Chapter 161 : Chapter 161

Chapter 161: The Half-Baked One

Deiron laughed for a good while.

He was like someone who had forgotten how to laugh and had only just now remembered.

Then, at a certain moment, the laughter stopped abruptly.

In the sudden silence... his eyes, like pools of black ink, were silently aimed at me.

“It’s been almost ten years since I settled here. How many morons do you think have challenged me in that time?”

I just stared in silence.

Now that he asked, I became a little curious.

“Five. There were exactly five of them.”

The corner of his mouth twisted up.

In contrast, his tone was nonchalant.

“Among them, three were fools like you who charged at me, claiming to be the Kingdom’s finest, the strongest, and the other two were morons who hastened their own deaths for absurd reasons.”

“Absurd reasons?”

Deiron moved his lips as if he knew I would ask back.

I felt a sense of defeat for some reason.

“Retribution, condemnation, judgment..., they spouted such pathetic nonsense, you see?”

Deiron pointed a finger at me.

“All of them had eyes similar to yours.”

“……”

“That’s why it was so funny. Kid.”

Saaaaaaa-

The wind rustled through the dry grass.

It was as if dozens of snakes were slithering in unison.

“But when they die, you know, they’re all pretty much the same. That’s what’s so amusing.”

“How so?”

“They’re resentful, aggrieved, and afraid. They want to beg for their lives, but can’t bring themselves to do it, so tears just stream down endlessly.”

Deiron cackled.

He laughed out loud as if recalling a funny memory, then covered his mouth.

“Do you think they came here purely of their own will? No, absolutely not.”

Deiron drew his sword from his waist.

My hand flinched without me realizing.

“From the day they first held a sword to the day they came to this place, it was the gazes, expectations, respect, and praise of the people who made them who they were... Well, things like that pushed them from behind.”

He held the horizontal blade right before his nose. The blade reflected his inorganic, black eyes.

“You would know too. The eyes of someone just before death are very honest. The eyes of those guys were all filled with regret and resentment. How they must have hated them. The ones who made them play hero, unbecoming of their station. Those guys are the real villains, aren’t they?”

“……”

“So, kid, don’t try to act cool. Just be honest and say you want to take my head and enjoy all the glory of the secular world. That is an honor for you at this moment.”

“You sure spout bullshit in a grandiose way.”

I drew Heavenly Demon and let it hang diagonally beside my right leg.

The wind blew between us.

“A fine sword. It seems too good for you.”

“The Lord of Tarnholt said so. That this would be enough to give you a peaceful send-off.”

“...Kahahak! That guy?”

“Now I see the disciple has better insight and a better eye than the master.”

It suddenly came to mind.

The first thing the Lord of Tarnholt said upon seeing Heavenly Demon.

─They say you can tell what kind of person the owner is just by looking at the sword’s appearance.

What was Deiron like when he said that to him?

I didn’t know for sure, but he probably wasn’t the monster he was now.

“How did you end up so crazy?”

I was just curious.

But even to my own ears, my voice sounded quite pathetic.

“I am not crazy.”

He was full of conviction.

Ordinary guys would have scoffed as if it were ridiculous or snorted in disbelief, but there was no sign of that at all.

“I have only walked the path you now walk, reached the place you wished to reach, and crossed the wall you wished to cross, before you.”

Deiron pointed a finger above his head.

“I have stepped on the sky and seen what lies beyond.”

My gaze moved without me realizing. The sky he was pointing to was entirely gray.

“...What did you see? What is there?”

Deiron pointed to his own pitch-black eyes with the finger he had used to point at the sky.

“Emptiness.”

“……”

“Nothing, just a hollow darkness.”

I shook my head.

“No. That can’t be.”

“Kukuk, good.”

Deiron rested the spine of his sword on his slumped shoulder.

“There’s no choice but to let you see for yourself.”

***

Around this time Bihen and Deiron began to cross swords.

