Report
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HELHEIM SCANS
[Translator - Hestia]
[Proofreader - Kaya]
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Chapter 34
I don't know how many years ago it was.
While it's true that I spent an exceptionally long time on the 10th floor back then, it wasn't unusual for me to spend anywhere from a few years to over a hundred years on other floors.
But even now, after my memories and emotions have been partially erased, this damn adventure in this sea of sand still evokes feelings that make my hands and feet tremble.
Resentment?
Anger?
Probably both.
When I reached the 10th floor, I had already attained immortality.
At least, I wouldn't die of old age.
But my comrades were different.
Unlike me, who had wandered and conquered the first nine floors, receiving all sorts of elixirs and rewards, they were just slightly stronger humans.
10 years.
3,650 days.
That's when the first one gave up.
Because we couldn't find the Story Artifact even after completely emptying the treasure room of a pyramid.
'This wasn't the end?'
'Please, stop!'
'I-I can't do this anymore. I miss my wife and son.'
Within the Tower, you could only return to the Tower lobby through a few 'System Zones.'
The 10th floor was one of the easier floors to find a 'System Zone.'
It was right next to the merchant group that stretched to the horizon.
The man, who had been killing monsters out of anger for losing his wife and son, had gone mad after 10 years.
He left the Tower to search for his wife and son, who were already gone.
I couldn't stop him.
I was also on the verge of losing my mind at the thought of having to do this all over again.
But once you left, there was no way to rejoin the 'raid' on that floor midway.
In other countries, when faced with such a hopeless situation, they would all give up and then retry based on the clues they had gathered.
But back then, this country lacked both time and manpower.
It was difficult to even gather a team of ten from across the nation for a Tower raid.
Once we gave up, there was no telling when we could gather again.
And needless to say, this kind of grinding quest was even worse.
I was already sick of it.
I had no confidence in clearing this alone.
It was around the 80-year mark when people started giving up in droves.
'Baekya, I'm sorry.'
'Hyung, why do you look so haggard?'
'I've become a grandpa. Look at the wrinkles on my face. It's driving me crazy.'
'What grandpa? You still look like you're not even thirty.'
'Hey! I was a college student when I entered this place.'
Except for a few of us, including myself, it was around the time when the effects of aging started to show.
Aging and injuries would be healed upon leaving the Tower, but death was irreversible.
Even natural death was still death.
After 150 years, there were three of us left. After 250 years, there were two. And after 400 years, I was alone.
And for 3,000 years, I searched 300 pyramids for the treasure needle.
I didn't feel the passage of 3,000 years.
It took about 10 years to completely empty just one pyramid, and considering that we had searched through 300 of such pyramids, I figured it must have taken roughly that amount of time.
Then one day...
【Special Ancient Language Decipherment (C)】
'Huh?'
I acquired the 'Special Ancient Language Decipherment' skill.
Usually, skills are obtained through repeated practice of actions relevant to one's class, such as a swordsman swinging their sword or a mage practicing magic, or they are gifted by a Constellation.
Typically, 'Decryption' or 'Appraisal' skills were easily acquired by magic-type Awakened.
It seemed my comrades had returned after 80 years, so they lacked the necessary practice.
As an Esper class, I needed even more repeated practice.
Anyway, I could now read the hieroglyphs.
Their contents were excessively harmful.
"What did they say?"
Ryu Haneul asked from beside me.
I collected my overflowing emotions and answered—
"The tomb wasn't an underground tomb, but a pyramid, right? You went inside, so you should have a rough idea of its structure."
"Yes."
"Originally, there wasn't this much sand piled up here. There were countless massive pyramids along a large river, and all of them were buried in the sand due to desertification."
"Wait a minute, Senior, don't tell me..."
"Yes. The name of that now-vanished river was the Needle River. It was narrow and long, like a needle, and it produced a lot of high-quality mana crystals, which were the raw material for treasure needles."
Ryu Haneul was at a loss for words.
Seeing him cautiously glancing at me, I realized my expression must have been quite grim.
"So, the needle that the camel had to pass through... It meant we just had to take the camels across this river and head west. I didn't know that, so I wasted 3,000 years rotting in this desert! And when I went to that damn merchant and told him, you know what he said?"
"What did he say?"
"He said, 'You figured it out now?'"
But I could guarantee that anyone who went through what I did would end up like this.
"After 3,000 years of wandering, he tells me, 'You figured it out now?' I, we, went through all that just to hear those words..."
"S-So what did you do?"
"I think I killed him."
"You think?"
At that time, I truly couldn't see anything.
'Sunny? Is this...?'
When I came to my senses, 'Sunny' was hugging me from behind, and my vision was filled with the white light of Law of Light and the Aitel System error window.
From then on, I cleared the 10th floor that way.
I listened to the people inside the Tower as little as possible and just erased everything first.
