CHAPTER 33

033 - Dragon Sword

With the dragon's appearance, the heavens and earth trembled.

All the mana in the world was being sucked toward the dragon. With it as the epicenter, the mana of the 2nd Floor was falling as if pulled by gravity.

He had heard it from Rona. Dragons were beings that inhabited the 5th Floor, each one a star in its own right, a self-contained ecosystem of mana.

They didn't possess the massive physical mass of a real planet, but in terms of mana alone, it wouldn't be strange to call them the center of a star.

A world where dragons, possessing an absolute gravitational pull over mana, existed in droves, forming a complex ecosystem. That, she had said, was the 5th Floor, accessible only to the S-class.

‘She said the ecosystem formed by the various dragons is so complexly intertwined that it's difficult to even breathe without proper preparation.’

And the soul of one of those dragons had been summoned by Johann.

It was only a soul, so it wasn't in its complete state. It lacked a powerful body and a deep mind. As just a soul, it couldn't even exert half of its power from when it was alive.

But even with less than half its power, it was twisting and contorting the entire 2nd Floor.

RUMBLE-RUMBLE-RUMBLE-RUMBLE!

Watching the world shake, flip, and spin madly, Johann, floating in the sky, let out a harsh laugh.

"This is my victory."

A bold declaration of victory. But who would call it arrogant?

On this lowly floor, a mere 2nd Floor, there was no one who could face the soul of a dragon. No matter how much of an anomaly the E-class before him was, that fact would not change.

If it had been its original soul, not one tainted by Erosion, that would have certainly been the case.

FWOOSH!

Jinwoo slashed his sword through the air being consumed by the black aura. The energy, which had been spreading like thick threads, was severed as easily as a spider's web upon contact with Jinwoo's blade.

"!"

Johann flinched at the sight of the Erosion's energy, dozens of times tougher than normal mana, being cut so easily.

He had been sure of his victory, yet an unidentifiable anxiety reared its head. And that anxiety…

…became reality when Jinwoo's sword reached the dragon.

SHAAAAAA!

Following the trajectory of Jinwoo's swing, a whip of icy energy lashed out, tearing through the dragon's wing.

"Impossible…!"

Atop the wingless dragon, Johann was aghast. The power dwelling within that blue-jeweled sword was certainly extraordinary.

But even so, there were limits. A single strike from a sword, no matter how powerful, was enough to sever a dragon's wing?

Because it was a soul, it didn't fall just from losing a wing, but its power was significantly diminished. What was worse was that the enemy before him was absorbing that diminished power.

"This is the first time something hasn't shattered in one hit."

Jinwoo was also surprised by this new experience. As expected of a dragon, he thought. It was the first time he had properly cut a flame, yet it hadn't been bisected in a single strike.

But if one strike wasn't enough, he would just strike a second, and a third time.

Before Johann and the dragon could react, Jinwoo's second and third strikes were faster. The divine power contained in the blue-jeweled sword perfectly replicated Jinwoo's swordsmanship, tearing the dragon's soul to shreds.

"Ugh, uwaaaaaaah!"

Johann fell alone from the sky, amidst a flurry of sword strikes of snow and ice. The dragon's soul had long since been dismantled. Its power flowed through the sword and into Jinwoo.

It was truly…

‘Huge.’

No other word came to mind. The size of the flame, the presence it held, its overwhelming essence.

It was larger, more distant, and more vast than any soul Jinwoo had ever absorbed. The battle wasn't even over, yet Jinwoo felt he might lose consciousness at any moment.

Pain, heat, cold, crushing pressure—every imaginable torment washed over him.

[The blessing of the God of the Ice Valley is…]

The only reason he didn't lose consciousness was thanks to the god's blessing working overtime.

However, the blessing didn't alleviate Jinwoo's pain. It merely kept him from passing out.

In the end, Jinwoo, unable to even faint, had to accept the dragon's soul right then and there.

