Ch.211The Black Tower (2)

Merlin’s eyes always shone.

Despite living for a thousand years, Merlin’s voice was always full of vigor, and vitality could be felt in her every movement. Thinking about it, that was strange.

100 years, 200 years, 300 years.

When you look at humans who have lived that long, the expression “dying” comes to mind before “living.” Though there are some exceptions, most transcendents who have lived that long were closer to enduring rather than living.

To avoid wearing down, to avoid breaking, to avoid becoming the dead, to avoid becoming a fallen star.

They endure eternal time while dying.

But Merlin was different.

Despite living several times longer than them, a full 1,000 years, Merlin was always full of vitality. She was always living each day.

“You.”

But.

“You, who are you?”

Najin couldn’t possibly describe the Merlin looking at him now as alive. There was no vitality in those eerie blue eyes. The stars that were always visible when looking into her eyes were nowhere to be seen.

Dead eyes. Empty eyes.

Eyes that felt as if life had no meaning.

“I’m asking. Me.”

Merlin gestured toward Najin.

Leaping across dozens of meters, Najin was dragged before Merlin. There was no way for him to resist that force. Grabbing Najin’s neck, she said:

“Who are you?”

Those blue eyes glared at Najin.

2.

Looking closely, the differences between the Merlin before him and the Merlin that Najin knew weren’t just in the atmosphere. There were slight differences in appearance as well.

While the Merlin he knew had the appearance of a teenager, the Merlin before him looked closer to her twenties. More mature, with her youthful features gone. Unlike her current short hair, this past Merlin had long hair flowing down to her lower back.

Squeeze.

Najin felt the touch of Merlin’s fingers on his neck. It was cold. Not the temperature of a living human.

“I am.”

Najin opened his mouth.

“I am a free knight, Najin.”

“…A free knight?”

“You should be able to tell from my clothes.”

The attire of free knights from a thousand years ago isn’t different from that of free knights today. He hadn’t thought that would help in this way. With that thought, Najin pointed at Merlin’s fingers gripping his neck.

“I’d appreciate it if you’d let go.”

“…”

Merlin silently released Najin’s neck.

“Why would a free knight come here? Didn’t you hear from the Round Table? They would have warned you never to approach the depths of the Outer Continent.”

“I did hear that.”

“Then why are you here? Don’t you value your life?”

To be honest, he hadn’t come because he wanted to, but was more like he’d been dragged here… Instead of saying that directly, Najin thought for a moment before speaking.

“My guide pointed me this way.”

“Ha. I don’t know who your guide is, but they’re clearly incompetent.”

Merlin snorted.

She turned her gaze away from Najin as if uninterested. Grabbing the hair of the unconscious witch, Merlin dragged her somewhere.

“Where are you going?”

“Why should you care? What? Do you feel sympathy for this witch? Do you think I’m being too harsh?”

“I didn’t think that. You must have your reasons for doing this. You’re not the type to do this without reason.”

Thud. Merlin stopped walking and turned around.

“Who am I to you?”

“You’re Merlin. The great magician Merlin.”

At Najin’s answer, Merlin gave a precarious smile.

“Right. That’s right. I’m the great magician Merlin. The owner of the second seat of the Round Table and Arthur’s guide. No, I can’t call myself a guide. How is this being a guide?”

She sneered.

It was a sneer directed at herself. While sneering, Merlin threw the unconscious witch into a hollow pit. The pit was filled with a foul stench.

A pit filled with corpses.

And there wasn’t just one or two such pits. Everywhere he looked, there were only corpses. Najin realized that all those corpses were witches, demons, and demon contractors.

‘Slaughterer.’

Najin recalled something Merlin had once said.

Merlin would occasionally use the term “slaughterer” when talking about her past with a self-deprecating smile. Saying that she was the one who had killed the most demons and witches in history.

Whether Najin watched or not, Merlin continued with her task.

She stretched her hand toward the sky. Then, with a grip, she seized something. At that moment, the unconscious witch convulsed violently. As if regaining consciousness, the witch began to struggle. Since her mouth was frozen and she couldn’t scream, her movements looked all the more desperate.

“…! …, …!”

A face contorted with pain.

Najin only realized what was happening to the witch a little later. He looked at Merlin with her hand stretched toward the sky, and then at the sky she was looking at.

When he looked up at the sky, Najin couldn’t help but gasp. An unimaginable scene was there.

Crack.

A giant hand was tearing a constellation from the sky. A constellation made up of seven stars was being torn from the sky, scattering starlight as if flesh was being ripped apart.

Whoosh.

Merlin swung her clenched hand. Following the direction of her swing, the stars fell. Seven stars fell one after another. Looking around, there wasn’t just one or two constellations falling.

Dozens of stars were falling.

This frozen land where Merlin stood was filled with the corpses of stars. In the middle of the sky that should have been filled with countless stars, only one star was shining.

Arthur’s star.

Merlin was tearing out all the filthy stars that dared to position themselves near Arthur’s star.

“You there.”

Merlin pointed at Najin.

“If you don’t want to die, you’d better leave.”

She muttered.

“They’ll be here soon.”

