The World’s Greatest is Dead - Chapter 573

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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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The Heavenly Supreme Has Died – Episode 573
It was a mistake.
Or rather, it might not have been a mistake. I could have spared him easily enough. But I didn’t.
Perhaps it’s more accurate to say I couldn’t.
‘I had to cut him down.’
Was it a consequence of applying Magi? Or did the Divine Sword Unity hold some other meaning?
When I took that step forward, and in the moment I directly witnessed something from that man.
‘I couldn’t stop the blade.’
I had to cut him down unconditionally.
As if I had lived my entire life for that very purpose.
‘It’s a strange sensation, though.’
I examined my surroundings while grasping at that sensation with my hands.
“…The smell of blood vibrates through the air.”
I spoke as I removed my mask. The martial technique I had just unleashed had raised my body temperature far too high.
I had killed far too many humans. Dozens of enemies had been swept away by my blade.
[Do you feel any guilt?]
“How could I?”
I answered with a light chuckle. I never expected the Celestial Demon to ask such a question. Guilt? How could I possibly feel such a thing?
“That’s something only humans feel.”
[So those who died by your hand were not human?]
“At least not to me.”
Sympathy and guilt are feelings reserved for those worthy of them.
“You know as well as I do. Those bastards. They killed countless humans.”
[Haha.]
The Celestial Demon laughed at my words. The laughter felt somehow unpleasant.
“Why are you laughing?”
I wanted to ask why he was mocking me, but I couldn’t bring myself to do it. I didn’t have the audacity for that.
Simply.
‘Something became strange from that point on?’
Was it when I obtained the flame called Karmic Fire?
Or was it when I sensed something from the hidden elder of the Cheongwol Sect?
‘What should I call it.’
I felt like I understood something, yet it remained subtly irritating. I repeatedly clenched and unclenched my fists, trying to grasp it.
‘He told me not to rush.’
The Celestial Demon said I shouldn’t be curious about things I didn’t yet need to know.
‘As if that’s easy.’
It’s difficult to forget something once curiosity has taken hold. Especially with a mind that couldn’t forget anything to begin with.
[If you’re asking about the meaning of my laughter, it’s because your words lack logical consistency.]
The Celestial Demon continued speaking. It was a continuation of our earlier conversation.
[If the problem is taking countless lives, then neither the Lord nor you yourself view each other as human, do you not?]
If taking a life is sin and prevents one from being treated as human,
then what of me and you?
“What are you asking?”
I had already decided the answer to that question in my previous life.
“We would be no different.”
[Heh.]
At my resolute answer, the Celestial Demon let out a hollow laugh.
[What now.]
“I have given you my answer.”
[A response utterly devoid of flexibility, I see.]
“I’m simply not the type to concern myself with such things.”
Splash. I stepped forward, trampling the Blood Pool I had created myself.
Kyaaaaaaaa—!!!!
A curse-laden shriek echoed from behind. The sound of souls dissolving into oblivion.
I paid it no mind. Their screams reached toward me.
The cries of vengeful spirits often imprint themselves as curses upon the living.
‘How irritating.’
Such things held no sway over me. A curse from mere vengeful spirits of that caliber would vanish with a simple ear cleaning.
The real problem was.
“Is there anyone else?”
I had slaughtered everyone inside, so how was I supposed to obtain information now?
“…Tsk.”
This was troublesome, regardless of anything else. Realizing this, I examined the Inn.
I sensed almost no presence of people. Almost.
Almost meant.
‘A few still remained.’
Especially on that very top floor.
‘That one.’
The entity on the highest floor of this Inn fortunately seemed to be staying put. Rather, it was radiating its aura, announcing its presence here.
What was that fool doing? Regardless, since it was calling out to me, I should go.
I advanced. Creak. Creak. The sound of the staircase accompanied my ascent.
Crash—!!
The moment I reached the upper floor, something flew at me.
“Die!”
Those who had been hiding,
Slash.
“Gack!”
Cut down by my blade, they plummeted to the floor below.
Thud.
The faint sound of their fall from that height announced their final moments.
‘Are they not even considering escape?’
Just like before, these men showed no inclination to flee. Given the fierce battle raging below, I would have expected them to prioritize escape, yet instead they attempted to ambush and strike at me.
‘What could it be?’
A thought I’d been turning over in my mind since earlier.
I could tell from the expressions of those attacking me.
‘They don’t want to.’
Actions driven by compulsion.
It seemed like orders devoid of their own will, commands they were forced to obey regardless.
‘Patcheon Palace.’
Was it their aura that was the problem? In any case, those fraudulent bastards had always been like this.
‘Even in my past life, they did nothing but senseless things, and it’s no different here.’
If anything, violence and killing seemed comparatively easier for them, making it worse.
‘Damn these wretches.’
I’d barely crushed them in the previous world, and now this madness in another realm. I suppressed the sigh rising in my throat.
What could I do?
‘I’ll have to crush them again.’
Having witnessed this, I couldn’t remain idle. I had made a vow—
‘Regardless of what form you take, or what world you’re born into, it matters not to me.’
Those were my words, spoken as I watched the Heretic Leader vanish in flames.
‘Live as you wish. I will kill you again, as many times as it takes.’
Words spat out in fury became both a vow to myself and a curse.
‘Damn it.’
I should have said nothing.
Regret rose all the way to my throat.
Of course, it mattered little.
‘I would make the same choice.’
A thought that came to me before the door of the Inn’s highest floor. That even in identical circumstances, I would choose identically.
