The sun floating in the sky.
I couldn’t know what it meant.
I didn’t even have time to think about what it was.
Because Jong-eon moved.
KKKKKKRRRRRRRRRRRAAAAAAA―!!
As I looked up at the sky, the heads of the Jong-eons roaring in unison fell toward me.
I immediately slammed my arms down with all my might.
Wuduk— wuduk— With the sound of a massive tree’s roots being pulled out, the Great Sword that had been caught in Divine Power began to tear free.
I was running out of time. I needed to hit harder.
Thud. I stomped my feet hard to gain more momentum. I gritted my teeth. I twisted my waist. I felt blood rushing to my head. The sound of muscles tearing echoed within me. Finally, the Divine Powers entangled in the Great Sword were ripped apart. So I swung it.
KWAAAAANG—! With a rumbling roar that shook the ground, the bodies of the Jong-eons erupted in an instant. Their scattered remains splattered across the floor. From the scattered fragments, mouths sprouted. The mouths opened. They chewed, bit, and swallowed each other.
I tried to completely obliterate the grotesque pieces devouring one another, but I couldn’t. Because the strikes from the Jong-eons that hadn’t burst from my blow were flooding in. Moreover, I had the feeling that I needed to block attacks that shouldn’t normally penetrate my Divine Realm.
Swallowing a deep sigh, I swung the Great Sword once more at the wretched entities. I clearly saw the shattered bodies of Jong-eon burst into pieces before my eyes. However, this time, it didn’t end with just one swing. I gathered momentum and spun around.
As a result, I slammed the hastened Great Sword straight down to the ground.
Boom! With a blast like a bomb exploding, the fragments of the Jong-eon vanished without a trace. I confirmed their obliteration both visually and through my senses.
Only then did I turn my back on the fragment of Jong-eon that was devouring my own pieces.
However, I didn’t need to completely turn around.
It was right next to me.
A speed and presence that didn’t match its massive size.
My body flinched as I saw it approach without even catching my instincts, but my reaction wasn’t late.
My knee shot up reflexively and slammed into the Jong-eon’s jaw. The impact pushed its head upward. I didn’t let that moment slip and slammed the Great Sword’s hilt into its skull.
Crack. It felt like I was shattering a stone hidden in clay, and the giant body crumbled. I flexed my waist like a bow, gripping the Great Sword backward. —Kuwung. As it fell, I stabbed the Great Sword into what would be its spinal location.
The stench left by the Jong-eon faded.
It was weaker than the Jong-eon I had seen in Sirin’s memories but not to be dismissed.
No, originally, it didn’t feel like much.
After that sun rose, the power of the Jong-eons doubled.
Furthermore, they were infused with Divine Power. Perfect Divine Power that manipulates time. Of course, it didn’t matter now since I had obliterated the Jong-eon’s body before it could absorb the Divine Power, but if I had delayed just a little more…
It would have become quite a headache.
Thus, I didn’t take a moment to rest and began to move toward the most dangerous-looking of them.
And after erasing a dozen or more, at least thirty-six in total, my Great Sword finally came to a brief halt.
“Haah…”
I calmed my slightly ragged breath and spread out my senses.
The constantly splitting images of the Jong-eons played out, but who I wanted to sketch wasn’t them.
Further away. In detail.
The form of the Nameless One appeared. Not clear and vague. I focused my senses as much as I could, but it didn’t get clearer.
But one thing I could tell for sure.
The appearance was different.
Though it sprawled just the same as before, the body without arms and legs was entirely different from earlier.
Yes, that form seemed to be.
“…a bug?”
It looked like a bug.
From the cross-section of its severed limbs, squirming, antenna-like legs continuously wriggled. The mouths that sprouted were chewing the empty air, swallowing something.
The expressionless face was the same. The voice of “Let’s kill” echoed endlessly, but the shape of the mouth, like everything else, continued to chew and swallow something.
It was so grotesque that I thought the word ‘grotesque’ might have been created just to describe it.
…I thought it was a parasite, but it actually resembled one.
So, what was it swallowing?
Why wasn’t the sun floating in the sky a black sun?
There was no need to ponder.
I just had to go and confirm it.
I moved forward.
On the way, I obliterated eleven more Jong-eons.
They continuously tried to cling on from behind and from the sides, but it was no use. To me, who found it easier to see with my senses than my eyes, it was no different from having them attack me head-on.
Thus, I arrived in front of the Nameless One.
Thud.
I plunged the Great Sword down and burst its heart.
Not content with that, I twisted and swung the Great Sword to shred its body into tiny pieces without a trace.
