< Episode 18. The Reader's Fight (2) >
Shuuuuuu!
As a refreshing wind wrapped around my entire body, I found myself recalling the sentences from Ways of Survival once more. Han Sooyoung, who was summoning her avatar beside me, seemed to realize what kind of skill I was about to use.
"What the hell, you said you couldn't learn that!"
"Stay back."
[Path of the Wind].
"Gale in the left hand, tempest in the right. Where straight lines and curves collide, the Path of the Wind shall open."
That sentence, which I had never been able to make sense of before, became reality the moment I felt the wind curling around my toes.
Myung Ilsang's fist suddenly brushed past the tip of my nose.
An attack that should have landed instead dissipated into nothing. The power of a skill that bridged an overwhelming gap in stats—this was the secret art of Immun-Tar.
Myung Ilsang's eyes gleamed strangely.
"…Huh? You got faster?"
I didn't answer, focusing instead on my realization. From here on out, it was a battle against time.
Thirty minutes remained on the bookmark.
"Ah, I get it. That's a skill from those wolf brats, isn't it?"
There was a mocking smile on Myung Ilsang's face as he looked at me.
"You're acting like you've gained some grand enlightenment just because you're using a petty little skill?"
"..."
"You know what? I killed their king with these very hands."
Of course you did.
I recalled the creatures of Chronos that had died on a foreign planet.
Lycaon, Prince of Immun-Tar. Antinus, Queen of the Parasites…
Lives forced to survive even after losing their homes, only to be used as material for scenarios unfolding on another planet.
If Earth were to perish like this, humans would end up no different from them.
Kwaaaaaang!
A jet-black flame cannon fired from Myung Ilsang's right hand.
"When one wind meets another, they form the Taiji; when yet another wind joins, yin and yang are born."
I mobilized every ounce of imagination I had to visualize the concrete image behind those words.
Hot and cold energies gathered and spiraled before my eyes, and soon the direction of the wind itself began to twist.
Patzztztz!
The slightly deflected ether of the black flame cannon collided with itself, scattering energy in all directions.
All ether attacks propagate through a medium. Disrupt the foundation of that propagation, and the attack can only collapse.
Myung Ilsang looked mildly surprised.
"…Not bad. So you can pull off tricks like that?"
Clenching his lips, Myung Ilsang dashed away once more.
[Character 'Myung Ilsang' uses 'Blink Lv.4'!]
Blink again. But chasing him wasn't difficult anymore. Just by closing my eyes and focusing on the wind, I could read every presence nearby.
I ran along the path faster than even Yoo Joonghyuk's Vermilion Bird Divine Steps, found Myung Ilsang, and kicked him squarely in the back as he grabbed someone at random to interrogate them.
Pueok!
Struck by my kick, Myung Ilsang was sent flying through the steel framework of a building. It was a blow strong enough to shatter bones, yet he stood up as if nothing had happened.
[The twenty-fourth seal of the Returnee 'Myung Ilsang' has been released.]
By the narrowest of margins, another of his seals had come undone.
"…That tickled."
His attitude was like he was playing a game.
He probably believed he would win no matter what.
As more seals were released, his wounds continued to heal, while my mana consumption steadily increased with time.
"Hahaha! Go on, try blocking this too!"
In truth, using Path of the Wind as nothing more than a buff would never be enough to kill him.
If this alone could defeat the Disaster of Questions, Chronos would never have been destroyed in the first place.
I had to do that after all.
The problem was… to use that technique, someone needed to buy me time.
…Huh?
Something suddenly came streaking diagonally down from the opposite side of the sky.
Like a diving hawk, a black silhouette appeared, piercing the heavens and plunging straight toward Myung Ilsang.
Kwaaaaaang!
With a terrifying explosion, a small crater formed.
Standing atop Myung Ilsang, crushed into the ground, was the familiar figure of a man.
I stared at him with my mouth half open and muttered,
"…Yoo Joonghyuk?"
Didn't he say it would take him two days to recover?
Seeing Yoo Joonghyuk striding toward me, I reflexively took a couple of steps back.
He wasn't coming to hit me in the middle of this, was he?
But Yoo Joonghyuk stopped a few steps away, then turned his back to me.
"Start."
As if he knew exactly what I was about to do, Yoo Joonghyuk stood facing away from me.
"I'll hold him off."
Han Sooyoung, sprawled nearby, muttered in my stead.
"Ha, fuck. Figures—the protagonist…"
Despite her bravado, Yoo Joonghyuk looked unsteady.
His body was still far from healed.
Darkened veins bulged all across his skin.
Myung Ilsang crawled out of the crater, grinning as he spat out blood.
