Episode 18 – A Reader’s Fight (2)

As I felt the refreshing wind wrap around my body, I recalled the sentences that appeared in Ways of Survival.

Han Sooyoung was summoning avatars when she noticed the skill I was going to use.

“What? I thought you didn’t learn this?”

“Step back.”

Way of the Wind.

「 There is a gale in the right hand and a storm in the left hand. The Way of the Wind will be opened when the straight lines and the curves meet. 」

The sentence that I couldn’t understand became a reality the moment I felt wind at my toes.

Myung Ilsang’s fist suddenly approached my nose.

The attack that should’ve hit was meaningless. The overwhelming power of this skill filled in my lacking stats. This was the secret technique of the Imyuntar.

Myung Ilsang’s eyes shone.

“…Huh? You sped up?”

I didn’t answer as I focused on enlightenment. From now on, it was a fight against time. The remaining time for Bookmark was 30 minutes.

“Aha, I understand. Is it the skill of those wolves?” Myung Ilsang laughed at me. “Did you receive a great enlightenment that allowed you to use this shitty skill?”

“…”

“Do you know? I killed the king of those guys with my own hands.”

Of course I knew. I remembered the creatures of Chronos who died.

Prince Lycaon of the Imyuntar, Parasite Queen Antinus…

The fate of those who survived their destroyed world was to be used in the scenarios unfolding on another planet. I would be in the same situation as them if Earth was destroyed.

A Medium Black Fire Cannon shot from Myung Ilsang’s right hand.

「 One wind will meet another wind to form ying and yang. Once again, one wind will meet another wind to form the principles of negative and positive. 」

I used all my imagination to put these words into images.

Hot and cold wind swirled in front of me and the direction of the wind started to twist.

The black fire was deflected once it hit the wind and energy spread in every directions.

All ether attacks were propagated through a medium. If the root of the medium was dispersed, the attack would have no choice but to go back.

Myung Ilsang looked surprised. “…Pretty good. You must have some talent?”

Myung Ilsang once against started to flee.

[The character ‘Myung Ilsang’ has used Blink Lv. 4.]

It was another Blink. However, it wasn’t hard for me to pursue him. Once I closed my eyes and concentrated on the wind, I could read everything near me.

I ran along the street at a speed that matched Yoo Jonghyuk’s Red Phoenix Shunpo and found Myung Ilsang. He was grabbing people randomly and asking them questions.

I kicked off the steel frame of a building and flew towards Myung Ilsang. It was a blow that would crush bone but he stood up.

[The twenty-fourth seal of the returnee ‘Myung Ilsang’ has been released.]

His next seal was released by a hair’s breadth.

“…It was ticklish?”

Myung Ilsang spoke in a playful manner. He believed that he would win anyway. His wounds were healed by the seal being released and as time went by, more of my magic power was being consumed.

“Hahaha, try to stop me!”

In fact, I couldn’t kill him if I used Way of the Wind as a buff skill. If this alone could defeat the Disaster of Questions, Chronos wouldn’t have perished in the first place.

I had to do ‘it.’ The problem was… someone needed to buy time for me to use this technique.

…Huh? Something suddenly fell from the sky diagonal to me. It looked like a descending hawk as it pierced through the air towards Myung Ilsang.

There was a terrible explosion and a small crater appeared. A familiar person was seen where Myung Ilsang was lying on the ground. I looked at the man with a wide mouth and muttered, “…Yoo Jonghyuk?”

Didn’t this bastard say he would take two days to recover? I looked at the approaching Yoo Jonghyuk and reflexively stepped back. Surely he wasn’t planning to hit me right now?

However, Yoo Jonghyuk stopped a few steps in front of me and turned around.

“Get started.” Yoo Jonghyuk stood before me as if he knew what I was trying to do. “I’ll block him.”

Han Sooyoung muttered on my behalf from where she was lying nearby. “Ha, shit. As expected from the protagonist…”

But unlike her words, Yoo Jonghyuk appeared to be in a dangerous state. His body was still unsteady and the blood vessels on his body were still bulging.

Meanwhile, Myung Ilsang stood up from the crater, laughing while coughing up blood.

