Chapter 751: To The End (10)
What I was feeling was something really close to joy.
I couldn’t figure out how to describe the situation, but I thought it would be similar to joy. The uplifting feeling that I had felt before spread all over my body.
The vast battlefield was laid out for me. When all the puzzle pieces fit, the primordial pleasure that humans experienced swept through my back. In fact, be it in the first timeline or the second timeline, I had never put special meaning into battles.
It would be more appropriate to say I had no opinion about it. I really meant that. How could anyone give war a special meaning?
Screams were coming from everywhere, and bodies were covered with sweat and blood. There were lots of heavy gasps for breath, and the fear of dying abounded. I was often exhausted after the battle, and I couldn’t sleep with anxiety the night before the war itself.
Of course, there were different kinds from time to time.
There should be people who truly enjoyed warfare.
The Mercenary Queen enjoyed the battle itself in the first and second timelines, so couldn’t she be included in that category? I wasn’t talking about the blood-crazy people wandering the battlefield.
Cha Hee-ra, the Guild Master of the Red Mercenary, was a kind of human who really enjoyed brawls and combat. Perhaps she felt the same kind of pleasure.
No, it couldn’t be.
She had never been through the battlefield with him. Perhaps what she felt was a different kind of emotion than mine.
I felt that everything was organically connected. The moment I soared above the sky, I sensed the pouring Breath, but I didn’t even have to turn my head. I knew it was going to pa.s.s by me.
The dragon’s Breath that pa.s.sed right beside my ear swept through the angels in front of me.
I could see a s.p.a.ce that was unlikely to open, but I didn’t lead my body there.
The place I had to head for wasn’t there. At that moment, when the bigger s.p.a.ce was reflected in my eyes, I felt myself moving forward as the wings soared.
It was like I was running on an open highway. I could swing my sword without thinking.
Although it might sound a bit exaggerated, it seemed that the enemies had given up their own vital spots. I was the only one who escaped from the light and magic that thundered forth from all directions.
‘This…’
It was new.
The sense of being in an unimaginably well-organized warzone felt new every time.
‘It’s fun.’
I was having fun on the battlefield that I hated so much that I thought it was ironic, yet it was bound to be that way. It was hard to say it’s a pleasure that came from the battle itself. The only problem was…
‘Is his body in a normal condition?’
His body wasn’t in the right condition at that moment.
‘Should I stop this now?’
He was someone that always put his health second, so it wouldn’t be unreasonable to look like that. When I recalled his bleeding in an emaciated state, I bit my lips tightly once again.
‘It is burdensome to him.’
That was a natural problem. A human was taking a huge amount of data that would’ve overloaded even computers.
I had never heard of or seen a battlefield controlled to the point where it was close to the foresight of the future.
It was a miracle and a feat in itself that a human realized that. Of course, I knew he was special, but…
There was also a possibility that there was something wrong with his health. His body was damaged even before the war started. Maybe he had reached his limit.
‘I have to make him stop.’
I thought I had to leave him alone as soon as possible, but my body continued to want to accept the sensation.
‘I have to make him stop…’
But was that meaningful?
‘Can I finish it?’
Could I put an end to this battlefield without him?
“It’s impossible. It’s absolutely… impossible.”
I wasn’t justifying wanting to feel the sensation over and over again.
It was literally impossible to end the war without Kiyoung.
Where was I supposed to be headed? Where should I swing my sword, and where could I fight?
The warzone spread across the northern part was vast. Even if I had acc.u.mulated a lot of experience, it was impossible to look at the battlefield in the same way geniuses looked at it.
I couldn’t see or understand the view that Kiyoung was witnessing. He always made reasonable judgments that had no errors and no mistakes. He didn’t tolerate even the smallest things.
He understood better than anyone how he could use the support called Kim Hyunsung.
Without him… Yes, I could win the battle against the angels in front of me right at that moment, but I wouldn’t be able to win the war.
‘I can’t help it.’
I needed him.
‘More… more.’
I quickly spread my wings and swung my sword.
‘More… more!’
I didn’t stop moving even right after I came down to the ground.
“Clear.”
I took down the spear that flew in from the left.
‘More… I can do more. More.’
“Clear.”
My surroundings changed quickly. It was difficult to properly inspect the battlefield, thanks to the scenery pa.s.sing by too fast.
‘I can still do more. More.’
It felt like my eyes weren’t keeping up with my body’s speed, but it didn’t matter. I had someone to be my eyes.
“Clear.”
After taking a short breath, the recovery magic immediately fell on my body. It seemed that they also activated a recovery spell, but I didn’t feel like I had run out of stamina in the first place.
