CH 127

When have I almost died? Facing an intelligent monster for the first time; that was scary. Facing the trials of the crown; long and exhausting. Biting more than I could chew against the Giant; that was really close. Experiencing an endlessly repeating landscape from the Mist; I was more worried for my mind.

“Relax, you’re not really dying.”

Now, I’m closer to death than ever. I’m on my knees, still, and right in front of me, the Holy Sword calmly drew her blade and rested it on my skull. She hasn’t even moved, yet I felt the pain of the sword carve through my spine.

“…Why are we doing this?”

“You see, you’ve never grown much until you’ve been through some pain. You’ve done it with the other two stages as well. It is the most efficient way to get through it.”

The Holy Sword said it so casually. They weren’t words I wanted to hear before I died.

“I don’t think I’m supposed to tell you this, but swordsmanship is taught by being cut by others. How they cut you, how deeply they cut into your flesh, how the sword felt as it cut through you. You use those memories to improve your sword.”

The sword of the Holy Sword didn’t move an inch as she spoke. A cold sweat ran down my spine.

“I didn’t want to make you experience it either, but…If you had to experience it, I might as well be the one to do it. It won’t hurt.”

Holy Sword shakes her head. Her pure white hair swayed with her from side to side, and she slowly raised the sword upward. Even that was part of the movement I had to take in. I raised my head and met her red eyes. They were looking at me warmly.

“Don’t avert your eyes, Elroy; see and feel what happens to you all the way through.”

Before I could respond, the Holy Sword sliced through the air. The slash, which felt so slow when she cut the star, sliced through me instantly.

This is what it feels like to be cut from top to bottom. My existence is torn apart, disintegrating. I lost myself for a moment. I force myself to breathe, barely holding on to the edges of my fading consciousness. I had to get a clear picture of what happened.

I had to see what the sword did, how it looked, and how far it reached.

With the sensation of something breaking, my vision went black. I was swimming at the bottom of my consciousness.

“Kulk, kulk!”

I was sprawled out on the floor. My mouth was watering, my left hand gripped the ground, and my right hand was stretched out as if calling for help. My whole body was shaking; it wasn’t getting enough oxygen. I forced myself to roll over onto my back, forcing air into my windpipe.

“How are you feeling?”

The Holy Sword looked from above. I couldn’t answer. Had I died and come back to life, or was this the afterlife? I didn’t even feel the sword cut me. The Holy Sword waited for me to collect myself.

“That was death. How did you feel?”.

“…That I’ve been taking it too lightly.”

I stared at the Holy Sword as I lay on the ground. Has a sword ever looked as big as it did today?

“Cutting a star shouldn’t be a difficult task.”

The hand of the Holy Sword rested on my head. My shoulders jerked and shook at her touch. She patted my head as if I were a dog, then moved my hair out of my face. It was a strangely soothing touch. She then cupped my cheeks.

“Now, stand up and take the sword.”

I took it. The sensation of the cut was etched into my bones. There was no way I could forget it. It was carved into my body. My hand shook as I gripped it. It’s heavy and cold. The sword’s tip dragged on the ground, the vibration felt through the hilt. All the sensations were unfamiliar.

“Is this a different sword?”

“It’s just the new possibilities you understand.”

The Holy Sword corrected my awkward posture. My body was in perfect condition. The trembling in my arms is purely a matter of my mind. I took a deep breath and steadied them. I could see the path before me. All I had to do was walk it.

“Don’t think you’ll succeed again the first time. Even if you do it a million times, there’s no guarantee you’ll achieve what you want.”

“You want to cut a world after all.”

The Holy Sword smiled.

“If you encounter a wall, keep hitting it and pushing it away. Don’t get frustrated if you can’t get past it; just break it down. We don’t have much time, but I know you can do it.”

The dummy appeared again. This time, the towering model looked different. The compulsion to cut it was gone from my mind. I had to learn how to swing first. I turn my back to it.

“…Is that how you intend to begin?”

The smile on Holy Sword’s face widens, and she raises her hand to stroke my hair as if she’s proud of me, but when she can’t quite reach it, she pats me on the shoulder instead.

“I’ll leave you to your own devices from now on. I won’t even be here watching you. Call my name when you think it’s time to cut down that dummy. I’ll come back for you.”

Her voice was distant, and her presence faded away. I was all alone. A pure white mental space filled with silence. Nothing but the sound of my heartbeat and my breathing. It was just me and the dummy.

“I’m not trying to cut you.”

