Chapter 157: 157

Chapter 157

Henrick opened his eyes when he heard someone crying. Barely awake, he looked out the window and saw that the sun had not yet risen. He thought to himself, ‘They say that you’re going to have an unlucky day if you wake up before the crack of dawn.’ He tried to force himself to go back to sleep due to his drowsiness, but alas, slumber eluded him.

“Euk… Heuk… Heuk…” 

Henrick got up and squinted, grumbling, “Just slap me and wake me up or something. Don’t go around crying near someone sleeping.”

“Henrick is stupid,” Iris said, glaring at Henrick with tear-filled eyes. She continued, “A gentleman would have asked me why I was crying.”

“Alright, this stupid and ungentlemanly guy will try to be a gentleman with you. Why are you crying?” Henrick asked.

“I don’t know,” Iris replied.

“What an awesome response. It’s so awesome that even the gentlest of men would be annoyed with you right now,” Henrick said, furrowing his brow. He stretched his back and grumbled, “Ah… Who removed the chair from under me while I was sleeping? My back is killing me.”

“Henrick,” Iris began. She took Henrick’s hands while crying a river, continuing, “I need help. I heard something strange in the library just now. I am not sad, but I have been unable to stop crying since then.”

Henrick placed his finger on Iris’ cheek and took a few of her tears, placing them on his tongue. He pondered for a moment, muttering, “Hmmm…”

Iris could not hide her surprise, asking, “Are tears tasty?!”

“I’m not trying to see if tears are tasty or not,” Henrick replied.

“What do you mean?” Iris asked.

“I’m checking if they were fake tears,” Henrick replied, licking his lips.

“Oh my, were my tears fake?” Iris asked in surprise.

“They don’t taste like onions, so they shouldn’t be fake,” Henrick said, somewhat nonsensically. He yawned and asked, “Where’s that guy?”

“I can’t find Kang Yoon-Soo anywhere in the library,” Iris replied.

“How about that woman?” Henrick asked.

“Shaneth is reading diligently right now. It’s better not to disturb her,” Iris replied.

“So that’s why you came and disturbed me?” Henrick grumbled.

“Oh my! Can Henrick read my mind?!” Iris exclaimed in surprise.

“Who wouldn’t be able to read your mind in this world?” Henrick shot back. He then licked his lips and said, “Come, bring your face closer.”

“Be careful with me,” Iris replied as she moved her face toward him.

Henrick pulled Iris’ eyelid back and examined her eye. It was welling up continuously with tears, showing no signs of stopping. He commented, “A scratch on the eyeball would make tears keep flowing, but I don’t see anything out of the ordinary. There’s no dust in it either. You said it happened after you heard a strange sound in the library, right?”

“That’s right,” Iris replied, gulping.

Henrick continued to examine her eye, then said, “Hmm… It doesn’t seem as if you were cursed or chopping onions… We won’t be able to find a doctor quickly in this place either. It seems we won’t be able to fix this.”

“Then what should I do? Will I keep crying for the rest of my life?” Iris asked, sniffling.

Henrick replied in a serious tone, “We just have to wait for the protagonist.”

“Huh? Everyone is the protagonist in their own life,” Iris replied.

“No, I’m just an extra. I’m just a useless artisan who drinks and sleeps all day,” Henrick said. He lined up the chairs, lying down on top of them again. Soon, he began to snore.

“HENRICK!” Iris screamed at the top of her lungs, so loudly that even the librarians minding their own business a few bookshelves down flinched in surprise. She shook Henrick’s shoulders wildly.

Henrick mumbled sleepily in response, “Look here, little miss crybaby. It would be much more beneficial for you to go and find the cool protagonist instead of wasting your time with an extra like…”

Bzzzt!

“Euuuaaak!” 

Iris unleashed a bolt of black lightning from her hands and hit Henrick’s chest dead center.

Henrick furrowed his brow and protested, “Damn it. Can’t I even joke?”

Iris looked at Henrick with her tear-filled eyes and said, “I know Henrick was only half-joking. You probably just wanted to sleep and not be bothered by me.”

“I’m so touched. You can read my mind, the same way I can read yours,” Henrick replied sarcastically.

“Hmph! Henrick is really stupid!” Iris shouted.

Now wide awake, Henrick stretched his arms and said, “Where the hell is that guy while our young miss is panicking and crying? Don’t tell me he’s somewhere fighting for his life again…?”

“Is Henrick worried about Kang Yoon-Soo too?” Iris asked.

“No, I’m praying that he really is somewhere out there fighting for his life,” Henrick grumbled.

