Ch 100

Chapter 100: Journey’s End (2)

As soon as I entered the room of the fifth hurdle, I couldn’t help but be perplexed.

I had no choice but to feel so.

“You passed.”

It was because of the words uttered by the old man sitting in the middle of the room as soon as I opened the door.

At that, I stared at the old man in the priest’s robes blankly for a moment, and then opened my mouth.

“What do you mean by… passed—”

“It means that you’ve passed the fifth hurdle.”

“…?”

“Please proceed to the sixth hurdle.”

“I mean, Why…”

I was dumbfounded.

Even the priest of the first hurdle properly focused on giving the trial of the proof.

And all the hurdles that followed, I continued to prove my body fiercely in the fight against the priests.

But to think that I passed immediately after finishing all the proofs and entering the proof of the belief?

I couldn’t understand the current situation, no matter what, so I asked the old priest for an answer.

At that, the old priest looked at me flatly and then said there was nothing he could do.

“I watched you come all the way here to the fifth gate from the first hurdle.”

I had doubts about why I couldn’t notice his gaze from what he said, but—

“Don’t ask why you couldn’t detect it. Think of it as a power given by God.”

As though to cut off such thoughts of mine, the old priest’s words continued.

“Originally, the fifth hurdle begins with contemplation of imagery.”

“But why am I not doing it?”

“That’s obviously because you’re already at a level where you don’t have to contemplate your imagery.”

“…What?”

“Just like what Kairan told you, you’re crazy. You’re caught up in the madness of martial arts.”

“…”

“But that doesn’t mean you’re swallowed up by it. You’re governed by the desire to grow and the endless longing from your wretched past.”

The old priest said so, and then let out a sigh as if he was annoyed.

“Isn’t it your goal to win, win, and win again, to grow infinitely and become the strongest?”

I never directly thought that I wanted to be the strongest, but…

Just like the old priest said, I longed to be stronger through continuous growth.

It seems like an excessive interpretation to judge that desire as wanting to become the strongest by growing infinitely, though.

“It’s not an excessive interpretation, but just a conclusion you’ll reach in the end, you see.”

“…Do you also have the ability to read people’s minds?”

“To some extent. I have no experience with fighting, but thanks to that, I have some other powers.”

“Ah, I see…”

He was a priest with more amazing powers than I expected.

“By the way, if you’re planning to kill me, kill me quickly and go on.”

I opened my eyes widely at the words that the old priest suddenly uttered.

“I can feel the desire to kill this old man and become stronger from the consciousness deep inside you.”

“What do you…”

“Whatever decision you make, it won’t affect your proof, so just do whatever you want.”

“…”

I paused for a moment at those words, but then shook my head and said.

“I won’t do that.”

“…Why?”

It was simple.

“Because it’s against my belief.”

Casually killing people is an area that corresponds to the loss of humanity.

Killing a person when there’s no will to fight against each other is just a homicide without cause.

I decided not to set foot in this area a long time ago.

It was a separate matter from recognizing each other as dueling opponents and fighting without malice.

“Oh… This is unexpected. Perhaps it would’ve been okay if I gave you the trial of the fifth gate.”

But the old priest didn’t seem to want to give me any trials.

“Well then, farewell. I wish you the best of luck in your proof.”

I bowed my head silently at his calm farewell, and then walked straight to the next hurdle.

But in the hallway leading to the sixth gate, I sensed something strange.

“…?”

It was because the more I walked down the hallway, the more the reflection in the mirror began to turn black.

At that, I touched it directly, wondering if the material changed from a mirror to a black stone, but…

Surprisingly, the black walls of this hallway were made of glass like a mirror, not stones.

“…”

The changes that occurred as I moved on to the next hurdles weren’t entirely meaningless.

From nothingness to fragments of the broken mirror gathering to form a complete mirror.

It must be an expression of the progress of the proof or the growth of the person who’s taking the trial.

But to suddenly see the reflection in the mirror turning black, it felt quite leery.

And that leery feeling became stronger as soon as I opened the door to the sixth hurdle.

“…”

In the room of the ominous mirror, where all sides were reflected in black, I looked towards the center and.

“Hi.”

