Episode 149
“Kamang, let’s eat.”
A reward for victory given to the King of Heroes by the Shadow Lord, who has been reborn as the Seven Great Princes.
Black Mangi, who was silent in the shadows at Yooseong’s feet, appeared.
— Nyaaaang.
As soon as Black Mangi appeared, the bottom of the sword tower was submerged in darkness. And out of that darkness, ‘they’ began to emerge one by one.
These were not giant monsters roaring in the sea of shadows like usual. There were no jaw bones or mouths capable of swallowing a person flesh and bone.
They were just silhouettes in suits holding swords.
As if imitating the form of a shooting star wearing a business suit and holding a sword as a vampire lord.
It wasn’t a metaphor or anything.
《Shadow Mimic).
It is a reward given to Yooseong by the Shadow Lord and a new ability of the shadow beast, Kamangi.
And what the ‘shadow imitators’ were imitating was by no means some half-baked player.
——It was the shadow of the Heavenly Demon.
Taaat!
The mechanical swordsmen rushed to the ground all at once. The distance narrowed. It was incredibly fast and powerful.
However, it meant nothing in front of the swords of the shadow imitators imitating the sword demon Cheonma.
There wasn’t even a clash between blades and blades. It was simply a massacre carried out unilaterally by the shadows of the Heavenly Demon.
There was no need to separately activate ‘Cheonmagang Rim’ like using a skill card. The Heavenly Demon was no longer a being that had to descend. Because it was just one of the names inherited by the King of Heroes.
The steel frame of the mechanical swordsmen was cut, and black oil welled up from within.
Moreover, what the shadow imitators were imitating was not just the name of the Heavenly Demon.
Sigh!
As the mechanical swordsman swung his sword, the body of the shadow imitator lost its shape and collapsed on the spot. At the same time, dozens or hundreds of bats formed into a swarm and started running.
The body of a high-ranking vampire wearing the business suit of a vampire lord.
Immediately after, another shadow imitator extended his arm toward one of the swordsmen. It was the arm that was not holding the sword.
A funny sound rang out, like exploding birthday fireworks, and the mechanical swordsman’s sword turned into a lollipop
.
It was not the power of the skill cards that could be activated as a player.
The Witch King, the head of the witches’ coven.
At the same time, the elaborate internal structures that made up the mechanical swordsman were twisted into something like a crude, cheap spring and collapsed.
“I can’t control the strength of this body. “Isn’t that right?”
The original shrugged its shoulders, leaving behind the one-sided slaughter being carried out by its imitators.
— What did you do?
“A philosopher once said, “Don’t they say that a fake that cannot be distinguished from the real thing is real?”
— Who says that?
“I.”
Pajik Pajik!
Sparks scattered like sparks and the last mechanical swordsman finally fell. Really, who had not lifted a finger until the very end, finally took a step forward.
Across his imitators who remain silent there.
He too, as one of the imitators of countless heroes.
[Move to the next floor….]
It was time to start climbing the tower.
Tower of Twelve Swords. As the name suggests, what greeted Yooseong every time he climbed the stairs were endless mechanical swordsmen.
Each and every one of them is a swordsman with a level of skill that cannot be compared to that of any single player. But in the end, that’s about it. Even if he was the tower owner standing at the top of the sword tower, it was no different.
[You have defeated the 12th Tower of Swords, Robert Lee!]
“How is it so easy?”
“I can’t help it. He is the weakest among us…”]
[The 11 tower owners of the Tower of Twelve Swords await the challenge of the Heavenly Demon!]
“Ah, damn it.”
And Yoosung looked at the following message and cursed in bewilderment.
“I’m going to stay out of my mind and put a stamp on the copy paste until the Mangem special game goes bankrupt.”
That didn’t change anything.
[Entering the 11th Sword Tower….]
I just continued silently. Watching carefully the new abilities bestowed by the Shadow Lord, strictly speaking, the new abilities bestowed upon Kamangi.
It was the shadow of a hero.
Like knights carrying out war according to the king’s orders. And the Heavenly Demon’s sword, which resides in each of the three heroic armies, began to cut a path through the sword tower.
For the King of Heroes to whom they deserve loyalty.
[The 11th Sword Tower Master has been defeated!]
Every time you climb the stairs of the tower, a new enemy appears and you just have to defeat that enemy. Even if one shadow imitator happened to fall in the process… it did not mean the defeat of Yoosung or the Heavenly Demon.
It was simply a defeat for the imitator.
Even if the ‘real meteor’ here is defeated, it will be the same.
It would be no different from the defeat of the thousandth hero.
[The 10th sword tower lord has been defeated!]
[The 6th sword tower lord…]
[Entering the 1st sword tower…]
「System activated. Opponent captured.”]
[Warning: The 1st Sword Tower Master 一 Mecha Heavenly Demon threatens player Kang Yu-seong!]
“Go, Mecha Heavenly Demon Unit 0!”]
[The Mechanism Lord shouts, unable to hide the passion of an engineer.]
‘ *……yn
And when Yooseong reached the end of the tower and looked at the enemy he was facing, he muttered in bewilderment.
“No, I really got sick and fell asleep.”
