Change (1)
Dalen quickened his pace. Time was running out.
This was Calcas’s hell—a world crafted from the essence of his power.
Once a demon’s true form is destroyed, it begins to regain strength within hours.
Before that happens, Dalen needed to retrieve all the corpses and ensure the demon was completely annihilated.
With a powerful leap, he soared into the air, the forest below becoming a distant blur.
From this vantage point, he could see four towering pillars piercing the sky in the distance.
“The Chain Towers.”
These towers stood at the farthest reaches of this hell, one at each cardinal point. They were obelisks imbued with the power of this chain-bound hell.
“They’re where Calcas’s minions are created.”
Calcas’s hounds, chain knights, bound spirits, and countless other creatures were reborn as his minions, steeped in his power at these towers.
In the game, these towers functioned like gates, spewing out hordes of minions during boss battles. The standard strategy for dealing with Calcas was to first seal off these towers.
“This time, things were a bit different.”
There was no choice.
Initially, facing Calcas alone was overwhelming, leaving no room to deal with the chain towers.
And once the spear of retribution intervened, it didn’t matter if there were thousands or tens of thousands of minions—they were wiped out with a single gesture.
With another leap, Dalen soon reached the southern chain tower.
The first corpse lay right beneath the tower. Dalen reached out and retrieved it.
[You have retrieved the corpse of the Gloomy Curved Sword Knight. Abilities inherited.]
[Inheritance Reward: Strength +1, Dexterity +1, Perception +1, Return Stone]
“At least I got the most urgent thing.”
A stone shimmering with six colors.
This was a return stone, crafted by the combined efforts of the six great magic towers of the continent as humanity faced its end.
Though every cycle Dalen experienced ended in destruction, humanity didn’t go down without a fight.
The survivors struggled to defend even an inch of the continent and sometimes launched counterattacks.
One such counterattack was the expedition into hell.
It was an attempt to strike at the demon’s base by sending dozens to hundreds of superhumans.
“In the game, it felt like a late-stage hell raid.”
The return stone allowed the heroes who struck the demons to safely return to the continent.
Even if they were exhausted from battle and their magic depleted, this artifact ensured their survival.
Each return stone could bring ten people back to their original location. Considering the immense difficulty of dimensional transfer magic, it was a groundbreaking invention that even demons feared.
While similar items could still be found, they were prohibitively expensive and unreliable.
“Keep it safe; we’ll need it soon.”
[Yes, master.]
The demon, who had gorged itself on curses during the recent battle, accepted the return stone, rubbing its bloated belly in the subspace.
It examined the stone with interest and spoke.
“Fascinating. It uses basic dimensional transfer techniques but significantly reduces the required magic by basing it on the user’s past spatial coordinates. Calculating the arbitrary values of the magic wind is innovative. It doesn’t seem like something from this era.”
“Did you have an interest in spells?”
“Well, I am a demon. Magic related to dimensions is almost instinctual for us.”
The demon’s voice held a hint of pride, as if to say, “Look at what I can do; maybe you’ll find more use for me.”
Dalen chuckled softly, reaching into the subspace to pat the demon’s head, which instinctively flinched away.
“If you keep being a good bag, maybe I’ll find other roles for you.”
“I will serve you loyally, master!”
The demon’s voice was filled with determination, and Dalen couldn’t help but laugh. This was why indoctrination was so effective.
Leaving the southern chain tower, Dalen soon arrived at the western one. True to its hellish nature, the land and sky were teeming with monsters, but they all seemed eager to flee from him.
It was likely because he had beaten their master with the power of the spear. If their master couldn’t handle him, they certainly couldn’t either.
[You have retrieved the corpse of a High Mage from the Statia Tower. Abilities inherited.]
[Inheritance Reward: Intelligence +3, Magic +1, Unique Skill: Ice Formation (Unique)]
The second corpse yielded a unique skill as a reward.
Throughout the continent’s history, there have been hundreds of extraordinary individuals.
There were over ten great mages who founded magic towers, and most founders of renowned knight orders had reached superhuman levels in martial prowess.
Adding in other races like dwarves, elves, and beastfolk, as well as transcendent beings like witches and dragons, the number becomes incalculable.
Yet, their greatest legacy wasn’t the large organizations like magic towers or knight orders.
The power to bend reality, born from the realm of their transcendent imaginations, was the most significant mark they left on the continent.
“That’s why many skills above D-rank have names.”
Of course, not all did. Many high-rank skills lacked names.
This often happened when a skill had been refined over countless years by many hands.
Many spells from the magic towers lacked names for this reason.
“Unique skills are similar to that refinement process.”
The original landscape of the creator’s imagination.
If raising skill proficiency was about capturing that landscape perfectly,
Then acquiring a unique skill meant twisting and reshaping it into one’s own power.
In the game, this was a hidden feature only accessible near the end, and obtaining it relied on chance.
Unique skills were the result of a character independently crafting power through their imagination and domain, without player intervention.
The difficulty of acquiring them was matched by their complex usage.
Notifications about acquiring them were random, and they couldn’t be checked in the status window.
Players had to watch their character’s every move, noting any new patterns in battle or training.
It was so involved that it felt more like behavioral science research than gaming.
“Now that I’m the character, it feels quite different from back then.”
A delicate ice crystal blossomed in the air above his palm.
The spell, supported by his increased magic and intelligence, unfolded naturally, as if breathing.
It was a strange sensation. Since his dexterity surpassed its limits, and as his magic and intelligence approached 30, this sense of liberation deepened.
It was entirely different from grafting a skill at its peak proficiency onto a domain.
