Chapter 17

Chapter 17. Encounter (2)

—Lord Si-woo's achievements) Becomes a Transcendent, kills a terrorist, closes the Red Sea, stops a presidential assassination, all on day one.

—+Also exposes the demon worshippers

—That resume is honestly insane;

The praise piled up.

And that praise, in turn, served as a mirror reflecting the anxieties the public was carrying.

As expected, with time that anxiety began to surface.

—But if every Tom, Dick, and Harry starts Transcending, how the hell are we supposed to live?

If a demon worshipper performs something called [Falling], they can use their powers in reality.

Natural Awakened with screws loose Falling was a genuinely terrifying prospect.

Hadn't the Yeouido disaster already proven that?

—What happens if an A-rank Hunter like the Bomber Man Falls?

Explosions are art.

The Bomber Man's famous quote, and his life creed.

He was a Hunter with a record of being locked up more than a few times for all sorts of deranged stunts.

—The fact that just Falling is all it takes is way too broken.

Side effects?

There are none.

Even in the [Tower], which is optimized for Hunter growth, you die the moment things go sideways.

Or you vanish like the old Sword Emperor, gone without a trace.

But demon worshippers get no-risk Transcendence.

—Forcibly triggering a Gate Break is absolutely bullshit too.

In truth, there was a side effect — they could never enter a Gate again.

But this was a fact Shin Si-woo didn't know yet.

He himself hadn't fully grasped what demon worshippers on Earth had turned into either.

Regardless.

All sorts of opinions kept pouring in.

—Among A-ranks, isn't it the Bomber Man and the Artist who are the biggest problems?

—Hey, let's not talk like that about active A-rank Hunters. Without them, we can't stop the Gates from breaking.

—Honestly, let's give respect where it's due!

Thanks to the Hunters risking their lives fighting in the Gates, South Korea was safe.

VS

Those same Hunters Falling and carrying out terrorist attacks on Earth was more terrifying.

—Even so, I find a Hunter Falling scarier than a Gate breaking?

—A ghost you catch a glimpse of sometimes VS a crazy man you know well hiding under the bed in your room.

—Which is scarier?

—Shudder shudder shudder. Obviously the latter.

A well-known Hunter was scarier.

That was where public opinion landed.

Then hopeful opinions started appearing.

—Still, Lord Si-woo will handle it, right? I heard that bracelet is an artifact that finds demon worshippers.

It was a fact the President had revealed after Shin Si-woo left.

It wasn't merely a fashion accessory bracelet.

—Behold, you 300-trillion gambling-addict Saintess!

—Lord Si-woo saves the nation with 100 trillion worth of Mysteries!!!

Once again, the fallen Saintess was dragged back into the conversation.

Meanwhile.

"……"

Saintess Im Ji-a was staring down an endless stream of malicious comments.

Her eyes narrowed.

Honestly, she felt wronged.

"These lowlifes who don't even know the Martingale system keep spouting nonsense."

A method where you double your bet every time you lose.

Even if you lose a thousand times, the moment you win just once, you come out ahead.

An extremely wise and efficient betting method.

If you ran it on the national budget, you could attempt it a semi-infinite number of times.

'In blackjack the player's win rate is a full 49 percent…'

The time to win was bound to come eventually.

The foolish public simply didn't understand this.

"No, if that Patriot bastard hadn't interfered, I would've won 600 trillion and been hailed as a hero for the rest of my life…"

The Saintess had been on the real-real-real-real-real-real-real final round when the Patriot barged in.

Saying he was going to execute her for the crime of misusing the national strategic resource [Mysteries].

Even now, her blood boiled just thinking about it.

"Hit me."

Of course, even while thinking all this, the Saintess was gambling.

Today's game was blackjack.

A game where you're dealt two cards and the one with 21, or closest to 21, wins.

[10] [10]

Im Ji-a's cards landed on the table.

'Strange.'

Ever since meeting Shin Si-woo, her hands had been running strangely hot.

And it wasn't just her.

