The Swords I Raised Are Too Strong - Chapter 62
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 62. A Reversal (2)
【South Korea has occupied Chinese territory.】
The voice of the world.
Everyone truly hears it.
I remember hearing it a few times back when I was an unawakened person.
‘Most of it was about Jesus back then….’
How he performed miracles.
How he brought heaven to the mortal realm.
Ah, there was also talk of the Patriot reclaiming Dokdo.
But now—.
【The occupier, Shin Si-woo.】
That protagonist is me.
Though it’s happened before, this is the only time I know of where someone ‘occupied’ a foreign nation.
And that someone who occupied Chinese land has become ‘me’.
This isn’t simply a matter of South Korea occupying China.
‘That bastard Patriot?’
My head tilted involuntarily.
Wondering if I was overreacting, I turned my head….
“What are you going to do about this, Si-woo?”
Seol-ah was also looking at me with a bewildered expression.
Honestly, I had no idea what to do.
“What could the Patriot’s intention be? It can’t be that he’s just giving up the reward….”
“Well, according to Father’s theory—.”
She brought up something that didn’t quite add up.
That theory which Kang Mu-jin and the President had been arguing.
“Actually, isn’t the Patriot perhaps afraid of openly becoming China’s enemy?”
She believed in the Patriot’s strength-weakness-weakness-strength theory, proving herself to be Kang Mu-jin’s blood relative.
‘I’ve been skeptical about it all this time….’
But now this situation was starting to make some sense.
Though I wouldn’t know until the reward actually appears.
‘If….’
If truly enormous things are given as occupation rewards?
Then the Patriot’s strength-weakness-weakness-strength theory would make sense.
The Patriot had insisted that I should be the one to occupy this land because my contribution was overwhelming.
But it seemed like there was more to it than just that reason.
‘The Patriot is the only one who’s ever planted a flag on foreign soil or disputed territory.’
Since the midpoint of the Gate crisis—precisely after appeared and humanity’s survival became threatened—the Patriot is the only one who has directly engaged in war-like actions.
Usually, nations are too busy preventing their own disasters.
By the way, Dokdo is our territory, but immediately after the Gate crisis, from a global perspective, it was [neutral] territory that both Korea and Japan claimed as their own.
‘The Dokdo flag incident was the first.’
What if the Patriot hadn’t told me?
I wouldn’t have even known that compensation was being offered.
Yet the Patriot informed me of everything.
‘Whether he was afraid or not, at least he didn’t want to be disliked.’
All of this felt like extraordinarily good news to me.
“Why are you smiling?”
“Because I need to ask the Patriot for something rather firmly.”
“What is it?”
Before attacking North Korea, I had met Im Ji-ah, the Saint of Destiny.
Among the three cards I drew at that time, the second card contained a prophecy about the Patriot.
“What prophecy?”
“That would be—.”
I gave my sister a brief explanation.
First, let me describe the card itself.
[A picture of me wielding dual swords and coercing the Patriot.]
It was an image of me, holding two Ego Swords, aiming them at the Patriot’s throat.
“You aimed two swords at the Patriot’s throat?”
“Coincidentally, yes.”
“Does that mean you’re supposed to kill the Patriot… wait, no? Didn’t that Saint say the Patriot tried to execute her!”
My sister Seol-ah asked in startled confusion upon hearing the explanation.
This is why the gambler Saint’s image is so poor.
‘Well, it’s certainly a picture that warrants that interpretation.’
However, the Saint of Destiny, Im Ji-ah, offered an entirely unexpected interpretation.
“Two swords mean the number 2.”
“Then, aiming a sword at the throat means to forge friendship?”
I attempted my own interpretation, recalling the cases of Iris Ruzbella and Muratan.
“No. In cases like this, you should interpret it exactly as it appears. It means to coerce.”
A crude method of interpretation.
Yet Im Ji-ah’s accuracy rate stands at 100% so far.
So I relayed her interpretation as is.
“Two swords mean 2, and you’re supposed to coerce the Patriot with it? What in the world does that even mean?”
“Literally, it means ‘Coerce the Patriot into 2.'”
“What is 2?”
“I don’t know either.”
I had asked the Saint the same question.
But I didn’t get the answer I wanted.
“If I told you, the Patriot would collapse miserably.”
Once I learned the true meaning of ‘2’, the Patriot would crumble.
That was something that absolutely could not happen.
Lost in such thoughts—.
“Si-woo, the person you need to persuade is drifting further away, isn’t he?”
