Chapter 3

Chapter 3. The Tomb of Beginnings

***

The cold metal wrapped around my left wrist. I brushed my fingertips over the crudely welded bracelet.

My brother’s final trace.

No, the only fragment of "truth" left in this altered world.

Sitting collapsed on the floor, I stared into empty air with unfocused eyes.

Kang Tae-yoon should have survived.

The person who protected me until the very end and erased himself.

A world where he disappeared and only I remained.

There could be no crueler joke.

I searched my memories.

The training hall of the Blade Guild.

Air mixed with the smell of sweat.

My brother’s voice, nagging me while handing potions to me when I knew nothing.

"Do-jin, you’re smart, so watch our back. I’ll hold the front."

That warm back was gone now.

A vast emptiness beyond comparison pressed down on my lungs.

A pressure like swallowing a lump of lead with every breath.

Wouldn’t it have been easier to follow my brother instead?

BANG—

I slammed the wall.

My fist tore open, and blood seeped out, but I felt no pain.

"Damn it."

My lips trembled.

Rather than sadness, rage rose first through my veins. Rather than regret, killing intent.

I had survived.

Then what I had to do was clear.

Evil God Dragon Zephyros.

And the deceptive system of this world that had erased my brother’s existence.

I would make them bitterly regret what they had done.

"Let’s go."

I rose, bracing myself on my knees.

My staggering body found its balance.

I brushed the dust from my clothes, as if brushing away lingering attachments.

The second life I owed my brother.

I could not waste this chance.

The magic knowledge of the 9th Circle, the Sword Saint’s skills, and even information from the future.

I would use every card I had and aim for that bastard’s neck again.

***

The next day, 4 a.m.

I got dressed and packed a bag.

A few pairs of underwear, high-calorie energy bars, bottled water, and emergency medicine.

This was not a romantic trip. It was a march for survival.

There was no hesitation in the hand that closed the backpack zipper.

Fatigue weighed down my shoulders, but the temptation of the bed was a luxury.

The time left to me was not ten years.

This world was a ticking time bomb where no one knew what might happen tomorrow.

"I can sleep when I’m dead."

Muttering quietly, I opened the door.

The cold dawn air struck my face.

The wind was cold enough to sting, but the Fire Ball in my chest did not cool.

The wooden sword shoved into one corner of my bag tapped my shoulder.

My destination was set.

Donggureung in Gyeonggi Province.

It was time to test my brother’s legacy, that absurd skill.

At an hour before even the first bus had started running, I got off at the bus stop in front of Donggureung in G City, Gyeonggi Province.

A silent street where the streetlights flickered.

There was no one around.

I put in my earphones and tuned the radio frequency.

Through the crackling static, an announcer’s excited voice flowed out.

[···Yes, have you seen the tower-shaped structure that recently appeared in Gangwon Province?]

[Experts say this could become a new tourist attraction···.]

[Could Gates perhaps be a message sent by God?]

[Through the dimensional door, into a new world···.]

"Insane nonsense."

A hollow laugh slipped out.

A tourist attraction? A message from God?

If they meant a chorus of undertakers announcing destruction, then that might be correct.

Gates basically appeared by tearing open space without warning.

But there were exceptions.

So-called "Incubation-type Gates."

Like eggs hatching, they lay dormant while accumulating energy for as little as one month or as long as over a year.

And when the time for hatching arrived, they broke their shells and vomited out monster waves.

In the West, they called them "Easter Eggs."

The problem was that they were normally hidden by stealth barriers, making them impossible to detect.

But I knew.

Memories of the future. A history book written in blood was inside my head.

Donggureung Gate.

One year later, over 250 civilians would be massacred by the undead that burst out of this place.

The "Donggureung Tragedy."

The first and worst incident to reveal the danger of Incubation-type Gates.

And on that list of victims were.

"······."

I bit my lip.

My mother and my older sister.

Before the regression, I had been dispatched to the Busan Gate at the time because I was a beginner Hunter.

