The Villain Carries the Holy Sword – Chapter 180

Chapter 180: The Mirage’s Oath (4)

Whoosh━.

However, it was only a blow that stirred the rising black smoke.

Procell’s suit was still intact, and his black mirage flickered like a flame.

《What a fine warrior. You’re like a seasoned mercenary who stabs first and asks questions later.》

“The day has come when I would be praised by a devil.”

Cain slowly rose from his seat.

[‘Summer’ says you’re right.]

No matter how great a devil may be, it pales in comparison to the 〈Sacred Treasures of the Four Seasons〉.

Especially the holy sword, ‘Summer’. It’s impossible to be unharmed after being stabbed by it.

It’s a sword that can even wound the Demon King, who leads the world to its natural end.

Cain’s eyes narrowed.

“You’re not the real deal. Well, it would be a lie for you to be here in the first place, since you’re just a heart.”

The Devil of Lies, Procell.

The reason why he was unharmed even though he was stabbed by ‘Summer’ was that his current form was a lie, like a sacred treasure made by a desert mirage.

Procell nodded.

《That’s right. I haven’t made a contract with anyone yet, nor have I offered any sacrifices, so this false form is the best I can do.》

Cain looked around.

The sky was low.

The horizon was close.

Even though it was a dungeon that had been manipulated by Procell’s power, it was still the most basic 1-star.

He could see its limits.

And if he could see it, Cain had the guts to cut and break anything.

Procell noticed where Cain was looking and flinched.

《Don’t tell me you’re thinking of destroying this place with magic. It’s impossible for a human to destroy a dungeon…….》

“Don’t decide what I can and can’t do. And stop provoking me with that tongue of yours.”

《Provoking?》

Procell shrugged, holding out his hands as if he was being falsely accused.

Cain knew better.

It was a typical tactic used by con artists.

“Because even if I destroy this dungeon, I know these three won’t wake up.”

Procell’s black mirage billowed as if it had burst into laughter.

《The End of this era is not only strong, but also intelligent. How did you know?》

“It was your power that put them to sleep. That means they’ll stay that way as long as they’re under your power, and right now, it’s ‘night’ outside the dungeon.”

The reason he had to kill Procell was to stop the Märchen Mass Suicide.

It was Procell who had stolen Wiseman’s signature magic, ‘night’, which had caused the incident, so whether inside or outside the dungeon, they would be under his influence.

《That is correct. But you won’t be able to stand still.》

Swoosh━.

Procell raised his hand.

His fingers, wreathed in black mist, pointed to a mirror that appeared above the heads of the three sleeping figures.

At first, the mirror only reflected Cain’s face, but then something slowly appeared.

They were all different.

The blurry and faded feeling was like their past.

Procell covered his mouth with his hand and began to giggle.

《My dream will show them when they were most struggling and in pain. And I will appear and ask. If they want to change this situation, make a wish to me.》

Cain frowned.

“You bastard.”

Those who are asleep do not know whether this place is a dream or reality. Besides, it is the memory of their most difficult time, so no matter how great a person is, it is difficult to wake up.

《I am a devil. I always keep my promises.》

“I’m sure you do. Because if they wake up from the dream you created, the situation will change.”

Procell said that he would change the situation.

He never said that he would solve it, nor did he say that he would change the past. It was truly nasty of him to put them to sleep and make them want to make a contract.

A devil was a devil.

Procell pointed at the holy sword, ‘Summer’, which Cain was holding.

《There are two ways. First, kill these three with that sword. The dead cannot make a contract.》

“…….”

《Why? Can’t kill them? Are you, the End that will burn this world, heartbroken by that meager human heart?》

Cain shook his head.

Elena, Lourens, Wiseman.

He felt sorry for Elena, but he had only known the other two for a short time, and he knew what kind of people they were, so what was so difficult about killing them?

Shing━.

Cain put ‘Summer’ back on his waist and opened his mouth.

“Kill three, and kill six.”

At Cain’s words, Procell’s head split open. It was a smile that could not be contained.

