Chapter 156

‘Hmm.’

I frowned.

It was a strange sensation I hadn’t felt in a long time.

The feeling of becoming a ghost.

More precisely, I still had consciousness, but my body was gone.

– “Kkkul kkkul. How is it, my disciple?”

Beside my consciousness, the Elder floated with his arms crossed.

Was it because the Ten Thousand Arts Elder himself was my skill?

Even in this state, he followed along without issue.

– “Do you understand this master’s feelings now? That is the form of your spirit.”

‘The form of my spirit…’

– “Without a physical body, doesn’t everything feel slightly hazy? Not a pleasant feeling, is it? Kkkul kkkul, precisely so. One must always live gratefully while alive. Do you understand?”

The Elder laughed with a bitter expression.

The face of a deceased one yearning for the living.

It was an emotion I still couldn’t fully grasp.

– “Tch, it seems I’ve said something unnecessary. You’re making such a strange face. Ahem, let’s see.”

The Elder quickly shook off the bitterness and looked around.

– “Where is this? The audience chamber of the Imperial Capital?”

‘Hmm, it seems so.’

The audience chamber was spacious, but not luxurious.

Places that should have been adorned with gold and jewels were worn down.

As if time itself had passed through, cobwebs hung in every corner.

Some sections were corroded enough to show moss.

It was like staring at the ruins of a fallen nation.

– “Those two are over there. Let’s get closer, quickly.”

‘Yes, Elder.’

We drifted over the frayed carpet and approached the far end of the audience chamber.

There.

– “Hoho, how many sacrifices were made to topple this imperial throne… In hindsight, it’s so shabby and insignificant…”

A bearded elder stood with his hands behind his back, his eyes hollow.

And behind him.

“Elder Kayden. You’re unwell, so please go inside. The wind is chilly.”

A subordinate who looked like an attendant spoke with respectful posture.

‘Huh?’

I muttered without thinking.

‘Why is it an old Bone Four this time?’

It was exactly what I was feeling.

– “Huh? Could it be… Was that it? So this was his appearance before he became a Supreme. No wonder… He looked so much like a greenhorn…”

‘That’s right.’

I agreed with the Elder.

‘He really does give off the aura of a Supreme now. It’s completely different from when he was the commander of the revolutionary army…’

– “Hoho, so this is Memory Reenactment. Did we go to the future?”

‘Hmm. The skill activated on its own, which means he’s already dead. Bone Four himself is just bones now.’

Whether it was his time as the revolutionary army commander, or the elderly figure before us now, both were fragments of Bone Four’s memories.

In other words, both were the past.

– “For now, let’s keep listening. It seems he has something to say.”

‘Yes.’

We fell silent.

We watched old Kayden sigh as if reminiscing.

“Kkkul kkkul, unwell? An elder whose time to die has come. What good is living longer? Peace has arrived. And now I’m useless too.”

“How! How can you say such a thing!”

The subordinate cried out as if it were absurd.

“Elder, you are the idol and hero of all the commoners of the old empire. You gifted freedom and peace to us, who were struggling with hunger and forced labor, and even after that, you blocked countless villainous groups threatening the world!”

“That’s right. There was such a time…”

“Do you know how many children take up the shield because of you, Elder Kayden? The Defense Master’s Shield Art, said to block even the Breath of a legendary dragon, is still a topic of conversation among warriors to this day. So please don’t say such things. If something happens to you, Elder, the entire nation will fall into sorrow.”

“Hoho… Listen here.”

Despite the subordinate’s words, Kayden only shook his head.

“There is one thing I regret.”

He stared blankly at his own open palm.

“It’s good that I attempted the revolution and could gift freedom to those who believed in me and fought for me. But.”

“……”

“I killed too many people with these hands. For my ideology.”

“But…!”

“I know. How greedy it is to think one can obtain freedom without a brutal war… But I still regret it.”

A sigh of lament escaped Kayden.

Maybe it was the skill’s effect.

I could feel his emotions instinctively.

He was in pain that so many citizens, and so many soldiers of the imperial faction, had died by his army’s hands.

Because of agitation.

Or misguided education.

