Chapter 79 – Dreams Come True

It was a verbal outrage.

At the very least, it was not something to be said in front of the Orcs guarding this Bamboo Forest.

Degulur glared.

He did not scream. However, a murderous aura stretched out from his body like a spiderweb, bringing the area under his control.

“Do you know the meaning of what you said?”

Se-min giggled.

“Is an Elder Orc like a king? Why are you so angry?”

Degulur did not open his mouth any further. As Se-min gestured, everyone withdrew. Kubar raised his martial power to protect the surrounding companions.

From now on, it was not a place for them to intervene.

The Emperor, and the unidentified cosmic power he used.

And the martial power of the practitioner who had walked his path through long training.

It was a stage solely for the two of them.

The two forces stretched tentacles toward each other. Already, the surroundings were their distance. Their distance overlapped and deviated repeatedly before they fiercely clashed again.

Watching that, everyone including Kubar clenched their fists.

A grand realm that anyone holding a weapon would envy was unfolding before them.

Had it not been for this era, they might have been revered as heroes who dominated the continent.

It was such a fight.

Se-min suddenly spoke.

“Degulur, Degulur. You did not have a good master.”

It was a statement of unknown meaning.

Degulur did not answer, but a light of doubt appeared in his eyes. Se-min continued.

“If the Elder Orcs made you like this, I will scold them.”

“Cut the nonsense.”

“You said you walk the path alone, right?”

Se-min took a step forward.

Then, the universe advanced a step.

Degulur’s world contracted with every step Se-min took. Se-min was with the universe, and all things moved in lockstep with him. Degulur could not even take a step back.

Since his universe was already limited to the single span of ground he trod on, merely leaning his back against a narrow wall and trembling his lips was all he could do.

“You shouldn’t do that, Degulur.”

Se-min said.

Degulur swung his sword.

It was the first attack.

Their universe collapsed, leaving a human and an Orc. And between them, the blade dug in.

But Degulur could not achieve his intent.

Once again, the infinite universe stood blocking him.

Degulur was bewildered.

There were too many things to cut. The Emperor was a single individual, but what he wore was a universe that multiplied infinitely. He could not cut them all with a single sword.

It was a sight he had seen for the first time in his life.

A human had become the universe.

That vast flow began to head toward Degulur.

It was a scale that felt suffocating. No existence could endure such a thing. Yet, he conversely felt a sense of peace, as if submerged in amniotic fluid.

Because.

He was also part of that universe.

Cosmic Flow.

It was unfolded.

Degulur saw many things. The place where he stood was no longer the Bamboo Forest he knew.

A sea of stars spread inside the plunging waterfall, and a galaxy sat upon every leaf of the bamboo surrounding them. Within the galaxy, galaxies as infinite as the number of stars resided.

Since Degulur was at a higher realm than Kubar, he could see more than what Kubar had seen.

Seeing the strands of the massive flow, he trembled.

But it vanished as if a dream.

His mind returned to reality.

He swung his sword, and it was blocked by the Emperor’s sword.

Within Lupus’s sword light, Degulur startled upon discovering the traces of the infinite universe once again, but as the sword face twisted and the angle of reflection tilted, the universe he saw vanished without a trace.

Then, it was empty.

He stared blankly at Se-min.

“I…”

Degulur distorted his face.

He then gripped his sword again.

“I am not wrong.”

Degulur thrust his sword.

It was a thrust converging into a single point.

Within it was contained the years he walked, and the traces of worries and asceticism. He had spent a long time here in the land of the practitioners. He did not cease his training for a single moment to reach the end of the path.

The war with Badurbarok, the fate of the world, war, and famine all lost meaning in front of him.

The world is filled with pain anyway.

Killing and dying were as meaningless as the wind rising and dying down.

That being the case, what use was the vast scenery of the universe dwelling in that Emperor’s sword?

They simply walk the path.

With such belief, Degulur thrust his sword.

That was what he had learned from the Elder Orcs.

“No, you are wrong.”

Se-min said. At the same time, Degulur’s thrust was swept into a spiral.

Degulur’s sword caught nothing. Rather, a vortex arose, shrinking into an infinitely small point, and sucked in his sword strike.

What was sucked in was spat out again.

Degulur’s sword passed through the spiral and entered the center of the universe.

