A light brain fog formed in my head, and alarm bells rang one after another.

[The fable, ‘Successor of the Eternal Name,’ warns you not to think nonsense.]

The fable was warning me.

That with my current power, I couldn’t defeat that existence.

【StolenTeethTeethTeethTeethTeethTeethStolenTeethTeethTeethStolenStolenStolen】

I quietly hid behind the little kid Yoo Joonghyuk who was smaller than me, and thought.

Shit. It feels like it just looked at me.

What was fortunate was that the skill [□□] still hadn’t activated. In other words, it meant that the possibility of me and Yoo Joonghyuk dying from this incident didn’t exist yet. At least not yet.

“A, Father! Please save me! Father!”

A desperate scream that came from the crowd.

When I turned my head, there was a man reaching his hand toward the platform.

“A, Fath…… FatherIsComingTheGreatLordOfTeethIsComing…….”

Fangs of an Otherworldly Divinity were sprouting on the face of a man who surely had once been counted among the great beauties of this ‘First Murim’.

“No! Myeong! Shit!”

The Sovereign Sword’s new form rushed toward the man.

It seemed that that young man was the Sovereign Sword Namgung Jinchun’s son, the Young Clan Head Namgung Myeong.

As the Sovereign Sword’s inner power settled into Namgung Myeong’s incarnation body, Namgung Myeong’s body, where fable contamination had been occurring, began to calm down little by little.

“A, ahh, ahh—”

But the situation wasn’t resolved. Namgung Myeong’s mental strength couldn’t withstand the fable contamination of that shark head. Unless someone drove off that Otherworldly Divinity, the Young Clan Head was finished.

But the transcendent seats who could stop the Otherworldly Divinity had all run away, and before I knew it, even the experts—including the Family Heads of the Five Great Families—looked like they were quietly backing out.

Of course, even in the middle of that, there were martial artists who didn’t run.

The Sovereign Sword shouted at him.

“Cheon Gae! I beg you!”

Cheon Gae, the Dragon-Head Branch Master of the Beggars’ Sect, nodded.

[Constellation, ‘Last Ark,’ thunders a rebuke at the empty air!]

“Everyone, get a grip. Block your ears and close your eyes. Don’t get swept up by hallucinations.”

The martial artists who gathered around him began resisting the Otherworldly Divinity once more.

After striking away the fangs that sprang out of thin air, Cheon Gae shouted loudly.

“Otherworldly Divinity! Return! This place is not your playground!”

But as if it couldn’t hear Cheon Gae’s voice at all, the Otherworldly Divinity let out a scraping, rattling laugh. Then large fangs came pouring down from inside the shark head’s mouth.

Kugugugu.

A shadow rose from the floor of Murim along with whitish dust.

Shark-Fang Soldiers.

Soldiers sculpted entirely from the Otherworldly Divinity’s teeth began stabbing the surrounding martial artists to death indiscriminately with sharp fangs that had grown in place of hands.

“Gyaaaaaaah!”

Cheon Gae hurried forward and blocked the Shark-Fang Soldiers, but there were too many of them.

Cheon Gae, his face gone pale, shouted.

“Sovereign Sword! Evacuate everyone! At this rate, we’ll all die!”

“Fight! I’m telling you to fight!”

Instead of evacuating people, the Sovereign Sword bellowed like he was spitting blood.

“If we retreat here, it’s over! Murim will be destroyed!”

But his roar only accelerated the experts’ desertion.

In the end, the person the Sovereign Sword’s resentment would turn toward was decided.

“Heaven-Breaking Sword Star! Why are you just standing there! Didn’t you come to protect your disciple too?”

At that question, the Heaven-Breaking Sword Star glanced at Yoo Joonghyuk.

“That brat isn’t my disciple.”

“Liar! That kid is your disciple! I already confirmed it through [Lie Detection]! You lied to me. You said you don’t take disciples, and yet—”

“It’s been a while. Child of the Namgung Family.”

The Heaven-Breaking Sword Star looked at the Sovereign Sword with her characteristic deep, still gaze.

The Sovereign Sword couldn’t bring himself to meet her eyes and turned his gaze away.

“You’ve grown a lot.”

