Chair.
Gangsan had a dream.
Unfortunately, it wasn’t a good dream.
Rather.......
It was closer to a vicious nightmare.
—Where am I?
He was clearly leading the Assault Team toward the place where that unidentified cold was coming from.
But at some point.
‘Cold.’
He alone
realized that he had arrived at the place he’d been heading toward.
At the source where that cold was howling.
Faced with the sudden situation,
a flustered Gangsan looked around.
And.......
He couldn’t help but be shocked by the scene spread out before his eyes.
‘A palace.......’
The place he was standing was a palace.
An impossibly huge and beautiful palace.
So much so that it was hard to believe the cold that had driven them toward death had begun in a place like this.
A space where an alien art—antique and beautiful—was concentrated.
For some reason the entire palace was frozen solid,
yet even that 모습 carried the beauty of something that had decayed.
Gangsan was briefly captivated by it.
......Unfortunately.
If that scenery were all, it wouldn’t have been a nightmare.
—Y-you...... what are you?!
[.......]
Inside that beautiful palace,
there were already those who had taken their places.
—This number, just what the hell is it?!
Monsters, each and every one of them possessed of overwhelming power.
Thousands of such beings.
No, tens of thousands.
A formation of beasts wielding impossible power stood lined up inside the palace,
[.......]
silently looking down on him.
—D-don’t look down at me like that......!
Just receiving that gaze,
Gangsan felt a fear as if his soul would freeze solid.
—This is insane. Something like this...... there’s no way humanity can win against this......!
Seized by fear, he tried to flee the palace.
Just as he had fled that Inhuman Demon Realm.
He clung to the foolish hope that he could escape this place too.
But.
GRIP......!
—Let go......!
The ones who had invited him here
did not let him go easily.
—Where are you dragging me......?!
Regardless of his will, he was dragged deep into the palace.
And.......
At the deepest place in the palace, he ended up seeing it.
—......!
Those who made even the thousands—tens of thousands—of monsters he’d seen earlier fade into insignificance.
Those who possessed tremendous power.
[You, worm-like native.]
Giants exuding cold,
with power great enough to overwhelm even the strongest monsters he had faced in the Inhuman Demon Realm.
[We have summoned you to this place.]
Great lords who, if they combined their strength, would have more than enough power to rule a world.
Seated on thrones, without a single movement, they looked down at him.
—Who are you......?!
Great lords with power he could not possibly resist.
Placed beneath their gaze.
—Why are you showing me this......?!
Gangsan screamed, tears streaming down his face in terror.
—Are you telling me to fall into despair and die? You just want to see some old man who’s been living off his own pride die that miserably?!
He had despaired once in the Inhuman Demon Realm.
The moment he realized there existed power even greater than what he had endured there,
Gangsan was swallowed by a despair that made him want to give up everything.
[There is only one reason we have permitted a worm like you into this palace.]
And to him like that.
The great lords issued a command in a solemn voice.
[Submit.]
—......!
Only then did Gangsan realize.
The reason they had summoned him here......
was to demand surrender.
—N-no.
He was the head who led an organization.
Even if it was an organization he had created out of necessity,
it wasn’t like he felt no responsibility at all.
—I can’t surrender without even fighting. If I’m destined to die anyway, I should at least fight and die......!
If surrender only meant death,
then dying in battle would be better.
[Are you afraid of death. Then all the more you must submit.]
—What......?
[If you do so.......]
The great lords raised their hands at the same time.
And then.
The twenty giants seated on thrones.
At the lowest among them.
[Then you too will be seated upon a throne like ours.]
One empty throne appeared.
The same ⊛ Nоvеlιght ⊛ (Read the full story) kind they were seated upon.
—R-really?
The moment Gangsan saw that throne, he realized.
‘That isn’t just something you sit on.’
The great lords.
A throne that symbolized the power they possessed.
—You’re going to seat me there?
[If you are faithful to our king.]
To be seated in the same place as those mighty lords meant.
That he, too,
would become a being of the same rank as them.
‘If I can only sit in that seat...... I won’t have to fear death.’
The shallow sense of responsibility that remained in his heart tried to raise its head,
but in the end.
—......What do I have to do.
Gangsan accepted the offer.
Just by accepting it,
they granted him tremendous power.
A nightmare so vicious it was beyond words even to recall.
And there was a separate reason this nightmare was horrific.
The great lords he had seen.
And the monstrous army in that impossible number.
‘They weren’t beings from a dream...... they were real.’
BLINK.......
And.
When Gangsan opened his eyes from within that terrible nightmare.
“Oh, you’re awake.”
“Grrk......?”
