Ch.134The Lost One (1)

Merlin once said.

That she couldn’t teach how to use stars. She said it was in the same context as not being able to teach how to handle mental images.

“As I told you before, you need to fill in the fundamental parts yourself. That hasn’t changed. But just as I couldn’t teach you how to handle mental images, but could show you how to materialize them…”

Merlin wiggled her finger.

Blue constellations shone from her fingertips.

“I can tell you what stars are. How I handle this power. While you fill in the fundamentals, I can at least guide you in the right direction.”

Najin listened attentively to her words.

Though Merlin usually talked too much, bragged excessively, and sometimes appeared sloppy…

“I think you just had a very disrespectful thought.”

“No, I didn’t.”

Nevertheless, Merlin was a constellation with 11 stars. Excluding Arthur and the Witch of Abyss, she had the most stars.

The story about stars told by such a great constellation (this was Merlin’s strong assertion. She claimed that having more than 10 stars made her not just a constellation but a great constellation) was indeed worth listening to.

“Your achievements become stars. Your stories are embedded in those stars. So drawing power from stars means, in a way, recreating the achievements you’ve accomplished.”

“Recreating?”

“Yes, recreating. For example, like this.”

One of her eleven stars shone brightly.

“I drowned countless demons. Several times, I caused massive floods that completely submerged demon fortresses. This star was gained through that process. And when this star shines, demons say this.”

A wave. A wave is coming.

“To them, I was a wave, an unstoppable disaster.”

Like this, Merlin said.

“The story contained in the star, the scenery others imagine when they see that star, and above all, the mental image you yourself envision when looking at your star. All of these mix together, and the star becomes a story.”

“When it becomes a story, what happens?”

“Imagine this world is a novel expressed in lines of text. The conversation between you and me would be recorded inside quotation marks, and when the conversation ends, sentences describing the situation would follow. Like ‘Merlin said,’ right?”

Merlin said.

“And handling stars means inserting your story between those lines of text. It’s about engraving your unwavering self that isn’t swayed by dozens or hundreds of words and sentences.”

She gestured. Stars shone from her fingertips. Eleven stars flickered with deep blue light.

“——————.”

Amidst the flickering light, Merlin spoke. She spoke, but her voice wasn’t pronounced.

It was simply written.

『A wave is coming. A wave that will sweep everything away.』

And then.

A wave surged.

A massive shadow fell over the underground city. Najin belatedly realized it was the shadow cast by a gigantic wave reaching the sky. The wave obscured the sky of the underground city. It crashed down upon the underground city, covering the stars.

The wave crashed. The torrent swept through the underground city.

Buildings caught in the wave collapsed. Nothing could maintain its form before the massive current. Everything in sight crumbled. The wave submerged an entire city. It was both submersion and water burial.

Najin, swept away by the wave, was forcibly ejected from the mental image. Opening his eyes in reality, Najin exhaled the breath he had been holding.

-That’s roughly how it feels.

Merlin was wiggling her finger beside Najin. Looking at her, Najin’s eyes held reverence for the first time in a long while. He sometimes forgot, but she really was an extraordinary person.

-Of course, not all constellations can create massive phenomena like I can. Most use stars to define themselves clearly, saying things like ‘I am an eternally burning fire’ or ‘I am an unbreakable sword.’

But I have to be somewhat great, right?

Merlin snickered as she muttered.

-A great constellation like me doesn’t just use the story contained in one star. Beyond merely strengthening oneself, we create massive phenomena.

She shrugged as she spoke.

-A star gained by drowning countless demons, a star earned by submerging an entire city, a star obtained by sweeping away a witch’s army with waves, and so on. Using interconnected stories from multiple stars…

After bragging for a while, Merlin noticed Najin’s eyes rapidly losing interest and concluded her explanation.

-Anyway. Remember what stars you’ve earned and what stories are contained in them.

Najin looked at his own stars.

One was the star of Challenge, the other the star of Dragonslayer.

