“Lies!” Minerva screamed, shaking her head. She felt terrified of the thought that she might have to trust someone again. She trembled intensely and said, “I can’t trust you. Anyone can say the things you said just now. I’m certain that you’re lying.”

“I don’t lie,” Kang Yoon-Soo said with a straight face.

Shaneth’s eyes opened wide, Henrick looked flabbergasted, and Iris tilted her head in confusion.

Minerva squinted and raised a brow, saying, “I can tell from the faces your friends are making. Don’t try to pull some stunt with me. I hate liars and traitors!”

“Let me rephrase it. I don’t lie to people who can benefit me,” Kang Yoon-Soo said.

“Benefit you?” Minerva asked, glaring in response to Kang Yoon-Soo’s brazen words.

It was then that Kang Yoon-Soo extended his hand and muttered, “Mass Raise Dead.”

The two torn-apart homunculi slowly stood up as undead.

Minerva’s eyes shot wide open as she muttered in disbelief, “That magic is…?”

“It’s the power I inherited from the Ultimate Necromancer, Nakron, who was another one of the Ancient Heroes,” Kang Yoon-Soo said.

“What are you trying to say?” Minerva asked.

“Nakron longed for you even after becoming a spirit. Additionally, he loved you until the end. Minerva, you might have been betrayed, but there is one man who loved you and believed in you until the end,” Kang Yoon-Soo replied. He then added one final sentence. “Trust me. I will repay your trust.”

Minerva stared at Kang Yoon-Soo, and Kang Yoon-Soo stared right back without avoiding her gaze. Only after quite a while had passed since they started their silent staring contest did she finally speak first. “Give me a moment…”

She then walked toward Kang Yoon-Soo and placed her hand on his forehead before saying, “I’ll be reading your mind now. Then, I’ll know if what you’re saying is real or not. Still, I need your permission for this magic to work.”

“I understand,” Kang Yoon-Soo replied. Minerva closed her eyes, and her consciousness slowly flowed into Kang Yoon-Soo’s mind.

***

Minerva was confused. She thought, ‘What the hell is this?’

A person’s mental landscape usually represented their personality and emotions. This place was a wide, desolate landscape. The ground was cracked, and warm, dry air blew across it. It felt as if the place were extremely detached from the real world, and was on the verge of collapse. There were various broken items littered across the ground, such as a broken scythe, a broken cradle, a disfigured doll, and an old, decayed, still heart. Across from them was a field of broken alcohol bottles.

Minerva was perplexed by the sight before her. She thought, ‘This is strange… A person’s mind isn’t usually this desolate. I’ve never seen such a place before in my life.’ She then decided, ‘Let’s take a look at this guy’s life first…’

She flew across Kang Yoon-Soo’s desolate consciousness, and soon after, she found doors that led to his memories. She observed the doors before her, which came in all shapes and colors. She thought in surprise, ‘What… are these…?’

This man’s memories were quite varied and plentiful. They were worth a hundred, no, a thousand times more than what a normal human would have. An ordinary person would normally just have one door that led to their memories, but Minerva was standing before hundreds of doors.

‘Why are there so many doors? How is it possible for this man to possess such varied memories?’ Minerva wondered. She had a lot of knowledge, to the point that she had gained the title of ‘Great Alchemist’, but Kang Yoon-Soo’s consciousness was a mystery to her. She wanted to take her time and go through each and every door, but she did not have the time to leisurely go through them one by one. Her main reason for entering was to check whether Kang Yoon-Soo was telling the truth or not.

Creak…

Minerva randomly opened one of the doors in the two-hundred range, then entered it. She hoped that she might find the memory she was looking for in there.

However, something unbelievable suddenly happened. Boundless darkness suddenly surrounded her and sucked her in the moment she opened and entered the door. Kang Yoon-Soo’s vast memories were actually trying to devour her alive. Minerva took a few steps back, but even an Ancient Hero was nothing but a feeble being in someone else’s consciousness. She was forced to watch the memory closest to the door, and the entire scene around her changed.

Kang Yoon-Soo was crying quietly amid a completely destroyed world.

“Don’t cry, you stupid bastard,” Henrick said with a smile. There was a huge hole in his chest that spurted blood, and he was near death’s door.

“But…” Kang Yoon-Soo murmured.

“This isn’t goodbye. You said you would regress twenty years in the past when the Demon Lord killed you, right? Then, we can meet again in the next life… Cough!” Henrick said before vomiting blood, but he was smiling. It seemed he was trying to reassure Kang Yoon-Soo that everything was going to be alright until his final breath.

“Come and find me again in the next life. I might not remember anything about you, but let’s become drinking buddies again,” he eventually said.

“I could never forget you, master,” Kang Yoon-Soo said.