Her opponent — the blackjack dealer — also had a good hand.

[A] [■]

One was face-down, but the other was an obscenely strong card.

A could be counted as 1 or 11.

If the hidden card was a 10?

The dealer's hand would be 21 — blackjack — and the Saintess would just flat-out lose.

'Times like this, you go big.'

The Saintess's hand was a matched pair: [10] [10].

Among blackjack's rules, there was one called "Split."

"Split."

The Saintess split the two 10s.

Her field became two hands.

Naturally, the bet doubled as well.

"Collateral: one of my lungs."

[10] / [10]

On the casino table, the Saintess's hand was split in two.

She tapped the table to take her next card.

[10] [A] / [10]

"Huh?"

Blackjack.

If the dealer got 21, it was a push.

If the dealer didn't get 21, it was an automatic win.

In moments like this, it was all about momentum.

She immediately took the next card.

[10] [A] / [10] [A]

"Huh huh huh???"

The Saintess's hollow eyes went wide.

This was a first since she had started gambling.

Two blackjacks?

"Pathetic."

The Saintess said that to someone she couldn't see.

The opponent, not about to be outdone, quickly flipped his own cards.

[A] [9]

The dealer's cards: 20.

A total victory for Im Ji-a.

'As expected — a genius strategy.'

Double (doubling the bet in exchange for taking only one more card), Split (splitting a matched pair into two separate hands), Any Pair (winning 11 times your bet if you draw two of the same number).

Im Ji-a kept pushing forward with bold wager after bold wager.

'Blackjack really suits me.'

As a result, she was on a 17-game winning streak.

Just as she was about to make it 18 in a row—

"Huh huh? Where are you going!!!"

The Saintess's opponent vanished.

Suddenly, she got the feeling a shadow had fallen over her.

When she turned around, Shin Si-woo — who had approached at some point — was gazing quietly at the Saintess.

'……When the hell!!!'

A towering frame and a striking face.

An appearance that, by any measure, was a feast for the eyes.

And yet, looking at him, the Saintess felt fear.

Naturally so — because in his hand he held a blood-stained sword.

Shin Si-woo asked,

"Would it be all right if I drew that?"

The Saintess stared at him for a long moment before nodding her head.

* * *

After disclosing the information about the demon worshippers, I went straight to look for the Saintess of Fate.

According to Reinhardt, the [2nd Sword, Yuria Lanestia] had created a trial of her own making…

My visit was to find a way to deal with it.

【This humble servant did her utmost, but as she lay down and dared to declare she would test her Sword Master, there was nothing this servant could do.】

"You did well."

My expression soured on its own.

The 1st Sword, Reinhardt, was a filial sword to me.

The 2nd Sword, Yuria, by contrast, was an appallingly disobedient sword.

'Deserting the battlefield because she wanted to meet a man, of all things…'

Honestly, if she hadn't been the sole compatible user for the newly released [Divinity] build, she was an NPC I'd have swapped out long ago.

—Sword. Why do you keep throwing me into such brutal battlefields?

It had taken me over a hundred playthroughs to learn how to control her.

The answer: dispatch her to the most brutal battlefields.

Places where she had to worry about survival so desperately she couldn't think of anything else.

Even after she'd obtained greater power, I maneuvered the grand flow of events to press her as hard as possible.

As a result, the world was saved.

'Not you, though—'

A strange feeling came over me.

All I'd done while playing the game was make choices.

And yet, somewhere along the way, I had started thinking of the NPC inhabiting my sword as someone I'd raised.

'Is it because we spent so long together?'

I'd have my answer once I entered the Tower and came face to face with her.

Before entering the Tower, I reminded myself of my purpose.

'Three cards.'

Im Ji-a, who claimed to have only ever lost at gambling, turned out to be better at it than I'd expected.

As before, she had three golden cards on her.

She'd used them to divine the flow of my fate.

The results had been fairly satisfying.

