My sister died, and I became a reckless fool.
I lived as a fool.
I willingly embraced it.
To become strong, I honed my abilities.
I grew my strength and gained experience.
I was still lacking.
Therefore,
I started by killing myself.
I threw away my pride and bowed my head before the feet of the noble.
I became a dog of a corrupt noble.
Next, I killed beasts.
Under the master’s command, I slaughtered all the commoners’ beasts.
The commoners who lost everything became slaves to the nobles.
I killed people.
By the order of Erden, I killed the noble who commanded me to slay beasts.
I killed my master.
The solitary noble’s child became a follower of Erden.
I killed innocent people.
Again, it was under Erden’s command.
I killed the commoner who bore the seed of corruption.
I killed someone who had not yet committed a crime.
I killed him.
His family was all labeled heretics and executed.
Finally, I killed the monster.
It was a new breed of monster.
A monster with a human body.
A monster that had taken a human’s body.
Thus,
I sliced it.
It screamed in a way completely different from a human.
I cut off its arm.
Tears like a human’s flowed.
I tore off its legs.
Blood splattered like a human’s.
I sliced open its belly.
It cried out for its family.
I slit its throat.
It was the master’s command.
It was the only way to grow strong.
It was a monster.
Thus, I killed it.
I gained the recognition of Erden.
I was able to undergo the promotion trial available at Erden’s temple.
Under the holy goddess’s grace, the trial began.
And there,
In my inner world,
The past Habron was recreated.
The peaceful Habron.
The Habron where my sister lived reappeared.
The condition for passing was
to massacre the villagers.
With my own hands.
With the sword gifted by my sister.
To massacre everyone, including my sister.
But.
I could not stop.
I had to grow strong.
I had to take revenge.
Fidgeting with my right eye,
I acted.
I prioritized killing the village gatekeeper.
I killed the person who first handed me bread.
Next, I killed the uncle next door.
I killed the person who first gave me work.
I killed the adventurer of the village.
I killed the one who taught me to fight.
I killed the village chief.
I killed the one who accepted me.
I killed the old woman.
The grandma who always made warm soup.
I killed them.
I killed them.
I killed a person.
I killed a person.
And in the end,
I even killed my sister.
With my own hands.
In one go.
To not feel the pain.
I beheaded her.
Tears didn’t come.
I didn’t feel guilt.
It wasn’t painful.
The trial was over.
With the recognition of many people.
Receiving cheers and applause,
I became a platinum adventurer.
I manifested my unique ability.
The ability to cut what I see.
It was truly a ridiculous ability, as if mocking me, who has only one eye.
But I was glad.
For the first time since my sister’s death,
I smiled.
I had lived while garnering recognition from people,
making a name for myself on the continent.
Then, I learned the true face of Erden.
The fragments of truth about this world.
I was betrayed by everything I leaned on.
I abandoned my humanity.
I let go of the past.
I discarded my heart.
Where I arrived was
the end of the abyss, where no light enters,
and no salvation exists.
I fell into despair.
The path I had walked was denied.
Everything crumbled.
Having lost everything,
I filled my empty heart with the desire for revenge.
Revenge against Carpen.
Revenge against Erden.
Revenge against this world.
But I was
infinitely small and weak.
Erden was a power I could not dare oppose.
The world was a being I couldn’t even gaze upon.
I lived in despair,
waiting for death to approach me weakly.
Then, I met Heinzel.
I met Hermila.
I encountered others who shared the same past.
Who walked the same path.
Who faced the same ending.
A small, yet
precious spark of hope ignited.
Having been betrayed by Erden,
the platinum adventurers who had seen the fragments of the world gathered in ‘Alrva’.
And there,
I met a little girl who reminded me of my sister.
She was blind.
She had no magical power,
and her physique and personality
were not at all suited for an adventurer.
The only proof she could be called an adventurer was the great sword she dragged along.
And even that was bigger than her.
It made me scoff.
Having known well how the path of an adventurer was,
I thought she would die soon.
I followed the girl.
To rescue her in case an unforeseen situation arose.
But the girl was strong.
She single-handedly cut through countless monsters.
Ignoring minor wounds, she only sought the lives of the monsters.
Covered in blood, she continued to hunt for a day and a half,
without taking a sip of water,
with no expression at all.
After a while,
when the hunt ended, she noticed my presence.
From a distance where she couldn’t see,
she sensed my being.
Yet the girl quietly continued her steps.
Did she know I held no intent to attack?
Or did she have the confidence to defeat me even if I charged at her?
Naturally,
I presumed it was the former.
I thought so until just yesterday.
And now,
My thoughts changed.
I watched the girl confronting Carpen through my senses.
What if
she didn’t have the unique ability?
I might have thought she would lose.
I focused my senses and engraved the sight of her in my mind.
I observed her ‘hunting’ Carpen.
Then,
With a harsh flesh-slicing sound, blood splattered on my face.
“Cough… Grk…”
I heard the shaman’s voice soaked in pain.
I spread my senses.
