64 – Save Point: Chapter 2
The enraged spectators.
The blood droplets suspended in mid-air.
The laughter filled with madness.
Everything came to a halt.
It feels as if someone has frozen time itself, and everything around becomes frozen.
The same goes for the abilities of the Illusionist.
The ability that had tormented her for the past few days disappeared in an instant. She was surprised to see her body move as she pleased.
“Uh, uh?”
And soon, she realized one thing.
In this eerie scene where everything had stopped, she was the only one moving.
But that was not all.
[Searching for Save Point!]
[Opening Player Log!]
As time passed, the frozen time began to rearrange.
The audience moved away, the pain subsided, and even the Illusionist moved away.
Just like Ulysses did, Lily’s moments of suffering disappeared in the blink of an eye.
Lily was extremely confused by this, but the miracle did not end there.
The warrior whose neck had been severed returned, and the party members who had lost their lives came back to life.
Although Lily wasn’t as devout as Ulysses, she was quick-witted enough to realize the truth.
“We’re going back to the past…?”
And in addition to that, she realized that she was experiencing the perspective of a ‘hero,’ not herself.
“How did this happen…?”
She was momentarily confused, but she continued to observe the scene in front of her.
The time that was going back for a long time seemed to become like a film, showing different scenes one by one.
Just like in Ulysses.
Various types of heroes were lined up in order.
The sight of a hero suffering behind the public eye was revealed one by one.
The path he walked was full of sorrow, and sometimes he felt depressed.
In the past, Ulysses felt sadness here. Each of those scenes made his heart ache.
“······.”
However, Lily is a little different.
No, in that scene, her heart still hurt, but she looked at a different place first.
She watched the hero’s great achievement.
“Did he really come all the way through that…?”
The scene where he cut down thousands of monsters on the day he came to save her.
“And did he capture Olek too?”
The scene where he fought in the sewer covered in curses.
“Oh my, Ulysses’ words were true…?”
The day she first captured the Four Emperors and even captured the ancient calamity, the scenes like that.
All the scenes she saw were records that would be remembered in history. They were magnificent and awe-inspiring…
And at the same time, they were brutal.
Wherever he fought, his blood always burst out, and his flesh was torn and his bones were broken.
Even she, who was watching, was always hurt to the point where her impression was wrinkled.
However, because of his incredible regenerative ability, he quickly disappeared.
Beneath it, there were numerous unnoticed scars.
And although they were not visible, there were also a few scars that would last forever.
“I offer 20 years of my life.”
The time when I sacrificed my soul to fight against an ancient calamity.
“I offer my little finger.”
The time when I temporarily severed my little finger to test my abilities, and so on.
Lily didn’t even know that the hero had such abilities.
Because she had never seen him use that power in front of their party members.
The abilities she witnessed were the footsteps of desperation.
An ability that made impossible challenges possible and allowed one to win an unwinnable fight.
That’s why she had to give up things that couldn’t easily be discarded and endure unimaginable pain.
The power of sacrifice she witnessed was powerful, but it seemed too cruel.
He fought against the Demon King’s army, enduring such pain. And to put it differently… he was always subjected to harsh persecution for being such a person.
“…”
A bitter taste came from her mouth. Her heart became heavier. The hero’s abilities did not stop there.
As time went back and forth, it eventually reached the beginning.
The reason why the hero could become a hero.
The reason why an ordinary man could rise to the position of a renowned strongman in an instant.
And… the reason why she couldn’t help but have unnecessary doubts whenever she saw him.
“I dedicate our connection.”
Brilliant lights emerged from the dark alleys of the filthy empire.
As if blessing his path or comforting him.
The dazzling lights quickly disappeared into the darkness of the alley, but at least they left behind a result.
And so, the hero was born into the world, burdened with millions of lives.
“······Ah.”
Upon seeing that, Lily momentarily lost her words.
It felt like her breath was being choked. Even if she tried to speak, the words wouldn’t come out near her throat.
Why? Why did she feel a thrill in his footsteps like she did with Ulysses?
Was it because she was moved by his nobility or bravery?
No. It was a more blatant and ordinary emotion.
The emotion Lily felt towards Luke was guilt.
Guilt for burdening one person with such a heavy load. Guilt for not letting him know about such circumstances, and so on…
[Player log is too extensive!]
[Initiating data expansion.]
[Reviewing save point…]
Even after the video ended, Lily remained still for a while. Ironically, this time she didn’t return to the past right away.
In a shattered world, only the hero’s logs floated aimlessly in disorder.
Lily stayed there and replayed the logs.
Every time she picked up a fragment, the video replayed.
The fragments she held were scenes that remained vividly in her memory. The moment the hero emerged from the sewer, fighting with all his might, grabbing the tail.
At that time, the hero was exhausted from his battle with Olek. He went through the process of having his bones and flesh torn apart, his mind worn out, repeated several times.
“On your path, there is no glory.”
“There will be no honor.”
“But why would you choose such a path?”
In the midst of it all, he also heard the sweet invitation to join the Demon Army.
