There is a saying.
[If one had to fight while blindfolded, the blind person would be the strongest.]
There were many ethical issues one could raise about that statement, but there was also a clear truth within it.
Those who lived with shortcomings had no choice but to become accustomed to discomfort.
Then who was the person in this world most familiar with the concept of ‘weakness’?
There was no need to ask.
It was me, who had lived 7,200 lives with a D-Rank Physical Rank and a D-Rank Mana Rank.
Under forced weakening like this, I could not lose even if I wanted to.
“Should I go first, or will you?”
“You are quite full of yourself.”
The masked man charged at me.
He carried a sharp sword that looked expensive at a glance.
[The Ability 「Rapid Reading」(D) is activated.]
[Rapidly reading the ‘attack trajectory’ of the ‘opponent.’]
But what use was that?
A fine sword and a metal skewer were no different if they could not hit me.
“...!”
I already knew every price the masked man had paid to use 「Struggle of the Weak」, as well as every Skill he possessed.
To put it simply—
He had no Skill that could both be used here and kill me.
“...Your movements are good for a D-Rank Hunter, but that is all.”
“Your movements are poor for a B-Rank Hunter. Ah, is it because you can only use curses?”
The masked man’s eyes widened at my words, which had accurately pierced his identity.
Of course, I had no intention of merely watching him.
[The Ability 「Rapid Reading」(D) is activated.]
[Rapidly reading the ‘weakness’ of the ‘opponent.’]
I stepped forward as though gliding across the ground.
Until now, there had been no reason to use this because every opponent’s Physical Rank had vastly surpassed mine.
But that was not the case now.
The price of using 「Struggle of the Weak」 was one’s Physical Rank.
For as long as its effect continued, the user’s Physical Rank dropped by one Rank.
The masked man’s original Physical Rank was B, but that meant he was currently around C-Rank.
“You have some nerve.”
SMACK!
My palm struck the masked man’s body as I closed in.
“Ghk...!”
The masked man twisted his body as though to throw me off, but I had no intention of letting go easily.
It was one of the martial arts I had learned in a previous iteration.
A very useful technique when facing someone whose movements I could read perfectly.
Body-Absorbing Fist Art.
I stepped close, planted my foot, turned my body naturally, and struck the masked man’s head.
A difference of one Physical Rank could be overcome through technique and experience.
“Ghk...?!”
The masked man staggered at movements unlike either boxing or taekwondo.
And I did not miss that opening.
CRACKLE!
“Gaaaaaah!”
“Oh, that is a good sound.”
The weapon I had borrowed from Hwa Yejin, otherwise known as [Black Blood Hide].
In other words, it was a stun gun.
There was one small difference between it and an ordinary stun gun.
“You overlooked something.”
One small difference.
“High-Rank Skills are sealed here, sure. But have you ever checked whether high-Rank items are sealed too?”
“Ghk... Ngh...!”
“Let us find out.”
This stun gun was A+-Rank.
It had enough output to incapacitate even a massive boar Monster for an hour.
“BZZT-BZZT-BZZT!”
A cute voice began to ring from the body of .
“DIE!!”
Lightning erupted.
CRACKLE!
“Gaaaaaah!”
“It is fine. You will not die. I know because I have done this many times.”
How many regressions had I gone through? Regulating this much output was easy.
“Now. Will you admit defeat?”
“I, I...”
I pressed the stun gun against the masked man’s back as he struggled to speak.
CRACKLE!
“I have not even said anything yet...!”
“I see. Open your mouth.”
I pulled down the cloth covering the masked man’s mouth.
[Using a High-Grade Stamina Recovery Potion.]
Trickle.
After I forced the Recovery Potion down his throat and restored his Stamina to its maximum, the masked man’s eyes shook.
“Was it strange that I started electrocuting you before you had said anything?”
Yeah. It was fine.
You would not open your mouth for another four shocks or so.
For quite some time, sounds of electricity nearly as loud as lightning continued to echo through Hwa Yejin’s house.
***
[The Skill 「Mark of the Legion」(A++) is activated.]
Sizzle!
Once the masked man collapsed and 「Struggle of the Weak」 disappeared, I placed my hand on his back and branded him.
It sounded like meat being grilled, but it was not hurting me, so there was no problem.
BANG!
With 「Struggle of the Weak」 gone, the restriction preventing movement between rooms was lifted as well.
Recognizing that, Hwa Yejin burst out of her room with killing intent blazing in her eyes.
“Kang Seon!”
“Ah, you are here?”
“Are you all right? This barrier had a higher Rank than I expected. Did he do anything to—”
Instead of answering, I pointed down at the person beneath me.
“...Huh?”
“I already subdued him.”
“H-How...?”
I shrugged.
“Does this face not look familiar?”
I tore the masked man’s mask off completely.
Hwa Yejin’s expression shook violently.
“T-This person is...”
Of course she knew him.
He was a team leader-level Hunter in the All Magic Tower, and one of its founding members.
“There must be some kind of misunderstanding—”
“Hwa Yejin.”
I called her name instead of letting him add anything else.
Understanding what I meant, Hwa Yejin bit her lip and lowered her head.
“It would be better to ask him yourself.”
[「Mark of the Legion」 issues a command to its subordinate!]
“Stand.”
“Ghk, ah, huff...!”
At my single command, the masked man rose while breathing heavily.
“From now on, answer every question Hunter Hwa Yejin asks without leaving out a single detail. Understood?”
“...”
His gaze was full of hostility.
But what could he do about it?
I did not like him very much.
“Why are you looking at me like that? Put your head to the ground.”
BANG!
The masked man slammed his head into the floor and trembled.
