The Great Sword is not the Main Body!
Chapter 204 – Prayer

Alstein, whose time or place of appearance was impossible to determine, bowed in an unguarded manner like an old man ignorant of battle.

A posture full of openings.

Precisely because of that, his appearance was all the more suspicious, making it impossible to act rashly.

As pressure weighed down my entire body, I slowly retraced the sensation I’d felt at the tip of my sword when I cut Alstein earlier.

It was definitely familiar.

I’d felt it somewhere bef… 

Whoosh,  

Suddenly, a gloomy breeze brushed past my hair.

The wind of spirits. It flowed toward the fallen Serr and Laila. I urgently expanded my perception to examine their conditions.

The roots of Yggdrasil wrapping around Laila were rotting away, and the spirits of light pressing on Serr’s wounds were flickering out.

Hiding my trembling breath, I performed the same emergency treatment I had used on Rubia.

Crackle,  

Frost solidified, and a warm flame blossomed within. I wrapped them in feathers condensed with demonic energy, and sharpened Blood Aura over them.

Seeing Serr and Rubia collapsed and helpless made my insides burn.

I couldn’t breathe. My head felt like it was boiling.

Rage pushed to its limits, emotions thrashed in my chest, ready to explode.

Yet even then, Alstein stood with his head lowered, silently waiting for our greeting.

For a long while.

Drip.

The blood running down my torn hand leather finally fell to the floor, 

“Well, how awkward. No one’s saying a word.”

Alstein raised his head.

He was still smiling kindly.

“It has been a long time. Kartia. Do you remember me?”

[How could I forget, you bastard.]

Crack!

A harsh sound came from Kartia’s gripped hilt.

[How could I forget the bastard I tore to pieces with my own hands?]

“Hahaha! You bring up such a distressing memory.”

[Distressing? You dumbfuck. Don’t act all cool. You seriously don’t remember? Crying, sniveling, begging for your life? You slammed your head into the ground so much it probably stayed bald till now. Should’ve stopped while you were ahead.]

“Hmm, I was hoping it’d make me look a bit more seasoned. Is it really that unsightly? Then…”

Snap!

Alstein flicked his fingers.

In that instant, the dark aura surrounding him flashed.

“How about this appearance?”

No longer the figure of an old man, he now appeared as a dignified middle-aged man.

Though unseen, I could tell.

From his skeleton, muscular structure, organs, to his outward appearance.

Including the beating of his heart, not a single part was missing. It was the perfect body of a young man.

“I was the mercenary captain who took you in. Goodness, this man’s physique far surpassed a human’s. That such a magnificent person died so pathetically, who could’ve imagined a mercenary captain would fall to a pack of goblins? Hah… such a shame.”

Despite the words he spoke, Alstein’s smile never left his face. He flicked his fingers again.

Snap! 

Each time…

“Kartia, do you remember this face? It belonged to the subordinate who died in your place. Of course, there’s no way you could remember the countless faces of those filthy humans. After all, the number of people who died in your place exceeded tens of thousands. Haha!”

Snap!

His form changed again.

“Hm, you’d know this one, Frey. Your father. A man who faced a manticore to protect his family, how noble. When he was crushed without a trace… Pfft, ahem, my apologies.”

Snap! 

Another form.

“Ah yes, I still struggle with female vocal cords. But I tried hard. Look closely, Kartia. This is the face of the woman who was your right hand. Sharper than any blade, but dulled by love. They say love blinds, but I didn’t expect it to be true. The ending wasn’t pretty, if I recall. She was betrayed by the man she loved. Drugged, raped by dozens of men. I remember it well. I was among them, after all. Hahaha! Look here. There’s a mole hidden between her breasts. And one here, inside her groin.”

Snap!

His form changed ceaselessly.

“This one… ah, yes. The child you failed to protect, right? Did you know? That little kid was still alive at the time. Slowly dissolving in the belly of a giant serpent. Inside, they screamed, ‘Please! Save me!’ How hot it must’ve been. How agonizing. Just thinking about it brings me to tears. But if you had rescued them, they would’ve seen their parents devoured alive by monsters. Maybe it’s better this way? Preserving their innocence, after all.”

Snap!

Kartia and Frey’s memories, 

Snap!

Their nightmares, 

Snap!

One by one, he dragged them out.

Snap!

