0.01 Second Sword Master

197

0.01 Seconds Swordmaster Chapter 197

Thud.

Rahal’s body, now headless, crumpled to the ground.

And from within, a golden soul emerged and spoke to me.

[Aslan. Do you know what you have just done? You are shaking the very foundation that sustains this world.]

“That is not your concern. If you truly were the foundation of this world, you should have been cut down long ago.”

I held the soul in place with my blade, preventing its escape.

[Aslan.]

It spoke to me just before vanishing.

[You will soon realize that the outside world is far worse than this place.]

“What do you mean?”

[The outside world is more horrific than hell itself… ]

It could not finish its words before it dissipated.

Rahal was finally dead.

Thunder rumbled—!!

Perhaps that was why.

A bolt from the blue struck the dry sky, and the heavens trembled.

—

The system window that always provided me with information was now filled with all sorts of error messages.

So, was the system window that gave me information also connected to Rahal?

I brought my hand to the golden orb that emerged from Rahal’s body.

As if it had found a new master, it quickly drew into me.

[New Administrator]

[You have obtained administrator privileges.]

“Administrator privileges?”

So, how do I use this?

There was no explanation for it at all.

I tried to exert my power here and there, but nothing seemed to work.

Just then.

Crackle-! Crackle-!

Noise.

Yes. It was definitely noise.

A sound I had never heard in this world was clearly ringing in my ears.

And what appeared before my eyes was,

[V. Is something wrong? It seems your signal has been cut off.]

[V? Why did the signal suddenly drop?]

[The administrator’s signal has been cut off. That’s strange.]

There were countless screens.

The appearances of those who appeared on the screens were all similar.

To the Rahal I had just killed.

[Wait. Who are you?]

[You’re Aslan, right? How are you on this channel?]

They looked at my face in confusion but quickly grasped the situation.

[No way. A new administrator.]

[V was killed by this guy? How on earth?]

[That’s impossible. Could an administrator really die? Especially to a character?!]

[That’s not an ordinary character. It’s a player!]

They buzzed and fell into chaos.

I glanced over the hundreds of screens.

These are the administrators.

The ones who force people into this damn game.

“It’s you.”

A genuine rage surged within me.

How many people have been deceived by these b*stards to play this hellish game?

“Dare to deceive humans, you false gods.”

At my words, they raised their voices.

[Shut up! How the hell did you kill V?]

[A player killing an administrator? That’s impossible!]

[What do we do? What measures should we take!]

[Shouldn’t we go and eliminate him ourselves?]

From their conversation, I could discern one thing.

The blue-haired Rahal spoke.

Shouldn’t we go and eliminate him ourselves?

“How dare these worthless creatures wag their tongues.”

[What?!]

[Kill that b*stard right now!]

[Wait. I’ll go take a look.]

No sooner had the words left his mouth than a portal opened right in front of me.

The blue-haired Rahal slowly stepped out.

My heart sank for a moment.

The only reason I was able to defeat Rahal earlier was because he wielded the power of darkness.

Without that, I would have been miserably killed by his hands.

And now, I was facing a being with the same power as that Rahal.

If that b*stard doesn’t have the power of darkness, then this time I…

“Tsk. V, this guy is causing all sorts of trouble. An administrator being killed by a player? What an embarrassing situation!”

He scratched his head and in an instant, closed the distance, swinging his arm.

Boom—!!

A heavy blow.

—

But,

‘It’s more bearable than I thought?’

No. It’s not just bearable.

It was merely a ticklish level.

The Rahal I fought against had each strike be threatening, and the shield of Suho screamed as it shattered.

But why does this guy seem so weak?

The Rahal I fought, was he absurdly strong?

Or perhaps…

‘Have I become stronger?’

After absorbing Rahal’s power and becoming a new administrator, have I grown stronger?

As that thought crossed my mind, I abandoned my defensive stance and drew my sword.

Swoosh-!

Then I swung it at this blue-haired Rahal.

“Uh… uh…!”

Boom-!!

The sword I unleashed deflected his blade, and the guy who was pushed back to the rear coughed and burst forth from the thick smoke.

“What, what the hell…?”

He looked at me as if he couldn’t believe it.

I could see the bewilderment rising in his eyes.

“A bug like you, indeed possesses a power lesser than a bug.”

“Th-this is nonsense. Is this really a player? No player could have this kind of power!”

“Shut up.”

Crack-!!

I shattered the barrier he had raised and, in front of everyone, stabbed deep into his core with my sword.

“Gah!”

The blue-haired Rahal crumpled to his knees as if collapsing.

“This can’t be… How can a player…”

“Arrogant, false god. How dare you judge my power with your pitiful thoughts.”

I placed my hand on his head.

And as I applied force, his head shattered like porcelain.

—

Let me know if you need anything else!

“Uaaah!”

With that, it vanished along with the light.

[······!]

[!?]

