On Hiatus: God's Personal Reasons

Chapter 52: Sword of the Mountain-Gnawing Titan

I no longer bore witness to the cathartic situation in which an unknown god was invading my world. Instead, a boundless, enigmatic white space expanded before me.

The endless space held only one thing: swords.

Despite coming in various shapes and sizes, they were all the same in one way—extraordinary. Even an outsider like me could tell.

The limitless space where countless swords floated was none other than the Heavenly Sword Treasury.

[All-Cutting Heavenly Sword claims that all divine swords in the past, present, and future belong to him.]

[All-Cutting Heavenly Sword asks you to choose one of the swords in the Heavenly Sword Treasury as per the agreement.]

Clatter—

All of a sudden, a myriad of splendid and mighty-looking swords, emitting colorful radiance, encircled me. They seemed to be urging me to choose them. I gazed at them in awe, feeling like a king surrounded by a harem of beauties.

How could I bear to choose only one? That was just harsh—I wanted to take them all!

[All-Cutting Heavenly Sword says that you can choose more than one. He’ll just reduce the number of tickets you have.]

Of course! This dirty little prick!

I stared at the divine swords floating around me. Which should I choose? Which could help me stop a monster I couldn’t even appraise?

[The innate power Blind Eyes of God has been activated.]

I concentrate fully on the divine swords, hoping to make the best possible choice. ...Just then, I caught sight of it in the distance. If the many dazzling swords around me were akin to alluring dancers, this one would be a defeated soldier—old and wretched. Despite that, as if in a trance, I strode toward it, ignoring the rest.

[All-Cutting Heavenly Sword is quite embarrassed. He said that it was an old piece of scrap metal, and suggested that you choose another sword.]

On a closer look, it’d be more precise to call this sword a small spire. After all, this piece of junk barely had the most essential part of a sword: the blade. Nevertheless, it was still a couple of times larger than myself, so I could only imagine its original splendor.

[All-Cutting Heavenly Sword says that sword is too heavy for a weakling like you to even wield properly, so choose another sword instead...]

At that point, I stopped paying the Heavenly Sword stalker attention.

“Did you summon me?”

Woooong!

The broken sword hilt began to respond violently!

My skill activated, appraising it.

-----

[Sword of the Mountain-Gnawing Titan]

No. 444 in All-Cutting Heavenly Sword’s collection.

Special note: It wants revenge!

-----

“Re...venge?”

Still in a daze, I reached out for the crude hilt.

And then, I witnessed something.

***

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He was colossal, rivaling the size of mountains. In fact, that was his staple food. Every day, a huge mountain would disappear, turning into his meal. The humans, who were both in awe and fearful of his power, revered him as the Titan.

The titan was neither a malevolent god nor a benevolent one. On one hand, he had destroyed an entire nation for disturbing him; on the other, he had saved a village from a landslide. Even then, it was because a girl had offered him flowers.

Thump!

The fact that she was a heartstopping beauty with a voluptuous body played a significant role.

Time had passed since then. The once beautiful girl had grown into a captivating middle-aged woman. She respectfully prayed to the Titan.

“Congratulations on becoming a god among gods, Titan.”

-Why would you congratulate me?

Smirking, the Titan gnawed on the mountain in his hand.

-None of those self-proclaimed gods could withstand a single blow from my sword. And those weaklings call themselves gods?! Outrageous.

Once again, the Titan had conquered the world. Taking down all of those who claimed to be gods, he became the sole ruler of this world.

-But my love, why do you look so gaunt? Did someone torment you? If that swine you call a king dares to flirt with you again, I’ll eradicate his kingdom at once!

The Titan looked down at the meek maiden and said that.

“N-no. The king wouldn’t dare to covet me, the maiden of Titan. But...”

-But?

“I’ve been having bizarre nightmares lately, and they worry me.”

-Nightmares? Those, uh... those so-called scary dreams that humans have while asleep?

The emotionless Titan couldn’t understand.

“Yes, what a terrifying nightmare it was! In my dream, I saw a god so huge, my words failed me! It was absolute evil—it swallowed the whole world! I’m aware it’s a dream, but merely thinking about it scares me...” The maiden answered, shuddering ever so slightly.

-Hmph!

The Titan pulled out his sword, which was buried in the ground. The tremendous black sword towered like a spire, piercing the clouds.

-Your worries are for naught! Both you and this world belong to me! Only a mindless fool would dare vie for what’s mine! Just go ahead and sleep in peace!

The Titan shouted arrogantly with a grunt.

“Indeed. We do have the lovely Titan in this world.” The maiden smiled brightly.

Thump!

Even after a hundred years had passed, his feelings whenever he saw her smile remained unchanged. And the Titan wouldn’t ask for more.

But the Titan had failed his promise. He had lost everything. His beloved maiden, the world, and even his life.

All that remained was the broken sword and his delusions.

Thus, a thousand years passed.

***

Woooong!

The huge, spire-like sword shook raucously. Did I just assimilate with the sword? I could feel a stream of tears trickling down my face. What I saw was nothing more than a fragment of the sword’s memory, but how heartrending it was! I hoped that I could write about them someday.

