“Turuk Kirantal de!”
Dohyeon heard someone call Kirantal’s name from somewhere, but he paid it no attention.
No healing magic could possibly revive Kirantal after his head had been severed.
Sure enough, a Dark Elf flew over and embraced Kirantal’s headless corpse.
After screaming in anguish, the Dark Elf glared fiercely at Dohyeon and shouted.
“Kwirak topamandeurano ssipcha!”
Dohyeon did not understand the words, but they somehow sounded like an insult.
“What’s this dumbass babbling about?”
Dohyeon casually dismissed him and pulled the trigger.
SPLAT—!
The Magic Bullet easily burst the Dark Elf’s head like a watermelon.
The Dark Elf collapsed limply.
Dohyeon picked up Kirantal’s head from where it had rolled some distance away.
Then he raised it toward the sky and roared at the top of his lungs.
“Trakchi Kirantal, ogekwan tuarak! (Chieftain Kirantal died by my hand!)”
It was an Elven phrase he had learned from Song Ha-jun solely for this moment.
The instant his voice echoed throughout the canyon, the battlefield—previously filled with every manner of scream and explosion—rapidly fell silent.
Then the Dark Elves vanished from the canyon as swiftly as an ebbing tide.
At that moment—
CRUMBLE
Kirantal’s head disintegrated like powder in Dohyeon’s hand.
‘What was that?’
Dohyeon’s eyes widened in surprise as something appeared in his grasp.
It was a flat, elongated rectangular piece of metal.
One face bore a key-shaped groove, while indecipherable letters were engraved along its side.
As Dohyeon held it and stared—
[Lower Mold Plate]
-The lower plate of a mold used to make a key.
A translucent description window appeared above the metal plate.
This was a special ability shared by every Awakened. Staring at a particular object for two seconds allowed them to display a description window.
‘A mold? His head disappeared, and this bizarre thing came out of it.’
It was Dohyeon’s first time experiencing such a phenomenon, leaving him bewildered.
“Squad Leader! What you did earlier—how did you do it?”
Kang Uk, who had been sprawled on the ground, approached Dohyeon.
He had personally witnessed Dohyeon kill Kirantal with an extraordinary sword technique.
It was an astonishing sight that Kang Uk had never witnessed once despite surviving countless battlefields for more than six years.
He could hardly believe that Dohyeon had accomplished it.
And that was not all.
Dohyeon had even saved him from being killed by Kirantal.
It was enough to make Kang Uk question whether the Dohyeon standing before him was truly the squad leader he knew.
Dohyeon tucked away the mold plate and scratched his head.
“I did it without thinking...... Was it that strange?”
“No, I’m asking whether you’ve been deceiving us all this time despite possessing such incredible skill!”
“I’ve never deceived you.”
“You do realize you just took the Dark Elf chieftain’s head, right?”
Kang Uk pointed toward Kirantal’s headless corpse.
“It was a coincidence. I got lucky.”
“This isn’t something luck can explain—”
BOOOOOOM—!
Dohyeon and Kang Uk looked skyward at the sudden deafening explosion.
Fireworks were bursting in the sky above the canyon.
Dohyeon knew what they meant.
The fireworks signaled that the MSU had won the battle.
***
The battle was over.
Once Dohyeon killed Chieftain Kirantal, the Dark Elves lost their will to fight.
They fled the canyon without looking back.
The MSU collected the spoils from the canyon and returned to the area near the Gate.
There, they established a base and set up an encampment.
The 9th MSU would now be stationed at the Gate on the Croat side instead of the one on Earth’s side.
This was truly a remarkable achievement.
The 17th Squad had achieved the greatest feat of all.
More precisely, the person responsible was Dohyeon, the 17th Squad’s leader.
But Dohyeon credited his entire squad for defeating Kirantal and forcing the Dark Elves to flee.
Thanks to that, the 17th Squad was assigned the finest barracks at the 9th MSU’s new base.
They also received commendations and substantial bonuses.
However, the overall mood throughout the unit was far from cheerful.
