Chapter 206 – Twisted Desires (3)

*Fwhoosh-!*

It flew in with a sound that tore through the air, impossible to ignore.

Siegfried turned his head to the side, evading. A searing heat grazed his cheek. It wasn’t a cut.

The sacred energy imbued in his opponent’s sword was inflicting damage just by being near.

After dodging the Regressor’s attack with minimal movement, Siegfried counterattacked.

The Regressor dodged Siegfried’s clean and precise blade.

Then, she rotated half a step to the side and came in with a low slash.

Siegfried, too, dodged the attack while simultaneously launching a strike of his own.

They had already exchanged several blows.

She was no pushover.

On the outside, she appeared to be a slender woman, but her swordsmanship was sharp.

No, there was something else that bewildered him more.

‘The Captain?’

Her swordsmanship was similar to the Captain’s.

The Captain’s—that is, Hyunbin’s—swordsmanship was rough.

Every person’s body is different.

The Hero, too, possessed innate physical strength and mana, allowing him to use a bold style of swordsmanship.

It was exceedingly rough and without form.

Typically, Western swordsmanship involved defending while attacking.

As a result, it followed a set of established rules.

Swordsmanship combined these rules to create forms.

But the Hero, with his natural talent, shattered those forms, sometimes unleashing unexpected attacks.

It was a style of sword fighting known as sword wrestling.

“…!”

As the Regressor advanced, Siegfried took two steps back.

While swinging her sword, his opponent had tried to stomp on his right foot.

No matter how he looked at it, it was a spitting image of the Captain—no, it felt like he was facing the Captain himself.

“Is Northern swordsmanship only for cowards? All you do is run away.”

The Regressor’s mocking voice reached him.

Siegfried flinched for a moment.

It wasn’t because she insulted his swordsmanship.

Her voice was familiar.

‘Could it be….’

He, a man from another world, was here. He didn’t know everything about this world.

In other words, all sorts of unexpected things could happen.

Therefore, there was no such thing as ‘absolute.’

‘If that’s the case.’

He didn’t know the reason, but he felt he knew the Regressor’s identity.

“Are you trying to imitate the Hero’s swordsmanship? It doesn’t suit you.”

Siegfried rebuked her.

The Regressor, who had been launching a fierce assault, paused for a moment.

The corners of her lips curved upward.

“Well, there’s someone who still thinks he’s a knight, even though he’s a monster. That doesn’t suit him either.”

Her words were scathing.

It was hard to believe they were the same person.

There weren’t many people with such overwhelming sacred power.

There was no way the sharp-witted Captain hadn’t noticed. No, he would have felt it the moment they first met.

If so, there was only one way.

*Fwaaaa-!*

Siegfried’s blade, heavily imbued with his mana, began to burn with a black aura, as if reflecting its master’s will.

‘I will cut her down here.’

It was better for him to do it, not the Captain.

“You can’t defeat me.”

If the Captain had said those words, he would have accepted it. But he would not acknowledge it from any other being.

“We’ll see if you’re still saying that in a little while.”

Perserth Northern Swordsmanship.

A style originating from the North, where the sword alone is justice, used when one of two must die.

Siegfried raised his sword to his cheek.

Seeing him get serious, the Regressor spoke.

“I prefer it this way. The Hero should be here soon.”

Siegfried was bound by a pact with the Hero.

Since he had taken damage, the Hero would have noticed.

With pure swordsmanship alone, it might be difficult to defeat Siegfried.

No, the same could be said for the Hero.

It was hard to find someone who could surpass Siegfried in pure swordsmanship.

The Regressor raised her hand again.

A gate began to form in front of her.

‘She’s opening another gate here?’

It was already the ninth gate.

Even dimensional mages who opened portals would be exhausted after opening just one.

Yet, to see her unfazed after opening nine gates, it was as if her mana was pouring out like a flood.

‘That must be why she was called a witch.’

It didn’t matter. Even if her mana was overflowing, he just had to deny her the time to use it.

This time, beastmen wielding greatswords emerged from the gate.

They were on a different level from the mass-produced demonic soldiers she had just unleashed.

Of course, Siegfried paid them no mind. He took a step forward.

The beastman flinched upon seeing its enemy vanish the moment it was spotted.

*Pshk, squelch!*

In just a few seconds, the heads of two beastmen were severed.

Beastmen were still pouring out of the gate.

Siegfried thrust Balmung toward the neck of a beastman that was just emerging.

