Chapter 74: Velator the Hero (3)

At most, it’s only a virtual ordeal created by the Tower.

Even if I slay the Demon Clan, it won’t erase the massacres and sins I committed in the past.

Perhaps what I’m doing now is… yes, maybe just self-consolation.

But that alone is enough.

If cutting down the Demon Clan gives me comfort then isn’t that enough?

After all, I committed an irreversible mistake, and it can’t be undone.

If this ordeal lets me find solace and peace, then this illusion crafted from my past has served its purpose.

Therefore—

I cut them down.

I didn’t bother counting how many I struck down.

But everywhere my feet landed, everywhere my eyes looked, the Demon Clan stood in my way.

What was surprising was that the power of these illusory Demon Clan members, their demonic energy, was being absorbed.

Of course, since I had already restored 40% of my demonic energy, unless it was a high-ranking Demon Clan, say, an officer of the Demon King’s Legion, the recovery wasn’t especially noticeable.

But as the saying goes, “Many drops make a flood.” And here, a tremendous number of Demon Clan had assembled.

If I wiped them all out, I could recover a significant amount of demonic energy.

[State of Selflessness.]

Willpower and focus.

With them, I sank deep into the trance known as State of Selflessness.

My goal: the death of every Demon Clan member present in this arena.

For that single objective—

My body became a weapon.

The reason the State of Selflessness state is so terrifying is because it mobilizes every possible means and method to achieve its goal.

That state brought about a transformation of the body—no, an evolution.

My muscles reshaped themselves into the form most suited for slaying the Demon Clan.

The condensed muscles made my frame appear almost gaunt.

This form specialized in explosive power, enough to cleave through the Demon Clan’s sturdy flesh in an instant, and in agility to evade their ferocious attacks.

“Papapapat!”

The auras unleashed by the Demon Clan, their strange techniques, covered every inch of the arena.

Was there anywhere to evade?

No.

It was a perfect pincer attack, covering every direction, leaving no choice but to suffer damage.

But of course—it was an all-out assault from hundreds of Demon Clan at once.

That all-encompassing assault—

“Slip.”

—I dodged it as if I were a ghost, sliding past without a sound.

To others, there might seem to be no openings.

But right now, even time itself seems warped for me. 

I can see dozens, even hundreds, of gaps in that attack.

Of course, in order to evade, my body moved in ways that seemed almost unnatural.

I even dodged attacks I’d thought unavoidable, with bizarre contortions.

An evolution that even utilized dislocating joints as a means of evasion.

That was the battle weapon perfected through State of Selflessness.

And so—

“Slide.”

—I moved.

Sword light flared.

My movements were as supple as a dancer’s, as if reveling in a joyous dance.

Yes, it was like a dance.

At times, it looked awkward.

At times, I stumbled alone, looking almost comical.

But every movement was lethal, and each one created the only path to evade enemy attacks.

Sword Dance—Geommuh.

A dance devised for a single purpose: to slaughter the Demon Clan.

I exhaled the breath I’d been holding.

I’d been so focused that I hadn’t breathed even once until now.

Even my breathing was focused solely on killing them.

And once that breath ended, what unfolded was—

Death.

There was not a single Demon Clan left standing nearby.

Is it over?

No.

It was just the beginning.

“Enough. Come out.”

My single sentence broke the deathly silence in the arena.

But there was no answer… or so it seemed.

“Did it notice?”

…It’s here.

There were definitely no living Demon Clan around.

But who…?

The nature of this ordeal made it simple to deduce.

Especially the 10th floor—it has a special meaning.

Named Monsters.

Every 10th floor always presents a Named Monster, so most see it as a kind of wall.

Are there any traces of a Named Monster here?

There are.

Most others wouldn’t know, but as someone who once held the title of Commander of the Immortal Legion, I could tell for sure.

“Wuuuuung!”

A life born from death.

“Behold, for death is creation itself.”

In the center, a vortex formed, pulling everything in.

Like a black hole, it swallowed the Demon Clan around it—those lifeless corpses.

What was curious was that the pull had no effect on me.

Of course.

This vortex only manifested its pull through ‘contracts.’

“Swoosh, swoooosh.”

Between the black hole that devoured thousands of Demon Clan, something appeared.

“I am Suprema, one born from death!”

It was a giant golem woven together from thousands of corpses.

Though commonly called a Corpse Golem, it was altogether different.

An ordinary Corpse Golem has no ego.

It’s nothing but a giant puppet, absolutely obedient to its summoner (the dark mage).

But the Corpse Golem before me clearly had an ego and was expressing its will.

This creature—

[One of the Eight Immortals of the Undying Legion!]

It was a senior member of the Undying Legion—one of the Eight Immortals.

Eight Immortals.

Eight who deny death itself.

Suprema, among them, possessed the power to nullify (be immune to) all physical attacks.

On the other hand, it was vulnerable to magic and elemental attacks, but at least when it came to physical attacks, it was a being boasting true invincibility.

In other words, it was the nemesis of knights who couldn’t use magic or elemental attacks.

“Boom!”

It had merely taken a single step.

Yet the shockwave from that step rippled in every direction.

“Face death!”

As if it had decided my fate.

Well.

After all, while killing thousands of Demon Clan, I hadn’t used magic or elemental attacks, so it likely felt confident of victory.

Suprema was, after all, created by the Demon Clan specifically to target knights.

But—

Even with an enemy immune to physical attacks before me, I remained calm.

In fact—

“…Just one question.” I asked.

“Your last words?”

“Do you know anything about the Undying Legion’s Commander?”

It was pure curiosity.

“Insolent!”

“KWAaaaang” It roared with immense rage.

“Someone like you is not even worthy to speak of him.”

I’d suspected as much.

