Chapter 13
Dohwa was fond of its master.
At first, the master had frightened Dohwa, like a dragon.
After becoming his loyal retainer, everything had been happy.
He gave Dohwa delicious things.
He often petted and fussed over Dohwa.
Dohwa didn't want to lose a master so kind.
"Whine… Kyaaang!! Kyaaang-kyaaang!!!"
Dohwa desperately tried to stop its master.
That was not an opponent the master could defeat.
It shouldn't even exist here in the first place.
It was an abnormal powerhouse whose mere presence made fur stand on end.
Going there meant death.
Dohwa howled mournfully, but
"I told you to hide, didn't I?"
"…Kyaaang!!!?"
The master's gaze, fixed on the wall.
When that gaze turned toward Dohwa, Dohwa instinctively realized.
The master, too, was an existence far beyond the ordinary.
Dohwa couldn't possibly measure him…
Maybe even more so than that orc.
"Whine… Kyaaang!!!"
"D-Dohwa!?"
"Kyaaang!!!"
Dohwa immediately bit Luka's clothes and tugged her along.
Her destination was a corner of the boss floor.
Since Dohwa was stronger than most orcs, Luka couldn't resist and moved.
"B-Big brother…."
"Don't worry."
Hwi-min, watching that,
merely smiled benevolently.
"I'm pretty strong, you know… Ahem!!"
'What am I doing, putting on airs in front of a kid?'
Then—flash!!
Hwi-min thrust his hand forward.
The ring on his index finger glinted.
-Ding.
[The trait 'Dragon Eyes+' activates.]
Soon, the world as seen by Hwi-min changed completely.
The movements of the awakening Orc Lord.
The attacks it would make.
Every trajectory remained in the air like an afterimage.
Those trajectories numbered in the hundreds.
An ordinary person would have failed to understand and merely blinked.
But Hwi-min was different.
He now understood just how absurdly overpowered his trait was.
"Switch trait enhancement to Sword God."
He reached out his hand again.
Ding.
A clear notification sound.
The trajectories vanished with it.
Hwi-min didn't care.
He had already grasped the meaning of it all.
[The trait 'Sword God+' activates.]
(New!) Your insight into martial arts increases dramatically.
'I understand everything so easily.'
He could see exactly how his opponent would move.
How the opponent would respond to each move he made, and how he should respond in turn.
Every possibility surfaced in optimized form.
The enhanced Orc Lord's attack patterns.
It was as if he had been handed a perfect strategy guide.
'Well, this is something…."
"This won't even take three minutes, will it?"
A grin.
A smile spread across Hwi-min's lips.
It was a smile brimming with absolute confidence, almost dragonlike.
He tightened his grip on the sword even more, and
"Hey, pig. Stay still."
"……."
"Then I'll finish you in one hit!!"
Taat—!!!
Hwi-min kicked off the ground and leaped.
The competitive spirit hidden beneath his wimpy personality erupted as killing intent.
-His eyes flew open.
"…Kwooorrk!!!?"
The Orc Lord was known never to move before being ambushed.
Even it opened its eyes wide in surprise.
Because, for the first time in its life, it sensed the presence of a powerful being vastly beyond itself.
Who could have sent such a chill down its spine?
Its gaze wandered through the air, trying to identify the source.
Hwi-min's sword was aiming straight for those eyes.
'I thought I could get a free hit, but it's waking up after all. Let's take its vision first.'
"Hup!!"
Swoosh—!!
A Rare-grade sword sliced across the air.
The mana gathered at its tip scattered,
and shot out in a crescent-shaped arc of sword energy.
-Slash!
"Kyaaaargh!!!"
The slash passed precisely across its eyes.
The Orc Lord clutched its eyes with both hands.
Bright-red blood and sticky, gel-like vitreous humor flowed between its fingers.
The blinded giant writhed in pain and abruptly rose to its feet.
"…Okay."
'Now, get out of here.'
Hwi-min didn't charge straight in.
Rather, he used the recoil from releasing the sword energy to put distance between them.
That judgment proved correct.
It became clear in less than a second.
"Kwoooorrk!!!!!"
Whoosh—!!!
The Orc Lord's arm swept through the surrounding area.
An attack consisting of wild swings in panic.
Even so, its momentum was quite terrifying.
If he'd carelessly approached just because he'd taken its sight, that arm would have caught him and shattered every bone in his body.