*Thwack!*

Feeling the definite sensation at his fingertips, he pulled Balmung out without even checking and flicked it in the air.

He then turned and moved toward the Regressor.

*Woooong-!*

The Regressor also raised her sword. The sacred power coalescing on her blade began to emit a brilliant light.

Siegfried, closing the distance in an instant, swung his sword horizontally.

The Regressor parried his blade.

Siegfried slid his sword along hers and thrust it at the Regressor’s shoulder. As she reacted to the pain, he immediately withdrew the blade and used the pommel to deflect her counterattack.

The Regressor, her reaction delayed by the sudden, swift attack, took a step back.

Her HP Shield was absurdly tough.

It was likely only because of Balmung that the blade had pierced it at all.

“It’s useless.”

The Regressor swung her sacred power-filled blade as if he were of no concern.

Siegfried didn’t block the attack head-on but deflected it and countered.

*Stab!*

The blade plunged into his opponent’s shoulder. The moment he tried to retrieve Balmung, Siegfried felt a pain graze his skin.

*Flick.*

A line of blood was drawn across Siegfried’s cheek.

*Tsssch.*

His skin sizzled from the sacred power.

The Regressor charged toward Siegfried, who had retreated.

A pure white aura unfurled from her body, followed moments later by a red aura.

He barely managed to block the attack, but the force pushed him back.

*Crack!*

Siegfried was hit by the Regressor’s low kick.

Even with his HP Shield, he felt the pain.

The strength was monstrous.

‘No, is it a buff?’

The Regressor’s body was now covered in all sorts of buffs.

*Shwiiik!*

A Sword Skill was activated.

The moment he parried the shining blade, Siegfried felt a sharp pain in his wrist.

Once more.

And again.

Siegfried was being pushed back.

White light and black light clashed, intersecting with each other.

Siegfried now understood what the Hero had warned him to be careful of.

He was losing ground.

Siegfried furrowed his brow.

The Captain had entrusted this place to him.

He had given the order because he judged that Siegfried could defend it.

But now, he was gradually being pushed back.

The Regressor’s mana was still boundless. In contrast, her wounds regenerated in an instant.

The power of healing.

As long as that cursed power existed, he could never win.

Above all, the pressure from her sacred power, something he hadn’t known before, was greater than he had expected.

“Hoo.”

Siegfried stepped back, and back again.

He could see the corners of the Regressor’s lips rising.

A clear sneer.

The Hanul Guild was also under attack right now.

He had told the quick-witted Kim In-ho, so they should be able to mount some defense.

The problem was the sheer number of summoned monsters.

“What the hell, these bastards are reviving!”

From behind, Kim Tae-yang’s booming voice, as if he’d swallowed a megaphone, could be heard.

The reason the monsters were reviving was because of the Regressor right in front of him.

She had cast a healing factor over this entire area.

As long as her mana didn’t run out, the monsters would rise endlessly. Until the guild collapsed.

Siegfried gripped Balmung tightly, pouring his mana into it once more. He then held the sword upright.

“You know it’s useless.”

He never thought that the voice he once found refreshing could sound so sinister after dropping just a few tones.

Siegfried answered her sneer.

“There is a technique I have given a name to, my one and only.”

Siegfried didn’t use Sword Skills.

He believed it was more important to swing his sword one more time than to rely on cheap tricks.

Even for him, who didn’t create skills, there was a sensation that came naturally.

Siegfried called it Slayer.

With all his heart and strength, he would draw a single line, and it would surely cut.

Siegfried slowly began to walk.

His steps gradually quickened until he was charging forward.

The Regressor, too, prepared to face him head-on, unleashing a torrent of sacred power as she swung her sword.

“A knight who awaits death.”

Siegfried heard the Regressor’s mockery.

“A half-measure.”

“…!”

In the other world, Siegfried had died.

He had offered his sword to the Captain he believed in and followed.

Thus, the man named Siegfried ended his short but intense life. But he was not granted eternal rest.

When he opened his eyes again, he was in a place that reeked of rotting corpses.

There, Demon King Gamigin had sneered, her red lips parting.

-Oh my, it seems you had some lingering regrets. You were born well, my child.

She was a Demon King, now dead and gone, but it was by her hand that he had been resurrected as an undead.

His honorable death for his master had been defiled.

-Don’t misunderstand. You can’t become undead unless you yourself wish for it.

Her words were even more humiliating.

He wanted death.

Only then would he be complete.

But if he listened closely to the longing that beat in his chest, he knew.

He wanted to live.

And he wanted to see just how far the Captain would rise.

