Chapter 352
Chapter 352: How About Living in My Body? (2)
Flap!
Countless flags rise up. The once reckless boy has become one of the most famous strongmen on the continent.
Behind him, riding a massive horse, a rugged crowd has gathered.
Their attire and weapons vary. It was not an ordinary army. In some ways, it resembled a band of thieves swaggering about.
But their momentum was overwhelming enough to cover the world.
Still, people remained trapped in despair, struggling. But nothing could penetrate the mind of the Mercenary King.
Regret, depression, and emptiness from the past were reaching out, trying to devour him.
Yet he suppressed all emotions surrounding him and ignited only one feeling.
Revenge.
Having amassed powerful strength and influence, he finally drew his sword against those who killed the territory residents, friends, and family.
And at last, his army began its march toward the kingdom.
— Grrrrr…
The evil spirit screamed in pain. The emotions he exuded were too deep and vast for the spirit to comprehend properly.
But the Mercenary King had the mental fortitude and will to embrace those emotions. He had relentlessly driven himself forward until now.
As he faced a formidable enemy, despair morphed into something else.
Crunch!
Every time he bared his white teeth and slaughtered a person, the evil spirit trembled.
Ecstasy.
With each target of his revenge that he dispatched, he laughed.
— W-What the hell is this…?
Corpses began to pile up everywhere, forming mountains, and the blood flowing from them created rivers.
Flap!
The Mercenary King’s army passed through the endless expanse of bodies. Each time the flag of that army came into view, the enemy knelt and trembled in fear.
And the Mercenary King always stood at the forefront of that army.
With his burning red eyes alight, he was truly the embodiment of revenge. No one could stop the Mercenary King’s forces.
There were no strategies or tactics. Once they engaged in battle, they mercilessly crushed their opponents. It was sheer destructive power.
But their opponent possessed an even greater force.
They constantly surged and attacked, trapping the Mercenary King’s army. The bodies stacked endlessly, forming colossal mountains that filled this red space.
The Mercenary King’s army gradually diminished. The enemy’s numbers dwindled too, but they had more resources and manpower than the Mercenary King.
Worn down by endless fighting, the Mercenary King’s army grew weary. And they began to become isolated.
Though they had driven a kingdom to the brink of annihilation, they lacked the foundation to endure a prolonged battle compared to the enemy.
Finally, after days of fighting, the injured and fatigued Mercenary King knelt down.
In front of him stood a man as strong as the Mercenary King, brandishing a sword.
— Could it be a survivor from Count Perdium’s lineage?
Only then did the Mercenary King realize there was another faction behind the Duke’s family. He needed to prepare more and gather more information. But his army had been decimated, and he was exhausted.
[Preparation was insufficient.]
Various emotions began to devour him once more.
Regret, emptiness, disappointment, sorrow…
But ultimately, what remained was an endlessly burning anger.
The Mercenary King recalled what his close friend had said.
— They say there’s talk of rebirth.
[If I am reborn! I will undoubtedly tear you to pieces!]
Crash!
With that thought, he felt a chilling sensation as his neck was severed.
The world darkened. The evil spirit trembled in the void.
— D-Did I die? Then what is this…
In this empty darkness, he had no idea what to do.
At that moment.
Flash!
Light returned, and the world transformed. The evil spirit couldn’t regain its senses.
It was because his form had returned to when he was young.
Now rejuvenated, he exhibited a different path than before.
He understood the strength of his enemies and realized there was a faction behind them. Based on his past life’s memories, he began to prepare step by step.
— N-No way.
The evil spirit couldn’t believe this phenomenon. How could a person return to the past!
He captured orcs, saved his younger brother, and prevented wars.
He hunted monsters, gathered money, amassed troops, developed techniques, and enriched his territory. Based on that power, he hunted down and killed enemies one by one.
— T-This is impossible.
Even as he witnessed the world change, the evil spirit could hardly believe it. It was unbelievable.
Knowing everything meant everything unfolded according to his plan. While there were slight deviations, he had the experience and knowledge to resolve those discrepancies and outstanding companions at his side.