"Ah, this is getting a bit annoying…"
Even after taking that attack, he showed no real signs of damage. It was hard to believe that among the Returnees yet to appear, he was considered one of the weaker ones.
Myung Ilsang charged forward, and Yoo Joonghyuk met him head-on.
And I activated [Path of the Wind].
"When four winds meet, they establish the cardinal directions; when four more join them, the mystery of the Eight Trigrams is formed. Thus, the wind exists everywhere—and nowhere at all."
The very passage through which Lycaon had attained enlightenment—now it was my turn to use it.
Kwaddeudeudeuk!
A wondrous wall of air, following the formation of the Eight Trigrams, began to swirl and enclose the surroundings.
A small dome-shaped space. The airtight pressure made it hard to breathe.
From this point on, it was a battle against time. Yoo Joonghyuk was knocked back by a direct hit, and Myung Ilsang's expression stiffened.
At last, he realized this was no longer a game.
"What are you scheming—?!"
The next moment, I expelled all the air inside the dome.
Suuuuuuuu!
In an instant, my ears rang and all sound vanished.
The wind raged violently, yet inside the dome it was as calm as the eye of a storm.
Myung Ilsang opened his mouth.
"...!"
"...?"
He moved his lips again and again, but no voice came out.
Sound cannot resonate where there is no medium.
He was in a perfect vacuum.
Pshuuuuu.
Because of the pressure difference, the air in my lungs was forcibly drawn out for a moment. I quickly sucked it back in.
Outside the dome, Han Sooyoung was shouting something.
[Exclusive Skill, 'Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint' Stage 2 has been activated!]
What the hell is this?
Myung Ilsang's inner thoughts began to flow into my mind.
Why isn't my voice coming out? Is this magic?
The panicked Myung Ilsang was screaming.
Which was understandable.
All Returnees carry penalties. And those who can rapidly regain their original power under certain conditions carry even harsher ones.
[The penalty of the 'Disaster of Questions' has been activated.]
[The power of the Returnee 'Myung Ilsang' is weakened.]
[The twenty-fourth seal of the Returnee 'Myung Ilsang' is restored.]
Aaaah, no!
They can grow strong easily—but by the same token, they can also become weak just as easily.
[The twenty-third seal of the Returnee 'Myung Ilsang' is restored.]
Why does the Disaster of Questions keep asking questions?
Simple.
If too much time passes without asking questions that someone can hear, their stats decline.
Fuck! Let me out of here! Hurry up and release this!
His fists slammed into the walls of air over and over, but the barrier didn't break easily. In a space without a medium, even the flames of the Black Flame Cannon couldn't burn.
[The twenty-second seal of the Returnee 'Myung Ilsang' is restored.]
The Vacuum Prison created using [Path of the Wind]—this was the optimal counter I knew against the Disaster of Questions.
Aaaaaaaah!
Myung Ilsang finally charged at me in desperation. He must have thought that if he killed me, the Vacuum Prison would collapse—but that wasn't going to happen. This place was something I had created.
Using [Path of the Wind], I evaded his attacks while rapidly shrinking the size of the prison.
Kugugugugung!
At the moment the walls contracted, I opened a narrow passage and escaped the dome together with Yoo Joonghyuk.
Now, the only one left inside the dome was Myeong Ilsang.
...You bastards!
A Returnee wouldn't be called a Returnee for nothing. As he attacked with all his might, cracks began to form in the dome. I raised my hand, the winds crossed, reinforcing the weakened areas—and the dome began to shrink rapidly.
Drip.
Blood flowed from my nose due to the excessive concentration.
My final goal was to limit that Vacuum Prison to his body alone.
But controlling it wasn't easy.
Damn it, Yoo Joonghyuk made it look so simple—why was it this hard?
"Don't try to force control. Guide the wind."
Yoo Joonghyuk's voice.
At that moment, enlightenment struck me.
Maybe the idea that I needed to create a "wall" was just my own misconception. What mattered was eliminating the medium near his body.
Suuuuuuuu!
U—ugh, aaaaah! I can't breathe!
Clawing at his own throat, Myung Ilsang writhed as bloody tears streamed down his face.
"...Not bad. You're not completely talentless."
Yoo Joonghyuk's voice came again.
And then, Myung Ilsang's final struggle began.
[Character 'Myung Ilsang' uses 'Greater Black Flame Cannon Lv.3'!]
His right arm was engulfed in pitch-black flames.
Kwaaaaaaaaang!
Astonishingly, the Greater Black Flame Cannon pierced through the wind dome and burst out.
Shielding Yoo Joonghyuk, I dropped flat to the ground. A dull impact scraped past above my head. It seemed he was squeezing out every last drop of mana—his Greater Black Flame Cannon kept coming.
But wind is wind for a reason.
