—Hero, can you hear me?
Kim ■ blinked blankly. He was standing in the middle of a ruined wasteland, holding a sword. “This place is...”
—You were in a fierce battle until just a moment ago.
The voice was coming from the sword. It belonged to the Goddess of Protection, the Constellation that had brought him into this world. Although he could recognize the goddess, ■’s mind was somehow blank. How had he made it here? It was as if his memories were covered in soot. Even when he tried to remember and claw out the soot, the black dust always came back, clouding his head.
The goddess sounded like she was about to cry.
—You... fell into your enemy’s trap. It was an ambush you just couldn’t overcome. If you kept fighting normally, you would have lost for certain... so you used Salvation’s power for the first time.
—Yes, it’s the power that can save you depending on how much you give up. You gave up a syllable of your name, Hero.
Only then did ■ realize the reason behind the soot.
“I see. Yeah, that’s correct. I did that.”
He threw away a syllable of his name forever. He could no longer remember what his name was no matter how hard he tried. In return, the battlefield around him became a devastated wasteland and the group that attacked him with evil schemes evaporated from this world. Once more, the hero survived an unsurvivable adversity.
“It’s not so bad,” ■ muttered. “I didn’t like my name anyway. Throwing away one syllable gave me this much power...”
How much value his name carried mildly surprised ■. Not only had his name been worthless, but his life before coming to this world also didn’t have any value. At least, that was what ■ thought.
“We’ll be able to save this world a little faster.”
Kim ■ knew what he had to do. He had to throw away worthless memories to gain valuable ones in return.
“Before that, I’m going to make a new name for myself.”
Lefanta meant man of the wilderness in an ancient language. Kim ■ never called himself that, but at some point, people started looking up to him and referring to him by this name.
Kim ■ became a man of the wilderness.
The land the wizards had passed through was now a ruined wasteland. I charged across the land like a gust of wind.
The silver-haired man, the Constellation Murderer, looked at me calmly.
Mimicking the movement of a child reaching for the sky as they died of starvation, I became the claw that scratched the sky. With the most primal movement and scream, I tried to cut off the Constellation Murderer’s head.
The Constellation Murderer gripped his sword tighter. “Maximum Sensory Enhancement.I give up one hour of my memories.”
Our swords locked. The Constellation Murderer blocked my attack and met my eyes, his gaze devoid of emotion. He held his diary in his other hand.
“What strange swordplay. It seems you use your aura based on your mind practice to strike. I heard that those born from murim are obsessed with the mind practice they use. Perhaps you learned this swordplay from somewhere other than the Righteous Faction. Probably the Heavenly Demon Cult you spoke of...”
Dry wind blew across the wasteland, sending the sand dust flying. There had been a man who died of thirst because he couldn’t take a sip of water, even though he was surrounded by seawater. To him, the world had been a desert.
I summoned a desert and unleashed it toward the Constellation Murderer.
The Constellation Murderer blinked as he faced the desert wind. “Defense Enhancement. I give up the memories of how water tastes.”
Again, my attack was blocked by the end of his sword.
“Fighting isn’t good, Death King.” His voice sounded as dry as a desert. “You're righteous. If your justice is built on sound logic, you...”
“Whish.” I recited the prayer. “Whish.”
It was the only prayer I used. My red aura howled as my blood boiled. All the memories I had accumulated, the deaths I collected, and the events I lived through answered my prayer.
Another person had died because she couldn’t breathe as she sank into the sea. There were so many different ways for people to die, so the alleys—no, any ground I’ve ever walked on all held the record of someone’s death. Therefore, death was present in all worlds.
The silver-haired Constellation Murderer swung his sword. “Interception Enhancement. I give up the memories of how the sea smells.”
“How much do you think you can throw away?”
I clenched my jaw. Now I understand.
As I launched a barrage of attacks, I glared at the Constellation Murderer, who blocked every single one of my attacks. That was when realization dawned on me.
I could have become just like him.
He was a hero who had honed his demonic arts to the limit, and the Guardian had faced him one hundred fifty years prior. That was why the Guardian had roared when he went up against my teacher.
—I’m going to teach him how to be happy.
The Guardian knew what happened to people who abandoned themselves because he had seen it firsthand, so he had fought Teacher. If I didn’t have the Guardian, hadn’t met Raviel, or believed that my memories were dispensable, I would have ended up like the man in front of me.
“Lefanta Aegim!” I swung my sword.
The Constellation Murderer also raised his sword. “I give up the memories of warm and cold winds.”
“You mentioned righteousness!”
Our two swords crossed paths once again.
“If I am righteous...”
“... you wouldn’t threaten my life.”
We looked straight into each other’s eyes.
“That’s what you said!”
“That’s what I said.”
When our voices clashed, we pushed each other away.
With the magnitude of a raging ocean wave, I shouted, “Then what is your justice?”
“My justice is to eradicate Constellations.” The Constellation Murderer’s voice was as loud as a downpour, covering my shout.
The Constellation Murderer had said that he couldn’t answer but, as the Guardian had told me before, the Constellation Murderer had no choice but to chat away now since he had to buy more time to throw away.
“Constellations take away freedom of choice from humans.”
This was his justice.