The owner of the body gradually weakened his enemies and eventually became a powerful great lord. His path was entirely different from his past memories, and the results were starkly dissimilar.
And now, he continued to prepare and move forward, ready to confront formidable foes. He had grown stronger more quickly than before, and the circumstances unfolded largely within his expectations.
His recollections, filled with relentless movement toward his goal, finally came to a halt at the tower where Edwin was trapped.
Flash!
The world changed once again. In the mental realm, he stood alone on the parched earth as before.
But there was one change.
Before him stood a tree. That tree, which had initially been just a sprout, had grown steadily proportionate to the flow of memories and had now become quite a sizable tree.
In this arid land, it was the only thing that provided him with solace.
Looking at that tree, he felt one emotion.
Responsibility.
He felt an intense will that he must certainly protect this.
The evil spirit trembled and slowly backed away.
The opponent was not human. They were a superhuman who had surpassed human limits and had survived through enduring countless sufferings.
He couldn’t. This mental realm was far too vast and powerful for him to consume. Trying to devour it would lead to his own demise.
He was far too weak and lacked the willpower to consume such a world.
Swish.
The man turned his body. His appearance was still that of the scarred Mercenary King.
That meant he had not yet escaped the torment of that time.
Step by step.
The man approached. The evil spirit retreated further.
The evil spirit’s form appeared akin to a human but was mere black smoke.
Yet the man bared his teeth fiercely, smiled, and grasped the evil spirit’s neck.
Thud!
— Kek!
The man, Mercenary King Ghislaine, gleamed with red eyes and asked.
“How does it feel to steal my memories?”
— T-That’s a lie. A lie. This is nonsense.
“Whether it makes sense or not is irrelevant. What’s important is, you can never consume me.”
The evil spirit struggled but could not escape at all. In a realm where it could not devour, Ghislaine was akin to a god.
— L-Let me go. Send me back to Edwin’s body.
“No, that’s impossible.”
— Please, let me live. Let me live.
Desperately pleading, the evil spirit did not wish to perish. It had lived for a long time, without knowing why, but still, it did not want to die.
Ghislaine grinned.
“I told you to live inside my body, didn’t I?”
— Huh?
“You can amplify my power, can’t you?”
— H-How do you know that…
“Is that correct or not? Just answer me.”
The evil spirit clasped its hands and answered politely.
— Yes. I can amplify power, and the stronger the emotions felt while living, the stronger the amplification. However…
“However?”
— You also need the mental fortitude to handle the amplified power. Of course, looking at this mental realm, it seems possible… but if it becomes too strong, the body won’t be able to endure it.
“Fine, I’ll handle that myself. Now live inside me and become my power.”
— Ugh…
“If you don’t like it, you can just be annihilated here.”
The evil spirit deliberated. This was akin to becoming a slave. But there was no way out.
Not wanting to perish, the evil spirit had no choice but to accept the proposal.
Either way, it had to rely on someone’s mana to survive. If nothing else, the mana inhabiting this body was pure and exceptional. It seemed it would have to live here until this guy died.
Although it was uncertain when that might be.
— A-Alright.
Flash!
The body of the evil spirit began to disperse and mix with Ghislaine’s mana. The consciousness of the evil spirit was separated into a space prepared by Ghislaine.
With the mixing of new power, Ghislaine’s eyes turned black. Arel, watching anxiously from the side, gasped and drew his sword.
Grrrrr…
Ghislaine bared his teeth and laughed. He had been running tirelessly towards his goals since his rebirth. Having formulated separate plans, he had dealt with enemies accordingly.
As a result, his current circumstances had changed from his past life. The loved ones still lived, and he was protecting them.
The will and responsibility to block enemies remained. But the emotions felt in his past life were gradually fading away.
This couldn’t happen.
He needed to burn more fiercely. His mind should remain cool, but his heart must be warm.
He must not forget that. Just because he had returned to the past, that did not mean the emotions and memories he experienced back then had vanished.
Until the enemy was completely annihilated, he could not release this anger and desire for revenge.
The newly obtained power would strongly reawaken the memories and emotions of the past.
Flash!