Back then, it felt like I still had one foot in the system of status windows and proficiency.
Now, it felt like I had gained complete freedom from that starting point, wielding power built entirely on my own.
”······.”
As if entranced, he extended his hand forward. The tightly clustered buds floated gently through the air.
Crack!
He twisted the magic.
Hummm…
He transformed the spell.
Beyond the limited application within the confines of a skill,
He manipulated the boundaries and limitations of that framework freely, relying on intuition and calculation.
“Ice Formation”
No set incantation was needed. The brief chant merely reinforced his confidence in his imagination.
And then.
Crack!
A massive pillar of ice enveloped the towering obelisk, halting its function, and Dalen thought.
The path ahead would be quite different from before.
Dalen continued to traverse the remaining regions of hell, retrieving corpses. The increased magic stat significantly aided in saving time.
Once he reached the vicinity where a character had died, the unique scent of magic winds guided him to the corpse without needing to rely on memory.
The remaining corpses weren’t as powerful as the first two heroes.
Still, reaching hell suggested they were extraordinary in their own right.
[You have retrieved the corpse of a warrior buried as emergency rations for the hounds. Abilities inherited.]
[Inheritance Reward: Strength +1]
[You have retrieved the corpse of a soldier dragged into the expedition the day before discharge. Abilities inherited.]
[Inheritance Reward: Perception +1]
[You have retrieved the corpse of an inquisitor who secretly admired a witch. Abilities inherited.]
[Inheritance Reward: Magic +1]
[You have retrieved the corpse of a knight who fought a demon to a standstill. Abilities inherited.]
[Inheritance Reward: Dexterity +1]
”······.”
Though they seemed extraordinary in a different sense, Dalen decided to ignore the notifications as much as possible.
What mattered wasn’t how they died, but what they left behind.
Each stat point was invaluable, and he couldn’t afford to skip them just because they were embarrassing.
Leveling up was usually a grueling task.
Even for Dalen, who had fought countless foes, it was only after defeating a high-ranking demon that he barely managed to level up twice at once.
“In any case, I’ll need to avoid Felber for a while.”
[Heh, a master who tiptoes around his own servant. You must have a guilty conscience, human.]
”…Since when could you read my thoughts?”
[Am I not bound to your mind? I can sense the surface of your thoughts, albeit faintly.]
The dragon, curled atop the snowy mountain, chuckled softly. Damn it. Now I can’t even think freely.
His power grew by the day, yet it seemed like he was getting tossed around more in his relationships. It wasn’t like this back when he was just a mercenary.
[Extraordinary people attract extraordinary connections. Aren’t you already the master of a holy sword and a demon, the father of a dragon, and the lover of a witch and a paladin?]
“Lover, my foot. Have you gone senile with age?”
[I’m merely stating what I see, heh heh.]
This is driving me crazy.
Dalen shook his head and approached the throne.
In the middle of the forest, ravaged by battle just hours ago, the split throne of Kalkas lay embedded in the ground.
“Already regaining its power, I see.”
The ominous magic flickered atop the throne. Chains that had been severed were now wrapping around it in multiple layers.
Kalkas’s essence was essentially one with the throne. To defeat Kalkas, the throne had to be destroyed. The problem was, he didn’t have the strength to do that right now.
“Not that I won’t miss it, but I don’t have a choice.”
Dalen clicked his tongue and reached into a pocket dimension. He pulled out a long rod wrapped in white cloth.
“The fourth fragment of the Twelve Holy Spears.”
Originally, he had planned to use this item during the mid-game, when the monsters invaded. Among the fragments, the fourth was specialized in protecting a wide area. But with a slight tweak, it could be used as a powerful offensive tool against dark magic.
Powerful relics or magical artifacts often required a skilled hand to wield them.
[Hmm… Are you really going to use that?]
Ignoring the dragon’s regretful sigh, Dalen unwrapped the cloth from the rod. The fragment, about the size of a broken spear, had an unnaturally clean cut.
[Isn’t it a waste to use such a precious item on a mere whelp?]
“It doesn’t matter.”
After all, it was something he acquired from a corpse. It was more like a byproduct from another dimension. The original fragments of the holy spear were likely still slumbering somewhere on the continent. Finding them would be a difficult journey, but leaving without defeating a single demon would be even more ridiculous.
With no hesitation, he infused it with divine power. With all his stats at 30, his control over the power was on a completely different level.
The fragment, which looked like a simple rod, began to vibrate, and hundreds of tendrils of divine energy extended from both ends like roots.
Typically, this energy would form a massive barrier spanning several kilometers, preventing monsters from crossing. But by adjusting the direction of the power, he could focus it on a smaller area.
The roots of divine energy, which had been spreading outward, suddenly paused and began to turn inward. Gradually, they formed a large circle, enclosing a narrow area.
At the center of this swirling pattern, like a yin-yang symbol being drawn from a central point, lay the shattered throne of Kalkas.
As Dalen stepped back from the circle, a massive pillar of light erupted from the ground.
Boom—
It wasn’t an explosive release of power, but the weight of it was enough to make Dalen’s heart ache. The divine energy, meant to spread wide and repel evil, was now confined, obliterating everything within its bounds.
The throne vanished without a trace, and Dalen casually caught the demon’s essence that was repelled by the divine force.
Rumble…
With its master completely annihilated, the hellish realm began to collapse. He confirmed the experience points had been received; his work here was done.
Dalen stored the demon’s essence back in the pocket dimension and pulled out the return stone he had acquired a few hours earlier.
It was time to go home.