  

Beyond his eyelids, the infinite universe unfolded once more.

An infinitely near-eternal instant, enough to drive one’s mind mad.

When that moment passed and the scenery of the universe blacked out, Degulur was fallen.

He could not stand up.

A feeling of exhaustion dominated his entire body. He wriggled his body, but strength did not enter as he wished. He bent his legs and put his knees down. He pushed off the ground to raise his upper body. However, lacking strength, he slipped again.

At that moment, a hand was extended.

Degulur stood up, relying on that hand. Only then could he support his body.

Degulur and Se-min stood straight and looked at each other. Degulur spoke.

“Again.”

He did not accept it. Se-min nodded. The two raised their weapons and aimed at each other again.

The companions watching them kept silent.

There was no such fierce clash as expected.

Se-min and Degulur aimed at each other, then exchanged a few movements again. It was neither fast nor slow. Like a rehearsed sparring session, they merely repeated blocking and countering with clean movements.

In that process, something rose and fell again.

Some could see it, and others did not understand it at all.

Everyone could at least guess the fact that something more than what was visible to the eye was happening.

At the end, Se-min’s sword aimed at Degulur. Recognizing the sword that had approached his neck, Degulur stood still for a long time.

“Degulur.”

Se-min said.

“Guide me to the Elder Orcs.”

Degulur did not move. Se-min’s sword advanced further, making a faint wound on Degulur’s neck. Blood flowed down. Degulur rolled his eyes to look at Lupus’s blade hanging beneath his chin. The blue light of the heavens was reflecting on it.

He had certainly seen the scenery beyond that.

Degulur closed his eyes.

He felt he knew the reason why Kubar had turned his back on the practitioners.

But he still could not acknowledge it.

The time he walked alone was too long.

“Very well.”

Degulur said so.

And he was surprised once again at himself for replying like that.

He had never doubted the Elder Orcs. He stayed in the Bamboo Forest out of respect for them, and swore to practice asceticism all his life following their teachings to reach the end of the path.

However, confusion began to grow in his heart.

That was why he agreed.

He wished to know what the Elder Orcs would say to this emperor, and what this emperor would answer to them.

Since he, who was on the path, had lost his way due to this fight, he wanted to watch the scene where the one close to the end of the path confronted the one outside the path.

“Good.”

Se-min withdrew Lupus.

“Lead the way.”

Degulur let out a sigh.

The Emperor whistled with the sword slung over his shoulder. It was difficult to believe that his attitude belonged to the one who had shown him the scenery of the infinite universe just a moment ago.

Degulur turned his body and began to walk.

It was in the direction of the center of the forest.

Se-min’s group began to follow him. Suddenly, Degulur, walking ahead, spoke.

“Emperor.”

“What is it, Subordinate Number 8.”

Se-min asked Kebalar.

“Is it Number 8? Or Number 7?”

“Since Kululu is here, it is indeed Number 8.”

“Right. Write it down somewhere if possible. Since it will be hard to count later. Yes, Subordinate Number 8. Why did you call?”

Degulur closed his eyes and clenched and unclenched his fists. He felt like hitting him a few times.

“You said I was wrong, right?”

“Yeah. You guys are totally wrong.”

“Explain why.”

“I will bring those Elder Orc bastards to their knees later and teach you all as a group. My private tutoring is expensive.”

“Then it will be difficult to hear.”

Degulur shook his head.

“Since you will die when you meet the Elder Orcs.”

“We will have to wait and see.”

“You are certainly strong, but even so, you are incomparable to the Elder Orcs. Know that. My guiding you is just a minor amusement.”

“I spared you from a beating and won gently, yet look at your bluffing.”

“…”

Se-min kicked Degulur’s buttocks. Degulur stumbled. He wanted to rebel but endured it for fear of getting beaten more. How did the practitioner of the world end up in such a state?

He canceled all the feelings he felt earlier and looked forward to the Emperor being brutally punished by the Elder Orcs.

As they advanced toward the center of the Bamboo Forest, practitioners blocked them.

Degulur made them step back, but some blocked them to the end and scolded Degulur.

Se-min handled those fellows.

The number of practitioners knocked out by the flat of Lupus’s blade grew.

They soon stood in front of the fortress located at the center of the Bamboo Forest.

