Chapter 295: The Sword Emperor’s Return (3)

“Who the hell are you?” the Assistant Writer, Hamustra’s follower, asked. “It’s already surprising that the Indoor Librarian personally chose someone. What was that storm earlier? That takes up an insane amount of aura. Was it a Skill? How did you acquire such a Skill?”

“I’m just a newbie who arrived on the fiftieth floor yesterday.”

“Don’t bullshit me. There are no newbies like you.”

“Every company looks for experienced new hires like me.”

The Assistant Writer’s scowl reminded me of a lumpy sweet potato.

I shrugged. “Let’s get out of here first. I’ve been feeling a tingle in the back of my head for quite a while now. I think some annoying guys are following me.”

“Okay.”

The Assistant Writer reluctantly swallowed the rest of her words. It seemed that she wanted to ask more questions, but she held back because of the circumstances. The other followers also hurried up.

Groaaaar. Roarrrr!

From the hole I dug, the monsters poured out and started chasing us.

“

Eek!

”

“R-run away! Hurry up!”

Screams echoed all around. The followers were already running out of breath, so they couldn’t even scream properly. Maybe they were exhausted from being locked up for so long.

I clicked my tongue. I pitied them, I really did. “Come here. I’ll help you. How are you going to live in this harsh world with that kind of stamina?”

“W-what?”

I didn’t wait for their answers. Instead, I grabbed a follower’s nape and held him up lightly. It wasn’t difficult since prison really drained people of life. The followers felt light in my grasp.

“

Huh? Huh?!

”

“Relax, okay? If you’re too tense, you’ll get hurt instead,” I warned.

“

Uh, uhm...

”

“Keep your mouth closed so that you won’t bite your tongue.”

I exerted strength in my right arm with the same momentum I had been running. I lifted the follower with my right hand, enveloped him with a barrier of my aura, and hurled him like an Olympic shot putter.

“

Eh?

Uh

...”

The follower blinked as he flew in the air. Like a graceful flamingo at a zoo, he waved his arms and legs frantically. However, there was nothing he could use to hold onto. All that surrounded him was nitrogen and oxygen. Probably one of the top five most refreshingly new things I had heard in my life followed.

“

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!

”

I clicked my tongue. “I told him to keep his mouth closed, but he didn’t listen.”

Thuuuuuuuud!

Finally, he landed on solid ground. Some could call this an emergency landing instead of an actual landing, but if one looked at life in the long run, there really wasn’t much of a difference between the two.

I gestured with my hand. “Okay, next.”

“What?”

I grabbed another believer by the nape. It was simple. They were staring blankly at the sky, lost in the sight of their fellow flamingos, and were in no state to escape my grip.

“This is dangerous, so keep your mouth closed,” I warned.

“What?”

“

Aaaaaah!

”

“

Uh, uh, eeeeeeeeeeeek!

”

I continued picking up the exhausted believers and throwing them far away, one by one. Then I ran and caught the believers lying on the ground and threw them again.

“D-don’t kill me. Spare me!”

“That’s what I’m trying to do!”

Thanks to this, the believers were able to move quickly despite having no stamina at all. The monsters also couldn’t keep up with our speed and kept getting further and further away. It was a truly divine dribble.

[The Lonely Seeker is speechless.]

[The Labyrinth-Dwelling Eye realizes that you are not in your right mind.]

[The Incarnation of Love and Lust finds you to be her type.]

They sure were noisy. After running for who knew how long, I heard a familiar voice from the direction of the Magic Tower.

—Ah, ah! Mic test! Mic test!

It was the spokesperson of the Magic Tower, the one who had publicly tortured Hamustra’s believers yesterday. The spokesperson did not seem to be in a good mood. His voice was aimed directly at me, and it came to me through Aura Telepathy. Therefore, I also got ready to reply using Aura Telepathy.

—Who the fuck are you? What kind of crazy motherfucker are you?! Can’t you hear me?

—Hello. The weather is nice today!

—So you are a crazy motherfucker!

That was quite an introduction on his part.

—You! Do you know who you’re messing with? Do you? Huh?

At his threat, I beamed.

—Well, I don’t, since you didn’t introduce yourself. Don’t you think introducing yourself is an important etiquette in the universe we live in?

The spokesperson sighed.

—Where the hell did you come from, you maniac? We are the Magic Tower! Ma-gic To-wer! We have a thousand-year history! We monopolized Monopoly City!

It seemed that the fiftieth floor’s name was Monopoly City.

—Alright. Nice to meet you.

—Give those prisoners back immediately!

—Oh, I’m sorry, but that will be a little difficult. I listened to your broadcast yesterday, and I wasn’t a big fan of it. Life is too short, even when we all live happily ever after together, so why would you bully Hamustra’s believers? They’re good people. I felt bad after hearing what you did to them, so I’m helping them escape.

