Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Part 1

Hmm...

Leaving Baruoden's corpse behind him, Yugeon looked down at the heavy sword in his hand.

While Heaven-Annihilating One Sword had been active, he had felt as if he could cut apart the entire world.

But once the skill ended, his whole body felt terribly heavy again.

Was this what people called a reverse sense of difference?

Even holding an ordinary sword felt exhausting.

The difference is extreme.

He checked his stats.

His body had returned to what it had been before becoming an Awakener.

It was perfectly healthy.

But it was still just the body of an ordinary person.

That probably made the difference feel even worse.

Shrrrk.

Crack!

Clatter.

“Ah...”

Yugeon stared at his broken sword.

He had tried to put it back into its sheath.

Instead, the sword shattered into pieces.

It couldn't withstand Heaven-Annihilating One Sword.

He looked slightly disappointed before tossing the handle away.

He remembered saving up a significant amount of money to buy that sword.

Yugeon pulled his phone from his pocket.

February 3rd, 2040... So I really did regress.

He nodded after checking the date.

Just as he had suspected.

He had returned to the past.

How...?

No.

Why?

Why had he regressed?

[You have achieved Godslaying while possessing the body of a Mortal.]

[While possessing the body of a Mortal, you achieved the Martial God's Divine Sword Unity.]

Was it because of this?

Godslaying.

Had killing the god on the 100th Floor caused his regression?

He had not activated the Holy Grail...

More importantly, what happened to the god?

If he had regressed, then what about the god?

Was the god still dead?

Or had the god also returned to the past?

I can't know that yet.

Yugeon let out a deep breath.

Then he sensed people behind him and turned around.

“?”

Hundreds of people were standing there.

The people who had been running away earlier were now staring at him.

“W-Who... are you?”

“How did you kill a Fragment of the Abyss in one strike...?”

“Is he a Great Star?”

“Why would a Great Star be in Sector 1?”

“How would I know...?”

People whispered while cautiously watching Yugeon.

Their reaction was understandable.

To defeat Baruoden, an SSS-rank Awakener was normally needed.

In other words, one of the ten Great Stars.

Level 100 Awakeners.

Everyone wants Baruoden's corpse.

Only moments ago, they had been running for their lives.

Now greed filled their eyes.

Well, I can't blame them.

Baruoden's corpse was extremely valuable.

It contained materials that could normally only be obtained in Sector 9, Floors 81 through 90.

Of course people wanted it.

At this point in time, most Awakeners haven't even reached Sector 6.

Aside from the ten Great Stars and a small number of high-level Awakeners, most people were stuck at the infamous wall of Floor 45 in Sector 5.

Monsters become much stronger whenever you enter a new Sector.

That was why ordinary Awakeners could not get past Floor 45.

At this time, Korea did not even have a Great Star of its own.

That was why the country had been unable to clear Floor 45.

For people like them, Baruoden's corpse was priceless.

Yugeon looked over the crowd.

“Anyone who lost a comrade or guild member to Baruoden, raise your hand.”

People looked confused.

One by one, they began raising their hands.

They did not know why he was asking.

But none of them dared ignore the man who had killed Baruoden with a single sword.

“Those of you with your hands raised get first priority. Dismantle Baruoden's corpse and take everything except the Mana Stone.”

“?!!”

“!!”

Their eyes widened.

No one would have complained if Yugeon claimed the entire corpse for himself.

Not a single Awakener there had dealt meaningful damage to Baruoden.

Everyone had only been running away.

Yet he was telling them to divide the corpse among themselves?

“Nothing on Baruoden's body is useless. Take even the smallest materials. And remember this carefully.”

“?”

“?”

“You may not notice it yet, but Baruoden is a Corrupted Being. If you use materials from its body immediately, you will be consumed by Madness. Make sure you ask a Priest to purify them first. If you have your own Purification skill, it will only work once that skill reaches Level 5 or higher. Do not forget that.”

Yugeon stepped aside.

The crowd immediately rushed forward and began cutting apart Baruoden's corpse.

“Thank you!”

“Thank you so much! We won't forget this!”

“I don't know who you are... but thank you.”

The Awakeners repeatedly bowed toward Yugeon.

An hour later...

Baruoden's enormous corpse had completely disappeared.

That took longer than I expected.

Even though Baruoden was already dead, the Awakeners here were still low-level.

Cutting apart the corpse had taken them a long time.

In fact, it only took an hour because more than a hundred people worked together.