Multiple arrows simultaneously pierced the shaman’s body.
All the directions aimed for me.
While healing me,
she restrained Carpen,
and protected me.
I had to raise my body.
I had to lift my sword.
But my pitiful body wouldn’t allow it.
Without falling into self-loathing, I thought of the best I could do at that moment.
Finding the source.
I forced my senses to expand.
A headache like my head would burst arose.
My whole body trembled.
I gritted my teeth and endured.
And then.
I found it.
I spotted a woman draped in a robe.
A woman manipulating something that was not magic, but the wind freely.
Arrows were shot.
From the woman’s hand.
From beside her.
From behind.
From above.
Arrows came flying from all directions.
They were aiming at me.
They were targeting vital points.
However,
the shaman took the hits.
In my place, the shaman took the hits.
Seven arrows pierced her.
Blood gushed from her pierced abdomen.
As if that wasn’t enough, blood burst from her mouth and nose.
I forced my body to squirm.
I filled the void of sensation with rage.
I forgot the pain with the desire for revenge.
I gathered my magical power and sent it to my heart.
To pump the blood even faster.
I heated my body.
My fingertips began to move.
At the same time,
familiar horn staff emerged from the woman wearing the robe.
The very thing that once destroyed Habron.
The very thing that put Loholan in danger.
The rampaging horn staff was drawn out.
And then,
I brought it to my mouth.
The movement in my fingertips connected throughout my body.
A sound echoed as if the sky opened.
Carpen’s ferocious roar resounded.
I raised my body and dashed forward.
Carpen’s claws pierced the girl’s abdomen.
I pulled out the sword stuck in the ground.
The blood aura burst forth to tear apart the girl’s body.
I expanded my senses.
I could see.
If so, I could strike.
I swung my sword.
To kill Carpen.
The unique ability I had gained by giving up everything was manifested.
The blood aura met the sword energy and scattered.
Crimson blood burst forth from the girl’s mouth.
The sword broke.
Arrows shot from all directions targeted me.
They aimed at the girl, at Heinzel.
I swung my half-broken sword once more.
I deflected the arrows.
Carpen’s claws,
the blood aura,
the arrows,
the pile of stones,
the thick killing intent,
the droplets of blood,
and my life.
I swung them all.
I expelled them.
I shook them off.
Carpen’s arm swung.
It was close.
I barely parried my sword.
The following blood aura struck my body.
I rolled painfully across the ground.
I immediately got up and swung my sword.
I deflected the arrows, protecting the girl.
I swung again, shielding Heinzel.
The sword broke.
It shattered.
Even the hilt crumbled into dust.
Carpen’s attack.
Dozens of arrows of death came crashing toward me.
At the same time,
a warm energy surrounded me,
blocking everything.
It was the shaman.
Despite being riddled with arrows,
without paying heed to her own body,
she surrounded me, the girl, and Heinzel with divine power.
The arrows
pierced through the shaman’s legs,
her abdomen,
her back,
her arms.
Yet, the divine power that protected us remained.
The girl staggered and rose.
She poured potions over her own abdomen.
Gripping the great sword,
she charged at the woman clad in the robe.
In an instant, the woman’s head flew off.
Without stopping,
she crushed the woman’s body.
She burst it apart.
She shredded it.
Carpen’s attack came for me.
Its blood aura turned toward the shaman.
And the girl,
charged at Carpen and deflected the attack.
Even when her flesh burst and her bones broke,
she rose again to face Carpen.
Even when her fingers broke and she couldn’t grasp the great sword,
she hit the ground, forcing her fingers to bend.
She gripped the great sword.
Even when she collapsed, got stuck, and was trampled,
she rose up.
She kept fighting.
Screaming against evil,
she continued the battle.
She staggered forward,
but the fight didn’t last long.
The girl, whose body was already wrecked,
couldn’t match up against Carpen.
She fell to the ground.
She rolled across the floor.
Yet still, she rose.
She got up and blocked the attack aimed at the shaman.
She rose to protect.
To protect the shaman, pushing away death,
she kept getting back up.
To protect.
Not for revenge,
but simply because she wanted to protect.
“I want to protect…”
I had forgotten, tainted by revenge.
I recalled the reason I wanted to grow strong.
I was trapped in a nightmare and couldn’t rise.
I remembered why I desired power.
The Lux overshadowed by Carpen came to mind.
I wanted to protect.
My treasures.
Habron.
The world I lived in.
The warm spring.
My sister.
That’s why I grew strong.
I wanted power.
“Cough cough…”
To finally reach the end.
How ironic it was.
Lux would’ve laughed at me for quite a while.
The worn, ordinary sword
hanging by my waist,
a sword I had never drawn since reaching platinum.
After killing beasts.
After killing people.
After killing the villagers.
After killing my sister.
And ultimately, I had killed myself,
but once, it had been
the guide that illuminated the path of the adventurer.
The sword my sister had gifted me, shining with her bright smile,
I drew it.
I redefined
my world.
My past.
Everything.
