Chapter 153 - Despair Repeats Again (2)

“All original plans related to the Exchange Meeting will be scrapped.”

One afternoon, while enjoying a private tea time with Salvatio—Jared Augustus, Claudio said so.

“Scrapped? What’s the reason?”

At Jared's question, Claudio smiled, a rare, genuine look of amusement on his face, before answering.

“It seems… Rain Enlight has seen through all our plans and objectives.”

“Hmm.”

Claudio slowly recalled the events up to now. The operation to seize the 『Key of the Apex』, which had been conceived and executed only among the First Astro, and which no one should have known about, was the beginning.

For some reason, Rain Enlight had arrived at Ailton Hall at the perfect time and thwarted the operation.

He even brought forces that were insufficient to defeat Ad Astra's power, but perfectly suited for buying time.

On top of that, he even took the head of one of the First Astro, Gabriel.

Of course, at that point, Claudio did not immediately suspect Rain's peculiarity.

It was a judgment that it could have happened with an extremely low probability, a series of coincidences that were almost like a miracle.

However, his thoughts changed as he watched the series of events that unfolded afterward.

Stella's provocation and attempt to win over Arien Ortega was not a discussed action. It was just Stella's arbitrary decision and whim.

This suggested that Stella's action was not discussed within 『Ad Astra』.

But Rain Enlight, as if he knew, had followed Arien Ortega and prevented her from being won over by Stella.

As if he knew that Stella would do so.

-The way he acts as if he knows everything in this world… it was disgustingly unpleasant.

Stella's words, spoken with a chillingly expressionless face, had inspired Claudio. It was an inspiration about the possibility that he knew about things that would happen in the future.

That's why Claudio tested Rain Enlight one last time.

The test was turning 『Death Without Cost』 into 『Despair Without Cost』 at Railroad Mysterium.

Of course, no matter how powerful an artifact 『Despair Without Cost』 was, it was not an unsolvable problem.

If the powerful figures of the Empire gathered and tried their best, they could somehow stop the rampage.

However, if one were to suddenly face the rampage of 『Despair Without Cost』 without any knowledge, no matter how powerful a knight they were, they wouldn't be able to escape unscathed.

They would either be swept away by the wave of undead and die outnumbered, or have their life force squeezed out by the artifact itself.

And the only one who knew that 『Death Without Cost』 could turn into 『Despair Without Cost』 was its owner, the Black Bride—the First Astro of 『Ad Astra』, who now went by the name of Queen.

There was no way to survive this trap. It was that malicious and deadly of a trap.

There was only one way to survive. To accurately grasp the information about 『Despair Without Cost』 and destroy it in a single blow with powerful firepower.

And Rain Enlight survived.

By foiling 『Despair Without Cost』 in the most perfect way, as if he already knew everything about it.

‘It’s certain.’

With that, Claudio was convinced. That Rain Enlight had detailed knowledge about the future—or about Ad Astra.

He had considered the possibility that the head of the Enlight family, Mateus, had turned traitor and was working through Rain, but… that didn't explain the case of him stopping Stella's arbitrary action.

“That's why we will use the Exchange Meeting operation itself as a trap.”

“A trap.”

Jared nodded his head slightly, as if he had roughly grasped Claudio's intention.

“If he knows about the things we will do in the future, he will try to stop the events at the Exchange Meeting as well.”

“You’ll aim for that moment?”

“Exactly.”

Claudio then calmly recited the gist of the plan.

“Rain Enlight will try to stop the original plan of summoning monsters at the Exchange Meeting. Furthermore, it is obvious that he will try to capture the mastermind alive to expose my faction's instigation.”

Once he had seen through the fact that he knew the future, everything else was a smooth ride.

“We will isolate him. We will make him pursue us to a place where no people can reach. Of course, we must also prepare a barrier.”

It was a vicious trap.

“And… we will prepare a trap. A trap that no knight can escape.”

A vicious trap, riddled with malice and murderous intent.

Rain's misfortunes were threefold.

First, his opponent was Claudio Renart Abellon.

Claudio quickly grasped the situation with his unique intellect and quickly accepted the conclusion that overturned common sense—that he might have knowledge of the future.

And, he immediately formulated a thorough plan to eliminate Rain Enlight.

Facing an opponent with such astounding thinking and action was Rain's first misfortune.

Second, the fact that Stella's action was an arbitrary one that had not been discussed beforehand was not mentioned in the original Arche.

If Stella's action had been a discussed act rather than an arbitrary one, the arrow of suspicion would have been directed at Mateus as well.

Of course, Mateus wouldn't have been ousted or unilaterally blamed for it, but… he wouldn't have been so sure.

That was Rain's second misfortune.

And… the last, most important misfortune remained.

Certainly, all of Claudio's schemes were meticulous and malicious. Normally, there would be no way out.

However, Rain had one way to break through this situation.

