Chapter 377: The Place Called the Holy Ground (2)

“Why do you keep abandoning your memories?”

Lefanta Aegim turned his head toward the voice. A woman was looking at him, her chin resting on her palm. She had said her name was Ivansia.

“It’s to stay the same.”

“To stay the same?” the woman repeated, confused.

“Have you ever seen someone determined to live over a thousand years?”

Lefanta Aegim opened his diary and read the notes about the woman. Not a lot was written about her.

—She was originally a maid who tended the flower garden but is now a noble.

—She likes my face.

—She bore my child.

Lefanta Aegim’s gaze paused briefly on the last line. Child. Even now, the woman held a newborn on her lap. The infant reached out and cooed, and the woman moved her finger to play with the child.

She replied, “No. It’s not like we get heroes like you around here every day.”

“To live a thousand years, one needs an extraordinarily strong will. Everything in the world changes. Portraits painted to remember someone eventually fade. Swords forged to kill also rust. A thousand years is enough time to change. This applies to both what you wish to keep and kill.”

It was a note that Lefanta Aegim had written in his diary. Whenever he lost his memories, he read this note. Each time, he slowly nodded in acceptance.

“I’m weak. I have no faith that I can last a thousand years. There is no proof to believe that I can. That’s why I abandon my time. Even a thousand years becomes a second when I abandon it. If I fear change, then abandoning the time that can change me will fix it.”

The wind blew, mingling with the spring. The spring wind was different from the winter wind. It was more humid and curled softly around the tip of his nose. On the woman’s lap, the child waved his hands, trying to catch the wind.

Time melted away.

“This is my way.”

“That’s...”

The woman tried to say something, but Lefanta Aegim got up, rejecting the woman’s attempt to intervene on his time.

“You think I’m foolish, but change is a human’s privilege. I chose to stay human by bearing a child and starting a bloodline, yet I also abandon my memories. I try to be human while refusing to be one. It’s pure folly.”

The woman tried to speak once more, but Lefanta Aegim turned his back quicker than she could open her mouth.

“But it doesn’t matter.”

Though Lefanta Aegim couldn’t see her, the woman trembled. She felt something very foreign in his tone.

“Everyone deceives themselves into believing they’re human. As long as such people live in this world, I’ll always be more humane than them.”

The woman didn’t know that the foreign air she felt was the last trace left by someone named Kim Yul. Lefanta Aegim didn’t know either. As she watched him walking away, the woman barely managed to ask, “You’re leaving? Just like this?”

“Yes, the promise was that I would stay only until the baby could walk.”

“Why won’t you let anyone stay with you?”

Lefanta Aegim glanced back. “Because I don’t need them. Perhaps there was a time when I needed other people, too. If that’s the case, I can only tell you that it’s too late for that now. I know you used me to become a noble, but that doesn’t matter. I’ll just advise you to use your power for the weak while there’s still time.”

These words became the motto of the Ducal Family of Ivansia. There was no way the woman could have felt love or kindness for the people of the empire. She had merely found a way to satisfy her personal tastes and desire for power. However, why did Lefanta Aegim’s words become the family motto?

“

I give up all the memories of Ivansia.

”

With those final words, Lefanta Aegim walked out of the garden.

“Teleport me.”

The wind blew. Where spring had been, he no longer existed.

***

“

I give up the memories of the past twenty-nine days.

”

White light flashed, trying to pierce me. I raised my holy sword to block it, wondering where the killing puppets had gathered a month’s worth of memories. Even if one of them had been fighting the Sword Star, where had the other twelve been? They were probably here, in this trash dump, rotting away as they gathered time only to throw it away later.

“Don’t you dare!” the Black Witch roared.

Just before the Constellation Murderer’s light flash and my sword clashed, the Black Witch’s mirrors moved in between us.

“If you want to kill Kim Gong-Ja, get my permission first! He’s expensive!”

Clang, crash, clang!

Three mirrors broke upon colliding with the flash. From the fourth mirror onward, however, the flash was deflected at a slight angle. With each bounce, the flash bent at a sharper angle until it was finally reflected back to the Constellation Murderer.

Compared to when the Constellation Murderer had fired it, the strike was far weaker, but that didn’t mean he didn’t have to raise his sword to block it.

Seizing the moment, I charged at him. “If you had gathered a year’s worth of memories instead of a month’s, my team and I might have lost.”

The killing puppet couldn’t bear the joint attacks of Anastasha and me. My holy sword cut through his shoulder.

Thirteen people versus nine puppets. The gap between us and the enemy grew once more.

“But you couldn’t gather memories for more than a month, could you?”

The special unit, led by Kim Yul and Uburka, used their numbers to their advantage and helped the Paladin, who was struggling to hold the line. Whenever any of the killing puppets tried to abandon time, Kim Yul and Uburka joined forces to counter them. Explosions echoed from all sides.

“Because if you live longer than a month, your life begins,” I said. “To face an unknown, strong enemy like me, you needed to gather as much time as you could, but the longer you lived without discarding memories, the more anxious you became.”

I charged at the next killing puppet. Sadly, he didn’t just stand there.

Thuuuuud!