My sister pointed toward the sky.
Twelve aircraft carriers, moving slowly but steadily into the distance.
It was a rather absurd sight.
Was he pinning the occupation of China on someone else and fleeing?
Or did it hold some deeper meaning I wasn’t grasping?
How could someone of alternating strength and weakness publicly execute tens of thousands?
A thousand thoughts crowded my mind.
Yet there was one thing I could be certain of regarding the Patriot—.
“What will you do?”
“Just let him be.”
I couldn’t afford to move against the Patriot.
The Patriot was someone who must never crumble.
Now that I’d transcended, I understood.
Without the Patriot….
‘I’d suffer alone.’
I could say it with certainty.
The psychological and physical burden a transcendent bears is no trivial matter.
Even the 170,000 people of Jeonju weighed heavily on my heart, and now that it extended to an entire nation, the dizziness was overwhelming.
Without a transcendent, the world cannot exist.
Coming to North Korea made me feel it even more acutely.
‘Of course, if I abandoned everything, things would become easier.’
Leave South Korea and live alone.
Or eliminate all of humanity faster than creatures like the Evil God.
Then I’d survive, at least.
“You seem to be thinking something terrifying.”
My sister’s sharp question, her perceptiveness honed to a razor’s edge.
“That’s not it.”
I shrugged and deflected with a smile.
And in that moment, I arrived at one certainty.
‘I could never do something so insane.’
Let everyone die and live alone.
That doesn’t suit my nature.
Justice. Salvation.
That’s why my later Swords gravitated toward those ideals.
Excluding Iris Ruzbella, most of them ultimately saved the world in their own ways.
Each in the finest manner befitting their nature.
‘But this much is certain.’
I organized my thoughts calmly and shared one truth with my sister.
“At the very least, the Patriot has never caused me harm.”
Looking at the messages pouring down before my eyes, I could be certain of one thing.
And….
‘This is something.’
Ironically enough.
I had come to realize that this act of ‘occupation’ was truly captivating.
Whoosh!
[Ownership of the occupied territory is transferred.]
[All authority over the corresponding territory is granted to the Sword Master, Shin Si-woo.]
[Authority to alter the region using Mystery.]
[Right to designate territorial boundaries and declare independence as a sovereign nation.]
[Tax collection rights over the territory.]
[Power over life and death of residents.]
︙
All manner of messages continued to stream in.
* * *
[Northern South Korea: Ruler—Shin Si-woo.]
Was I supposed to become a Grand Duke of the North?
I had obtained something absurd.
‘Sovereignty over territory.’
Suddenly, Seoul’s Gwanghwamun came to mind.
An underground bunker with spatial expansion capable of accommodating 45 million people.
Water purification and air filtration systems, along with an enormous reserve of Mystery sufficient to maintain them for five years.
Wasn’t Gwanghwamun Plaza in South Korea a place that couldn’t be realized with current Mystery technology?
‘The master of Gwanghwamun must be the Patriot.’
As for the church in the United States—the Grand Canyon—I could roughly understand that as well.
The axis of a barrier protecting the American mainland 24 hours, 365 days, and the focal point through which Jesus’s world-class divine power is channeled.
Most likely, each government had transferred it to their strongest transcendent being.
Through this, I learned one fact—.
‘Territory changes depending on how it’s used.’
I could reshape North Korea to my liking.
Whether by recreating the world where the Swords once dwelled, or by gathering things they favored and creating a pleasant environment to live in.
‘Perhaps….’
The Swords might manifest in their true forms within my territory.
This was, quite literally, an enormous possibility.
When my thoughts had reached this point.
Whoooosh———.
An aircraft carrier slowly flew toward me.
Then a portal suddenly appeared.
Crossing through the portal and arriving at the [Command Center] of the carrier, the Patriot greeted me with great fanfare.
“You’re quite late.”
“Junior, you said you’d strike Mount Baekdu! I already ran reconnaissance and cleared the path beforehand.”
I watched as he sent out bombers and circled the perimeter for about thirty minutes.
“Ahem.”
“Cough.”
Glancing around subtly, I noticed the President and his aides in the command center had turned their heads away.
Only the Patriot was speaking to me.
“We swept all the radars around Mount Baekdu, but those bastards are vicious! There’s nothing showing up.”
Normally, I would have thought ‘as expected!’ but….
‘Why does it sound like an excuse?’
I found myself reading meaning into every glance and gesture the Patriot made.