“This is the place where the Elder Orcs are?”

“Yes.”

Se-min looked up at the fortress. It was high but not large. It did not look like a place where Elder Orcs would live together.

“I have entered this place only a handful of times too.”

“Really?”

“You cannot enter unless invited.”

Degulur stood before the gate of the fortress.

The main gate was exceptionally large.

It was a size that several Orcs could pass through simultaneously.

“However, the Elder Orcs will already know that we have come.”

Degulur spoke so and grabbed the doorknob. It was in the shape of a dragon’s face.

The door began to open smoothly as if on its own. The inside was filled only with pitch-black darkness.

“Enter.”

“I can’t see anything, though?”

“You can see once you step inside.”

Se-min’s group stepped into the fortress one after another.

Nothing was visible.

The door closed.

At that, the world brightened.

Everyone lost their senses.

Just like when they had come to the land of practitioners through the rock crevice of the Grand Marino Sea of Trees, another world unfolded inside the fortress.

Endless green fields and trees, and delicious-looking colored fruits hanging from every branch.

The sky was blue, and white cumulus clouds passed over their heads.

A few birds hopped around them.

“This is the Peach Garden where the Elder Orcs reside.”

“Where are the Elder Orcs?”

“Since we received an invitation, they will arrive soon.”

Degulur stood still without moving. Se-min’s group also waited quietly. But no one appeared.

“…”

Suddenly, Se-min swung Lupus.

The sword energy flew out, cutting down the flock of birds hovering around them.

Every single one died instantly.

Degulur shouted.

“What is this!”

The scenery of the world began to reverse.

The sky turned red, and the earth became a wasteland. The fruit trees seen far away all became thorn bushes. They wriggled back and forth like tentacles, watching Se-min’s group.

The corpses of the dead sparrows distorted. They crawled toward Se-min’s group while making bizarre noises. Strange monsters arose in the air, stretching out claw-like grasps as they approached.

The place that had been like heaven became hell.

“Now I like it.”

Se-min said, resting Lupus on his shoulder.

Se-min grinned at Degulur, who was trembling in shock.

“I didn’t come here to play.”

From far away, a shadow was seen walking toward them.

Was that the Elder Orc?

His build was larger than any ordinary Orc. His skin had a green tint and his tusks were large, but there were no wrinkles on his face. He looked to be about Kebalar’s age.

His gait slithered like flowing water. He was clearly standing in front of him, yet no presence was felt. There was no sound either. Since footprints were left on the wasteland with every step, it was not an illusion.

An unknown, subtle energy disturbed the senses.

Se-min lowered Lupus from his shoulder.

“Elder Orc?”

The Elder Orc raised his eyes and looked at Se-min. No emotion was felt.

He looked at Se-min and scanned the rest of the party in turn. His gaze stopped on Biryu for a moment.

“…”

Again, he looked at Se-min.

The sparrow corpses that were baring teeth at them and the monsters that had arisen in the air faded behind the Elder Orc.

[Are you the current emperor?]

The Elder Orc spoke. His voice did not pass through vocal cords but was flat and emotionless, as if assembled by a machine.

“Yes.”

[Leave this place.]

“What if I refuse?”

[You are not welcome here.]

The Elder Orc replied.

At the same time, a certain scene passed through Se-min’s mind.

The Grand Marino Sea of Trees was burning. Countless demonic beasts appeared from all directions, attacking the Orcs. The Orcs tore the demonic beasts apart like tigers among sheep, but they ultimately allowed attacks one by one and collapsed.

The fortresses burned completely.

The flags fell.

The lush Sea of Trees they knew turned into burnt ashes. White bones and dead land remained. Demonic beasts slithered over it, and the slime that lay in Badurbarok’s city covered the Sea of Trees.

[It is the future you will bring.]

Se-min’s vision returned to reality. A low groan was heard from behind. Did everyone see the same thing? It was so like reality that it felt like they had truly peeked into the future.

[So leave.]

After pondering, Se-min acknowledged the Elder Orc’s words.

Had he not come, the Grand Marino Sea of Trees would have been peaceful. They might have lived leisurely for a few hundred years. Perhaps they could have remained safely as Badurbarok’s barracks for a long time.

But Se-min came here to prevent that.