1. How to overcome the trial the 2nd Sword had created.

2. The knack for raising the Baby Sword properly.

3. The date Jesus — Jesus — would arrive.

The problem was that Jesus would be arriving tomorrow…

But even this would be resolved once I cleared the [Tower] and freed the 2nd Sword.

From the safe Blue House underground bunker, I headed into the [Tower].

* * *

Paat!

<You have entered the 3rd Floor of the Tower.>

Along with the mechanical voice, I entered the [Tower]'s trial.

On the ground, just as always, the safe zone marked by a green circle was visible.

But the surroundings had changed.

'Where is this?'

A room made up of a pure white space.

And in the center of the room stood a sword — massive, immense, magnificent, radiant and radiating a remote, sacred aura — a majestic blade.

My 2nd Sword, the one I had poured the most effort into customizing: the [Holy Sword].

Walking toward the sword as if spellbound, I thought—

'This isn't the Abyss.'

Floors 1 and 2 of the Tower had both been interiors of the [Abyss], where I'd first met the NPCs.

But the 3rd Floor was different.

It was a place I'd never seen before, but these pure white walls brought something to mind.

'Isn't this the entrance to the canyon?'

The very place the 2nd Sword, Yuria Lanestia, had taken center stage during the mid-to-late arc.

I'd only seen the battlefield rendered in 2D pixel art, but I remembered it exactly — I'd run this fight over a hundred times.

'The battlefield that defended the entire Holy Nation.'

The enemy: the darkness spilling out of the [Abyss].

And the 2nd Sword had been forced to defend the entire Holy Nation against that darkness.

Through a sword interaction, I had instructed her to evacuate every citizen of the Holy Nation — and as a result, the entire populace had fled into the canyon beyond that narrow pass.

And then the enemies had poured in.

'Darkness.'

An abstraction.

The only person in that world who could cut it was the 2nd Sword alone.

Which was why Yuria had been left to defend this canyon by herself.

【I endured this battlefield for a hundred days without eating, sleeping, or resting. If you truly are my Master… prove it to me here.】

It was something I hadn't known precisely, because I'd watched the screen at fast-forward.

And hearing the 2nd Sword whine about a mere hundred days left me so dumbfounded I was at a loss for words.

'A hundred days? That's a cakewalk, isn't it?'

Ten years. Thirty-three years. And then until his death.

Those were the years of cultivation Reinhardt had endured.

And what about the 5th Sword, Iris?

'She roamed the continent for a full century, wiping out life itself, until she obtained her Million Demons.'

And a mere hundred days?

She was going to test me with that?

'Somehow, that pisses me off.'

I hadn't driven her into brutal battlefields simply because I wanted to complete the [Holy Sword].

That had been possible precisely because she herself carried the will to save the world.

And…

"I am the Sword Master."

The six Ego Swords were all mine.

The salvation of that world was achieved by the swords I gave them, combined with strategies I'd worked out by studying their worlds.

The end of the world.

'A sword trying to test its master.'

At first the thought had seemed presumptuous — now it just struck me as laughable.

【If you truly are the master of the sword, then show it to me.】

Swick—.

I drew the [Holy Sword] from the pedestal.

Naturally, the sword's power made itself felt.

This was…

'Incomplete.'

It was different from wielding the sword after it had Transcended and attained absolute power.

I could feel what was missing.

'But so what?'

Whether it was the [Tower]'s trial or anything else, my class was [Sword Master].

Paat!

[The Trial begins.]

[The Lone Last Canyon Defense]

The myth the 2nd Sword, Yuria, had built.

It had now manifested before me in the shape of a trial.

I had no intention of swinging my sword and fighting for a hundred days the way she had.

I lifted my sword lightly and spoke.

"Iris."

The 5th Sword, Iris Ruzbella.

I manifested her power.

In this sword's world, Iris could manifest for four hours.

Kuung————.

The world shook.

The crimson sword whispered to me.

【We have come running at Our Master's call.】

A crimson aura surged up along the incomplete Holy Sword.

