Chapter 38: The Hero's Title (2)

It opened its eyes on a rainy day. It didn’t have a form or a name—just calling it a shadow would be fitting. When the shadow opened its eyes on a rainy day, it saw its first creature.

Croak.

At first, it didn’t understand what the creature was. It didn’t know many things, but it could hear sounds... The sound of rain and croaking was all around it. The rain carried a sweet scent.

It instinctively crawled toward the creature in front of it like a snake, although it didn’t even know what a snake was. The creature, which also carried a sweet scent, was unaware that something was approaching. It just looked up at the rain and croaked.

The shadow opened its mouth and devoured the cute croaking creature.

Croak!

The shadow didn’t have teeth, so the creature wasn’t ripped apart. It just slowly melted in the shadow’s stomach.

The rain continued. By the time the creature was mush inside the shadow’s stomach, the shadow realized that it now had front and hind legs. It was stepping on the “ground”, and the area it couldn’t reach was the “sky”. The “rain” connected the sky and the ground. The world became a little clearer in its eyes.

Feeling alive, it gasped at the sensation of raindrops hitting on its slimy, green skin.

Croak.

It opened its mouth and made a noise of happiness.

Croak.

It rained. The shadow wanted to live a little longer.

***

The fight ended with one strike at first.

I couldn’t even see it attack even though I had drunk the elixir that stretched time. I squeezed one second for all it was worth, but the Demon King’s attack was still faster than that.

[You have died.]

[Rewinding twenty-four hours.]

After I went back a day, I used a black marker to draw a line. The lines would help me remember how many days passed, even in the far future, like a prisoner tracking the number of days that had passed since he was deprived of his freedom. Yes, it was a prison—the prison of time.

—Zombie, its swordsmanship itself isn’t remarkable,

the Guardian told me.

Its attack is closer to lashing out with everything it has. That’s still scary because you can smash almost anything with enough power, but...

“But I can dodge if I know which direction the attack is coming from.” I nodded.

—Exactly.

What would happen if I approached the quest in a conventional way? How many soldiers had died in the battle during the last try?

Every soldier that died was someone who would have had at least another twenty years in front of them. Twenty years were gone with each death. Two hundred years with ten deaths. Two thousand years for a hundred deaths.

I wanted to save that time from fading away, so I didn’t choose a role. Instead, I simply stood in front of the Demon King with my sword in my hand.

[You have died.]

[Rewinding twenty-four hours.]

If that was what I wanted, I should be ready to incarcerate myself in this eternity.

—But the problem is whether or not you’re capable of dodging it even if you can tell which direction an attack is coming from. You puny zombie!

“Ah, be quiet.”

—Hehehe.

[You have died.]

[Rewinding twenty-four hours.]

When I went back a day, I repeated the day as I reflected on the previous fight.

—You’re still clumsy with your aura. That’s the problem. All you have to do is focus your aura into your feet to dodge the attack.

“I can’t maintain my form if I try to move with my aura focused on my feet.”

—So you need to balance it. Use aura in your thighs, waist, and shoulders too.

“That’s easier said than done...”

[You have died.]

[Rewinding twenty-four hours.]

—You can die if you don’t want to do it.

The Guardian cackled.

“Fuck.”

Day after day passed.

—Follow the proper order, hero of the goddess. How insolent of you to come here without making any choice. Only those who received a post—

I had listened to the Demon King’s furious voice too many times already.

“Bottoms up.”

—What?

I was starting to get sick of this Q&A session, so I chugged my elixir without further ado. As I felt time slowing down, I charged the Demon King and swung my sword.

Unfortunately, the Demon King blocked my attack with ease.

—You...

“The hero slays the Demon King.”

[You have died.]

“The Demon King slays the hero.”

[You have died.]

“What more do I need to say about this? Come, Demon King.”

[You have died.]

“I’m the empire’s sword.”

—Fine!

The Demon King scoffed.

[You have died.]

—Then prove it to me!

[You have died.]

—Prove your resolve!

[You have died.]

“Yeah, I’ll show you.”

[Rewinding twenty-four hours.]

In this frozen world, my sword was the only proof of the flow of time—the ticking hand of the clock. Each second my sword could fend off the Demon King was one more second this world continued to exist. I was merely a sword who lived for one second, but the world’s life depended on that singular second. Just as a flood starts from a single drop of water, I would stretch one second into an eternity.

I continued to live my life.

“Great job, Mr. Kim!”

A day passed.

“Unbelievable! We cleared the stage in less than an hour!”

Another day passed.

“I think less than forty Hunters are dead! Maybe even less than that...

Ahhh!

I couldn’t ask for a better result!”

Whenever I got to the eleventh stage, I always grabbed the Black Dragon’s hand and teleported together to kill the boss monster. It was now part of my daily repeat routine. Then I challenged the Demon King, lived and died a day.

At some point, the eleventh floor—including the Black Witch—began to change.

“Excellent job, Mr. Kim! Oh my god! We cleared the stage in less than fifty minutes! Your advice was genius! I found that private named Tomund from the shield unit and worked with him to reinforce the defenses on the right. And it worked great! I’m sure less than thirty Hunters are dead!”

The change was small at first, but it was solid.

“We did it in less than forty minutes! I think less than twenty Hunters are dead!”

I made changes to make the day quicker, more efficient, and more lethal to my enemies. Every time I repeated the day, the Black Witch’s face and voice got brighter. Yesterday, she had smiled because only around twenty people had died. She looked happier than she had been a year ago when there were less than fifty casualties from the Hunters.

“Ah...”

I lived through a day.