I spoke to the dummy like an old man with a volleyball on a deserted island. The hilt of my sword had no designs, its tip pointing at nothing. I took a breath, raised the sword, and brought it down. The slow stroke did not cut anything.

“Good.”

And so, as if I’d never held a sword before, or as if I’d never held a sword again in a very long time, I continued the slow motion. ‘What is a sword, and why do I wield one?’

“I’m about to learn it again.”

Sweat trickled down my back. It was because I had made each swing count. I raised my sword, lowered it, and thought. When I’m done thinking, I raise my sword again. The time it took to make a single swing didn’t change. It wasn’t the number of swings that needed to change but the mindset.

The sword sliced through the air.

***

“Would you like to see this?”

A month after the attack and the Hero’s mysterious demise. A report landed on the desk. Nella’s brow furrowed as she read the title.

“‘Northern Monster Trends’? Why is this report posted so late in the summer?”

“It was posted in the middle of summer for a reason, and I think you should look at it.”

At this point, their collaboration wasn’t so awkward. Nella glanced at Daphne, then back at the report. They were sitting in an empty room in the headquarters of the Hero’s Party. She never thought she’d be revisiting where she walked out on her own two feet.

Nella opened the report. She skimmed over the introductory paragraphs. The first thing Nella saw was a chart that summarized the monsters’ trends. Nella’s eyes quickly scanned the numbers and figures. The jotted speculation didn’t matter to her; the numbers said it all.

“…It doesn’t make sense.”

The numbers spoke for themselves, prompting Nella to read the text.

“It’s strange how many monsters appear in the summer compared to previous years. We don’t usually encounter them in the summer, so why are there so many suddenly?”

“I don’t know. Is there something wrong in the North? Is there something powerful enough to take over the habitat of the existing monsters, or are the doomsday cultists up to something?”

Shaking her head, Daphne’s expression turned grim.

“A monster that takes away the habitat of others? When something powerful appears, it gathers beings below it, so shouldn’t there be less?”

“They could have been sent to inhabited territory. Named monsters always covet human territory, especially if they’re powerful.”

Nella closed the report and looked at Daphne. Daphne’s expression had gone from good to bad to pale as someone in terror. Nella looked at her questioningly.

“You must have fought a lot of monsters.”

“Last summer was just like that. A sudden increase in frequency. The monsters were much more vicious, and their movements seemed strangely methodical.”

‘What happened last summer…’

Nella frowned. She could see where Daphne was going with this. Daphne turned to Nella and nodded.

“Yes. It feels similar to when the Giant awoke in the North.”

“Isn’t it possible, even likely, that the cultists are behind this?”

Daphne shook her head at the question.

“It’s unlikely. If they’re capable of something on a scale that goes beyond raiding the Royal Tower, infiltrating deep into the kingdom, and spreading under our noses… well, why bother hiding in the first place?”

“…I know, I know. It’s just that it would be much easier to deal with if the cultists were up to something.”

Nella pursed her lips. She hated to imagine it. It would be nice if the existing threats were stronger than they’d realized than to have one more of catastrophic proportions.

“Even so, we should assume the worst. We’re the Hero’s Party.”

“I…left the party. Don’t keep trying to shoehorn me into it.”

Daphne shrugged off Nella’s complaint. Nella was getting used to her words being so lightly dismissed. It was disturbing that she didn’t feel offended when she really should’ve. She was starting to know the members.

“Well, we don’t need to pay attention to those reports anyway. With the Northern Archduke alive and well, things in the North will take care of themselves. We just need to focus on completing the spell.”

“True, but….”

Daphne still looked uneasy. Nella didn’t know what she’d seen in the North, but she could somewhat understand Daphne’s anxiety. The hordes of monsters from a single Disaster literally filled an ocean.

“Let’s just keep an eye on the trends. I’ll put the report away for now.”

Just then, the door to the makeshift lab opened, and Marianne entered.

“The wizards asked me to deliver this.”

Marianne placed a stack of papers in Daphne’s hands. She sighed and opened the file, her expression hardening instantly. Looking at the statuesque Daphne, Nella spoke in an anxious voice.

“What’s going on?”

Snatching the papers from Daphne’s hand, Nella’s expression froze similarly. The corner of her mouth twitched, more in disbelief than affirmation.

“What the… what the hell is going on?”

‘Southern Monster Trends’

“Western Monster Trends

‘Eastern Borderland Monster Trends’

‘Royal Road Monster Trends’

A pile of data on monster trends.