“You stupid bastard! Your skills have already far surpassed mine. Don’t call me your master again… Cough! Cough!” Henrick said, even as his breathing became laborious.

“Please stop talking. It will be difficult for you,” Kang Yoon-Soo said.

“Shut up. It’s my mouth. I’ll do what I want with it,” Henrick said, even as the color in his eyes began to fade. He seemed to have lost his vision, staring emptily at the desolate sky as he said, “Just call me Henrick in your next life. Don’t even bother being formal, and don’t use any honorifics for me. Ah, that’s right. Just be rude to me. Show off what I’ve taught you in this life and humiliate me from our first meeting onward. Who knows? I might suddenly remember you if you step on me completely like that.”

“Please… Please…! Hyung!” Kang Yoon-Soo cried out.

“Don’t think this life was a failure… I know… You… You’ve… tried harder than anyone… else…” Henrick said softly before his eyes and mouth closed. Then, his breath gradually slowed until it came to a full stop, and Kang Yoon-Soo was left there on the ground hugging his lifeless body.

‘Oh my god…!’ Minerva exclaimed, as Kang Yoon-Soo’s emotions flowed into her. She could feel his sadness, his despair, and his loneliness at that time. The flurry of emotions shook her mental state, and she was driven to the brink of madness by the mental attack she was being bombarded with.

‘Kyaaaaaaakh!’ she screamed inwardly.

That was it.

***

“Eeuuuk!” Minerva gasped as her body flinched. She had been brought back to reality. She wiped her sweat-drenched forehead, then massaged her head as she was struck by a splitting headache. She could not believe what had just happened. She could not read his memories until the end, and she had been kicked out of his consciousness.

Minerva, who held the title of a hero, looked at Kang Yoon-Soo with a cautious gaze and asked, “What the hell are you? Even the countless powerful people I’ve faced didn’t have such an astonishing amount of memories. How much have you…!”

Kang Yoon-Soo cut her off and said, “Please do not disclose my memories so easily. Rather than that, I hope you will believe me from now on.” He spoke in a tone that was completely different from how he had previously sounded.

“…” Minerva stared at him for quite a while. Eventually, the man behind Kang Yoon-Soo came into view. She thought, ‘He called him Henrick…’

Henrick looked younger, but Minerva was certain that it was the same man who had died in the past. However, he was alive and well at the moment. It was unbelievable, but he was alive and standing right before her. She stared at Kang Yoon-Soo and thought, ‘This man’s life has repeated so many times that he had such an astonishing amount of memories.’

Then that meant he was likely to accomplish the vengeance she so desired, right?

Minerva asked in a quiet voice that could only be heard by Kang Yoon-Soo, “Did you come to me in the past as well? And… Did I give in to your request?”

“Yes,” Kang Yoon-Soo replied.

“Why do you keep regressing?” Minerva asked.

“I have no reason to tell you, but I can tell you that it’s not of my own free will,” Kang Yoon-Soo replied.

Minerva pondered for a while before eventually saying, “Follow me.”

Kang Yoon-Soo and his party followed her.

Henrick whispered, “I’ve always been curious, but how tough was his life that even an Ancient Hero would jump in surprise?”

“I’m curious as well, but I’m sure he’ll tell us when the right time comes,” Shaneth replied.

“Hmmm… Something smells fishy, I tell you,” Henrick said, rubbing his chin.

It was then that Iris suddenly whispered, “Kang Yoon-Soo is an amazing man.”

“What do you mean?” Henrick asked.

“Because in order to protect the things precious to him, he chose to stay alive,” Iris replied.

“…?” Henrick’s expression indicated that he had no idea what she was talking about, but Iris did not explain any further and just smiled in response.

They followed the Ancient Hero down the stairs. It was only then that Minerva finally turned around and began, “You asked me to pass down the secrets of alchemy to you, right? Then…”

“I have a favor to ask before that,” Kang Yoon-Soo said. He opened his backpack and took out an old, worn-out sword from it—it was the item he had taken out from the trial.

[Soulless Sword]

Rating: ???

A sword that was being guarded by Kelvatron in the Rerbar Rift. It is made of a rare material that can store a soul. The sword may evolve if processed with a special alchemic method.

+The sword’s power will change depending on the materials used to process it.

“Please infuse the strongest power you can into this sword,” Kang Yoon-Soo said.

“This… This isn’t a sword that was crafted in this era. It’s made from amazing material. Where did you get this?” Minerva asked.

“That’s none of your business,” Kang Yoon-Soo replied.

“…”

Minerva inspected the old, dull sword before bringing one of her glass containers over. The test container was filled with a sinister light, and the group could hear loud screams emerge from it from time to time.