…!

He wanted to scream, but he couldn't even open his mouth. At one point, it felt like a heated iron rod was being forcibly shoved into his spine; at another, it was like being struck by lightning seven times in a row.

[A memory of a past life emerges. That sword shall covet all the mana in the world.]

Then, at a certain point, all the pain vanished like a receding tide.

‘How much time has passed?’

His sense of time was completely gone from enduring the seemingly eternal pain. With a ragged breath, Jinwoo looked ahead.

"Uwaaaaaah!"

Lifting his head, he saw Johann falling from above. Not even enough time had passed for him to hit the ground.

Thud! Johann crashed to the ground, kicking up a cloud of dust.

Jinwoo was surprised by how little time had actually passed, and simultaneously relieved.

If he had been attacked by Johann in that state, he would have been utterly helpless.

[The God of the Ice Valley urges you. Fulfill your promise.]

Jinwoo approached the fallen Johann. Step. Step. Hearing his footsteps, Johann scrambled to his feet in terror.

"St-Stop! Stop!"

Even Jinwoo knew the English word "stop." But he didn't stop. He raised his sword.

And pierced Johann's flame.

"Keoheok!"

The light in Johann's eyes faded rapidly as his flame writhed. As usual, the flame should have been absorbed by Jinwoo through the sword… but it wasn't.

The writhing flame clung tenaciously to the sword, refusing to return to Jinwoo.

Perhaps because of that, Johann wasn't completely dead yet.

"Uh… ah…"

Of course, he wasn't in a normal state. His eyes lost focus, and dirty saliva foamed at his mouth.

At that moment, the blue-jeweled sword began to glow, and a massive gate of ice appeared on the ground where Johann lay.

A mural was carved on the pure white ice gate, depicting countless races writhing in endless agony.

[I am the Monarch of Snow and Ice.]

‘Monarch?’

Didn't it say it was a god?

[As my name suggests, I symbolize snow and ice, and I am the one who governs the frozen past and the Winter of Reincarnation.]

The phrase "Winter of Reincarnation" was unfamiliar. But given the context…

‘A god of death… no, a monarch, you mean.’

Creeeak. The gate on the ground opened.

"Ugh… ugh… AAAAAAAAHHHH!"

Johann, who had fallen from the sky to the earth, now fell even further from that earth.

Jinwoo glanced down, but the bottom of the gate was nowhere in sight. Even though he didn't have a fear of heights, just looking at it made his head spin.

[It is dangerous to look any further.]

Creek. The gate closed again.

The closed gate vanished as if it had never been there, leaving only the shattered ground behind.

Normally, when a Hunter dies, their inventory bursts, spilling all their items, but nothing of the sort happened. It seemed the monarch had taken them as a bonus.

However, one thing remained: Johann's Ego Sword, which had been used to deploy the Wind Spirits.

"Haaa…"

Jinwoo collapsed onto the ground.

Only then did he realize that the blue-jeweled sword he had been holding until just a moment ago was also gone. It seemed to have vanished along with the gate.

‘It’s over.’

So much had happened.

In terms of time, it hadn't been long. Not even half a day had passed since he was attacked by the mind-controlled Cheon Juhyeok.

But in that half-day, a labyrinth was destroyed, a dragon's soul appeared, an S-class Hunter died, and he had a glimpse into the realm of a god. No, a monarch, it had said.

His legs gave out, and Jinwoo sprawled out on the ground, catching his breath and examining his own flame.

He had expected his flame to be tremendously larger, but surprisingly, it had become even smaller.

The flame, which had grown considerably after absorbing the souls of hundreds of elves during the Tokyo Erosion, was now only the size of a child's fist.

But he could feel it. The quality of the flame had completely changed.

‘It’s almost like it molted.’

Flame and molting—a combination of words that didn't fit at all, but no other expression came to mind.

As he inspected his own flame, something occurred to him.

