SWNOVELXO Chapter 211. Ego Sword (2)
I tightly shut my eyes.
What I felt was a scorching sensation running up my palm.
But it wasn’t a real heat generating that burning sensation.
It was simply the intense pain caused by the high-grade magic tool known as the Sword of Sunset, sucking the magic power from my body all the way to the marrow, which was then expressed as a feeling of heat through a safety mechanism embedded in my nerves.
‘I knew this would happen.’
But amusingly, this was a good sign.
It meant that the Alphauri Ego Sword was fulfilling its command without a hitch.
In other words, it meant the stored magic spell hadn’t been canceled.
I’m sorry to say to any fire mages, but the truth is I had this miraculous escape because the Earthlings didn’t know how to use this thing.
Most Ego Swords slowly absorb their master’s magic power over time, and the original owner was none other than Jeong Ha-seong, so the amount of basic mana accumulated must be enormous!
The magic held by this Ego Sword was close to that of modern Alphauri’s new type, so it didn’t take long for the results to show.
Gasp!
Just when a flash of white flickered around the red blade.
Brooklyn seemed to realize something was off and tensed her leg muscles, but even someone endowed with outstanding talent on Earth was ultimately a primitive in the study of magic.
Zap!
The magic unleashed by the Ego Sword was a realm of mystery to them. No matter how much of a beast they were, there was no way they could evade it.
An intense light burst forth from the sword.
Even the top-tier beast within the ecosystem was incinerated into ashes by that flash.
Alphauri had created a convenient weapon that could take the breath of life from living beings with just a word, even for the magic inept.
“…!”
Whoosh!
The black beast, which had brought terror to the world, was engulfed in that destructive planetary magic and died instantly.
The burning smell. The stench of blood.
Such unpleasant remnants didn’t even remain as a truly dignified demise.
The grotesque sight of someone unable to bear the weight of the sword, crumpling down in a manner that resembled this siege magic. Truly, the technology is impressive.
This was undeniably a victory for Alphauri’s magic study.
Hiss.
The potential of the sword far exceeded the Earthling’s expectations.
If it had been during its prime, I would have relished every moment of watching the beast’s body crumble.
‘Such a weak body.’
F-Class trash really had the sight of a lump of flesh.
When I opened my eyes after keeping them shut, the enemy that had been right in front of me was already nowhere to be found. The beast had lost its body to the sorting-guided missile of the Sword of Sunset.
But perhaps because the caster had a rather poor foundation, the size of the magic had been adjusted smaller than usual, meaning part of the body had slipped out of the effective range.
‘To the left?’
Upon closer inspection, a distal limb resembling the enemy’s was on the dungeon floor.
It was merely exposed to the light, yet the gloves protecting the skin had been burned off completely, a pitiful sight.
Only the hand was left behind, dead.
Come to think of it, this was the first time I had personally finished off an Earthling. To be honest, I could say it was mostly the Sword of Sunset and Jeong Ha-seong’s magic that did the work here, so there wasn’t much feeling of accomplishment on my part.
‘Huh.’
In any case, it’s resolved.
With the future hero lost and myself brought to the brink of death, for a moment, I was flooded with overwhelming relief.
Brooklyn Morgan was a fairly famous S-Class Hunter, so the chaos to come would surely not be small… but wait, is this really my fault?
I didn’t want to kill! But what else could I do? No matter how I thought about it, activating the Sword of Sunset was the only way out of that crisis. If it’s this bad, even back in her homeland America, they’d surely nod and consider it self-defense.
So I should just leave Brooklyn’s absence for others to fill.
‘I don’t know.’
At that moment.
A shimmer of some object caught my eye.
A complexly cut gem and silver casting. A ring.
‘Oh, an accessory worn by an S-Class Hunter!’
I suddenly became interested in this item that had been positioned on someone’s left ring finger.
But this interest turned into disappointment within a few seconds.
A plain cubic ring.
Looking closely, it was merely an Earth-style ornament devoid of any mana, not a magic tool.
Cheh.
In the end, it seems like I got nothing.
Almost got turned into a corpse myself while trying to pick up dead bodies in [Mimic City]. And now I was once again muttering about Alphauri I had been so reluctant to mention.
A hollow laugh escaped me.
Perhaps I could consider it negligence.
If the suspicion that the beast was a killer collecting corpses was true, I should have suspected that the opponent could take advantage of this special gate.
‘I had short thoughts.’
Yeah. Thinking carefully, it turns out I have a significant part to play in this.
Of course, the one who made the biggest mistake was Brooklyn Morgan, who was dead now, but still, who was that madman trying to save by stirring up this international chaos?
‘That left hand and the ring without magic would disappear to align with the reset cycle of the dungeon soon, so there’s no need to recklessly recover them.’
A troubled childhood.
Deficiency in human relationships.
Or perhaps just a genetic issue.
A villain who committed murder usually has a reason entangled with that crime, but…
Personally, I didn’t want to delve into the past of someone trying to kill me and Ha-seong.
Even if I wanted to, it would be impossible.
The beast died in a way so tragic that it couldn’t even utter a common last word.
I would likely never know anything about the beast’s circumstances for the rest of my life.
The madman’s torturous plot remained like the past of some great mage, shrouded in a mystery. It’s just something that had to be.
Ha.
…By the way, am I nearing my limits?
Thud.
At that moment, my knees buckled.
I thrust the Sword of Sunset into the ground to prevent my body from falling headfirst.
But the corpse of Kim Gi-ryeo, whose center of gravity was thrown off, couldn’t even lean properly against its support and completely plopped down on one knee.
It was an expected outcome, but still a bit dicey.
Hack.