“Impossible... Great job, Mr. Kim! I just followed your advice on treating that knight named Jeshua and asked him to deal with the golem, and it worked perfectly...

Ahhh.

Maybe less than ten people are dead... I didn’t think that’d be possible in a battle like this. I didn’t know...

I lived through a day.

—What is wrong with you?

the Demon King asked one day.

“What?”

—Why are you smiling?

“I’m happy.”

My heart pounded.

“I’m smiling because I’m happy.”

—You’re about to die, so how can you be happy?

The Demon King brandished its sword.

“You won’t understand me. No one would.”

—You’re arrogant, hero of the goddess.

“I’m just a guy who finds happiness in the little things.”

I swung my sword.

—You pitiful thing.

The Demon King cut me in two.

[You have died.]

[Rewinding twenty-four hours.]

However, I didn’t give up. I had no reason to. My sword was quicker than yesterday, so it would be faster tomorrow because I was alive. Alive.

The day arrived without a sign. The Black Witch grabbed my hand. Although she wouldn’t know, the number 100 was written on my hands numerous times. These numbers were the invisible wrinkles that told me how many days had gone by in this hellish incarceration.

“I...I just checked, Mr. Kim. No one...” The Black Witch’s voice trembled, just like the hand that held mine. “No one died.”

Her quivering voice soon became a sob.

“I checked with the Pantheon too, but no one died... There are some idiots who got hit with arrows in their arms, but... no one died.”

The Black Dragon Guild was the number one guild ever since the Tower appeared. Led by the Black Witch, the Rank 2 Hunter, they had tried to clear the tenth floor dozens of times, but had failed every time. Despite her defeats, she had always brought back everyone alive. That was who she was. And now she leaned her head against my chest.

“Thank you... Really, thank you...”

She was laughing and crying at the same time.

I wanted to live a little longer. Yes, time flowed in my heart. I swung my sword as long as my heart beat.

—How dare you! How dare you even think of stopping me without the empire’s help!

My eternally beating heart drove me across the frozen world to the plains outside the city. I wasn’t going to stop taking up my sword.

“Yup. A hero is supposed to fight alone.”

—You fool!

The Demon King became furious.

It didn’t have a form or a name—just calling it a shadow would be fitting. The shadow held up its blood-red greatsword. The air trembled ominously as it brought it down on me. I dodged it.

—You...!

I did the same with the next strikes.

—You humans’ malice is what made my shadow!

The Demon King swung its greatsword, delivering the fourth strike, which had stopped me from moving on to the next second for nearly a year. That was when our fight became different from before.

The Demon King’s sword was blocked with an almighty

crash!

It had to retreat, prickled by fragments of light.

“...I’m sorry, Mr. Kim.”

A woman landed lightly beside me, her long black hair fluttering in the air. The Black Witch, the leader of the Black Dragon Guild, looked at me with a tiny smile.

𝚏𝕣𝐞𝗲𝐰𝕖𝐛𝐧𝕠𝕧𝚎𝚕.𝐜𝚘𝗺

“I tried to stay put in the audience chamber like you asked, but I was getting cabin fever. It was going to kill me, so I followed you. After a request like that, I wanted to find out what you were doing... Hmm. You’ve been playing an interesting game on your own.”

“I’m playing hero.”

“Is it fun?”

I laughed. “It feels awesome.”

“Well, it does look like a beast worth hunting. I can’t let you have all the fun. I’m in too.”

Five mirrors rose into the air.

“Come on. I’m so close to taking it down. You can’t steal my kill like this,” I grumbled.

“Don’t you know that that’s the best feeling in the world?”

“I can’t say no to that.”

Laughter danced across the barren plain.

—You...

the Demon King growled.

A Demon King probably came into existence at a time when no one was allowed to laugh together.

“I’m sorry, man.” I waggled my sword at it. “I tried to take you down on my own, but now that I think of it, the hero should gang up on a Demon King. That’s what tradition and history tells us, right? I’m sure you can understand the custom.”

—You’re just playing with words!

The Demon King’s unnatural body churned.

I’m done playing with you and your sword!

The foul water poured across the ground in an endless flood, as if the Demon King’s body fluids were limitless. The plain was dyed black in moments, like a giant shadow had been cast over the land.

—Monsters, answer my call.

The shadow gurgled and popped.

Each and every bubble the shadow created took the form of a monster. Some turned into goblins. Orcs appeared too. One of the orcs shook its head, shaking off the body fluid. The flow of the bubbles left behind thousands of monsters surrounding me and the others.

“This is...” The Black Witch narrowed her eyes as she looked around. “This isn’t something we can deal with on our own. Sword Star! What are you standing over there? The least you can do is help.”

“I was going to watch a while longer. It’s been less than thirty seconds since the young man and the sewer thing started fighting. Who knew that sewage could summon monsters?” The Sword Star answered, drawing his sword. No doubt his eyes had been glued to me the whole time.

“He’s right. I was thinking about asking for his help after I’d held out for at least a minute,” I remarked with a smile. I’d had to endure his gaze for over thirty weeks anyway.

“Men... Forget it,” the Black Witch huffed.” Mr. Kim, take my hand. We have to get out of here. Sword Star! You come over here too. I’m sure you’ve already seen the number.”

However, I didn’t take the offered hand. “No, it’s okay.”

The Black Witch frowned in confusion.

Instead of answering her question, I quietly said, “

Monster Legion Summon.

”

The Demon King stiffened.

—What did you—?

Before it could finish its question, a voice replied to me.

[The Skill

Monster Legion Summon

has been activated.]

The voice certified my qualifications. Change soon arrived on the plains.