Chapter 37

The strongest knights in the kingdom, endowed with the power of the stars that govern life and death, respectively, pointed their holy lances.

The eerie glow of Roland's spear's tip was undoubtedly the Fate of Death.

It was a deadly determination to defeat me at all costs.

The Death Star blesses that determination, and the mortal foreknowledge it illuminates.

"...."

When I realized, a star was shining in the sky.

A night sky that could not be seen or exist in the Labyrinth of the Infinite Corridors, and a star that shone pale and alone above the veil.

─The Death Star.

An omen of ill fortune and disaster in the eyes of those destined to die soon.

I knew the description and effects of the ability, but still, I felt a pressure that the in-game text couldn't even begin to compare to.

"Star, I see you."

"...."

The Star Knight said in a cold voice.

I didn't say anything and that was the end of the conversation.

The distance narrows. In front of the rushing Roland, I once again widened the distance between us as if pulling a rubber band.

Like Achilles and the turtle. The man with an obscurity comparable to the real Achilles narrowed and narrowed the endless distance to catch up with me to literally reach the end of an unreachable corridor.

I know this is not a fight that will end by running away like this.

"<Black Mist>."

Black Mist, a curse that constantly accumulates within an area, with the negative effect of restricting movement.

A golden knight rushed out from within that mist.

-Clang!

The edge of a spear blade shines brightly in front of my nose. As one of the blade's barriers deflected the tip of the spear, the wind blowing past it brushed through my hair. It was a wind that smelled of misfortune and death.

Each time Roland's spear traced a trajectory, with the intent to kill wind pressure was emitted from its trajectory.

At first, I thought it was just the wind pressure from the spear, but it didn't stop there; it became a new air current, engulfing the entire region.

It became an irresistible current of fate, as if the whole world wished for my death.

It was a testament to how foolish it was to try to understand this world through gaming knowledge.

A bleeding truth that cannot be understood by a few lines of text and information projected across a monitor.

There was also something else that this truth taught me.

This is the world I don't know, the world Rain Gray has lived in all his life.

He had survived in the face of Sir Roland, in the face of absurdly powerful men who could call upon the power of the stars to wish for the death of their enemies, and had turned them all against him, willing to be called the enemy of the world.

─Now, I am Rain Gray.

Whether it was his wish, or something that even he could not have foreseen, it could go either way.

Where I stood was the center of the man's path, a path that had already defied the world and fate from the moment he began walking.

I realize that the black coat I am wearing is also the uniform of the Black Snake.

My head feels strangely cold. Even the forebodings of death whispered by the stars in my ear, even the shining and powerful Star Lord in the heavens above me, seem strangely new to me.

I've already lived my whole life that way.

'My whole life?'

Before I had time to shake my head in disbelief, the spear once again pierced through the blackness. The blades of the Blade Barrier blocked the incoming halberd and switched from autonomous offense to defense, focusing on protecting me.

Roland's holy lance and Blade Barrier clashed, and I was no different.

With <Haste >, Rain Gray's body was no ordinary mage's body, and its movements were more than adequate to face Lord Roland.

I stretch out my arm and from my fingertips, without the slightest preliminary motion, a beam of violet light traced the trajectory of a sun.

It was a killing spell, instantly activated and traveling at the speed of light, <Death Ray>.

I can't reach him. Even just the spray from my fingertips would be something a knight as skilled as Roland could avoid. But what I wanted was different.

"<Shadow Mimic>."

I whispered again. At the sound of the name, magic crackled beside me, mimicking my form, but the mimicry didn't stop at form.

A beam of violet light shot from the Mimic's fingertips, and it was different from before.

I opened a gap in the void that I could manipulate at will in the Labyrinth of Infinite Corridors, and funneled the beam of light in a straight line.

Then, just as the portal's exit opened, Death Ray appeared from Roland's blind spot, and even Roland couldn't dodge the Death Ray traveling at the speed of light.

He's hit but it's not the end.

As a man beloved by the stars, the protection and blessings of the stars that guard him are impenetrable.

Still, it was enough.

It worked.

All that remains is to relentlessly attack the same weakness.

"─"

At that point, Sir Roland fixed the blade of his spear and spurred on the offensive but I can't allow myself to be cooked in the same way.

The barrier of blades protecting me clashed with Roland's holy lance.

They clashed and clashed and clashed, and then the lance glowed and emitted a fan of golden flashes, intended to engulf those who stood in its way.

But by manipulating the 'phase information' of the ground just a few centimeters beneath my feet, it never reached me.

I manipulated the phase information in the same way, erasing the relief of the night sky as I looked up since it was annoying to look at.

This is my realm, the interior of my unfurled web, my domain.

"You...."

Only then did Sir Roland steady his breathing and open his mouth to speak.

"Are you, indeed, human?"

"...."

I repeated.

"What makes you think so?"

Roland said incredulously.

"Because...you don't look human."

It sounded meaningful in more ways than one but I didn't bother to answer.

In my silence, I felt a strange sense of discomfort.

The more I fought Roland, the more I quickly grew accustomed to and proficient at fighting as a mage.

No, it wasn't a quick learning curve, but more of a 'naturalness' that I couldn't explain.

It was as if my body remembered so I wordlessly focused my consciousness and on the memories imprinted on my body, like fumbling through Braille.

And then-

"<Garden of Original Sin>."

As I read the Braille at my fingertips, I unconsciously mouthed the words aloud.

<Garden of Original Sin>

With the words, another area spreads out over the barrier that has already spread, covering the entire area.

"─"

At the same time, the magic in my body began to deplete at a rate incomparable to anything I had ever done before, like a dam breaking.

Only then did I realize that what I was saying was the name of some kind of magic.

Just as I had been unfolding the magic I remembered by holding it in my mouth and pronouncing it.

I had never heard the name of that magic before. And judging by the amount of magic power consumed, it was clear that it wasn't ordinary magic.

-Poof.

It was then. In the Garden of Original Sin, centered at my feet, my vision went black, as if a light had been turned off.

I couldn't see but I tried my best to hide my panic and focus my consciousness.

I tried to hide my panic and focus my attention on the opponent I hadn't yet defeated.

But there was no need.

My vision returned to its deceptive blackness, like flipping a switch to turn a light back on.

When it returned, I gulped wordlessly at the scene before me.

There before me-Sir Roland was dead.

It was instant death.

"...."

I couldn't say anything.

He was literally dead in the blink of an eye. No sign of resistance, no screaming, no struggling. Before I knew it, he was dead.

The strongest man in the kingdom had just been alive, talking to me, fighting with me, but when I closed my eyes and opened them, he was dead, without a word or a scream.

I'm not even allowed to know what happened in between, or what happened to him.

As if to mock me for believing I understood Rain Gray, for believing I was familiar with his ways.

In the midst of the unknown, my opponent, who I had fought with the utmost determination and resolve, had been cut down without a single sound.

In a moment that can't even be called a fight.

As they say, this is the strength of Rain Gray, the leader of the Black Snake.

"...."

The invisible night sky had long since disappeared. So was the lone shining star in the night sky.

As if there was no one else whose fate was controlled by the Death Star from the beginning.

I looked at my hand without speaking. I moved it tentatively, and the five fingers moved freely and at my will.

The same was true of my legs.

This is my body.

I moved my legs turning to the man I had just been talking to and in the blink of an eye, he was dead.

Without a word, I took the Holy Spear from his hand.

The map and key to the Tomb of Heroes.

With this, I have fulfilled my purpose.

After completing what needed to be done, the barrier was lifted so I can go out into the scenery outside that would be waiting for me by now.