“I-I’m not here to hear you say that! I’m the Namgung Family Head!”

“…….”

“No matter if you’re the Four Hundred Sculptures, the Family Head of this era is me! Before you are the Heaven-Breaking Sword Star, you are Namgung’s sword! Protect me! Protect my son! Protect this Murim!”

“What is your Murim.”

At the Heaven-Breaking Sword Star’s question, the Sovereign Sword’s shoulders flinched.

I, having read the Annihilation Law, knew why.

Once, the Sovereign Sword had been asked the same question by the Heaven-Breaking Sword Star.

The year the first ‘Otherworldly Divinity incident’ happened.

In the square of Murim that was collapsing, the Heaven-Breaking Sword Star asked Murim.

「I will ask. What is the ‘Murim’ you think of?」

Back then, the people of Murim couldn’t give their own answer. So they followed the Heaven-Breaking Sword Star’s answer.

“Forest.”

Fortunately, the Sovereign Sword remembered that answer.

This Murim is a forest. A forest where lowly mortals are woven together, gathered to protect one another.

“Murim is a forest! Damn it! So hurry up and save Murim!”

In the middle of his desperation, was he proud of himself for remembering the answer? The Sovereign Sword’s expression was stained with a faint rapture.

But the Heaven-Breaking Sword Star slowly shook her head.

The flustered Sovereign Sword shouted.

“W-why are you doing that? That was the answer! Back then, you heard this answer and saved Murim!”

The Heaven-Breaking Sword Star said nothing.

Was the Sovereign Sword’s magic power starting to drop? The Young Clan Head’s complexion began turning blue again.

Hugging his son tightly, the Sovereign Sword shouted.

“Y-you’re the god of this Murim. You have the duty to protect this Murim more than anyone!”

“In your eyes.”

Where the Heaven-Breaking Sword Star’s gaze landed, blood blossoms were blooming.

Some of the transcendent seats who had been fleeing from far away had their bodies torn apart by fangs that sprang out of thin air.

Cheon Gae’s voice, screaming like he was spitting blood.

The people who seemed like they were about to gather for a moment were scattering in all directions.

“Does that look like a ‘forest’ to you.”

With a fshushk sound, Cheon Gae’s stomach was pierced through.

“The Dragon-Head Branch Master has been hit!”

“It’s o-over. This Murim is over now!”

“Everyone, run!”

Among them, there was not a single person protecting anyone else. Martial artists running and running again. The cries of children abandoned on the street.

The Sovereign Sword, mouth hanging open blankly, couldn’t answer at all. Perhaps only at this moment did he realize the true nature of the Murim he had protected.

“I, I… my Murim is.”

Now, Murim is no longer a forest.

Connections woven by easy martial arts represented by [skill].

They were together, but they couldn’t share the same history. They learned the same skills and trained for the same purpose, but the Nine Sects and One Union and the Five Great Families were no longer what they used to be.

Perhaps the Sovereign Sword knew, too.

“Murim is….”

Their roots are no longer intertwined. Now, in this Murim, there is no one who seeks chivalry.

The Sovereign Sword’s staggering hand groped at the empty air.

He needed the family elders who could advise him. But no one answered. Of course. The Namgung elders who had protected Murim together during the ‘Otherworldly Divinity incident’ had all already left the world.

The Sovereign Sword’s new form staggered.

“Why, why do you ask that every time. What does it matter what Murim is, anyway.”

The Sovereign Sword braced himself on the sword he had planted into the ground and drew breath again and again. In his eyes, struggling to keep breathing, bloodshot veins were standing out.

“Was your Murim really that great? It was the same back then. It was never the ‘forest’ you talk about!”

“…….”

“You, you made Murim like this! Because you, acting so high and mighty, were alone and lofty…!”

Blood burst out in a gush from the Sovereign Sword’s seven apertures as he growled. He, too, had begun to be infected by the Otherworldly Divinity’s fable.

“A forest that leans on a single tree—do you think that’s a proper forest? Why did we send people into the Horror Realm. Why did we keep this expedition going even as we died like that—”

“…….”