So I could neither stop my family’s deaths nor watch over them.

The scent of chrysanthemums from the joint funeral hall seemed to revive with a bloody tang.

I squeezed my eyes shut and opened them.

This time would be different.

I would find it first and destroy it.

***

Donggureung.

A sacred forest where nine royal tombs of the Joseon dynasty were gathered.

The entrance to the royal tombs, thick with dawn mist, was not merely quiet but eerie.

Well-kept grass and winding pine trees.

In this land prepared for the rest of kings, monsters that desecrated the dead had made their nest.

Step, step.

I walked along the dirt path damp with dawn frost.

White breath scattered each time I exhaled.

The low lights turned on between the tombs flickered like will-o’-the-wisps.

It felt as though dozens of gazes were scanning me from somewhere in the grass.

I stopped before Geonwolleung, the tomb of Taejo Yi Seong-gye.

Mana churned.

The phase of space was subtly distorted.

A dissonance no ordinary person could ever feel, one only a 9th-Circle mage could detect.

"This is it."

I gathered mana at my fingertips.

I flicked it lightly toward the air.

The mana wave touched the surface of the stealth barrier.

CRACKLE—

A sound like glass cracking stabbed my ears.

The scenery warped, and red mist rushed over my vision.

The camouflage lifted, and the true entrance of the Gate opened its maw.

[Warning]

[This is a high-risk area unsuitable for your current level.]

[Recommended Level: 15]

[Evacuate immediately.]

The system warning window blocked my sight.

I ignored it.

I knew this was not a place a mere Level 1 could handle.

If it were an ordinary Hunter, they would click their tongue and call it suicide.

But I had spent ten years rolling through Gates.

I was an Archmage who had burned the heart of a high-ranking demon and played games of strategy against an ancient dragon that crossed dimensions.

My body might have been reset, but the strategy guide imprinted inside my head remained intact.

"The initial-stage law of Incubation-type Gates."

Monsters in the incubation stage were incomplete.

To adapt to this dimension, they poured most of their magic power into maintaining their lives.

Monsters in this period were in a state of "summoning aftereffect."

Their reaction speed was 30 percent slower, and their aggression dropped to less than half.

On top of that, I knew this terrain perfectly.

Before the regression, I had come here hundreds of times even after the funeral ended, analyzing every handful of dirt and every blade of grass.

I knew where the bones would pop out and where the blind spots were like the back of my hand.

This was not gambling.

It was a thoroughly calculated hunt that began only after manipulating the win rate.

If I wanted to stop the Evil God Dragon Zephyros, a disaster beyond all standards, I too had to grow at a speed beyond all standards.

If I safely hunted goblins, I would not even reach the tip of that bastard’s toe after a hundred years.

"You’re the ones who won’t be able to handle this."

I had something to believe in.

My experience. My knowledge. And this overwhelming power my brother had left me.

GRRRK, GRRIND.

I felt a vibration beneath my feet.

The grass squirmed, and bleached-white bones pierced through the soil and rose.

As if the earth were vomiting, it spat out skeletons along with a rotten stench.

"Skeleton Soldier."

Level 8.

They were monsters difficult to beat even if three ordinary adult men attacked together.

With my current body, even a graze would be fatal.

One, two··· eight.

Was this the advance party?

Red phosphorescence flashed inside their empty eye sockets.

Clacking their jawbones, they began surrounding me.

"Whew."

I inhaled deeply.

My heart pounded as if it would strike my ribs.

Not because of fear.

It was the thrill of confirming my brother’s legacy, that power.

I took the wooden sword from my bag.

A weight that settled perfectly into my hand.

"Come."

A low provocation.

As if responding, the closest one raised its rusty sword and charged.

The sound of its joints creaking rang out chillingly.

Slow.

As expected, it was in a state of "summoning aftereffect."

To my eyes, the creature’s trajectory looked broken.

But just because my eyes could follow it did not mean my body could.

[Pain Block]

At the same time as the spell chant, my body shot forward.

