It was a day long ago. Ivan had once given a brief briefing to the three possessed individuals to explain the world view. It was a completely unbiased revelation about how primitive the world was, how the food was generally disgustingly unappetizing, and how the people lacked even the tiniest bit of common sense.
Naturally, anyone who had lived in a civilized society of the 21st century understands the relativity of culture. Accordingly, the possessed individuals, to Ivan’s disappointment, mostly let the explanations go in one ear and out the other.
What captured their interest were the “Hero Party” and the “Demon Race.” Considering that this world was a game possession, wasn’t it typical to focus on the adversaries?
“Three are dead? So there are four left?”
“Um.”
“And the Seven Dragon Lords were each responsible for a Christian version of the seven deadly sins.”
“That can be said.”
At Ivan’s words, Eugene began to absentmindedly stroke his chin. He stared intently at the writings Ivan had jotted down on the blackboard and pondered.
Lord Tumor of the Mountains – Lord of Wrath.
Abiditas of the Dragon – Lord of Greed.Pernitch of Malice – Lord of Envy.
These three are the dead… Two were killed by the Hero, and one was said to have been killed by Ivan. So, if four are remaining…
Tanasimor the Sovereign – Lord of Pride.
Lamerics of the Veil – Lord of Lust.
Olegha of the Great Rift – Lord of Sloth.
Nekinon of Gold – Lord of Avarice.
Something seems to ring a bell… While Eugene furrowed his brow, tapping on the table, suddenly Oswald opened his mouth.
“If you exclude those three from the Seven Dragon Lords, what you get is the Five Irrefutables.”
“Um…?”
“Excluding Wrath, Greed, and Envy, what you have left are Pride, Lust, Sloth, and Avarice. Those four aren’t included in the Five Irrefutables, are they?”
“Five Irrefutables?”
“Isn’t it a bit odd that the Seven Dragon Lords were taken as a motif when there isn’t even Catholicism here?”
“Could it be convergence evolution?”
“Yes, right. Assuming humanity created a standard religion. The desires that humans should be wary of are all contained within that. But it was the same back on Earth.”
Oswald stepped forward to the blackboard and began to write again.
“It means the same thing even before the cultural exchanges between the East and West took place on Earth. Like the Seven Dragon Lords or the Five Irrefutables, they are desires humans should avoid.”
Hunger, desire for honor, lust, sleep, greed.
“From a Buddhist perspective, those would be the five. In a Christian perspective, it’s the seven… What overlaps in both is this.”
Pride, the desire for honor.
Lust, desire.
Sloth, sleep.
Avarice, greed.
“Hunger certainly exists, but as for Wrath and Envy, those are not considered as part of the five in Buddhism, and while Greed could arguably be linked to Hunger… it’s ambiguous, isn’t it?”
“What are you trying to say?”
“The curse you get by killing the Seven Dragon Lords is too Buddhist in nature.”
Returning to his seat, Oswald looked at Ivan.
“The desires of the Five Irrefutables are the attachments to the five senses… They manifest as emotions born from obsessions concerning sight, smell, hearing, taste, and touch… And when you become free from that attachment, you all know what happens, right?”
“…?”
“You don’t know? Really? Are these people serious Koreans?”
As Oswald chuckled in exasperation, Yuri suddenly raised her hand and shouted.
“Emancipation…?”
“Correct. Nirvana. But it turns out when you kill the Seven Dragon Lords, that subject loses ‘that notion.’ This concept does not exist in Christianity. Even if the Seven Dragon Lords are called the devil’s wicked habits, from a Christian perspective, the devil is also an agent of God. Sent to test faith.”
Watching Oswald, Eugene cautiously spoke up.
“So you’re saying the Seven Dragon Lords are the agents of the gods of this world…?”
“No, it means that the notion lost when you kill the Seven Dragon Lords isn’t a Christian system. So, now seems like a good time to interpret this through Buddhist principles.”
“So…?”
“If every time one is killed they become free from the obsessions of the five senses, then what would happen if one person killed them all?”
Oswald looked directly at Ivan and said.
“This game, this system… it seems like it’s trying to make the ‘protagonist’ a god.”
Side Ep. The Correct Strategy.
The death of Abiditas was an assassination. Krasiov, not wanting to provoke the other demon races, conducted the operation as discreetly as possible, and after succeeding, it remained widely unknown.
