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n“Wait! You don’t even have a sword!”

n“I have one more.”

nJaehwan pulled out a sword from his dimensional backpack. It was the Dragon Sword that he got from the 88th floor of the Tower of Nightmares.

nMino shouted, “That’s not going to be enough…!”

nThe fight erupted before she could finish. Adapters quickly lunged at once all together. There were attacks from various weapons in a continuous strike. Some even had special skills that Mino recognized.

n‘Fire King’s Fourteen Strike…!’

nIt was the main attack skill of the Fire King Clan of the Ten-Clan of Chaos. If trained to the extreme, it allowed the weapon to wield fire and burn the area.

n‘So, the Fire King clan really was selling skills to lower clans..!’

nThe forest was burning. The fire of the Fire King burned everything in its path and the mad fox ran rampant from within. Jaehwan readied himself.

nMino knew what he was trying to do. She needed to stop Jaehwan.

nA mere Stab was not enough to defeat the Fire King’s Fourteen Strike.

nBut Mino could not believe what she saw. She could not believe her five senses. The law of time was being distorted in front of her eyes.

nVoid

nMino, who was right next to Jaehwan, was able to see it for just a slight moment. The swords rushing to Jaehwan were slowing down, and Jaehwan moved through them effortlessly.

n‘…Am I dreaming?’

nNone of the attacks could land on Jaehwan’s seemingly frail body. It seemed as if Jaehwan did not exist.

nSuspicion

nAmong the weapons, there was a way that was only shown to Jaehwan. The one line that was only visible to the one who is suspicious of the world. Jaehwan’s sword moved.

nIt was a stab, a mere stab.

nIt wasn’t anything grand, but with accurate, rhythmic movement, the blade slashed the enemy’s bodies. Lightning flashed and brightened the darkness. Six of the Red Fox members disappeared to dust.

n“DAMMIT! KILL HIM!”

nThe rest of them became frantic and began pairing up to attack. Fire King’s Fourteen Strike attacked from all four sides, a prison cell made from the fire. It was an attack that none would stand a chance against.

nYet, Jaehwan came out from it unharmed.

n“…How?”

nThere was much more to it than him remaining unharmed from the fire.

nUnderstanding

nThe fire was now gathering at the end of his blade, as if it actually originated from his blade. Something bad was going to happen. Klant, the Black Fox, shouted as he felt an attack incoming.

n“Everyone! Get to cover!”

nThen Jaehwan thrusted. But it wasn’t just a simple stab.

nThe air was extracted and grew silent. In that short silence, Klant and the other Adapters felt their breath stop and their lungs getting struck. Klant had felt this feeling a few times during his lifetime.

nIt was when he stood upon a Leader of the Ten-Clan, the strongest of the Chaos.

nAs the air exploded, the flame shot out. The forest and humans alike burned as they were swept away by the storm of fire. Screams were covered by the explosions and broken trees and were scattered away.

nWhat was left after the fire was burnt ash.

nMino had watched everything from start to finish.

nThat was when she knew. Jaehwan had given the bihorn corpse not because he was a fool. He had lent his Spirit Weapon not because he was a fool. The reason he didn’t run even when he was cornered by all these Adapters wasn’t because he was a fool.

nHe was just plainly too strong.

nKlant, who barely managed to hide behind the trees, mumbled,

n“…Where did such man appear from?”

nHe did get a report that a fool came with a ‘Spirit Weapon’ while he was on the way to the Witch Hunt. But it wasn’t a fool; it was a monster. After blocking the Fire King’s Fourteen Strike, he dismantled the skill and returned it with a more powerful attack. One simple attack eradicated half his team.

nDefending the middle-level skill was possible for 3rd stage Adapter, but dismantling it and sending it back was unheard of. Klant couldn’t even guess how strong the man was.

nKanghun stuttered as he saw Klant looking at him.

n“Th-this can’t be true!”

n“Retreat!”

nKanghun gritted his teeth.

n“I have the Spirit Weapon! I probably can defeat him with this weapon!”

nKlant glanced at the black sword that Kanghun claimed to be a Spirit Weapon and shook his head.

n“No. He’s too powerful.”

n“That’s not true!”

nKanghun then charged toward Jaehwan. Jaehwan was approaching through the fire and Kanghun used his best skill to attack. The weapon was powerful enough to kill a bihorn with a stab. With this weapon, he would surely-

nHis attack was dodged easily. There was only the sound of his weapon swishing through the empty space. Kanghun felt his energy fading until Jaewhan effortlessly grabbed the blade.

nHow?!

nKanghun could not understand. After all, he had done during the past, after graduating from the Tower, walked through the and came to , trained on his skills and gained status… he had endured so much.

nKanghun remembered Jaehwan’s Spirit Power.