Henrick rubbed his chin and said, “So this is the sound you guys have been hearing in the library.”

Iris suddenly jumped in fright, then ran and hid behind Shaneth.

“What’s wrong, unni?” Shaneth asked.

“I can feel a very sad and depressing aura from that container,” Iris replied.

Minerva nodded and said, “That’s right. The reason you cried was also because of these spirits.”

“Spirits?” Shaneth asked in surprise.

“These are the spirits of an ancient kingdom’s citizens, who were massacred by the Dragon of Destruction. This is the most sinister and powerful ingredient I have in my laboratory,” Minerva explained.

Shaneth looked at the container with revulsion as she said, “It’s making me depressed just by looking at it…”

“That’s how powerful it is. The power of emotion is quite a frightening thing,” Minerva explained before opening the glass container.

Then, the eerie, sinister light slowly flowed out of it. The atmosphere on the entire lower floor suddenly turned gloomy, and a depressing feeling settled in the hearts of the party members. Minerva waved her hand, and the light flew into the old sword that Kang Yoon-Soo had given her. The edges of the sword suddenly shone brightly.

[The Soulless Sword has evolved into the Spirit Sword.]

[The 105,267 souls of an ancient kingdom’s citizens reside in the sword.]

[It might seem like a useless, dull sword for now, but it can display the strength of a hundred thousand people.]

[However, you will need to have the ability to control a hundred thousand vengeful souls whenever you use it.]

Minerva passed the sword to Kang Yoon-Soo and said, “It’s a sword that has the power to devastate dozens of cities. It’s yours now.”

Kang Yoon-Soo slowly took hold of the sword. An eerie voice flowed out of the blade and said, “Hhhh… Who are you…?” It was the voice of an old man.

Kang Yoon-Soo replied, “Your master.”

“Hihihi… It’s a young man, perfect for me to swallow,” the voice of a middle-aged woman said.

The voices of the ancient kingdom’s citizens began speaking simultaneously.

“How dare this greenhorn call himself our master? This is disappointing…”

“Ahhh! How dare he put us in a dull sword like this! Is he crazy?”

“We won’t be satisfied with a sword! We want a human! We need a human we can dominate and control!”

“Citizens of the kingdom! Rise up! We’ll dominate this human and establish a new kingdom!”

The sword trembled uncontrollably, and a fierce wind blew around it, breaking numerous glass containers in the laboratory.

Henrick jumped up in surprise before shouting at Minerva, “Hey! Look here! That doesn’t look like a sword someone can use!”

However, Minerva replied coldly, “He should be able to handle something like this if he’s to resolve my grudge. Well, if he dies, that’s the end of that.”

The party members’ faces paled when they heard Minerva’s words.

“Ah! Damn it!” Henrick shouted, then tried to run toward Kang Yoon-Soo. However, the fierce winds from the sword blew him back.

Shaneth’s flames were extinguished by the winds, and even Iris was flung back by them. She screamed, “Kyaaaah!” 

However, Kang Yoon-Soo remained still while gripping the sword in his hand. The sword unleashed a terrifying aura as it tried to devour him whole.

Shaneth shouted desperately, “Let go of that sword!”

However, that was not possible at all. Kang Yoon-Soo was no longer able to even take a finger off the sword.

“Hihihihi! Hihihihi! You won’t be able to abandon us! You’ll be with us forever!”

“We have so many things we haven’t done for so long!”

“No need to be so worried. Just empty your mind and let us take control! It’s that simple!”

The hundred thousand souls merged together to form one powerful vengeful spirit, and the sword unleashed an even stronger aura as it prepared to finally devour Kang Yoon-Soo and take control of his body.

“Now, it’s time for you to offer yourself! You’re ours now, you weak human!”

Then, one message suddenly popped up.

[The target’s mind contains 20,004 years’ worth of memories.]

[It would be impossible to manipulate the target even if you mastered the skill.]

“W-Why…? What’s going on…?”

The spirits sounded flustered as they spoke.

However, Kang Yoon-Soo looked at the sword and said, “I only need the sword.” He grabbed the hilt and edge in both hands, then struck the sword against his knee as hard as he could before adding, “So I don’t need you guys.”

Crack!

A crack formed on the old sword.

“S-Spare me!”

“Noooo! I don’t want to disappear like this!”

“Kyaaaaaahk!”

The unity of the hundred thousand spirits instantly crumbled as they faced the danger of disappearing permanently, and the winds that surrounded the sword gradually grew weaker. However, Kang Yoon-Soo was unfazed, smashing his knee into the sword once again.

Clack… Crack…! Clang!

A myriad of screams emerged from the sword before it broke in half. Kang Yoon-Soo had just killed 105,267 spirits.