The truth is,
From the moment Brooklyn collapsed to now, I hadn’t been able to breathe at all.
I had fallen into a serious state of mana burn with all the magic in my lungs evaporated…
How could I end up in this state without even being hit with mana burn!?
[New Master! Are you okay? New Master! New Master!]
I rolled my bloodshot eyes toward the source of the voice.
There lay the Ego Sword, vibrating slightly to express its concern.
Well, for now.
Thanks to the ample magic power Jeong Ha-seong had piled up, the sword’s basic functions managed to activate well, but…
Swinging a sword that really wasn’t suited to my abilities was like dislocating my shoulder, and I was straining to manage the Ego Sword with my frail body, leading to respiratory distress.
The power of light shot forth by the Ego Sword followed Ha-seong’s magic.
But pulling the trigger had to be done by my magic.
Due to its close relation to air, a mage’s lungs tend to easily run out of magic in a localized manner. When mana is completely depleted, even the organs can’t function properly.
Ugh.
Fortunately, not everything from my head to my toes was burnt. As long as the living function was maintained, a mage could usually extricate themselves from such a state.
The problem was the natural recovery of lungs that had zero mana.
‘Earthlings die if they can’t breathe for a few minutes, right?’
There lies the possibility that it might be slower than suffocating.
This is precisely why I didn’t want to recklessly use a legendary.
‘For crying out loud, I really should go get my fortune told one day. What a mess. Is the problem my body or my soul? What’s up with me since I reincarnated, every time I go out…’
Grumble, grumble.
I tried to divert my thoughts to forget about the impending suffocation. Soon enough, my head filled with all kinds of worries.
Thinking about it, having dispatched Brooklyn, is there really any need to wait for Kang Chang-ho? On the contrary, staying here would obviously trigger another incident, so I should leave quickly and act as if nothing happened.
And if what that psycho said in America was true…
If a dungeon requesting human corpses appeared somewhere in this world,
This is undoubtedly not good news, especially with the appearance of the [Scenario Gate].
Perhaps the Ki-simche have already begun stepping up to the next stage.
‘Good thing they don’t usually pay attention to their own meals. If they did, I’d have to worry about their gazes too, making it even harder to use the Sword of Sunset…’
With all sorts of thoughts racing, my lungs finally started moving.
Oh!
Inhale.
Fortunately, mana recovery took place before someone could cross the river Jordan.
After about 1 minute and 56 seconds, I met Earth’s air again.
The atmospheric molecules felt refreshingly nostalgic after such a long time. Besides, with this amount of time, it wasn’t too much of a waste, so I should tidy up and leave now.
‘Let’s see. The direction to the exit in South Korea where I came in…’
Clang.
I pulled out the Ego Sword that I had been using as a support and stood up.
Then I turned around to collect the Earthling who was likely passed out.
What I saw was a black-haired man lying face down, his eyes open and staring at me.
“…”
“…”
Jeong Ha-seong had come back to his senses.
‘Whoa, didn’t see that coming.’
If he was awake, he should’ve made some noise.
*
3 AM.
Ha-seong, lying on his bed, woke up to a familiar discomfort.
There wasn’t really a significant problem.
This S-Class Hunter occasionally suffered from worries and anxieties, which caused him to have restless nights.
Finding the symptom he hadn’t experienced in a long time quite novel, he began his early day.
Following someone’s advice, he had a proper Korean meal for breakfast instead of a convenient one.
4 AM.
Jeong Ha-seong prepared to go out, putting on his gear.
He had a habit of not falling back asleep once he woke up.
Since he was already awake, maybe he should conduct the pre-exploration of the dungeon that the government had requested.
The enormous star world now known as [Mimic City] was imposing in size, but the level of the enemies that appeared there ranged from D to C-Class.
The top-class Hunters could not be threatened by them.
With a light heart, Ha-seong set out on a dawn exploration as if he were going for a walk.
Of course, even at this hour, it was natural to predict that other Hunters would be in the dungeon.
Although it was late for most folks in Korea, thanks to the spherical nature of Earth, it was likely that office workers were still busily working somewhere.
4:48 AM.
The fire mage of Korea stepped into the problematic dungeon without much thought.
However, the events that unfolded afterward were a continuous series of scenes that had not been agreed upon.
“Uh?”
A beast that caught the scent of an S-Class came running in haste.
The Battle Axe sliced through the air.
He used a skill to try to stop it, but Jeong Ha-seong’s personality was genuinely weak.
Given that he had burned enough protein to weigh tons, he couldn’t even harm his own kind.
His body was cut, and his legs were shattered.
Ha-seong found himself panicking in the first fight against an S-Class Hunter and eventually collapsed in place. Despite possessing great skill, he was almost one-sidedly defeated by the beast.
Gah!
But what a surprise.
Normally, an event like this would end with the demise of a good person.
Tap, tap, tap, tap.
The sound of hard leather shoes clashing against the corridor echoed repeatedly.
And through the drops of blood pouring from his wounds, Jeong Ha-seong caught sight of a figure of a man.
Amidst the darkness of the star world, bright blond hair instantly made its presence known.
“Kim… Hunter!”
Kim Gi-ryeo.
Korea’s fourth S-Class was right here.
And it was only 4 o’clock.
At dawn 4 AM.
How on earth did that person get here?
…Why?
The thoughts didn’t last long.
Perhaps feeling his tension ease upon seeing an ally, or maybe his brain simply couldn’t handle the blood loss; he could no longer maintain consciousness.
As his fading awareness returned, an unbelievable scene unfolded before Ha-seong’s eyes.
Some blond Awakened was quietly kneeling in the distance, holding a red sword that looked like it was soaked in blood.