Chapter 402 - Side Story Chapter 22
Chapter 402 Side Story Chapter 22
Doppelganger (8)
I opened my eyes
I couldn’t see well ahead.
There was a pile of dirt on my face.
I involuntarily raised my arm and tried to shake it off, but my arm did not move.
I shook my head.
Then a pile of dirt ran down the side of my face.
It was uncomfortable because of the remaining dirt, but I forced my eyes to open.
It wasn’t completely dark.
There was a flame.
There was a fire that was attached to the stone wall and the earthen floor and lit up the surroundings.
It was an explosion caused by the master wizard.
The master wizard, who was preparing a powerful magic, fell into a stun trap.
The prepared magic could not be captured and just exploded.
The explosion completely shattered the already endangered cavity.
Once again the ceiling collapsed.
Both the explosion and the collapsing ceiling could not be stopped.
I turned my head and looked at where my arm was.
My right arm rested on a rock.
My right ankle was likewise laid on a rock.
Crack-
I felt the pain later.
I clenched my teeth and held back the scream.
There was no sensation in the limbs that had been laid on the rocks.
The pain was even more terrifying.
There was a sharp pain in the shoulder and knee that seemed to be pulling on a nerve line.
There was a burning pain in the front of the chest.
How could I survive the explosion, but without burns?
My only moving body part was the left hand with the fingers stuck together due to the high heat.
It was as blunt as a child’s clenched fist, and my knuckles were hard to recognize.
I’m not alive, even though I’m alive.
It was such a serious injury that it would have been better to die.
I was the only survivor.
I was the only one who had witnessed the sight of the wizard master raising the power.
No matter how much I spread my senses, I couldn’t see anyone alive but me.
“Hihihi”
I need to correct my words a bit.
No humans survived the explosion, but a devil survived.
I heard the sound of the devil, pounding, footsteps walking.
Did you notice that I woke up?
Hatred ran up my spine.
I felt a disgusting feeling of vomiting, and I could feel the terror suffocating my lungs.
“Hello, Sir Knight.”
The doppelganger walked over to me and greeted me.
The devil giggled and laughed.
He shuddered and laughed, as if he was too happy to bear it.
Huge tentacles were intertwined like tree trunks.
The whole body was trembling like a wriggling snake.
“Devil.”
I could only utter a single word.
I felt the pain in my throat tearing like paper.
“Hehehehe. Yeah, I’m the devil. I know.”
“…you won’t last long either, devil.”
The devil groaned loudly again.
“Knight friend, do you really think so?”
The devil made a face over his body full of tentacles.
I could recognize it at a glance.
The face of the master wizard.
“I have never eaten such a powerful human being. I have never eaten such a powerful human being. A vast amount of magic and fame and influence spread across the continent. Hihi, how far can I go? “
Next to the master’s face, other faces appeared.
Paladin.
Mercenary.
The faces of other characters who were part of the subjugation team were also visible.
“I mean, I ate so much. Hihi, do you really think I won’t be able to last that long?!”
The devil’s laughter grew louder.
The joking and teasing giggles became more and more intimidating.
That voice sounded loud like thunder.
As he fell to the floor, I winced and my body started to tremble.
“Ah, yes, come to think of it, our Sir knight also had friends.”
Familiar faces floated over the doppelganger’s body.
Knights comrades.
They were colleagues who were with me every day until I came back here.
The faces of my colleagues were even moving alive.
[Sad? Because your friends are dead? Because we’re dead?]
The faces of my colleagues asked me.
The voices of my colleagues that are so familiar that just listening to them gives me strength.
The devil ripped off the face that floated above his body.
Tentacles with sharp claws bit their faces like meat dough.
“There’s no need to remember this rubbish. Hehe.”
Without realizing it, I bit my tongue.
Blood broke out
Tears flowed from the corners of my eyes, like blood gushing out of my tongue.
It was my fault.
It was an issue I had to deal with.
It wasn’t meant to bring them in.
It was the result of my weakness.
Maybe they’ll all survive.
It was because of the complacency that colleagues could suggest a smarter way.
I should have killed him.
“Hehehe, it was difficult, it was really difficult. It’s a damn holy sword. I had been asleep for hundreds of years, but who knew that the aftermath of that time would still be there.”
said the doppelganger, wriggling its tentacles.
The dynamic movements made it look as if a human was dancing.
Then I should have not listened to the adventurer.
No matter how reasonable and plausible it may seem, it should not be forgotten that it could also be a doppelganger’s proposal.
The five of us.
I thought the sacrifice of five people was not worth it, so I multiplied the sacrifice dozens of times.
“This guy did a really good job.”
The adventurer’s face appeared above the doppelganger’s body.