And, as expected.

‘There’s another Commander of the Immortal Legion now, not me.’

They didn’t remember me.

But when I mentioned the Commander of the Immortal Legion, it thought of someone else and was filled with fury.

That meant that not only was I erased from memory, but someone else had replaced me as Commander.

‘How amusing.’

Not only did they erase me from existence, they substituted another in my place.

I don’t know their purpose, but the situation is certainly interesting.

“Die!”

The enraged Suprema hesitated not.

From its gaping jaws, something erupted.

“KWAaaaang!”

It was a beam of decay.

A powerful corpse-poison that causes everything living to rot away.

It wasn’t just the beam—if you inhaled the fumes it generated, your body would start decaying instantly.

Staring down this death ray, which no living thing could survive, I roused my demonic energy.

In an instant, my whole body was clad in the Undying Legion’s Emblem, the jet-black armor once symbolizing the Commander of the Immortal Legion.

And then—

“CRAAACK!”

The area around me, even the beam of decay from its maw, froze over with a chilling frost.

“Wh-What?!” The beast staggered back in shock.

I was curious.

No matter what other Demon Clan thought, I wondered how one of my own Eight Immortals would react to seeing me in my Commander state.

As expected, the reaction was intense.

All of it.

“How… How do you have his demonic energy?!”

Apparently, the new Commander of the Immortal Legion they remembered also used frost like I did.

“Is that so? In that case…”

“Boom!”

I stomped once.

[Fimbulvet.]

The winter of deepest cold descended.

“CRACK, CRACK, CRACK!”

Everything around me froze solid.

“Fimbulvet?!”

The creature was not shocked by the freezing, but by the technique itself.

“How… How can you wield his power…?”

“His technique, huh. So the one you serve uses power similar to mine?”

“…Silence!”

The same.

Which meant our powers were indeed similar.

Especially for the loyal Suprema, the thought that a mere human could be similar to the Commander of the Immortal Legion must have been intolerable.

That’s all.

“It’s just mimicry at best. No matter how many times you die and are reborn, you’ll never approach him…”

“Really? Then how about this?”

Fimbulvet, on its own, can freeze the enemy and slow their movements.

But that’s about it.

Those who are truly powerful will resist the cold, rendering the skill useless.

It could be considered a skill meant to deal with lesser Demon Clan en masse.

But that’s not all.

Fimbulvet is only the beginning.

Three winters.

The first is Fimbulvet; the second—

Glaki.

If Fimbulvet is the static cold, then Glaki is the winter of severe blizzards.

A snowstorm began to rage from all sides.

And—

“Whack, whack-whack-whack!”

Snowballs and ice shards pummeled the giant’s body.

Each one was strong enough to crush even a high-rank Demon Clan, but—

The creature did not fall.

It was only slightly staggered.

“Pointless!”

Immune to physical damage, and with a strong resistance even to cold.

It couldn’t be helped.

As a creature that was both a living being and a corpse—a mass of yin energy—it naturally boasted powerful resistance to cold.

“This paltry chill is nothing to me!”

“Thud!”

It marched straight through the second winter and closed the gap between us.

With a single stride, the distance narrowed.

In this intense cold, which froze even the corpse-poison, its only choice was to attack with its massive body.

One look at its frame was enough—it was tremendously strong.

It could topple a mountain with a single blow.

It had but one step left.

Once it took that step, I’d be within its attack range.

Of course, that’s only if it could take that step.

“As a commander of the Undying Legion, you must also know this one.”

After Fimbulvet and Glaki, the third winter.

The coldest of all—

[Rigor.]

The third winter.

“Swish.”

Above Suprema’s head, one step away from me, snow began to fall.

Just tiny snowflakes, so easily scattered by the wind.

But Suprema stopped moving, frozen in its tracks.

“Th-This is…?!”

An emotionless killing machine let out a gasp of terror.

No wonder.

“CRACK!”

The moment the snowflake touched it, that part froze solid.

Resistance to cold is one thing—immunity is another.

So, faced with even greater cold, with absolute chill, it simply froze over.

The snowflakes summoned through Rigor carried that absolute frost.

“Absolute Ice!”

Without defenses at the absolute level, immunity was useless—you’d be frozen solid.

“I-It’s impossible!”

Right before my eyes, Suprema had turned into a colossal frozen statue.

“Step—”

I approached the giant, encased in transparent ice and locked rigidly like a statue.

When I was within arm’s reach—

“Tap.”

I lightly reached out with my hand.

“Crash!”

The giant ice statue shattered and collapsed.

[For the first time, you have cleared the 3-star condition for the Extremely Difficult (Nightmare > Ordeal > Blood Sea) 40th Floor.]

[By passing the Extremely Difficult difficulty, you have gained control of the United States Tower’s 40th floor.]

I obtained dominion over the United States Tower.

It was only the 40th floor, but it would still allow me to restrict their climb to some extent.

And the rewards didn’t end there.

[You have successfully swum across the Blood Sea for the first time.]

[For your remarkable feat in overcoming the Blood Sea, you are granted an additional star.]

[To you who have swum the incomprehensible realm of the Blood Sea, the Knight Undead Legion Commander Valdevron Brocia’s Package is bestowed.]

Perhaps because I defeated one of the Eight Immortals, I was given Valdevron Brocia’s Package this time.

Honestly, that was about all I expected.

But then—

[Your accumulated stars have now reached 200, and the designated cumulative reward is now active.]

[For earning 200 stars on Extremely Difficult, your reward is ‘Increased Ticket Drop Rate.’]

[From now on, you can obtain ticket-type items from all floors of the South Korea Tower.]

After reaching 10, cumulative rewards had never activated even once, but now, unexpectedly, this unlooked-for good fortune arrived through the system.