“Ah, it is a bit annoying…”

He wasn’t badly damaged despite the impact. It was unbelievable that he was on the weak side of the ‘returnees’ who would appear.

Myung Ilsang ran forward and Yoo Jonghyuk met him.

Then I invoked Way of the Wind.

「 Four winds meet and form a defense. Then another four winds are added, making it the Eight Trigrams. Therefore, wind is everywhere yet exists nowhere.’ 」

It was my turn to use the verse that gave Lycaon enlightenment. The mysterious air wall in the shape of an octagon started to swirl.

It was a small dome of space. The tight seal choked me.

From now on, it was a fight against time. Yoo Jonghyuk flew back from a blow while Myung Ilsang’s expression hardened. He finally realized that this wasn’t a game.

“What…?!”

The next moment, all the air in the dome was removed. My ears became blocked and all sound disappeared. The wind blew terribly but the dome was as calm as the eye of a storm.

Myung Ilsang opened his mouth.

“…!”

“…?”

He moved his mouth several times but his voice wasn’t heard. Sound wasn’t possible because there was no medium.

He was in a complete vacuum. Due to the difference in air pressure, the air in my lungs momentarily escaped. I quickly sucked it back in.

Outside the dome, Han Sooyoung was shouting something.

[Exclusive skill, Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint stage 2 has been activated!]

「 What is this? 」

I could hear Myung Ilsang’s thoughts.

「 Why don’t I have a voice? Magic? 」

Myung Ilsang was shouting with confusion. It was natural. All returnees had a penalty. This was especially true for returnees who could quickly recover their original strength under certain conditions.

[The penalty of the Disaster of Questions is activated.]

[The power of the returnee ‘Myung Ilsang’ has been weakened.]

[The twenty-fourth seal of the returnee ‘Myung Ilsang’ has been locked.]

「 Uwaaah, no! 」

They had the condition of being ‘weakened’ as easily as they were ‘strengthened.’

[The twenty-third seal of the returnee ‘Myung Ilsang’ has been locked.]

Why did the Disaster of Questions keep asking questions? It was simple. His abilities would weaken if he didn’t ask questions.

「 Shit! Release this! Quickly release it! 」

His fist hit the wall of air many times but the wall didn’t break easily. In a space without a medium, the black flames didn’t burn.

[The twenty-second seal of the returnee ‘Myung Ilsang’ has been locked.]

A vacuum prison that could be made using Way of the Wind. This was the optimum strategy against the Disaster of Questions that I knew.

「 Uwaaaaah! 」

Myung Ilsang belatedly rushed towards me. He thought that the vacuum prison would be broken if I died but it wasn’t the case. This was a place that I made.

I used Way of the Wind to avoid his attack and quickly reduced the area of the prison.

Once the wall shrank, I made a narrow passage and escaped outside the dome with Yoo Jonghyuk. Now Myung Ilsang was the only one left inside the dome.

「 …You jerk! 」

A returnee wasn’t a returnee for nothing. The dome cracked a little bit under his power. I raised my hand and the wind filled in the weak spot. Then the size of the dome started to shrink rapidly.

Blood flowed from my nose due to my excessive concentration. My ultimate goal was to limit the vacuum prison to his body.

However, it wasn’t easy to control. Shit, Yoo Jonghyuk had managed it easily. Why was this so difficult?

“Don’t try to control it. You must lead the wind.” Yoo Jonghyuk’s voice was heard.

At that moment, I received enlightenment. Maybe it was my mistake to make a ‘wall.’ The important thing was to remove the medium around his body.

「 U-Uwaaah, uwaaaaah! I’m choking! 」

Myung Ilsang frantically scratched at his neck, causing himself to bleed.

“…Pretty good. Although you still aren’t very talented.” Yoo Jonghyuk’s voice was heard again.

Then Myung Ilsang attempted his last hurrah.

[The character ‘Myung Ilsang’ has used Great Black Fire Cannon Lv. 3.]

Myung Ilsang’s right arm was surrounded by dark flames. To my surprise, the great flames shot through the dome of wind.

I fell down while protecting Yoo Jonghyuk’s body. A dull impact filled my head. Myung Ilsang seemed to be squeezing out his remaining magic power as the black fire cannon continued.

