novelVol. 2 - Ep. 31
| ← Ch.055 | Ch.057 → |
Sungjin checked the timing.
After heroes recharged their skills, Sungjin signed them.
Everyone attacked the evil monster with their skills at once.
Fire. Ice.
Wind. Lightening.
Invisible explosion.
Sword attack.
Spear attack.
The black ocean evaporated for a second, attacked by numerous kinds of power.
Countless heads were gone, and there was only the body left. But the undead body tried to pull out other heads.
This desire wanted death.
This evil wanted despair.
This injustice tried to destroy everything.
It refused to disappear and tried again to get its heads back and destroy everything.
At that moment, the silver knight shouted out the name to punish the evil monster.
"The Sword of Heaven's Will, Durandal!"
A pillar of light rose up to the sky.
The light pierced and scattered the cloud to show twelve holy swords.
It was a reflection from one sword, but there was no illusion.
Every sword was an embodiment of the light.
It looked like twelve shining stars in the sky.
It was the glorious presence of the sword given by heaven.
"Hereby I repeat my oath!"
A dozen swords lit up the evil covering the ground.
The evil wriggled with fear and roared when the light touched it, knowing it was facing its nemesis. Growling sounds echoed around it. Eustasia's voice stopped the sounds, and the twelve stars came down to the ground, one by one.
"I shall be brave facing evil."
The sword dropped on the evil. No, it was not a sword.
"I shall tell the truth." Shooting stars flew down.
Like justice from heaven, the sword attacked the evil from above.
"I shall protect the weak."
The light opened the way. Hydra stretched its heads with a roar of agony, expressing that it refused the punishment.
"I shall follow the right way."
But Hydra's movement was useless; the light cut and crossed the darkness, and Sungjin ran through the path made by light.
"I shall raise the vision!"
They made no promises and had no time to practice.
But Eustasia and Sungjin worked in a perfect harmony.
"I shall not pursue wealth, power, or status." Eustasia shot her swords as if she already knew where Sungjin was headed, and Sungjin ran as if he already knew which way Eustasia was going to attack.
"I shall live with pride and dignity."
A narrow path opened, only to close up right away. There was no way to stop or step back, but Sungjin was running without hesitation.
It was either a ruthless move, risking his life, or courage that would save everyone.
"Hence, my life..."
The eleventh path had opened, and Sungjin was finally able to see Seyzo II covered with the black flesh of monster on the other side.
"... would become the sword of justice!"
The twelfth sword showed its glorious light to be nailed down on the ground.
My dear father... goodbye.
That was the final blow of justice.
And to fight against it, Hydra concentrated its regenerating power to its core and created an evil wall of darkness.
A fierce fight of the light against the darkness.
Dark desire swallowed the bright justice of light.
And the light burnt the darkness.
At the last moment, a beam of light came out to burn the darkness, like a star's explosion before disappearing; and there was no darkness left.
But...
"Ah hahahaha!" Seyzo II laughed; he was sure he stopped the attack.
The darkness around him was gone, but the core was still there.
The sword stabbed around his heart.
If he was human, he would have already died, but he was not even bleeding. There was just some black liquid around the wound.
He was no longer human. He had given up everything to become one with Hydra and bared the attack from the twelfth sword.
It was a dreadful power, but he was able to stop it; now, he was reviving the ocean of darkness. A black wall of flesh started to cover him again.
The ultimate skill needed cooling time.
"I won!"
At that moment, Sungjin answered while holding Durandal:
"No. We won."
Eustasia had spent all her power, all her will, and even her spirit for the twelfth attack. Now, she had no power to even hold the sword.
Sungjin succeeded her will.
They collided a few times and stood against each other.
But they had the same end-goal.
A world where the people are safe from evil power.
A world where they could protect the people.
They wanted the same world; their hearts were connected.
With that heart, the holy sword answered Sungjin.
The master of the sword approved him as a true king, so the sword took him as its king to follow.
The holy sword shone with the justice from heaven, and the ocean of darkness lost its place under the starlight.
The light broke the symbol of the contract on the mad king's finger.
He couldn't have won by himself, Eustasia either.
But together, they were able to defeat this gigantic evil.
"Nooooooo!"
The ring broke, and all the evil creatures summoned by the ring disappeared, one by one.
"Ghooooo."
Hydra was an immortal evil monster. Even the beloved son of the highest god couldn't kill the infinite desire, Hydra. It was an embodiment of the desire.
It was immortal but also sealed. Hydra didn't belong to this world; when it lost the core of the power that summoned it, it was exiled right away.
The ocean of darkness started to disappear.
The dirty flesh of it started to disappear like mist under the sun.
It was the end of despair.
The evil that was trying to destroy everything was finally punished by justice and disappeared.
A unified dream and the will of a boy and a girl stopped the madness of desire.
In the middle, there was just an old man losing his life as the contract with evil came to its end.
"My throne... my throne..."
Seyzo II was still murmuring when Eustasia approached him.
"Father, it is over now."
"Eustasia?"
"You don't need to worry about losing your power anymore, " said Eustasia, holding him in her arms.
"Is it... now I can sleep without drinking..."
Like a baby in mother's arms, the mad king closed his eyes with a smile of relief.
The crown that was too heavy for him dropped from his head showing his white hair, weak neck, tiny shoulders, and stooped body.
Seyzo II's body shrank to show his bones, and he stopped breathing.