For some reason, my gentle remark made him furious.

—Wow. This is a new fucking level of ridiculousness.

It sounded as if the spokesperson kicked something. While I was appropriately provoking him, I was constantly on the lookout for an escape route. My annoying replies were a way to buy time in any way. We just had to make it back to Babylon.

But they’ll most likely track us down.

I shook my head. The Magic Tower had ruled this city for over one thousand years. If someone wronged them, they would chase the criminals to the end of the universe to seek revenge. Of course, the Black Witch, the Sword Star, and everyone else would be fully prepared to deal with an invasion from another world. However, it was better to avoid unnecessary battles as much as possible.

—What Constellation’s minion are you? Huh? I don’t know who you work for, but I’ll turn you into a pulp when I get my hands on you!

—I don’t worship any Constellation. If I had to say I worship someone, that would be my beloved.

—Gosh! Someone get that guy and pound him to the ground! Anyone, please!

That was when the Assistant Writer approached me and said, “Over here.”

While all the other believers had degenerated into flamingos, the Assistant Writer was the only one running by my side.

“Regardless of which world you came from, it’s dangerous to return there. I’m pretty sure that not everyone in your world is as strong as you are.”

“I was just thinking about that.”

“There is a secret hideout where our comrades are. I’ll guide you there. Normally, I wouldn’t reveal this information to outsiders, but you had a message from the Indoor Librarian himself,” the Assistant Writer muttered. “Gray, envelop us.”

[A Skill is affecting you.]

I tilted my head. My senses weren’t affected, but that didn’t seem to be the case for everyone. The spokesman for the Magic Tower immediately became enraged.

—Damn it! Assistant Writer, you dare to use that cheap trick again!

The spokesperson changed his way of speaking. Instead of talking to me via Aura Telepathy, he started broadcasting in the sky. What was going on?

“This Skill masks a person’s aura presence,” the Assistant Writer told me. “At the Magic Tower, they identify people by their aura instead of fingerprints. That’s how they send out Aura Transmission or Telepathy. From now on, even the Constellations won’t be able to talk to us for a while.”

“

Whoa,

” I exclaimed.

It was true. Even the Constellations that had been endlessly chatting with me suddenly became quiet. It looked like the Assistant Writer had used a kind of stealth Skill.

“But I can’t use this to hide your physical form. Thank you. Thanks to you helping us escape, I was able to use my Skill.”

“That’s awesome. This sounds like a pretty handy Skill.”

“In my opinion, you’re the one who is amazing,” the Assistant Writer said with a bitter smile. “This won’t last long. Follow me, the protagonist of this story. I’ll guide you to our hideout.”

The spokesperson’s voice boomed from behind us.

—I’m gonna kill youuuuuuuuuu! Yes, you’re a lunatic, but let’s see if you can keep this up even after we find you! We’ll tear off your fingernails and poke them into your eyeballs. And Charumu! You, you! I saw you joining their side!!!

Charumu, the boy mage who had been quietly following us, hiccupped.

—You probably know very well what happens to a traitor.

Haha!

But you’ll realize how little you know because your punishment will far surpass everything else any traitors have suffered so far!

Charumu started groaning and sobbing.

—Look forward to it!

There was a loud thud. Perhaps the spokesman slammed the table.

—I will give you all the worst death known to man! No, the worst immortality! I’ll use any means necessary! I’ll make sure of it.

***

We successfully shook off the pursuit and arrived at an underground cave.

“This is the place. As you may already know, the Void Poison is eroding the fiftieth floor. The ground itself is strongly magnetic. The deeper we go underground, the stronger the disruption becomes, so even the Spiders of the Magic Tower can’t detect us. It’s a natural fortress.”

Just like the Assistant Writer said, the secret hideout extended very deep underground. There were no light sources. I lit up aura at my fingertips and used it as a mini torch to guide the believers down the passage.

“Is there only one entrance?”

“No, there are many. There are fourteen entrances that I know of, and there are probably twenty-three times more passages that I don’t know of.”

“That’s amazing.”

“Well, that way, we have many escape routes if the place gets invaded.”

She explained that the Magic Tower was aware of the existence of this hideout and occasionally came to attack. However, the underground cave system was incredibly vast. With its seemingly countless entrances and exits, it was virtually impossible to wipe out everyone. Many eyes were watching us from across the dark cave.

“The librarians...”

“Why did they come back?

How

did they come back?”

“

Shh

, you shouldn’t look at them.”

The people’s appearances were shabby. It seemed they had made their home in a corner of the cave, with tangled household items strewn about nearby. Dirty tents had been spread out to avoid the dew that had formed on the ceiling.

There were quite a lot of people here.

The Assistant Writer seemed to have noticed what I was thinking about. She said, “This is a shared shelter.”