There was no way Hwi-min would be hit by such a blind attack.
'This time, I'll aim for… the ankle!'
Taat—!!
Hwi-min landed lightly.
He immediately kicked off the ground and charged in.
The Orc Lord sensed the swift charge, if only vaguely.
"Kyaaaaargh!!!!"
The Lord let out a piercing scream.
It stamped its feet against the ground.
For the blind creature, it was a desperate resistance.
For Hwi-min, it was a freebie pattern.
'Switch trait enhancement to Dragon Eyes.'
After thrusting his hand forward briefly,
Hwi-min's body cut across the orc.
With his trait making attacks appear split into individual frames, there was no way it could hit him.
He casually ducked beneath even a single stone chip flying up from the floor.
At the end of it, an ankle as thick as a log came into view.
'That's one!'
Schwing—!!
The Rare-grade sword drew a silver line horizontally.
Its keen blade cut through thick hide and tough muscle as easily as tofu.
No, it even cut through the bone beyond them.
Thanks to his other trait, the all-cutting 'Myriad Severance Sword.'
"Kkuiiiik…."
"Oh."
'It's weaker than I thought? Is it because of the title?'
As the Lord's body crumpled after its ankle was severed,
Hwi-min let out a small exclamation.
Then—schwing!!!
This time, he sliced off the Lord's other ankle.
'Maybe I should take its arms too, just in case.'
Taat—
Hwi-min stepped back.
The Lord's back came fully into view.
Having forgotten even to swing its arms in the throes of extreme pain, it was easy prey.
"Hup!"
Swish, schwing—!! Slash—!!!
Hwi-min performed a sword dance.
The Orc Lord's body gradually lost one function after another.
Beneath his disciplined dance, the Lord lost all four limbs and became a completely limbless orc.
It took exactly two minutes.
"Kwoooorrk…."
"What? It's way weaker than I thought."
Hwi-min's strength drained away, and he relaxed his grip.
He'd thought it would be a worthy opponent, with only a few dozen levels between them, but what was this?
It hadn't even qualified as a battle.
If he had to be precise, it had been closer to butchering.
The orc, missing all four limbs, could only draw ragged breaths.
As Hwi-min looked down at its sorry state, not even a trace of bloodlust remained in his eyes.
'The regular mobs were too weak to give me a feel for it… So this is what it's like? Okay.'
"From now on, I guess I should fight bosses in the Normal Tower."
Whoosh—
He swung his sword without emotion.
The Orc Lord caught in that trajectory was about to meet its end…
-Gleam.
"Krrrreeeeaaargh!!!!!!"
Just as it seemed its life was about to end,
the Orc Lord's eye flashed open.
Its blood-soaked eyeball, crumpled after its lens had fallen out, stared straight at Hwi-min.
The grudges of the vengeful spirits it had absorbed until now also burst forth as a curse.
"Kyaaang!!?"
"B-Big brother!!!!"
Dohwa and Luka, who had been peeking out to watch, shrieked in horror.
What was that ghastly aura?
Even Hwi-min couldn't withstand it.
No matter how thoroughly Hwi-min had dominated the enemy from start to finish, he was just a swordsman.
That was why Dohwa tried to rush out and Luka tried to bite her tongue and kill herself, but…
"……Huh?"
"Kyaang?"
But that lasted only a moment.
The two froze, looking dumbfounded.
Because Hwi-min was completely unharmed.
-Ding.
[The traits 'Super Adaptation' and 'Dragon Armor' activate.]
You have acquired resistance to intermediate curse-element attacks.
'Dragon Armor's damage reduction of 80 percent applies.
Curse damage has been nullified.
[Super Adaptation (Mythic)]
Blessings flow through your blood.
When struck by an elemental attack, you immediately gain resistance…
'Damn, your breath stinks.'
Whoosh—
Hwi-min's sword swept across the back of the Orc Lord's neck.
Its neck was so thick that, no matter how sharp the sword, it would normally have been difficult to sever in one blow.
But by then, he had already switched the trait enhancement on the ring.
The 'Myriad Severance Sword+' trait, which increased his attack range, sliced straight through the orc's neck.
'Die.'
Krrrraack—!!
An attack that carved a sword mark not only into the orc but also into the stone floor beneath it.
"Kwoooorrk…."
The crumpled eyeball stared fixedly at Hwi-min, then scattered into dust.