But the wind wasn’t still. Once the black fire cannon was fired through the dome, wind instantly filled up the spot again.

The last hurrah didn’t change anything. The problem was that people were dying from the black flames.

Yoo Jonghyuk saw my face and said, “Kim Dokja, don’t think about it. They wouldn’t care if you died.”

“There are people like that.’

But not everyone was like that. I got up and confronted the black flames.

The black flames were scattered and twisted by the power of the strongly rotating dome. A terrible pain followed. It was because I intercepted the majority of the black flames.

The black flames burned mu skin and the sensation in my bones faded little by little.

I could do it. He wasn’t strong right now. At this moment, I reached an area beyond my limits. As my senses became faint, my body was like the wind.

[A constellation who loves effort enjoys your pain.]

[A touch of talent sleeping in your soul has blossomed.]

I controlled the vacuum prison with my left hand while moving the wind with my right hand to dissipate the energy of the black flames. In a complete trance, I tasted new heights in Way of the Wind. The wind at my fingertips was creating a landscape I had never known before.

[The thickness of the exclusive skill ‘Fourth Wall’ has temporarily thinned.]

It was a strange feeling. This was how the ‘characters’ saw the world.

No matter how hard I read the text, I didn’t know what to feel. I felt that a part of the narrative that was felt through the pages touching my fingertip, which I could never full reach, was now completely understood.

Reading was different from understanding. Maybe I still didn’t understand one percentage of this world yet.

Soon afterwards, I felt the power of Myung Ilsang’s black flames weaken.

「 Shit! Scum! Die! Diee!! 」

The momentum of the black flames was rapidly declining. In addition, my magic power was still full.

It was a strange feeling. Even if I was in a trance, how could I have this much magic power left?

Behind me, Yoo Jonghyuk said, “…I will kill you.”

…Somehow I had absorbed Yoo Jonghyuk’s magic power.

Then after a while, Myung Ilsang’s attacks ceased.

[All seals of the returnee ‘Myung Ilsang’ have been locked.]

Yoo Jonghyuk and I looked at each other.

[The exclusive skill ‘Way of the Wind Lv. 8’ has been released.]

The fear-stricken Myung Ilsang stared at us.

“C-Cough, cough…!”

I threw Unbroken Faith towards the man who was gasping for air and trying to run away.

“Kuheeok!”

He fell down with the blade in his back. He wouldn’t be able to escape with Blink anymore. I ran over and grabbed his neck.

“…Hah, it is really frustrating not being able to speak. Have your questions finished?”

“Keeeok…”

“I will kill you if you ask me a question right now. Don’t ask anything.”

Returnees. The most arrogant and brutal existences in Ways of Survival. Among the returnees, Myung Ilsang was one of the worst.

“Now I don’t want to hear one sound from you.”

Peeok! Peeeok-!

“Kuaaack!”

Myung Ilsang looked up at me like it was unfair. I hit him again and again until that fear was completely crushed. The beaten up Myung Ilsang barely managed to say, “I-It can’t be like this…”

I looked at this guy and remembered when he was a warrior.

「 “I-I am a warrior? I am a real warrior? Really?” 」

The 17 year old high school student, Myung Ilsang. The innocent boy who was chosen as a warrior to save the world and fell onto Chronos.

He obviously didn’t want to become like this. He didn’t want to be a murderer that wiped out life on a continent. But he did so.

“It is you who chose to become a disaster.”

Now he couldn’t change that fact.

[Your understanding of the character ‘Myung Ilsang’ has increased.]

Myung Ilsang’s face distorted. “I, obviously, p-protagonist, this, world…”

The man who wanted to become a protagonist but failed in the end. The real protagonist soon approached and slammed a blade into his head.

I looked into the eyes of the man killed by Yoo Jonghyuk. It was a futile death for the disaster that destroyed a world.

[You have won against a ‘returnee’ for the first time in the scenario!]

[Contributor: Kim Dokja, Yoo Jonghyuk]

[You have earned 40,000 coins as an achievement reward.]

[A new item will be added to your story.]

[The narrative ‘Person who Opposes the Miracle’ has been added.]

[You have obtained the possibility of a new stigma.]