The face of the adventurer was clearly expressing his emotions, unlike the other expressionless faces.
[Kill me]
The devil scratched the face of such an adventurer with its tentacles, crushed it, and tortured it.
He smiled as if he were as happy as ever.
Countless faces floated over the doppelganger’s body.
Among them, the face of a childhood friend came to mind.
‘Sorry.’
‘You promised me. To protect people’
My friend blamed me.
As a child, I didn’t know that the act of guarding meant giving up something else.
‘You didn’t throw anything away. This time too’
No.
I wanted to say that.
I tried too.
For the best result.
‘But look at the consequences you have brought.”
The small world collapsed, and the people were slaughtered.
Only the evil demon remained, making fun of the deceased.
“Hehe, once the magic is restored a little, I’ll go out with the power of the wizard knight. Then, I’ll start looking for where you lived first, Sir Knight.”
The devil whispered.
Now I know.
The devil was just making fun of me.
For the rest of the time.
For fun.
I raised my left hand.
It was the only limb that moved according to my will.
“What are you doing? Are you going to fight me with it?”
But my fingers were crushed by the heat.
It was hard to even wiggle my wrists at will.
Then there was no need.
With a pop, my left hand exploded.
Blood splashed on my face.
My sword was spread out in the distance.
There was no way I could reach out my arms and bring it.
Then I will use my left hand, which has already been broken, as a weapon.
“What are you doing? It’s too much to be called a self-determination. Honorable knight man, do you not know that self-determination is a mortal sin against the will of God?”
The devil speaks of the will of God.
It shouldn’t have happened.
The flame burning my hand grew bigger and bigger.
Instead of running to me, the devil backed away.
It was no use.
There was no escape from this narrow space.
A light sword.
A mythical technique used by a legendary swordsman.
Later swordsmen tried to imitate it, but in the end, no one ever created it like the original.
It wasn’t because of the lack of power.
Rather, it was full of power.
Because of its excessively powerful power, there was no one who could survive immediately after using it.
Over time, the light sword improved.
Reduced power and increased stability.
So the light sword has changed.
When it came to my generation, I only swung the shiny sword and broke the rocks a little.
Prohibited suicide that endangered the user.
Yes I will die
I will die with you.
[Aaaaah! Stupid human!]
The devil roared and inflated his body.
The fire on my left hand is now so strong that I can’t look straight ahead.
I prayed towards the pure white light.
Please kill everyone.
The devil’s tentacles rushed.
Even a tentacle the size of a cow’s thigh was burned when it came close to the light.
The devil couldn’t even get close to the light.
When the light is at its peak.
The sound is gone.
The screams of the devil, and the sound of my heartbeat ringing in my ears.
A world unseen and unheard unfolded.
I could recognize it.
That I had recreated the very technology that appeared only in legends.
With one swing, to defend the kingdom.
With two swings to defend the continent.
The god who wielded it for the third time, evoked admiration.
The skill of a swordsman who was born as a human and became a god.
Light sword.
Bright light.
Burn me.
So that all things return to the light of the beginning.
* * *
“His Holiness.”
The old man raised his head at the voice that called out to him.
When he opened his eyes, the room was full of people looking at him.
“Did you sleep for a while?”
The old man thought for a moment and shook his head.
What he saw and felt was not a dream.
“The oracle has come down.”
The archbishops rose to their feet in amazement.
He hurriedly drew the holy grail and prepared to listen to the oracle.
The old man told the bishops who were waiting thrilled and excited for him to speak.
“God was satisfied.”
The Pope’s words reached all the bishops of the continent.
The Continental Festival has begun.
The oracle of the God of Light that suddenly came down one day.
‘There are precious things in the west, so dig them up.’
Unprecedented simplicity and clarity, this oracle changed much of the western continent.
As the elders headed to the dungeon, the proportion of the population in the territory collapsed and the economy started to suffer.
The economic crisis soon led to a food shortage.
A war for limited resources has begun.
In the meantime, many orphans and beggars were born.
The collapsed city was filled with adventurers, not citizens.
Such cities became slums.
Adventurers lost their dreams and became thieves.
The adventurer city has become a stronghold city for thieves.
The thieves who started their activities on a city scale formed a huge force, turning the western continent into a lawless zone.
It is the story of a kingdom in the western continent.
There was a kingdom that did not give up on the oracle even after many years had passed.
Because the main cities of the kingdom had fallen into ruins, the kingdom hung on the treasure mentioned by the oracle.
All of the knights dispatched to a certain dungeon lost contact.
The king thought that the knights had turned away and fled with the treasure.
He dispatched his troops towards the dungeon.
The soldiers could not find the escaped knights.
Instead, the corpses of the knights could be found in the dungeon rubble.