I then said to the Titan, “Yes, let’s do this together.”

[Yu Il-Shin has chosen collection No. 444, Sword of the Mountain-Gnawing Titan, from All-Cutting Heavenly Sword’s Treasury.]

Hiss!

Then, the infinite white space vanished, replaced by a dreadful nightmare.

Ruuumble! Kiiiiik!

The sight of that monster trying to force its way through the magic circle into my world along with deafening screams, pulled me back to my senses.

“Huff! Huff!”

Regaining his senses, Sword Demon stared at the monster. Tears streamed down his extremely pale face. The dangerous-looking man seemed to have turned into a cowering child.

“Mr. S-Sword God?”

I walked past him and headed for the monster.

“Dear Lord!”

The one who screamed was the root cause of this situation, Johan. The man, restrained by ropes, seemed to have come to his senses.

The god he claimed to serve was about to descend, yet Johan didn’t look the slightest bit happy. Instead, he was despairing with the look of sheer terror in his face. If I had to guess, it was because they were connected and he knew what the monster had in mind.

“N...no... My Lord. This isn’t what I want. You want to devour everyone, including those who served you?! P-please, have mercy...”

Crack!

The magic circle was being ripped apart. The gigantic golden eyes peeking through it looked at Johan.

“Hyiiiieee! Aaarrgh!”

A simple eye contact was enough to drive Johan insane. He turned completely white as he coughed up black, putrid blood. Perhaps, he had begun to realize the true identity behind the “god” he served: a ruthless and voracious demon.

“I know, right?”

I stood before the shattering magic circle that was about to break at any moment.

Crack!

The gaze that had quickly dealt with Johan was now directed at me.

Roaaaar—

An overwhelming sense of dread and terror engulfed me, akin to how an ant felt toward a human, a human toward the ocean, and the ocean toward the vast universe.

Normally, that gaze alone would plunge me into despair, but... I wasn’t alone now.

I reached out into the air.

Bam! Bam bam bam!

Upon my call, a towering black sword appeared in my hand, piercing through the ceiling of the basement and rising into the earth.

Sword of the Mountain-Gnawing Titan.

Briefly, I swore that the monster's gaze wavered as it caught sight of the sword.

“Sword Devotion.”

The power, bestowed upon by All-Cutting Heavenly Sword, unleashed the full potential of any sword. At the same time, it also united my mind and body with the sword. When I activated Sword Devotion, the violence came not from the power, but the Sword God himself!

Clack clack!

The knife in my bag thrashed violently as if heavily objecting, which I ignored.

“Hyaaaaa!”

Through Sword Devotion, I transformed into the Titan from ancient times.

Rooooar!

Mythical power and vengeance surged through my entire body. I pointed the huge sword toward the monster behind the magic circle...

“Destroyer! Get out of my world!”

I yelled along with the Sword of the Mountain-Gnawing Titan.

***

Ten years had passed since a crack formed in the 12th District of Wuwon City, reducing it into a ghost town.

“Search deeper!”

However, right now, thousands of people are gathered there. They consisted of over two thousand Hunters and military units, dispatched by the Hunter Association.

Three hours ago, a crack of at least SSS-grade had formed in that location. For a few seconds, a monster was detected within it, one that was capable of wiping out an entire nation.

Although it could’ve been a mistake on the analyzing Hunter’s part, it definitely couldn’t be overlooked. A man in his mid-forties, donning black sunglasses and a Burberry coat, sighed heavily at the sight before him.

“What exactly happened here?”

In the middle of the ruined city was a canyon extending over a hundred meters in length, its bottom hidden from view.

“Why would this happen when our hands are full with the Second Moon!”

He was Heo Kang-Cheol, director of the Hunter Association. He visited the site to assess the situation firsthand. “It seems like we’ll have to commence with the project swiftly.”

Just then...

“There’s a survivor here!”

Someone from the search party pulled out a survivor buried in the dirt.

Flick!

Heo Kang-Cheol rushed over with swiftness that was unfitting for his age. He was a former Hunter, after all.

The survivor was an old, wrinkly man with white hair, who seemed to be in his eighties.

“Mister, what exactly happened here?”

“Kehehe... Hehehe...”

The old man began laughing, drooling profusely. His eyes were glazed over, while filthy fluid was oozing from his lower body.

“This man is in no condition to speak. Take him to the hospital right away.” Heo Kang-Cheol frowned.

The old man carried away in the stretcher thought of the god who tore through the crack, trying to descend into this world.

-Grrrr!

Eyes as massive as the sun. Nail that would rend the mountain asunder. Truly, compared to such a god, humans were utterly insignificant! That god needed no more than three days to consume all of humanity.

Yet, in the face of such a fearsome being, that man—Yu Il-Shin—gripped his sword in both hands and held it high.

His muscles rippled like a war god as he swung the gargantuan black sword, striking the god—no, demon that was trying to descend into their world.

“Destruction! Get out of my world!”

-Kyaaak! Kieeeek!

With a deafening wail, the world exploded.

The old, crippled man, also known as Johan, muttered between drools, “...Ah, Yu Il-Shin. Truly, a god among gods...”