Chapter 218 - Episode 28. Rupture (12)
Chapter 218: Episode 28. Rupture (12)
──────
No one could tell who drew their sword first, or who charged first. Perhaps Yu Seolha had moved first, or perhaps Imai had.
That did not matter.
What mattered was that the fight had begun. There was no taking it back now. And above all,
“Seolha, your side can’t win.”
The situation was overwhelmingly against them.
“You will not know that until the very end.”
Seolha spoke as she knocked aside Imai’s incoming blade.
Imai’s sword, ‘Blade Nuri,’ was not an easy weapon for her ‘Thunder Goblin’ to deal with.
Imai has improved quite a bit.
Yu Seolha’s chain scythe, ‘Thunder Goblin,’ slashed through the air, leaving countless afterimages behind. It was a weapon suited to swiftly killing enemies with phantom feints hidden within those afterimages.
Imai’s ‘Blade Nuri,’ on the other hand, could alter the shape of its blade at will. It was a weapon that could shift freely between attack and defense under any circumstances.
CLANG-CLANG-CLANG!
Blade Nuri’s defensive surface expanded in an instant, blocking every attack Thunder Goblin sent flying from the front.
No matter how dazzling Thunder Goblin’s afterimages were, they meant nothing if Blade Nuri sealed the attack at the moment of impact.
Worse, Blade Nuri’s attacks would sometimes slip in off-rhythm. Yu Seolha often had to retract her chain before Thunder Goblin’s scythe could even reach its target.
“I’m disappointed, Seolha. You left 「Rupture」 with such confidence that I thought you’d gained some great realization.”
With those words, Imai’s offensive changed.
Blade Nuri’s edge stretched and contracted at will, ravaging the space around him as it sought out Yu Seolha’s openings.
Yu Seolha scattered her chain scythe at the right moments and deflected the blade, but she was slowly being pushed back. Neither of them had properly opened their Unique Worlds or Settings yet, so the weapon’s traits had no choice but to decide the advantage.
“You did not leave just because you believed in that guy, did you?”
“...”
“Say something. I deserve to hear your answer.”
Yu Seolha did not answer. There was no point. Even if she spoke, she could not persuade Imai.
Imai Kazuki. He was none other than 「Rupture」’s Third Division Commander.
“Whatever I thought of the other Division Commanders, I trusted you.”
The sorrow in Imai’s eyes was not simply because she had left 「Rupture」.
Yu Seolha knew Imai held special feelings for her. They had spent far too long together for her not to know.
Still, she had to pretend not to notice. It was the last courtesy she could offer an old friend.
RUMBLE...
Thunder surged from Thunder Goblin’s chain scythe.
Her specialty, 「Lightning Surge」, had unleashed its power.
Imai’s face went pale at the sparks of World Force pouring down, and Imai quickly widened the distance between them. The battle paused for only a moment.
Yu Seolha hurriedly gathered her World Force and surveyed the situation around her.
There were three enemies.
She had taken on Third Division Commander Imai. That left two Great Lords.
Did Varkant go over there?
Karlton, Sirwen, and Runald had taken on Varkant, the Dragon Lord, one of the two Great Lords.
Cheongheo, their strongest combatant besides Jaehwan and Yu Seolha, was tied up treating an Awakened One.
Varkant’s body was covered in dragon scales. Varkant leisurely evaded Karlton and Runald’s attacks, eyes shining with a sinister light.
It looked as though Varkant were enjoying a game.
“The appearance of the souls here pleases my eyes. You too, and you. Catching you and playing with you should be fun.”
“Shut up!”
Sirwen cried out and activated her magic. The dream demon’s innate magic, 「Reverse Gravity」, bound Varkant’s feet.
Varkant ignored the sinking ground and released World Force. With a thunderous crash, Varkant kicked off the ground and flew toward Sirwen, swinging an arm at her.
“Please get out of the way, Sirwen-nim!”
“This way, sis!”
It was too late to avoid the blow.
Varkant’s long claws, coated in World Force, tore straight through Sirwen’s tank top. From her chest to her lower abdomen, a straight line of silver blood burst forth.
Sirwen hastily stopped the bleeding and retreated, teeth clenched.