Soon, a beautiful woman with black hair who had her eyes covered with a black eyepatch in the center came into my vision.

“You’re the first one to come all the way to the fifth hurdle without a break.”

She smiled as she stared at me as if she could see everything, even with the eyepatch on.

“You can start the sixth hurdle whenever you want.”

“…Then can I start the sixth hurdle right away?

“Really? Are you fine without taking a break? I’m not sure about your body, but I’m sure your mental fatigue must’ve accumulated quite a bit, though?

“It doesn’t matter.”

I also wondered what kind of trial proof of belief was too.

Moreover, I was indeed mentally exhausted, but it wasn’t on a level where I could recover it by taking a little bit of a break.

Therefore, It was better to start the sixth hurdle right away since I had to face the music some time, so it might as well be now.

“If that’s what you wish, then sure.”

The beautiful woman with black hair continued with a smile.

“In the name of Aileen, a saintess who serves the god of proof, I announce the beginning of the sixth hurdle.”

It was a slightly more serious voice than a while ago.

And—

“You should be able to properly face the state of your mind.”

With those words, I fell into the endless darkness, losing all sensation in my body.

***

Reaper Scans

[Translator – Ramen ]

[Proofreader – DVN-L ]

***

For a moment, I couldn’t hide my bewilderment and felt my head go blank.

It was understandable.

I was falling alone in the pitch-black darkness where I couldn’t see anything.

The black-haired saintess who just introduced herself as Aileen was nowhere to be found.

And I was the only one in a state of drowning without knowing anything with a feeling that I’ve lost my body.

If this was real, it’d be the worst, and if it wasn’t, it’d be really dangerous.

Simply because if I was hallucinating to the point where I couldn’t feel my body this much, it meant that my death was near.

There was no guarantee that Aileen wouldn’t attack me, and I didn’t know how far I had to fall, losing every sense like this.

I felt a strong enough fear to stop thinking for a moment as I was placed in a situation where I could die, but…

「The power ‘Serenity (C-)’ stops you from losing your composure and weakens the limitations of State of Mind .」

Soon, I felt the tactile sensations of my whole body return, and I twitched my arms.

It was then—

-Wow… You’ve got quite the willpower, huh? I didn’t expect you to react by moving your body when you’ve fallen into your State of Mind.

I was startled by the unpleasant sensation of words being written directly in my head.

-Oh, there’s nothing to worry about. Your State of Mind is where you are right now, and you’re fine.

I was perplexed for a while but soon realized that this was Aileen’s power.

Just as the old priest read what I was thinking, this saintess must have the power to communicate with me.

-Of course, although I was almost in danger of being killed by your sword, I’m fine too.

Aileen was almost killed by my sword…

What a relief.

Even if I lost consciousness, I instinctively resisted, and it looked like Aileen was almost killed because of that.

This meant that I had reached a level where I could defend myself even in unconsciousness.

I assumed it was the result of the accumulation of experience by repeating countless battles.

-No, can’t you just worry about me a little bit and not say it’s a relief?

Rather than that, I quickly pondered what the term ‘State of Mind’ meant.

Perhaps it meant that this space where I am is not an ordinary hallucinated space, but I was looking at my State of Mind as a hallucination?

-It’s not the correct answer, but… well, I guess so. It’s a conclusion that’s close to the correct answer.

As Aileen spoke as if she heard what I was thinking, I immediately realized that she had the same powers as the old priest.

-Old priest? Ah, you’re talking about Henir, huh? I’ll consider that as a correct answer too.

Other than that, please tell me what this has to do with proof of belief.

-Mm… Your thoughts changed quite politely. Did you become conscious of talking to me?

Let’s put it that way.

So now please tell me how I should prove my belief.

-It’s simple. The space you’re in is the world of your State of Mind. You just have to see the world of your State of Mind. Then the sixth hurdle will be over.

And what does it mean to be able to see the world of my State of Mind?

-A person’s State of Mind is constructed and is hugely influenced by that person’s belief. But no one can see it. Just as you only see a black scene when you close your eyes, so is the world of State of Mind.

So this black hallucination meant that I had entered the world of State of Mind.

…And now I just need to be able to see the essence in this void world of my State of Mind?

