The first thing I saw was a stiff face. It meant that the leader was startled. He couldn’t decide how to answer my sudden interruption. He was wavering in a state of indecision. A defenseless moment he shouldn’t have shown to his enemy during a battle.
Clank-!
“…A surprise attack?”
Sparks erupted in the silent darkness. The flying Mirage was blocked by something the leader used. Or was it the leader?
“That’s too bad.”
It wasn’t. Within the range of Outstanding Insight, I could see a Returnee hiding in the dark, casting a barrier. The leader had pretended there was only he and Lee Hyun-seung, but it wasn’t true.
He didn’t let his guard down this time. He threw away his pride and made preparations to win. He chose a dark environment that was difficult to adapt to quickly and hid the other Returnees in it.
“You said you’d crawl under my feet if I persuaded you… But you were actually preparing a surprise attack? How disappointing. I didn’t want any violence.”
“You didn’t want violence, but you called me to this remote place and had Returnees waiting? If I disappeared from here, no one would know.”
“It was just minimal precaution. How could we trust you enough to reveal ourselves?”
“That’s true, but… That way, you’ll never receive the respect you want.”
“What?”
The leader’s face became contorted. Regardless, I continued to speak.
“‘We came back changed from another world. We might as well be a different species from you, and therefore, we should be respected. We want to be treated according to our power.’ What sort of normal human thinks that way? You Returnees are already drawing a line. A line that separates Returnees from ordinary human beings.”
“However, we should be respected. Returnees will never be content with living a simple life with the enormous power they have. And if a Returnee living among people causes an incident someday… They will inflict a lot of damage.”
“So, you are admitting that Returnees are a ticking time bomb?”
“…I can’t deny that some of us are like a ticking bomb. But I came up with this idea to embrace them as well. They are all our comrades.”
“That’s crap.”
Thwack!
A giant black sword lodged itself into the ground in front of my feet. It easily cut through the brick floor, and clouds of dust billowed up. It was meant to be a threat.
But instead of flinching, I stomped on the giant sword and took another step forward.
“Let’s go, hunter Lee Hyun-seung. You couldn’t leave because of the Returnee who has your wife’s face, right? I’ll solve it for you. Stop being tied up and come with me. It doesn’t suit you.”
“…….”
“What are you doing? Get up.”
Crackle!
Following the giant sword, a storm of Fire, Ice, and Lightning elements raged around me. Each element was powerful magic.
“I said to persuade me, not attack me, you idiots!”
Instead of fiercely resisting the attack, I lifted one hand.
I wasn’t going to lose anything. I was going to sharpen myself into a weapon and destroy everything in my way.
[Akashic Records users carry everything on their shoulders. Long forgotten narratives and grand legends everyone speak of remain in the users’ minds and become history, legends, and myths.]
The Traveler’s voice rang out.
[The Akashic Records found your choice interesting and gave you power. And if you’ve received something, shouldn’t you show it?]
And a transparent status window appeared.
[‘Class-Specific Skill’ is invoked.]
[Countless knowledge and stories floating in the super-dimension. Part of a grand narrative is recreated here through the Akashic Records.]
The power that the Akashic Records gave me in return for my decision. An ability that was born from the hard work of my training.
A dagger powerful enough to carry everything and take responsibility for all things slowly began to show its blade,
『Age of the Warring States.』
『Even the iron army that the Demon King boasted, the demons that poured out of the fallen sky, and the Evil Dragon that foresaw the end of humankind.』
『Succumbed to a man who appeared out of nowhere from a strange place.』
“I have no choice if you act this way.”
The Mirages that were whipping through the area gather in my hand. The colorful grains of light were reassembled into a giant sword. It looked and felt more sacred than beautiful, as it used to feel.
“If you gave up on persuading me with your words, then I will also act accordingly.”
[You can borrow all of the stories chronicled in the Akashic Records without limit for 1 hour.]
[The epic narrative of a great hero, whom so many heroes revered, and even divine beings marveled at, begins to infuse your soul.]
The memory of another person slowly creeps in and merges with me. Each of my fingers wraps around the cold sword. And, when I fully gripped the sword.
『The Last Warrior of the Century』
I had become him.
* * *
The words of a young hunter praised as a rookie rattle his heart. When he saw Jeong Si-woo in the -War of the Stars-, he seemed like a somewhat talented individual. A hunter that was still immature but who would become more refined as he stumbled a few times.
To Lee Hyun-seung, that was all Jeong Si-woo was.
“…But.”
However, Jeong Si-woo did not stumble. He was as thorough and precise as a veteran who braved death hundreds of times. He did not require more experience. He was already a completed sculpture.
Some parts of him were rough and broken, but even those could be considered a form of art. He did not make any mistakes and presented clear solutions in all situations.
At some point, even Lee Hyun-seung, who always fought alone, came to rely on Jung Si-woo.