In an instant, the sacred sword had vanished without a trace, and a massive crimson greatsword was in my grip.

And then—

Suaaaaaaa————.

The demon god the demon worshippers had summoned to destroy the Holy Nation.

The "Darkness" appeared.

Swallowing the pure white space as it emerged, the darkness was no mere creature — it was a phenomenon.

But nothing that existed in the world couldn't be killed by the 5th Sword, Iris Ruzbella—

And nothing that existed couldn't be eaten by the demons she summoned.

"Feed."

I gave the command.

The crimson demons ripped and tore the darkness apart.

Though it had been a defense that should have lasted until the darkness ended, the demons leapt across the distant canyon and devoured even the source of the darkness itself.

In the blink of an eye, the darkness was vanishing from the world.

At that sight, the 2nd Sword Yuria was stunned.

【How… in such a manner—.】

Even I hadn't thought the trial would be cleared in a manner like this.

'What the hell are those tarot cards, really?'

Once again, I became certain — the 'Saintess of Fate' Im Ji-a was a truly uncanny being.

Because the card she had given me had depicted a crimson demon devouring darkness.

【The Sword Master ordered me to save the world. Is salvation even possible with a power like that?】

"For me, yes."

I hadn't used the Holy Sword's power.

And still there was no problem.

Because I was the master of the swords.

【C-can the world truly be saved with something like that?】

To the flustered Yuria, I answered flatly.

"That is why I am the Sword Master."

I am the master of the swords.

Before long, what I had just seen here might play out on Earth as well.

I had no intention of getting into some test of wills with a sword.

So.

"I'll no longer tolerate any deviations."

I spoke in a somewhat prickly tone.

【……You are, as ever, unwavering to me.】

"The world flows forward within a limited span of time."

This was the truth.

The world inside [Raise a Sword] followed a similar storyline every time.

Miss the moment, and the sword was finished.

No matter what you did, the world would fall.

Which was exactly why I drove the swords so mercilessly.

"From now on, my world will be the same."

I had no intention of squandering time either.

They say sincerity always gets through.

【So you too — the Sword Master has always been, always! — unwavering as well.】

Yuria spoke in a markedly softened tone.

There seemed to be a strange trace of joy in it, too.

And with that as the final word—

Paat!

[You have cleared the 2nd Floor of the Tower.]

[Clear Time: 10 minutes]

[Grade: SSS]

[Preparing rewards…]

The trial had ended.

【A priestess who once wandered the continent met the Sword Master and became the Holy Empress of the Lanestia Holy Nation. I had forgotten my gratitude for that.】

She had acknowledged me.

I couldn't say exactly what she had realized…

「The trial was overcome in perfect form.」

—The broken heart of the 2nd Sword, Yuria Lanestia, has been restored.

—As an additional reward, you have obtained the Authority 'Divine Body.'

【I regretted leaving this world having never once experienced love, all alone…】

Her final ending had been a [Sad Ending].

She had saved the world, but the NPC wielding the sword had met her end in solitude.

But now, things were different.

【At last, I have come to understand the Sword Master's noble cause.】

Paat!

「5th Sword, Yuria Lanestia 1/100」

—You can now communicate with a new Ego Sword.

[The 2nd Sword's loyalty has reached the highest level.]

[As a special reward, the Manifestation value is increased by +3.]

—2nd Sword, Yuria Lanestia. [4/100]

In an instant, the 2nd Sword had turned friendly toward me.

And on top of that, the 3rd Floor clear rewards were delivered.

[The rewards for clearing the 3rd Floor of the Tower are being distributed.]

1. You may select the trait of the 'Baby Sword.'

2. Tower Entry Ticket x 3

3. SSS-rank Random Box.

4. 10,000 Coins.

The Baby Sword could now grow.

And…

'Countermeasures for Jesus are more than sufficient.'

Two SSS-rank Random Boxes.

With the skills I'd get from those, plus the 2nd Sword's divinity?

Just as the prophecy had shown, Jesus might well come and try to swear brotherhood with me.