Blooming

Fwoosh.

"W-what is it?"

I was desperately fighting to hold back the surging dead when, all of a sudden, a pure white light descended from the heavens and settled above Han Sohee's head.

I knew of this phenomenon.

'[Blooming of the Star of Fate].'

-I regret what happened that day.

I clearly remembered the words spoken by the strongest man among all the [Stars of Fate].

A memory of regret upon regret, one that tore at my heart every time I recalled it.

-Perhaps there was a better path.

The [Star of Fate] grew by feeding on its owner's pain.

And when that pain reached its peak, it bloomed. In a sense, it was a truly cruel system.

The amount of power obtained differed according to the magnitude of the pain, and the fifth-ranked Sword God awakened after killing with his own hands his family, closest friend, and lover, who had become monster-spawning sacs.

-I had to kill my grandchild... with my own hands.

-I had to kill my mentor, who was like a parent to me....

-...because I couldn't leave her like that.

The others each experienced pain in different ways, but they shared one thing.

They had to kill with their own hands the person they cherished most.

Yes, that was what made it a tragedy.

'That's why I hesitated.'

Han Sohee had been left alone in the Selection Process without even a family. That was why I had wondered whether I should accept her into the party.

That blade could end up being turned against me or one of the other members.

Fwoooosh!

But now, that atrocious and horrifying fate had begun to awaken, completely transforming its bearer's vessel.

I looked at Han Sohee through [All-Seeing Eye], filled with anticipation.

'Once the [Star of Fate] blooms, each person walks a different path.'

Each person was given a single path, and only that one person could walk it.

[Unique Ability: Sword Master -> Sword Empress]

'Sword Empress? That's an ability I've never seen before.'

But its effects were astonishing....

<Unique Ability>

Name: Sword Empress

Grade: Mythic

Description: The moment the wielder takes up a sword, they can wield the optimal sword forms without needing to learn them separately. All sword-related abilities receive a 100% bonus.

All stats increase by 20. By consuming mana, the wielder can artificially increase another stat by half their Intelligence.

As its grade rose from Epic to Mythic, additional effects had been added. Her status window had also undergone major changes.

<Status Window>

Name: Han Sohee

Level: 1

Strength: 32

Agility: 53 (+15)

Vitality: 40

Intelligence: 31

「Light! Why have you abandoned us?! Guh!」

Han Sohee, who had been standing at the innermost corner, vanished with a swish, leaving an afterimage, then instantly moved behind me and swung her sword.

"Huh? W-when did you...?"

"That's insanely fast!"

Her movements were clearly different from before. They had to be. Her overall stats had risen by a whopping 80, so there was no way she could still move as she had before.

In particular, Han Sohee's movement, boosted by half her Intelligence being converted into Agility, was even faster than mine, despite how many stat fragments I had devoured.

「You will become like us too…!」

「Give us your blood!」

Countless dead rushed toward her as she stood tall at the very front, but Han Sohee's movements were graceful.

They were fluid, as though I were watching a work of art.

「Graaagh!」

「Guh.」

It looked like she was dancing, yet everything her sword touched was being sent to its death.

Ssshaa—

Everything touched by her sword was sliced apart like paper, then scattered like cherry blossoms in full bloom.

"I-it's beautiful."

The Saintess murmured as if entranced. But a nuisance appeared, intent on disrupting that beautiful sword dance.

Kyaa!

The zombies that had mixed into the skeleton horde and been lying in wait like beasts all charged at once.

Crash!

They knocked down other dead as they shot through the air simultaneously as though fired from cannons. Their fierce charge was not something that could easily be stopped.

Sssst—

At that moment, Han Sohee's sword moved. Her sword rose smoothly, then swept horizontally through the air in an instant.

「Gueeo…?」

The heads of the four zombies flying toward her touched the sword's path and split cleanly in half. Yet their bodies continued flying toward her on the force of their momentum.

I doubted she could take a heavy impact like that head-on—but—

Whirl—

Han Sohee leaned her upper body backward and spun, then kicked all four zombies upward in succession.

The creatures, having lost the speed of their charge, floated helplessly into the air.

'What unbelievable speed.'

And yet it was beautiful as well—a graceful, refined dance that reflected her own nature.

「Gueee….」

Thus, Han Sohee stood alone and began mowing down the surging dead. As if she had the situation well in hand, she looked at us and spoke.

"Thank you for waiting for me. I showed you quite an ugly sight. Song Hana, especially, if you hadn't kept casting Recovery on me, I would have collapsed long ago."

Of course.