"If... there's an afterlife, I don't know how to atone for my sins..."
A tear dropped from Eustasia's eyes. She wished her father didn't have to be the king.
"I will help your atonement. Please... lose... your madness."
Seyzo II became black ash that scattered and disappeared.
He couldn't be in this world because he had unified with 'Outer Being'.
Nobody knew what kind of end he had to face, but nobody mourned for him.
No...
There was one person.
"I know he was an unforgivable tyrant."
Eustasia wiped her tears away to bow with one arm on her chest and the other on her back. It was a gesture of a general to show her gratitude.
"But thank you for giving me a chance to say goodbye."
She didn't want to deny what he had done was wrong. But still...
He was not a great father, but she remembered that he loved her with all his heart; although, it was a long time ago.
"I will be your sword, as promised."
It was not a commitment she was making lightly.
"I will join you to make this continent and this world become a merciful world for the people."
"Thank you."
"No, thank you for giving me a chance to make up for my father's sins."
Eustasia smiled with tears in her eyes.
"Now go; you need to lead as a hero who unified the four kingdoms."
"Okay. See you later."
To give her time to mourn, Sungjin went back to his army of heroes.
"We won!"
Sungjin announced the victory. It was not a mechanical voice of the Valkyrie, but the voice of a real man echoing the reality outside of the battlefield.
"H... hurray!"
"Hurray!"
Some hesitated. But when a few who realized what had happened started to cheer, everyone joined to celebrate.
Now, not only Sungjin's team but all the heroes agreed on one thing.
So, the four kingdoms are now in the era of this man...
He just slayed an immortal evil monster...
Is he a real... deal?
He may be a tyrant who took away their rights and talked about duties, but he was truly strong. Following him was the way to victory and fighting against him would be doom. There was no way to deny that this man, who slayed three kings, is the only king.
Heroes started to cheer for him more and more.
Epilogue
Unification of the four kingdoms.
Now Sungjin made it.
Now the four kingdoms became one, and Sungjin owned one of the biggest kingdoms in the continent, one with a third of the continent. That also meant that no one could say such a thing as a mere extra of level zero.
At least in public, anyway.
Sir Todam finally knew which book to publish and wrote the epilogue..
The extras were impressed and surprised that the hospitals were built, taxes were reduced, and heroes couldn't abuse them anymore.
They never imagined this kind of country could even exist.
Lute, a kid of extra class, chanted with excitement:
"See? Sungjin won! I will keep studying, so that I will become a great healer just like Sungjin is a great king!"
Nania smoothed down Lute's hair.
"Yes... study hard. I know you can make it."
She witnessed it as well. A level zero extra became a king and approved by everyone.
He didn't get it from his family or bloodline but with his own will and abilities. He built schools to help the extras study and train themselves.
Lute was really looking up to the king and trying his best to become someone like him.
Maybe... really...
Maybe he would become a healer in Sungjin's kingdom.
She always thought there was no way to overcome the cruel reality, and that made her an adult; but now, she was able to dream, maybe.
I would love to see that.
No hunger, no suffering from disease, being shown mercy. That was already great, but Sungjin was letting people 'dream'. Letting people dream that there would be a better future for them and their children.
The world was excited with the king from elsewhere.
Most of the heroes were not happy with the change but had no choice but to follow. No one had the courage to fight against the king who unified the four kingdoms.
They had to follow Sungjin's rule that rights come with duties and to have the rights, they needed to work for it.
Heroes with healing skills were assigned to the hospital, and heroes with magic worked for land reclamation or building the canal. They were complaining that they had to use their noble skills on such humble tasks, but they had to earn 'money' because they no longer had land for tax and labor of the extras.
But at least they could justify this as if to follow Sungjin's merciful rulership, not because they wanted to save their lives.
Sir Todam was busy working on the second volume.
Master Sungjin, who achieved the great task of unifying the four kingdoms, became the ruler of the great land and got an absolute power. With his power, he protected his people... any other king before him was not able to achieve such a thing. Among his works were schools...
Looking at it, Mr. Gunan had a hard time not wanting to punch him in the face.
Yeah, so I worked for nothing to plan the next book!
The king talked about merciful rulership. A noble couldn't abuse a "minor class" like him. But well, that was no use for Mr. Gunan now. People paying his salary were giving him a lot of pressure to support Sir. Todam to publish the second volume as soon as possible after the great success of the first volume.
My vacation... would be a dream...
He wanted to ask Sungjin not only to stop the nobles but to also stop the abusive writer as well.
As the owner of the four kingdoms, crests of the four kingdoms shone on Sungjin's arm.
Status report of your land.
Population: 63, 270, 000
Area: 720, 000 km2
GBP: 149. 5423 trillion dilent...
It is mine, but it's quite big, I must admit.
Considering the civilization of Valhalla, this was a vast population with huge territory.
It was not just the land and population.
Endless gold and jewels, food, resources, and castles all around the continent were all his.
But that wasn't all.
He had power for legislation, jurisdiction, and administration. It was beyond the power of presidents or prime ministers. There was also a line of heroes kneeled to thank him to let them keep their status, although not all of them were sincere.
Over 60 million extras were among his people.
He would have more on his way to becoming an Arc Master, and he already had massive power and responsibilities. It was more than just winning in the world the gods created for a game, these were real hefty responsibilities.
Thankfully, he had a new member who could help him now.
| ← Ch. 055 | Ch. 057 → |