Chapter 59 - An Expedition Without Dreams or Hope (1)

1

In a restroom provided by the Great Library.

"Okay," I said after washing my face at the sink. "Before we go to Murim... let's start by dying once."

Silence settled around me. There were no other humans in the restroom, but there was one ghost and one sword. They reacted to my words.

"What the hell is okay about that?"

[Sparkle does not understand your intentions.]

The attendant spirit blinked his eyes, and the holy sword blinked its light.

"Lefanta Aegim. The empire's first emperor, the bastard who turned the Goddess of Protection into Sparkle."

[Sparkle points out that you were the one who named her Sparkle—]

"Whatever kind of guy he is, this means he can travel between worlds."

I put on my jacket. It was part of the tailored suit the Witch had given me before the press conference. Looking at my reflection, I resembled a new employee who had just finished getting ready for work.

The sight gave me a strange sense of psychological security.

"Think about it. Sparkle was in the Aegim Empire's world, right? But another sword is in Murim's world. That means Lefanta Aegim has [the ability to cross worlds]."

"Oh?"

"He's probably some ridiculously overpowered bastard."

I stroked the hilt of the holy sword at my waist.

"He's capable enough to establish an empire and strong enough to split a constellation apart and seal it. He can even cross into other worlds. Recklessly charging into Murim to find the holy sword's fragments isn't the answer."

I needed to be a little more cautious.

"I'm not invincible, either."

That was right.

Actually, lately... I'd been feeling a little nervous. Nervous about myself, perhaps? I worried that if I relaxed even slightly, my confidence might turn into arrogance.

"I've risen to third in the hunter rankings, beaten the Demon King almost single-handedly, and everyone in the city talks about me. Now I'm even giving orders to hunters with epithets."

"So what?"

"I feel like one wrong step could make me let my guard down."

The Tower had a hundred floors. I was merely a hunter who had barely reached the twenty-first. It was too soon to relax just because I was succeeding now.

'Even the Flame Emperor let his guard down and got hunted down by me.'

That was because he had [Regressor's Clockwork Watch], a skill that kept him from dying even when he died. A fucking broken skill with seemingly no way to counter it. But what had ultimately happened to Yoo Suha, the Flame Emperor who possessed that broken ability?

'He died.'

After dying, he'd even put on a full-blown Cossack dance in front of that world's armies.

He was an excellent example of why even the strongest hunter must never let their guard down.

"No, Zombie, that's more an example of you being a demonic bastard..."

"Anyway, I'm not jumping into [Chronicles of the Heavenly Demon] without a plan. I need to know what kind of guy Lefanta Aegim is first. Right now, I have absolutely no information."

Preparation wards off trouble.

Why was a fragment of the holy sword in Murim, of all places, instead of the world of the Aegim continent? What had that overpowered Lefanta Aegim been thinking, and what had he intended when he split the [Goddess of Protection] apart and scattered her pieces?

I wanted at least some basic information before entering the stage.

"Well, there's nothing wrong with looking before you leap."

The attendant spirit tilted his head.

"But exactly what are you going to prepare, and how? Like you said, you don't know anything about this Lefanta guy or whatever his name is. And there's no way to find out."

"You're right that I don't know anything. But..."

I tapped the holy sword with my finger.

"You're wrong that there's no way to find out."

"What?"

"Believe it or not, this sword is the [Goddess of Protection]. She may be split into five pieces, but she's still a constellation."

I grinned.

"Here's a question. If I stab myself with this sword, would that be suicide? Or would it count as being killed by a constellation?"

The attendant spirit's eyes went wide. His expression said the idea had never occurred to him.

"Huh? Huhhh?"

"It could be suicide, or it could count as someone else killing me. Let's call the odds fifty-fifty. I don't know which it'll be yet... but it's definitely worth testing."

SHING!

I drew the holy sword from its sheath. An urgent voice rang out.

[Sparkle earnestly begs you to reconsider, Hero.]

"Why?"

[Sparkle says that having someone else see her past is embarrassing and strongly demands that you respect her privacy.]

The corners of my mouth rose.

"Come on, what privacy is there between us? My private life is being broadcast live twenty-four hours a day, too. It's only fair."

[Sparkle begs you, please, don't—]

SHUNK!

The holy sword pierced my body.

The next moment, I knew my fifty-fifty gamble had paid off.

[You have died.]

[Your death fulfills the skill's conditions.]

[The Goddess of Protection's skills are currently sealed and cannot be acquired.]

It was a little disappointing that I couldn't copy a skill. But a skill wasn't what I was after right now.

[Your current hunter rank is D.]

[A penalty is incurred due to the skill.]

[The trauma of the enemy who killed you will be recreated.]

[Penalty depth: Medium. Realm of Hungry Ghosts.]

WHOOSH!

The scene I'd hoped to see unfolded before my eyes.

* * *

"At last, your long journey has ended."

A beautiful voice rang out.

"I knew you could do it, Hero."