The terrorist attack on the All Magic Tower that I had stopped would have caused hundreds of casualties if I had not intervened.
There had been children and elderly people among them. Ordinary people with no interest in battles or struggles for power.
During the attack on the All Magic Tower, this masked man, Jeong U-myeong, had erected a barrier over the building, deactivated its defensive and protection systems, and left everyone inside to die. Even then, he had shamelessly continued his wicked acts.
“...Was it really you, Mister, who set up that barrier just now?”
Hwa Yejin asked in a trembling voice.
Her desperate wish not to believe it was unmistakable.
But—
“...Yes, Master.”
“Haa...!”
Her throat moved as though emotions were about to burst out.
But a Guild Master was still a Guild Master.
Hwa Yejin somehow composed herself and continued.
“What was your purpose?”
“To... cut off... Master’s right arm...”
“Why?”
“Ghh, ngh...!”
Jeong U-myeong clenched his teeth as though refusing to answer.
Of course, I had no intention of tolerating that.
“Answer.”
[「Mark of the Legion」 issues a command to its subordinate!]
The mark flooded Jeong U-myeong’s body with searing pain.
“Gaaaaah! S-Sa Ujin!”
“Sa Ujin?”
Before Jeong U-myeong could even finish speaking, Hwa Yejin’s killing intent reached its peak.
For many reasons, Hwa Yejin could not help but react sensitively to anything involving Sa Ujin.
After she had already been betrayed by someone she trusted, hearing the three syllables ‘Sa Ujin’ would naturally leave her mind in no state to endure it...
‘I should have warned her beforehand, damn it...!’
“Ghk...!”
The killing intent Hwa Yejin could not control erupted, and the air around us grew scorching hot.
The pressure and pain were so overwhelming that neither I nor Jeong U-myeong, weakened by repeated electrical shocks, could say a word.
“Sa Ujin ordered you to cut off my arm? He dared to order you to cut off my arm?”
With the air burning around her, Hwa Yejin raised her staff.
Blinded by anger, she formed a Fireball above it.
“Wrath, thunderbolt, dragon of fire.”
The Fireball transformed into a harpoon.
This was driving me mad. If she fired that, the entire area would become a wasteland.
And if Hwa Yejin killed many people, she would become a far more dangerous bomb than Sa Ujin.
I had to stop that.
I could not create a result like this in my final world.
“Ghk, ngh, hngh...!”
Cold sweat ran down my body. No. The Hwa Yejin who had changed like that...
- “Ah, you are that D-Rank Hunter I saw back then... Ha ha, you made it all the way here. Sorry, it is an ugly sight, is it not? As you can see, I killed countless Hunters, and I have become a living corpse too.”
- “...”
- “Will you tell me your name? I am sorry. I forgot.”
- “...Kang Seon.”
- “Kang Seon. Ah, right. I am sure I... Ha ha ha, sorry. That was something else. Kang Seon.”
- “What?”
- “Could you...stop killing me now?”
“Do not, Hwa Yejin. Do not do it...!”
[The Skill 「Memoir」 can be used.]
[Assigned Rank: A+.]
I still did not know what kind of Skill this was.
But if it could raise my Physical Rank as drastically as before—
“Ghh...!”
[The Skill 「Memoir」(A+) is activated.]
[Citing a narrative from a past story.]
[Physical Rank has been enhanced.]
[Physical Rank D → C]
[A temporary Skill has been created.]
[From the 821st Iteration, the Skill 「White Judgment」(A+) is cited.]
I could not understand what was happening.
I forced my slightly strengthened body upright and rushed toward Hwa Yejin.
I knocked Hwa Yejin down, climbed on top of her, and shouted.
“White Judgment!”
[The temporary Skill 「White Judgment」(A+) is cited.]
- “Listen closely, child. This Skill is a gift from me. Use this blessing for humanity.”
A Skill given to me by a bearded man in a very old iteration unfolded from my body.
It was an Ability that created enormous waves and controlled water.
My Mana was only D-Rank, so I could not use it on a grand scale. But within a limited range, I could somehow control it.
A white wave crashed over the Fireball Hwa Yejin had created.
The wave, tearing through space as it poured down, surrounded the spherical Fireball.
“Hwa Yejin, calm down! No, you are misunderstanding this!”
“Sa Ujin, Sa Ujin, Sa Ujin...!”
While maintaining White Judgment, I activated another Skill at the same time.
[The Skill 「Mimicry-Struggle of the Weak」(C+) is activated.]
A black barrier settled around the two of us.
I prevented Hwa Yejin from using any more Skills and shouted.
“Hwa Yejin, listen! It was not Sa Ujin! He has had countless chances to harm you if he wanted to! You know he does not make schemes from the shadows like this!”
“I do not know! I do not know anything anymore! How am I supposed to know what that bastard is thinking?!”
Hwa Yejin had already suffered too much psychological damage to communicate normally.
This was why I told people not to use S-Rank Skills as freely as water.
The stronger the Skill, the more it weakened the mind!
Hwa Yejin breathed raggedly and struck me again and again.
Her fists pounded my face, shoulders, and body.
“Ah, I... I only... Do I have to be hated this much? Who am I supposed to trust now?!”
“You...”
Who should I tell her to trust?
I could not tell her the truth.
That she would be unable to trust anyone.
That people who sought to harm her would emerge time and again within her own organization.
I could not say that.
And while I hesitated over my answer, tears began to pour from Hwa Yejin’s eyes.
Directly beneath the place where flames raged and waves held them back.
In the end, I gave the cruelest answer I could.
“...Trust me, Hwa Yejin.”