The God-Slaying Sword

My class, ‘Plunderer,’ can plunder and use skills from other races.

It was even called a ‘honey-sucking class’ because you could just snatch and use the skills of the classes that were called broken with every patch, but that was a double-edged sword.

If the plunder target was nerfed, I would become weaker along with it.
You might say, then just plunder another good skill, but to prevent such ‘bat-like behavior,’ the cooldown was increased to a week.

Moreover, to prevent the ‘unpleasantness of being plundered,’ it was adjusted so that only up to 70 percent of the original skill’s effectiveness could be produced.

It was a fatal nerf that caused a large number of ‘Plunderer’ users to leave, but I didn’t bother to change my class.
Because it had the advantage of being able to try various skills.

[- This is a fully enhanced ‘Special Legendary’ grade weapon.

• Original Sin: This weapon is permanently bound. When thrown, it returns to the owner with a 100% probability.

• Death Transmission: Upon hitting a target, it transmits black lightning to the surroundings, hitting multiple targets.
  (Creator: Shinbi-jui)]

Instead, I made a fully enhanced weapon as a secondary option.

The ‘Plunderer’ had the advantage of not needing to use a weapon because it relied on skill swapping, but I went to the trouble of crafting a dedicated weapon.

I chose a spear that wouldn’t be outmatched even in one-on-one combat, and I gathered and applied all the status transformation and multi-target options to it.
Thanks to that, dealing with mobs, which was said to be the biggest weakness of the ‘Plunderer,’ was easy, and I could hunt alone.

My Leviathan was a final-tier weapon with beautifully attached options, to the point where even a spear master who used a spear as their main weapon would acknowledge it.

But since I was trapped in this world, I hadn’t been able to use it at all.

[…An <Observer> appears….]

The reason, of course, was because of those bastards.

The damn things that appeared like ghosts whenever I used a skill or even just opened my equipment window.

[Deserter ‘Shinbi’s’ log has been detected.]

They fell from the sky like black rain, plop, plop.

The things that had been soft like jelly took on human form one by one.

I shuddered as I looked into their empty faces, like black holes that seemed like they could swallow me whole without anything happening.

“D-do, do you not see me? Can you not hear me?”

A year ago.
When I was first trapped here.

I had seen an NPC being eaten by an Observer.

“Please. Help me. I want to go back, but I don’t know how.”
“……”
“I’m not originally from this world.”
“That’s exactly the problem.”

Was it because her tearful appearance was pitiful?

One of the NPCs who had been treating me like I was invisible responded for the first time.

“You’re a deserter, so I can’t talk to you.”

I desperately grabbed him, asking what that meant, and to please explain.

“The place you were in, it was the City of Awakening, right?”

The NPC was troubled, but perhaps because he pitied me as I begged with my hands clasped, he meekly told me.

“The Awakeners leave their main bodies there and only their souls come to this place, the Legacyth continent, to fulfill their mission. With a new shell assembled as you wish. But you have deviated from that course. You’re a deserter.”

I couldn’t understand it with my head.
But my heart sank.

I might have known instinctively.
That I could no longer return to my old life.

[…Deserter ‘Shinbi’ log found. Commencing pursuit immediately.]

Just then, an Observer appeared.

Plop, plop.
The soft thing that fell like black rain took shape and opened its saw-like teeth wide.

“It’s a grim reaper. Go, quickly! I’ll buy you time!”

I never saw the NPC who helped me escape again.

[Recent conversation history: None]

I don’t even remember that NPC’s name.

Whether it was a man or a woman.

What they looked like.

…Actually, I’m not even sure if it really happened.

As if it were something that happened in a dream, the memory of him itself has become blurry.

[Warning: Contact with a deserter will be dealt with according to the principles.]
[Deserter ‘Shinbi’ detection complete. Executing immediate disposal principle.]

It was from then on.
That I stopped trying to initiate conversations with NPCs first.

I only opened my mouth in Midvalen.

Because in the neutral city of Midvalen, Observers couldn’t enter, and they couldn’t detect conversation history.

The reason I spoke to Karvan in the Nemea’s prison was because I thought he was practically dead.

[<Observer> is being summoned.]

‘I shouldn’t have done that.’

The lamenting reminiscence was soon shattered.

[<Observer> Passive – Due to the ‘Apostle of God’ effect, the stats and size of monsters appearing in the current field are greatly increased.]

The warning window, which I would have normally brushed off, was chilling.

Kiek!
Kii!
Kerek-kerek.

A bizarre, clicking mumble.
The sound of numerous bodily organs scraping against each other.
A chill ran down my spine.

