Goddess

Flashes of light flickered and thunderous sounds echoed through collapsing buildings.

After a moment, when wind from somewhere cleared away the dust, it revealed Han Jae-kyung with a face like a vicious demon, surrounded in a triangle formation by women pointing weapons at him.

Sensing Han Jae-kyung’s energy rapidly diminishing, Yuseong muttered in a deflated voice.

“So this is how it resolves.”

Though he didn’t know what conversation had happened inside, in that brief time, it seemed Han Jae-kyung had lost his qualification as a hero.

While feeling empty that the biggest obstacle had been resolved so easily, Yuseong soon stared at Han Jae-kyung with an uneasy expression.

Though circumstances made it seem certain that Han Jae-kyung had lost his hero qualification and power, an unidentifiable anxiety was stimulating his instincts.

‘An A-rank quest can’t end this easily.’

B-rank and higher quests were never easy.

Even when things seemed to be going smoothly, at some point a crisis would appear that made clear why the quest received such a high rank.

Oswald going berserk in [Twisted World].

Han Sang-jin the regressor in [I Don’t Think I’m the Protagonist No Matter How I Look at It].

The horde of hundreds of thousands of zombies in [City Being Devoured].

Naturally, [The Hero Who Couldn’t Become a Hero] must also have a crisis befitting its A-rank.

And Yuseong’s prediction hit the mark precisely.

Clang!

The moment the pure white sword and silver greatsword clashed, Han Jae-kyung flew back with a groan, and Jenny didn’t miss the opening as she dove in and swung her sword at his exposed neck.

Except for the roles being reversed, it was identical to the sparring match from a few days ago.

However, what followed was completely different.

Screech!

With an unpleasant metallic sound, the silver greatsword flew off in an unexpected direction.

Surprisingly, Han Jae-kyung had managed to narrowly deflect Jenny’s sword strike.

But the surprises were just beginning.

When first crossing swords with Jenny, Han Jae-kyung had been unable to withstand the force behind it and was thrown back nearly three steps.

However, on the second exchange he only retreated two steps, on the third just one step, and on the fourth he received Jenny’s sword without stepping back at all.

And by the fifth exchange, it was Jenny who started backing away.

‘Is he resisting with his remaining power?’

Like how a dam doesn’t instantly empty when pierced, Han Jae-kyung hadn’t completely lost his hero’s power yet.

However, Jenny subtly shook her head.

The instincts and experience of a trained warrior were telling her.

This wasn’t something like the hero’s power.

‘Technique?’

Shock spread across Jenny’s face.

She, a beastkin second to none in strength and a top-class warrior with decades of sword training, was being pushed back in technique by a novice who hadn’t even held a sword for a year.

Though it seemed impossible, it was clearly reality.

“El!”

White light descended upon Jenny’s body.

With the Saintess’s blessing, Jenny seemed to fight evenly with Han Jae-kyung, but that too was brief – before long the tide turned again.

“Jenny! Fall back!”

Sasha, who had been watching with an amused expression at first, realized things were going strangely and hurriedly chanted a spell.

The moment Jenny retreated, a massive spear of flame shot toward Han Jae-kyung.

A flame spear of such extreme heat it could melt iron in an instant.

When Han Jae-kyung swung his sword toward the flame spear, Sasha was confident of victory.

“Huh?”

Upon colliding with Han Jae-kyung’s sword, the flame spear scattered into sparks.

Sasha, who had uttered a stupid sound, only realized reality when she saw the sword right before her face.

“Kyaaaah!”

Along with a sharp scream, blood spurted from Sasha’s chest.

Han Jae-kyung, about to attack El next, quickly twisted his body and swung his sword.

As the pure white sword light flashed, the blue arrow that had been flying toward his back vanished without leaving a trace.

Gulp.

Yuseong unconsciously swallowed dry saliva at the sight of Han Jae-kyung looking in his direction.

“…I didn’t expect this development.”

-…Was that bastard this strong?

They had thought he was just an idiot lucky enough to be chosen as hero.

But Han Jae-kyung, though he might be an idiot, was certainly not chosen as hero just because of luck.

Hard to believe, but Han Jae-kyung possessed tremendous talent when it came to combat.

Deflecting and redirecting force was one thing.

When he concentrated his minimal energy to a single point to break magic and knocked away the arrow shot at his blind spot without even looking, it sent chills down Yuseong’s spine.

‘Let’s retreat for now.’

The clear condition for this quest wasn’t something like Han Jae-kyung’s death.

Though he had reflexively shot an arrow seeing an opening, thinking about it, there was no need to fight Han Jae-kyung.

As Yuseong put away his bow and stood up, he suddenly felt something off.

The sounds of weapons clashing and screams were no longer audible.

The moment Yuseong realized this fact, he instinctively activated Asura Perception Way.

In accelerated thought and slowed time, he saw Han Jae-kyung swinging his aura-wrapped sword toward him.

“Abel! You son of a bitch! Die!”

Dozens of exchanges happened in the blink of an eye.

Cold sweat dripped down Yuseong’s forehead as he received Han Jae-kyung’s sword.

‘What the hell is this insane talent?’

Seeing and experiencing firsthand were completely different dimensions.

Han Jae-kyung wasn’t just strong – he was growing at an unbelievable rate.