Just imagine the person most precious to you in the world becoming a zombie and clacking its teeth right in front of you.

Anyone would break down again and again.

Thanks to the Saintess repeatedly steadying her with Recovery, Han Sohee had been able to endure to the very end, and the advice I gave her had been able to get through to her.

"Sohee. Then can I leave the group's safety to you? I'm going to kill the boss now."

"Don't worry. I won't let them touch even a hair on my companions."

"I'm counting on you."

I nodded.

"Then Shin Seoyeon, I'll have you follow Han Sohee and handle the trash mobs too."

"W-wait. You're going to kill it alone?"

Instead of answering, I surged forward.

The scheduled twenty minutes were almost up. That meant the skeletons' movements would soon return to normal.

Above all—

'Once the summoning cooldown resets, it can summon them again. That would be a pain.'

So I would approach it in an instant and bring it down. And now, I had the power to do so.

[I have copied a Unique Ability from a target with whom I am <Bound>.]

[You can use <Primordial Fire> for 10 minutes.]

This was the new ability I had gained by upgrading [Bond] through the goddess.

The ability to use a target's ability for ten minutes once a day had manifested through my hand.

Fwoosh!

Red flames symbolizing the Crimson Flame Witch rose from my hand and wrapped around the blade of my sword.

Kyaa!

「Your blood, give it to me…!」

The moment I swung my sword, the dead blocking my path split in half and turned to ash in an instant.

Nor did it end there. The flames spread widely, swallowing and burning even the dead behind them.

"Huh? W-what?"

"W-what the hell?! Hey, isn't that my ability?! How did you do that?!"

I didn't know the Shin Seoyeon of today, but having watched every technique she would use from up close for ten years, all the way to the end of the trials—

Fwoooosh!

I was confident that I could use [Primordial Fire] better than present-day Shin Seoyeon could.

I covered my body in flames and burned the dead approaching me, leaving fire in my wake that reduced even those pursuing me to ash.

「Stop him! You idiots!」

At Bardo's command, thousands of dead immediately swarmed me. But they could not touch even a hair on my body.

-Don't get the wrong idea. I forcibly brought you along during a raid, just as you said, but it would be troublesome if you happened to die.

That was why the goddess had given it to me. In other words, she had not gone to the trouble of giving me a skill of this caliber for no reason. [Primordial Fire] was a skill that literally transcended the limits of the game board.

Its potential was infinite, provided that my stats and experience were solid enough to support it.

「Y-you bastard…!」

And now, the boss was visible before me. Its desiccated face was filled with unmistakable astonishment.

「Just what are you?!」

'This boss wasn't originally designed to be defeated.'

A trap. A snare created to devour greedy players.

Yet no matter how fucked-up the difficulty of this place was, strictly speaking, this was only the first trial.

And every trial had a clear ceiling.

In this boss's case, that limit was the fact that it was a 'priest.'

That was why it was vulnerable in close combat.

「Ghk!」

Bardo fired magic at me, but I no longer needed to dodge. I cleaved through the spell and him together.

「Graaagh!」

Red flames roared fiercely as they burned the leader of the fallen temple.

According to the background setting, he should have wielded outstanding holy power, but after falling, even the holy power he had once been so proud of had vanished.

All he could do was hurl half-assed curses.

[The evil energy gnaws at your mind.]

[The eerie energy hinders your movements.]

But I had raised my magic resistance by equipping the accessories, and with the Saintess casting Recovery every four or five seconds, the curse debuff did not even have a chance to stack.

On top of that, most of the minions that could have helped him had been dealt with on the way here, and the remnants were being exorcised one after another by Shin Seoyeon and Han Sohee.

In other words, he was nothing more than a high-health punching bag now.

Fwoooosh!

Blazing flames relentlessly scorched him.

「Graaagh!」

The holy-attribute bonus damage that increased in proportion to my power.

The [Primordial Fire] I had copied from Shin Seoyeon.

And the all-stats +10 resident benefit, along with the additional +59 stats I had gained by searching corpses while exploring the dungeon.

All of it was being poured into the battle, tipping the scales of victory decisively in one direction.

Then, as the flames that had been burning fiercely died down, Bardo's movements abruptly stopped.

「I-is this... how it ends…?」

「I... I only wanted to become like you.... To become like you, understand you... and talk with you more....」

With the boss's murmurs and laments, everything came to an end.

The clattering and groaning sounds from all around disappeared as well, and in the silence that naturally followed, only a notification appeared and blinked.

[You have defeated <Fallen High Priest Bardo>.]