“Whew─!”
The giant sword slashes through the ornate magic and barriers. Wasn’t it a skill he used to become possessed? After Jeong Si-woo chanted something under his breath, his atmosphere changed entirely.
How hard did he have to train to reach that level of proficiency? What kind of world had he lived in to earn such power in a short period of time?
Lee Hyun-seung bit his lower lip. He had thought he was the most desperate and lonely man in the world. But he wasn’t.
The darkness he could see from time to time in Jeong Si-woo’s eyes was too deep to measure.
The darkness sometimes seemed shallow due to his youth and passion. But once you delved into it yourself, you fell into an abyss. Jeong Si-woo’s world was more devastating and darker than anyone else’s. Which was perhaps the reason he could become so strong. Only by being thorough and precise could he have earned recognition and strength.
“The…the barrier, gone in one blow……Who, who is he–!?”
The light scattered by the sword effortlessly destroys the Returnees’ attacks. Jeong Si-woo looked exactly like the ideal hero Lee Hyun-seung imagined in his head.
The rookie, the hunter who never fails, the hope of the people, the hunter who will one day reach the top. The keywords that Lee Hyun-seung thought described Jeong Si-woo started to break down one by one.
-Thank goodness.
Jeong Si-woo’s figure, which was made up of numerous images, was combined into one.
– If I were a little late, you would have been seriously hurt. You did well. In this hell of a place, you held out nicely.
The person who saved Lee Hyun-seung’s life long ago, when he was crying in sorrow after losing his wife.
Jeong Si-woo’s figure turned into that of the hunter who rescued a man that cried about wanting to die but actually desperately wanted to survive.
His fingers twitched.
Clank, clank.
The iron pieces on the floor, the weapons that Lee Hyun-seung had summoned, trembled as if they had come back to life. The sound of metal rang out in all directions. The mana crouching in his heart burst out like a massive wave.
“Wait, Boss, he’s about to–…!”
One of the five Returnees, the man who cast barriers, tried to speak. But it was too late. A small dagger abandoned on the floor soared up as if it were being dragged towards a magnet.
“Huh!”
He hurriedly created more barriers.
Crash-!
But the barriers shattered into pieces. His eyes widened. Was it because he hastily cast the barriers? No. It was because… Lee Hyun-seung had become incomparably stronger than before.
‘No matter what kind of person, I shall limit my power when fighting a person.’
It was a kind of principle that Lee Hyun-seung had kept for his whole life. When dealing with people, not monsters, no matter how evil they were, Lee Hyun-seung always set a limit and never crossed it. It was a rule he had made so that he didn’t become a monster himself.
But at this moment, Lee Hyun-seung hadn’t set any limit. The complete and intact power of the hunter, who was considered the strongest hunter alive, wasn’t something that even one of the Five Kings could withstand.
“Ugh… Ug… gh… Ah ah….”
Starting with the small dagger, all kinds of weapons pierced the man’s body. Countless weapons poured out from the black hole behind Lee Hyun-seung. And the weapons moving at Lee Hyun-seung’s will did not hesitate to turn a living creature into a lump of meat.
An individual that stood unscathed after being fatally attacked in the head. Who used his wife as bait to distress him, and who could pose a significant threat to humankind.
Due to many factors, Lee Hyun-seung decided not to define them as human beings.
“You made the right choice, hunter Lee Hyun-seung. It would be ridiculous to be swayed by them.”
“…Yes, I must have been out of my mind for a while.”
Boom, boom, boom!
Large iron columns dropped down around Lee Hyun-seung, penetrating the floor. They were objects full of mana, engulfed in blue energy.
“I’ll grind four of these five Returnees into dust and capture the one that looks like your wife alive. We need to get more information… And I did tell you I would solve it.”
He could hear Jeong Si-woo’s trustworthy words. Despite the situation, Lee Hyun-seung laughed. He said he would solve it. Jeong Si-woo was speaking as if he were an absolute power.
“There’s no need.”
Jeong Si-woo’s ability to be possessed was definitely powerful. Powerful enough to turn the tides of war. But it still wasn’t enough to surpass Lee Hyun-seung.
“I can deal with them alone.”
The last time Lee Hyun-seung updated his information in the Association’s database was five years ago. And no Awakener had yet surpassed Lee Hyun-seung from five years ago.
And Lee Hyun-seung fought on the front line and trained every single day for five years since then. That meant no one knew exactly how strong he was.
Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom!
Additional columns fall from the sky. It looked like metal was raining down. The weighty objects, falling with gravity’s force, demolished the warehouse’s ceiling and surrounded Lee Hyeon-seung with a loud bang.
No one there knew what they were. But one thing was clear.
“You’ve done enough by bringing me back to my senses.”
Using those objects, Lee Hyun-seung could probably single-handedly wipe out the Returnees that were here.
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