Chapter 57

Chapter 57. Show of Strength

Park Jihun swallowed hard.

His mouth was bone-dry.

He'd inherited the Sword Saint's soul.

A power that Boss had forced into him one day, pressing a hand to his forehead and stuffing it in with a flash of light.

Thanks to that, he'd grown stronger at an absurdly steep pace over the past month.

But that was all.

'I've never once heard any voice or anything......'

A hero's fighting spirit?

Enlightenment along the path of the sword?

He'd never felt anything that grand.

Just a sense that his movements had gotten a bit lighter, that his blade had grown heavier.

On top of that, the situation in front of him right now was insane.

He'd never once stood on a battlefield where this many -- hundreds -- of monsters came pouring in.

And each one of those demons was radiating a vicious killing intent.

Dungeon-boss level at minimum, if not beyond.

'I'm supposed to hold those things off?'

Park Jihun looked down at his hands.

The hands gripping the longsword were shaking.

He was terrified.

He wanted to run.

A fear on an entirely different plane from his days throwing fists in back alleys was crushing his brain.

But.

Thud. Thud.

At the edge of his vision.

Boss -- Kim Jeong-seok -- didn't stop.

He was striding headlong into that overwhelming demon horde.

Without a single waver.

So impossibly calm, so solid, so immense -- that retreating back.

'......I.'

Watching that back, Park Jihun felt pathetic.

His father had said it.

Chairman Park had called Boss 'Mr. Kim' and praised him until his mouth ran dry.

-That man is someone who will become a dragon. Jihun, you must become his right hand.

'You were wrong, Father.'

Park Jihun muttered inwardly.

Someone who will become a dragon?

No.

That man.

My Boss.

He was already something beyond a dragon.

And then the battle began.

Park Jihun was struck speechless.

BOOOOM—!

Demonic energy exploded from the black armor wrapped around Boss's body.

The white Holy Sword in his hand traced arcs of light.

SLASH—! CLANG—!

SQUELCH—!

It wasn't a fight.

It was closer to a one-sided massacre.

The sword danced.

Every time Boss took a step, every time light grazed the air, a demon's head tumbled off. One after another.

"KRAAAGH!"

"A human--?!"

Death cries raged all around.

Those ferocious high-ranking demons were being mowed down before Boss's sword like sheaves of wheat at harvest.

Overwhelming violence.

Suffocating martial might.

Park Jihun watched the spectacle in a daze.

But there wasn't much time for admiration.

"SCREEEE!"

A demon had broken through Boss's encirclement and circled around to flank them, heading this way.

A horrifying monster with goat horns and bat wings, easily three meters tall.

Its bloodshot eyes were locked on Park Hayan, who was defenseless, mid-contract with Mayon.

"......Hoo."

Park Jihun drew a deep breath.

He forced strength into his trembling legs.

Veins bulged on both hands gripping the sword.

'I'll hold the line.'

Boss trusted me.

I have to repay that trust.

If I can't stop this monster, I'm nothing but a worm -- not even worthy of following in Boss's footsteps.

"Don't come any closer, you bastard!"

Park Jihun screamed and swung the longsword in a wide arc.

CLANG—!

The demon's talons and the sword collided.

A tremendous impact traveled up both his arms.

"Grk......!"

Pain like his bones were about to shatter.

A single exchange was all he needed to know.

This thing was far stronger than him.

Speed, brute strength, Mana. He was outmatched in every way.

THWACK—!

The demon's tail slammed into Park Jihun's abdomen.

He spat blood and was thrown backward.

It felt like his ribs had caved in.

Every breath was agony.

But he didn't go down.

He clenched his teeth and raised the sword again.

The wounds multiplied.

His shoulder was slashed open. His thigh was torn.

Blood ran down and blinded him.

'I have to protect her.'

That single thought consumed his mind.

I have to endure this.

If I fall back, Park Hayan dies, and Boss's plan falls apart.

"RAAAAAAAGH!"

Park Jihun roared like a beast and charged again.

A desperate struggle.

Crude, reckless swordwork, as if he'd already thrown his life away.

That was when it happened.

-Right side.

"......?"

In Park Jihun's ears.

From deep within his soul, someone's voice reached him.

Low, noble, brimming with fighting spirit.

-Relax your grip. Don't block. Deflect.

It sounded like the Sword Saint's voice.

More precisely, it felt as though he could see the Sword Saint.

A translucent blue afterimage overlaid Park Jihun's vision.

The last hero of Garsia.

It was as if he was wrapping around Park Jihun's body, guiding him through the footwork and sword paths he needed to take.

"......"

Park Jihun's eyes changed completely.

Fear and panic were washed away as if they'd never existed.

His breathing steadied. The unnecessary tension in the wrist gripping his sword drained away.

SWISH.

The demon's lethal talons came slashing in.

A moment ago, he would've tried to block and been sent flying.

But Park Jihun twisted his body half a step.

He deflected the attack by a hair's breadth.

-Now.

Simultaneously with the afterimage's voice.

SLASH—!

Park Jihun's longsword traced a smooth arc.

It carved into the demon's thick neck.

"......Kh, gakh."

The demon's eyes went wide.

Dark red blood erupted like a fountain as the creature's massive body crumpled lifelessly.

Victory.

"Haa, haa......"

Park Jihun dropped to his knees and heaved out ragged breaths.

He'd won.

He'd cut down a monster stronger than himself, guided by the Sword Saint's teachings.

But the joy was short-lived.

RUMMMBLE—!

Boss was annihilating the demons.

