Chapter 59: The Expedition Team Without Hopes And Dreams (1)

Chapter 59: The Expedition Team Without Hopes And Dreams (1)

I washed my face in the sink in the bathroom at the great library. “Okay. Before I head to murim... I’ll die first.”

As there was no other human in the bathroom, it remained silent. However, there was a ghost and a sword, and they both responded.

—What part of that is supposed to be okay?

[Shiny does not understand your statement.]

The Guardian blinked, and the holy sword flickered.

“I’m talking about Lefanta Aegim. The first emperor of the Aegim Empire, and the guy who turned the Goddess of Protection into Shiny.”

[Shiny points out that the one who named her Shiny is you...]

“I don’t know who he is, but he can travel across worlds.”

I donned my suit jacket. The Black Witch had this tailor-made for me. My reflection in the mirror looked like a brand-new employee who had just finished getting ready to head to work. It was somehow reassuring.

“Think about it. Shiny was in the Aegim Empire, but one of the sister swords is in murim, which is a different world. That means Lefanta Aegim has the ability to travel from world to world.”

—Oh.

“He’s probably like an overpowered protagonist.” I felt the grip of the holy sword hung from my waist. “He’s capable of building an empire, sealing a Constellation after splitting her apart, and traveling to a different world. It would be stupid to blindly jump into murim looking for another sword.”

I needed to be more cautious.

“I’m not invincible,” I muttered.

Yes, recently I was... feeling wary of myself. I was worried that my confidence would mutate into arrogance if I let my guard down just a little bit.

“I’m now the Rank 3 Hunter, I beat up the Demon King mostly on my own, and everyone in the city talks about me. On top of that, I’m even ordering around Hunters who have titles.”

—So what? the Guardian asked.

“I feel like I’m going to let my guard down at some point.”

The Tower had one hundred floors, and I was only on the twenty-first floor. It was too early to feel secure about my success.

That was how I hunted the Fire Emperor, I thought.

The reason why the Fire Emperor, Yoo Soo-Ha, had let his guard down was his Returner's Clockwork. With that Skill, he wasn’t going to stay dead even if he was killed. It was the ultimate cheat Skill that seemed to have no way of countering—but how was he now?

He’s dead. After his death, he even had to go for a round of hopak in front of the army of an entire world. He’s the perfect example of why a Hunter should never let their guard down, regardless of their strength.

—I think it’s just an example of how evil you are, Zombie... the Guardian grumbled.

“Anyhow, I’m not going to jump into the Heavenly Demon Chronicle before coming up with a solution. I should at least find out what Lefanta Aegim is like since I know nothing about him.”

It was said that an ounce of prevention was better than a pound of cure. I wanted to get as much information as I could before entering the next stage. Why was another holy sword in murim, not the Aegim Empire? Why had an overpowered figure named Lefanta Aegim split up and scattered the pieces of the Goddess of Protection?

—Well, it’s better to be safe than sorry. The Guardian tilted his head. But how exactly are you going to prepare? Like you said, you know nothing about this Lefanta guy and have no way to find out.

“It’s true that I know nothing, but...” I tapped on my holy sword. “...you’re wrong that I don’t have a way.”

—What?

“This sword is technically the Goddess of Protection. There are five of them in total, but this holy sword is still a Constellation.” I grinned. “Now here’s the question: if I stab myself with this sword, is that suicide or a murder committed by a Constellation?”

—Huh? Huhhhh? The Guardian’s eyes widened in surprise.

“It’s either one of them. I’m not sure which one it’ll be... Let’s say it’s fifty-fifty—it’s worth testing out.”

As I unsheathed the holy sword, I heard a voice urgently call out to me.

[Shiny sincerely asks you to reconsider your choice.]

“Why?” I asked.

[Shiny says it’s embarrassing to show her past to someone else.]

[Shiny strongly requests you protect her privacy.]

I smirked. “Come on. What do you mean by privacy? I show you everything about my life twenty-four seven. Let’s be fair.”

[Shiny pleads you to not—]

The holy sword pierced me. The next moment, I realized that I’d won my gamble..

[You have died.]

[It has been determined that your death met the requirement for the Skill’s activation.]

[Unable to duplicate the Skills of Constellation: Goddess of Protection because they are sealed.]

It was a little sad that I couldn’t copy her Skill, but that wasn’t what I was after right now.

[Your Hunter Class is D.]

[Initiating your Skill penalty.]

[Recreating your killer’s trauma.]

[The penalty’s intensity level is intermediate.]

I sighed. “Well, at least I learned what he looks like.”

And one more fact became certain: Lefanta Aegim, the Constellation Murderer, would antagonize me as soon as he laid an eye on me because I had a piece of the Goddess of Protection, whom he had sealed.

I looked into the mirror, frowning. “If I’m going to meet him on the fiftieth floor one way or another, I want to be prepared...”

