Book 2: Chapter 415
Decent.
That was the thought she had when she saw Lukas pick up the sword.
It couldn’t be called an accurate indicator, but when you reached Sama Ryeong’s level, it became possible to tell how skilled someone was by the way they held a sword.
‘Is he a Swordsman?’
Of course, it was hard to call him a great master or anything of the sort, but it was impossible to have such a natural grip without decades of experience.
Sama Ryeong soon denied that possibility.
He hadn’t had a sword when she’d seen him the first time. The same was true now. He had been completely empty-handed until he’d picked up the Black Knight’s sword.
That was impossible for a Swordsman. It was the same for Sama Ryeong. She’d lost her sword quite a few times in the dump site, but every time she rummaged through the corpses, it returned.
“…”
[…]
Lucid and Lukas.
The atmosphere that formed when their eyes met made it hard for the onlookers to speak.
Lucid was impatient as he looked at Lukas.
This attitude was certainly quite strange. This feeling was stronger in Sama Ryeong, who had fought him more closely, than anyone else.
‘Why?’
What was he hesitating about? Everything would be over as long as he took his sword back.
She was certain that Lucid had the power to do that. Sama Ryeong knew.
She and the other participants had risked their lives in the battle just now, but Lucid hadn’t. That expression might not be an appropriate expression to use on a Knight who scattered death, but he hadn’t used his death power to its maximum.
Because she couldn’t see his expression, she couldn’t see his emotions. That’s why she hadn’t realised he wasn’t doing his best.
When even a fatal attack like cutting off his head had no effect, she realised.
In other words,
Lucid could have killed all of them at the same time if he wanted to.
‘Why didn’t he?’
And why was he not moving in front of Lukas now?
Did that weak guy have that much latent power? Did he have enough latent power to make the Knight of Death wary?
It was Haspin who broke Sama Ryeong out of her thoughts.
“Are you here to help?”
It was a lonely voice. Lukas turned to look at Haspin. The moment he saw that dark light in his black eyes, he had an indescribable feeling of anxiety.
“As you can see, the current situation is very dangerous. Could you please lend us your strength?”
This time, he spoke in a more polite tone.
In almost a direct contradiction to this, a cold smirk appeared on Lukas’ face.
“You want my help?”
“Right.”
“…”
Instead of answering, Lukas spun the sword in his hand several times.
Rather than a display of swordsmanship, it was a light movement, like a warm up exercise.
“This certainly is a famed sword.”
After that soft mutter, he suddenly threw the sword into the air.
Swoosh!
The blade flew through the air.
It was a sudden throw, but Lucid was able to catch it without difficulty. In all honesty, it was quite simple.
‘…he threw it?’
No. It couldn’t really be said that he threw it. Deukid, which had just flown towards Lucid, hadn’t had the slightest intent to attack, let alone killing intent.
It was just that,
Deukid had been returned to Lucid.
“Madman.”
Daihad sighed as he tapped his forehead with his finger.
“…do you know what you just did?”
Haspin’s voice was quieter than Daihad’s murmur, but it was still much clearer in everyone’s ears.
Even though he didn’t know, Lukas smirked.
“I returned a sword to an old friend. Is there a problem?”
“An old friend?”
“I don’t know what the hell you’re talking about.”
Daihad seemed to be having trouble maintaining his composure.
“Let me check something first. Hey, monster.”
[…]
“Don’t look around. Even without looking, you should know you’re the only person here that can be called a monster, right?”
Lucid didn’t show any particular reaction, but Daihad continued to speak as if he didn’t care.
“I’m curious about something. This self proclaimed ‘old friend’ of yours, who is standing in front of you, just returned your sword, will you spare him for old time’s sake?”
[No exceptions.]
Lucid replied in a low voice.
Sama Ryeong noticed that the faint signs of agitation that he had displayed before were now gone.
[Everyone here will experience death.]
“Is that so?”
Daihad turned to make eyes at Lukas as if to say, ‘now do you understand what you’ve done?’.
Suddenly, Lukas’ attitude changed. His smile disappeared. It wasn’t just that, there was a stark change aura as if he had changed masks.
“You’re self aware, Lucid.”
[…]
“That’s a funny joke… So you’re obedient to those white bones despite being self aware?”
[That’s right.]
Lukas suddenly looked around.
His eyes swept past Sama Ryeong, Haspin, Daihad, and Jacob.
“Let’s have a talk, alone.”
The moment he muttered those words softly, an incredible sight unfolded.
Following the sound of wind blowing, the ground about half a step around Lukas and Lucid vanished, and the two of them also disappeared without a trace as if they’d evaporated.
“What?”
“What…?”
Daihad and Haspin walked over to where they stood, but the ground had already been fixed. Naturally, there were no signs of them there.
Flop.
At the same time, Sama Ryeong lost consciousness. In fact, she’d long exceeded her limits, but when she saw Lucid disappear, she was no longer able to maintain the tension that had been keeping her conscious.
Out of all of those there, only one of them had a faint idea about this magical sight.
“…no way.”
Jacob, who was still in the sky, muttered in disbelief.
* * *
Taht.
The sound of the landing was so light that no one would believe it belonged to a heavily armoured Knight with unimaginable weight. Lucid, who landed lightly, looked around. This wasn’t a completely new space. The surrounding area still looked like a forest.