Since I absorbed a tremendous amount of mana by erasing the pyramids and the entire merchant group, I could even manipulate the Epilogue Story itself from then on.
I erased unfavorable conditions and burned down entire fields as I climbed the Tower.
All of this happened before I even turned 20.
But I'm not that child anymore.
Even now, it's clear that it was a shitty memory.
But I don't have to live in that memory.
I crossed the desert and approached Al Chiron's tent.
Lee Baejeong had just re-entered the pyramid.
"Tell the merchant leader that I've found the needle he was looking for."
The attendant went inside, and soon the tent flap opened.
A middle-aged man with a turban and a stylish mustache emerged.
My hands trembled involuntarily, but Ryu Haneul held my arm steady.
With a mix of emotions, I said—
"I've found the needle the merchant leader was looking for."
Al Chiron asked—
"I see nothing but desert. Where is this needle you speak of?"
"There's a river called the Needle River beneath the desert. It was the boundary between the barren wasteland where nothing could grow and the vast grasslands where the ancients lived. Since nothing could survive beyond the river, the ancients believed it was the entrance to the afterlife."
Al Chiron widened his eyes in exaggeration.
"I knew of such a legend among the pagans. As a devout believer, I couldn't venture there myself, but I'm willing to trust the words of kind strangers."
Even my Constellation could probably act better than that.
At that moment, I understood the whole situation.
It seemed that Al Chiron couldn't move forward recklessly due to opposition from the extremist believers within his own merchant group.
He needed to hear this information from us, outsiders, to have a reason to persuade them.
"I hope this helps."
"It's a great help. Thank you. This is a token of my gratitude."
He pulled a small lamp from his ornate silk sleeve and offered it to me.
【Genie's Lamp (Mythical)】
【Rub the lamp, and a genie will appear to grant your wishes. You can make a total of three wishes.】
【*Wishes to increase the number of wishes, wishes for love, resurrection, or the genie actively committing murder will not be granted.】
I took the lamp and stepped aside with Ryu Haneul.
"Let's go! To Paradise!"
Al Chiron climbed onto the elephant, raised his fist, and shouted.
Under the starry night sky, the elephant let out a low bellow.
And with that, the procession that stretched to the horizon began to move.
It was a procession that might have been stationary for years.
As I watched them for a while, I noticed something peculiar.
The front of the procession was lavish and leisurely, but the further back you went, the simpler and more tense it became.
The more I saw the soldiers guarding the rear and the ragged people hurrying to keep up, the more it seemed like a refugee caravan rather than a merchant procession.
"...."
Ryu Haneul also seemed to notice something strange, his expression turning thoughtful.
"Senior, what did you say the world inside the Tower was like?"
"Some said it was another world somewhere in the universe, others said it was an instant dungeon in a game, created and destroyed by Aitel on the fly."
"What do you think, Senior?"
"I don't think about it."
"Why not?"
"Because no matter what it actually is, it doesn't change what I experienced and felt there."
I stood there until Al Chiron's procession crossed the sea of sand under the night sky and disappeared beyond the horizon.
The world turned monochrome.
I said to Ryu Haneul—
"Thank you. I couldn't have gotten out without you."
Ryu Haneul smiled warmly.
"No, I couldn't have gotten out without you either, Senior."
* * *
I snapped back to reality.
After experiencing Ryu Haneul's nightmare and then my own, I thought we would fall into Lee Baejeong's nightmare next.
But after the world turned monochrome, only endless darkness remained, with neither up nor down.
Thump.
A faint vibration spread from afar, passing through me.
"Senior, something's strange."
"Prepare for battle."
"What?"
"Something's coming."
Thump!
Ryu Haneul also seemed to feel the vibration, drawing the Dark Heavenly Demon Sword from his inventory and looking around cautiously.
Whoosh!
It rushed towards us in an instant, like a hyperspace jump from a sci-fi movie.
The entire dark space we were in seemed to be absorbed into its domain.
A loud alarm blared in my ears.
【Warning! Warning! Warning!】
【Mirror Prince of the Ruined World (S+) has appeared.】
【The Mirror Prince is collecting the 'worlds' of countless people to restore his homeland. Be careful not to be absorbed by the Mirror Prince.】
It changed its form.
Tzzzzt!
"A sanctuary?"
"This is my house?"
The next moment, Ryu Haneul and I were standing in a space similar to the sanctuary on the 99th floor of my building.
A spacious octagonal room, surrounded by Greek-style pillars and statues.
It was a very familiar place.
But the difference was that instead of glass windows, mirrors covered every wall.
Slurp!
A sticky, monstrous sound, incongruous with the smoothness of the mirrors, echoed as blurry features appeared within the giant mirrors.
It reminded me of the default male character in a 3D modeling app.
It seemed to simply exist, devoid of any personality or individuality.
