Chapter 108: Vol. 4 Ep. 21
A dark aura rose from the Infinite Well and swept over the waiting room. The aura latched onto Kapitle and dragged him away. “Kuuh, how dare you!” In the midst of his tormented screams, the aura relentlessly dragged him inside the abyss.
Contrary to Kapitle, Sungjin and his teammates were blessed by the Valkyrie. The announcement that the gods blessed their celebrity rang around the surroundings.
As for the others, first they were silent. Despite the results before their eyes, they could not say anything. They hadn’t imagined that Kapitle would die without the chance to even use Gungnir. They knew Sungjin had a sharp sword skill, but they had disregarded it as meaningless before Kapitle’s level. Before a rampaging Sleipnir’s speed, they had thought a level 0 would stand no chance, and more so before Gungnir. A change in a level wouldn’t make a huge difference, or so they thought.
A Stat Exchange. That was unexpected. What was certain was that Sungjin was the one who won.
“Hooraaay!” Finally, exclamations erupted among the people. When one began, others followed. “Hooray!” The peoples’ shouts kept spreading.
This was fortunate. Now there was no reason to fear Kapitle from sinking the continent anymore. There was no reason to be tortured under Kapitle’s rule.
“Yeees!”
“Hurrah!”
“Hooray for Sungjin!”
People embraced each other.
It was the beginning of a new age.
Or so they believed for a moment.
It wasn’t.
There was a strange ringing that rang up from the bottom of the well.
Ring
The sound started to ring louder, until a voice could be heard.
You rebels. That was the sound of the end of hope. My conquering begins now.
The voice denied Sungjin’s victory, and a thick golden energy shot up from the well.
“Wha... What?” In the midst of the people’s confusion, the shining energy spread across the sky and wrapped around Sungjin and his teammates.
The golden power cut off people’s sight and they disappeared.
They understood that they had been called into another battlefield.
But this battlefield was different from the previous one. The portal, field, and mob were all missing. It was simply an endless amount of empty land. There was not a single blade of grass, only sand blowing in the wind. It was a place that emphasized a clash between two major armies without the advantage of obstacles.
And in the opposite field was Kapitle. “Huhu. To think you’d force me to use everything in my power. You’re definitely something.”
“Hah. Are you saying this is the second round?” Sungjin greeted his enemy leisurely but started to use his brain more rapidly. Since the Valkyrie has not formally declared this battle, it means this place is abnormal. As I expected, Kapitle made another device within the Infinite Well.
That was it. The loser was to be the sacrifice for the infinite well. That was what Kapitle had said, but he had hidden another plot inside the infinite well. If Sungjin were to have been eaten, he would have turned straight into a sacrifice.
But a plot to make an ultimate revenge when he was to become one.
“I’ve been forced to sacrifice everything I’ve saved for the past century, but no matter. I will be able to regain them all when I’ve defeated you!”
“So you’re going to try to use Gungnir again?” Sungjin asked, as if Kapitle truly believed he would be given the opportunity again.
“Enough with your arrogance. I will show you the way of the world!” Kapitle raised his hand. “My true god, the wise of one eye, protector of magic and wisdom. I give you everything I’ve gathered on this earth to you after this battle! So please allow this chance! Tell us the battlefield you rule beyond the powers of a Valkyrie! And open up a path for me akin to how you stand on the throne of all gods!”
The skies reverberated in response to his pleas.
This was the battle of all people. Whoever believes in a purpose may join, hence put everything on the line to become the victor.
The notice didn’t ring only on their battlefield; it rang to everyone above the ground.
But be sure. This battlefield is a place of no return, so may only the brave ones rise to the cause.
This was a new battlefield. A battlefield where the number of participants was unlimited.
But at the same time a fearsome battlefield where standing on the losing side meant losing one’s life. A battlefield held by the true ruler of Midgard: Odin.
Who would step forth?
The Golden Wise king immediately gathered people who stood by his “rightful” life ideals. “Like the sky above the ground and the ground below the sky, powerful heroes should stand above and the extras stoop below as was the way of life. To restore this balance, let us gather! Answer my call!” His call reached all the heroes in the world. “Einherjar!”
An army of heroes. They appeared in a line, filling the void. There were warriors, magicians, a general on a horse and an archer. Various heroes filled the horizon.
“Do you see? These are the people who have gathered to oppose your idealistic world!” The world Sungjin spoke of. The world where everyone could live together in peace—the opposite of having a class of elites.
It is the law of nature for the lion to stand at the top, the wolves to stand below, and the prey to grovel.
For heroes who found their right to stand as elites beneath the king as obvious, Sungjin was an enemy who was trying to bring down their world. It is human’s greed to stand above others when possible.
Kapitle, who knew the ways of this world, only smiled. Like how he, the most powerful, stood in the center of the world – It was obvious heroes would desire to be nobles, too. Suppressing one’s desire for those who were weaker than them? The world was large, and there were a few who acted out of the norm. But those exceptions were as according to the law of nature—simply exceptions.
“The gods have constructed the world for the extras to serve the heroes!” Constructed. What a beautiful word. “It was heaven’s will for the extras to serve us heroes!”
Will, what a rightful echo.
“Against the tyrant who denied this world’s morals and stole your rights away.”
The rightful power.
“Follow me! I will grant your glory, which comes after myself!”