He had attacked the enemy’s city, tempting them to invade the Grand Marino Sea of Trees.

The sight shown by the Elder Orc was ultimately what Se-min had intended.

“I refuse.”

[…]

The Elder Orc closed his mouth.

At the same time, an unknown force began to push Se-min out.

It was not pushing him physically, but separating him from the world he currently belonged to. Se-min’s vision overlapped into two.

The world of the Peach Garden where the Elder Orc stayed and the scenery of the fortress seen in the Bamboo Forest crossed each other. The Peach Garden blurred, and the appearance of the fortress rose clearly.

This is a place where uninvited guests cannot come.

Se-min was being expelled from the Peach Garden.

“Elder Orc.”

Se-min called him. Then, the scenery outside the Peach Garden faded, and his vision began to converge into one.

Se-min took a step forward. The scene before him became clearer. Taking another step, everything was right there.

The Elder Orc could not expel Se-min.

“I am the Emperor.”

An emperor does not need an invitation.

As Se-min declared, the scenery of the Peach Garden wound back. The red sky turned blue, and green shrubs rose from the wasteland. The distant bushes turned into fruit trees, and the sparrows rose again, flapping their wings as they soared.

The Elder Orc stood right in his place.

“Furthermore, I have accepted Degulur over there as my subordinate.”

Se-min lifted Lupus. Degulur protested from behind, but Kubar and Maktar held him back.

“As the Emperor and Degulur’s sovereign, I will question the sin of the heretical way you propagated.”

The Elder Orc was silent.

“Answer me. Do you walk the path?”

[I walk the path.]

“Do you walk alone?”

[I walk alone.]

“Until when?”

[Until I reach the end of the path.]

“You are wrong.”

Se-min saw that something was held in the Elder Orc’s hand.

It was a dazzling sword, resembling rays of light infinitely.

Se-min raised Lupus. No more words were needed.

In that instant, Shozen, Gulad, Biryu, Kaorak, Maktar, Kebalar, Kubar, and Degulur were pushed beyond the horizon.

Again, the world changed.

Everything disappeared.

The sky was pitch-black, and the earth was silent.

In a world with nothing but the ground, only Se-min and the Elder Orc stood.

The Elder Orc spoke.

[I simply walk the path. Until I reach the end.]

Se-min shook his head again.

“You are wrong.”

The gap between them did not narrow. Se-min raised Lupus, aiming at the Elder Orc.

He was strong.

Therefore, it was a pity.

Since Se-min realized the Cosmic Flow, he had never exerted his full strength. But today was different.

He recalled the mnemonic formulas of the Cosmic Flow that he recited almost daily. The imagery of his mind was a code and coordinates pointing to locations in the universe.

Se-min approached closer to the flow of the world.

“Elder Orc.”

Se-min could see.

He had walked alone for a long time. That much weight had accumulated. Se-min swung Lupus toward the Elder Orc.

The sword energy expanded.

The sword energy became larger sword energy, and the larger sword energy became an infinite wave of swords, sweeping the world.

Like an infinitely expanding fractal, the world filled with sword energy.

They cut, crossed, and ground against each other.

Between them stood the Elder Orc.

He was unwavering. The sword of light he held expanded, receiving the mountain of blades and forest of swords Se-min created. The Elder Orc thrust his sword. A single point advanced toward Se-min.

It was a single point walking alone, ignoring the world.

Everything blocking that path shattered.

Se-min thrust Lupus in opposition to confront it. The auras of the Elder Orc and Se-min collided. Inside that point, world after world rose and fell.

The point was erased.

Above it, Se-min’s sword was drawn.

Once again, the Elder Orc’s ray of light covered Lupus.

Lupus tore through it and sprang out.

At that, a deep darkness put everything to sleep.

Se-min could see the mindscape of the Elder Orc who had walked alone for a long time.

Long ago, he had learned from the first Elder Orc that the world was a shackle. Then, nothing precious remained to him. Since reaching the end of the path rendered both life and death useless, he gradually lost emotion the closer he got.

Se-min felt pity for the Elder Orc.

He would never reach it.

The path does not end.

Se-min swung his sword within the world drawn by the Elder Orc.

The fight between the two continued. Sometimes Se-min cut the Elder Orc, and sometimes the Elder Orc stabbed Se-min.

“Elder Orc.”

