Beyond the Eternity

I pulled out my smartphone and tried checking the them. Unfortunately, the phone didn't come on. The battery must have ran out some time ago.

[Four Tiger Sword's durability has worn out.]

The blade of the Four Tiger Splitting Sword scattered and turned to dust.

It was a pity but this was just a scam item from the beginning. The real deal was somewhere else.

"Ugh... my head hurts."

Lee Suhye groaned as she slowly regained consciousness.

"You were out for a while," I replied.

"What happened? Did we win?"

"If we hadn't acted, we'd be dead. If we lost, that bastard would have fed our corpses to the monsters, used us as decorations, or taken our heads as trophies."

"Alright, I get it. It was a stupid question. Geez..."

Lee Suhye looked around and noticed the change in the background.

"Wait, where are we? Are we still at Seoul University?"

"Yes, we're on the rooftop. I need you to stay here."

"Huh? Why?"

I pointed at the unconscious Soo Jinyoung.

Lee Suhye's eyes widened in disbelief.

"Soo Jinyoung... she's alive?"

"Yes. After I defeated the dungeon master, her wounds began to heal on their own."

"You mean self-regeneration? I didn't know she could do that."

"There's a lot of things you don't know about Soo Jinyoung."

Her expression cracked slightly. She may admire Soo Jinyoung's strength, but she doesn't truly know the core of Soo Jinyoung.

"I see... Thank you, Jakga-ssi."

In response, I gave a wry smile.

Truthfully, I hadn't done much. If anyone deserved her gratitude, it was Soo Jinyoung. She was the true MVP of the boss battle.

I shifted my gaze around the rooftop and noticed the other party members.

Jung Yunhee and Angelica stared into the distance with distant expressions as if lost in thought. Somewhere within the ruined Seoul, their families were either hiding in a safe shelter or already dead.

It was a grim reality that was needed to acknowledged.

I silently approached an item on the floor without anyone noticing. Although I entered the library dungeon to save Soo Jinyoung, my real objective was the special reward for the tenth floor.

I narrowed my eyes. There were unknown characters written on the box. I couldn't read them but there was no need to read it since I already know.

Random Item Box. According to the main story, Song Jaewon only discovered the existence this item after failing to clear the dungeon.

Who was the character that discovered this item? Was it the High Priestess? It was hard to remember the exact details but this item was amazing item.

I opened the black box and hilt of the broken Tiger sword inside. Shortly, the box began to glow and tremble.

[The random draw has started!]

From its name, the random item box was something that randomly spat high ranked items related to the one you put in, with possibilities ranging from C grade to SSS grade. Basically, it functioned like a gacha box and like any gacha boxes, it was impossible to know what would come out.

I didn't know what would come out but it was obviously going to be something better than my current item.

My heart raced and sweat coated my palms. I reflected on my terrible luck with gacha boxes— it seemed nonexistent.

My mind slowly the past experiences I had with online games, rare rewards were a rarity. In fact, the number of rare items I found in a gacha box could be counted on one hand.

[A high-ranked item has arrived.]

Soon, the box stopped trembling and the faint golden light subsided. I reluctantly approached and opened the box.

Please, let it be an A-ranked artifact.

When I opened the box lid, my eyes widened. Inside the box, there was a sword. It was a sword that resumbled the original Four-Tiger Sword.

I picked up the sword and checked its information.

+

[Item information]

Name: Evil Breaking Sword

Rating: Heroic

Description: A sword from the past era. It has the ability to ward off evil and malevolent spirits. However, It cannot be used for killing living beings.

+

I was dumbfounded. I was expecting a sword around A rank but a great item suddenly appeared instead.

Heroic Relics were one of the strongest items anyone could find in the World of Nightmares. It wasn't just because of their extreme performance but because they were also special

Every Heroic relics contained the powers of a certain Heroic Spirit or a Constellation.

The performance of heroic relics varied naturally depending on the constellation or heroic spirit. For example, Zeus's weapon would command lightning and the skies, while Poseidon's weapon would govern the seas.

Yet one of these heroic relics was casually resting in my hand. I can see why both the reincarnator and regressor tried challenging this dungeon despite the unreasonable difficulty.

After placing the sword into the dimensional storage ring, I turned to Lee Suhye and spoke.

"As I mentioned earlier, you need to stay here with Soo Jinyoung. Her physical injuries are healed but she might have suffered from some psychological or mental damage."

"Understood. I couldn't leave this place even if I wanted to."

Lee Suhye looked at her body. She was healed but it was too early for her to move freely.

"Very well. Angelica, Jung Yunhee, let's head back to the warehouse."

As we went down the stairs, Angelica asked a meaningful question. Perhaps she was thinking about it all this time.

"Is it okay to leave Lee Suhye and Soo Jinyoung alone? What about that person?"

"Ah, that. It'll be okay. Just like we teleported to the rooftop, that person must have been teleported as well."

Although I explained it calmly, I was also not sure. Although I knew he was teleported, I didn't know the exact location.