“Ugh, ugh…”

I get scared easily, but I’m the type to hit the monster in front of me while screaming.
I’m also quite desensitized to cruel things, so I don’t think much when I see blood or corpses.

But, there’s one thing I’m terrified of.

Bugs, pests, insects.

Fortunately, there were no bugs in Midvalen.
Because the staple food of the bats that the Empire raised was bugs.

I hadn’t seen any bugs in Bahalgras either.
Maybe because it was a very cold snowy mountain area.

But, this was a forest.

And a deserted, spooky, and damp forest at that…

I thought of the horrifying insect monsters that existed in ‘Legacyth Chronicle.’

I had never seen them because I didn’t even go near their spawn areas when I was a user, but if one were to appear.
And if it were a bug monster that had grown enormous because of the Observer’s passive.
I was confident I would faint.

Rustle.

“Aaargh!”

I immediately threw my Leviathan.

I clearly saw a clump of white fur flickering behind the tree.
It was incredibly large and fluffy.

‘A spider! A spiderweb?’
‘No way, a pine caterpillar?’
I stretched out my hand, trembling, but the Leviathan was silent.

My exclusive weapon has the ‘Original Sin’ trait.
It was an effect that made it return like a boomerang, because it was a nuisance to go and pick up a thrown weapon every time.

That’s why it was supposed to automatically return to me no matter how far I threw it.
Since it only reacted to my mana, there was no way it could go astray.
But no matter how much I stretched out my hand, it was quiet.

‘No way, did it get stuck on that white clump of fur?’
The mere thought of it is horrifying.
I was seriously considering abandoning the Leviathan when the shadow behind the tree disappeared.

‘…Where did it go?’
‘It was definitely there. A huge clump of white fur.’

As I was looking around anxiously, I felt a presence behind me.

“Aack!”

Karvan, who had blocked my punch, was looking down at me.
His silver hair shone particularly white under the moonlight.

“Your reflexes aren’t bad.”

The familiar, expressionless face.

My tension drained, and I was just panting, when the man held out what he was holding.
It was the Leviathan.

“…What. You should have said something if you were here. I thought you were a monster.”

I snatched it from him and said bluntly.

“It’s a good thing I threw it carelessly, what would you have done if you got hurt?”

“I won’t get hurt by that much, so don’t worry.”

“I wasn’t worried, you know?”

‘I was worried you’d blame me if you got hit!’
As I was fuming with a red face, he examined my face and body with an indifferent gaze.

“Any injuries.”

“No… It doesn’t matter. What does it have to do with you.”

“……”

“You’re the one who pushed me in here. Why, on second thought, did you feel it was a waste to let me die?”

Though his face was expressionless, he seemed worried, but since I was already as crooked as could be, my words didn’t come out nicely.

“Were you afraid you wouldn’t be able to get a new part?”

“The Varg sacrifice the few for the sake of the many, and consider being replaced as a matter of course. Otherwise, we would go extinct.”

The words he spat out were unhesitating, as if he had been thinking about it for a long time.

“But a mate is one and only, and cannot be replaced.”

“…So you came rushing here to pick me up because you were afraid of losing me? Because you’d miss me if I were gone?”

“The Varg have a strong sense of community. They do not accept outsiders.”

As I turned my head away, as if I wouldn’t listen because I was already offended, the man continued without a care.

“The ceremony of the trial is, in your human terms, a citizenship.”

‘So if I pass, they’ll accept me?’
‘But what does that matter. It could have been solved with a single order from the great Valta. After forcing me into it.’

“Hearts cannot be changed by power.”

As if he had even read my sullen thoughts, the man said.

“They can pretend to accept it by my order, but it would be you who suffers when I’m not around.”

“……”

“Tacit ostracism, exclusion. You, as a race that values community, should know those things better.”

‘He’s just talking a lot because he feels guilty.’
I pouted my lips, but I understood what he meant.

Most of all, I thought he had betrayed me, but seeing him follow me all the way here and make an excuse that wasn’t an excuse, I felt a little better.

“Then why did you come? You said I shouldn’t receive help.”

“I have no intention of helping.”

“What? Then why did you come? You came to tease me!”

‘That’s what I thought.’
I immediately narrowed my eyes, and he raised the corner of his mouth.

‘That, that, seeing him laugh as if it were ridiculous, it’s certain that he came to watch me suffer.’
As I was glaring at him with a wary gaze, the man strode in front of me.

“…To follow you all the way here just to tease you.”

With his head slightly tilted, the gaze looking down at me askance was strange.

“I’m not that free.”