Why I did that, I didn’t know. Why it had to be done, I didn’t understand. It was simply an instinctive, reflexive action.
It had to die painfully.
I had to beat it until it begged for its life.
I had to cut off everything it intended and plunge it into despair.
That was what I thought, and I had made such a promise with ‘myself.’ I thought that I definitely had to keep it.
So, I controlled my strength and refrained from killing it immediately. But now I felt I could do no more.
Even like this, it wouldn’t die. But my instincts, my instincts told me to act this way.
The reason for that became clear quickly.
A breeze blew into the previously still space.
Mixed with the Jong-eon’s foul odor was the refreshing scent of sunlight that tickled my nose.
The steps of the Jong-eons that had been approaching me came to a halt. The extending tentacles, the opening mouths, the magic they emitted, and the magical energy, all disappeared.
And then.
The Nameless One was shown.
I had clearly ripped its limbs off and cut them.
I had burst its heart and torn its body to shreds.
Its form had vanished without a shape, yet.
It appeared.
It was visible.
Standing right in front of me, it was visible.
Cah-ck. Crack.
Long, extended antennae and leg-like appendages balanced its body. Things extending from what seemed to be shoulders touched the ground to support its form.
And the body was.
Not Rubia’s. The face was the same.
A massive lump.
Fog, smoke.
Color.
It was too blurry to be called a lump.
And it had form enough to not be just fog or smoke.
Yes. Color.
A ‘color’ that looked like a mixture of several colors was right before me.
Eventually, in that color, from those limbs that stretched out, from the arms and mouth, mouths sprouted. A densely packed multitude of mouths, teeth, and tongues moved continuously, chewing something. Swallowing. Licking.
It savored its flavor. Laughed. Mumbled.
It moved.
And then.
It raised the Great Sword.
———.
A tremendous noise. Silence. With an unidentifiable sound, my body was brutally slammed to the ground.
What just passed?
The moment something unknowable contacted me, it all turned out this way.
I released a rough breath and rose from the ground.
Holding the Great Sword high, I observed its movements.
The mouths still moved. The murmurs continued. It was chewing on something. What could it be?
I widened my eyes and concentrated my senses.
Then it became visible, albeit faintly.
Divine Power.
Divine Realm.
It was swallowing its own power.
Swallowing the power it had stolen.
It should have completed the absorption, so why?
Was that its true power?
I didn’t know.
Even if I understood, nothing would change. I still had to kill that thing anyway.
So I planted myself firmly.
I still had the confidence to kill it.
Kuwung! In an instant, I arrived before the Nameless One and swung the Great Sword without hesitation. The tendrils of the Jong-eons entangled around the Great Sword in the process, but they couldn’t stop me.
With a weakly torn-off tentacle, my Great Sword severed what looked like the Nameless One’s arm. —Puhak! Black smoke burst forth. The smoke touched the sunlight. It absorbed the sunlight. The light of the sun grew intense.
And its arm regenerated.
My body was suddenly moved back to the place where I had been standing a moment ago. I was momentarily startled by the abrupt shift, like a frame had been cut, but I didn’t halt my movements.
If I kept rewinding time, faster and more powerful than before, if that still didn’t work, then I would just smash its abilities entirely.
After taking a few hits, I would surely adapt.
Like I always had.
“Hrngh!”
I held my breath and kicked off the ground. I cleaved through the extending tentacles and threw my body forward using them as stepping stones.
Swish! I quickly grasped a swinging tentacle. My body followed the path it slashed. A tentacle extending from the other side wrapped around my legs.
It seemed to be trying to tear my limbs apart.
Did it not know that it wasn’t that I couldn’t cut it?
Snaps! I straightened my legs to rip the tentacle apart. Simultaneously, I released the hand gripping the tentacle and leaped down. A tentacle shot toward me. I swung the Great Sword to alter its path. Then, with a slight step, I launched forward again.
Having dodged easily over what appeared to be hundreds of Jong-eons, I was instantly before the Nameless One.
The power of time. Divine Power. Its attacks.
Considering every possible outcome.
No, I intended to just smash everything to pieces as I swung the Great Sword.
As expected, everything went as planned. The Great Sword swung, disregarding everything, and struck the Nameless One’s torso, colliding with the wildly mixed colors. Countless fractures appeared from that point.
Hundreds of grotesquely extended arms, tentacles, mouths, teeth, tongues. They tore apart, twisted, distorted, shattered, and were ripped off.
A scene so disgusting it made me want to puke.
If this had been Rubia’s face and body, I would’ve…
…stopped imagining that.