At the time, Alexander attempted to assassinate the Seven Dragon Lords to dispose of the Cleanup Unit. Most fell before even reaching the king, but Ivan succeeded and even returned alive.
Had he not requested to retire through death processing, Elizaveta would have widely announced his achievements to the world. However, he did not. Ivan threw away the honor that should have been his and withdrew.
But now, it was different.
Now, before everyone’s eyes, in front of many, he has taken down the Seven Dragon Lords.
– Waaahhhh —!!!
The whole land surrounding the now desolate Ovidis resounded. Bellacria, Krasiov, and even the Dwarves shouted their lungs out.
It was a festival of cheers and exclamations. All the forces present here, over thirty thousand combined from three nations, let out their jubilation simultaneously.
The sound of their stomping shook the mountains and rivers. Occasionally, the frenzied Dwarves even shot fireworks while trembling and sobbing. Their half-blood kin had killed the Seven Dragon Lords… (Not kin.)
They trembled and sobbed, bellowing. After the Hero disappeared, and the Hero Party disbanded, the fear that none dared to voice was now gone.
The gods had vanished. The sacred power had disappeared from the world. The entire southern region was engulfed in war, and three of the Seven Dragon Lords were still alive.
If even one of them were to begin a raid, who could possibly stop it, if even one were to truly trample over civilization? One of the Seven Dragon Lords had already burnt the Southern Six Nations. What would three do?
The despair that had loomed over vanished right in front of them. Throughout the long history of civilization, it was only the Hero Party that had killed a Seven Dragon Lord, and they were witnessing the dawn of the new hero.
Cutting through despair, the Hero had descended with hope.
“Uncle.”
Ivan snapped back to reality hearing Isabelle’s voice, still in his arms. Most of his inner wounds had been healed.
The sacredness left by Lamerics at the last moment seeped into his body. It would soon evaporate naturally, but even that alone was more than enough to fully heal his dying body.
Ivan tried to pull away from Isabelle but froze. No, he was stopped.
“Wait a moment.”
Isabelle was gripping Ivan’s arm tightly with her back turned. She grasped so tightly that her hand turned pale and shook.
“So this is how it was…”
It was a small voice faintly audible even to superhuman hearing. Isabelle’s voice, damp with tears, continued below his chest.
“Oh, oh dear. This… this…”
“Isabelle.”
“How could it be like this…”
Isabelle wept for a long time. Ivan quietly waited for Isabelle, who was squirming in his embrace. How much time went by, with the cheers still ringing around them, Isabelle finally looked up.
“Your father and you… you were enduring this, huh.”
“…”
“I knew. Well, the Great King Einar said so, but… but.”
“It’s alright.”
Ivan nodded silently, looking down at Isabelle’s ashen eyes. It had been split in two. Just like Elpheira.
She too looked up at Ivan’s gray eyes and wept sorrowfully.
“How far can you see?”
“If it’s about shapes, mostly…”
“It will take time to adjust. We’ll have to put hearing reaction training into the training curriculum. If mastered sufficiently, there should not be a decline in ability.”
“What about you, Uncle? How much… Since I was the one who killed them, you should be fine, right?”
“Um. Fortunately.”
At Ivan’s words, Isabelle finally smiled brightly and nodded.
“Still, I said I would share the burden! This is good. Really.”
“Thank you.”
“Hehe…”
Isabelle giggled and pinched Ivan’s arm. She was still holding onto him tightly.
As Ivan looked down at her, he suddenly turned his head to see the crowd cheering for him.
– Waaahhhh —!!!
The exuberance grew even louder. As he scanned the faces one by one, he suddenly felt dizzy, and he shut his eyes tightly.
He had lied.
“What does it mean to be freed from the five senses?”
At Eugene’s question, Oswald shook his head.
“You will only know when you experience it, this is just theory.”
Back then, Ivan didn’t pay much attention to their conversation. After all, it was all just assumptions. It was too extravagant a topic to dwell on for someone who knew how many sacrifices were needed to slay just one Seven Dragon Lord.
Could they all survive to kill the Seven Dragon Lords? He couldn’t even be certain about that, so he didn’t need to worry about what would happen if they killed the Seven Dragon Lords right away.
However, now Ivan understood his words. He had effectively proven them.
Having killed the gluttonous Senasgeor, he had lost his sense of taste. To put it accurately, he hadn’t forgotten the taste. The taste was still there.
The only problem was that it was the matter of objective fact.