It didn’t mean that I wasn’t out of breath. I was breathing heavily, and my muscles were screaming. However, I wasn’t tired at all.
I felt my brain already being full of adrenaline, and the pleasant sensation continued to put strength into my body as if I had entered a kind of zone.
The wind caressing my face felt refreshing. Feeling out of breath also felt good.
‘More. I can do more.’
I thought I could be faster. I thought I could be sharper.
I didn’t think I was tired, and I felt like I could fight all day long. As if I was constantly thirsty, my body continued to desire the battlefield.
‘I can still do more.’
However, the quests stopped coming.
‘I can move a little faster.’
No further command was given.
Why…?
Did I hit the limit?
That must’ve been it. Kiyoung understood what I could do and how I could move. He had a complete understanding of what kind of performance I could show. Perhaps…
‘Is he judging that my body can’t hold up?’
It was difficult to self-diagnose exactly how my body was doing. It wasn’t easy to think about anything else because of my focus on wielding my sword and moving my feet.
The warzone was wide. He might’ve been thinking that I got exhausted quickly or that I should retire soon.
‘I think I can do more.’
No. His judgment was correct. At that moment, the answer was to adjust the pace. However, it wouldn’t be bad to increase the tension a little more.
I wanted to say that I was okay, but it wasn’t easy to speak out because I felt I would be forcing too much.
Instead, I started to move a bit more than I was commanded. Maybe he would see that I could afford to do a little more. He definitely would. However, no more missions arrived. In the end, I had to speak carefully. I wasn’t trying to convince myself, but it seemed like the answer was to end the war like this.
“I will increase my pace a little more.”
-…
Still, no other command came.
‘Does he think it’s impossible…’
Was he really judging that my body was facing its limits?
‘I can still do more…’
I had to show that that wasn’t the end.
I still couldn’t hear his voice. My mind became complicated because I still thought it wasn’t enough. It was then, as I held my sword tighter by the sudden sense of shame, that I noticed something.
“Huh…”
The change started to happen slowly yet also suddenly. The first thing that became different was the view of the battlefield.
“What… what… the h.e.l.l…”
It felt as if I was looking at the world through the eyes of an insect. I felt a tremendous pain in my left eye and touched it, but it soon began to disappear.
It wasn’t only the front that was visible in my vision. From the side and the back, the vast battlefield and a multi-angle view entered my sights from top to bottom.
It hurt, almost enough to break my mind, due to the amount of information that came in instantly. I came to understand everything.
I got to know how powerful the angel in front of me was, how the war situation was going, and what I needed to do at that moment.
The sensation of my wings seemingly be spiking swept behind my back, and completely new feelings came as soon as it disappeared.
Did they say that dogs gained tens of thousands of information by smelling? I thought I was currently in a similar situation.
The breathing of the enemies, the allies’ state, the cold floor, and the dried blood, the flow of air, the texture of the skin, and all the sensations I felt all at once were new.
Among them, the newest was…
“Haha.”
The sense of being connected with him.
“Ha… Hahaha!”
I wasn’t sure, but there’s something I could feel. It was as if we were connected.
Maybe Kiyoung was feeling the same thing. I knew everything about his breathing and physical condition as a partner on the battlefield.
It was as if he was right behind me, in front of me, and beside me all at the same time. I removed the receiver that was plugged into my ear. I didn’t need anything like it anymore.
I was finally recognized. Finally, I could stand next to him. The sense of accomplishment was wrapped around my whole body, and I had no choice but to grab my legs, which were shaking momentarily.
-Are you okay?
“Yes. I’m fine.”
I heard the voice that resonated inside my head rather than from my ear.
-Are you really okay?
I swung my sword and grabbed my head with my other hand.
I wasn’t used to the sensation of my head exploding. My left eye, which I thought was okay, kept throbbing.
‘Why…’
I thought I could see why that genius was considerate of me.
‘Kim Hyunsung… Kim Hyunsung… This moron. The idiot… doesn’t even know his place…’
I was able to realize why he hadn’t said those words so far.
-You don’t have to force yourself. It looks like it isn’t possible yet. It’s a shame, but…
“No. It’s fine. I’m fine. I can handle it. Yes.”
-Let’s see the status.
“I am… I am okay.”
-If you’re tired, you can always tell me. You don’t have to overdo it.
“I can do this… even all day.”
-If you say so… I will connect in earnest.
‘Is this… not connected fully yet?’
-From now on, I will not send or explain the coordinates. I think you’ll be able to immediately feel it.
“Yes… I can feel it. I think I can feel it.”
-Then…
“Yes?”
-You can just act.
“…”
-What are you doing? Move.
I slowly removed my hand that grabbed my left vision, and I started to smile.
A whole new world was spread before my eyes.