Ghislaine’s eyes returned to their original color. However, the mana he emitted was entirely different from before.
A bloody energy surged around him. At first glance, one might think it was magic, but on closer inspection, it was not exactly magical energy.
“Good.”
He felt the power he could unleash multiply several times. Even without pushing to his limits, the force surging through his body was incomparably stronger than before.
That wasn’t all. The entity he had contained held numerous abilities beyond just power amplification.
The Duke’s faction possessed quite a bit of information about this entity.
[…We have searched for ‘it’ for a long time. Surprisingly, it was close by. Right in the body of Edwin, the son of Count Mobray in the South. We couldn’t find it due to Count Mobray’s thorough control of rumors. We only discovered it just before our final confrontation with the royal family.]
In fact, it was not an evil spirit. It was much closer to a spirit.
An existence that had wandered from body to body, living without remembering who it was for a long time.
This spirit was what the Duke’s faction had sought in the past life. Ghislaine didn’t know why they were searching for it.
But Ghislaine had a very clear reason to seize it before the Duke’s faction. This spirit possessed the ability to nullify mental magic.
[Sir Ilois, a master of illusion magic, attempted to separate it from Edwin’s mind, but it was all in vain. It mocked Sir Ilois and unraveled all control magic cast to prevent others from approaching.]
This entity neutralized the mental magic of a level 7 circle mage, even with Edwin’s pathetic mana.
If Ghislaine were to use his own mana, he could potentially clear an entire battlefield.
[We have experimented with various methods and finally persuaded it. It agreed to dwell within the body of Count Valjark and receive his mana, in exchange for assisting us. It accepted our offer. And its power was truly astonishing.]
Count Valjark, who acquired this spirit, became far stronger than before. He overwhelmingly defeated the royal family’s swordmaster during the civil war.
As a result, Count Valjark became the one and only swordmaster of the Ruthania Kingdom.
And now that power had been seized by Ghislaine. The spirit’s strength would also superbly thwart Ilois’s wide-area mental magic.
Grrrrr…
As Ghislaine drew upon his mana, the air around him began to tremble.
Unlike Edwin, he did not display any madness or bizarre behavior. He was thoroughly separating and controlling the spirit’s consciousness.
Therefore, he was not consumed by emotions. He had simply amplified his power based on those emotions.
When the Core Level 3 was activated, an enormous amount of mana erupted from Ghislaine’s body.
Flash!
As he grasped his sword, a blood-red aura blade easily emerged.
Before, he needed time to gather his strength, but now that process was eliminated.
“With this level, I might stand a chance against Count Valjark.”
Count Valjark’s power, which Ghislaine had witnessed at the banquet, was so immense at that time that he couldn’t even gauge it.
The rumors of the Kingdom’s Greatest Sword seemed to have downplayed his strength. He was primarily guarding the Duke’s side, so he would not have been able to unleash his full power.
Ghislaine smiled ferociously. The emotions he had felt in his past life erupted like a volcano once again.
If this was a flaw, it could be considered a flaw, but Ghislaine did not care.
He was already a body that had reached the peak of strength in his past life. He could travel the path he had taken even faster, and he could control it; there was no reason to refuse.
Grrrrr!
According to Ghislaine’s intent, a bloody energy swirled around him, forming dozens of spears.
These were spears created purely from the power of mana. They felt akin to magic. Perhaps, they were even closer to the refined powers of mages.
The spears could not withstand Ghislaine’s power and burst forth in all directions.
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
With a thunderous noise, dozens of spears shattered the ceiling of the tower.
“Uagh!”
Edwin cradled his head, collapsing. Arel drew his sword to fend off the stones falling toward him.
Of course, no one was injured. Even amidst that chaos, Ghislaine continued to emit mana to provide protection.
“Hahaha!”
Satisfied with his newfound power, Ghislaine laughed heartily. And the spirit observing from within him trembled in fear.
‘This guy is a lunatic. He’s undoubtedly suffered from some kind of mental split. I’ve made a huge mistake. I’ll have to live as a slave to this lunatic for a while!’
No matter how he thought about it, he was clearly insane. There was just no other explanation for him.