She knew it too. Varkant could easily have killed her with that strike.
Varkant had simply chosen not to.
“God damn it...”
It had been an unwinnable fight from the start.
Karlton had succeeded in his Fourth Awakening but had not yet gained a Unique World. Sirwen could use magic exclusive to dream demons, but she was not accustomed to battle. Runald was Jaehwan’s Follower, but still only a child.
Even together, they could not possibly face Varkant, a Great Lord.
Varkant was an overwhelmingly powerful opponent. Even if Yu Seolha defeated Imai and helped them, victory could not be guaranteed.
Watching the battle from afar, Yu Seolha grew increasingly anxious.
I need to deal with Imai first, somehow.
Yu Seolha steadied herself and knocked away Blade Nuri as it came flying at her. Imai’s World Force was no joke. Imai seemed to have grown considerably in the meantime.
At this rate, she might be the one to lose.
To hell with it. Whatever happens, happens.
Yu Seolha unleashed the World Force of 「Mountain of Corpses, Sea of Blood」 that she had been saving, then glanced toward the center of the battlefield.
The central figures of this fight stood there.
Now, he’s the only one I can trust.
* * *
“Interesting.”
Jerome’s eyes shone with fascination as he received Jaehwan’s surging 「Fall」.
Jaehwan’s Setting spread through Jerome’s World Force. 「Fall」 relentlessly probed for gaps in Jerome’s Unique World, 「System」.
A Setting that destroyed worlds.
No wonder Jerome’s loyal Generals had fallen to it.
If 《System》 had not been 《Big Brother》’s Unique World, and if Jerome’s own World Force had been even slightly weaker, Jaehwan’s 「Fall」 could have destroyed Jerome’s soul and annihilated Jerome’s Unique World.
It was no small feat.
A human fighting a Great Lord on equal terms. Had there ever been such a being within the 《Tree of Illusion》, other than a Commander of 「Rupture」?
Whoooooom.
Though they exchanged powerful World Force, the Site itself showed little sign of destruction. Concentrated masses of World Force collided in the air, canceling each other out and vanishing.
They were using only enough World Force to cut away the other’s power. Before the true battle began, this was a preliminary clash to measure one another’s strength.
After several exchanges, Jaehwan spoke first.
“I heard the Great Lords are 《Big Brother》’s Vicegerents.”
“That is right. I am his Vicegerent.”
“Then the World Force I feel from you is weak.”
A Vicegerent of a god shared a portion of that god’s World Force.
A god’s World Force was also directly proportional to the number of Followers that god possessed.
《Big Brother》’s Unique World was 《System》.
If every Adapter who used the System interface, including those in the First Site, 《Great Realm》, was considered a Follower, then 《Big Brother》 possessed more Followers than any god in the world. Naturally, his World Force had to be beyond imagination.
Jerome spoke as though he understood something.
“《Big Brother》’s World Force is not something a single Vicegerent can bear. If anyone took on all of it, their soul would burst.”
“Is that so? Disappointing.”
Jaehwan sounded genuinely disappointed.
Jerome seemed slightly offended.
“Even without receiving World Force from that bastard, I have no trouble catching small fry like you.”
“Should you really speak so carelessly about the god you serve?”
“I do not know its face or voice. There is no need to be cautious of a being whose existence itself is uncertain.”
There was a contradiction in those words.
Jerome was 《Big Brother》’s Vicegerent, yet Jerome did not know what 《Big Brother》 truly was?
Jaehwan could not pursue the thought.
Wooooong.
Dokbul, wrapped in 「Fall」, gave a harsh cry. It was unlike its usual cry.
Looking ahead, Jaehwan saw Jerome taking something from inside his robes.
A pale blade.
A graceful sword forged from ten-thousand-year ice.
Its appearance seemed strangely familiar. Sure enough, it looked remarkably like Dokbul.
The swords were different, yet similar, as though they had been made as a pair from the beginning.
Dokbul cried out even more fiercely.
Jerome’s sword began to cry as well.
Jerome smiled.
“It seems swords recognize swords. Yes. This is the true Ice Dragon Sword.”
Ice Dragon Sword.