Immediately after, the Mecha Heavenly Demon rushed to the ground. It was faster than sound and print. As its name suggests, it was undoubtedly imitating the Sword of the Heavenly Demon.
Mechanical imitator.
And in the same way, the ‘Shadows of the Heavenly Demon’ rushed in against the Mecha Heavenly Demon’s sword.
Kaang!
Shadows and mechanical imitators clashed.
It’s not the real thing, but imitators who are just imitating the real thing in their own way. But what could be called a clash lasted only for a moment.
“Everyone gather below me, above Shadow Heavenly Demon Unit 0.”
After seeing that, the ‘real Heavenly Demon’ finally opened his mouth. And just as he said, dozens of shadow imitators began to emerge from Ka Mangi’s shadow.
“Hit that guy hard.”
An immeasurable number of Shadow Heavenly Demons rushed towards one Mecha Heavenly Demon.
The shadow and the blade of the machine collided, and the blade of the shadow began to tear the flesh and bones of the machine to pieces.
Crackling crackling!
The steel flesh and bones were cut, and instead of blood, dark-colored oil welled up and splattered.
“Oh my, there is no business in front of the page…
[“It is not time to rejoice yet, child.”] [The Mechanism Lord exercises her influence!]
And before Yoosung had time to finish speaking, a message came to mind. . At the same time, the entire
sword
tower he was standing on shook and an extremely ominous message followed.
[——The mass production of the Mecha Heavenly Demon begins…]
Before we knew it, countless Mecha Heavenly Demons… imitators of mechanical devices began to appear everywhere.
Just before, at the 13th tier tower, I clashed swords one-on-one with the real Heavenly Demon.
And in the next tower, a war between imitators imitating Cheonma was about to begin. It was right then.
“Stop.”]
The jester’s laughter rang out, and at the same time, a warning from a very solemn man was heard.
“It is beyond the scope of your influence.”]
[The Game Lord restrains the Machine Lord’s actions.]
“I knew it would be like this. “Cheonma is not even a four-tier name, so you’re going to produce a mass-produced mecha Cheonma as a tier 13 top boss?”
Yooseong sneered, and the clown monarch laughed even louder.
The lord of the 1st Sword Tower, ‘Mecha Heavenly Demon’, fell and the Mechanism Lord stopped taking any further action. It meant only one thing.
[Cleared the Tier 13 Hard Sword Tower…]
[As a reward for the strategy,
receive a random steel skill pack (
Hero level or higher) You conquered and protected the world!”]
[The Clown Lord praises the player Kang Yoo-seong!]
And Yoo-seong remained silent in response to the Clown Lord’s message that followed.
‘Yes, what is your identity?’
‘The graves of heroes. ‘
The conversation of that day suddenly came to mind.
The identity of the transcendental person who looked down on Yooseong and gave him strength.
The destination the King of Heroes reaches every time he fails and is defeated.
Clown Lord. Words that the hero will reach. I didn’t know exactly what that meant. I didn’t even want to know.
That being was simply mocking the hero’s shadow, laughing at the world, and waiting for the shadow to return to being a shadow.
A thousandth person who is nothing more than a hero’s imitator, like the shadow imitators here.
After thinking about it that much, I suddenly realized.
“Do you want me to despair and break down?”
That’s why Yooseong asked back, leaving behind a landscape that was being swallowed up by darkness.
“Why me?”]
came the answer. It was in the form of a message and a voice that rang out from behind Yoosung without even a trace.
The ‘clown lord’ was there.
It was a man wearing a mask from The Laughing Clown, dressed in a dark-colored business suit, and holding a sword in the winter night. He was bending his upper body and giggling, unable to hold back his laughter. It’s literally like I’m running out of breath.
But Yoosung did not laugh.
“Because ‘you guys’ have been like that until now.”
And answered. Without even the slightest hesitation.
“Actually, I’m going to die from stomach pain, right?”
The laughter stopped.
The clown monarch, who was bending over and giggling like crazy, stopped laughing as if it were a lie.
“It would make me sick to my stomach to see someone who is more successful than me in this world. Do you think it would be any different for you?”
Silence fell.
“I was so scared that I might become a ‘real hero’ and didn’t know what to do.
Nevertheless, Yoosung answered without heeding anything.
“After seeing the heroes who have done all this for them to finally give up and break down, they will be at a loss because they want to prove that they were not wrong.”
I felt like I could finally understand.
“You and I, we… have always been like that.”]
“Yes.”
And after silence, the Clown Lord spoke. Hearing that, Yoosung burst into laughter.
“I know myself.”
If the current hero fails and is defeated, the next hero will take over that role. Because that was the rule set by the Lord of Heroes.
And that fact just makes my stomach hurt and I can’t bear it. Because that’s how it was for me here.
“Do you think this fool’s opinion will change when Kang Yu-seong of the world becomes a hundred or a thousand people? It’s a video, nothing to watch. —— So you decided to become a clown?”
That’s why Yooseong mocked him.
“Lord of heroes who cannot be the king of heroes.”
He spoke the ‘true name’ of the monarch facing him.
The silence continued. It was a silence that was as cold as freezing and sharp as if it were cut.
The clown monarch, who has stopped laughing in the silence, is still stationary in an extremely grotesque posture, with his upper body bent.
Without even a single movement, just silence after silence.