A new nightmare
was about to begin.
*****
While I was still reeling from [Blade of Sacrifice, Victimia]’s description,
BLINK.......
“Grrk......?”
“Ah, you’re awake.”
The previous owner of this blade.
The old man who had collapsed opened his eyes.
The moment he lost the immortality of [Eternal Pain],
the old man had blacked out from the shock.
“N-no.......”
Since he’d already had massive damage accumulated,
it seemed the pain rushed in all at once and he passed out briefly, but.
“P-please...... give it back.”
“Hm.”
“KUH...... please, at least that.......”
Now that he’d opened his eyes,
with a body that was slowly dying,
he started begging while staring at the blade in my hand.
“If I don’t have that knife...... I...... I.......”
And.
At those words, I frowned and thought.
[When the negative emotions of the Sacrifice Victim’s Souls—pain, grief, resentment, sorrow, and the like—reach a certain level, the negative emotions of the sacrificed souls devour the blade’s owner.]
“......It’d be better not to give it back.”
“P-please.......”
“I’m not joking. I mean it.”
This blade.
If you looked only at its effect, it looked like a convenient item that let you dump all the bad effects wherever you pleased.
But in reality.
‘A demon sword that, once those dumped negative effects pile up, eventually...... devours its owner.’
A sword fated to fall—
because it would be eaten by the ones it had dumped those negative effects onto.
And besides.
Just how intense had the pain from the skill [Eternal Pain] been?
[Current Accumulated Negativity = 98.702/100]
[If Negativity reaches 100, it devours the owner.]
[Negativity Contribution]
[‘Cursed Dark Knight, Gangsan’, +98.7]
[‘Intermediate Greatswordsman, Ha Yunseong’, +0.001]
[‘War Cook, Shin Youngjun’, +0.001]
‘......Even if I hadn’t subdued him myself, he would’ve been devoured by this knife soon anyway.’
That old man.
He was a hair’s breadth away from being devoured by this blade.
‘No wonder.’
Unless you were the first person in the Republic of Korea to form a party,
it had seemed too strong an item to be given to the second party to achieve it.
‘It was blatantly a trap item, damn it.’
It saved my and Yunseong’s lives for now,
but if I used it aiming for [Immortality], then someday,
it would devour my soul.
‘I thought I wouldn’t have to die anymore.’
It must have been a short dream.
The negativity I’d accumulated wasn’t mine,
but the already-stacked value was near 99.
That old man must have used it quite extensively.
‘When it “devours,” does it devour the person who stacked the most negativity, or the most recent user?’
There were still too many unknown parts,
and far too many unsettling parts.
If I used it wrong, I might get devoured on the spot.
Honestly, I wanted to discard it right here, but.......
‘It’s also an item with an effect that’s too attractive.’
Letting out a complicated sigh,
I put the blade into [Shadow Veil] for now.
‘I’ll decide later how to use this knife.’
Fortunately,
the negativity I and Ha Yunseong added from briefly sharing the effect of [Eternal Pain] wasn’t much.
As long as I didn’t abuse that blade right away, I wouldn’t get devoured.
“Then.......”
Still feeling the pain of my dangling waist,
I looked at the person who had inflicted it.
“Let’s start talking now, old man.”
“Aaaah...... no.......”
*****
SHHHK.......
Cold ice replaced the wounded parts of the old man’s body.
Meaning the ability he’d gained by contracting with monsters still remained.
But.
No matter how much you could treat the body.
‘That only works if your life is still hanging on in the first place.’
The reason he could recover even if his neck was cut
was because at that moment, he could remain alive without dying.
Now that he’d lost that immortality.......
“Old man, you.”
“Please, please.......”
“If I cut your neck right now...... you’ll die instantly, no matter what, right?”
“Please.......”
The answer to that question
was pretty simple.
“Please...... spare my life.......”
“......Hoo.”
Frowning,
I forced my injured body up.
A wound that should’ve killed me outright.
But thanks to the curse effect applied to this dagger, I could endure death.
And.
If you didn’t die, you recovered—this wasn’t only true for that old man.
DRIP.......
The vampire blood flowing inside me
forcibly stitched my severed waist back together.
‘......Recovery power gained by becoming a monster.’
I looked back and forth between myself
and the old man.
‘We’re oddly similar...... but different.’
How many wounds had he taken over the course of these fights?
GRIT.......
The old man crawled on the ground.
About 50% of his body had been replaced by cold chunks of ice, no longer human.
‘Even if he can stitch together severed parts somehow, completely erased parts can only be replaced with that ice.’
The ability he’d received wasn’t regeneration.