The administrators watching the scene seemed at a loss for words.

I stared directly at their location.

I wasn’t looking at them.

I was looking at the scenery behind them.

Because of that,

“So you were hiding in a place like this. You little rat.”

I could go to where they were.

W-What?! H-How did I even get here?”

When I appeared after the pillar of light fell, it reacted as if it had seen a ghost.

The administrators watching this scene on another screen were also utterly shocked.

[How is that even possible?!]

[S-Someone, please step up and stop this!]

[Didn’t you just see K die? It’s a being that our powers can’t touch!]

[But if we all join forces and attack at once…!]

[You do that. I’m out.]

Even when we should have been joining forces, they were too busy fighting among themselves.

And even in that moment, my bravado was restless and rampaging.

“I’ve made my decision.”

[······?]

“You are evil in your very existence. Therefore, I will find and eliminate all of you.”

[W-What a joke! Do you think we’ll go down that easily?]

[You don’t even know where we are!]

“I remember all of your faces. I remember exactly where you are. So no one can dare escape from me. Just like the one right here.”

Swish-!

I struck the frozen yellow-haired Rahal right in front of me.

Its severed head rolled across the floor.

I spoke to the black-haired Rahal, who was looking at me with frightened eyes on the screen.

“Is it your turn next?”

The creature trembled like a quaking aspen and turned off the screen.

But it was futile.

I already knew where it was.

* * *

“Ugh—”

How many times has it been now?

I had encountered countless Rahals, killing them and experiencing that world.

“Looks like you don’t even have the strength to run away anymore, huh?”

It should have been simple to meet and kill the Rahals in each world, but these creatures wouldn’t just sit still; the moment they saw me, they fled, which made me roughly aware of how each world was unfolding.

In this world, it seemed that Alexander had saved the world and become a hero, just as the original story went.

Yet for some reason, Alexander had fallen, and as you can see, he had transformed into something devilish, collapsing beneath my feet.

That Rahal had tried to draw in the fallen Alexander to stop me, protecting its own body.

However, despite the multitude of demons, including Alexander, they failed to protect their god.

“Do you want to live?”

It nodded vigorously.

This creature was nothing more than a mere character filled with the same desire to live as the people of this world.

“Then answer my question. How can I return to the original world? Not this game world, but the real world.”

“T-That is…”

I had already asked this question hundreds of times.

Yet, I still couldn’t get a proper answer.

Seeing it hesitate to speak, it seemed to be in the same predicament.

“Just wasting my time.”

As I raised my sword high, it screamed in terror.

“W-Wait! Ah, I’ll tell you!”

“If you’re just trying to stall for time…”

“N-No, I really will tell you!”

It let out a short sigh.

“In fact, we administrators can’t go to the outside world either. So we don’t know how to leave as administrators.”

“Then you’re saying you want me to die.”

“Wait a moment. You can do it. If a player dies in the game, they automatically move to the outside world.”

“Are you telling me to die?”

“No. You are both a player and an administrator, so there must be something you can do with the administrator’s authority.”

“Administrator’s authority?”

At that moment, countless information windows suddenly appeared in front of me.

I could call up the information of the character I wanted at any time, and if I wanted, I could change the abilities of that character, including their location.

Not only that, but there was also an option to reset this world back to its original state if I desired.

‘Wait. A reset?’

So it was possible to reset.

‘Then why did that guy die at my hands?’

The first one I killed, Rahal.

He could have reset the world, yet he chose not to.

If he had reset it, he could have returned me to my original state and taken away all my abilities, right?

‘These guys might not care about resetting since it’s not their world, but why didn’t that guy do it?’

I had questions, but that wasn’t what mattered right now.

“You have the ability to open a portal. Then, think of the original world and try to open a portal. It might have been impossible before, but now it should be possible. Perhaps…”

“Perhaps?”

“Uh, I can’t be sure about that…”

“I see.”

As I tried to open the portal, he suddenly blocked my way.

“You need to think carefully. The outside world may not be what you expect. I’ve never seen the outside world myself, but I’ve heard it’s hell. And we are helping those who have fallen into that hell.”

I laughed in disbelief.

“Helping humans? You guys forcibly abducted them. Without any notice. And made them feel the fear of countless deaths. I don’t even believe the claim that they can return to the original world after dying.”

“······.”

“All I believe is what I have seen with my own eyes.”

I recalled the original world I had been in and tried to open the portal.

Sure enough.

Kwaaa-!

I thought it was a lie, but the portal really opened.

“······.”

I found myself drawn to that place and asked Rahal, who was quietly watching me.

“If I go in there… will I be able to come back?”

“If you can open the door from this side, there must be a way to open it from the other side as well.”

“I see. Thank you.”

“Wait, just a moment!”

Puh-!

Before I left through the portal, I took off his head.

“Gotta make sure to finish things properly.”

I took a deep breath and stepped through the portal.

It was finally time to return home for real.