It was like I kept obsessing over the pattern of strong-weak-weak-strong.
‘I really hope that’s not it.’
Because he was the Patriot, wasn’t he?
The mad superhuman who kept South Korea alive.
Before my awakening, as an ordinary citizen, I had harbored conflicted feelings toward such an existence, which made this feeling all the more intense.
“What about the compensation?”
“It’s incredible, sir. Following Gwanghwamun, even Dokdo… What exactly did you do to achieve this?”
The aircraft carrier moved forward at an oddly leisurely pace.
Thanks to that, I could hear vivid explanations about the territories.
“Materializing imagination. That’s exactly the feeling. It’s damn good. You just think and pay the price, and everything works out?”
At Gwanghwamun, I embedded the obsession: ‘South Korea must never fall!!!’
At Dokdo, I embedded the hatred: ‘If the Japanese invade, I’ll slaughter them all!!!’
The Patriot had thoroughly materialized his own justice for each territory, it seemed.
“Then….”
There was a reason I boarded the aircraft carrier before even testing my territorial abilities.
There was such a thing as priority, after all.
“What exactly have the Chinese bastards been doing here?”
I am the occupier of this place.
However, it was China that swallowed North Korea when it collapsed in the early days of the Gate incident.
Back when there was no such thing as world opinion.
“Those guys are always the same.”
The Patriot’s face contorted.
The expression conveyed a willingness that screamed ‘I wouldn’t mind devouring them right now!’
There was no further comment, but I roughly understood the meaning.
And now, the time for casual conversation had ended.
Whoosh!
[Find the fragment of negation, the clue to the World Quest.]
[Condition fulfilled.]
Mount Baekdu began to loom larger and larger.
A massive greatsword embedded in Baekdu Lake.
It was a message that appeared before my eyes immediately after gazing upon it.
‘Fragment of Negation.’
That which I had absorbed while slaying the British Doctor.
The name of the fragment I absorbed back then was ‘Shard of the Great Britain Empire.’
Additionally, a message appeared indicating that a World Quest was being prepared.
It seems that preparation has now been completed.
“How strange—the aircraft carrier’s radar isn’t picking anything up. Cunning bastards.”
An aircraft carrier hovering at a position higher than Mount Baekdu.
It was positioned overlooking the border of China.
Yet there was nothing to see.
“Junior, is that the Great Wall of China I’ve only heard about?”
A pitch-black barrier stretched upward to the edge of the sky.
Though I doubted that was actually the Great Wall of China….
In any case, Patriot continued speaking.
“You’ll have to handle that barrier yourself, won’t you?”
The source creating that barrier was unmistakable.
A brilliant flash.
[Fragment of Negation.]
A colossal greatsword—as massive as the Jamsil Lotte Tower embedded in Baekdu Lake, as enormous as a dragon’s lair.
Though its form should have gleamed brilliantly as a holy blade, this sword was engulfed in pitch-black darkness.
Moreover, the blade bore a grotesquely sinister name.
‘The proportions are flawless, the balance perfect, the aesthetic impeccable.’
Just like the blades I myself had designed.
Should it escape from that darkness, the greatsword would reclaim its true magnificent form.
“Junior, you must be careful. If you draw that blade, the barrier will vanish.”
The barrier dividing China and North Korea was likely the influence of [Fragment of Negation].
“The Chinese military could surge forward immediately!!!”
I understood well.
Yet I would still draw it.
“I trust that you will hold back China, Patriot.”
Those were my words.
To be honest, I wasn’t entirely confident in Patriot.
“Seeing the devastation of North Korea, I can’t even fathom how catastrophic China might be!!!”
“I’ll leave the rear to you.”
Yet I would place my faith in Patriot.
‘I’m going.’
A solitary blade, embedded in the mountain like an iron will.
Yet its presence shone with unmistakable clarity, clearly crying out to me for salvation.
* * *
‘This is hopeless.’
Patriot watched Shin Si-woo.
That madman, leaping from the aircraft carrier and gliding through the sky.
Look at that eccentric fool, charging toward that massive iron-cored blade with a twisted grin on his face.
‘Has it been too long since we fed the Demon?’
It was clear he was eagerly anticipating war with China.
China might have other things, but its population alone was staggering!
Shin Si-woo didn’t understand that was the problem.
‘What if they summon tens of thousands of those Necromancer Evil Gods and wait in ambush?’
Patriot had experienced Sino-Korean wars hundreds of times.