Wherever the cannon passed, the wind instantly filled the space again.
No matter how desperately he struggled, the outcome wouldn't change.
The problem was the black flames that scattered like sparks—people were dying because of them.
Seeing my expression, Yoo Joonghyuk spoke.
"Kim Dokja, don't think foolish thoughts. They're people who can die without it mattering."
"Maybe some of them are."
But not all of them were.
I stood up and faced the Greater Black Flame Cannon with everything I had.
The torrent of black flames was scattered and twisted by the power of the violently rotating dome. Then, unbearable pain struck.
Flames I couldn't fully block poured onto me.
The black fire scorched my skin, and the sensation in my bones slowly began to fade.
I can do this.
The enemy before me wasn't strong anymore.
In that moment, I went beyond my limits and reached another realm.
As my senses began to fade, it felt as though my body itself had become the wind.
[A certain constellation who favors effort delights in your suffering.]
[A sliver of talent that had been dormant within your soul blossoms.]
With my left hand, I controlled the [Vacuum Prison]; with my right, I guided the wind to disperse the energy of the Greater Black Flame Cannon. In a state of complete self-forgetfulness, I was tasting a new horizon of [Path of the Wind].
The wind playing at my fingertips was sketching a scenery I had never known before.
[Exclusive Skill, 'The Fourth Wall,' temporarily decreases in thickness.]
So this is what it felt like.
So this was the world as seen by the [Characters].
No matter how diligently I read and analyzed the text, there were sensations I could never grasp—fragments of the narrative I had only ever felt through the pages at my fingertips, yet could never touch. Now, they were being understood in full.
Reading and understanding are not the same.
Perhaps I still didn't truly understand even one percent of this world.
Soon, I felt Myung Ilsang's Black Flame Cannon weakening.
Fuck! You bastards! Die! Dieee!
The momentum of the Black Flame Cannon rapidly diminished.
And my mana was still abundant.
Something was wrong.
No matter how deep into trance I'd fallen, there was no way my mana should be this plentiful.
Behind me, Yoo Joonghyuk spoke through clenched teeth.
"…I'm the one who's going to kill you."
…So that warmth at my back—it was Yoo Joonghyuk's mana.
A moment later, Myung Ilsang's attack stopped.
[All seals of the Returnee 'Myung Ilsang' have been restored.]
Yoo Joonghyuk and I looked at each other.
[Exclusive Skill, 'Path of the Wind Lv.8,' has been deactivated.]
Myung Ilsang, terror-stricken, clutched his throat and stared in our direction.
"Kh—khugh, khuhhk…!"
As he frantically gasped for air and tried to flee, I hurled [Unbreakable Faith] at him.
"Khughk!"
A blade buried itself in his back, and he collapsed forward. He wouldn't be escaping with Blink anymore. I ran up and grabbed him by the collar.
"…Hah, it's really frustrating when you can't talk. So, did all your curiosity get satisfied?"
"Khugh…!"
"From now on, if you ask a question, you die. Don't ask anything."
Returnees.
The most arrogant and cruel beings in the world of Ways of Survival.
And among them, Myung Ilsang was the worst of the worst.
"There's only one sound I want to hear from you right now."
Thud! Thud!
"Aaaagh!"
Fear filled Myung Ilsang's eyes as he looked up at me, as if pleading his innocence.
I kept hitting him—again and again—until that fear was completely crushed.
His face reduced to a bloody mess, Myung Ilsang barely managed to twist his tongue.
"This—this can't… be… happening…"
As I watched him blinking weakly, I recalled his past.
"M-me? I'm a hero? I really became a hero? For real?"
Myung Ilsang, a seventeen-year-old high school student.
A naive boy chosen as the hero to save the world, dropped into Chronos.
Maybe he never wanted to become like this.
Maybe he never wanted to exterminate an entire continent's worth of life, to become a brutal murderer.
But he did.
"You chose to become a disaster."
And now, nothing could change that fact.
[Your understanding of the character 'Myung Ilsang' has increased.]
Myung Ilsang's face twisted.
"I… I was definitely… the owner… of this… world's… prota—"
The words of the man who wanted to be the protagonist were never finished.
The real protagonist had already stepped forward and driven a sword into his head.
I looked into the dead eyes of the man whose life had ended on Yoo Joonghyuk's blade.
For the end of a disaster that had destroyed an entire world, it was an emptily anticlimactic death.
[You have, for the first time in this scenario, opposed and defeated a 'Returnee'!]
[Contributors: Kim Dokja, Yoo Joonghyuk]
[You have received 40,000 coins as an achievement reward.]
[A new entry has been added to your legend.]
[Legend: 'One Who Opposes Miracles' has been added.]
[You have acquired the potential for a new stigma.]