This cursed stubbornness would forever make life sorrowful.
“…Well then.”
I stepped forward and donned the mask once more. I wrapped my power around the object I’d brought with me.
Whoooosh.
A black shield—something I’d taken after killing a master swordsman before. I poured my strength into it and hurled it with all my might.
Crash!
The shield tore through the door. It was a fine instrument, its destructive power considerable. The shield, which seemed ready to demolish everything in its path—
Clang.
—was caught and halted in someone’s hand.
“Quite the audacious one, aren’t you?”
A man appeared, effortlessly blocking the power I’d infused into the shield. He had black hair and a face covered in scars.
“Who are you? You’ve taken my younger brother’s shield quite well.”
[His younger brother….]
Earlier, I’d called that man my younger brother. Looking more closely, our faces did seem to resemble each other.
“Twin Sword Ghosts. That was our epithet. Do you know of it?”
Twin Sword Ghosts. I knew that epithet well. They were masters renowned among the Heretical Sect.
A deep rumble echoed through the room.
The figure seated in the chair rose to his feet. Looking more carefully, I could see he carried a shield as well. A shield and—
‘A spear.’
So he wielded a long spear. The aura of his technique felt different.
‘Incomparable.’
A master of such caliber had been sitting alone in this inn? He would have sensed everything unfolding below.
‘Why didn’t he intervene?’
Why hadn’t he stepped in while his younger brother was dying? I wondered if they were estranged.
“Hwangbok. Your funeral rites—I shall conduct them myself, elder brother that I am.”
“….”
Yet the man was weeping. Drenched in sorrow, it seemed he and his brother had been close.
‘It appears.’
There was a reason he couldn’t intervene. I examined my surroundings with my eyes.
‘I see.’
After observing several details, the answer came to me.
[It seems you cannot leave this place.]
“….”
[You cannot take even a single step beyond this room. Isn’t that right?]
“…How did you….”
The man reacted with surprise at my words. The reason I’d deduced it was simple.
[Signs of your touch are everywhere—clothes scattered about in all directions. If you could leave freely, such items would be unnecessary.]
Chamber pots, clothes, scattered food—all of it told the same story. The fact that you remained motionless even as your brother died was itself the problem.
You didn’t step in even when the inn was under attack? That too speaks volumes.
[You’re bound.]
“….”
[Bound so you cannot leave this room.]
This man could not step beyond this room. He was clearly shackled by something.
“Heh…. Heheheh. Your eye for detail is keen….”
A heavy thud sounded.
He raised his shield and swung his spear lightly.
A sharp whistle cut through the air.
Wind swept across the room.
“I saved my life and gained another existence in exchange…. Had I known it would come to this, I would never have done it….”
[…Another existence?]
“…It’s all meaningless now…. Kuh… Kuhkuhkuh.”
A sharp sound pierced the silence.
Ssangdo, one of the Twin Sword Ghosts, pointed his spear at me, his killing intent fully unleashed.
[….]
A tingling sensation. This one was distinctly different from that younger brother from before.
“…I will not let you kill me. From the moment you stepped into this room, your life was already forfeit.”
[What foolish words.]
I drew my blade and spoke to him.
[There is nowhere the leader cannot go. I can reach anywhere.]
“So you truly are insane. Very well. Die then. I must attend to my brother’s funeral.”
Boom—!!
Ssangdo surged forward at tremendous speed. I could see the shield.
Screech—! I deflected it with my blade and redirected the force.
Heavy. The inner force coiled around the shield pushed forward as if to shatter my sword’s power.
The shield alone was problematic, but he wielded another weapon as well.
“Hwooop!!”
I blocked the attack with the shield and thrust the spear forward. I twisted my waist and barely evaded, but—
Prick—!
‘Tsk.’
At that speed, a shallow wound opened at my waist. Had I been even slightly slower, my abdomen would have been pierced.
How much of my inner force remained? Setting aside my spiritual energy, I had to operate inefficiently due to using Magi.
‘Divine Blade Unity.’
I needed to end this quickly. I immediately entered the Realm of Emptiness. That was when—
“This bastard—a master of that level!”
That being’s state was changing as well. He entered the world of Divine Blade Unity alongside me.
‘A master who has set foot in that place.’
He too had stepped into Divine Blade Unity. Should I call it Divine Spear Unity? The name mattered little.
What mattered was that he could reach this place as well.
“I must discover his identity somehow…. I need to see what manner of man he is.”
Ssangdo approached, raising his momentum.
‘Shhhhh.’
I regulated my breathing. I had already experienced Divine Blade Unity through Yoo Yeon.
It was a clash of ideologies against ideologies.
‘Again.’
Something else revealed itself in that gap.
If Wolseon Geomro showed me the sword path I must walk—
‘This is.’
It shows me where to strike. The activation condition is Divine Blade Unity? It seems to be so.
“Dieeee!!!”
He charged. I released my inner force and unleashed a razor-sharp spear.
Clang.
I applied inner force to the Celestial Demon Divine Blade. I compressed it and wove it together more sharply.
My breath caught for a moment.
Crack.
“Huh?”
The spear shattered against the divine blade I swung. Just like that.
Screeeech—!!
“Gack!?”
I severed his right arm along with his shield.
“Gaaaahhh!!”
[…Phew.]
Releasing the tension of that moment, I spoke to the man.
[Good. This time I didn’t kill him.]
[…You’re insane.]
The Celestial Demon spoke in response to my satisfied words.
There was a real sense of distance in that tone.

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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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