It let out a scream-like roar.
["Who are you, and why have you come here?!"]
Before its maw could fully open, I opened my inventory and took out the Certificate of Pardon.
Flash!
The Certificate of Pardon, which nullified proposition-type debuffs, flashed, and a strong wind swept past me.
【Status Effect: 'Ego Collapse' nullified】
A notification appeared in the corner of my vision.
"I'm fine."
I looked to the side and saw Ryu Haneul's eyes wide open.
Well, it wasn't the time for me to be worried about the 'Heavenly Demon.'
The Mirror Prince spoke once more.
["Who am I?! Your nightmares will multiply like my own endless nightmare!"]
As soon as it finished speaking, a figure emerged from the mirror in front of us.
Step.
"...Ha."
I couldn't help but gasp.
Magical noise flickered across its face, making it difficult to discern its features clearly.
However, with the blue halo shaped like swords jutting out in all directions and the dark blue hair covering his forehead, along with his well-built physique, his identity was clear.
Cheong Siyeol.
It was definitely Cheong Siyeol.
That Mirror Prince must have summoned him from my memories.
Swish.
Cheong Siyeol drew a blue longsword that looked like it was made of sapphire.
He flicked the sword left and right once, then kicked off the ground and charged.
It was a scene I had seen recently.
Whoosh!
I immediately used 'Radiant Sword' on the White Lotus Refined Steel Sword and tried to block him.
Clang!
"Ugh!"
But I couldn't even withstand a single blow and was sent flying to the other side of the sanctuary.
Even in my prime, engaging 'Sword Saint' Cheong Siyeol in close combat was not an easy task.
"Senior!"
Ryu Haneul tried to gather his Dark Heaven Sword Qi.
I shouted urgently—
"Don't interfere! If you show hostility, you might become his enemy too!"
"But!"
"And that's probably me at my peak."
Indeed, next to the mirror where Cheong Siyeol appeared, a figure that looked suspiciously like me flickered in and out of view.
"...."
Ryu Haneul gritted his teeth and lowered his sword.
Cheong Siyeol raised his longsword and charged again.
Clang!
As I parried his downward strike, the 'White Lotus Pure Steel Sword' reached its limit.
The heated blade shattered and broke off.
I immediately dropped the sword and tried to use Resonance Wave at close range, but...
Thud!
Cheong Siyeol was one step ahead, kicking me in the chest.
Ryu Haneul looked back and forth between me and the Mirror Prince, unsure what to do.
The Mirror Prince was no longer moving.
Perhaps there was a limit to the number of replicas he could summon at once.
I hoped so.
"Siyeol."
I took out the Winter Vanguard's Standard from my inventory.
I gripped the standard in my left hand and walked around the sanctuary, then stood with my back to the central throne.
"I still don't understand what you're talking about."
The scene mirrored our past confrontation.
Cheong Siyeol's eyes blazed with a chilling, sky-blue light.
Swoosh!
The blue longsword, like the event horizon of a black hole, warped the space and lunged towards my side.
Stab!
The sword pierced below my left ribs, skewering my body diagonally and emerging from behind my right shoulder blade.
At that moment, I activated 'Battle Continuation' with the 'Solar Scarab' amulet in my inner pocket.
【Solar Scarab (Heroic)】
【Effect: Battle Continuation. Nullifies fatal injuries once.】
Fwaaaaaah!
The scarab, pushing the sun upwards, shone brilliantly.
[TL/N: Pushing the sun upward — is a metaphorical expression. In many cultures, the scarab is associated with the sun due to its behavior of rolling dung, which was metaphorically linked to rolling the sun across the sky.]
Yellow light burst from the amulet on my chest and the wound.
The replica of Cheong Siyeol's lips twitched in surprise.
I then used the standard in my left hand to 'Declare Territory.'
Thump!
The moment the bottom of the standard touched the floor, white light spread out spherically, burning away the Mirror Prince's space and its control over it.
I had already tried using this standard to create a 'gap' when we entered.
Based on the Aitel System's explanation, this place seemed to be a space that manifested entities from memories.
Just as the replica of Cheong Siyeol was using skills from his past life, so too did my image exist within his memories.
But unlike back then, I wasn't wielding the Fire Dragon Sword.
And people tend to notice absences more than presences.
"Gotcha."
Grab!
【Fire Dragon Sword (Mythical → Heroic)】
A long, elegantly curved blade with a dragon engraved on its hilt materialized from Cheong Siyeol's memory.
I grabbed the replica Cheong Siyeol's shoulder with my left hand.
Unlike in the past, when it felt like it would break if I gripped it too tightly, it felt solid.
I swung the Fire Dragon Sword upwards in a reverse grip.
Slash.
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HELHEIM SCANS
[Translator - Hestia
[Proofreader - Kaya]
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