‘…I don’t regret sending Johann to hell.’

If Johann had been an ordinarily evil person, he might have thought it was excessive.

But Johann had used Erosion. At that point, he had crossed a line. Erosion was an enemy of humanity, an enemy of the world, and an enemy of the planet.

However, he was thinking about himself.

‘It said he would be cast out from the normal cycle of reincarnation.’

According to the god, a warlock who has lost a part of their soul is removed from the normal cycle of reincarnation.

Until they build back what was lost, they are destined to suffer endlessly, whether in hell or somewhere else.

That was the price and the risk of dealing with souls.

The Ego Sword lying on the ground over there was, in a way, also an existence removed from the cycle of reincarnation. The soul of an elf that should have died and returned to the World Tree was trapped inside a sword.

Erosion was the same. A soul swallowed by Erosion could not enter the cycle of reincarnation and lived for eons as a slave to the Erosion.

So, what about those cut down by him?
What in the world happened to the souls he had cut down and absorbed?

What was his past life?

Seeing how Rona and Chartia were fond of him, he figured it couldn't have been a bad one. Even just now, hadn't the wind spirits followed him?

But considering his ability to absorb souls, he could be a being of unparalleled evil.

The World Tree of the Elven world was similar in that it used souls as nutrients, but the World Tree washed those souls in the waters of oblivion and granted them new life.

He, on the other hand, only devoured. Just as greedily as the dragon that had swallowed mana earlier.

‘If I recover more of my memories and abilities, will I also recall a way to do something with the souls I’ve swallowed?’

If he could recall such a method, he would be a good being, close to the World Tree. If not, he would be an absolute evil, close to Erosion.

His past life… no, it was no longer a matter of his past life. It was about what kind of being Kang Jinwoo would become.

Even if there was no such method in the memories of his past life, he was determined to find one, no matter what.

After a short rest, Jinwoo got to his feet.

He wasn't home yet. He was still inside the Gate, so he couldn't afford to rest without a plan.

Though, after witnessing the battle that just took place, it was unlikely anyone would have the guts to approach this area…

"Is this the Ego Sword?"

Kiiing!?

As he picked up the fallen Ego Sword, the blade vibrated with a startled sound.

Jinwoo frowned as he inspected the sword’s condition. More accurately, he was frowning at how Johann had treated it.

‘He carried it around without a scabbard, and it’s wrapped tightly in chains…’

Because of that, the blade was in a sorry state. It was scratched and nicked all over, its edge completely ruined. It was far beyond what simple maintenance could restore.

Kii-iing…

The Ego Sword whimpered. It sounded like a fox whining.

"Can't you speak because of the chains?"

The chains wrapped around the Ego Sword were no ordinary chains. They were imbued with Johann's magic.

They could be considered a kind of magic item, much like the flower amulet Chartia had given him.

"Magic isn't something you can just cut through."

The magic on the chains wasn't like the one that had suppressed Cheon Juhyeok; it didn't seem to use Johann's soul. Strictly speaking, it was just magic, not black magic.

Although Johann's specialty was black magic, he was a sorcerer who had reached a high level, so it seemed he could use magic of this caliber as a basic skill.

‘It’s going to take some time to undo this.’

Jinwoo had no aptitude for magic, so he would have to find and commission a mage proficient in binding or restraining spells.

Furthermore, to analyze and undo the magic of an S-class like Johann, the mage would have to be just as powerful.

Finding such a mage would be a task in itself, as would commissioning them. People of that caliber usually had their schedules packed solid.

‘No, wait a minute.’

Just then, something came to mind. It was the ability he had gained after cutting down the dragon's soul.

[A memory of a past life emerges. That sword shall covet all the mana in the world.]

With that ability, he might be able to do something about a magic spell or two. Since he had taken the dragon's power, maybe he should call the ability Dragon Sword.

Jinwoo took out his sword, activated Dragon Sword, and observed the phenomenon that followed.