Chapter 31 - The Red Sword (1)

1

No one knew.

No one knew why, precisely when, or where it had appeared.

It sought no one's understanding of its existence.

["You pitiful creatures."]

Only, whenever it appeared, red rain fell.

["You who do not see humans as human."]

Where rainwater fell, blood soon flowed.

["Born human, you devour other humans. Do you console yourselves by calling it humanity's fate? I shall call it the karma of wild beasts. What reason have I not to slaughter wild beasts this day?"]

The rain of nightmares.

It was when I had deliberately let the general NPC kill me on the eleventh-floor stage. I had glimpsed his trauma. In that nightmare, the general had been screaming.

And not only the general, but countless other humans.

["Retreat!"]

["The rain... again..."]

["Flee somewhere the rain doesn't fall!"]

The small nations on the frontiers fell first.

Then fell the great nation that had united them.

Other small nations, which had held out using that great nation as their rampart, collapsed without a sound. With every nation's fall, humanity's territory shrank a little more. With every royal dynasty's demise, humanity's history grew a little shorter.

Only the rain fell.

["Somewhere the rain doesn't fall..."]

The rain fell.

["It's over. This is the end."]

The rain fell.

["O Goddess, do not forsake us..."]

And the rain fell.

Humanity's steadily shrinking territory had dwindled to a mere handful, and its steadily shortening history had dwindled to a single page.

The chroniclers used their worn quills sparingly. In silence, the civil officials accepted their fate: to write with their own hands, on the final page of the history books, the words, "And thus humanity perished."

For only one empire remained on the continent now.

["You pitiful creatures."]

The master of nightmares.

The king of all monsters.

And so the last chroniclers gave it a name.

["Be swallowed by your own malice."]

Demon King.

2

The rain fell.

Light shone.

Rain poured down to earth, and light soared into the sky.

The light of the holy sword I had drawn pierced the crimson storm clouds.

"Oh..."

Where the light shone, the drops of blood ceased to fall.

Their faces drenched in blood, the soldiers looked up at the sky.

The rain had stopped.

"O Goddess..."

That was all.

Only the red raindrops had stopped.

Not even all the rain had ceased.

It had merely stopped where the holy sword's light shone.

A small pause. A small light.

"The Goddess..."

"Our deity protects the empire!"

But sometimes, something small was enough.

So it was for humans who had nothing but small things left.

To the people of the empire, territory meant the handful of land they had left. History was merely the final page, yet to be filled. The kingdom's common people knew it, as did its soldiers and generals, its lowliest officials and highest dignitaries.

Everyone knew, and that was why there had not been [a single] NPC in the audience chamber.

Because the chancellor had abandoned governance.

Because the supreme commander had abandoned the army.

Because the Imperial Guard no longer guarded the emperor.

Because the knights no longer fulfilled their knightly duties.

An empire everyone had abandoned.

That must have been why the Tower had chosen the empire as its stage.

Just as the children everyone had abandoned had been laid to rest in a certain mansion on the tenth floor.

"Stand up!"

The Black Dragon Witch shouted.

One by one, the soldiers braced their knees and rose. One pushed himself up with a hand against the wall. Another barely managed to stand by leaning on his spear. Another took a comrade's hand and pulled him to his feet.

"Stand up!"

The Witch commanded the soldiers to become the empire's final wall. Yes. They would be a wall. Just as a person's shout strikes a wall and echoes, her shout passed among the empire's soldiers and echoed.

"Stand up!"

"Her Excellency the Chancellor is here! She stands with us!"

"The founder's sword protects us!"

And so the wall became a wall, the spears became spears, and the soldiers became soldiers.

"Stand up! Hurry, get up!"

"What disgraceful behavior before Her Excellency!"

The adjutants went about slapping soldiers on the back. The soldiers snapped to their senses and adjusted their helmets.

Scarlet raindrops trickled from the edges of those helmets. But the drops no longer obscured the soldiers' vision. The empire's soldiers looked straight ahead.

"Whew..."

The Witch let out a quiet sigh.