“Even if it was the privileged class who stuffed themselves, why did they fight and die for those greedy individuals…”

Ignorance.

If not knowing was a sin, then it was a sin.

If they had ever tasted freedom.

If they had lived like that, even briefly.

Could they have fought for the Emperor?

Could they have raised their swords for those who took even the single grain of rice they barely scraped together for their families during famine?

“If only I could return to the past… I would have tried harder to persuade them… I would have fought more cleverly…”

“Elder Kayden…”

“I just had that thought. It’s selfish, but… If someone could erase my memories, if they could erase or change these terrible memories… I think that would be good. That’s why. Wouldn’t it be better to just die and find peace?”

“What kind of…!”

Kayden was drowning in regret.

He had built a peaceful nation atop the fallen empire and become a great hero.

And yet.

He was constantly driving himself, gnawing away at his own spirit.

‘Tremble.’

Staring at his slightly trembling hand, Kayden kept muttering.

“……”

The subordinate couldn’t say anything.

“……”

“……”

The Elder and I also watched in silence for a long time.

Until the recollection ended and a message appeared.

[Ending skill, ‘Memory Reenactment’ (S-grade).]

—

“Hmm.”

“……”

When I opened my eyes and returned to the battlefield, the Elder and I stared at each other in silence for a moment.

Then the Elder spoke first.

– “If what we just saw was Bone Four’s past life, he truly was a fool.”

The Elder clicked his tongue.

– “Pathetic, so pathetic. Wasting his life regretting things that are already over…”

The deceased found the worries of the living amusing.

Life itself was precious.

He couldn’t understand wasting that precious time on useless thoughts.

‘Just as people’s thoughts differ, each ghost’s regrets must be different too.’

Just as the Elder had his own, Defense Master, Kayden, also had ‘regrets.’

And everything in the Special Dungeons I’d cleared so far had been resolved by settling someone’s ‘regrets.’

Therefore.

‘I’ve got the answer.’

I nodded.

The Elder nodded back.

– “So now, we just need to resolve the regrets that old bastard mentioned?”

‘Yes, that’s right.’

I could tell.

This battlefield was the moment Kayden regretted the most.

Revolutionaries and the imperial forces facing each other in front of the Imperial Capital.

And the emperor’s soldiers opposing them.

Meanwhile, the high-ranking imperial family and nobles hid deep within the imperial palace.

‘The Revolutionary Army will win the war, right? But the process will be extremely brutal. They’ll kill and torture each other. Some will lose parents, others will be forced to send loved ones far away.’

– “Isn’t that true of any war?”

‘But Kayden wants a bloodless war.’

In that moment, I understood why this Dungeon’s difficulty was A-grade.

‘Thinking about it, it really is insane difficulty.’

A-grade.

The same as ‘Forest and Rock’ that I cleared with Eldrin and Dmir.

– “That’s right.”

The Elder nodded as if agreeing.

– “A bloodless war sounds easy to say. Is it possible? It would require persuading every enemy soldier…”

“……”

Cold sweat trickled down my forehead.

– “Especially with your brain, it’s absolutely impossible.”

‘Huh? My brain…?’

At the sudden jab, I stared at the Elder in disbelief.

The Elder burst out laughing.

– “You rascal. You might know what peace is from your world, but aren’t they ignorant fools? Brainwashed ignorant fools at that. Don’t you know how scary that is?”

‘I know…’

I knew all too well, to the point I wished I didn’t.

It was like trying to proselytize to fanatics who blindly believed in their god, asking, [Hey, wanna try believing in a different god?] That level of difficulty.

Not only did I lack that kind of eloquence.

The only thing I was good at was swinging a spear.

‘Ah, this is giving me a headache.’

I rubbed my temples.

What should I do?

Even as my head felt like it would split from thinking, that damn system kept blinking.

[Choose one of the two factions.]

[1. Emperor’s Faction]

[2. The Revolutionary Army]

[Help that faction conclude the war.]

– “You rascal.”

The Elder spoke again.

– “Is that really necessary?”

‘Huh?’

– “I’m asking if it’s really necessary to agitate the emperor’s soldiers.”

‘Hmm?’