Each time, vivid memories of struggling against their ‘overwhelming’ numerical superiority remained sharp.
China’s ‘overwhelming numbers’ were beyond what ordinary human thinking could even imagine.
‘People, weapons, supplies—everything exceeded imagination.’
Armies numbering in the tens of millions.
Tanks lined up by the millions.
Even in nuclear war, their quantities were insanely abundant.
Hadn’t there been times when we nearly lost to China firing ten thousand nuclear warheads?
‘I dragged out the time, but it was only three hours….’
Now it was spilled milk.
That bastard Shin Si-woo worked at a manic pace.
Since it seemed to be about feeding the Demon, I couldn’t bring myself to stop him forcefully.
‘What if he gets upset about missing feeding time and decides to feed our citizens instead?’
It was paranoid worry.
In any case, extracting that iron-cored greatsword didn’t seem like it would end quickly—.
“Huh?”
That’s certainly what I thought.
The moment Shin Si-woo touched the greatsword, a change occurred.
“Insane. Why is it disappearing right away?”
Patriot asked Yi Sun-sin.
“I don’t know. It’s a strange object that doesn’t even register on radar….”
Yi Sun-sin, Yulgok Yi I, Cheok Jun-kyung.
The most intelligent beings Patriot knew couldn’t comprehend this phenomenon.
As we exchanged these brief words, the change became even more vivid.
Swooooooosh———.
A brilliant golden wave surged across the pitch-black greatsword.
As if being reborn anew.
The grotesque cursed blade transformed into the appearance of a holy sacred blade.
And then, suddenly!
Boom———.
Shin Si-woo’s original sword gleamed with manic brilliance.
Red, gray, gold, blue.
The jewels radiate with brilliant, iridescent light.
An overwhelming force pulsed through the air.
Crack, crackle———.
Fractures spread across the colossal greatsword embedded in Mount Baekdu.
The cracks widened, and soon the blade shattered completely.
Then it simply vanished.
Boom————!!!
“That… that massive sword just collapsed?”
The black barrier that had sealed off China was anchored by the greatsword Shin Si-woo had destroyed.
With it gone, the barrier itself began to change.
Patriot turned his gaze.
“The Great Wall of China!!!”
The barrier separating China and North Korea slowly faded away.
The first change detected was on the aircraft carrier’s radar display.
[1,341]
[3,053]
[10,660]
[31,246]
[101,349]
[303,987]
“Patriot, the enemy numbers are substantial.”
“They’re likely not human entities.”
A realm of inhuman demons.
Such was the reality of North Korea.
Then what of China?
Grotesque creatures with massive tentacles would undoubtedly swarm the continent, alongside horrifyingly transformed undead roaming freely.
“All units, prepare for large-scale engagement with China!”
Patriot commanded.
The aircraft carrier fleet immediately mobilized.
Whirrrrrrr———.
The carrier’s artillery turrets swiveled toward China.
All bombers launched through the gap where the barrier had vanished.
Beyond that, Yi Sun-sin advanced a single aircraft carrier to the front lines.
“Patriot, requesting authorization!”
“Authorization granted!”
An overwhelming display of military force, born from the Constellations’ request and Patriot’s approval.
It was—.
【Self-Destruct Sequence Activated.】
A devastating strike consuming an entire aircraft carrier.
I needed to drastically reduce their numbers from the start.
An Aircraft Carrier’s regeneration time is twenty-four hours.
Considering the number of bombers pouring out from an Aircraft Carrier, a twenty-four-hour gap represents a massive loss.
Nevertheless, China is the enemy worthy of sacrificing an Aircraft Carrier.
‘Hundreds of thousands of colossal mutant beasts. Or something even more horrifying.’
When the Patriot’s tension reached its peak.
Crrrunch———!!!!
The Barrier shattered into fragments, scattering in all directions.
And simultaneously, the sky revealed itself.
Beyond it….
‘A grotesque demonic realm—.’
The Patriot swallowed hard, his eyes narrowing.
He had witnessed an utterly shocking sight.
That place, China….
Chirrrp———.
Warm sunlight.
A clear and pristine sky came into view.
Green grass swayed gently in the breeze—an entirely natural, intact landscape stretched before him.
“Why is this?”
The Patriot blinked in bewilderment.
He gazed at the Chinese territory visible beneath Mount Baekdu.
“Why… why is it like that?”
That place was far too ordinary….
Like the scenery of our South Korea, it was beautiful nature.
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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