The black aura rising from her body gradually subsided. Had she pushed herself a little too hard using it? Alongside the red raindrops, a few clear beads of sweat dotted her forehead.

"... What?"

She turned toward me.

"Never seen a Ukrainian give a speech before?"

"Uh..."

"We've got a lot of commies back home."

The corners of her mouth lifted slightly.

Only belatedly did I realize she was smiling.

"I hate communists, but they do know how to give a speech. There's something to learn from them."

"Pardon?"

"... Never mind."

Her face went blank again. The corners of her mouth dropped. What? I had no idea what the Black Dragon leader meant.

"No, see..."

The attendant spirit slipped into the conversation.

"I think she's just embarrassed her dad joke fell flat."

'Huh? That was a joke?'

"I don't know. That's the impression I get. But if you react the way you just did... No, forget it. Zombie, don't ever join an organization and try to socialize with your boss. Just stick to being a hunter, like you are now. Got it?"

I had no idea what he was talking about.

But even if I didn't understand, one thing was quite clear.

"Kim Gongja, what are you going to do now?"

Thanks to the Witch's speech, the tide of battle had turned, however slightly.

"We'll need to hold out on the walls for now."

"That's right."

I stared hard at the red horizon.

Countless monsters surrounded the Demon King. The Witch's S-rank skill was Instant Teleportation. But even if she teleported me there, there was no guarantee the Demon King would be the one to kill me. The monsters would probably surround and kill me in the blink of an eye.

First, I needed to set up a one-on-one confrontation with the Demon King.

"We need to bring in the hunters while the soldier NPCs hold out. Then we won't be pushed back. If the Demon King commits more monsters to force his way through the walls..."

"If he does?"

"Teleport me right in front of him."

The Witch stared into my face.

"A commando raid, then."

"Yes."

"Are you planning to die?"

It was a natural suspicion.

I was still only an E-rank hunter. I didn't know how powerful the Demon King was, but if a mere E-rank could cut off his head, the continent would never have fallen in the first place.

Outnumbered. Outmatched.

No description could fully convey how badly the odds were stacked against me.

But to me, death did not mean defeat.

"I'm planning to win."

My deaths were steps leading to victory.

"I've got an ace up my sleeve, too. Trust me."

"..."

The Witch sighed.

"All right. As you said, every hunter has a secret. I hope your blade is sharp enough to work on that boss monster."

Of course, that was the plan.

"What an amusing little trick, Goddess."

It happened then.

"Even allowing for your final desperate struggle, it is laughable indeed. Light? What use is light to those who do not harvest tomorrow's grain? Have you become pitiful yourself, comforting those pitiful creatures?"

The Demon King's voice swept across the battlefield.

"Then I, too, shall show you light."

A deafening roar rang out.

The Witch and I had not let our guard down. We had kept watching the Demon King's movements. That was how we knew what had caused the roar.

It was a sword.

Slowly.

On the distant horizon, the Demon King slowly swung his sword. Time seemed to slow. A different time seemed to flow through his sword than through us. And so it seemed the sword sought only to cut time itself.

But the Demon King's sword cleaved the sky, not time.

By the time it cleaved the sky, the sword strike had already become a single beam of red light.

The beam aimed precisely at the gate and pierced it.

An enormous explosion sent a storm of dust rushing toward us.

The Witch and I instinctively squeezed our eyes shut. While our eyes were closed, dust blanketed everything around us, and screams rose from beyond that veil. Soldiers' screams. Then came the sound of something collapsing.

A little later.

"Hgh, cough...!"

Once the storm had subsided a little, we turned toward the screams. Dust stung our eyes painfully, but our horror was greater than the pain.

After a dry cough, the Witch murmured,

"... Are we sure he's really weakened?"

The empire's gate lay in ruins.

The Demon King sneered.

"You pitiful creatures."

Red rain poured through the dust-choked sky.

His laughter mingled with the dust and drifted through the sky, mingled with the rainwater and flowed across the ground.

From sky to earth, his mockery echoed.

"Do you still call yourselves an empire?"

3

The gate was not the only thing that had collapsed.