“A shared shelter?”

“Yes. Almost all the Hunters who lost their Constellations live here. It’s hard to live long because the poison is so strong, but it’s better than being taken to the Magic Tower and getting experimented on.”

I realized that the cave dwellers also had small statues of gods in their tents. Some people had simple altars where they placed a single statue of their Constellation.

“Outside, they call us fugitives. Well, even though we’re in similar situations, we don’t have any sense of solidarity. We hate each other because we serve different Constellations. Everyone thinks their own Constellation is the best.”

“I think I understand.”

“Your world is like that, too, isn’t it? Of course, any world would be the same. The universe is all the same. Now, come this way. Since the followers of each Constellation have a strictly defined area of their own, you shouldn’t go anywhere else, even if you accidentally find yourself there.”

I looked around. Something strange caught my eye.

“

Huh?

”

I rubbed my eyes for a moment, thinking I imagined it. Once the stars were gone from my vision, I focused once more, strengthening my eyesight with aura, then stared clearly at what I had just seen.

However, my eyes were working perfectly okay. In a corner of the cave, there was another passageway that continued in the direction we were walking. What caught my eye was the statues on both sides of the passageway. There were sculptures, such as the Four Heavenly Kings, carved in the Seokguram Grotto[1], and they had very familiar faces.

The Assistant Writer, who was walking ahead of me, stopped and looked back. “What’s the matter?”

“I think I’m seeing things.”

“What?” The Assistant Writer followed my gaze and tilted her head. “

Huh?

What’s wrong with that?”

It was as if this was a very familiar, everyday occurrence here.

“It’s just an ordinary sculpture of the Sword Emperor,” she said.

I felt dizzy.

“

Oh.

Be careful, Mr. Intruder.”

Charumu helped me out. If he hadn’t, I would have collapsed.

“T-t-that’s a sculpture of the Sword Emperor?!?!?!

His

sculpture?!?!” I shrieked.

“What the heck is wrong with you?” the Assistant Writer asked sourly.

I grabbed the Assistant Writer by the shoulder and shook her. I couldn’t help myself. “Why?

Why?

Why in the world would there be statues of

him

around here?”

She looked at me like I was crazy, then slapped my hands away. “What do you mean why? The Sword Emperor is a Constellation, so some people serve him.”

My jaw dropped to the floor. “Whaaaaaaat?”

The Assistant Writer frowned.

“I don’t know why you’re so surprised, but the Sword Constellation, commonly known as the Sword Emperor, is quite famous. One hundred and fifty years ago, when he was still human, he destroyed the Magic Tower. Well, just like my librarian, it’s said that he didn’t take any followers, but that can’t stop people from serving him. Many people believe that the Sword Emperor’s followers are fools who care about nothing but martial arts. I’ve seen them a few times in passing, but I recommend not getting involved. How should I put this? It feels like they live in a world of their own.”

I looked at the Guardian.

—What are you looking at me for?

Please explain.

—Flip your card.

Card? What freaking card?

—Your card about me, you little shit. The card you stole from Gramps Marcus.

I summoned the card and turned it over.

Sword Constellation

Class: A+

Effect: He is from another world and managed to clear the ninety-ninth floor of the Tower in his world. However, he was brought to his knees right on the verge of reaching the Tower's hundredth floor. Due to his regret, he failed to find eternal peace and became a Guardian instead. He can't physically influence the world, but he is able to talk to you. He has abundant experience and is incredibly skilled, so ask him for advice!

※No one can perceive your Guardian except for you.

※The Skill has been copied from Hunter Marcus Carlenbery.

What am I supposed to see?

—Look at the card name, Mr. Zombie.

I did.

—Can you see the name Sword Constellation or not? Then, am I a Constellation or not, you brain-rotted zombie?

What the fuck? Why didn’t you say anything?

—Because you didn’t ask.

What the fucking fuck.

—And I did tell you.

W-when?

—When you stormed the Magic Tower today using the secret passage I told you about. I mentioned it while telling you my old tale.

I remembered.

Yes, the Sword Emperor had a profound reason to destroy the tower. Even though a faction ruled over the fiftieth floor, they couldn’t hold onto their power forever! Anyone could become a rebel. The Sword Emperor himself held up his sword to spread his wise words, so praise him. From now on, we were all going to serve the Sword Emperor and become believers of the Sword Emperor Chur—

I froze.

—But you told me to stop with the bullshit and just show you the way. I always speak only the truth, Zombie. But just like how a Buddha can only see a Buddha and a zombie can only see a zombie, you mistook my truth for nonsense. Now, engrave it to your bones that I’m a great senior with a righteous personality.

So, there is actually a Sword Emperor Church that worships you? Really?

—Yup.

This world is crazy.

1.

Image.

☜