Yeah. It was good to follow my instincts.
Clearing away distractions, I swung the Great Sword.
I swung, swung, and swung it.
If I rewound time and distanced myself, I would dash forward and strike.
If I turned time quickly, I would similarly swing the Great Sword without hesitation.
If I halted time, for some reason it could easily break free. I just had to apply force for it to come undone.
Right in that state, regardless of what it did, I kept swinging, slicing, stabbing, stomping, and crushing it.
I concentrated my senses, opened my eyes wide, and poured all my nerves into my instincts.
Thus, both the Jong-eons charging toward me, the newly emerged ones, and the ones that had just come back.
When the arms, mouths, lips, and tongues of the Nameless One stopped making the unpleasant sounds of smacking,
Greeeek. Crik. Kiki-kik.
The torso of the Nameless One split open.
Inside, there was that distasteful mouth I had been sick of chopping at.
I didn’t just watch.
I swung the Great Sword to slice it.
However, I couldn’t swing it.
Puhshh Two tentacles resembling tongues shot out from its mouth. I brought the Great Sword in front of my body, using it as a shield.
There was no impact.
The tentacles didn’t extend toward me.
Their target was the ground. And the sky.
The tentacle that had directed its aim toward me abruptly bent at a right angle and changed direction, burrowing into the bleeding ground, wriggling.
I didn’t know what it was doing, but I swung the Great Sword at it. I sliced it cleanly, but what was lodged into the ground continued to wiggle.
I turned my gaze up toward the sky where the other was shot. I sliced that as well.
Then, it spat out an unpleasant liquid, and from where it was cleaved, it was pulled skyward.
I wondered where it was headed. Its trajectory was invisible to my eyes.
Reluctantly, with my eyes and instincts focused on the Nameless One, I spread my senses to watch the direction the tentacles took.
The tentacle stretching toward the sky was falling to the ground. The one that had burrowed was heading toward my back.
Where they were headed was.
Rubia.
[Too late? Too late? Too late? Too late? Too late? Too late? Too late? Too late? Too late? Too late? Too late? Too late? Too late? Too late? Too late? Too late? Too late? Too late? Too late? Too late? Too late? Too late? Too late? Too late? Too late? Too late? Too late? Too late? Too late? Too late?]
The voice of the Nameless One and its emotionless laughter filled the Divine Realm.
Ignoring it, I dashed toward Rubia.
Time rewound. I ran.
Time rewound. I ran.
I severed the tentacles that clutched at my ankles.
I shattered the storm of Divine Power surging from behind.
I ignored the cuts that appeared on my body. I only focused on blocking vital areas as I ran.
Time rewound. I ran.
Time kept rewinding.
I kept running.
Yet, at this speed, I was sure to be late.
I bit my lips.
I raised the Great Sword above my head.
Inside my mind, I counted numbers.
One, two.
Three.
Two—KWAAAAANG!
I hurled the Great Sword.
Cutting through the air, breaking the wall of wind, the Great Sword sped toward Rubia’s feet.
With that impact, Rubia was lifted into the air.
Tentacles rising from the ground crumbled.
But.
A tentacle descending from the sky.
Puhk! It embedded into Rubia’s thigh.
Blood gushed from her soft thigh.
Bright red blood splattered onto the pure white Divine Realm.
The Divine Realm swallowed it. It absorbed it.
The sunlight from the floating sun grew intense.
The presence of the Nameless One grew even more enormous.
Soon, I arrived in front of Rubia.
I cradled her in my arms.
Hahaha…
The sound of emotionless laughter. No, it was just a voice that seemed to pronounce that laugh.
The tentacle lodged into Rubia’s thigh trembled as if enjoying the flavor of her blood.
I grabbed it. Thorns sprouted and tore into my palm, but I didn’t let go, tearing it free.
Wiping the blood flowing onto my hands, I cautiously set Rubia down.
I grasped the Great Sword that had fallen beside me.
I got to my feet.
The sunlight was warm.
The scent of the vanished Jong-eons in the Divine Realm was refreshing.
The appearance of the Divine Realm, which might even be considered sacred.
In the center, the Nameless One still mimicked the laughter.
The tentacles sprawled on the ground continued to squirm, delighting in the situation.
Seeing those, I abandoned the thought of winning.
“…Ha.”
As a result, I started to laugh.
“Yeah.”
A strange voice.
Hearing that voice, I poured out all the strength, emotions.
I unleashed everything I had held back until now.
“Let’s just kill it.”
The blood-red desire obliterated the light.