Even after smashing the gate, the red beam had continued far beyond it. Streets were crushed. Buildings lining both sides of the broad avenue were pulverized. At last, even the imperial palace towering at the avenue's end was engulfed by the beam.

KABOOOOM!

Part of the palace collapsed. Like a ship sinking after striking an iceberg, the splendid palace listed. Then... it slowly sank down.

Far away, I heard the sound of the empire's palace being destroyed.

[One Hero has died.]

Close by, a voice rang out.

[He is not the Demon King's minion.]

A voice announcing a death.

"..."

My ears felt muffled.

The Witch and I looked at each other briefly.

"... That was where the audience chamber was."

She spoke first.

"The Sword Star, Inquisitor, and Viper should have left the chamber by now. They'll be coming here, leading the knights or the Imperial Guard. The Paladin will be busy searching for the emperor on your orders. That leaves..."

The Count.

"... Dying before the rest of us."

The Count had not been the Traitor.

"You bastard."

The Witch muttered quietly.

That was all.

She did not send her comrade off with many words. Instead, she shook her head a few times. I wondered whether this was her own way of saying goodbye, of shaking off a comrade's death.

"Black Dragon leader. If the Count really has fallen in battle, then our connection to the outside world..."

"For now."

She spoke softly.

"For now, let's focus on what's in front of us."

The hunter said to be the second strongest in the Tower simply stared.

At her quarry beyond the horizon.

"Even the Demon King can't keep firing attacks like that. Kim Gongja, help me defend the ruined gate."

The red dots on the minimap changed.

The monster army had been approaching in a broad line, like an ocean wave. That changed. The red dots sharpened into a point, like an awl.

Were they attempting a breakthrough?

"Yes."

The awl was aimed at the gate.

At the gap the red beam had torn open.

"I was thinking the same thing."

I took the Witch's hand.

She nodded.

"Teleport."

We moved to the ruined gate.

KRRRRK!

KREEK, KEE! KIKIK!

GROOOOAR!

The monsters had already surged almost right up to us. Arrows flew—the archers atop the walls were firing. But they were not enough to halt the red tide. Goblins, orcs, skeletons, every kind of monster came charging, howling like beasts.

Barely more than two minutes remained before the first wave reached us.

"Zombie."

I heard the attendant spirit's voice.

"Even a minute will do. No, thirty seconds is enough."

Dozens, hundreds of monsters burst through the dust cloud.

And dozens, hundreds of times that number were approaching behind them, kicking up dust.

"Hold them off alone."

No allies stood in front of me.

"If we're going to win this war, you have to become a source of hope for them."

And so I stood alone on the front line.

"Hold them off alone. Even thirty seconds is enough. What matters is showing them that you're stopping those monster bastards all by yourself. A hero isn't someone who survives for thirty years. When everyone desperately needs thirty seconds, the person who gives them those thirty seconds is a hero."

I dropped my backpack to the ground.

"Become a hero."

I took a glass bottle from the backpack.

The apothecary who, far in the future, would be called the Alchemy Ministry Head.

A glass bottle containing her elixir.

"I'll help you."

One gulp. Two gulps. Three gulps.

I poured every drop of the elixir down my throat.

"I promised to teach you swordsmanship until the twentieth floor, didn't I? It's a little early, but it's time for a practical lesson."

THUMP.

My heart beat.

"Plant your rear foot at an angle."

My heart pounded at one-second intervals.

"Plant your front foot straight on the ground."

My heart beat faster and faster.

"Now look straight ahead."

I looked.

"There are two goblins at the very front. Their eyesight is poor to begin with, but the dust cloud has them squinting now. That makes them instinctively swing their swords wide. They're hoping to land a hit wherever the enemy might be. Thrust before they swing."

My heart grew faster and faster.

And the one-second intervals grew slower and slower.

"Your holy sword is only good for shining, but it's perfect for robbing them of their vision. In a fight, an absolute second doesn't matter. Only a relative second does. Blind your opponent with your sword and steal a second from them."

And so my second was a little faster than my heart.

"Here they come."

My sword would be a little faster than my second.

"Let's go, partner."

The attendant spirit stood beside me.

"It's time to become a hero."

I swung my sword.