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Chapter : 3. Ending a Sword Life and Starting a Human Life (1)
Six hundred years of suffering passed.
It wasn’t the first seal, so I thought that after some time, foolish humans seeking power would appear, break the seal, and make a wish.
But around the hundredth year, I began to suspect something had gone seriously wrong.
It seemed the problem was the sacred items the ritual priests had brought out for the sealing.
Relics containing the soul of the Main God.
I had underestimated the power of gods.
It was a force on an entirely different level from the half-baked holy magic and elemental magic of priests and mages.
Around the two-hundredth year, I discovered the location of the sealing site—and fell into despair.
It was buried beneath the Plain of Light, at a depth of one kilometer.
With the technology of this continent, reaching such depth was impossible.
I remembered the face of that damn Earth Priest who once split the plain with a miracle.
Three hundred years passed, yet nothing changed in the sealing site’s environment.
I gave up on escaping by force and instead sought a way out on my own.
There was one method.
The previous owner of the demonic sword Veradion had once forcibly made me its resident and escaped.
That method was to summon the next “tenant” from another world to replace me.
I began digging through the Library of Memories.
Memories of past owners—and my forgotten self—filled it.
I started reading the tens of thousands of memory books stored there.
Another hundred years passed.
During that time, I searched through countless memory books and finally discovered the method used by the previous owner to summon me.
And then I fell into despair again.
It required casting a high-dimensional grand spell: setting coordinates across time and space to an appropriate other world, and activating a magic circle at the exact moment a soul with similar attributes died—replacing the soul sealed within Veradion.
I was an ordinary Earth human, and after being summoned to another world, I became a demonic sword.
I was a sword, not a mage.
Another hundred years passed. Five hundred years had now passed since I was trapped in this cursed sealing site.
I once again searched the Library of Memories, studied magic-related knowledge, and ran simulations to learn it myself.
There was plenty of useful information in the memories of previous owners.
Even secrets of magic unknown to humans.
I researched endlessly—combining my attribute energy, thunder qi, human magic, and the powers of previous owners—and began forming my own system of magic.
I also studied the techniques of Roderick, the knight of the “Demon King” known as Pahwang (Breaker Emperor), as well as countless contractors.
But that was the limit.
Even a mage who reached the divine 10th circle would struggle to cast such a grand spell—how could I, a mere Earth human turned sword, accomplish it?
It was probably possible for the previous owner, a great demon king who aspired to become a god of demons.
But that wasn’t the only problem.
After summoning an otherworldly soul, there was no body for my soul to inhabit.
The previous owner had a physical body in the demon world.
Only his soul had been sealed, so he likely returned to his original body after summoning me.
Now, all that remained for me was surrender.
I no longer had the strength to endure.
I would continue like this until my soul decayed and collapsed into oblivion.
After finishing a 20-year human life and 900 years of sword life, I closed my eyes.
Step. Step.
At the sound of unfamiliar footsteps, my consciousness awakened.
A spark of hope ignited within my motionless, dead-like soul.
It was surely grave robbers—just as I had been waiting for.
My reason screamed that this situation was absurd, but the lingering attachment to life was no different for a demonic sword.
I slowly expanded my awareness outward.
Something felt strange.
I had given up escaping a long time ago, yet my accumulated 1,000 years of demonic energy and mana were gone.
As I felt my awareness narrowing and the sword becoming unnaturally light, I noticed something else.
The water that once filled the sealing site had disappeared.
After 600 years, the environment had changed.
While I steadied my confusion, the footsteps grew closer.
“A-hey, Team Leader. Is that the right direction?”
A sharp female voice echoed.
“How would I know? I’ve never heard or seen a case where a dungeon boss is defeated and yet the exit doesn’t open.”
“Could it be that the thing we just fought wasn’t the boss? Maybe the boss is still alive, so the portal hasn’t opened.”
After the deep-voiced man called Team Leader spoke, another man added his voice as well.
‘Dungeon? Portal? I have no idea what they’re talking about.’
Judging by the footsteps, there were four of them.
Listening to their conversation, I felt a strange sense of unease.
‘I’m missing something…’
Thud. Thud. Thud.
They began spreading out, tapping the walls.
Thud. Thud. Thunk.
“Team Leader! The sound is different here. There must be something behind it!”
One of them shouted after discovering the seal.
“Move. If we break it, we’ll see what’s behind it.”
At the woman’s words, the men stepped back from the wall.
“Prepare for battle. Be ready for a monster ambush.”
The deep voice of the Team Leader gave the command, and the sharp female voice followed with a chant:
“O spirit of fire protecting the flames, symbol of guardianship that destroys enemies, arrow of courage that cuts through fear and terror—grant me the power to overcome the trials before me. Fire Arrow!”
