword vibrated startledly and made a sound.
Looking at the sword's condition, Jin-woo frowned. More precisely, he frowned at Johan's behavior in handling the sword like this.
'Carrying it around with the bare blade without even a sheath, and wrapping it tightly with chains...'
Perhaps because of that, the sword blade's condition was terrible. It was scratched and scraped everywhere, with all its teeth missing. It wasn't at a level that could be restored with ordinary maintenance.
Kiing― Kiing―
The Ego Sword cried. It sounded like some fox going kiing kiing.
"Can't you speak because of the chains?"
The chains binding the Ego Sword weren't ordinary chains. They were chains with Johan's magic remaining.
This itself could be considered a type of magic item. Like the flower amulet Shartia had given to Jin-woo.
"Magic isn't something you can just cut recklessly."
The magic on the chains didn't use Johan's soul like what had suppressed Cheon Ju-hyeok. Strictly speaking, it wasn't black magic but just magic.
Though Johan's specialty was black magic, being a mage who had reached a certain level, he could apparently use this level of magic as a basis.
'It'll take some time to undo this, too.'
Since Jin-woo had no magical knowledge, he would have to find a mage specialized in such binding or restraint magic and request their help.
Moreover, to interpret and undo the magic of Johan, who was S-rank, would require a mage that powerful.
Finding such a mage is work, and making the request is also work. Usually, people of that caliber have their schedules packed tight.
'No, wait.'
Then something occurred to him. The ability he gained from cutting down the dragon's soul earlier.
[ Memories of past life surface. That sword will covet all the Magi in the world. ]
With that ability, maybe he could do something about one or two spells. Since he stole the dragon's power, let's call this ability Dragon Sword.
Jin-woo drew his sword, deployed Dragon Sword, and observed the phenomenon that occurred.