In the wreckage of the collapsed dungeon, where even the soles of boots were melted by the powerful geothermal heat, they found a dying knight buried in a pile of stones.
* * *
“Sir Arhan.”
I turned my head to the sound calling me.
“Again, you’re spying on the royal family through the window. Don’t do that. What will you do if you get caught?”
I just smiled.
Through the window, I could see the garden of the royal family.
The young royals were still running around.
“I’ll be right back.”
said the caregiver Tom.
I nodded.
Decades have passed since I was imprisoned here.
After fainting in the dungeon, when I woke up again, I was in the kingdom.
With the whole body bound
The king apologized to me.
He was supposed to give me credit, but he asked me to understand why he had to do this.
I understand.
I was the last survivor of the scene where the doppelganger appeared.
It was only natural that the hero who defeated the doppelganger could not be guaranteed freedom.
I thought I would be put to death in prison or quietly executed.
It didn’t matter.
It was a life I had already given up on.
Rather, I was grateful to get some extra time and see the palace once again.
Then the king told me an unexpected story.
The story that I will be transported to the Empire.
A land protected by the Emperor and the Pope.
I couldn’t speak.
A restraint ball was bitten in my mouth, so questioning itself was not accepted.
I was transferred to the unnamed tower of the Imperial Capital and imprisoned.
There was no freedom to leave the tower, no freedom to get out of bed and chairs without a guard, no freedom to even talk.
I followed the instructions faithfully.
So time has passed.
The Empire has forgotten me.
The watchman became the caretaker, and even when I went out of the tower, there was no guard to stop me.
But I locked myself in the tower.
There were no restraints on my mouth anymore, but I did not open my mouth recklessly.
There were times when I felt a sense of triumph that I overcame the devil and survived.
But the fear of the devil grew day by day, and the older I got, the more I grew.
I was worried that the darkness of that day would come again after I opened my mouth recklessly.
I also suffered from delusions of whether the devil was waiting for his time in my body.
it’s dark
I lost even the strength of my last strike, and now I am so helpless.
One remaining fire was extinguished.
The limbs were cut off one by one, and the left hand was cut off from the top of the wrist.
An idiot with only one leg left.
I was forced to do nothing but look at the world through the window.
I remember the flame that day.
Sometimes I think
Is the technology of the light sword really reachable by humans?
Is it impossible without God’s grace?
There were times when I thought about sharing my experiences with other swordsmen.
Give up everything and try with the intention of dying.
Maybe you can be successful.
I stopped thinking
I might really die.
I couldn’t teach others what I didn’t understand.
Outside the window, a loud laughter was heard.
It was the voice of the running royal family.
Forgetting old thoughts again, I watched the children play.
There was a naive innocence.
Of course, since they are the royal family, they are more accustomed to the messiness of the world than other children of that age.
Still, they were kids.
Kids are pretty
“You know what?”
Tom asked.
He said he was going out earlier.
I wonder if he’s back.
“A new knight is coming to our knights!”
Tom’s eyes were twinkling with excitement.
I could understand because I knew the romance that boys of that age had for knights.
By the way, a new knight is coming to this knighthood.
I belonged to the Knights of Knon.
Of course, I am the only member of the knighthood.
It was like an honorary post that was confined in a tower.
“His name is Sir Cromwell!”
Cromwell.
I wanted to tell Tom to study.
Cromwell is the castle of the Empire.
A surname given to a knight from commoners or bastards.
How could such a knight come to such a place?
What’s the story?
It was sad.
I know the knights who live and die for honor and fame all too well.
Therefore, I knew very well what it meant to be assigned to this Knighthood, which was nothing more than an exile.
It would be like a social death.
“Tom.”
“Yes!”
Tom was lively.
“A new knight is coming, you should welcome it. Try preparing some refreshments.”
“Yes! I’ll prepare for it!”
Tom went out with a bang.
It’s noisy.
I leaned my head back on the chair for a moment.
When I opened my eyes again, I could see a face I had never seen before.
A girl with wide eyes and red under her eyes.
She cried so much that her face turned white.
The sun was pouring in from the window behind me.
The light of the sunset, which had been covered by the clouds, illuminated the room.
The girl’s face, which had looked as pale as gray, regained some vitality.
“…Serezia Cromwell. As of today, I have been assigned to the Knights of Knon. It is an honor to be assigned as the successor of the Knights Commander.”
“Welcome. I am honored to have a knight like you as my successor.”
I looked around.
Behind the newcomer, I saw Tom diligently coming with a tray.
Fortunately, it’s not too late.
Tom did what I asked him to do.
Sweet cookies and warm milk were prepared on a tray.
“Sir Serezia.”
“Yes.”
“Do you like sweets?”