Kugugung.
Rumble…
After the long, elaborate incantation, a fiery magic arrow shattered the sealing wall.
Dust settled, revealing figures beyond the broken wall.
And the moment I saw them, I understood the source of the strange feeling I had.
‘It was Earth language. Korean, not the continental common tongue.’
Because I had naturally understood their speech, I had assumed it was the common language I had heard for 400 years as a sword.
But it was actually my mother tongue—Korean from Earth, which I thought I had forgotten.
Confirmation came from their clothing as well.
Jeans, round T-shirts, hoodies—Earth fashion.
The jungle knife and Japanese sword in their hands created another sense of mismatch, but I was overwhelmed by emotion at the language and clothing from my homeland.
For a moment I wondered why this was happening, but since I couldn’t find an answer, I simply stopped thinking and watched them.
“Team Leader. Isn’t that a sword?”
“Oh? Jackpot. Finding a proper weapon in an E-rank dungeon.”
“Could that sword be why the exit didn’t open?”
“We need to check.”
The four of them approached.
Soon, I felt their gazes surrounding me.
Except for the large man called the Team Leader, the other three looked at him.
“I’ll pull it out.”
Sensing their gaze, the Team Leader reluctantly reached out.
“Be careful. It might have some kind of magic on it.”
With that, his hand grasped my hilt.
Zzzzt.
“Ughhh!”
“What—what is this!”
“Screee!”
“Ugh!”
My stored energy was drained, but this was not a test someone like a low-tier sword user or walker could survive.
‘To think the ones I meet after 600 years are such trash.’
Clearly, they were not qualified to pass the sword’s trial.
Unfortunate. I would have to prepare for the next ones.
‘I’ll replenish even the reduced mana.’
Absorbing souls increases mana.
I intended to absorb not only the charred corpse of the Team Leader but also the souls of the others.
“R-run!”
“W-we have to get out!”
“Kyaa!”
With the Team Leader dead, chaos spread and the remaining three attempted to flee.
‘You think I’ll let you go?’
I activated Sword Seduction.
A demonic power that made it feel as though holding the sword would grant immense strength.
Countless beings had once jumped into the flames like moths, consumed by this illusion.
The fate of these three would be no different.
Their eyes changed as they were exposed to the invisible force spreading from the sword.
[Come. Hold me. You can become a Sword Master too. I’ll give you power.]
I also added a sweet whisper into their minds.
They rushed toward me and grabbed my hilt.
Zzzzt. Zzzzt. Zzzzt.
As expected, none of them passed the trial.
Following the Team Leader, all three turned into blackened corpses.
There was no sign of any proper dungeon raid team.
This request had been made by a group of four E-rank hunters who had no interest in helpers at all.
They treated helpers—who gathered monster remains, carried supplies, and supported the raid—as nothing more than porters.
I was also an awakened hunter, but as an F-rank, I never had the chance to act as a proper one.
I could clear F-rank dungeons, but the biggest profit—magic stones—was out of reach, making entry fees barely worth it.
So F-rank hunters usually joined E-rank or higher raids as helpers.
It was dangerous, but highly efficient compared to the investment, so everyone accepted the risk.
When they reached the boss room after collecting monster remains, neither the raid team nor the escape portal was there.
“Where did they go?”
The boss’s body had been so badly destroyed that no materials could be extracted.
“So they really didn’t trust us that much.”
They likely thought I, the helper, might steal the magic stone.
Or perhaps they didn’t trust each other either.
First, I needed to find the raid team.
To escape the dungeon, I needed their power, so I searched the boss room for another path they might have taken.
Then I found a collapsed wall.
The blackened rubble suggested it had been destroyed by fire magic.
Most likely the work of that cold female mage.
Without hesitation, I climbed over the rubble and stepped beyond the wall.
And what I saw froze my body completely.
There were not four—but five of them.
Just as I was absorbing the souls of the four dead and building up a small amount of mana, another visitor appeared at the sealing site.
He carried a large backpack and held additional luggage in both hands.
He stopped, shocked at the sight of his dead companions.
‘At this rate, he’ll probably turn back.’
But my remaining sword energy was too weak. I needed even a low-quality soul.
Once again, I activated Sword Seduction.
The invisible force expanded outward.
The energy filling the sealing site reached the man standing at the broken entrance.
[Welcome. Haven’t you ever held a demonic sword before?]
The unfamiliar voice echoed in his mind, and the man flinched.
[Come here and grab me. I’ll give you irresistible power. You won’t need to carry those heavy bags anymore. Don’t you want to stand at the front line? I can make that happen.]