Se-min called him. The Elder Orc’s expression was stiff. A light of bewilderment settled on his face, which had shown no emotion.

He swung a ray of light toward Se-min.

Yet it was swept away by Lupus.

“Bring the first Elder Orc.”

[I do not know him.]

“I am not trying to have a Zen dialogue.”

[I simply walk alone.]

The Elder Orc’s rays of light multiplied indefinitely, occupying space. Sharp lights, pointing their tips toward Se-min, filled the heavens and earth.

“That is why it won’t work.”

Se-min gritted his teeth and raised his output. Lupus vibrated. The Tai Chi Wisdom spread its wings, and the Cosmic Flow’s formulas settled upon it. But the Elder Orc gave no further opening.

Tens of thousands, hundreds of millions of rays of light rushed toward Se-min.

They passed through Se-min, setting their edges like the needles of a hedgehog on the opposite side. As that action repeated, the points of the tips overlapped into a plane, and the planes joined to become a sphere.

The overwhelming density of light was sufficient to erase a human’s existence.

[The stories outside the path are none of my concern.]

The Elder Orc declared.

He spread his hand, then clenched his fist.

At that, the light flickered.

Flash.

And darkness.

In the place where the light vanished, nothing remained.

He had erased the Emperor.

The Elder Orc suddenly realized that sweat had beaded on his forehead.

How long had it been since he sweat? He groped his past. He tried to think when he had met such an opponent, and when he had collided fiercely with someone, but could not remember.

A black sky with nothing.

An endless earth.

In the vast space, he stood alone.

He suddenly felt something rising in his heart.

[This is…]

His inner self was like a deep sea where no light entered. Somewhere in its deepest part, bubbles arose. They bubbled, rising upward.

The Elder Orc observed it.

And he startled.

An emotion he thought he had forgotten became a small air bubble and reached the surface.

The boundary collapsed.

It spread into the atmosphere.

[This is…]

The Elder Orc felt a faint light rising above his head.

He wished to raise his head, but he could not. Instead, he lowered his head.

The light became two.

The Elder Orc closed his eyes. Two became four, four became eight, eight became sixteen.

That process occurred in an instant infinitely near zero.

Thus, when he closed and opened his eyes, the light above his head had already multiplied infinitely.

The Elder Orc shook his head.

But nothing changed.

Light filling the sky.

The Elder Orc knew what he should call that.

Something he had not seen for a very long time, so he should have forgotten that word too.

“Raise your head.”

A voice was heard from behind.

It was the Emperor he had eliminated. He had not disappeared. The Elder Orc could not understand anything.

The Elder Orc raised his eyes and looked at the sky.

In the empty sky, countless points were shining. There were too many to count, and they meant too many things to specify.

A starry sky.

It was unfolded.

Looking up at that sea of nebulae, the Elder Orc could not open his mouth.

“Look closely.”

The Emperor raised his sword, pointing to the sky. Now, the Elder Orc could not distinguish between the sky and the Emperor. The universe was flowing steadily, and the Emperor had permeated as a part of it.

One who walks the path does not look at the sky.

Neither to the side, nor to the back.

They merely walk until reaching the end.

That being the case.

“One who walks alone can never reach the end.”

Se-min said.

Meeting the Orc practitioners, he felt pity. They were proceeding in the wrong way. The first Elder Orc had fallen into confusion and propagated a heretical method to the Orcs.

The path is by no means walked alone.

Because everything is connected.

Se-min pointed to the sky. That sky soon meant the infinite universe. Thinking of its vast scale, his mind was dizzy.

Se-min continued speaking while suppressing the feeling of vertigo.

“Because everything is connected.”

He could see.

Therefore, the Elder Orc would also have seen.

A single star was connected to all other stars.

The star next to it was connected to all things once again.

The universe was flowing steadily within the links where all things were connected to one another.

Lee Se-min, he was merely a dropout rotting away in a corner of a room.

Such a man had become the Emperor, preparing for a war wagering the fate of the universe.

A single connection changed everything.

The Transcendent Network, he felt like he understood its meaning.

“Let’s go out to the world again, Elder Orc.”

Se-min placed his hand on the Elder Orc’s shoulder, watching the lines connecting stars and the links connecting worlds overlap infinitely to form a shining net.