Chapter 131
Chapter 131
Th-th-there—!
The barrier of demonic energy created by Agares also began to crack, its form collapsing. At the sight of Agares appearing behind it, I tightened my grip on my sword.
The flames of Prometheus and the light of holy power swept through the monsters, having already shaved off a considerable portion of Agares’s demonic energy, and they were now nearing their limit.
The figure visible beyond the barrier also seemed to have taken significant damage; the demonic energy pouring from his entire body flickered as if about to go out, but it felt just slightly short of a decisive blow that would bring him down.
Clatter-.
I took a mana potion from my subspace pouch and drank it, then stepped forward.
Perhaps because I had poured everything into the extra skill, a sense of exhaustion wrapped around my entire body, but it was hard to believe that the remaining holy knights alone could finish Agares off.
When I reignited Prometheus’s flames atop Excalibur, the mana that had just been restored by the potion drained away in large chunks once more. I frowned at that.
‘A second awakening is absolutely necessary.’
If the first awakening was an elevation in rank, then the second awakening was a change of the vessel itself.
Upon reaching Sword Master, the body gradually began to optimize itself. Only an extremely rare few underwent an extreme transformation like some martial arts novel’s rebirth through bone and flesh; most simply compensated for their current shortcomings and moved toward a better direction.
The second awakening referred precisely to such an extreme change. A stage of transcending beyond the limits of the human body into something beyond. Situations like now, where I was left staggering after my mana was depleted by a single extra skill, would disappear.
‘And for that, Tyrfing’s recovery is essential.’
In the original work, Leios’s first awakening was caused by Tyrfing. However, I had forcibly borrowed Excalibur’s power to reach Sword Master during the academic festival, deviating greatly from that trajectory.
Because of that, the protagonist’s overall strength had weakened, but instead I had grown stronger, so in terms of balance there shouldn’t be an issue. What bothered me, however, was the collision between holy power and demonic energy.
“Well, it’ll work out somehow!”
Deciding to think about the aftermath later, I urged my heavy legs and hurled my body forward.
Agares was in the process of restoring his lost flesh by substituting it with demonic energy. I couldn’t bring out my full power either, but Excalibur still carried enough strength to put him down.
[How ridiculous!]
Letting out a roar filled with rage, he raised his one remaining right arm and blocked the sword I swung.
If that had been all, I could have cut through it without much trouble, but the dense demonic energy clinging to it meant that Agares’s fighting spirit had yet to fade.
Clang-!
I struck it forcefully upward, knocking its trajectory aside. Then, using that recoil, I dove into his guard and swung my sword toward the demon’s seed embedded in his chest.
No matter what, that had to be the source of his current power.
Fwaaat-!
With one arm already blown off by the extra skill, Agares shouldn’t have been able to block that attack. But instead of retrieving his severed hand, he looked straight at me and opened his twisted mouth.
“……!”
A beam of light shot out from his mouth. It was an attack that hadn’t existed even in the original work.
Whish-!
At this rate my head would be pierced clean through, so I threw my body forward as if tackling him. I managed to avoid instant death, but my left shoulder was pierced through and engulfed in demonic corruption.
“Fuck—!”
Spitting out a curse, I tightened my grip on Excalibur even more. This had to be his final desperate struggle. If I failed to end it here, I wouldn’t be able to endure the fight that followed with this body.
Slash.
Pain from my shoulder being pierced and burned distorted my vision. Still, grinding my teeth until my jaw felt like it would shatter, I finally cut through his body.
Hummm-.
Yet it wasn’t over; black tentacles surged from the severed area, trying to seal the wound.
I tried to take another step forward to stop it, but ended up coughing up blood and collapsing to my knees.
“…Damn it.”
Agares’s demonic energy began to erode my body. Even as a possessed body, his rank was incomparably higher than my current self.
Excalibur shone as it resisted, but perhaps because its wielder wasn’t in proper condition, merely maintaining the status quo was all it could do.
‘If I can’t finish it now…….’
Even so, I forced strength back into my legs. The Holy Kingdom had already suffered immense damage. If I couldn’t put an end to Agares right here and now, what lay ahead would only become even more difficult.
Woooong.
At that moment, a white cross-shaped sigil appeared in midair once again. It tore Agares’s body apart anew as he was trying to recover, then transformed into long chains that bound him.
“That should do it. We’ll take it from here.”
The Holy King and the sixtieth Paladin, who had been sent flying far away by Agares earlier, had somehow approached from behind me.
It seemed they had taken quite a hit; the front of the armor they wore was badly crumpled, barely maintaining its shape, and there were clear traces of blood wiped from the corners of their mouths. Still, perhaps because they had recovered their strength while I fought, the holy power surging through their bodies was still filled with fighting spirit.
[How dare a mere mortal—!]
Soon, the paladins of the Holy Kingdom drove aura blades formed of dense holy power into Agares’s body.
Perhaps because his resistance had dropped after being struck by me, he was helpless against the swords digging into his body, his demonic energy steadily being shaved away.
“Damn it, you’re taking all the cool parts.”
“My apologies. The shock we took was severe, so it took a little time to recover. We’ll make sure to finish it properly.”