***

The corpses of monsters and mercenaries were littered across the ruin floor.

‘This wasn’t easy,’ Kang Yoon-Soo thought as he checked his remaining life force.

[Remaining Lifeforce: 0.2%]

The mercenaries had not been an easy bunch to deal with. When they began to run out of food, they had resorted to cutting up the monsters and cooking their meat. It had taken Kang Yoon-Soo a whole week just to kill most of them. Most of the monsters he possessed to fight against them had died, and the ones that had survived were in no shape to fight at all.

‘It’s time to put an end to this,’ he thought.

Meanwhile, at the heart of the ruin, the leader of the legendary mercenary group breathed heavily while gripping swords in both hands.

‘I have to kill the mercenary leader to get the additional reward,’ Kang Yoon-Soo thought. He possessed a golem and smashed its fist down toward the mercenary leader.

“Aaaaahk!” The mercenary leader shouted in agony as his spine snapped in half and he died.

Kang Yoon-Soo’s surroundings turned white.

[You have cleared the fourth trial!]

[You have obtained the additional reward for killing the mercenary leader.]

Reward: Light Yellow Stone

Additional Reward: Mercenary Leader’s Shining Medal

‘There’s only the last trial left,’ Kang Yoon-Soo thought.

The final trial was the most difficult one among the five trials, and it was also the most grueling of them all. He had been unable to complete the final trial before his 300th life. However, even though it was long and cruel, he had to complete it no matter what. The trials were all part of his journey to kill the Demon Lord.

[You have completed four difficult trials.]

[You only have the final trial remaining.]

[The final trial is extremely difficult, to the point that even a brave warrior like you who has completed four trials will not be guaranteed to complete it.]

[You can already receive amazing rewards with the achievements you have had so far.]

[You will be put in a coma for a month if you fail the trial.]

[Do you wish to challenge the final trial?]

“Yeah,” Kang Yoon-Soo replied.

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A ripple appeared in the white space surrounding Kang Yoon-Soo, tearing it apart. Darkness engulfed the entire space, swallowing Kang Yoon-Soo whole.

***

The scene before Kang Yoon-Soo looked precisely how the world had before it was destroyed. The stench of blood filled the air, and the earth was covered in fissures that made it difficult to find safe places to step on. The sky was darkened, covered by innumerable winged demons.

“Kuheok!” Kang Yoon-Soo vomited blood. He felt as if his lung had been punctured. He thought, ‘My whole body is a mess.’

Kang Yoon-Soo was a Paladin in this trial. However, his armor was dented and crushed, and only half of his sword remained. His cape was torn and tattered, and over a dozen bones all over his body were broken. It took a laborious effort for him to remain standing while making sure he would not fall into the fissures spread across the ground.

[Unknown Date]

[Details Missing]

[This is a rift filled with demons.]

[Nobody knows how this Paladin, whose name is unknown, ended up here alone and in such a ragged state.]

[Survival is the only goal.]

[Escape from this rift alive.]

There was an extreme lack of details provided for the final trial.

Kang Yoon-Soo dragged himself across the ground, slowly making his way toward a nearby cliff while dozens of demons flew through the sky above him.

‘Demons can be terrifyingly strong even if they’re low-ranked,’ he thought. He remembered how numerous people had had to gang up on the Frost Demon, a mere low-ranked demon his party had encountered in the Winterkill Ruin.

After he reached the foot of the cliff, he hid in a crevice at its base. He saw a stream of blood flowing before him and heard the demons laughing above.

‘Finally, it’s the last trial,’ he thought, making a mental note of the things he had to do in this trial.

‘Firstly, I have to bring one item from the final trial back to reality,’ he thought. The additional reward from the second trial had given him the ability to bring one item from the trials back into the real world.

‘It would be difficult to use the rewards I received as the Skeleton Church Leader or the moving ruin,’ he thought.

The Skeleton Church Leader was technically a monster, and the moving ruin was a building. Additionally, it had been impossible for the Skeleton Church Leader to monopolize the items from the trial, as he had had a group of followers with him.

More importantly, Kang Yoon-Soo had already decided on which item to bring back with him. He thought to himself, ‘I need an item for the new spirits.’

He meant Sally, Acle, and the two other spirits from his previous lives. In order to make the other two, he needed that item.

That was not his only goal, however. He steeled his resolve, thinking, ‘I will definitely obtain the additional reward of the final trial this time.’

He had never once managed to obtain the additional reward of the final trial in his previous lives. He had always aimed to complete the trial instead, thinking that the risk of failing was too great to even attempt to clear the conditions for obtaining the additional reward. However, it would have to be different this time.