Only after hearing that name did Jaehwan remember Dokbul’s first name.
That was right. The first Dokbul had begun as a replica of a sword called the Ice Dragon Sword.
He had heard there could be no genuine version because no one had yet hunted Ice Dragon Velkisus.
Yet the true sword had existed.
“I acquired this weapon after conquering the 「Forgotten Land」 some time ago. My sword contains the soul of Ice Dragon King Velkisus. It seems there is something strange inside your imitation sword as well.”
The Ice Dragon Sword gave a fierce roar in answer to Dokbul’s cry. It carried such force that it seemed as if the legendary Ice Dragon King Velkisus stood before him.
The Ice Dragon Sword seemed to be saying this.
You are fake.
Dokbul’s blade trembled.
Jaehwan gripped its hilt tightly.
“I heard your goal is to destroy 《System》. An interesting idea.”
Jaehwan saw it in Jerome’s eerie eyes. The real fight was about to begin.
The air around them expanded strangely, and the ground beneath Jerome’s feet began to tremble ominously.
Jaehwan knew it as well. The Great Lord before him was stronger than any Lord he had faced until now.
“When I first heard that story, I thought it was ridiculous. To think the 《Great Realm》 had been reduced to this because of such childish thinking...”
Countless memories passed through Jerome’s mind as Jerome looked at Jaehwan.
The first time Jerome had seen Jaehwan in the footage of Cultivator Beastrein.
The moment Jerome learned Jaehwan had broken the Tower and escaped.
When the Nether Ghost Envoys project through Geumcheon Hall had been ruined, and the plan to conquer Chaos had failed.
When the 《Palace of Rebirth》, overseen by Darkness’s Ninth Zone, had collapsed.
When Samyeong Hun and Jerome’s Generals had died.
Who could have known?
Because of the man standing before Jerome, the 《Great Realm》 had suffered severe upheaval, and half of the Great Lords had met soul extinction.
“I heard you reached Awakening by repeating a simple Stab.”
Jaehwan did not answer.
It did not seem as though Jerome cared about his answer from the start.
“You must be proud of yourself. You live under the delusion that you have surpassed the System, deeply immersed in the belief that you have accomplished something.”
A faint rage entered Jerome’s voice.
It was rage that wished to shatter Jaehwan’s very existence in the most horrific way possible, from the outer shell of his soul form to his mental image.
Jaehwan saw the dark aura forming around Jerome’s blade.
An endless black aura overflowed from it.
Jaehwan’s 「Doubt」 activated unconsciously and examined the aura’s properties.
“You think you have overcome the System. But you must understand this. You do not even know what that System truly is.”
The identity of the aura rising from Jerome’s blade.
It was a 「Skill」.
「Skills」 were the form of Setting used by countless Adapters who shared the System interface, including those in the 《Great Realm》.
Jerome’s Skill was not a transcendent-grade skill used by Lords.
It was a Skill Jaehwan knew well.
Every novice Walker learned it first upon entering the Tower of Nightmares.
Bash?
A Skill that gathered all of one’s spiritual power and struck the opponent.
Here, only spiritual power had been replaced by World Force.
Wooooong.
The aura around Jerome’s blade condensed to an unfathomable density. It was clearly the preparation stance for Bash.
That’s Bash?
Could something like that truly be called Bash?
The World Force within the entire radius trembled unstably just from the gathering power.
How many times would someone have to practice Bash for that to happen? How high would their proficiency have to rise?
Then a dreadful possibility flashed through Jaehwan’s mind.
What if such a being existed?
Like Jaehwan, who had trained ‘Stab’ to its limit, what if someone had trained Bash, a 「Skill」 within the System, to its limit?
What if, even after the System recognized that person as having mastered the Skill, they refused to accept the level acknowledged by the System and continued to train it, again and again?
What if they had repeated that training for tens of thousands, perhaps hundreds of thousands of years?
What if they had succeeded in transcending the System from within the System?
“Awakening? There is no such thing in this world. Nothing and no one can escape this 《System》.”
A Bash honed for one hundred thousand years.
Dark red World Force, capable of destroying half a Site in a single blow, flew toward Jaehwan.
Footnotes:
Chapter discussion