From Noble mtl dot com
“For f*ck’s sake… At least the people need to be saved.”
Despite everything, he endured all the obstacles and defeated Olek. It was an achievement that took place in a place unseen by anyone. If the underground sewer had been breached, thousands of people might have died.
No, perhaps the entire city could have been destroyed.
Originally, there would have been insufficient praise no matter how many people sent their compliments.
But what returned to him was only criticism and suspicion.
She interrogated him, blamed him, and later became angry, firing off words to hurt him indiscriminately.
What was he thinking at that time?
“…”
She couldn’t know for sure, as she was not a mind reader.
One thing was certain, he cried bitterly afterwards.
From one fragment, she glimpsed Luke, holding back his tears while looking at Ulysses.
“…”
Lily sighed with a bitter taste in her mouth and played another scene.
This time, it was from when she was captured by the Teleportation Scroll. The hero’s party was in chaos.
In order to find their lost selves, they exhausted their bodies searching all over the city, and even ventured outside the city walls just in case.
And then, they discovered traces of teleportation, and after several discussions among party members, the warrior set off on a journey.
To a land filled with tens of thousands of elite monsters.
With only a single sword in hand.
Lily imagined inwardly.
What was he thinking at that time?
The battle that took place in Mayang was more intense than ever before.
Although there were no monsters as strong as the Four Heavenly Kings, there were tens of thousands of creatures classified as formidable named monsters.
If all those creatures were combined, they might be even more difficult than the Four Heavenly Kings.
In reality, the warrior’s blood burst and his bones shattered. His magic power was exhausted from using magic.
Arrows and thorns gradually pierced his back, and his regenerative ability noticeably slowed down.
“Ten years of life sacrificed.”
Every time, he sacrificed something. He confronted adversity head-on, even sacrificing his future.
“Ten years of life sacrificed.”
“Ten years of life sacrificed.”
“…Sacrificing both pinkies and offspring permanently.”
Lily watched that spectacle from beginning to end.
“Sacrificing half of the liver permanently.”
“Sacrificing the intestines and appendix permanently.”
“Sacrificing the left eyeball permanently.”
The fight was not intense, but desperate. The sight of a warrior piercing through thousands of monsters was not imposing, but desperate.
With each step closer, the number of his sacrificed body parts increased. It was all the best move he had chosen.
Just the optimal wounds chosen to swing his sword. Fatal, yet calculated pain to keep his body moving.
After advancing for a while, he finally reached his destination. Looking at himself pitifully bound by spider webs, he spoke.
“You… You’re such a troublesome human… You know, right…?”
He laughed, as if he could collapse at any moment.
Lily imagined once again.
What was he thinking at that time?
As mentioned before, she was not a mind reader, unlike a solitary mage.
But as a magician who valued theories, she could deduce and connect events.
At first, he fought against Alec, then fought against himself again. They scratched each other so painfully that it was pitiful.
He must have disliked it. He must have been angry.
In such a situation, he was kidnapped.
Honestly, he probably didn’t want to be rescued. He had to pierce through thousands of monsters in a state where his emotions were already hurt.
The difficulty was too high compared to what he would gain. Rationally speaking, it might have been better to abandon it and defeat the Demon King.
But still, he went forward. With just one sword in hand.
Fighting against thousands of monsters, sacrificing his lifespan, organs, fingers, and even his left eye.
Enduring dozens of magic power depletions, getting hit by hundreds of arrows, and enduring the pain of gaining weight thousands of times.
Even after going through all that and standing in front of himself.
When he smiled bitterly, chewing on all the hardships…
What was he thinking?
“······Sigh.”
He seemed like he was about to vomit. Lily quickly covered my mouth.
Emotions were welling up, trying to pour out of my mouth.
Lily felt disgusted with herself.
I couldn’t know all of his thoughts.
But, if I dared to guess… Luke must have felt his fate was terribly unfair.
He was the one who had opposed the Demon King, sacrificing his entire life. Even though he must have hated himself, even though he must have been exhausted, he still showed a smile in front of me.
But all I had done to him was to treat him rudely… Lily felt overwhelmed with guilt.
“······Ah.”
She took a deep breath. Her breathing became unstable. Tears slowly welled up in her eyes. She murmured in a choked voice, knowing that the scene in front of her was just an illusion.
“I-I’m sorry…”
The hero’s true identity was neither a spy for the Demon King’s army nor one of the fallen Four Heavenly Kings. He was not a traitor to humanity who shed neither blood nor tears.
He could get angry and he knew how to be sad… He was just an ordinary person. He was a pitiful soul who had been pushed into becoming a hero by the world.
“I’m really sorry…”
She repeated the apology for a while. Watching the illusion, trying to infer his thoughts, feeling her heart ache and shedding tears.
After repeating such actions for a while…
[Data expansion complete!]
[Branch point confirmed.]
[Save point designated.]
Lily regressed into the past.
🤮🤮🤮 more than their regret, I feel like puking over MCs personality.