What’s coming?

There was no need to ask such a question. The sky tore open, and witches riding brooms began to appear in succession.

Dragons, witches, demons.

Those who parasitized chaos and confusion filled the sky. As if they could no longer stand by and watch Merlin’s atrocities, they came to kill her. The witch at their forefront had a sneer on her lips.

“Without Arthur, do you think you alone can handle all of us?”

Dozens of constellations.

Hundreds of apostles following them.

Hundreds of stars filling the sky.

“Your story is over, Merlin.”

Those flying in the sky looked down at Merlin. Merlin didn’t look up at them. Without giving them even a glance, she raised her hand to the sky.

Then, whoosh.

She swung her hand from top to bottom.

Boom.

As if unable to recreate what happened at that moment, the dream recreating Merlin’s memory shook violently. The world began to crumble, not just creak. The sound of the world tearing echoed in Najin’s ears.

Screeeeeech!

In the tearing world, Najin saw one last thing.

The sight of the sky falling.

The sight of Merlin bringing down all those who dared to look down on her.

And Merlin’s face, wearing a precarious expression as if she might collapse at any moment.

With that image, Najin woke from the dream.

3.

Blink. As soon as he woke from the dream, Najin gasped for breath. His heart was beating wildly.

‘Just now…’

He hadn’t woken from the dream but had been forcibly ejected. But the Black Tower seemed to recognize even that as a “conquest,” as it didn’t block Najin’s path. Najin looked around, barely regulating his breathing.

There was Anton, kneeling with his head bowed. He seemed to have not yet awakened from the dream.

-Hey, hey!

Then.

-Are you okay? Can you hear me? Your mind…

Merlin’s urgent voice was heard.

Najin looked at Merlin. There was the Merlin he knew well, different from the one he had seen in the dream. Najin repeatedly opened and closed his mouth for a moment.

Words wouldn’t come out easily.

How should he say this?

In the end, the first words Najin uttered were neither here nor there.

‘Did Merlin see it too?’

-What? You lying there limp?

‘Not that. A hand-like thing pulled something out from inside me and showed me a dream…’

-I remember up to that point, but was there something more after that? All I saw was you lying limp here.

It seemed that although it was Merlin’s memory, Merlin herself wasn’t there. To Merlin, who was looking at him with a worried gaze, Najin smiled bitterly. It was the familiar Merlin, after all. Najin said with inner relief:

‘I saw Merlin’s memory, not mine.’

At those words, Merlin’s body stiffened.

-Wh-what?

Merlin was shocked. She asked Najin with wide eyes:

-When? From what time?

‘Let’s talk about that later.’

Najin looked at the next floor.

When explaining about the Black Tower, Merlin had said that one dream continues. If so, would he continue from where it was cut off when he ascended to the next floor?

If that was the case, there was something he needed to ask Merlin.

‘Merlin.’

-No, which memory did you see exactly…

‘Can I use Excalibur in the dream?’

At Najin’s question, Merlin was silent for a moment.

-I don’t know why you’re asking that, but.

Merlin stared at Najin.

-You should be able to. If the witch named Malkuth were still alive, you couldn’t, but now that she’s dead… The dreams you have in this tower are truly just illusions.

Yes. That’s enough.

Najin nodded and slowly got to his feet.

-So what did you see in the dream?

‘Merlin when she had 12 stars.’

The moment he said that, Merlin’s face turned pale.

-How, how? Even I don’t remember that?

‘Merlin said it herself. What this tower shows is the memory from the most painful time.’

The mystery residing in the Black Tower, Reminiscence.

The mystery that the witch named Malkuth possessed was overlaid on this tower after Malkuth’s death. And, as the original owner Malkuth had wished, the mystery gifted nightmares to all challengers who entered the tower.

The most terrible memory.

The most intense memory.

The happiest memory.

Depending on the challenger, or the level, the memory shown might differ… but in Najin’s case, for some reason, he seemed to be seeing Merlin’s most terrible memory. A past that even Merlin herself might have forgotten.

And.

Upon hearing those words, Merlin’s face turned not just pale, but deathly white. It was far from mere embarrassment or shame from having someone else see her past. Najin, who shared emotions with Merlin to some extent, felt fear and dread.

Merlin was feeling fear.

‘…Merlin?’

Najin looked at Merlin. The moment their eyes met, Merlin bit her lip hard.

-Let’s get out.

Then she grabbed Najin’s arm and pulled. Though her body had no substance, Merlin’s urgency was palpable.

-Let’s get out quickly. Okay? You’ve come this far, that’s enough. There’s no need for you to climb to the top of the tower.

Merlin’s eyes were trembling.

-Let’s get out, please? Just once, can’t you listen to me?

‘Merlin, calm down for a moment…’

-I said let’s get out!

She shouted.

As if surprised by her own outburst, Merlin covered her mouth. As if not knowing what to do, Merlin looked at Najin with her fingertips trembling. It was a gaze filled with anxiety. Merlin spoke, breathing heavily:

-Please.

Merlin pleaded.

Holding Najin’s arm, Merlin pleaded.

-Just, up to here, can’t we just stop here?