-In the Outer Continent that denies everything about you, only the stars you’ve earned will affirm you.

2.

Najin arrived at the boundary of the Outer Continent.

A different place from his previous visit. Not the frontline where Imperial troops were stationed, but a path leading to strategically worthless rough terrain. It was also the closest point to the battlefield of stars.

Najin stepped toward the translucent barrier.

Beyond the boundary. The moment he took a step across the line, the air changed. The flow of mana reversed. This was the same as when he had visited the Outer Continent before, but.

“……”

His senses didn’t scream.

His heart didn’t pound violently.

His internal mana didn’t surge, his pupils didn’t become bloodshot, and his senses didn’t become extremely heightened. Najin silently raised his hand.

Unlike before, when his skin would crack and his flesh would crumble without mana protection, now his body remained intact without any mana coating.

“Hoo…”

Najin exhaled briefly.

Breathing wasn’t difficult either. Having stars meant having the qualification to set foot in the Outer Continent. Najin understood this meaning.

‘I don’t feel the gazes either.’

In the past, when Najin first stepped into the Outer Continent, he felt the gazes of countless stars focused on him. Now he didn’t feel them. Back then, Najin was a conspicuous outsider, but not anymore.

The sky, shattered into pieces and stained black.

Among the countless stars shining in the sky, Najin’s stars were also shining. They felt closer than when he was on the continent. Feeling his stars, Najin walked.

-The Outer Continent is broadly divided into three regions. You know that, right?

‘Yes. I’ve been told.’

-Right. Simply put, there’s the entrance, the middle, and the depths. You’re heading to the middle region now.

At the entrance of the Outer Continent, near the boundary, there was a frontline where the Demon Lord’s army and the Imperial army clashed. The place where Najin had previously served with the Wyvern Unit was the entrance, and Merlin had explained that the influence of constellations wasn’t strong there.

-But from the middle region, it’s different.

The middle region. Beyond the frontline, into the depths.

That place was known as the “Battlefield of Stars.” A place where countless stars were born and set. Where the influence of constellations grew stronger and transcendents were occasionally sighted.

That was Najin’s current destination.

The time it took to reach the middle region of the Outer Continent varied depending on which direction one entered from, and the path Najin was walking was called the “Path of Ascetics.” A path that could bypass the entrance and head straight to the battlefield of stars.

It was also a path that many heroes had walked in the past.

As he walked, Najin could feel the landscape gradually changing. The sky, which had retained some blueness with only parts broken to reveal the night sky, was ending. The sky was pitch black. A complete night sky stretched to the horizon.

The sun didn’t rise. There was no blue sky. But the stars filling that place substituted for the sun.

Stars burning in various colors. Their intense light illuminated the ground. Najin continued walking. How long had he been walking in silence when a sound reached him?

Clang. Clang!

The sound of metal clashing. A sound that humans would make. Najin turned toward the source of the sound. There was a knight in worn armor. The knight was fighting, surrounded by other humans.

“I am Graf. Knight Graf of Kurtan!”

The knight’s sword flashed as he raised his voice. A blue sword aura. It was a familiar sword aura to Najin. Ivan’s sword aura was exactly that color.

Whoosh.

The blue sword aura blazed like fire. A sword aura with form. The symbol of a Sword Seeker. The knight who called himself Graf swung his blazing blue sword, killing those surrounding him one by one.

Those fighting Graf were also strong, but Graf was on a different level. Even to Najin, he was clearly a powerful warrior.

The fight ended shortly. Graf was victorious. Charred bodies lay scattered on the ground. Najin was watching from a distance when Graf, catching his breath, suddenly turned his head toward Najin.

“Don’t just watch from afar, face me honorably. Handling one more opponent is nothing.”

He pointed his sword at Najin.

Najin raised both his arms.

“You misunderstand. I have no intention of attacking you.”

“Are you not their comrade?”

“No. I just set foot in the Outer Continent. I have no connection with them.”

“…You’re new to the Outer Continent?”

Graf’s eyes narrowed.

