Chapter 42: My Time (3)

Chapter 42: My Time (3)

When the seemingly endless battles were finally over, the Black Witch, the Sword Star, and I finally arrived at the thirteenth floor.

Even the number is ominous. Thirteen.

Ominous or not, the place had an extraordinary presence.

As soon as we were teleported to the stage, two completely different voices greeted us. One was happy, and one was dreadfully miserable.

[Welcome, Death King.]

The happy voice spoke first. The Tower no longer called me “Hunter Kim Gong-Ja”. I was now officially recognized and welcomed as a legitimate resident of the Tower. Was I too simple if a small thing like this made me happy?

—Arghhhhhh! I won’t forgive you!

The voice that followed was a piercing scream.

—How dare you! My children! I took those children under my wings, and you took them from me! You mock me. You deceived me! Are you going to take away my flesh, my blood, and my soul now?

The person the voice belonged to was riddled with holes and leaked wastewater everywhere—it was the Demon King, the master of red nightmares.

—I curse you! the Demon King screeched, her head thrown back. The roiling wastewater—the Demon King’s black blood—showed her pain. She looked worse than when she had fled from the twelfth floor.

—I curse you! I curse this world! I curse everything that is not me! If the world wishes to get rid of me, I’ll devour the world instead! Your oceans will be my bile, and your ground will be my flesh! Your flesh! Your bones! Your hearts! Your intestines! I’ll swallow them all!

“Urgh...” The Black Witch groaned. That was how powerful the Demon King’s murderous scream was.

Even the Sword Star took a step back and gripped his sword more tightly.

“What an awful noise,” he mumbled. “I’ve never heard a voice like that. It’s like they have thousands of mouths.”

“You can say that again. Why is the Demon King screaming like that...?”

The Sword Star and Black Witch drew up their aura and covered themselves. The screaming was so powerful that it managed to overwhelm them even if it had been just for a split second. Only one person, my Guardian, was unfazed—as usual.

—Huh? What? She’s weaker than before. The Guardian tilted his head.

What? I asked.

—That guy is a lot weaker than when you fought her on the last floor.

A lot weaker? I carefully reexamined the Demon King.

...The Demon King is weakened?

—Yup. The Guardian frowned. That Witch woman gave her a good beating with her aura, so of course she’s injured. But she isn’t just injured... Her class is lower.

Class?

—Hmm. How should I say this? For example... The Guardian carefully picked his next words. ...Okay. I’ll compare that guy to a Goblin King. On the twelfth floor, that guy was a Class SSS Goblin King. You could say that that guy was a mix of Alexander, Arthur, and a goblin.

Your analogies are getting more unique every day. When did you learn about Alexander the Great and King Arthur?

—An emperor never stops learning. That’s how you become an emperor and stay one.

Yeah, yeah. Mr. Sword Emperor. So the Demon King was a Class SSS Goblin King on the twelfth floor...

—Yeah, and now she’s just a Goblin King. I’m not talking about the Goblin King who led the Demon King’s army on the eleventh floor—do you remember the weakened Goblin King you only managed to kill by Et-tu-Brute-ing?

In the Tower’s time, it had happened not too long ago, but it was a nostalgic memory for me now.

Yes, I perfectly understood the emotions behind Demon King’s desperate cry and what the Sword Emperor meant about her class.

Her level went down, I muttered.

—Huh? The Guardian furrowed his brows. Her level?

Mr. Sword Emperor, do you remember the messages Hunters hear when they level up?

Hunters heard messages of fixed formats every time they became stronger.

[Your presence has become stronger.]

[Your level has increased.]

It looked like the Guardian also remembered receiving the same messages.

—Are you talking about the message about your presence or something?

Yes, that one!

I understood the part about my level going up, but I had no idea what “Your presence has become stronger” meant and just thought the Tower was being pretentious... Looking at the Demon King made me realize.

“The boss monster probably became stronger by killing countless people from both the empire and refugees. Every action, hunt, and massacre the Demon King’s done until now... was erased, and so was her growth.”

That was why her presence was growing faint. I had changed the entire history of the twelfth floor and endured countless battles to weave my seconds together. That was how a weave of the Demon King’s second was undone.

—Arghhhhhhhh!

[The Demon King of Autumn Rain is furious.]

[The Demon King of Autumn Rain’s presence has weakened.]

The voice affirmed my conclusion.

—You...! the Demon King growled. The bloodlust in her voice was no less intense than it had been before. However, no Hunter was overwhelmed by it any longer; the Black Witch, the Sword Star, and I glared right at the Demon King.

“Let’s go. It’s time to launch a counterattack,” I said.

***

—Monsters! My children!

The Demon King’s body popped and spat.

Monsters appeared from the devastated ruins of the temple in response to the Demon King’s cry. They hadn’t been summoned, so I assumed that these monsters had been on the thirteenth floor from the beginning.

There were thousands of growling zombies shambling toward us with their eyes lolling in their sockets. Many of them seemed to be from this temple; although several zombies wore the clothing of merchants, some zombies were wearing priestly garments. I also saw multiple zombies in paladin uniforms.

—Kill them! the Demon King yelled.

The horde of zombies closed in on me and the others.

The Black Witch let out a sigh. “I’ve never been a fan of zombie movies...”

“I’m not a fan either.”

“Do you think you can do this, Death King?”

“It’s not the matter of whether or not I can do it.” I hefted my sword. “I will win.”