TRPM 85

chapter 85

I declared that I would annihilate all the goblins in this dungeon, then calmly sat down.

“?”

Arthur looked as if he was about to say something, but then swallowed his words. He must have decided I had some kind of plan.

Keeping him at my side, I opened the subspace of my bracelet.

Shooong!
Swishhh!

Countless swords flew out of the subspace.

“… I knew your subspace was large, but you’ve really been carrying this many swords around?”

No—more than that. Arthur, who had been marveling at the swords, seemed to realize something strange and asked:

“Just how big is your subspace, Mr. Artist?”

Even from this single release, there were already hundreds of swords. And when you considered how I’d always stuffed in entire monster corpses as well…

“Hmm… about enough to fit a whole building?”

“……”

Arthur fell silent.

Normally, subspace artifacts aren’t impossible to obtain as long as you have money, but their size is never guaranteed. The Guinness record-holder for the largest internal space of a subspace artifact was only about the size of a small house.

Mine and Yeon Mirae’s subspace artifacts are exceptions.

Of course, that was because the Awakener System had tailored them for us.

Anyway.

The countless swords released from my subspace all shot straight up into the sky.

“… What a spectacle.”

Arthur wasn’t especially shocked. Back in Korea, he had occasionally seen me use sword control techniques. Still, the sight of hundreds of blades soaring all at once must have been worth capturing, because he even pulled out his phone and started recording video.

“… Make sure I’m not in the shot.”

“It’s for personal storage only. But just in case—got it.”

The swords, hanging high in the air, suddenly froze in place. Then, one by one, they began to rotate, their blades pointing in various directions.

“… Wait. Don’t tell me…”

Arthur’s eyes widened as he realized what I was about to do.

“What? Is there a problem?”

“No, it’s just… can you really control that many swords individually?”

“Of course.”

Even as I spoke, the hundreds of swords shot off like bullets. Each one became a deadly projectile aimed precisely at the goblins I had sensed.

But that was only the beginning.

Boom!
“Kkiiek?!”
“Kruk?!”

Through the internal energy I’d infused into each sword, I received and analyzed all the feedback as they cut through their targets.

Shhhk!

The blades moved as fluidly as if they were held in my own hands.

It sounds simple, but to make hundreds of swords move independently, it was like controlling hundreds of extra limbs at once—an impossible feat for a normal human brain.

But I was different.

The rifts torn through space. The incomprehensible beings beyond them.

Without meaning to, I had tried to comprehend them. The strain had once landed me in the hospital.

But my ultimate technique, the Harmonization Art, evolved so that even that became a source of strength. By the time I saw those otherworldly beings again in Sydney, all I suffered was a mild headache.

Thanks to that training, controlling hundreds of swords simultaneously was no longer difficult.

And goblins? They could never hope to block or dodge my blades.

The only real risk was that my swords might run out of internal energy before wiping them all out, making further control impossible. But that wasn’t a problem—I could simply recall the swords, reinfuse them with energy, and send them flying again.

“… This feels… a little unfair.”

“Hm? What does?”

“I mean, the goblins don’t even know where we are. And we’re just attacking them one-sidedly from here, without ever revealing our position.”

He wasn’t wrong.

But to call that ‘unfair’ seemed… odd.

“If we can clear a dungeon safely without taking any injuries, what could be better?”

“I know that’s the right answer, but… lately, most of my official missions involve fighting head-on in a fair, straightforward way. This just feels kind of cheap.”

Arthur gave me a wry smile.

I understood.

Some Awakeners, instead of focusing on efficiency, preferred flashy performances or cultivating a good public image. While many in the community looked down on those “celebrity Awakeners,” I personally didn’t care.

Anyway.

I controlled the dispersed blades and slaughtered goblins throughout the dungeon. With every sweep of hundreds of swords, hundreds of goblins fell. Their numbers thinned rapidly.

… Thankfully, they don’t respawn.

I’d worried that no matter how many we killed, they might endlessly reappear. Fortunately, that wasn’t the case.

And so, the dungeon once deemed “unclearable” was conquered by my hands.

“… Hah… how the hell am I supposed to report this…”

Arthur sounded both delighted and troubled. Clearing a dungeon near London was good, but handling the aftermath would be… tricky.

The Next Day

Arthur left on his own for the London Awakener Association—probably to make that report about yesterday’s dungeon.