– “Look.”

The Elder smiled.

– “This master, from birth until now, has never resolved a conflict without using violence.”

‘Huh?’

Well, that.

Given the Elder’s personality, it sounded plausible.

– “What I mean is, why bother re-educating those who have been brainwashed? Just kill them all – Emperor and nobles alike – with the Dark Art you learned this time. Wouldn’t that work?”

‘Ah?’

– “Anyway, they’re fighting to protect the Emperor. They’re fighting to protect the nobles. But if you kill everything they need to protect, wouldn’t that be a bloodless war?”

‘What about the blood shed by the Emperor?’

– “You rascal. That can’t be helped. If Bone Four regrets even that, then he’s a true fool. There’s no need to resolve such a person’s regrets.”

“……”

Amazing.

A very Elder-like solution.

The mindset that violence solved everything.

But.

My Dungeon-honed instincts didn’t deny it.

‘It might work, in its own way.’

The soldiers here weren’t that strong, unlike other places.

It was worth trying.

‘At the very least, it’s far more feasible than persuading them with words.’

– “Then what are you doing?”

The Elder grinned.

– “Not moving right away.”

‘Shall we?’

Once I decided, I moved immediately.

There was no time.

The longer this dragged on, the greater the damage would be.

And it would only take us further from resolving Kayden’s ‘regrets.’

‘Then let’s head toward the Emperor’s Faction first.’

‘Swish!’

I started moving again.

—

The Elder’s plan was simple.

Kill anyone who had tasted even a little class privilege.

In other words, I would personally handle everyone except the soldiers who were merely following orders.

‘This might be tough in its own way, too.’

– “Is it tougher than fighting those damn dog bastards, the Shadow Shepherds?”

‘Ah, no way.’

Right.

Compared to that, this was nothing.

No wonder the difficulty felt low.

Had I been clearing the notoriously insane difficulty of ‘Delilah’s Trial’ so hard that my standards were broken?

It felt like an MVP from the Premier League casually dropping into a local league for fun.

[Elapsed Time – 20:10:00]

For about five hours, we roamed through various positions of the Emperor’s Faction.

We listened in on soldiers’ conversations, gathering information.

Sometimes we kidnapped people.

Sometimes we intercepted messenger birds.

‘From what we’ve learned so far, there are about ten imperial family members to kill, and quite a few nobles. Around two hundred. And…’

– “We also need to catch and kill all those fanatics right in front of us.”

The Emperor’s Faction was largely divided into three groups.

The imperial family, the nobles, and the Religious Order.

Most of the imperial family and nobles were hiding within the imperial palace.

Meanwhile, the clergy were fighting alongside the soldiers at the center of the battlefield.

– “Huh? You rascal, wait a moment. Hold on.”

The Elder stopped me as I moved.

– “You rascal. That system thing, it kept telling you to choose a faction, right?”

‘Yes, it’s still doing that.’

– “Don’t tell me you… chose one?”

‘No. Not yet.’

Normally, I would have chosen immediately.

But something felt off, so I left it alone.

All I needed was to resolve Kayden’s ‘regrets.’

And my instincts kept urging me not to choose.

So far, my ‘intuition’ had a 100% success rate, so I couldn’t ignore it.

– “Hmm. Well done, you rascal.”

‘Why?’

– “Among that group of clergy over there.”

The Elder pointed into the area we’d infiltrated.

– “See that girl over there?”

‘Yes, the Saintess, was it? The soldiers seemed to like her.’

I looked at the woman with golden hair in the distance.

She gently touched injured soldiers’ wounds with delicate hands.

The top healer the Religious Order prided itself on.

‘Huh?’

Come to think of it.

It was strange.

It felt like I’d seen her somewhere before.

Before that feeling could even fade-

– “That one… you see.”

The Elder spoke.

– “I think her bone structure is that of Bone Seven.”

“……Huh?”

I froze.

I stopped walking, bewildered.

Bone Seven?

That healer, Bone Seven?

My seventh skeleton?

‘Really?’

What.

Could it be there wasn’t just one person with ‘regrets’?

(T/N: Ooooh, another buy one take one dungeon!)