Perhaps he was close, perhaps he was far away.

The teleportation mechanism was completely random so there was no way of knowing his exact location. In any case, it should take him a long time before he gets here considering what happened in the library.

Without warning, Aurora appeared, sat on top my head and folded her arms. Was she in a foul mood?

[You... Do you know what I have been through?]

'It's about the constellations, right? Did they give you a hard time?'

[Sigh... I'm tired.]

A faint smile formed when I heard Aurora grumbling.

Maybe the constellations are more simple minded than I initially thought.

'So what happened?'

[It was an uproar! As soon as the news got out, new constellations flooded the channel— some were even major figures. Do you have any idea how many messages I had to block? They even resorted to threats. Ugh... they were so rude.]

I anticipated a strong reaction from the constellations. Clearing an unbeatable dungeon would surely drive some of them crazy. When a noteworthy individual catches their attention, they'll stop at nothing to make them their incarnation. They even harassed the fairy to reach me.

Doesn't this mean a new pathway of possibilities will be opened?

[Speaking of which, it's pretty unbelievable that you defeated the library keeper on your own. I heard He was designed to be unbeatable.]

I chuckled.

'Not really. That person was not unbeatable since I killed him. Besides, Soo Jinyoung was secretly helping me the entire time.'

[Huh? Are you messing with me?]

'No. Without her help, I wouldn't have defeated the dungeon master.'

[Explain. Tell me, tell me.]

She bent down and bought her face closer to mine. It should be okay since we were using the private messaging channel. I began to explain while going down the stairs.

'The library keeper has the power to bring his thoughts into reality. However, it's a double edged sword. That power can be used against him as well. That's how I won.'

Aurora frowned as if dissatisfied with my explanation.

[You defeated the dungeon master by using his anxiety against him? It can't be that simple. You can't just fool the dungeon master with just acting.]

'True, I couldn't defeat the library keeper with just acting. I needed to plant a seed of doubt in the library keeper's heart. Thus, I needed to overwhelm his first two strikes.'

[I can understand that but how did you dogde his second strike? You dodged his second attack without dodging. Wait, don't tell me...]

'Yes, it's what you're thinking. The reason why he missed the second time wasn't because of my acting but because Jinyoung used her power to create an optical illusion around the library keeper.'

[... ]

Aurora looked at me with a stupid expression.

'What's up with that dumb expression? It's very simple. Soo Jinyoung has power over flames. Utilizing heated air to generate mirages and alter light refraction to produce optical illusions is within her capabilities as well.'

[That's not what I'm surprised about! Wasn't she in a state between life and death the entire time? How was she able to use her power in such a state?!]

'Yes, but she was alive, was she not? Skills can be activated with just a mental command so as long as you're conscious. In the end, that's all that matters.'

Though the anxieties of the library keeper was the source of his self destruction, the one that drove him to self destruction was none other than me.

Speaking of which, there was something that has been bothering me for a while.

'The words of the library keeper before died... Why was it censored?'

[He must have said something unnecessary so his words were filtered out.]

Filtered out?

My mind recalled the words of a character from the novel.

「 The 'Principality' represents the fundamental laws that govern the totality 」

Has the [Law of Principality] already taken effect?

In the original story, there was alot of censorship due to the discovery of both the reincarnator and the regressor. Even so, it was too early for the censorship to appear. Perhaps it was the main reason why so many constellations paid attention to me now.

[A few constellations are curious about your existence.]

[The constellation 'Architect of Destruction' is laughing and kicking their feet.]

[The constellation 'Destroyer of Santicity' is silently looking at you.]

[5000 coins has been sponsored.]

It was a situation born from a misunderstanding. More importantly...

'Wait, so you could mute the constellations indirect messages all time?'

[Of course I can. Do you know many indirect messages that I had to block?]

'I see. Can you leave the constellations on mute? I only want to receive messages about coins sponsorships.'

[Look at this greedy fellow. You're lucky the constellations didn't hear what you just said.]

'Please... If you do, I'll give you lots of cookies.'

[Hmph. I won't be easily bribed.]

Aurora puffed her cheeks and disappeared. Wasn't she becoming more cute everytime I saw her?

In any case, that was the end of that chapter. A chapter was closing and a new chapter was opening.

My expression turned grim as recalled the future events. The most troublesome arc in the Song of the Fall.

I stopped infront of the party members and turned around.

"Is something wrong?" Angell inquired, her voice laced with concern.

I took a deep breath before responding. "Yes, I'm afraid so. From here onwards, things are going to become more difficult so I'll need your full cooperation. Our survival will depend on it."

"Understood. What are you planning?"

"We'll create a fake story."

I retrieved the white smiling mask and slipped it onto my face.

Initially, it felt a bit awkward, but it soon began to mold itself to my features. In the next moment, the mask felt as though it had seamlessly integrated with my skin.

[You have become the new owner of the Holy Relic.]

[Input the name of the target's face you wish to wear.]

"From this moment onwards, I'm Soo Jinyoung."