“Good originates from human freedom, so any Constellation that violates that freedom is evil.”
That was how he defined good and evil.
“You said that you defeated the Constellation known as the Immortal Happiness Preacher. Then you know that she infected the humans in the world she reigned and forced them to be happy.”
He mentioned righteousness.
“What about the Eternal Plains Warhorse? Every world the Constellation tramples becomes a battlefield. Even everyday conversations turn into intense arguments. Humans have no freedom there.”
He mentioned freedom.
His words resembled rain, so I drank them up as I shouted, “You say humans should be free?”
I swung my sword. “Then, what about you?”
“You’re just a machine that does whatever is written in that diary! You have no freedom!”
“That is a valid point.”
The Constellation Murderer swung the sword with his right hand but did not let go of the diary in his left hand. He indifferently scanned through the pages.
“I would answer that it’s only right to give up my freedom if it means I can save everyone else’s. That is how I decided I would use the freedom I had in the beginning. Therefore...”
“Don’t be ridiculous!”
“How are you any different from the Constellations you talked about?”
The Constellation Murderer paused but still quickly managed to defend my strike infused with all the poison I had scraped from other worlds.
“I give up the memories of how all flowers smell.”
“You smell the flowers, see the sunset, drink, eat, and feel the wind for a week. But it doesn’t mean anything! You just throw it all away!”
“Constellations are bad influences on worlds. They force their principles and ways of thinking onto humans. People become puppets against their wishes.” The Constellation Murderer recited his diary. “To at least give the people back the freedom of choice, Constellations should...”
“... any different...”
“... from what you’re doing!” I screamed.
“I give up all the dreams I had for a week, the pain of my wounds, the scenery of morning, afternoon, evening, and night...”
“You just do whatever is written in the diary! Constellations are better than you! At least they know what they’re doing, but you’re just obeying words scribbled on paper!”
“You’re not the slayer of Constellations! You are a Constellation who kills other Constellations!”
The Constellation Murderer... More like the Murderer Constellation.
“If killing the Constellation is your only duty, kill yourself first, the Constellation of Murder!”
Self-Determination Death.
My sword tried to pierce the Constellation Murderer, but I was only able to cut through the middle of the worn-out diary he could not take his eyes off of. Countless pages flew into the air, his notes scattering like flower petals.
“I give up... one second of my memories,” the Constellation Murderer muttered.
Not a lot of time had passed since his intense battle with the Magic Tower’s Spiders, and he and I had been fighting for quite a while. All the memories he had accumulated over a week were exhausted; he was out of his ammo.
“I give up one second of my memories.”
Despite reaching the end, the Constellation Murderer didn’t stop operating since he still had something left to throw away. Actually, he had an endless supply.
“I give up one second of my memories.”
The Constellation Murderer sacrificed the seconds that kept passing while swinging his sword, drawing up his aura, and protecting himself.
“I give up one second of my memories.”
“I give up one second of my memories.”
This was his way of screaming.
“I give up one second of my memories.”
The Demonic Heaven was the sword that answered all screams.
“I give up one second of my memories.”
I had been following the scream of the snowfield, the heart, and the children. Since he was the cause of all those screams, he would naturally be the end of them as well.
“I give up one second of my memories,” the Constellation Murderer muttered as he swung his sword.
The voice had no tone; it was colorless. Since there were no emotions in his eyes, he seemed heartless. The colorless, heartless man continued to block my sword strikes, his silver hair flying in the air.
I slashed his shoulder.
“... one second of my memories.”
I didn’t stop swinging my sword.
Splashes of blood burst out of his shoulder and calf. The more my sword struck, the more red sprayed on the gray wasteland.
I closed in on the Constellation Murderer, who couldn’t stop me. When he fell backward, I pinned him down and raised my sword high. “Lefanta Aegim.”
“I’ll take in your scream.”
I pierced the Constellation of Murder’s heart.
The Constellation Murderer coughed out blood. He couldn’t breathe. His eyes were emotionless as he looked up at me. His lips moved, but his voice was muffled by the sputtering blood.
But that was what the scream did.
The blood from the Constellation Murderer’s beating heart flowed out of his mouth, where his voice came from. It spread further and further in a circle. The Constellation Murderer’s silver hair, the color between white and gray, was soaked by the growing pool of blood.
He slowly closed his eyes.
The Tower’s voice was quiet.
[Your presence has become stronger.]
[The Death King’s level has increased.]
[Your Skill Slots have increased]
[Your Hunter Class is C.]
[May luck be with you.]
The voice didn’t stop.
[Your presence has become stronger.]
[The Death King’s level has increased.]
The Tower made declarations as if it was time to settle all the causes and effects I created.
[Your Skill Slots have increased]
[Your Hunter Class is B.]
[May luck be with you.]
When everything quieted down, I quietly retrieved the sword from his heart. The Constellation Murderer’s corpse was docile, emotionlessly lying in the pool of his own blood. It was as if he were destined to lose this fight from the beginning.
[The Lonely Seeker is shocked by the Constellation Murderer’s death.]
[The Labyrinth-Dwelling Eye becomes vigilant about you after achieving such an unbelievable feat.]
[The Eternal Plains Warhorse is surprised by the Constellation Murderer’s death.]
The worlds were shocked.