I had never seen this woman before. Yet somehow, I immediately realized who she was.

The [Goddess of Protection], unsealed from any blade. A constellation in full possession of her power.

"Yes," answered the man she called Hero.

A silver-haired nobleman. Lefanta Aegim, the empire's first emperor, sat on a plain throne. With his chin resting on his hand, he looked somehow weary.

'So that's Lefanta Aegim.'

The man spoke.

"It feels like only yesterday that I was bewildered by my sudden summoning. Now I've become an emperor who unified the continent. You never know what life will bring."

"Hehe. It feels strange to me, too. At first, you were truly an ordinary person who knew nothing. Now you're stronger than I am. No, most divine spirits wouldn't even stand a chance against you—"

That was when it happened.

"Huh? What the hell?"

The attendant spirit, watching the trauma with me, spoke up.

"I've seen that bastard plenty of times before."

'What?'

"The silver-haired guy. No matter how I look at him, that's the Heaven-Slaying Star."

The attendant spirit sounded mystified. I was startled to discover that he and Lefanta Aegim knew each other.

'What's the Heaven-Slaying Star?'

"His epithet. He got it because he's a crazy bastard who specifically hunts down constellations and beats the shit out of them."

He beat up constellations?

"You've seen it yourself. The Tower connects to other worlds. Starting on the fiftieth floor, you even have to compete against hunters from those worlds."

'Oh, really?'

"Yep. And that [Heaven-Slaying Star] is basically a permanent fixture on the fiftieth floor," the attendant spirit said. "He never climbs the Tower like he's supposed to. He just holes up on floor fifty all day, then immediately takes out any constellation that happens to stop by. He's probably killed at least several hundred of them."

'... Then Lefanta Aegim is a hunter, too?'

"Yep. I always wondered which world had given birth to a lunatic like him. So the bastard was from Aegim," the attendant spirit muttered. "Never thought I'd run into someone from the old days here. Hah."

'Uh, what was your relationship with him...?'

"What do you think? We had one hell of a fight. He was strong, sure, but nowhere near my level."

Even as we talked, the trauma continued to unfold.

The Goddess of Protection spoke.

"What do you plan to do now, Hero? There are no divine spirits or evil spirits left to block your path. Your long journey is now—"

"Constellations."

"Pardon?"

"They're neither divine spirits nor evil spirits. They're constellations."

Lefanta Aegim rose from his throne.

"The world belongs to humans, not constellations."

Lefanta Aegim turned toward the goddess. Dark crimson aura blazed from the emperor's body.

"... Hero? Why are you suddenly using your aura—"

With his face steeped in weariness, the founding emperor seemed to deliberate.

Not for long.

"I won't kill you. You have helped me all this time, after all."

The red aura engulfed the goddess.

"I will split your existence apart and seal it. Then you will never regain your power. And once the constellations are gone..."

The rest was drowned out by a piercing scream.

The goddess's very existence was indeed being torn apart.

"I'm sorry," Lefanta Aegim said. "But this is the right path."

With the goddess's scream as its final sound, the trauma swiftly receded from us.

[Trauma recreation complete.]

[Confirmed that the subject's sense of self has been maintained.]

[Ending the penalty.]

* * *

"... What is this guy's deal?"

After returning to the previous day, I shut myself in the restroom again and muttered.

"I thought peeking into his past through the trauma might tell me what kind of guy he is... but I still don't know. Hey, Sparkle. Why did your old master seal you?"

[Sparkle dejectedly replies that she does not really know, either.]

The holy sword shone faintly.

Was it my imagination? Its light seemed especially dispirited.

[Sparkle confesses that the Lefanta Aegim she remembers was a taciturn but righteous Hero. She has no idea why he sealed her or why he turned his back on the empire he had founded and left.]

The mystery only deepened.

"I told you. The higher a hunter's level, the crazier they are."

The attendant spirit shrugged.

"Don't try to understand lunatics. Gaze into the abyss and you become the abyss yourself. Just get strong like me and beat the shit out of any bastard you don't like, Heaven-Slaying Star or otherwise. Problem solved!"

I sighed.

"True. Well, learning what he looks like is something, at least."

And one thing had become certain. Lefanta Aegim, also known as the [Heaven-Slaying Star], would turn hostile the moment he saw me, because I was carrying around a fragment of the Goddess of Protection he had sealed.

"Hmm."

I frowned at the mirror.

"If I'm going to meet him on floor fifty anyway, I'd like to prepare well in advance..."

"Forget it. With your current abilities, you wouldn't stand a chance! He's weaker than me, but he's still a master among masters. And if you've got time to worry about floor fifty already, go clear floor twenty-two, you weakling!"

"Ahem."

He wasn't wrong, so I quietly lived through the same day again.

The next day, after finishing the apocalypses, the hunters chose their 'twenty-second floor.' In part because none other than the Sword Star had recommended it, [Chronicles of the Heavenly Demon] was selected without trouble.

"Oh? You've chosen martial arts fiction as your first genre."