Far too many MSU soldiers had been sacrificed in the battle.
Before crossing the Gate, the MSU had numbered more than nine hundred. Now, barely more than five hundred remained at the new base.
Nearly four hundred soldiers had lost their lives in the canyon battle.
The 17th Squad had suffered casualties as well.
Once fifteen strong, the 17th Squad had been reduced to eight.
The strange part was that although seven members had died, not one of the 17th Squad’s old hands was among them.
Kang Uk had suffered nothing more than minor abrasions, while Yun Du-sik’s only wound was where an arrow had grazed his thigh.
Song Ha-jun and Bae Man-deuk did not have a single injury between them.
Despite how dangerous the battle had been, all four veteran squad members were perfectly fine.
After dinner, Dohyeon returned to the barracks, lay on his bunk, and reviewed the day’s battle.
His heart swelled at the thought that the infinite loop, which had repeated 697 times, was finally over.
‘When I open my eyes tomorrow, a new morning will finally greet me.’
In terms of elapsed time, it had been nearly two long years.
The fact that he had not gone insane while trapped within the same day and repeating it endlessly was an achievement in itself.
‘I gained Infinite Path, as well as rotation and speed. Maybe I came out ahead after all?’
That thought reminded Dohyeon of the mold plate that had appeared when Kirantal’s head crumbled into powder.
He sat up, removed the mold plate from his clothes, and examined it closely.
It was approximately fifteen centimeters long and only four centimeters wide.
It was a murky black, and he could not easily determine what material it was made from.
‘If this is the mold’s lower plate, that means there must also be an upper plate.’
At the thought, an inexplicable chill flashed through his mind.
‘Don’t tell me I’ll have to endure that damned infinite regression all over again to obtain the upper plate.’
He wanted the infinite regressions to end here, yet he could not shake the feeling that this was not over.
Just then, Yun Du-sik and Kang Uk, who had been talking in one corner, suddenly strode toward Dohyeon.
The two sat side by side on the bunk opposite his.
“Hey, Squad Leader. I heard from Kang Uk that the sword technique you used to take off the Dark Elf chieftain’s head was incredible.”
“You could certainly call it incredible. It was the technique you taught me, Brother Yun.”
Dohyeon answered honestly.
Thanks to the principles of rotation and speed Yun Du-sik had taught him, he had been able to drive his sword through Kirantal’s neck.
“I knew it. See? I told you I was right. The Squad Leader was acting strange this morning. Training with a sword on the day of a battle when he’d never done so before, and all that.”
“But does that make any sense? He only practiced for a little while this morning, yet he took the head of that terrifying chieftain. Our squad leader isn’t a genius.”
Kang Uk had a straightforward personality, but that did not make him stupid.
If anything, he was quicker-witted than most people.
In Kang Uk’s eyes, the Dohyeon he had seen today was no different from a sword master who had devoted years—no, decades—to a single blade.
“He may not be a genius, but when it comes to effort, he’s top class. Maybe all the work he’s put in over the years finally bore fruit today.”
“Anyway, that sword technique was absolutely incredible. Even watching it sent a thrill through me.”
“I got more than enough of a thrill when that helmet almost hit me this morning. Don’t sleep next to me anymore. This is your final warning. You’re nothing but a giant lump who can’t keep his body under control. Good grief.”
Yun Du-sik looked Kang Uk’s massive frame up and down.
At that moment, Bae Man-deuk rushed over from some distance away.
“But Squad Leader, you know what you shouted in the canyon earlier? Wasn’t that Elven?”
“How do you know that?”
When Dohyeon stared at him in surprise, Bae Man-deuk smiled in a way that did not suit him.
“This Man-deuk happens to like pretty women, so I learned a little Elven. Heh heh.”
“Do you know what it meant?”
“Why wouldn’t I? ‘Trakchi Kirantal, ogekwan tuarak!’ It means, ‘Your chieftain Kirantal died by my hand,’ doesn’t it?”
Bae Man-deuk truly knew Elven.
The strange part was that no one had known until now.