“Waaaaah!” The heroes who had been waiting for this day shouted. They had suffered so much under Sungjin’s rule. They would suffer more if Sungjin continued ruling. Those who had their rights stolen, and those who wished to steal those rights, gathered in one place. They would not be suppressed any longer. They would not lose their privileges any longer. They were going to use the extras as they wished, and, at the very least, regain their gracious lives no matter what costs.
They shouted with a united front. “Yeah! Let’s win!” With righteousness and greed on their side, their spirit soared.
Even if Sungjin boasted his devilish stratagems, he only had six people on his side. They had a million. With their gathered strength, not even the worst tyrant could scare them. They stalked forward with courage. The sun shined behind them. Their armor was bathed in light. They marched with gold and gem decorations swinging above them in banners they held.
“Attack!” Kapitle’s order finally broke the silence.
This was the plains. It was an open territory. What could six people do in the face of one million? There was nowhere to hide in the surroundings before numerous enemies.
“... This is it.” Zakiya sighed and lowered her head. I was wrong.
She had thought that this man would have his own special kind of strength. He had won in an equal match against Kapitle in a team match, which had caused her to have hope. Sungjin had definitely won the team match, but the greed of humans was what moved this world. Humans speak all the time about righteous actions but ultimately do things for their own benefit. No, humans are people who believe that one’s own benefits was the righteous thing to do.
There would be no one among them who thought they were stepping on others. It was simply the idea of ‘regaining the power to stand above others’.
She had thought that the man’s world where everyone, despite their strengths, being valued was a good world but...
If this is a battlefield where the battle is determined by numbers...
Sungjin was powerless.
The oncoming army.
The flying arrows and magic.
And the handful of Sungjin’s teammates who were caught in the midst of it.
It was like an egg hitting itself against a rock.
The people looked on with pity. Would Master Sungjin... Just like this...?
Lute, who had been studying healing to heal his mother, also felt sorrow for the situation. What should I do...
Those who had protected him several times were at their wit’s end. Those who had said that he, an extra, was special and deserved to live were about to be stepped on.
If this continued, the end wasn’t going to look good.
Why was he so powerless? He always received help and didn’t give anything in return. He wanted to be of help. He was weak, but he wanted to be of some help.
In that moment, the young boy didn’t think about whether or not he was going to be the next to die. He only wanted to return a little of what he had been given to his heroes.
A young body stopped an incoming arrow.
Splat.
It burrowed into his arm.
“Ah...?” Lute came to understand that he was standing in the battlefield he was looking at only a moment before.
“Are you okay?” The frantic voice came from the person he was always grateful to: Queen Ereka. The queen he had always seen from afar grabbed him and hid him behind her shield. The priestess he had seen glimpses of healed him.
“Are you okay, Queen?”
“How did you...”
“You looked tired... I... I wanted to help. But... Am I bothering you?” Lute’s voice grew softer because they seemed to be wasting their resources treating and protecting him.
“No, thank you for coming.” Sungjin smirked with an evil glint in his eyes.
The battle for all people, hmm? The principle of this world is that all forms of battle are “fair and equal.”
Odin, who enjoyed watching the warriors’ game, would never have prepared an uninteresting battlefield.
This was the chance for a counterattack.
Sungjin smiled as he watched Zakiya. “Do you want to hear something?”
“What?”
“Good is not weaker than evil. It’s just more difficult. ”
At his confidence, Zakiya was amazed. “What are you planning?”
“Watch.”
At this point she was curious. Does this man still have something ready? But there is no prepared hand... What did he know and what had he prepared? What was this man who caused relentless interest trying to show?
Sungjin shouted. “Listen. I fought with my colleagues here to make a country where the powerful protected the weak so that weak people can have happiness and dreams!” That was an act he had done so far that couldn’t be taken for granted. “But here all who oppose me have gathered so that we cannot win. This is the final battle that will determine what this world will call justice!” His charismatic voice rang across the continent. “No matter how strong and powerful our enemies are, we will fight to the end because there are people to protect! But I ask you, if the world you desire is not different from mine, join us!” He appealed to the better side of people and pleaded with them to join his cause. Others would have ignored him and continued on their work, but for the extras, it was hard to live day by day, and things like the battlefield was just a matter for high people, but it was Sungjin who had spoken.
He began as an extra like them. He had fought to defend extras like them. He had not abandoned them in any of the difficult moments after he had come to the position of a ruler. His words could be true.
“I’ll ask you, too. Please come,” Ereka appealed to them alongside Sungjin. It was the appeal of one who abandoned everything she had to protect the people, though she could have lived happily as a princess. “Help me to make a world where even those who are powerless under the will of God can be happy.”
Rachel put her hands together to pray. It was the request of the saint who sacrificed her salvation and sacrificed herself to heal the pain of others while suffering the pain of hell everyday.
So there was a response.
People appeared between the advancing heroes and Sungjin.
One, two, three, four. Ten people, one hundred thousand, a million people.
Those who saw the others stood up and braved the fight. Let’s fight together. Let’s fight for the hero.
The next moment, people filled in across the wilderness. One by one, although they were the weak and powerless who were always trampled on, they pushed for the courage to join Sungjin’s team.
If the shouts of heroes ringing in the wilderness were united with the same greed, the prayers of the people whispering in the night were cheering for the same noble dream. Blocking the army of ten thousand heroes was one hundred million people. They wanted to help those who had helped them, even if it meant sacrificing their own bodies. Their hope made them move, even though they had been warned that defeat meant being swallowed up in the well.
The ideal of the strong protecting the weak—rather than reaching reality, it was beyond reality..
This content is taken from fr(e)ewebn(o)vel.𝓬𝓸𝓶