At least one fortunate fact remained.
After receiving the ergency treatnt, I no longer felt like I was about to die.
Even though the tallic stench of blood once again lingered from my throat.
I staggered to my feet, feeling as heavy as lead.
Yuren urgently drew his sword and shouted.
“Ian, run away! These things aren’t interested in !”
He was right.
The corpses,baring their teeth, were rushing only at .
The thick fog ant I couldn’t count on any long-range support.
I grabbed my hatchet and smashed in the skull of one of the corpses.
Blood flew with a splatter as a foul stench filled the air.
Then, dragging my heavy legs, I broke into a run.
I occasionally fended off the charging corpses using my sword and hatchet.
But even this would have been impossible without the Saintess’s help.
But no matter how much effort I put in, I was still critically injured.
Eventually, I couldn’t handle the flood of oncoming corpses and threw myself to the ground.
SCRAAAATCH, the claws of the corpses dug into the spot where I had been.
Lying face down, I hurled my hatchet.
SPLAT! SPLAT! The heads of two corpses exploded. Grabbing the returning hatchet, I staggered to my feet.
But by now, the corpses had surrounded.
Horrid sounds scraped through the throats of the monsters.
Heh, I let out a hopeless laugh.
I thought it was all over, but I was wrong.
The corpses lunged at , forcing to wrestle with them for a while.
Every ti a silver arc was drawn, a corpse was severed.
The dismbered corpses squird, waiting for their bodies to regenerate. While once again I smashed the skull of another lunging corpse with my hatchet.
I threw my hatchet to take out two more corpses simultaneously while swinging my sword.
But they just kept coming.
Eventually, my stamina ran out, and I was left kneeling and panting.
Dozens of corpses still remained.
I thought support would arrive if I held out, but it would take too long. Though puzzled, I soon stopped thinking about it.
A life-or-death crisis was right in front of .
Even until the end, the corpse giant remained a problem.
With trembling hands, I gripped my sword hilt tightly.
At that mont, a corpse threw itself at like a battering ram.
Even though I swung my sword, the severed corpse still slamd into . As I staggered back, other corpses rushed in and pounced over .
Squelch, my sword pierced the chest of the corpse on top of .
I hurriedly pushed the corpse away, but the remaining corpses moved too nimbly.
In the end, I had to try and kick away the corpses, before retreating hastily.
My body was already a wreck.
Catching my breath, I steadied my fading consciousness.
Dozens of corpses with bloodshot eyes approached .
Just them, if I could just get rid of them.
Then I could get rid of all traces of the Evil God from my hotown.
At that mont, when my frustration and fading consciousness were out of sync,
My nerves suddenly stood on edge.
It was a peculiar sensation.
Even though dozens of corpses were targeting from the front, I turned my gaze towards my back instead.
It felt as if ti had stopped.
No, it wasn’t an illusion.
Through the frozen ti and space, a single slash cut through.
It severed everything brilliantly.
The thick fog completely cleared away.
However, the sight revealed beyond it was utterly grotesque.
At least dozens of corpses were approaching from behind . The corpses that made up the body of the corpse giant were teeming in such crazy numbers.
However, those hundreds of corpses showed no sign of movent.
A pure white trajectory was etched into their bodies.
The only thing free from the slash that cut through the world was .
Amidst the corpses that had lost their montum, the sound of a footstep echoed.
Soone was stepping forward.
It was a middle-aged man in a black uniform.
He held a sword in his hand, and it was clear that he was the source of this miracle.
My instincts told so.
Adjusting his leather gloves, the man apologized to .
“…My apologies.”
And then the previously halted flow of ti resud.
Blood and flesh burst forth like fireworks.
Yet the clothes of the middle aged man walking through the blood remained unsullied by any filth.
The blood and flesh bursting forth seed like fanfare welcoming him.
Eventually, he stopped right in front of .
“I did my best to get here quickly, but it seems I was a bit late.”
With that, the man silently surveyed his surroundings.
Remnants of the destruction everywhere testified to the fierce battle that had taken place here.
Finally, he gave a faint smile.
It was a satisfied, yet strangely combative smile.
“What an impressive performance, Ian Percus… I pledge on my honor, you will definitely be rewarded.”
Blood splattered down as the fog dispersed.
And the severed corpses showed no sign of regeneration.
Unable to endure any longer, I collapsed on the spot.
I never learned the identity of the middle-aged man.
All I could do was quietly ponder with my fading consciousness.
If the legendary Master I’d only heard stories of truly exists, could it be that man?
And with that, I lost consciousness,
A whole month passed before I regained my consciousness.
Unaware of what had transpired in the anti.
**
It was a short dream.
After being lost in a deep sleep, my hazy consciousness gradually began to resurface.
Before I knew it, I had arrived in an unfamiliar space.
It was a place where neither light nor darkness existed.
There was no source of light, yet the objects around were clearly distinguishable. In fact, various scenes were playing out amidst the countless cracks surrounding .
Though even when I tried to look closer, I couldn’t discern what those scenes depicted.