The man he had acknowledged.

He couldn’t find an answer to this self-contradiction he couldn’t even admit to himself.

*Shwiiii!*

It was a very brief hesitation.

Siegfried snapped back to his senses. A blade brimming with sacred power was flying toward his neck.

My apologies.

Siegfried muttered under his breath.

It was too late to dodge.

Of course, he hadn’t remained idle.

He had unconsciously swung Balmung toward the Regressor.

*Pshk!*

Siegfried’s swift blade, though swung later, struck first.

He could see blood spurt from her slender neck.

Of course, he couldn’t win with this one blow.

*Tsssssch-!*

He felt the nauseating sacred power touch his body.

The first thing Siegfried, shamefully resurrected, had wanted to hear was news of the Captain.

When his wish was granted, he was stunned.

The Captain had given up on becoming the ruler of the other world.

Why? For what reason?

He had said he would continue to wield his sword for the sake of those who died for their beliefs.

He said he would prevent the same thing from happening again.

He gave up on becoming a ruler. And he left, abandoning all glory.

For the first time, Siegfried felt betrayed by the Captain.

He understood, yet couldn’t understand, the heart of the man who had laid down all his glory and left.

He followed him again.

Thanks to his resurrection as a Ghoul Knight, he had to make a pact with the Demon King’s side, but it didn’t matter. His existence had been tarnished from the moment he was brought back.

He reunited with the Captain as Villain J.

And once again, as his knight, he watched from his side.

People naturally gathered around him. And in their midst, he looked happy.

That was enough.

Siegfried no longer resented the Captain.

*Kwaaa!*

He was forced back by the powerful explosion of sacred energy. Siegfried barely managed to regain his balance.

His entire body was hot.

It was painful, but he wasn’t dead.

In disbelief, Siegfried felt his neck.

It hadn’t been severed.

“…”

The Regressor, reattaching her half-severed neck, looked behind Siegfried.

Fragments of a shield of light, shattered by the Regressor’s attack.

From between them, a man in a white power suit that perfectly matched his silver hair appeared.

***

-Sir Hero, are you really sure you don’t have to go?

I replied to Olivier’s telepathy.

“I told you I’m not going.”

-It’s that Regressor, the one even you struggled against. You know Sir Siegfried can’t win.

“Struggled? That’s hilarious. Hey, what do you mean I struggled? I just had an upset stomach that day, so I wasn’t in top condition, okay?”

I said, looking at the DMZ’s boss monster.

Wow, just as you’d expect from a monster on the dividing line.

There was a permed-hair pig that looked like he’d talk your ear off about nukes for hours on a blind date.

I sliced through all the zombies that kept looking for their ‘gannasaekki.’

The expression on the permed pig, who had looked so secure behind his wall of human shields, grew darker and darker.

Somehow, he had stopped doing that weird clapping thing he was doing earlier.

“I can’t do everything.”

I am only one person.

I can’t solve everything from A to Z.

“The Regressor doesn’t want to deal me a fatal blow.”

If she really wanted to land a critical hit on me, she would have tried assassination.

Besides, even if I were to die in this battle, that Katrinne kid could resurrect me.

Even without that, I have other arrangements I’ve prepared in advance.

What I need to do now is disrupt my opponent’s desired plan.

“I will not die until the day I turn the South Joseon puppets into a sea of fi—.”

Oh dear, how unfortunate.

You just died.

-You have successfully hunted the DMZ landmark boss monster.

Farewell, comrade.

-Synchronization Rate has increased by 1.2%.
-1 Ruler’s Achievement has been accomplished.
-Achievement data is being synchronized.

I don’t know the Regressor’s exact thoughts.

She once gave me her achievement data.

But now, she’s standing in my way again.

My gut is telling me something.

The Regressor is afraid of me getting stronger.

I’d like to ask her over a cup of tea, but she’s so shy she even covers her face, so I’m not sure if that’s possible.

“It’s his first mission as a Special Guarder. I’m sure he’ll do well.”

The matchup between Siegfried and the Regressor is terrible. But if he has support from someone with the same sacred power, he might at least be able to put up a fight.

-Sir Hero… they’re closing in…!

Actually, there were some guys who had been on my nerves ever since I came to the DMZ.

I don’t have any tracking abilities. But I’m good at sensing nasty killing intent.

-Bob Brilliant is among them.

Bob Brilliant.

Alias: Mister Cowboy.

Why would a Global Hunter, ranked 9th in the world, be hiding his presence and tailing me?