episode_0264

After the party members gathered and finished dinner, they each took time for personal maintenance.

Since the party consisted of one man and four women, Leon was using a single room alone, and the women were using two double rooms.

Therefore, I, who was holed up in a room alone, stared at the status abnormality mark that appeared on the status window.

Mark of the Demon King

The basic story of the game ‘The Success Story of a Useless Hero’ follows the orthodox storyline of a hero defeating the Demon King.

Therefore, the existence of the Demon King is present.

Of course, you can’t directly meet the Demon King in ‘The Success Story of a Useless Hero,’ but it exists in the settings.

But the strange thing is….

“The current point in time is probably the early part of ‘The Success Story of a Useless Hero’…. There’s no way Leon could have met the Demon King at this point? There was no mention of that in the game. So why do I have the status abnormality called ‘Mark of the Demon King’?”

Moreover, the effect of this ‘Mark of the Demon King’ status abnormality was very strange.

“The target weakens each time the flow of time is distorted…,” it says.

Each time the flow of time is distorted, what does that even mean?

Can the flow of time even be distorted in the first place?

I try to think, but nothing comes to mind.

However….

“The flow of time…,” I say to myself.

If I think about it slowly, it’s not like there’s nothing that bothers me at all.

“The save window….”

The status window disappears, and instead, several save slot windows appear.

There, I could see the various slots I had saved while playing ‘The Success Story of a Useless Hero.’

Among them, there is one.

The save slot where I used a ‘cheat program’ to abnormally raise Leon’s stats.

That’s the 13th save slot.

This was definitely my ‘last’ save slot.

But….

“…What is this save slot?”

A 14th save slot that I’ve never seen before.

Even the ‘playtime’ figure recorded in the save slot is abnormal.

“When did this even appear? There’s no way I could have been holding onto this game for months?”

What’s even more unique is that when I try to load the save data from the other slots, a warning message appears, but this 14th save slot is the only one that doesn’t display a warning message.

Should I use this save slot?

“Hmm…. What should I do….”

Should I load this? Or should I not?

But if I keep going like this…. There’s no way I can survive here without party members.

Then should I use the 13th save slot where I increased my stats using the cheat program after all…?

“….”

The moment I raise my hand to press the 13th save slot window, my hand stops without me realizing it.

Somehow, it feels like I shouldn’t make this choice, that’s what somewhere in my heart says.

“Ah, damn it. I don’t know anymore.”

I used the 14th save slot below the 13th save slot window to load the file.

* * *

“!”

The sound of someone’s scream is heard in the distance.

I hurriedly looked around.

“W-Where is this?…. No, that just now….”

It was clear.

It was definitely right after I crossed over into this game world.

I had gone back to that time.

Why? How?….

“…No, it’s not.”

The cause was clear.

I definitely killed the Demon King.

I killed the Demon King, but at that moment, an alarm saying [Loading file.] appeared, and my consciousness returned to when I first came here.

So, the cause is definitely the Demon King.

‘The Demon King used an unknown power to turn back time. And…, since then, Leon’s power has weakened.’

That’s what the goddess who descended into Rebiya’s body once said.

Could it be that the goddess was talking about the ‘save & load’ system when she said turning back time?….

And the reason Leon’s power weakened was because of the ‘Mark of the Demon King’?….

“S-Status window!”

What appears before my eyes is my status window.

Not the status window with the low stats from right after I came to this world, but the status window that boasts stats that can only be described as overwhelming.

And thankfully, there was no status abnormality called ‘Mark of the Demon King.’

“I came back to a time before the Mark of the Demon King was engraved?…. Then….”

There’s no time to delay.

I immediately headed to the audience chamber where the Demon King would be waiting.

“L-Leon…. L-Leon?….”

“Get out of the way!!!”

Bang!!!

Since I had returned to a time before I encountered the Demon King, I naturally flew a cleaving blow with my sword to Noren, who would be alive, and smashed her into the wall, then kicked open the door to the audience chamber. And there stood the Demon King, confronting the Pope.

“H-Hero!….”

“Hero?!…. How are you here now!….”

The Pope had a bright smile on his face, meaning that he had a reliable supporter, and the Demon King was looking at me with an expression of shock, as if he couldn’t understand.

“Judging by that reaction, it seems that you’re the one who did it, right?”

“!!”

“W-What do you mean? Hero Leon!….”

Before answering the Pope’s question, I grabbed the holy sword and rushed towards the Demon King.

“Sword King Secret Arts”

“Keuk!!”