Looking directly at the disgusting smile, Cain sat down.

“Because I’ll have to kill everyone in Märchen who’s been caught in the ‘night’ you stole from Wiseman.”

《Oh. I really feel it again, but you don’t seem like a boy. It feels like I’m dealing with a seasoned warrior.》

Procell’s words were riddled with traps. Cain crossed his arms, navigating the words that could lead to disaster if misinterpreted.

Rustle━.

At that moment, the appearance of the other three changed. Their current appearance began to resemble the scene in the mirror that appeared above their heads.

《It’s synchronizing with their most painful and difficult times. This is ‘night’, and I am the Devil of Lies, so I can only cover their truth with shadows.》

Cain watched them change.

They were getting younger and younger, probably because they were going through things they had experienced when they were younger than they were now.

[‘Winter’ slaps her knee at the thought Cain just had.]

[‘Summer’ claps. He asserts that Cain is the only one who can shake Procell like this.]

Cain watched them with a straight face.

He hardened his face, not showing any emotion, and said,

“How annoying. They’ll be confused even if they wake up.”

《I had to cut down on their power a little too.》

The power of these three was too strong compared to the combat power that Procell had envisioned. Procell, who was actually weak in terms of power, wanted to reduce their power in this way, and his strategy was working very well.

Cain raised the right corner of his mouth at Procell’s words.

“You seem to be enjoying yourself.”

《Then why don’t you fall into my dream? I want to see what kind of despair the boy hero who will bring about the End will have.》

“Sure.”

《……?》

“Because that’s the second way.”

The first way was to kill those who had fallen under Procell’s influence before they could make a contract with him.

The second way was for Cain to enter into the nightmare of despair that Procell was showing him.

“You want me to go through you and save the others who are connected to you in their dreams.”

Procell flickered.

He hadn’t expected Cain to get it right.

《Aren’t you afraid of becoming weak?》

“I’m not afraid to go back to a time of despair.”

《You don’t think you’ll make a contract with me, do you?》

“I won’t. Not the me back then.”

Cain affirmed.

Even without his current memories.

He knew he would face the despair of that day.

Cain believed in Cain.

《……You scare me. But you intrigue me. I wonder what kind of nightmare the End will have.》

Procell’s two hands covered Cain’s eyes. Cain did not resist his power and slowly drifted off to sleep.

🔹🔹🔹

A small snowy mountain inside the Great Wall.

It was snowing.

There was a small hut where the wind was blowing and the sun was hidden.

Creak━.

“Who is it?”

Through the open door, a tall, skinny old man was blinking his innocent eyes.

“It’s been a while.”

A man wrapped in a rough cloak greeted him.

It wasn’t the Cain of today.

A distant future and a distant past.

It was Cain, the Lord East of the Great Wall.

The old man gave a tired smile and opened the door wide.

“You must be someone I know. Were we close?”

“Somewhat.”

Cain went inside.

A single bed and a single chair.

And a fireplace, and a small wooden box that looked like it held clothes.

It was so sparsely furnished that it made one wonder if anyone actually lived here.

There was only one chair.

The old man, who had lost his past, plopped down on the floor by the fireplace, giving up the chair to Cain.

“Judging by the look in your eyes, which seem like they’re about to burst into tears at any moment, we must have been quite close.”

“…….”

Cain bit his lower lip and lowered his head.

The old man, who seemed to be nearing death, took in the sight and opened his mouth.

“Then do you happen to know my name?”

“I do.”

“I’m dying by the day. But I don’t even know my own name.”

The old man raised his arm.

It was emaciated.

His bones were thick, as if his original frame was large, but the way all the flesh seemed to have been stripped away made him look like a winter tree branch.

“Johnny-Walker.”

Cain said the name he had given the old man in his lost past.

“Johnny. Walker. My name is quite nice.”

Johnny, who had been repeating his name as if he were rolling a candy in his mouth, laughed as if he had lost his breath.

Fwooosh━.