No, my muscles reacted before my brain could even give the order.

My brother’s memories. Instinct engraved into the body.

"Skill activated. [Fast Slash]."

RIP—

A sound came from inside my right arm as if fibers were being torn apart.

Mana flowed along my blood vessels like it was running wild and concentrated in my wrist.

Speed beyond my will. Acceleration that ignored the range of motion of human joints.

CRACK—!

The impact was dull.

The skull of the Skeleton Soldier at the front was literally "deleted."

Before the bone fragments could even scatter, the wooden sword had already returned to its place.

"Kgh···"

A groan burst out.

Even though I had blocked pain, my entire arm tingled.

My muscles were screaming.

Output that a Level 1 body could not handle.

It was like shoving a nitro booster into the engine of a compact car.

CREAAAK.

The unpleasant sensation of my elbow ligaments stretching transmitted itself to me.

"The backlash is this bad?"

I had expected it, but actual combat was different.

I had only swung once, yet my right arm was nearly unusable.

But enemies did not wait.

Stimulated by their comrade’s death, the remaining seven charged at once.

My knees buckled. I tried to catch my balance by bracing against the ground, but the timing was too late.

Right beside me, one Skeleton Soldier drove its sword down.

"Am I too late?"

Dodging was impossible. I wondered whether I should hurriedly deploy defensive magic.

At the moment the blade fell toward the top of my head.

BEEP—

[System Add-on detected.]

[Activating support program "AIRI."]

Along with the mechanical sound, time seemed to slow as if it had stopped.

WHOOSH!

It was not my will.

My right arm shot up on its own.

The wooden sword drew a strange trajectory and struck the side of the falling blade.

CLANG—

With a metallic sound, the Skeleton Soldier lost its balance and toppled backward.

A perfect parrying.

It was an extremely mechanical and precise defense that was not in my memories.

"What is this now?"

I had no time to be flustered.

The encirclement tightened.

My right arm was in tatters, and my mana was showing its bottom.

Fighting any longer here would be suicide.

I grabbed a handful of dirt from the ground.

"Explosion."

Rustle.

At the same time as I scattered the dirt, I ignited the mana.

BOOM—!

With an explosion, a cloud of dust rose like a smoke bomb.

The skeletons, their vision blocked, tangled together as they swung their swords through empty air.

I did not miss that opening and retreated.

Crossing the boundary of the Gate, I threw myself into the forest of reality.

***

The plastic chair at the convenience store creaked.

Breathing roughly, I gulped down cheap canned coffee.

Only after caffeine circulated through my blood vessels did the trembling subside slightly.

"Haa···."

They had not chased me beyond the barrier. Due to the characteristics of an Incubation-type Gate, it seemed the creatures still prioritized guarding their nest.

That was fortunate, but my mood was filthy.

"Still, the power is certainly real."

I looked down at my battered right arm.

I had put out the urgent fire with [Healing] magic, but the muscle pain remained.

One blow.

With that, I had turned a Level 8 monster into powder.

If my body could endure it, this skill would become a disaster.

But one question remained.

That mechanical defense earlier.

It had not been my reflexes. It had felt as though someone was controlling my body.

"[Status Window]."

A blue window rose in the air.

I scrolled down through the combat log.

[Combat Record]

[Fast Slash] cast successfully. (Critical Hit)

Physical durability warning. Right upper arm muscle damaged.

• ··

[Emergency Defense Protocol activated.]

[AIRI system intervention.]

My gaze stopped at the upper right.

An icon I had never seen before was sparkling there.

A strange eye-shaped icon made of pixels.

"···AIRI."

The moment I spoke the name.

— RING

A clear cracking sound rang through my brain.

The icon expanded, and a chatbot-shaped dialogue window covered my vision.

[Hello, Inheritor.]

[I am AIRI, a tactical support program.]

A feminine voice, yet dry and stripped of emotion, rang directly inside my ears.

I stared blankly into the air.

"···What did you say?"

What my brother had left behind was not a simple skill.