But the sounds coming from them were all the sa.
Cries, screams, and noises filled with both regret and resentnt.
When I ca to my senses, I suddenly noticed soone sitting in front of .
Black hair caught my eye.
It was a now familiar view of soone’s back.
The man seed uninterested in , keeping his back turned.
He was simply staring at a particular crack in silence.
Among the countless cracks surrounding the space, it was by far the largest.
Nothing was visible in that crack.
Yet, the man was intently observing it, as if trying to decipher sothing from the darkness.
He remained silent for a long ti.
It was only after that he spoke to .
“…Have you properly grasped the concepts of Shackle and Liberation?”
It was a blunt question thrown out of the blue.
A question that skipped even the most customary of greetings.
I also thought about giving a curt response but decided against it.
That was just how he was.
Instead, I replied in a bitter tone.
“…Roughly, I guess?”
“There is no next step unless you fully understand Shackle and Liberation.”
With that, the man spun his chair around to face with a faint smile.
I wondered how he managed to conjure up a chair in this empty space.
But I refrained from asking.
He was a man who was blunt and looked extrely unfriendly.
Not soone who would kindly answer each of my questions.
As always, he had a weary look in his eyes.
“No matter how much I dig through my mories, it’s the sa… the more profound the technique, the more profound the principle it holds. From now on, shortcuts won’t work.”
A ‘profound technique,’ he said.
I recalled what the man had ntioned before.
Sothing about the ‘Core teachings of the Sword Circle’ and the ‘Secret of the Dragonblood Script.’
Honestly, I was curious, but I held back my questions once again.
For the sa reason as before.
It was obvious he wouldn’t tell anyways.
Only after fully mastering the concepts of Shackle and Liberation would I be able to gain his help. For now, there was no way to break through his stubbornness.
So, I decided to ask a more fundantal question.
“…Where are we?”
“A rift in space-ti.”
His answer was short and to the point.
Of course, it wasn’t enough to satisfy my curiosity.
Seeing my still puzzled expression, he added further explanation.
“I am an outsider to your world. Naturally, however long I can stay here is limited… but I can’t carelessly return to my world either, so I’m just stuck in this obscure place.”
“Then why am I here?”
“Obviously, because you pried too much into my mories.”
There was a hint of reproach in his voice.
“I told you, kiddo… I’m just an outsider. The closer you get to , the more you’ll be alienated from your own world. Eventually, you might even be expelled over here.”
“…So, I can’t go back now?”
“It’s not like that.”
His response to my question was firm.
His tone had a strange certainty that made it sohow more convincing.
He sighed deeply and continued.
“You might occasionally drift in… but the ti you’ll stay here won’t be long.”
With that, he gestured towards my lower body with his eyes.
Sure enough, it was as he said.
My lower body was already flickering, like an illusion on the verge of disappearing.
He took a deep breath and bid farewell.
“…let’s et here from now on, kiddo.”
Just before I could ask how I could find this place again,
A throbbing headache drilled into my brain.
I tried to stagger backward, but my body had already dissipated like smoke.
My vision flipped,
The world spun around,
And eventually, my consciousness was subrged in darkness.
Panting, I opened my eyes.
My bewildered gaze swept over the surroundings.
I was in a bedroom.
My bedroom in the Percus manor.
Only then did a sigh of relief escape my lips.
I’m back.
Seeing that the Percus Manor was intact, the territory must have also been spared from being destroyed.
Perhaps due to having been bedridden for so long, my entire body felt weak.
It was the aftereffect of muscle atrophy.
It seed I would need a considerable amount of ti to restore my physical condition. Despite the splitting headache, I struggled to try and sit up.
I felt parched.
I desperately wanted to quench my thirst with so cold water.
But when I couldn’t see any water bottles nearby, I felt sowhat frustrated.
At that mont, the door opened, and soone entered.
It was a lovely girl with brown hair and blue eyes.
A woman with a strikingly large pointed hat perched on her head.
She looked sad while she carried sothing.
It was a tray. On it were damp compresses and various other items needed to tend to soone ill.
It didn’t take long for my eyes to et Senior Elsie’s.
Her body froze in place.
For a mont, I pondered what to say.
Eventually, I greeted her as I usually would.
“…It’s been a while, Senior Elsie.”
Clang! The tray Senior Elsie was holding fell to the floor.
Tears started to well up in her blue eyes.
She seed to suppress her sobs, but eventually, unable to hold back, she threw herself into my arms.
The soft embrace of the girl slled sweet.
I gave a wry smile and hugged Senior Elsie back.
“Ev-Everyone said… hic, th-th-that you might die… So I thought you were really going to die, heung…”
As I patted Elsie’s back while she burst into tears, I thought.
Did they really think that I was going to die like this?
For a mont, a foreboding feeling crossed my mind.
But I soon brushed it off as an unnecessary worry.
There was no use in worrying about it now anyway.
For the ti being, I needed to comfort Senior Elsie.
And so, I have returned ho.
It was a true hocoming in every sense of the word.
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