“Um... Great Star? This...”

The highest-level Awakener among the group approached Yugeon and held out a Mana Stone.

[Baruoden's Mana Stone]

Grade: Legendary

Type: Mana Stone

The Mana Stone of a Fragment of the Abyss that wanders through the Tower.

It contains an enormous amount of energy, and a heartbeat can be felt from within it.

“Thanks.”

Yugeon nodded and placed the Mana Stone inside his bag.

Then he immediately turned away.

While the Awakeners had been dismantling the corpse, he had spent the time organizing his future plans.

I returned forty years into the past.

And he knew exactly what would happen during those next forty years.

He had also discovered the hidden truth.

Humanity.

Civilization.

And even the conditions required for making a wish with the Holy Grail.

So this time...

He would stop the world's destruction.

No matter what.

Sector 1, Floor 2.

A dark drainage tunnel.

Splash.

Splash.

There was not a single ray of light.

The entire place was filled with a horrible stench.

Yugeon walked forward while looking at his Status Window.

Strength: 10
Agility: 10
Stamina: 10
Feat: 2
Inner Energy: 0
Senses: 10
Technique: 10
Willpower: MAX

[Special Condition]

Willpower MAX due to Empty Mind.

Inner Energy is zero...

How long had it been since he had seen his Inner Energy at zero?

He had awakened at a relatively young age and started learning martial arts soon afterward.

Every Awakener received one unique ability when they awakened.

Later, they could gain additional abilities through Skill Books.

Those were called secondary abilities.

There were many different powers.

Aura used by Knights.

Magic used by Mages.

And much more.

But back then, the power that suited Yugeon best...

And was also cheapest...

Was martial arts.

That was because martial arts didn't receive any power correction from the System.

Because of that, martial arts were extremely unpopular.

Their Skill Books were also the cheapest.

But Yugeon had been poor.

So martial arts had been perfect for him.

Step.

Step.

As he checked his body's condition, Yugeon opened a map and confirmed his location.

There is a Mythic-grade item hidden here.

Russian Awakeners would discover it about fourteen years from now.

Squeak!

Scritch!

Slash!

Yugeon cut down the sewer rats rushing toward him and continued forward.

He had no Inner Energy.

No martial arts.

And the body of an ordinary person.

But...

My memories haven't disappeared.

Ding!

[Accumulated growth has been reflected in your stats.]

Strength +1
Agility +1
Senses +1

My stats are increasing normally.

Yugeon smiled.

Stats did not automatically increase just because someone leveled up.

Training.

Fighting.

Using one's body.

Sharpening one's senses.

Once the accumulated growth from those experiences crossed a certain point, the System reflected that growth as stats.

Of course, stats did not decide everything.

Would a low-level Awakener always lose and die against a higher-level monster?

No.

Even if an Awakener was Level 10 and the monster was Level 20...

A real battle could play out very differently.

Stats are nothing more than numbers created by the System.

In truth, Yugeon did not like those numbers very much.

In his previous life, many people had died because they trusted them too much.

Even when they were perfectly capable of hunting the enemy, they became afraid simply because their numbers were lower...

Or because the enemy's level was higher.

Many people became terrified before even fighting properly.

Then they died meaningless deaths.

Of course, if the difference is too large, that's another story.

If the level gap was overwhelming and someone charged forward yelling, "Levels are just numbers!"

They would go straight to the afterlife.

I should be almost there...

Floor 2 was like a complicated maze.

Then Yugeon stopped.

“Here.”

Three drainage paths split ahead of him, carrying filthy water through different passages.

Yugeon reached into his bag and took out Baruoden's Mana Stone.

The way this place was originally discovered was ridiculous.

A group of Russian Awakeners had entered this floor to train new guild recruits.

It had been darker than expected.

So the Awakener responsible for the training took out an S-rank Mana Stone.

He activated it and used it like a flashlight.

The instructor himself could see without it.

But apparently the new recruits had trouble seeing where they were going.

Then, the moment they reached this three-way intersection...

Hummmmm.

Rrrrrrumble!

“The activated Mana Stone reacted to this place, and a hidden space appeared.”

A sealed wall slowly rose upward.

A new passage appeared.

Yugeon deactivated the Mana Stone and stepped inside.

“What a stale smell...”

A thick layer of dust covered everything.

It was impossible to tell how many years it had been accumulating.

But Yugeon's eyes were immediately drawn toward one item sitting in the corner.