𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐥𝐨𝐠𝐮𝐞
“Damn it!”
The sky was certainly cloudless not long ago. But it started to pour with rain along with some claps of thunder.
𝘚𝘸𝘪𝘴𝘩𝘩𝘩𝘩𝘩𝘩━
The warm, sticky rainwater ran down his face. He raised an arm to wipe away the rain, but the black water just smeared across the leather guard on his forearm.
Soon, a rash began to develop wherever the cursed rain touched his skin.
The ash-gray sky, the wispy white clouds, the black rain falling from them, bearing its poison.
Such sights had become familiar to him now, though he never would have imagined them in the past.
In this place, not only the rain was his enemy, but also the rocks, the trees, the grass. And needless to say, the demons that he had never seen in his life before.
If he went out and told anyone about this, they would surely dismiss it as a tall tale. Indeed, now that he had suffered through all of this, it was time for him to bring it to an end.
[Do you think it’s over now?]
As if reading my mind, I lowered my gaze at his words.
The man leaning against the crumbling wall.
His body was so big that it would be insulting to call it huge. Over two meters in height with dark muscles that looked ready to stir at any moment, horns protruding from his forehead like a mountain goat’s, and black wings unfolded behind his back.
The black flame burning all over his body resembled the appearance of the Demon King or the Lord of the Lord of the Underworld that I had heard about since I was young.
However, even he who boasted such majesty was now slowly dying. The Soul Piercer I had stabbed into his mage’s heart was making rasping sounds in his breathing.
[I look quite ridiculous. That a mere human gets to look down on me.]
At the man’s self-deprecating voice, I nodded my head.
He deserved to be arrogant enough.
Countless people had died trying to defeat this one, and countless time had passed.
“You asked if it was over,”
I said instead of answering. It wasn’t a denial. I didn’t know. Whether I could really end everything with this fight.
I just hoped it would be the end.
That’s why I had staked everything on this battle, myself and my subordinates.
[Hmph, things won’t go the way you want.]
Realizing the meaning behind my actions, he laughed in a way unfitting of the current situation. Soon, with his life force depleted, his body began to fade. However, a jet black light flowed out of his pierced heart instead.
“!!!”
Sensing something wrong, I tried to dodge to the side. But my body, which had shown explosive movements just moments before, was now constrained as if by something and unable to move.
[Try to handle it.]
With his last words,
I was unable to evade the darkness that struck my chest in the end.
𝘒𝘶𝘳𝘶𝘳𝘶𝘯𝘨━
“!!!”
𝘚𝘩𝘰𝘰𝘰𝘢𝘢𝘢𝘢𝘢𝘩𝘩𝘩━
The man opened his eyes to the sound of pouring rain accompanied by thunder. He quickly raised his hand and clutched at his throbbing heart. As the pain slowly subsided, he glanced at the rain drops falling from the eaves onto his face.
The raindrops were cool, and also transparent.
And the rain clouds weren’t pure white but darker in color.
“Damn bastard.”
It was a dream. Even though it had been over a year since he escaped that place, whenever it rained he dreamed about that day. And at the tip of his nose. . .
He could still smell the scent of poison.
𝘡𝘪𝘪𝘪𝘯𝘨━
The moment he sensed the smell created by memory, his surroundings were stained ash-gray and his sensory range rapidly expanded, allowing all things around him to flow in.
A completely different concept of space and objects from what he had simply perceived visually. This was the man’s domain.
Able to perceive all objects and perfectly execute his swordsmanship.
Processing the information flooding in almost simultaneously before he could tell which came first, the man’s eyes flashed. And with scowling eyes, he examined the information that had just come in one by one.
To be precise, the surroundings that had changed from before he fell asleep.
He had to dull his senses before his domain expanded any further.
“Haah━”
After a moment, the man let out a long breath, as if seeing off the fading senses and ash-colored space.
Damn it.
Despite being in a situation where his available mana was limited due to that last bastard’s attack, his senses remained the same.
Was it because he had naturally attained it in order to survive?
Right, he couldn’t afford to feel even the slightest sense of discomfort, or he would lose his life in that place.
“But I don’t need it now.”
The man repeated that he didn’t need it.
To be precise, he wanted to live a life he didn’t need.
Also, a life he didn’t need grand purposes and goals for.
Just ordinary.
That’s why he had desperately survived in that hell.
Swish━
The man got up and picked up his battered sword. Then he started walking through the rain.
Step, step━At the end of the man’s footsteps, a precarious-looking castle that seemed to be crumbling stood vaguely through the haze.
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