“Would you look at our Man-deuk? You had a talent even we didn’t know about. Hell, I only learned today that Elven was a separate language.”
Bae Man-deuk mistook Yun Du-sik’s teasing words for praise and grinned broadly.
“I may not be good at anything else, but I do have some talent when it comes to languages.”
“Couldn’t you have been born with some talent in your brain instead?”
“My brain?”
Failing to understand that Yun Du-sik was insulting his intelligence, Bae Man-deuk merely blinked.
At that moment, Song Ha-jun, who was maintaining his bow three bunks away, called out.
“Bae Man-deuk, why don’t you maintain your weapon instead of wasting time spouting nonsense? The edges of your axes were all chipped during today’s battle.”
“Oh, right. I forgot. Hehe. I’ll be going now.”
Strangely, Bae Man-deuk could never defy Song Ha-jun.
Song Ha-jun was only half Bae Man-deuk’s size.
Even so, Bae Man-deuk feared him more than Yun Du-sik or Kang Uk.
From Dohyeon’s perspective, that was another extremely curious matter.
“Yaaawn. We should get some rest now. You must be tired too, Squad Leader, so turn in early.”
Yun Du-sik waved a hand and headed toward his bunk.
Kang Uk gave Dohyeon a firm thumbs-up before leaving as well.
Dohyeon was alone once more.
As he surveyed the bunks, half of them now empty, an inexplicable sense of emptiness washed over him.
‘This makes three times already.’
This was already the third time he had lost half his squad.
Apart from the four men he had just spoken with, not a single member of the 17th Squad had lasted more than a year.
The other three surviving members were recruits who had been assigned to the 17th Squad less than six months ago.
When had he stopped allowing himself to become attached to anyone other than the old hands?
He was too exhausted in both body and mind to care deeply for every new squad member when they would die within two or three months at the shortest, or five months at the longest.
‘I suppose they’ll fill the squad with new people again.’
Normally, when a squad lost nearly half its members, it was disbanded and the survivors were scattered among other squads.
But the 17th Squad had never been disbanded. Its vacant positions were always filled with new members.
That was not because the MSU battalion commander placed any special trust in Dohyeon.
After all, the battalion commander had already been replaced five times.
The battalion commander newly assigned seven months ago was named Park Han-wi.
He was one of the rare officers to secure a battalion command while holding the rank of major.
All the previous commanders of the 9th MSU had possessed considerable combat ability.
They had always taken the front line and led the fighting themselves, which was why they had crossed the River Jordan so quickly.
Major Park Han-wi, on the other hand, was not particularly skilled in combat.
He always prioritized his safety in the rear, allowing him to preserve his life until now.
‘I wonder what kind of new recruits they’ll send us this time.......’
From Dohyeon’s perspective, receiving new recruits was not something to welcome.
New recruits frequently knew nothing, and Dohyeon had to teach them a great deal before they could pull their own weight.
It was not that Dohyeon disliked training new recruits. He simply resented the time it consumed.
He had to work without rest if he did not want to fall behind. Every moment spent training recruits was time taken away from his own efforts.
‘Should I put Brother Yun in charge of the new recruits this time?’
Dohyeon unconsciously looked toward Yun Du-sik.
Yun Du-sik, who happened to be glancing at him, flinched in surprise. Then he immediately turned away and lay down.
‘His instincts really are frighteningly sharp.’
Yun Du-sik had noticed that Dohyeon was about to ask him for another favor.
He had moved to block the request before it could even be made.
Dohyeon pouted, then turned to the next batter, Song Ha-jun.
As though rejecting Dohyeon’s gaze, Song Ha-jun pulled his blanket over his face and pretended to sleep.
‘Damn it.’
Surviving life-and-death situations together for so long was not always a good thing.
Every one of them could read Dohyeon’s thoughts with uncanny accuracy from the slightest change in his demeanor.
And so Dohyeon’s 697th day finally drew to a close.
***
TOOT-TOOT, TOOT-TOOT-TOOT, TOOT-TOO-ROO-TOOT-TOOT...
Dohyeon jolted in surprise at the familiar sound of the morning bugle.