When I complained that they were late, the Holy King nodded apologetically.
Still, it wasn’t a bad situation.
Not only had I played a decisive role in bringing down Agares, earning a great merit for the Holy Kingdom, but I had also placed them in my debt.
At this level, I could probably demand something other than Goddess’s Tears as well.
“I’ll be collecting this debt in full, so…….”
“You needn’t worry about that. The Holy Kingdom would never leave a debt unp—. Are you…?”
As I felt Agares’s presence completely fade away, the tension drained from me all at once. There was always the chance of a final desperate counterattack, but now that the Holy King had recovered, he should be able to handle most things on his own.
The moment I thought that, the backlash from forcibly drawing on my mana and the pain from my shoulder wound inflicted by Agares hit me all at once.
The Holy King widened his eyes and said something, but unfortunately, that was the last thing I saw.
This sensation of my body feeling as if it were floating was something I had felt from time to time since inhabiting this body.
It had been the same when I nearly got poisoned to death after picking a fight with August and Darius, and also whenever I had lost consciousness after defeating the many powerful foes I’d faced so far—this same alien feeling spread through my entire body.
An unnaturalness like wearing clothes that didn’t quite fit. But perhaps I was growing accustomed to it over time, because it wasn’t as severe as before.
“…….”
I didn’t even know whether I was standing, sitting, or lying down. I could only vaguely guess that this place was the world of my unconscious.
As I remained blankly like that until I woke up, the events I had experienced so far began to flash before my eyes.
They weren’t limited to just the life of Leios.
From ‘author’ Kim Junyoung to ‘editor’ Kim Junyoung.
The scenes of my life—from encountering writing, failing, and then standing back up again—unfolded vividly.
No matter how I looked back on them, they could never be called good memories, but at the very least, I didn’t consider them shameful ones.
Because I had failed, I could take on new challenges, and once again move forward.
The same was true in this world. Knowing things as knowledge and facing reality with my body were clearly different.
That was why, despite going through many trials and errors and diverging greatly from the original work, I had been able to make it this far.
Of course, I still hadn’t found the reason why I had possessed Leios’s body. It wasn’t a story that existed in the original work, and to begin with, this world had been just a piece of fiction to me.
But now it was different. Who could dare call this place a world inside a novel?
Countless people, countless beings lived, breathed, and carried on their lives. To dismiss that as nothing more than printed words would be a tremendous insult to them.
“…….”
Lost in such stray thoughts, I eventually realized that I had regained consciousness.
What I saw before me was the same unfamiliar ceiling as always. The location had changed, but the familiar situation made me let out a light sigh—and then I felt a hand gently stroking my hair.
“……?”
When I turned my head slightly, a figure’s face was revealed in the moonlight streaming through the window. At that, I widened my eyes and slowly opened my mouth.
“Petra.”
“Are you awake?”
She looked at me and smiled softly, never stopping the gentle strokes through my hair as she sat on the edge of my bed.
When I tried to sit up, Petra shook her head and cupped my cheeks with both hands.
“They said you still need to rest. Your wounds are almost healed, but the demonic energy penetrated deep into your body, so you were told to refrain from using mana for a while.”
“Are you all right?”
I slowly examined her condition. Her once-pale face had regained its color, and she seemed even brighter than before she had been afflicted with Laplace’s curse.
‘So they gave you Goddess’s Tears.’
It seemed they had kept their promise while I was unconscious, as Petra’s curse had already disappeared.
When I let out a small sigh of relief, she chuckled softly and poked my cheek with her finger.
“I’m sorry. They said you overdid it again.”
“Yeah. This time, it was entirely for your sake. So be deeply grateful.”
At those words, the finger poking my cheek paused for a moment. Then she lowered her head and pressed her lips against mine.
“…….”
Caught off guard by the unexpected action, I was left speechless for a moment. Her cheeks, illuminated by the moonlight, were tinged with a faint blush. In contrast, her eyes were brimming with tears.
“I’m really sorry. Because of me, again…….”
Biting her lip, Petra desperately tried to hold back her tears. As if she didn’t want to show me her weakness, she even turned her head slightly away, but in the end the tears rolled down her cheeks and soaked into the bed.
“It was the same with Father, and I know I shouldn’t rely only on you, but…….”
Apologizing for hurting me and causing me pain, she buried her face against my body. Feeling that warmth, I smiled faintly and gently stroked her red hair, shining in the moonlight.
“I told you before. I said I’d accept everything about you.”
“…Yes.”
At those words, Petra slowly lifted her head. Her hair was damp and tangled from her tears, and when I tidied it up for her, she lowered her head again as if embarrassed by it. Seeing that, I let out a small sigh.
After all, this world wasn’t some novel. Could I really dismiss this woman, who shed tears for me right before my eyes, as nothing more than a character? Or think of her as some device meant solely to make the protagonist shine?
That was why I slowly opened my mouth.
If I were merely trying to deceive with words, a set phrase would have sufficed, but instead I spoke with my rough, unpolished sincerity.
“That resolve hasn’t changed. So don’t even think about leaving me.”
“…Yes.”
The same answer as before came from Petra’s lips. But the smile she showed me through her tear-streaked face was incomparably beautiful.