“Earth Divide!!”

Kwaaaang!!!!!!!

A cleaving swordsmanship with overwhelming power is driven down.

The audience chamber instantly split in half and began to collapse, and the Demon King used the gap to escape the collapsing audience chamber.

Of course, I have no intention of letting him get away now, so I immediately chased after him.

“Demon King!!!!”

“Keuk!….”

His power is clearly below mine.

To be more precise, this guy’s power is similar to mine ‘before leveling up.’

And the gap between me before leveling up and me after leveling up is clear.

So there is no possibility that I will lose to him.

“How did you recover your power?! Hero Leon!!! Or did that goddess do something?!”

“Shut up!! Die!!”

“!!”

Sword King Secret Arts : Modified

“Rampage!”

Under the dark night sky.

A series of cleaves made of pure white sword energy are embroidered in the sky above the burning city.

The guy couldn’t withstand the pouring blow of the cleaves and his limbs were torn apart.

I killed him.

I definitely killed him.

That’s what it should have been….

[system : Loading file.]

That warning message that I had definitely seen appeared, and at the same time, my consciousness faded.

* * *

2nd iteration.

3rd iteration.

4th iteration.

5th iteration.

10th iteration.

15th iteration.

20th iteration.

30th iteration.

40th iteration.

50th iteration.

100th iteration.

Kwaaaaaaaaang!!!!!!

“Haa…, haa….”

“Hoo…, hoo….”

The royal castle has long since collapsed.

Perhaps the Pope and the holy knights who assist him have subdued Noren and rescued Princess Emula, who was captured by her.

I’ve already confirmed that scene several times, so there’s no mistake.

So there’s only one thing left.

Only one thing.

If I kill the Demon King in front of me, everything will be over.

But every time I kill the Demon King, time is distorted and goes back to the past.

In that past, I barely manage to return to this time, kill the Demon King again, and return again.

When I exceeded 100 times of this, I gave up counting the number of times.

And I think the other person probably feels the same way.

“Why do you…. have that power?….”

“…How are you using save load anyway.”

The repeating flow of time.

The world is trapped in the flow of time created by me and the Demon King.

And only the Demon King and I can feel that flow of time.

“This power is my power…. The power that makes me the strongest!! This flow of time should only belong to me!! Hero!!!”

The Demon King’s energy explodes.

It was definitely a different pattern than before.

Perhaps he was convinced that he could never beat me if he did it normally.

So is he trying to use his hidden technique?

“I’m tired of repeating this meaningless act too…. Let’s please end this with this!!”

Pure white holy energy.

Golden energy is added on top of that.

Double concentration of energy.

I pour everything I can into this one blow.

“Tsuaaaaaaaaaaaaat!!!”

“Hryaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!”

Sword King Secret Arts : Earth Divide

His attack and my cleave collide.

And naturally, my cleave devours his attack and cuts him down.

But, even so

[system : Loading file.]

The familiar system window.

And my fading consciousness.

Once again, my consciousness returns to the past.

And I’ll load the file in the past and come back here.

How many times do I have to repeat this?

How long do I have to be trapped in this time?

Perhaps, I was being arrogant.

I thought that the Demon King would flow similarly because I had been dealing with the Demon King’s fragments without much difficulty.

‘Was there something I was lacking?’

Was the preparation insufficient?

Or do I have to meet certain conditions to kill that thing?

Then is using the 14th save slot the wrong choice?

But if I use the 13th save slot….

‘The effect of the Mark of the Demon King is activated.’

I can be sure of that.

How….

What should I do….

There’s no time to think like this anymore.

Because the string of consciousness that I’m barely holding onto is starting to break.

I knew this would happen.

‘…?’

Didn’t my last sword say that I had to gain enlightenment?

‘Whose voice is this?….’

Since you already have everything, use it all.

“….”

The Sword King’s voice.

Following that voice, I let go of the fading string of consciousness.

[system : Entering stasis.]

Everything stopped.

My consciousness ascends to a higher level of the world.

“Sword King Ultimate”

I swing my sword.

“Sword King Ultimate”

I swing my sword.

“Sword King Ultimate”

I thrust my sword.

I replay all of these actions….

“Load.”

All at once.

And what unfolds is the Sword King’s last sword and the final sword.

“Heaven and Earth Divide”

I divide the world.

And I divide the Demon King’s curse that has taken root in the world.

[system : File loading………failed]

[system : File loading………failed]

[system : File loading………failed]

[system : Failed to load file.]