—Wake up. You’re nowhere close to his level! He may be weaker than me, but he’s still one of the strongest Hunters in the Tower. And if you have time to worry about the fiftieth floor, get to the fiftieth floor, you weakling!

He wasn’t wrong, so I spent today like I had done before. The next day, the Hunters finished reading the apocalyptic books and chose a book to be their twenty-second floor. Since it was the recommendation of none other than the Sword Star, the Heavenly Demon Chronicle was chosen with minimal opposition.

“You chose a murim novel as your first novel, huh?” When he saw our choice, the Indoor Librarian smiled mysteriously. “That’s not a bad choice! It won’t be completely the same as the murim you know, but it has its own martial arts and gangho. Depending on how you all lead the storyline, you may receive a hidden gem that’s worth a ton of gold, such as an ability of murim that’s similar to a Skill, to use your terminology.”

The Hunters got excited.

The Indoor Librarian immediately threw a wet blanket on the mood.

“But everything is a high risk high return! The enemy characters are also strong. I’m sure this is obvious, but if you perish in an apocalyptic book, you die in real life. Of course, you can’t escape from an apocalyptic book until you see a proper ending!”

The Hunters went quiet, unsurprisingly. Unless one had an unusual Skill like mine, death had the power to shut people up.

“The number of required challengers is two to four people. Now! Who wants to be the characters of this apocalyptic book?” the Indoor Librarian inquired.

The Hunters’ eyes fell naturally on the High rankers, especially me. The reason was simple: I had been ordering them for the past few days as if I were their leader. Well, with great power comes great responsibility, and I had no intention of running away from them.

“I’ll do it.”

My quick answer brought proud smiles to the guild leaders’ faces, as if they knew I was going to say it. However, most of the Hunters looked at me with surprise.

“I’ll come too,” the Sword Star said after me. “I’m the one who recommended the apocalyptic book, so I can’t sit it out.”

He looked serious, but the corners of his mouth were slightly curled. I could see that he was itching to fight. He was probably happy that he, an avid murim reader, got to enter the real murim.

“Good. The minimum number has been met!” The Indoor Librarian laughed gently. “Two more people can become characters of this apocalyptic book... What is your choice?”

“Speaking of which, there is one more reason I recommended this book,” the Sword Star announced. “I would like everyone to take a look at the reason why serialization was discontinued.”

Heavenly Demon Chronicle

Genres: Murim, fusion fantasy

Difficulty level: B

Required challengers: 2~4 people

※Serialization is currently discontinued.

Description: This is the world where people admire, practice, and master martial arts! The Heavenly Demon shows up and tries to unify murim, leading the Heavenly Demon Cult. The other factions rise against him and fight for the world’s future. ...Well, they would have done that if that hadn’t been for a super plague.

Reason for discontinuation of serialization: A mysterious plague breaks out, killing the Heavenly Demon and wiping out the Heavenly Demon Cult and the other factions. The end.

Even looking at it again, the reason was still outrageous. It didn’t specifically state what kind of plague that was either, it was just “It wipes out the Heavenly Demon Cult and the other factions”. No one knew what exactly happened.

I’ll find out when I enter this world.

In any case, it was clear that murim was going to meet its doom because of this mysterious plague.

“As you all saw, a plague brought the world to extinction. We need not only strong Hunters but also those who are knowledgeable about diseases. And I know the best.” The Sword Star nodded and then called a person from the murim group with a smile. “Would you step forward, Medicine King?”

An absolute geezer of a man walked out, his hands clasped behind his back.

—Oh, I know him! The Guardian shouted.

Why? Who is it?

—You remember the shop I tried to bring you to at first? the Guardian reminded me. That guy owns the shop that Gramps Marcus frequents.

Aha, I see.

—He’s good at making medicine, yeah, but... The Guardian trailed off.

No one would know the reason better than I did.

“Don’t worry. I’ll do most of the fighting. If I’m not enough, the Death King will help, and the Medicine King can focus on solving the plague. The three of us can... Death King, is there something you want to say?” The Sword Star looked at me with a confused look.

“Ah, yes. There is one person I would like to join me.” I put my hand down and then pointed at the Chemist.

The Chemist opened and closed her mouth a couple of times, unsure as to why she was being called out out of the blue before she managed to say, “Y-yes? Are you talking about me...?”

I nodded. “Yes, I’m talking about you.”

The Chemist trembled as if she’d been struck by a bolt of lightning. “M-Mr. Death King...it’s been less than a week since I received a title. I’m r-really weak! I’ll be no use! So why...?”

“You’re the most proficient pharmacist and doctor I know, Miss Chemist.”

“Pardon? What...?”

“And you told me earlier, didn’t you, Miss Chemist?”

“Please tell me if you need anything, Mr. Death King! I’ll help you in any way I can!”

I gently smiled. “Unless you didn’t mean it, I’m sure you’re going to help me. “

The Chemist gave me a look of utter despair as if she was looking at a demon, but I wasn’t sure why. I was the reason she had her title. If she received a boost, she had to pay the price.