His eyes flew open, and he shot upright.
After rapidly looking around, he was relieved to discover that he was inside the barracks.
‘That scared me. I thought I’d reset again.’
Dohyeon’s prediction had been correct.
Killing Kirantal had freed him from the infinite loop.
Yesterday would no longer repeat.
Kang Uk, who had been on the final sentry shift, approached him.
“Squad Leader, are you sick? Why are you sweating so much?”
Kang Uk placed his palm against Dohyeon’s forehead as though he were his mother.
“I’m not sick, so would you take your hand off me? Do you think this will convince me to introduce you to my sister?”
“So cold-hearted. Two years have passed, and you haven’t given me a single chance. After this long, you’d think you might say ‘to hell with it’ and introduce us.”
Kang Uk was twenty-eight years old.
He had a good build and reasonably attractive features.
If he had been only twenty-five, Dohyeon might have considered letting him meet his sister at least once.
But Dohyeon’s younger sister, Kim Yuha, had only just turned nineteen.
She had barely become an adult. How could he possibly introduce her to Kang Uk, who was nine years older?
If he did, Kim Yuha might cut off one of his arms with her sword.
Kim Yuha had Awakened two years ago.
One year ago, when she graduated from the Academy, it was confirmed that she possessed S Grade Talent, catapulting her to stardom overnight.
Only six Awakened in all of South Korea possessed S Grade Talent.
Kim Yuha proudly occupied one of those six positions, and Dohyeon could not have been more proud of her.
Kim Yuha had earnestly pleaded with Dohyeon.
She asked him to stop suffering in the dangerous MSU, leave the military, and work with her in a Guild.
But Dohyeon had rejected her offer.
He had not enlisted in the MSU and risked his life to protect his sister because he expected this kind of reward.
He did not want to become a worn-out piece-of-shit car blocking the road ahead of his sister just as she was beginning to bloom.
Now that her Talent Grade had been confirmed as S Grade, she had an extraordinarily bright future ahead of her.
Therefore, Dohyeon wanted only to watch from a distance where he would not get in her way.
In any case, throwing himself into combat with the MSU felt far more comfortable to him than traveling comfortably across the Croat Continent and exploring Dungeons with a Guild.
Dohyeon utterly despised the thought of becoming a burden to his sister.
If he wanted to live life on his own terms, he needed to earn money through the MSU.
“Give up already. Even if another hundred years pass, I’ll never introduce my sister to you, Brother Kang.”
“You really do cherish that sister of yours.”
Grumbling, Kang Uk moved off to wake the other squad members.
In truth, Dohyeon knew how to put an end to Kang Uk’s persistence.
All he had to do was reveal that his sister was an Awakened with S Grade Talent, and Kang Uk would give up on his own.
But Dohyeon did not want to disclose that fact.
If the others learned that his sister possessed S Grade Talent, they would bombard him with questions.
Why was he still in the MSU?
Couldn’t he use his sister’s connections to join a prestigious Guild and set himself up for life?
If not that, he could use her recommendation to secure an important government post. Why did he not do so?
Merely imagining such a situation was enough to make his head ache.
That was why Dohyeon had only told them he had a younger sister while concealing the fact that she was one of South Korea’s six Awakened with S Grade Talent.
Some time later, the entire MSU assembled in an open area at the garrison base and performed their usual run and calisthenics.
With their numbers reduced by half since the previous day, the formation looked sparse. Even so, the sight of roughly five hundred soldiers running and chanting in unison appeared more vigorous than ever.
After breakfast came maintenance time.
Dohyeon wanted to spend this day resting comfortably in the barracks.
After racing through 698 days as though they were one, he needed time to rest.
But things did not go as easily as he hoped.
“Sergeant Park Gyu-ho! Effective Month X, Day X, I have been ordered transferred to the 17th Squad! Reporting for duty!”
An unexpected new recruit—no, a veteran soldier—had arrived.
Absurdly enough, Sword Ghost Park Gyu-ho was among the reinforcements assigned to the 17th Squad.