So today, sightseeing would just be me, my mother, and Rachel.

“It’s a shame Arthur couldn’t come along, but I’ll make sure to guide you properly.”

“Mm… I feel a little uneasy…”

Without Arthur, who was both an Aura Master and our self-appointed guard, my mother seemed nervous. Especially since a terror attack had just happened two days ago.

Rachel was strong too, but compared to Arthur, she couldn’t offer quite the same sense of security.

“… Um, ma’am? Actually, Gunwoo is stronger than Arthur.”

“Hm? Really? I know Gunwoo is an Aura Master, but stronger than Arthur? … I don’t really understand the Awakener world, so…”

“Ah, right…”

Apparently, Rachel knew I surpassed Arthur. Probably because Arthur had told her. But how much had he told her? Did she even know I was the Artist?

“Anyway, today we’re going to the British Museum, right?”

“Yes. I heard that if you come to England, you absolutely have to see Buckingham Palace and the British Museum.”

My mother was looking forward to the museum visit, and so was I.

Especially since the British Museum is more famous for foreign relics than British ones.

Most of them were spoils or plunder from when Britain was the so-called Empire. Nowadays, of course, they were claimed to be legally purchased or held under loan agreements.

Not that those details mattered much to me.

“But do you think Gunwoo will even enjoy a museum?”

“Well…”

Rachel and my mother seemed convinced I wouldn’t. After all, most kids my age wouldn’t care for looking at old artifacts.

“Mom, I’m fine.”

“Still…”

She kept apologizing, saying we could go somewhere else if I didn’t want to go. But honestly, I was interested. As someone who studied sorcery, relics fascinated me.

Of course, I couldn’t admit that out loud.

“… Let’s just go to the museum first. If Gunwoo gets bored, we can always leave.”

At Rachel’s suggestion, my mother agreed. And so, we set off for the British Museum.

We arrived at the British Museum, but—

BOOM!
“(Kyaaa?!)”
“(What’s happening?!)”
“(An explosion! It’s a bomb attack!)”

Of all days, the very moment we arrived, a terrorist attack broke out.

“(Grab them!)”
“(These artifacts are all treasures Britain stole illegally!)”
“(They were ours to begin with!)”

We even saw the terrorists openly looting relics right in front of us.

“Ugh…”

My mother gagged at the sight of museum guards’ corpses, killed by the terrorists.

Rachel, protecting her, summoned dolls from her subspace to form a barrier, and at the same time pulled out her phone to call Arthur—

“… Tch. Signal jamming.”

The terrorists had come prepared. Regular signals weren’t going through.

Arthur?

Gunwoo %@(#? Wha—!#’s going on?

But my telepathy wasn’t blocked.

Arthur’s reply came through, though laced with static, as if the terrorists had tried to jam that too.

There’s a terrorist attack at the British Museum. Can you get here?

Terror?! Got it. I’m at the Association r!ght now, I’ll bring their Awakeners and head there.

Static made parts garbled, but the meaning was clear enough: he’d come with reinforcements.

How long?

%@^ minutes… we’ll arri—!

… The important number didn’t come through. Oh well.

“(Someone just managed to contact the outside!)”
“(What? But we jammed everything!)”
“(They broke through it somehow!)”

The terrorists had realized what I’d done.

“… Gunwoo? Was that you?”

“Yeah.”

Rachel quickly deduced it had been me, and I didn’t bother denying it.

“Arthur said he’ll be here soon with other Awakeners.”

“Really? That’s a relief.”

She tightened her control over the barrier dolls, keeping a wary eye on the terrorists.

“(Damn it! Do you know how much prep went into this?!)”
“(We can’t go back empty-handed.)”
“(Right. If the plan’s already ruined, let’s at least punish them before we leave.)”

And so, the terrorists turned their attention toward us.

Hmm…

I really don’t want to shed blood in front of my mother.

She had nearly vomited just seeing the guards’ corpses. If she saw me kill someone…

Well, no choice then.

“(Guh?!)”
“(Khhk?!)”
“(Urk?!)”

I struck the terrorists’ vital points with quick, clean punches, knocking them out cold.

As long as no blood is spilled, just knocking them unconscious will do.

With that thought, I shook out my hand.

There were still plenty of terrorists left inside the museum.