Bolero and Noser were still in the midst of a fierce battle with the demonic beasts.

“Damn it! They’re endlessly multiplying!”

“Hmm, a thought just occurred to me-”

Noser cut himself off and swung his sword.

The neck of a demonic beast with deer antlers and a boar’s tusks that had leaped up was sent flying.

He nonchalantly continued.

“Shouldn’t we have gone with Bihen instead? Without needing to stay behind and suffer like this, I mean.”

Without even a glance, Bolero pointed toward the iron gate.

“The iron gate disappeared as soon as Bihen went in.”

“...Ah, did it?”

Noser blinked.

He turned his head again and clicked his tongue softly.

“My intuition was right, after all. Whoever it was, Deiron wanted a one-on-one.”

“Who cares what a demonic beast bastard like that thinks.”

“Demonic beast?”

“Then is he a human?”

Noser nodded his head.

“I agree. He can't be called human.”

The two men let out a short sigh at the same time.

Below the hill, a swarm of demonic beasts was crawling about.

There was no end in sight.

Noser narrowed his eyes.

He scanned the demonic beast corpses scattered around.

‘They’re still there.’

He had been watching them for a while.

There was no sign of them coming back to life.

“...By the way.”

“What is it now?”

“If this mansion is a Demonic Realm and Deiron is the Mana Core, isn’t it normal for the demonic beasts to revive endlessly until he disappears?”

“Usually, yes.”

Bolero cracked his neck from side to side.

He didn’t say it out loud, but he was thinking the same thing as Noser.

“...It’s probably because that Deiron bastard is half-baked.”

Bolero spat down the hill.

It wasn't a problem worth pondering over.

***

Deiron and I sidestepped, slowly circling each other.

We kept a wide distance.

Nevertheless, it felt as if his breath was reaching the tip of my nose.

“Let’s do this.”

I flinched without realizing.

His casual, throwaway tone was so indifferent that my pride couldn’t help but be wounded.

My body was slightly stiff with tension.

“We fight with swords only, with pure swordsmanship.”

“Do as you please. I don’t use petty tricks anyway.”

Deiron gestured as if to let me go first.

He was overflowing with confidence.

‘He’s strong. It’s not a bluff.’

A pressure like standing before a giant wall.

‘...To be honest.’

I didn't expect him to be this strong.

Throughout my past life, the strongest I had ever crossed swords with was, by far, Griem Igraine.

A supreme swordsman.

Deiron was...

Maybe two levels, no, about one level below him.

Gulp-

My mind became complicated.

I'm overthinking this.

“You seem to be thinking too much.”

He spoke as if he were looking inside my head.

Deiron tapped his temple with his index finger.

“Your body will grow heavy.”

He jutted out his chin slightly to point at my feet.

For a moment, my gaze almost followed.

Tense?

Me?

“Hoo...”

I caught my breath.

By this time, Deiron and I had already circled halfway around each other with sidesteps.

Deiron let out a chuckle.

“All your fights must have been easy until now.”

Let’s just ignore whatever nonsense he spouts.

Right now, I have to desperately find an opening and dig into it.

An opening in the barrier?

I know it doesn’t make sense.

An opening doesn’t suddenly appear in a perfectly solid barrier.

‘There is a chance to climb it.’

To do that, I must first avoid the scorching sun.

An opening is the moment a shadow is cast on the wall’s surface.

I’ll aim for that moment.

“...What are you talking about?”

I answered belatedly.

What did he say again?

Ah, that all my fights must have been easy until now.

‘Who, me?’

Crazy.

I was just frustrated.

I couldn't burst into a scornful laugh the moment I heard it.

“Learning, achievements, everything came quickly, right? You probably clicked your tongue looking at those inferior to you. Because you just couldn’t understand them.”

As I wondered how long I had to listen to this bullshit, he suddenly changed his grip on the sword.

As if stroking a hand of gambling cards, he slowly ran his fingers up and down the blade.