The winter wind blew relentlessly through the roughly built cabin.

A young man and an old man.

A disciple and his master.

The new Lord East and the former Lord East.

Johnny-Walker looked at the pure white greatsword that Cain was carrying on his back. He struggled to remember something, but.

He shook his head.

“I feel like there was something, but I don’t remember anything.”

“This sword originally belonged to you.”

“I see. It seems that my sword, unlike my memories, has found its rightful owner.”

Cain blinked.

He fought back the tears that were threatening to spill out.

And when he blinked, the flickering darkness and the slowly disappearing figure of Johnny-Walker repeated themselves.

He remembered the day the magic sword, ‘Winter’, had appeared.

Beyond the snowy fields of the Great Wall.

There was a ‘Demon King’ who had crossed over from the East and was pushing monsters in from afar.

━It is time.

Johnny-Walker, the one who cuts through the clouds.

He cut through the dark clouds that stretched from east to west, from one end of the horizon to the other, and said to Cain,

━I will go and kill our Demon King.

If the Demon King of the human world inside the Great Wall was the enemy of the hero, then the Demon King outside the Great Wall, whom no one cared about, was the enemy of the Lord East.

━Cain, you are the one to succeed me as the inheritor of ‘Winter’. Even if I am defeated, I will somehow send ‘Winter’ to you.

With those words, Johnny-Walker headed east.

The waves of monsters that had been crashing down on them all year round stopped.

For ten days, the eastern sky flashed.

Kaboom━.

The pure white magic sword, ‘Winter’, plunged down in front of Cain, who was standing on top of the Great Wall, looking only in the direction from which Johnny-Walker had disappeared.

It was Johnny’s defeat.

Afterwards, Cain, who became the Lord East of the Great Wall and fought against the monsters that came rushing in again, heard a rumor about an old man wandering around with no memory, and came all the way here.

“I don’t know what your relationship with me is.”

Slide━.

Johnny-Walker knelt down.

Cain choked up at the sight of him in a posture he had never once imagined.

“Please end this uselessly tenacious life.”

“…….”

“It’s too cold.”

Johnny-Walker’s eyes fell to the floor.

He had lost his memory.

He had lost his sword.

He had become a cold old man.

Cain looked up at the sky. The sight of his master in his twilight years was too painful to bear.

At that moment.

The world stopped.

And from afar, a voice rang out.

《I can change your despair.》

A translucent image of Johnny-Walker, whom Cain knew well and who had always been so proud, appeared beside the kneeling Johnny-Walker.

《Ask me. Ask me to change this situation. Then I will make your ‘dream’ come true.》

Cain looked down.

And looking at the two Johnny-Walkers, he opened his mouth.

“Winter was a bittersweet season for me.”

He rose from his seat.

Shing━.

He gripped the giant ‘Winter’ in both hands.

“Because it was the time when I lived and died. That’s why.”

━Lord, have mercy.

He recalled the old prayer that Johnny-Walker had taught him as he descended from the Great Wall.

Dark Sky.

Original Style.

Kyrie.

He slashed at both Johnny-Walkers at the same time.

“I won’t change it.”

Swoosh━.

However, Johnny-Walker reappeared, and the voice from the sky became urgent.

《Think again…….》

“Procell.”

《……!》

Cain raised ‘Winter’.

And with tears streaming down his face, he looked up at the sky and slit his throat.

“How ugly.”

At that moment, Cain’s nightmare shattered.

Translator’s Blog

Blog

• Did Uncle Steve RAID Your Snack Again?
• Feeling like a lazy Naruto? This is How You Stop Procrastinating and Conquer Your To-Do List Like a True Hokage
• The Ultimate Isekai Checklist: From Denial to Acceptance (and Maybe a Little Indigestion)
• Auntie’s Posting Passive-Aggressive Prayers Again: How to Survive Your Family on Facebook (Without Committing Seppuku)
• Your Crush is With Someone Else? Channel Your Inner Samurai, Not a Sad Puppy Dog.