But the colours were strange. As if their colours had been reversed, the leaves were black or grey instead of green. The sky also seemed to have become grey.
“A severed world.”
Lukas appeared.
“Of course, with your sword, you should be able to tear through the space and escape. With ease.”
[Are you telling me not to do that?”]
“I didn’t bring you here because I wanted to imprison you. I said I want to talk.”
[I have nothing to say. I need to fulfil the role that was assigned to me.]
“Scattering Death?”
Lukas chuckled.
“Diablo said ‘The Great Game’ will soon begin in this place. At first glance, that and the role you’re playing seem to have a causal connection… But it probably doesn’t.”
[…]
“I thought about it for about 10 years. Why I was suddenly called here. Why the World of Void existed in the first place. What Diablo’s goal was.”
[Did you get an answer?]
“The answer I got was that I don’t need answers. I don’t know if I was like that in the past, but the current me is.”
[Why?]
“Because my goal is…”
Lukas said up there before suddenly stopping, then he shook his head and frowned.
“…if you intend to fight me, I’d advise you to change what you’re holding first.”
[What do you mean?]
“Don’t act like you don’t know. Or do you want me to make one for you now? How about this?”
After saying that, Lukas stretched out his hand to the right. Crack crack, wood and rocks were quickly shredded and processed. Before long, they gradually began to take the shape of a weapon.
A single spear.
Although it was made of unsightly materials, the shape was still quite plausible.
Lukas lightly spun the spear like a windmill. It felt like he was checking the weight, durability and killing power of the weapon. Then, with a satisfactory nod, he threw it toward Lucid.
But Lucid didn’t catch it the way he’d caught the thrown Deukid, instead, he took half a step backwards.
Puk.
The spear stabbed into the ground diagonally.
Lukas tilted his head.
“Do you not like it? I suppose the materials are a bit cheap.”
[…]
“Compared to that famed sword it is inferior, but wouldn’t you be closer to your full strength if you used that instead of a sword?”
[I don’t know what the hell you’re talking about.]
“Come to think of it, Lucid, your shoulders seem broader than usual.”
[…]
“You’re wearing a helmet too, so it took me a while to notice, but your voice has also become deeper… is it because you’ve become an undead?”
[My voice is the same. With regard to my physique, I might appear a bit bulkier because of the armour.]
“Now you’re the one saying something strange. Your current musculature doesn’t seem like a woman at all.”
If Lucid hadn’t been wearing a helmet, he might have shown some expression on his dead face at that moment.
[…what the hell are you talking about, Lukas? I was a man.] (TL: Craftsman(?) Lukas x Fem Spearman Lucid? Sounds promising.)
“It’s not me, you’re the one saying something strange. Clearly you…”
After saying that, Lukas’ expression hardened a terrifying amount.
“No. No. I. And you…”
A soft murmur sounded.
[…Lukas.]
“No. The basis is still me…”
Lucid’s aura sank.
Then he, here.
He remembered where Lukas had been before entering the space the Corpse Ghost had created.
[…even beings with minds of steel usually don’t eat more than a double digit number of corpses when they go to the dump site.]
Lukas wasn’t listening to him and continued to mutter to himself nonstop. Regardless of his attitude, Lucid continued.
[This is because it’s possible to become oversaturated. This is no different from taking the first few steps to destruction with your own two feet. Isn’t that natural? The target is none other than yourself. Just as the efficiency of predation is maximised, too much of it makes it a poison.]
Lucid knew.
Just how big the container of this man named Lukas was.
If he preyed on ordinary beings, Lukas could probably consume units of millions or tens of millions without difficulty. Despite this, there would be no wavering in his mental strength.
But the ones Lukas had preyed on weren’t ordinary people.
Even though they were fragile and insignificant when compared to Lukas, their essence was still the same.
Lukas was strong now. What was scarier was that he had yet to fully digest the power within him. It was like there was a huge chunk of ice inside him, and only the smallest part of it had melted so far.
But that wasn’t the point.
It wasn’t about the strong power he’d gained.
It was the fact that he’d absorbed an uncountable number of ‘selves’.
The greatest danger they posed… was chaos.
Overlapping memories. Overlapping intelligence. Overlapping personalities. And overlapping nature.
The chaos that would result from that was not something that any being could handle.
[You might be the best out of all the ‘Lukas’. However, the soul container of beings who were born identical will certainly be the same.]
“….”
Lukas slowly turned his head.
At some point, the murmuring had stopped, and his swaying figure had straightened. The hands that were holding his head lowered, and a smile spread across his lips as he looked at Lucid. It was a smile of clear madness.
Lucid’s gauntlets crumpled.
This was because he clenched his fists so hard his black armour began to creak.
[…answer me. How many Lukas’ did you eat in the dump site.]
(TL: Well that explains Lukas’ seemingly split personality behaviour. That’s basically what he has. I’ve always had a thing for mentally unstable characters so I hope he doesn’t recover completely… but I suppose a Lukas that isn’t fully in control isn’t really the Lukas we’re used to.
Also, can we just take a moment to visualise how badass weaponmaster Lukas is, easily wielding a bunch of different weapons.)