“The smell of iron must have been as nostalgic and familiar as your mother’s milk. You’d have less aversion to the smell of blood. Ultimately, holding this, a sword... must have put your mind at ease.”

“……”

“Am I right?”

As he talked, his breathing wavered.

If any time, it’s now.

“Bullshit.”

The moment the word left my mouth, I went in.

A one-exchange bout.

I bet everything on a single strike.

No techniques, no mind games.

The most honest strike, forged from a lifetime of training and effort, one that could perhaps be my last.

Heavenly Demon drew an arc from the lower right to the upper left.

My body charged forward.

In an instant, our positions were swapped.

The moment the vibration traveling up the blade shook my grip, that is, when my senses snapped back.

I was panting heavily, holding Heavenly Demon with both hands above the crown of my head.

‘I’m alive.’

...Damn it.

That was the very first thought that came to mind.

“Oh.”

An exclamation from behind.

The two of us turned to face each other at almost the same time.

“I don’t know how long it’s been. This is trembling.”

Deiron muttered, holding the right hand that had gripped the sword in front of his face.

I could see his hand shaking even from here.

‘I didn’t give him an opening to counterattack.’

Is that some consolation?

“My turn now.”

Deiron took his stance.

‘Come on.’

He’ll definitely aim for my neck.

He’ll try to end it with this one blow.

To drag out a fight with someone inferior to him...

‘...No.’

His target is my arm.

Not to cut it off, just enough to inflict some pain.

Because he’ll want to see me suffer.

‘Why do I even know something like this?’

I shook my head.

What does that matter now?

Don’t get lost in idle thoughts, Bihen.

“A fight for others...”

“...?”

“Is it more honorable than a fight for oneself?”

Deiron pouted his lips and then shook his head from side to side.

“That’s just nonsense the weak have painstakingly crafted over a long time. It’s nothing but a shackle placed on us to control and tame swordsmen like us.”

“So what, you bastard.”

“It’s because I used to fight for others like you, long ago. They act grateful to your face, as if they’d give you anything, but behind your back, they’re insidiously calculating their own gains, shedding fake tears... The sight of it was so disgusting it made me want to vomit. The stench of blood was more fragrant, I tell you.”

There’s no such thing as a trivial life. Only trivial people.

“...You talk so much, how on earth have you endured being cooped up here?”

Deiron aimed the tip of his sword at me.

The corners of his mouth were about to reach his ears.

“You’re the first. There was no one who lasted this long.”

His figure disappeared.

Ka-ang!

It wasn’t just a mere swing from a swordsman.

All sorts of sounds ringing out at once, the distortion of the scenery, even the texture of the air pressing against my skin.

It was as if the entire space was bearing down on me.

It was as if this world had briefly exercised its authority to stomp a lowly creature like me to death.

This is absolutely not an exaggeration. It was truly that intense.

“Hoo-uk, hoo-uk.”

My breath burst out.

When I came to my senses, Heavenly Demon was already blocking the front of my chest, as if to protect its master.

It was a reflex faster than my will.

Pshoo- Pshoo-

My trembling eyes automatically moved to find the source of the pain.

My left arm was cut.

‘It was the arm, after all.’

It’s fine. It’s just a light scratch.

Though for a scratch, it keeps bleeding...

Still, it was worth preparing for.

“It’s a clear contradiction. I don’t even know where it started to go wrong.”

Deiron, who had passed me and gone a fair distance away, stood with his back to me, muttering to himself.

“Even after gaining the power to overwhelm everything, that trivial disgust just won’t disappear.”

He turned his body at an angle.

His black eyes were looking down the hill.

“What in the world is it? The reason why even after climbing this high, the things at the very bottom are still so loathsome.”

“You’ve climbed to a high place, so it’s only natural that you can see below clearly.”

Such an obvious thing, yet he drones on and on as if it’s something profound, as if he were some great visionary...

“You talk too much, fuck.”

For a swordsman.

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