‘I won’t be regressing anymore. I have to make sure everything is perfect,’ he thought, clenching his fist.

There was no guarantee that he would succeed, but he had no choice but to go ahead and give it his best attempt.

Kang Yoon-Soo covered his body with bloodstained soil, thinking, ‘This will stop the demons from sniffing me out.’

He held his breath and crawled out from the crevice beneath the cliff, climbing up the cliff wall using the rocks protruding from it. Immense pain spread from his leg all the way to his hips whenever he took a step, and his entire body was soon covered in sweat as his bones cracked audibly.

In the end, Kang Yoon-Soo barely managed to scale the cliff face. At the top, he found a shining creature.

“Haa… Ha…” 

It was a little fairy with torn-up wings. She glowed with a more radiant luster than ordinary fairies, and wore a crown on her head. Kang Yoon-Soo placed the fairy in the palm of his hand. The fairy slowly opened her eyes, and was surprised to see Kang Yoon-Soo.

“H… Huh? W-Who… are you…?” the fairy asked. However, she quickly added in an urgent tone, “Please help us. Please help us, I beg you. The demons… The demons invaded our rift. I am the queen of the fairies. Heuk… We lived happily in our peaceful rift…”

“I know,” Kang Yoon-Soo replied hoarsely.

The Fairy Queen pleaded in clear distress, “Please help us, sir knight. No, you have to help us! You must help me! Please help us fairies!”

“Why should I?” Kang Yoon-Soo asked.

“Because you are a knight! A knight has an obligation to help a maiden in distress!” the Fairy Queen exclaimed. She then slowly stood up and touched Kang Yoon-Soo’s cheek before continuing, “And I can tell by looking at your eyes. I can feel kindness and compassion in them. Please, help us fairies, as we are in danger.”

[You have met the Fairy Queen, Hevia Absoltr the Third.]

[The rift the demons are currently occupying originally belonged to the Fairies of Healing.]

[The Fairy Queen, who has lost everything dear to her, is begging the knight in front of her to save her people.]

[Avoid the gazes of the demons and save 98 fairies.]

[You will recover your life force and divine power whenever you rescue a fairy.]

[You have rescued the Fairy Queen.]

[You have recovered enough strength to walk without any discomfort.]

Kang Yoon-Soo stood up. He was still aching all over his body, and he was in no condition to properly swing his sword, but he was at least no longer restricted from moving around.

It was at that moment that another message popped up.

[You have rescued the Fairy Queen.]

[You have obtained clues about the additional reward.]

[You will obtain the additional reward if you kill all of the demons in the rift.]

[Remaining Demons: 32]

“There’s no time! We have to move quickly if we want to save the fairies!” the Fairy Queen cried, urging Kang Yoon-Soo on.

Kang Yoon-Soo nodded in response and thought, ‘It would be best for me to move quickly if I want to finish this trial as perfectly as possible.’

Time was not on his side for this final trial. Kang Yoon-Soo placed the Fairy Queen on the ground and opened his backpack. He rummaged around inside it for a while, then took out a few scrolls.

The Fairy Queen suddenly looked nervous and carefully asked, “What are those scrolls…?”

“Destructive magic scrolls,” Kang Yoon-Soo replied. He had only needed two of the powerful magic scrolls to crush the Bone Dragon, but he started to tear apart all of them one by one without hesitation. Various messages warning of imminent disasters appeared across his field of vision as he continued to tear up scrolls.

[You have used a destructive magic scroll containing the spell ‘Meteor Storm’.]

[You have used a destructive magic scroll containing the spell ‘Day of Destruction’.]

[You have used a destructive magic scroll containing the spell ‘Hell’s Storm’.]

[You have used a forbidden magic scroll containing the spell ‘Space Void’…]

Kang Yoon-Soo tore apart a total of twenty-two magic scrolls.

“Are you crazy?! All of the fairies will die if you do that!” the Fairy Queen protested.

“I know,” Kang Yoon-Soo nonchalantly replied.

“Ah! Demon! How could you, when you are a knight…” the Fairy Queen said dejectedly. However, Kang Yoon-Soo was completely unfazed and casually walked away. The Fairy Queen shouted, “Are you going to leave me behind? That cannot be! Stop!”

However, Kang Yoon-Soo completely ignored her. He would recover a small amount of lifeforce and holy power whenever he rescued a fairy, and it would definitely help him in this trial, but there was no longer any reason for him to do that.

‘There’s another way in this life,’ he thought. He took out a handful of angel’s hair and gripped it tightly as demons screamed around him.

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