The light flashes he fired fell like a meteor shower. I found a small opening and took advantage of it. When I veered left, the light meteor shower shifted left as well.

Boooom!

Where the flashes hit, the trash was shredded. The plastic bottles, now deformed, soared into the air. Chip bags were torn to shreds, their crumbs scattering all over. By pushing through the debris, which no longer meant anything, I reached the killing puppet.

“You’re worried that you’ll end up not wanting to throw your memories away.” I speculated.

“

I give up the memories of—

”

My sword was slightly faster than his words.

“I can guess how you became thirteen puppets.”

This wasn’t the same as yesterday—no, tomorrow’s ambush. No puppets were clinging to my limbs. Instead, my comrades surrounded me.

Thirteen people versus eight puppets.

“You’re a Hunter who cleared the ninetieth floor, but to reach that floor, you first have to clear the heaven floors that start from the eightieth floor.” I turned to seek my next prey. “To clear the heaven floors, you need an examiner, someone to become your follower. But you refuse to get involved with others, let alone have followers.”

A red light beam shot up from a short distance away. Resembling bright red blood, the beam pierced the trash graveyard and split the sunset-tinged sky. When I glanced in that direction, Estelle was panting and grabbing her sword hilt tightly. Before her, one of the killing puppets collapsed with a thud.

Thirteen people versus seven puppets.

“That’s why you needed your puppets,” I said.

The Inquisitor’s laughter echoed through the garbage dump. Despite the atmosphere, that laugh was so cheerful that it felt rather eerie. He formed a hand seal. Six Divine Formulas overlapped, unleashing a storm. Wrapped in these formulas, the Black Witch pierced the killing puppet’s chest with her right hand.

Thirteen people versus six puppets.

“You would have relied on the puppets each time you rose to the next heaven floor. There wouldn’t have been any other choice. Not only do you refuse to trust others, but you also dread them trusting you. The puppets were the only ones you could tolerate.”

The Viper’s battle cry resounded fiercely. The Four Demon Kings held down one of the puppets, and the Viper used this to seal the puppet’s deal. The OJP Sect Master struck down his sword, which held the small happiness a person could enjoy in their life.

Thirteen people versus five puppets.

“You wish to stay human until the end.”

Thirteen people versus four puppets.

“But you never trust humans.”

Thirteen people versus three puppets.

“You don’t believe that two people can be connected. That’s why I said that if I had been alone, you would have won.”

Thirteen people versus two puppets.

“I don’t think you’re wrong. The ones who are wrong are those sons of bitches, monsters, and animals that roam this universe endlessly, but still...’

Thirteen people versus one puppet. I pointed my sword at the last remaining one.

“Don’t assume everyone is like you. Don’t think only your blood is red, Constellation Murderer[1].” With the tip of my sword, I lifted the chin of the Constellation Murderer, who was now on his knees. “I also shed my own blood to become who I am now.”

The plastic bottle at his knee contorted and hissed as air left it. Panting, he gasped and looked up at me and my comrades standing behind me. Everyone knew that these would be the Constellation Murderer’s last words. Perhaps the words that flowed from his bloodied lips could count as a warning or a curse.

“Constellations make those who already have power even stronger. Only those who still have something to offer borrow power from the Constellations. Money, secrets, connections to others, even souls. Whatever that may be, those who have something to give ultimately continue their lives, enveloped in their Constellations’ starlight.”

His voice held no urgency, nor did he look desperate. He was perishing like a sunset over a garbage dump, his blood slowly fading away.

“Some have nothing left to give. Whether they speak or hold back their breath, the world doesn’t answer back, so they just live to survive another day. Only you, the privileged, remain.”

Why just you?

The Constellation Murderer looked up at me expressionlessly. “To live sheltered by the Constellations is an insult to those who can’t have that privilege. If not everyone can reach heaven, then at least they should all start from hell. You’ll think I’m foolish, but it doesn’t—”

“No.”

It wasn’t me who just said that. A man who looked exactly like the Constellation Murderer grabbed my shoulder and pushed me back. Kim Yul stepped in front of me and looked down at the Constellation Murderer.

“Kim Gong-Ja doesn’t think you’re wrong. He believes that he has no right to make such a judgment. The ones who think you’re foolish are only me and you.”

The Constellation Murderer’s lips trembled. It was hard to guess what he saw when he looked at Kim Yul. The Constellation Murderer had no way of knowing why a human who looked exactly like him was there. He didn’t even know if the man was really the same person he was. If so, why was the man hostile toward him? The Constellation Murderer’s reply was driven by instincts, not reason.

“Aren’t you afraid?” the Constellation Murderer asked in a small voice, gaze alternating between me and Kim Yul. “Why are you doing this? What do you think you’re going to do?”

After a long pause, Kim Yul nodded.

“I’m also afraid.” He raised his sword. “But it doesn’t matter.”

The sword cut through the sunset, slicing a life slightly redder than the sunset itself.

[The Constellation Murderer has been annihilated.]

That was the end of the most feared hunter among the Constellations.

1. “Don’t think you’re the only one who’s human/Don’t think you’re the only one who’s hurting.” ☜