『Overcoming Ten Thousand Deaths』. If he used that regression, even if he encountered the trap, he could just die and go back.

That was certainly Rain's blessing. It was as if he already held in his hands the blessing that would overcome that vicious scheme.

However, a tragic fate descended on Rain's head in the most cruel form.

[System: Checkpoint has been updated!]

[System: Upon death, you will return to the current point in time via 『Overcoming Ten Thousand Deaths』.]

That was Rain's third misfortune.

No, perhaps it was not just a simple misfortune, but an inevitability.

It had been a journey where I had run without rest.

This much I could swear to the heavens. From the time I was thrown into the Enlight family, I had only moved forward, without a single moment of laziness.

In that series of processes, pain was always with me. From the beginning until now.

I still remember the cold pain of the blade being thrust into my neck and chest after being dragged out of the carriage on the way from the Enlight family to the academy.

I still remember the pain of my head being crushed by a monster during the monster suppression test to figure out the solution.

The pain of being cut in two by Judgment, the pain of writhing in agony from the poison on Gabriel's dagger, the pain of my lower body being blown away by Stella's homunculus. All of it was as vivid as if it had just happened.

Yes. I was a person who was repeating death hundreds of times, and now I was using even a painful death as an option calmly, but… I had never forgotten the pain for a single moment.

Someone might ask. Despite that pain, why have you accepted death so calmly?

Couldn't you have just run away?

I confess. The 'someone' who asked that question was none other than myself.

I had pondered over that subject for a long time. The pain was still there, but I didn't want to back down. That's why I used death.

An indescribable feeling of just wanting to move forward.

At a glance, it might have seemed like an expression of a sublime value.

I want to save the world. I want to save people. I want to help the heroes who have now become my friends from the side.

Perhaps someone might think it originated from such a commendable heart.

However, now that I have reached this point, I could understand. The reason why I could accept even that painful death.

‘Fear.’

I was just afraid of the greater pain that would surely exist beyond the compromised world.

What if I back down because I'm afraid of the immediate pain, and that hesitation leads to a bigger problem?

What if I close my eyes in frustration from wanting to give up, and I still feel the pain vividly?

If I died 100 times now, I could definitely prevent the 9,000 deaths that would unfold in the future. At least, that's what I thought at the time.

That's why, while being terrified, I willingly died 100 times. It was a simple math problem.

Now I could understand. What was more frightening than the vividly felt pain was the despair that would sprout in uncertainty.

That's why I just ran. I was just running away from that despair.

But…….

I had come face to face with despair again.

I had run from it with everything I had, but I couldn't shake it off.

That was the story of now.

Bang-!

The roar of the 『Outlaw』 echoed. It was a weapon with enough firepower to deal a significant blow to a Master Knight, but it was not enough to pierce Salvatio's armor.

I knew it would be like that. Even the mid-to-late game Serene had struggled to pierce Salvatio's armor.

Crack.

In the end, I was crushed vertically by his greatsword and died.

I must have become a corpse in a gruesome state.

[System: You have overcome deaths.]

[Strength: D → B+]

[Agility: C+ → A]

[Stamina: D+ → B+]

[Intellect: B → A]

[Magic: D → C]

[Dexterity: A → A+]

In the 390th round, I tried to escape using the 『Moment of Decisive Battle』.

But as expected, as if they wouldn't let me go, spirit magic was cast from Akmandar's hand.

Paaat-!

Magic bullets shaped like the heads of wolves tore into tens, hundreds of streams and flew towards me.

Clang-

I swung 『Spellbinder』 to deflect the spirit magic as much as possible, but I couldn't block all the high-speed bullets that flew at me in hundreds of streams.

Akmandar was a world-class powerhouse whom even Khan, who was currently stronger than me, could only barely match in the late game. It was a natural outcome.

Thwack-!

As a result, my heart was pierced, and I died.

[System: You have overcome deaths.]

Clang-!

The plan to engage Grændal in a chaotic battle and find a way to escape in the confusion also yielded no results.

Slash-!

My swordsmanship proficiency had reached A, and if I used 『Moment of Decisive Battle』, my dexterity reached A+, but… I couldn't last ten exchanges before Grændal pierced my neck.

This too was a foreseen event. He was a formidable enemy that even the original Arche's Elwin couldn't defeat without mastering the 『Sword Saint's Secret Arts』 passed down in the Cardenas family.

Yes. I knew. Dammit, I did.

All my resistance was meaningless. There was no way to break through the situation right now.

Even if I chose to flee, as I mentioned before, I couldn't escape from Akmandar's spirit magic, and even if I did, I would be caught by Salvatio and Grændal before long.

Those two possessed overwhelming physical abilities that couldn't even be compared to someone like me.

Fighting back was out of the question. It was clear that hitting a rock with an egg was a more rational choice.

I admit it. I was just continuing a meaningless resistance.

Just, waiting for my breath to be cut off here someday.