nSpirit Power: 154

nMost 1st stage Adapters had an average of 1000 so it was nothing.

n“How did you manage with such stats…”

nJaehwan’s eyes narrowed.

nIt had been a while since he heard of it. There was a time when he worked hard to increase his stats and level up. Those were in his Tower days. He had worked so hard to gain stats and gather better items. Jaehwan understood Kanghun, and that’s why he could speak to him.

n“That’s why you’re weak.”

n“…What?”

nJaehwan walked up to him. As he got closer, Kanghun stepped back out of fear. He could not understand the depth within Jaehwan’s eyes. It was not something to be understood by numbers or stats. When Kanghun came back to his senses, he was kneeling down. Jaehwan reached out and took the sword from Kanghun and pointed the sword at the fleeing members of Red Fox.

nStab. But it was much more serious. It was if he were demonstrating what was it like to use the skill.

nKanghun shivered as he knew what about what was going to happen.

n“…Wh…what are you?”

nAs his eyes filled with despair, a light was fired out from the blade, a powerful and vicious energy that seemed to be aimed at the world itself. Klant, who was running away in distance, looked back in shock but it was too late.

n“I can’t believe…”

nKlant fell to the ground with a hole in his chest. Similar sounds came from throughout the forest.

nThat was the last thing Kanghun was able to see.

nDuring the dark night, a bonfire was started. Mino looked up to the dark skies and reminisced about the old days.

n‘Mino, you’re not fit to be an assassin.’

nThat was what she heard from the leader after her first failure. No, it was what she always heard each time she failed. The leader always spoke to her that her soft spot would be her doom.

nShe wanted to deny it.

nThus, she took the personal request even when it was forbidden. She intentionally took the hard jobs such as wiping out bandits and criminals, hoping to learn about being cold-hearted from them. After half year of hunting down various criminals, she even acquired the title, ‘Witch of Massacre.’ However, she wanted to ask today,

n‘Hey Leader, do you know that I’m alive because I’m not acting like an assassin?’

nShe then turned to Jaehwan who was feeding the equipment he picked up to his weapon. He was mysterious.

n‘Who is he?’

nThe fight was still lingering in her eyes. She had never seen such a fight before. It was shame that she offered to let him run.

n“Hey.”

nMino hesitated but soon decided to call Jaehwan.

n“What are you really?”

nJaehwan glanced at her and looked back down on his sword.

n“Can you tell me? Please?”

n“About me? Hmph.”

nJaehwan then looked at Mino and grinned. He then began to speak.

n“You know about me already.”

n“…What?”

n“Did you forget?”

nHe looked as if he was disappointed and Mino became confused. She could not remember him talking about himself or anything. As she was thinking, Jaehwan shook his head.

n“Sadly, you seem to have lost your memory also.”

n“Huh?”

n“At least I’m not the only one who lost the memory.”

nMino then realized something and answered in dumbfounded voice.

n“Whoa… you… you really…”

nShe didn’t imagine he would return what she did today at this moment. Mino laughed.

n“Shame on you.”

nJaehwan didn’t answer.

n“Give me back my stone.”

n“I don’t have it.”

n“Huh? Why?”

n“Because I lost it.”

n“What? It’s expensive! How did you lose it?”

nJaehwan did not answer as Mino began speaking to him. The sounds of his sword eating away the equipment and Mino talking from his side were somehow very peaceful. It seemed Jaehwan had traveled back to the time that he had lost. A cool breeze brushed his hair and Jaewan looked up to the sky.

nIt was interesting. There were skies and stars. Jaehwan thought what he had been looking for was maybe like the night sky. Something that might prove that he was human in this unrealistic world.

n“Do you really want to know about me?”

nMino stopped speaking all of a sudden.

n“Then listen carefully.”

nMino nodded eagerly and Jaehwan spoke.

n“I’m human.”

n“…Are you kidding me?”

nMino tried to shout but Jaehwan asked.

n“Are YOU human?”

n“Of course, I’m human! I mean-”

nJaehwan grinned.

n“Then that’s enough.”

n“What?”

n“It’s enough.”

n“What do you mean…”

nMino tried to ask more but forgot what she was going to ask as she looked at Jaehwan. She had never seen a man that looked this lonely. As she looked at him for a while, she understood. Maybe he was right. Maybe it was enough.

nJaehwan reached to his pocket. There was a small stone at the end of his fingers. It was small, but well-crafted. Cold, but dense realism. The stone that only takes you to the present, the stone that tells you that the place you should return to is only the present.

nJaehwan then dreamed of the old days, before the Tower of Nightmares appeared. Before nobody tried to return to the past. It was harsh and sometimes full of despair, but nobody returned to the past.

nOne month after escaping from the Tower.

nJaehwan had met a human for the first time.

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