Salt is salty, sugar is sweet, lemon is sour. There was no issue in ‘understanding’ that. However, the pleasure was gone.
Every food, no matter what he ate, brought forth only the same ’emotion.’ Eating something salty, sweet, sour, or spicy only elicited one feeling: the emotion of chewing and swallowing sand. The joy derived from eating had vanished entirely.
Pleasure is merely an attachment. Attachment to sensations brings forth desires. In terms of being denuded, Oswald’s theory here has been substantiated.
And as for lust…
Lust is visual. It is an emotion tied to sight. It doesn’t solely imply the desire for physical intimacy, but in a Buddhist context, lust can express every type of emotion felt through seeing light.
Thus, Ivan can see colors and shapes, and he can ‘understand’ them, but he could not feel emotions. What he felt was merely the sensation of gazing at inanimate objects. Therefore, the grey and vividly colored bouquet no longer held any distinction for him.
And, it would probably be the same for Isabelle. She likely shared the exact same curse. He already knew about such cases through Elpheira.
Thus, Ivan felt regret for this young girl. In the last and final moment, he should have moved instead of her. Even if it meant pushing her away, he should have borne it alone.
This is not so much an altruistic sentiment as it is a judgment based on rationality. Having already been cursed twice, there was no chance of salvation left for him.
Maximilian might have acted from the same sentiment. He now understands the heart of the former Hero. No one else should have to suffer this curse. If one body was already cursed, receiving all the curses would be the rational choice.
“Uncle.”
Noticing Ivan’s gaze, Isabelle looked up at him with a smile on her face, as if she understood what this stoic man was thinking.
“I’m alright.”
“Isabelle.”
“I’m getting used to it now. Yes. I’m fine. It feels better than I expected. It’s not the worst?”
Isabelle muttered, nodding her head alone. Then she brightly said.
“I thought killing the god of lust would completely erase it, but it seems it wasn’t that kind of thing?”
“Rest. It’s alright…”
“No, I’m serious. Prove it?”
When Ivan hesitated at her words, Isabelle laughed mischievously and pinched his cheek. Was she trying to confirm it by touching the form directly? As that thought crossed his mind, Isabelle’s expression hardened.
With a very serious face, she whispered softly.
“I really can’t yield. Uh-huh.”
“…?”
Before Ivan could respond, Isabelle yanked him down by the neck. The action was even powered by nerve acceleration, so he reflexively tried to resist, but the distance was too close.
In the close combat of superhumans, the first move is crucial. The one who initiates nerve acceleration before the opponent holds a decisive advantage in the first attack.
Thus, superhumans should always train to respond to sudden assaults. Even if a comrade who just killed a Seven Dragon Lord pulls their neck…
– Sruuk.
Seeing Isabelle’s approaching face, Ivan’s train of thought abruptly halted.
The strong lingering scent that wafted toward him wasn’t masked by cologne; it was the scent of someone who had thrown their whole body into a fierce battle. But instead of pushing back, Ivan felt comfort in that scent reminiscent of metal and gunpowder, foretelling war.
The sensation that touched his lips was familiar. To Kim Sunwoo, surprisingly, it was a sensation he had experienced before. And a trained agent never panics in such situations…
With the experience of a seasoned man, Ivan quietly closed his eyes.
…No thoughts crossed his mind.
After a while, Isabelle released her lips, looking up at Ivan with slightly moist eyes. The cheers that had filled the surroundings had quieted down.
Amidst the subtle silence created by thousands of people, Isabelle cheerfully said.
“See? Nothing happened, right?”
“…Uh.”
Ivan could barely understand her silence as she burst into giggles, playfully tapping his chest.
In that moment, Ivan felt as though he could fully see Isabelle’s face. Not as a mere object or sculpture, but as Isabelle’s true self.
Ah, is that so.
Ivan nodded and thought.
So this was the ‘correct strategy.’ It was not about carrying the curse alone by killing the Seven Dragon Lords, but rather sharing it. Moreover, to add a bit more…
It was about overcoming it. Yes, overcoming it. Ivan thought as he looked into the eyes of the Hero. Not kneeling. Not giving up before the curse. Overcoming and seizing it.
Not being ‘freed’ from desires, but ‘overcoming’ the absence of desires and moving forward…
“What’s—?!”
In the distance, Elizaveta was charging toward him on horseback.
“Are you smiling—!! Ivan—!!!”
Upon hearing her words, Ivan realized for the first time that he was smiling.
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