-Ahaha, you know it well already. While you’re in there, your sense of time may be quite out of joint. But don’t worry. I’m observing your body from the outside.

No, that worries me more, though.

-Stop joking around. Do you think a saintess who serves God will harm you? That saddens me a bit.

I think it’s very possible since you people made me fight a monster like that preliminary apostle for the proof of body, you know.

-Huff! That’s one way to look at it! If so, wouldn’t you be dead meat?

…Is this woman perhaps making fun of me right now?

-For a moment, your rude thoughts were revealed. You were being polite all the time, but your thoughts aren’t, huh.

I’m really sorry about that.

But if you touch me more, wouldn’t my body react on its own?

-I know. Don’t worry. I have no plans on touching you as my head almost flew away by your sword.

That’s good to hear.

I thought as if saying so and then fumbled, concentrating on the touch I had just felt.

While doing so, I was able to become aware of my own body and regained my sense of touch.

I still couldn’t see my hand, but when I fumbled with my body, I could definitely feel the touch.

-…What? No, how can you possibly be aware of your body already? I’m sure it’ll take some time as nothing can be felt in the State of Mind?

I didn’t really know how.

…I heard that the limitations of the State of Mind were weakened by the power of Serenity, so it may be because of that.

-Serenity? Did you also have divine powers? Woah, this is really surprising.

It’s not divine power, and it’s none of your business, so please be quiet.

-That’d be difficult. You might go insane in the meantime, you see. It’s a power that has the effect of shifting the sense of time, so it wouldn’t be difficult for you to be insane.

…A power that has the effect of shifting the sense of time?

-It means the time in the real world is passing so fast while you’re thinking in the world of State of Mind.

Don’t tell me, did a day or around that much time already pass?

-Not that much, but two hours must’ve passed already.

This was quite dangerous.

Currently, the time I spent breaking through the five hurdles was one day at most.

However, I might spend most of the remaining time of 7 days on this sixth hurdle.

And what’s even worse is that there was a possibility that I’d die by consuming the remaining time in this space.

I need to be able to quickly see through the State of Mind.

-7 days? Remaining time? What’s that?

I quickly put my brain to work without answering Aileen’s question.

Systems exist even in this world of State of Mind.

That was just confirmed through the activation message of Serenity.

I can’t hear the administrator’s messages, but that doesn’t mean the system messages are gone too.

That means the system also exists in this world of State of Mind.

-You really use many terms that you only know, huh? Are you perhaps just messing around with words like a secret code?

Status window.

-Status window?

I see. Not even the status window could appear.

-I’m slowly starting to worry about your mental state… I didn’t expect you to go insane this quickly…

But I wondered if the skills could be activated.

I immediately focused my consciousness and activated Instant Acceleration.

「 Activating the skill ‘Instant Acceleration’.」

It worked.

-Wh-What’s this? How did you do it? Woah, you’re in the world of State of Mind, and you circulated mana in your body?

Now that the skill activation message has popped up, the following is important.

What can I do with this system, and how can I get through this situation?

-I don’t know what it is, but I get that you’re crazier than I had expected.

Before thinking about it, I decided to settle this feeling of falling down.

「 Activating the skill ‘Wings of Steel’.」

-…I have a question, are you a human? Why are wings made out of steel appearing on your back?

Fortunately, even I, in the world of State of Mind, immediately gained steel wings, and I was able to fly.

As soon as I resolved the feeling of falling, I felt the answer run through my mind.

The fact that power is applied to the body in the world of State of Mind, means that the skills are also applied in the same way.

Then, wouldn’t I be able to fully perceive this world of State of Mind using my skills?

Thankfully, I had the skill to perfect this State of Mind.

-…Y-You already found the answer? No, other than that, what in the world is that skill you’re talking about?

Ignoring those words, I immediately activated the Fire Dragon’s Eyes.

「 Activating the skill ‘Fire Dragon’s Eyes.’ 」

Then, the darkness around me was slowly lifted, and I smiled at the unfolded scene.

I did it.

-…There’s no way! Wh-What in the world is this!? Why is the area of the State of Mind entirely revealed!?

I felt satisfied with Aileen’s astonishment, which quickly came into my head.

It looked like I passed the sixth hurdle with ease.

——