The Librarian watched our choice with a meaningful smile.

"Not a bad choice! Though it won't be exactly like the Murim you know, it is the same in that martial arts and a martial world exist there. Depending on how you steer the story, you may find a fortuitous encounter. You might master martial arts worth a fortune... or 'skills,' as you call them."

The hunters let out excited cries of "Ooh!"

The Librarian immediately threw cold water on their enthusiasm.

"However, everything follows the principle of high risk, high return! The characters who appear as your 'enemies' are correspondingly powerful. Naturally, if you enter an apocalypse and lose your life, you die for real. And of course, you cannot escape an apocalypse until you properly finish its 'ending'!"

The hunters fell silent.

Naturally. Unless you had an unusual skill like mine, death always had the power to shut people up.

"[Chronicles of the Heavenly Demon] allows two to four participants. Now! Who would like to become a character in this apocalypse?"

The hunters' eyes naturally turned to the highest-ranked hunters.

I drew particular attention. The reason was simple: over the past few days, I had been ordering and directing them as though I were their representative.

Power rightly came with obligations.

"I'll do it."

And I had no intention whatsoever of running from mine.

At my quick answer, the guild leaders smiled in satisfaction, as though they'd expected nothing less, while most of the hunters looked surprised.

"I will volunteer as well," the Sword Star said next. "The person who recommended this apocalypse can hardly sit it out."

His expression was solemn, but a faint smile lingered at the corners of his mouth. He was visibly itching to go. Perhaps, as a reader who loved martial arts fiction, he was happy simply to be entering a real Murim.

"Excellent. That fulfills the minimum number!"

The Librarian chuckled.

"You may bring two more people along as characters... What will you do?"

"As it happens, I had another reason for recommending this apocalypse."

The Sword Star immediately spoke with confidence.

"Everyone, take a look at the reason for discontinuation."

+

[Chronicles of the Heavenly Demon]

Genre: Martial Arts Fiction, Fusion

Difficulty: Rank B

Participant Limit: 2–4

※Currently discontinued.

Introduction: Murim. A world of those who revere martial prowess, wield it, and seek its ultimate heights! The Heavenly Demon appeared here and sought to unify Murim. The Demonic Cult rallied around the Heavenly Demon. Other factions opposed the Demonic Cult. They clashed over the fate of the world... or would have.

If a super plague hadn't suddenly broken out.

Reason for Discontinuation: An unidentified plague swept across the world, killing the Heavenly Demon. The Demonic Cult was wiped out. All other factions were destroyed as well. The end.

+

The reason for discontinuation was absurd no matter how many times I read it. It didn't even specify what kind of plague it was.

The apocalypse's text merely said, [A mysterious disease suddenly spread, killing the Heavenly Demon. Soon, everyone else died as well.]

We didn't know what, specifically, had happened.

'We'll only find out by actually entering this world.'

In any case, it was clear that an unidentified plague would destroy Murim.

The Sword Star nodded.

"As you can see, a plague destroyed this world. Naturally, we should bring not only powerful hunters but also a hunter well versed in disease. And I know one person whose knowledge of disease surpasses anyone else's."

With a smile, the Sword Star called someone out of his martial arts fiction group.

"Medicine King, would you come forward?"

A crotchety-looking old man walked out with his hands clasped behind his back.

Once again, the Sword Emperor recognized him.

"Ah! That guy!"

'Why? Who is he?'

"Come on, you know that shop. The one I tried to take you to at the beginning, Zombie. He owns the medicine shop old Markus uses all the time."

Aha. Of course.

"He does make good medicine. But, hmm... He makes it well, sure, but..."

The Sword Emperor trailed off.

No one knew the reason better than I did.

"Don't worry. I will do most of the fighting, and if I prove insufficient, Death King will help. Then, if this [Medicine King] resolves the disease, the three of us alone can handle this apocalypse... Death King, did you have something to say?"

The Sword Star, who had been speaking so confidently, gave me a puzzled look when I raised my hand.

"Ah, yes. There's one person I'd like to have come with me."

I lowered my hand to point at a hunter.

The hunter, singled out without warning, opened and closed her mouth.

"H-huh? You mean me...?"

It was the Apothecary.

I nodded.

"Yes, that's right."

The Apothecary trembled as though she'd been struck by lightning while walking down the street.

"D-Death King... It hasn't even been a week since I got my epithet. I-I'm incredibly weak! Someone like me wouldn't be any use even if you brought me, so why—"

"You're the most capable pharmacist and doctor I know, Apothecary."

"What? Whaaat...?"

"And you said it yourself earlier."

["Death King, please tell me if there's anything you need!"]

["I'll help you with anything I can!"]

I smiled warmly.

"If those weren't just empty words, you'll help me, won't you, Apothecary?"

"..."

The Apothecary looked at me in despair, as though she were staring at the devil.

Why? Hadn't she gotten her epithet thanks to me?

If you'd been carried, you had to pay for the carry.