He quickly examined Najin’s appearance. Unrusted equipment. Clothes that looked new. Graf slowly lowered his sword.

“You do look it. Well, this area is close to the boundary.”

Graf smiled slightly.

“It’s been a while since I’ve seen someone from outside. I am Graf. When I was on the continent, I belonged to a knightly order called Kurtan. Do you know the name Kurtan?”

“I know it as a knightly order that was active about 170 years ago.”

“Huh. 170 years? Has it been that long? Do you happen to know more about Kurtan? Like recent news?”

“I know a little.”

“Is that so?”

He gestured to Najin.

It was a signal that he could approach. Najin nodded and approached Graf.

“What became of Kurtan? Is it still thriving? I wonder who the current Grand Master is.”

“I’ve heard they’ve been active in several battlefields. Among the knightly orders of the Empire, they’re considered one of the top five in strength, according to public opinion.”

“Hahaha! Even after 170 years, Kurtan remains strong. Yes. That’s Kurtan. The valiant Kurtan. Our swords know which enemies to strike…”

He glanced at Najin.

It was a question asking if he knew what came next in the Kurtan knightly order’s motto. Having read it in books, Najin skillfully answered.

“Sing of glory, knights of Kurtan.”

“That’s right! I like you, friend.”

Graf laughed heartily.

After exchanging a few words with him, Najin glanced at the bodies lying at his feet.

“May I ask why you were fighting them?”

“Ah. Of course.”

Graf said.

“They insulted my pride. Living in the Outer Continent themselves, yet they mocked me, saying what kind of knight am I, what Kurtan am I. Then they must be punished accordingly. The sword of Kurtan knows when to strike.”

“I see.”

Najin’s eyes narrowed.

He looked at one of the bodies. No, it wasn’t a corpse. Despite being charred black, he was still twitching. He moved his lips as if trying to say something.

“You said you just set foot in the Outer Continent?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

“Then you must be ignorant of this land’s common sense. In this land, you see, it’s quite difficult to die. And difficult to kill.”

He stabbed his sword into the spine of the man lying on the ground. Though his vocal cords were burned and he couldn’t scream, the man expressed his pain through violent convulsions.

“No matter how much you cut, no matter how much you burn, they don’t die. After a very long time, they recover. So how should one kill?”

Graf swung his sword.

A heart was impaled on its tip.

“The heart. Nothing is more important in this land than the heart. Even if your arms and legs are severed, even if your head is cut off, never lose your heart. That is common sense.”

The moment the heart was lost, the convulsing body went limp.

“Of course, monstrous beings can move perfectly fine even with their hearts ripped out, but most die when their hearts are removed.”

Saying this, Graf pulled the heart off his sword tip with his hand. Then he brought it to his mouth.

Crunch.

He bit into the heart. Like eating food. Like tearing into meat. Or like biting into an apple. Najin’s eyes narrowed. Noticing that gaze, Graf blinked. His expression seemed to ask why Najin was looking at him that way.

Najin pointed at the heart in Graf’s hand. As if suddenly realizing something, Graf exclaimed, “Ah!”

“Ah, aah! I’ve lived in the Outer Continent for so long that I forgot. Right. In the continent, this would be a horrific act. Desecrating a corpse and eating its heart? Something only barbarians would do. Not something a knight should do.”

Graf smiled awkwardly.

“But in the Outer Continent, it’s natural. Do you know what’s in the heart? Mana, nutrients, life itself. The heart is synonymous with life, and taking the heart means taking life.”

Graf bit into the heart again. Chewed and swallowed. Licking his blood-smeared lips with his tongue, he said.

“Isn’t it a waste to throw away? Nothing in this Outer Continent is as valuable as the heart.”

Graf’s tone as he spoke was calm. His expression was as if he was stating something obvious. In other words, all those actions were natural to him.

“When you take a heart, you can gain starlight.”

Graf swung his sword toward Najin.

That motion was also extremely natural. Almost as if it were part of the conversation.