The enhanced boss of the second tier, whom no one had been able to defeat.
This was the moment it was conquered for the first time.
'That was easy.'
"Dohwa~ It's all over…."
Only then did Hwi-min turn around.
…His eyes met Dohwa and Luka, who were overwhelmed.
"What are you two doing?"
"Whine…."
"B-Big brother, how did you…."
"Didn't I tell you? I'd finish it within three minutes."
Hwi-min smiled brightly.
Behind him, clear light began to pour forth.
It was the portal leading to the next floor, proof that he had cleared the boss.
"You've waited long enough, right? Let's go home now."
"Uh…."
"Here, you go first."
"……."
Luka hesitantly stepped forward.
Tap, tap.
Her small footsteps echoed.
'This is strange…."
It felt awkward.
She had definitely never been here before, but for some reason, it felt as though she had come here hundreds or thousands of times.
And yet it somehow also felt like this was her first time.
'Was that really what dying was…?'
That sense of incongruity peaked as she passed beside the boss monster, the Orc Lord that had now turned to ash.
Memories that did not exist
kept tearing through Luka's mind.
'And I feel like I've been here so many times before…."
On the stone floor marred by sword marks,
her own figure appeared superimposed.
Herself biting her tongue, writhing in agony, and collapsing.
Herself choking and coughing because her curled-up tongue blocked her breathing, pleading with her eyes for someone to kill her.
Herself plunging a dagger someone had given her into her heart with her eyes squeezed shut.
And hundreds, thousands of other deaths.
They were all new.
Yet they felt familiar.
Every one of them was as vivid as if she had experienced it herself.
'And yet…."
Eventually, her gaze turned forward.
Hwi-min, smiling brightly.
The clear portal shining behind him.
Of all those familiar things, only that was unfamiliar.
And then,
[Luka~.]
"……Huh?"
A familiar voice rang out from beyond it.
No, it wasn't just a voice.
Before she knew it, a completely different scene appeared in Luka's eyes.
'This is.'
A brilliant yellow wheat field.
Each time she walked, the ears of wheat brushed softly against her forearms.
The fragrant scent of sunlight, utterly unlike the prison, filled her nose.
Her frightened steps turned into a sprint at that moment.
-Rustle.
'No way.'
Her feet moved of their own accord.
It felt like only a few days had passed—or thousands of years—but
she had never forgotten the way home.
'I'm home!!'
"Big brother, thaaaaank youuuuu!!!"
She didn't forget to thank him, either.
Hwi-min was already nowhere to be seen,
but she shouted loudly all the same.
The home that had seemed so far away was now right in front of her.
"Luka~? Oh my, where did she go? I just finished baking the bread."
"She must have gone out to play. She'll be back soon."
Familiar voices murmured together from beyond the door.
A savory aroma began to waft out as well.
Smiling, she reached out and called out loudly.
"I'm ho—."
Then—flash!!!
Clear light illuminated everything.
Watching that, Hwi-min thought
it was a pure light, just like Luka.
'Wow, look at those special effects.'
…In fact, he couldn't see any wheat field at all.
All he could see was Luka, who had suddenly dashed forward and reached for the portal.
He saw only her body transform into light and scatter.
Soon, that cloud of light became countless butterflies and fluttered away.
"Dohwa, it looks like she's going somewhere nice, doesn't it?"
"Kyaaang?"
"I don't really know, but I hope so."
Hwi-min tilted his head upward.
Butterflies of light filled his vision.
Every one of them was passing through the ceiling.
Luka wasn't returning to Floor 11, the lowest level of the prison where she'd been trapped.
She was headed somewhere above the Tower.
The corners of Hwi-min's mouth curved gently upward.
'Twelve billion won is nice, but maybe this is nice too.'
The happy words of thanks he'd just heard from Luka.
That was a reward worth 12 billion won.
Hwi-min genuinely thought so.
After seeing that, he didn't want even the slightest bit of any other reward, but…
-Halt.
"……Huh?"
Just as he was savoring the moment.
Ding.
A brown notification window appeared before Hwi-min's eyes.
And not just a little—quite a lot.
[An error has occurred.]
[Checking….]
[The beginner has defeated the unweakened Orc Lord Lavish!!!]
[An impossible achievement!!! Every being inside the Tower is astonished by your feat!!!]
[Recalculating rewards according to difficulty…]
"…Wow."
'This is insane?'