Chapter 24

Chapter 24: The Ancient Desert (4)

A storm blew across a certain desert.

The monster... no, the being that had been rejected as a human finally realized what to do—to survive, to avoid suffering.

—Whoosh!

It swung its spear endlessly. It stabbed into the noisy mouths and tore out their insolent tongues.

Blood splattered, organs spilled out. The more violence it unleashed, the less noise there was; the more slaughter it committed, the quieter it became.

Ah.

The child felt satisfied. It realized its judgment was correct. If it killed all the humans in the desert, the negative malice directed at it would disappear.

You were the ones who started it. You were the ones who rejected me, so don’t blame me for being rough.

—Flap!

The black wings on its back twitched excitedly. The child became increasingly intoxicated by the slaughter.

As it hunted humans, its combat skills also naturally improved.

From the village to the city, from the city to the kingdom, from the kingdom to the empire. The more it expanded its hunting range, the more graceful and sharp the spear’s movements.

A mystical aura began to form around the spear, and the humans called it ‘Spear Ki.’

The aura ingrained in a weapon contained something that was deeply wished for.

The child imbued the blade with the sight it saw at birth—the sun shining brightly in the sky on the day it lost its sight. A spear that absorbed the sun!

The sun-imbued spear bestowed punishment upon humanity. It burned, pierced, and impaled them.

It’s truly laughable.

The child laughed. Why? Because the more it killed, the less resentment and malice it faced from them.

It defied common sense. Humans, strange as they were, lost their negative emotions the more they were tormented. They turned to admiration and reverence. They turned to fear and awe as if begging to be tormented more.

Foolish creatures.

More people followed the ferocious child. Some even worshiped it, killing their kind.

“...”

Sun Spear—it was the title given to the child at some point.

“Lord Sun Spear!”

“The great hero and warrior born of the Desert Empire! We shall follow you!”

“Lead us, save us, oh merciful one!”

The child accepted these humans.

To lead them? To save them? Absolutely not!

The child knew well that human nature was cruel; they couldn’t be saved without violence. To revive the ecosystem of the desert, they needed...

Death.

The child ruled the Desert Empire to exterminate all humans. If all humans died, there would be no more victims like itself. No one would be denied life from birth.

Raise your spears!

The followers of the Sun Spear raised their weapons. Their eyes shone with the madness of the cursed heretics.

From now on, kill each other! Slaughter your kin mercilessly! Burn everything down like the scorching sun!

The child had truly become the monster humans had called it.

[The skill ‘Memory Recreation’ (S-rank) has ended.]

* * *

Reaper Scans

Translator – Dawn

Proofreader – BringTheRayn

Join our discord for updates on releases! https://discord.gg/reapercomics

* * *

—Flash!

In the strange and dark space, the triangular area resembling the top of a pyramid, a being stared at me.

[The ‘Sun Spear’ gazes at you.]

Or rather, it couldn’t stare since its eyes were hideously hollow.

That’s the Sun Spear...

I shuddered as the presence emanating from its black wings suffocated me.

Is this really a B-rank?

Though I had never experienced a B-rank dungeon before, I could tell this was too much.

The activation of the Memory Recreation skill and the intense pressure brought me an old memory.

It’s almost like the case of the Master of All Techniques.

Its mouth opened.

“Filthy and heinous human.”

It exuded a severe murderous intent. Its primal malice and resentment toward humans pierced my heart coldly.

“Did you come to deny me as well?”

—Whoosh!

The “spear” in its hand gleamed.

It felt like being swallowed by the scorching sun.

“...!”

The overwhelming attack made me instinctively shut my eyes, unable to even dare defend against it.

Hm?

However, even after a while, I felt nothing.

I opened my eyes slightly.

Did it miss?

The spear that was thrown at me had gone off to the left as if I had dodged the attack instinctively.

While my mind was filled with confusion, I heard a familiar voice.

“Tsk, tsk. Can’t you get your act together?”

“Elder?”

Surprisingly, behind me stood the Master of All Techniques.

In that brief moment, he had grabbed my sleeve and pulled me away from the attack.

“How?”

“So I slaughtered the humans of the desert! I conquered the world with my spear-wielding followers!”

“...”

“So you must know the pain I endured! I cannot be the only one to suffer!”

The old man grimaced and took a step back.

“Such deep resentment,” he muttered. “I must admit, my resentment pales in comparison,” he said, but the tide of the battle was already tilting in his favor.

Even I, a novice compared to them, could sense it.

The Sun Spear seemed precarious.

“However, that is all. If resentment alone could determine the outcome of the battle, the most wronged would be the strongest.”

The old man now held a bow.

—Creak...

He only performed the action of pulling the bowstring, yet hundreds of magic arrows formed around him.

Despite the awe-inspiring skill, the Sun Spear’s momentum didn’t wane.

Had it not been satisfied, even after killing so many humans?

It lifted its spear and charged.

“...”

I watched their battle in silence. But a part of my chest felt stuffy as if I was missing something.

This dungeon’s difficulty is B-rank.

I hadn’t experienced a B-rank dungeon, but it wasn’t supposed to be this hard. Was it because it transformed?

My mind spun.

Come to think of it...

When I entered the dungeon, this message appeared.

[Discovering the connection between the dungeon and Hunter Joo Donghoon’s profession.]

A stage related to my profession. What could it be? What was pressing down on my chest?

After pondering for several minutes, something flashed in my mind.

“Ah?”

Undead, spear, skeleton, and something related to me.

“No way, could it be?”

My heart raced.

Now that I thought about it, the Sun Spear fighting the old man looked very similar to someone I had seen for more than three years.

“No way, that...”

Overlapping their shapes, it was indeed... the same.

“Boney 2...?”

A message appeared before my eyes as if responding to my question.

—Ring!

[Stage: Resentment of the Sun Spear]

[Difficulty: Immeasurable]

[The Sun Spear’s resentment toward humans.]

[Subdue the Sun Spear to achieve the true awakening of ‘Boney 2.’]

Immeasurable!

With an insane difficulty, it was a stage solely for achieving ‘Boney 2’s’ true awakening.

Ah.

My whole body shivered in enlightenment.

At the same time, I clearly understood what I had to do.

“Elder.”

I took a step toward the realm of the two absolutes.

“What are you doing?”

The old man frowned.

“Stop. It’s dangerous if you interfere. As I said, you are no match for that thing yet.”

“No.” I shook my head. “Remember you said this is my mind.”

“...Indeed, I did.”

Now that I’d given it more thought, it didn’t make sense. This was my profession’s quest. How could it require the old man’s help to clear it?

“Look at that child.”

I pointed at the Sun Spear with black eagle wings and hollow black eyes.

Unlike when it was a child, it was now in a grown adult body—a form chilling enough to make anyone shiver.

But.

Knowing it was Boney 2’s previous life, I felt sympathy. If it was just a monster, I wouldn’t feel anything.

I wonder if that’s because it’s my baby?

I couldn’t fathom how much it suffered, and how much agony it had to endure. I began to understand the pain it felt.

“It was just going through a tough time. It wanted to let go of its resentment.”

“So what will you do?”

“This is my mind, so I will bear it. Until its resentment exhausts. Until it collapses from its exhaustion.”

“...”

The old man, about to stop me, hesitated.

“It is my summon. My child. If I can’t bear its resentment. How could I even hope to control it?”

“...”

“That’s right. This was my stage from the very beginning.”

Step by step, I walked forward.

Only then did the Sun Spear’s gaze turn to me.

[The ‘Sun Spear’ is watching you.]

“...!”

Its immense murderous intent and pressure weighed down on me.

Yet I walked silently toward Boney 2.

____