But from the ground, from the torn dimensional rifts hanging in the air --

As if the dead were being copied and regenerated, new demons were being summoned without end.

"This is insane......"

It looked endless.

Every time more were summoned, the numbers grew, and the demonic energy they radiated seemed to grow denser.

How long do we have to keep this up?

When does this end?

Park Jihun turned his head and asked urgently.

"Hey! When's the contract going to be done?!"

Park Hayan's condition was dire.

Red blood was trickling steadily from her nose.

Eyes shut, she was locked in a desperate struggle, trying to hold together Mayon's scattering smoke.

"At least...... hkh, one more hour......"

Park Hayan answered with great effort.

It wasn't a lie.

Her face had gone deathly pale.

The agony of how deeply the contract with Mayon was gnawing at her soul was plainly visible.

"An hour?! Are you kidding me?! I can barely last one minute!"

Park Jihun screamed and swung his sword at another incoming demon.

He fought.

Fought and fought again.

The Sword Saint guided his strikes, but he couldn't deceive his body's fatigue and limits.

Wounds kept piling up, one after another.

His vision flickered. His breath reached the tip of his chin.

And so, how many more minutes passed?

After what felt like an eternity.

"......?"

Silence suddenly fell over the battlefield.

The summoning stopped.

The demons that had been pouring in like a deluge vanished without a trace.

Even the corpses strewn across the ground turned to ash and scattered.

"Is it...... over?"

Park Jihun slumped to the ground and let out a sigh of relief.

But.

"Not yet."

Boss -- Kim Jeong-seok -- adjusted his grip on Abriel and looked up at the sky, now dyed black as midnight.

His voice was taut as a drawn bowstring.

WOOOOONG--!

The space itself began to scream.

It was on an entirely different plane from the mere bloodlust of a demon horde.

It felt as though it was crushing the soul itself.

"So the main body's finally graced us with its presence."

The sky split apart.

And through that gap.

Beyond understanding.

Beyond reach.

The 'Incomprehensible' descended.

***

Just as I'd expected.

The contract with Mayon was nearing its completion.

To prevent it, the true mastermind had revealed itself.

I raised my head and glared at the crack in the sky.

RUMMMBLE—!

The crack yawned open like an abyss.

Perfect blackness, devoid of a single mote of light.

From within, an inky darkness dripped down like mucus, congealing and contorting to forge a single shape.

And the being that walked out of the darkness.

"......"

I narrowed my eyes.

A suffocating sense of deja vu.

Black armor.

A Holy Sword in its hand.

And the glint of eyes behind a helmet.

A being identical to me was walking forth.

That was the true form of the 'Incomprehensible.'

In other words.

'I understand now.'

My analytical mind as a Mage was fitting together the puzzle in my head.

Why Mayon -- an Aberration from Earth -- had been summoned to the deepest reaches of this Demon Realm as the boss of an unprecedented difficulty.

It all made sense.

'That Incomprehensible doesn't truly exist.'

It cannot exist.

The system strives for perfection.

But my abnormal Honor Points -- 1.35 million -- had caused an overload.

It had been forced to create a difficulty tier that should never have been: 'Incomprehensible.'

But it had only produced a shell. There was nothing to fill the inside.

'So that's why it needed Mayon's ability.'

Mayon is an Aberration that extracts human fear and memories, then constructs nightmares as flawless as reality.

The ability to make nightmares 'real' -- the way Mayon does -- was something that even the illusionists and Succubi of the Demon Realm didn't possess.

One could say Mayon's ability was that extraordinary.

But ultimately.

The Incomprehensible had only one goal.

'Manifestation.'

It wanted to become real.

Because it was nothing more than a shadow born from a System Error.

A phantom without substance.

It would give the sacred fire?

It would make Mayon the Nightmare King?

'As if.'

Lies.

That thing intended to kill me, steal my body, and then devour Mayon's power on top of it.

Only after consuming everything would it finally be reborn as a 'real being.'

That's why it stole my appearance.

A doppelganger -- copying my existence in order to become the genuine article.

I tightened my grip on Abriel.

Tingle.

A vibration traveled through my fingertips.

It was nothing like the lightness I'd felt while slaughtering demons within the Aegis's protection.

"......"

I can feel it.

That shadow has mimicked me.

And it's gone beyond mere outward appearance.

Not the shell specs of a Level 7, but a genuine 'Incomprehensible-tier' monster the system had forcibly inflated to match 1.35 million Honor Points.

In other words, it's stronger than me.

Every instinct screams.

'I can't win.'

That thing.

Was the perfect shape of death, an obstacle I could never overcome as I am now.

'As I am now -- in Kim Jeong-seok's body -- I can't win.'

But.

I opened my Inventory.

I reached in and seized a fragment radiating brilliant golden light.

If I can't win as I am now.

'Fragment of the Broken Golden Rule.'

The key that shatters the constraints of reality and forcibly draws upon the power of Asgard.

CRACK!

I crushed the fragment in my fist.

A torrent of resplendent golden light cascaded down like a waterfall.

"Descent."

BOOOOOOOOM—!

A thunderous roar as though the Demon Realm's sky would shatter.

Golden energy enveloped my entire body and erupted.

My flesh twisted and expanded.

Casting off the limits of a human body, the true essence of the master of Floor 55 -- He Who Devours Disasters -- manifested.

A towering frame well over two meters.

Solid muscle.

Hair blazing with golden light.

Rag's true form.

Descended into the heart of the Incomprehensible's Demon Realm.