It was just power that somehow sealed severed parts,
and replaced vanished parts with ice.
The more he fought while relying on that immortality,
the more he must have lost the parts that were originally human.
And at the end of that.
‘He would’ve become a monster made only of ice.’
When it came to that.
Even if his soul had originally been human,
even the [System] wouldn’t protect him anymore.
On the other hand.
“Hoo.”
SHHHK.......
“It’s recovered to some extent.”
The Noble of the Night’s blood was different.
A power that, if you were given time, could restore even completely erased parts to near perfection.
‘If we’re only comparing recovery speed, that old man’s ability might be better.’
Since my recovery speed was slow compared to his,
I wouldn’t be able to reproduce the kind of insane battle he demonstrated.
But in the end,
seeing that he couldn’t regenerate erased parts,
the ability that old man received from monsters, though powerful,
was.
‘A low-grade power.’
Compared to Ariella’s blood circulating inside me,
it was low-grade to a degree that couldn’t even be compared.
THUD!
“KUH.......”
I shoved his crawling body with my foot,
and made him lie on the ground.
“P-please.......”
No matter what, it was still true.
This old man was a strong man.
‘Even now, he’s probably stronger than me alone.’
By the [Combat Power Gauge], he was at a similar level to the monsters emitting blue magic.
Even including those clones, I felt like it would take about ten of us jumping him to barely reach parity.
“Lord.”
“What should we do.”
“Hmm.”
All the clones were still present.
“P-please...... spare my life, spare my life.......”
Perhaps because he knew he couldn’t survive if he resisted me here,
the old man completely lost the will to resist.
“Then let’s ask a few things.”
“Anything, anything.......”
“Why did you betray the people?”
Seeing him like that,
I asked, thinking I’d get the information I wanted more easily than expected, but.
“The reason I betrayed......? Ah, ahh......!”
“?”
At my words,
the old man’s eyes filled with fear.
“Ahh...... right. They were still there.”
“Old man?”
“H-however...... if I resist here, this man will kill me, and if I submit here, they’ll kill me, then, then I...... what am I supposed to do.......”
At that,
I frowned, yet repeated what he had said.
—I saw inside that veil. I saw the beings lurking within.......
In the end,
the reason he betrayed humanity was that Black Curtain.
‘Probably...... the [Gate].’
He saw the beings inside it,
and fell into despair.
‘Just how strong are the monsters lurking in there?’
Maybe.
Even more dangerous than [Underground Mine] or [Underground Mine] that was dug too deep—
something beyond even that could be inside.
‘......Can we do it.’
That thought brushed past my mind, but.
“Seriously. What kind of weak thought is this.”
I shook my head hard and muttered.
“Even if we can’t.”
No matter how great the danger inside was.
“We have to make it work.”
If I wanted to survive,
I had to solve it somehow.
And.
To do that, first.
“Ahh...... if I’m going to die no matter what. What am I supposed to do......”
I needed to get this old man sorted out.
“Old man.”
“Hiiik......!”
An old man cowering with a terrified expression,
fallen into deep despair.
“P-please. Please spare my life...... spare my life......!”
“......Spare your life, huh.”
I rolled those words around,
then squatted near him and said.
“Who said I’m going to kill you?”
“......Yes?”
“You’ll die if you submit to me and you’ll die if you’re loyal to them—what a pointless worry.”
I leveled the blade at his heart,
while the clones surrounded me and bound his body.
“You didn’t forget what I said earlier, did you?”
“W-what did you...... say?”
“What, you really forgot.”
I scratched the back of my head with Victimia’s hilt, still smeared with the old man’s flesh, and said.
“I told you. You’d end up begging me to kill you.”
“......Yes?”
When we first fought.
—I’ll declare one thing in advance.
I had clearly declared it.
—Old man, you...... you’ll end up begging me to kill you.
I was exhausted enough that I wanted to collapse right away,
but I forced myself to hold onto my mind and spoke down at him.
“So...... what you have to say to me isn’t ‘spare me.’”
“T-that, what are you.......”
“Then my declaration would be wrong, wouldn’t it?”
Yeah.
This old man seemed to be agonizing over whether he’d die to me here or die inside that Gate.
But that worry hadn’t been necessary from the start.
“Don’t worry, old man.”
A few clones slipped into my shadow,
then came back out holding the things inside.
......Each carrying a finished dish.
Chair, [Cursed Dark Knight] Gangsan.
His abilities are exceptional,
and his grudges are substantial.
“Old man.”
Just killing a man like that and moving on.
That would be, how should I put it.
“Because you’ll never...... die.”
Too wasteful, isn’t it.