“This is all your fault! If you had only taken me as a disciple, if you had only taught the people of Murim, this wouldn’t have happened! You made this Murim weak! The one who destroyed Murim is you! You—”

I swung hard at the back of the Sovereign Sword’s head. With a cough, the Sovereign Sword collapsed forward and couldn’t get back up.

The Heaven-Breaking Sword Star looked down at the Sovereign Sword’s state for a moment, then turned her back.

“Heaven-Breaking Sword Star.”

The god of Murim had decided to abandon this forest now. If so, then what was she going to become now?

“Are you really going to leave like that.”

At my question, the Heaven-Breaking Sword Star slowly turned around.

“You are—”

“My name is Kim Dokja.”

The Heaven-Breaking Sword Star narrowed her eyes and said.

“You don’t have the right to receive my question.”

I felt like I vaguely understood why she said that.

She might have noticed that I wasn’t from ‘Murim’, or she might have recognized the constellation’s fable residing inside me.

But honestly, either way didn’t matter.

“Right. I still don’t have the ‘eyes’ to read Murim.”

At my answer, the Heaven-Breaking Sword Star paused for a moment.

I continued speaking.

“Unlike you, who has already seen Murim’s destruction hundreds of times beyond the Horror Realm.”

“How do you know that.”

An ominous current began to flow from the Heaven-Breaking Sword Star’s entire body.

“What I know isn’t what matters. What matters is the ‘Murim’ in front of {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} your eyes right now.”

“…….”

“In this Murim, is there truly not a single tree left that you want to protect.”

Little kid Yoo Joonghyuk grabbed my sleeve. A warning. Don’t say any more—if I misspeak here, I’ll die.

After thinking about something for a moment, the Heaven-Breaking Sword Star answered.

“One tree cannot become a forest.”

“I know. But Heaven-Breaking Sword Star.”

From now on, what I was about to say wasn’t my language.

“How many trees have to gather for it to become a forest.”

This was the Heaven-Breaking Sword Star’s language.

It was the question the Heaven-Breaking Sword Star had once asked Kim Dokja, thrown back at her.

As if surprised by my question, the Heaven-Breaking Sword Star blinked her big eyes. Her Bright-Mirror Eyes began to emit a bright light.

I swallowed.

“I don’t know what Murim is.”

Supporting Cheon Gae’s collapsed incarnation body, I said.

“But I know a constellation born in Murim. I survived up to now using martial arts I learned from that constellation.”

[The fable, ‘Tenacious Murim Master,’ fumbles and nods.]

“More than anything, I have one companion who likes this Murim.”

“Companion?”

“That bastard can’t eat food made by other people at all, but he eats dumplings made here well.”

[The fable fragment, ‘Man Who Eats Eight Meals a Day,’ nods.]

Looking down at the little kid Yoo Joonghyuk standing there with a dumb expression, I continued.

“So ‘Murim’ can’t be destroyed here.”

This Murim is the last remaining ‘hometown’ of my pitiful regressor companion.

[Exclusive Skill, ‘Baekcheong Qi,’ is activated!]

[‘Blade of Conviction’ is activated!]

The Heaven-Breaking Sword Star’s eyes widened as she recognized the magic power dwelling in my blade.

She must have recognized [Baekcheong Qi].

Even if I had re-entered the scenario, my incarnation body had only recently been repaired. I still couldn’t fight at one hundred percent power.

Even so, right now, I was Kim Dokja, and the Demon King of Salvation. As long as I held that name, what I had to do here was obvious.

“Kim Dokja! Stop!”

Yoo Joonghyuk staggered and grabbed my arm. Letting go of his small hand, I grinned.

No matter how much my incarnation body had recovered, with my current condition I couldn’t kill a monster like that.

Because I wasn’t Teacher Jaehwan.

But because I wasn’t Teacher Jaehwan, I wouldn’t let Murim be destroyed.

[The fable fragment, ‘Rapid Swim,’ trembles.]

I looked up at the sky.

That Otherworldly Divinity came all the way here chasing the fable fragment I had absorbed.

Which meant there was only one way to save ‘Murim’ now.

【TEETHTEETHTEETHTEETHTEETHTEETHTEETH—】

I threw myself into the entrance leading into the ‘Horror Realm’.