With each exchange of sword strikes, his attacks grew sharper and his blade paths more intricate.

Evolution would be a more fitting expression than growth.

-At this rate we’ll lose!

‘I know without you telling me.’

Though Han Jae-kyung was growing rapidly, it wasn’t enough to catch up to Abel’s swordsmanship in one go.

The problem was that Han Jae-kyung still had his hero’s power remaining, making this an even fight.

‘He’s growing faster than his hero’s power is diminishing. At this pace, his sword skills will surpass Abel’s before the hero’s power disappears. We need to end this before then.’

Once decided, there was no hesitation.

Biting his lip hard, Yuseong strongly stomped his foot while deflecting the pure white sword.

Spider web-like cracks spread from where he stomped before thorny vines grew from that spot.

“This kind of pathetic magic!”

Han Jae-kyung spun like a top in place while swinging his sword.

And when the spinning stopped, the Thorny Vines had collapsed into thousands of pieces.

“Enough with the cheap tricks…”

Han Jae-kyung’s words trailed off.

The surroundings were suddenly enveloped in fog so thick you couldn’t see an inch in front of you.

Han Jae-kyung hesitated at the fog that blocked not just eyesight but even energy sensing, and the moment he heard an unidentifiable explosive sound, he immediately threw himself sideways.

Swoosh!

With a fierce air-rending sound, something wrapped in silver and gold currents pierced through where he had just been.

Another explosive sound rang out.

But this time instead of dodging, he swung his sword matching the timing he had grasped from the first attack.

Bang!

Joy and sorrow crossed the two people’s faces.

Yuseong gritted his teeth as his trump card was blocked while Han Jae-kyung smiled triumphantly having located his opponent’s position.

Though he tried to hide in the fog, Han Jae-kyung stuck persistently close like he wouldn’t let his prey escape once caught.

‘Damn, this guy’s really a monster!’

Thorny Vine, Cloud Mist, even Shooting Star – he hadn’t landed a single effective hit despite using them all.

At this point it was more admirable than frustrating.

He could tell instinctively.

Han Jae-kyung possessed talent that techniques and skills couldn’t overcome.

The only thing that might work was overwhelming capability.

And even then, it would need to be absolutely overwhelming capability that could decide things in one go.

Finishing his calculations, Yuseong stomped hard and thorny vines shot up from the ground to attack Han Jae-kyung.

“I told you it won’t work!”

As white light flashed, the thorny vines scattered into debris.

As Han Jae-kyung smiled triumphantly, another explosive sound reached his ears.

‘Using the same technique three times? I’ll make you regret it.’

Han Jae-kyung smiled viciously.

He planned to deflect the attack and then thrust his sword into the exposed vital point.

However, the moment sword met sword, Han Jae-kyung realized something was wrong.

‘Heavy!’

And not just ordinarily heavy.

Even after channeling all his remaining power through his entire body, he could barely maintain his stance against this attack.

‘C-Can’t deflect.’

If he tried to use technique by reducing force, he would instantly be split in two from being unable to withstand the power.

All he could do was endure until the opponent’s strength ran out.

But the force transmitted through the sword showed no signs of diminishing.

No, if anything it was growing stronger as time passed.

“W-wait! Just wait a moment!”

Realizing the situation wasn’t normal, Han Jae-kyung hurriedly requested a stop.

His sparring habit had unconsciously emerged.

But this wasn’t sparring – it was a fight for survival.

“I told you to stop! Stop! Stop! No, please stop! P-please!”

Drip.

As his sword lowered unable to withstand the force, blood streamed down his face from where it cut his forehead.

Though Han Jae-kyung repeated his pleas to stop with a pale face, naturally the sword wouldn’t stop.

“Aaaahhh!”

His screams that had grown with the flowing blood began to diminish.

And the moment Yuseong’s sword touched the ground, Han Jae-kyung could no longer scream.

“Haah, what kind of guy was this?”

Yuseong muttered in a deflated voice as he looked down at Han Jae-kyung split in two.

Talent that was strange to the point of being bizarre.

Though it was frightening, he felt even more regret.

If Han Jae-kyung had been the quest client, he might have been able to purchase that impossible talent as a skill.

-To think my wish would really come true. As expected of demons.

Ignoring Abel’s nonsense, Yuseong started collecting items from Han Jae-kyung’s corpse.

Each item had performance befitting the name of hero.

‘An item that attaches to other items. The options are decent enough at this level. I should buy this one. Accuracy increase? Can’t hurt to have.’

As Yuseong casually appraised the items, his eyes widened when he checked the pure white sword’s options.

‘This is…’

There was an unexpected option attached.

Just as he tried to confirm if the option was real, his body felt slightly floaty as his vision was dyed bright.

A feeling similar to dimensional transfer.

When his vision returned, Yuseong realized he was in space.

Endless pitch darkness stretched out with thousands, billions of stars shining brilliantly.

As Yuseong was in a panic state unable to comprehend the situation, an unfamiliar voice rang out in his mind.

[You’ve done something interesting.]

A voice that seemed both childlike and elderly, seemingly gentle yet angry – impossible to pin down.

As Yuseong flailed about trying to find the owner of the voice, the unfamiliar voice rang out in his mind once more.

[Over here.]

In that instant, space moved.