On and on.

Old men, girls, boys, beasts, monsters, women, men.

Alstein kept changing into the forms of people tied to Kartia and Frey, their comrades, their pasts.

Until, 

Snap!

He became a one-eyed man.

“When speaking of the past, you can’t leave this one out. He wasn’t a Challenger, yet surpassed them. Not a Master, yet outdid them. A swordsman who transcended all limits of humanity. Who would’ve imagined he’d cut down the world with that worn-out sword? Even the goddess I serve was astonished. It was quite the spectacle. But what does it matter, he’s dead now.”

Luchi.

“His wish was revenge. But can you really call it that? In Erden’s trial, he slaughtered the very villagers who helped him. He tore flesh, broke bones, and burned them alive. And not just that, he even killed his own little sister. Brutally. And that… revenge? Hahaha! Revenge against what? For what? It was just a tantrum. A tantrum born of self-loathing. He achieved nothing but running away. Not a swordsman. Not an adventurer. Nothing at all. Just a pitiful excuse for a human.”

The one-eyed man, Alstein, turned his gaze toward Rubia, who lay behind us.

“But still, I’d say she’s better than that discarded shell of a goddess rolling on the ground over there. Pitiful, isn’t it? Leaving behind attachments in the mortal world, forgetting her purpose. Isn’t it laughable? She must’ve thought she was human just because she wore a human form. Just a tool.”

Alstein smiled kindly at me.

“Of course, Challenger, you and I are of a different class. That is to say, we…”

Unlike those tools, 

“Are complete humans.”

I couldn’t bear it any longer.

I chose not to bear it anymore.

With a mind so hot it had turned cold, I had only one thought:

To kill Alstein.

I moved.

Whether or not my sword reached him no longer mattered.

I would kill him.

By any means necessary, I would kill him.

That was the only thought in my mind.

The moment I launched forward, I was already in front of Alstein. At the same time, his entire body became cloaked in dark light.

I swung my sword. Before I even thought of it, it was already swinging. 

Whoosh!

Just like before, my sword cleaved through the air, dispersing the dark light but failing to reach him.

Once again, 

That familiar sensation passed through my hands.

The sensation of slicing through dark light.

The feeling of slashing empty mist.

As if cutting a shadow.

I remembered.

It was the same as when I had cut Kalt’s body.

I grabbed hold of that faint thread with all my strength.

Recalling the memories, the sensations, I curled my fingers into claws.

And just as I was about to tear my own flesh and activate the [Hunger], 

Whoosh!

Frey’s thoughts passed by me clearly. I saw her expression vividly as she rushed forward.

I stopped.

I revised all the plans I had in my head and threw myself after them.

Kartia’s sword, radiating a piercing blue light, swung forward. Like mine, her blade tore through the air, rising toward the sky. Behind it, Frey’s sword came slicing down sharply.

Alstein’s brow furrowed. For the first time, he moved his body to avoid Frey’s sword.

Kartia had been right.

Frey’s sword could touch Alstein.

Whether it was because her soul had once been soaked in the fragment of the Nameless One, or because she was different from the start, I didn’t know.

But that didn’t matter.

What mattered, 

Was that Frey’s sword could reach Alstein.

Which meant we could force him to attack us.

If Alstein struck back, 

Then our swords could also strike him.

And if that was the case, 

We could kill him.

I lifted my head.

Gritting my teeth, I clenched my hilt so tightly it felt like it might snap.

And at that moment, 

“It is quite heartbreaking, isn’t it? To trample over newly sprouted hope. So then, let me leave no room for it from the beginning. Saving your trump card for when you’re near death is just foolish, after all.”

A black sun rose.

Dark light blanketed the sky.

The gaping maw of a massive beast stretched across the land.

A fortress-like wall wrapped around Alstein, and behind him, the towering gates of hell took shape.

But that wasn’t all.

The unique abilities, weapons, and legacies of every Master throughout history began to rise around Alstein.

At the center of it all, 

Alstein, who had been smiling kindly, now had his lips curled up in a wicked grin.

“I heard you wield the Beast of the End, so I decided to try it for myself. Reviving the dead and devouring them one by one was… rather disgusting. But as you can see, it’s incredibly effective.”

As he spoke, within his open mouth, 

Chunks of flesh clung, half-digested and stuck between his teeth.     

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