Chapter 212

Chapter 212
## Chapter 212

### Chapter Title: Wilhelm’s Memory

What exactly is sword aura?

Within the mechanics of the game, sword aura was categorized as a specific skill.

It was an ability unlocked only when one attained Sword Mastery level 30.

It was the stuff of legends—a power everyone whispered about, yet no player could truly claim.

The statistical advantages it provided were, predictably, broken.

A massive 50% surge in raw damage!

Coupled with its radiant, intimidating visual effects, it commanded a terrifying presence on the battlefield, making a user like Wilhelm the ultimate target of both dread and longing.

However, even the sword aura wielded by Wilhelm wasn’t entirely “untainted.”

‘Wilhelm didn’t actually hit Sword Mastery level 30 through pure talent or practice.’

Technically, no standard character class was capable of hitting level 30 mastery.

The sole exception was the “Ultimate Sword Saint” class I currently held.

Wilhelm had managed to stretch his limits by stacking the influence of celestial powers, high-tier gear, specialized artifacts, and various buffs.

‘The “pure” sword aura mentioned by the Rai Knight Commander… he’s talking about touching that realm through the strength of the class alone, without leaning on external level cap modifiers.’

This implied that the Rai Knight Commander possessed a class that sat on the same tier as my “Ultimate Sword Saint.”

Yet… he was currently operating under the false impression that I had bypassed the ceiling by mastering the power of “Baal.”

He assumed that if my class was synonymous with Baal, exceeding the level 30 mastery cap would be a natural biological function.

‘What kind of class does he actually have?’

The thought sparked intense curiosity.

I was burning to know.

To find another class capable of pushing the mastery boundary to 30 was an anomaly I hadn’t expected.

Furthermore, the fact that he could manifest sword aura proved his mastery was already at that peak.

And he had done it without shortcuts—entirely through the grind of training.

I couldn’t even fathom the sheer volume of combat and the millions of swings the Rai Knight Commander had endured to reach this point.

‘This is far more than just a button-press skill.’

The realization made the situation even more fascinating.

Previously, I had never bothered to analyze the fundamental nature of sword aura.

To my player mindset, it was just a high-tier toggle that multiplied my damage numbers—simple as that.

Kaaang—!

Our auras collided head-on.

It was a raw, unsophisticated exchange of power without a hint of finesse.

The impact resulted in a heavy, flat resonance, reminiscent of a wooden bat striking a solid object.

Kwaaaang!

On the next swing, the world seemed to shudder from a violent detonation.

The physical strength behind both strikes was identical, so why the massive disparity in the outcome?

‘It’s the equilibrium.’

The mana used to construct my sword aura was fluctuating inconsistently.

If the mana density were perfectly distributed across the blade, every single collision should yield an identical acoustic and physical reaction.

Sword aura was, at its core, the art of compressing mana to its absolute limit to maximize lethality.

Channeling such a turbulent volume of energy made keeping that internal balance an architectural nightmare.

But.

‘…I’m the only one whose balance is flickering.’

With every trade of blows, my sword aura shuddered as if it might shatter.

In contrast to the Rai Knight Commander’s unwavering aura, mine lacked that seamless mana distribution.

It made sense.

Up until this moment, I had just been venting sword aura outward.

I viewed it as nothing more than a skill activation.

But for Rai, sword aura was the harvest of a lifetime of discipline.

It was the physical manifestation of his soul, the very proof of his existence at the summit!

‘I’ve been playing this too safe.’

The feeling hit me once more—this reality wasn’t a simulation.

Every action carried weight.

You had to breathe purpose into it.

But I had treated sword aura as an empty vessel.

I hadn’t invested the necessary sincerity or grit into it.

I had looked at it through the cold lens of a game mechanic.

The reason I could call upon sword energy and sword aura so casually wasn’t because I had personally earned that mastery.

‘Wilhelm.’

By inhabiting Wilhelm’s role and absorbing his experiences, I had simply been coasting down the road he had already paved with blood.

It was a leisure activity for me, but it was life and death for Wilhelm.

‘How did it feel the very first time you took up a blade?’

…I had never stopped to consider that.

I had never attempted to empathize.

The inner turmoil of Wilhelm. The staggering labor he put into cutting that path through the dark.

Those weren’t results you could achieve with a few clicks of a mouse.

‘What was it like the moment your sword aura first ignited?’

I dove into the memory.

To find the origin and the conclusion, I retraced the footsteps Wilhelm had left behind.

And then, the vision cleared.

Wilhelm.

—Finally…!

I was truly looking at him now.

—You filthy dog of a god! I will burn down every single world you’ve built!

The authentic Wilhelm.

…His voice sounded like metal grinding against rust.

Wilhelm, who had reached this heights through agonizing perseverance, was screaming in pure rage.

This was a sliver of the scene I had ignored as a mere cinematic before taking over as the player.

A memory from the moment Wilhelm faced his final defeat against the Demon King.

—

The world is populated by an endless sea of deities.

The Earth Goddess, Lea, and the Sky Goddess, Pina, are the famous ones, but the pantheon was too vast to count.

Yet, in Wilhelm’s eyes, none of them were true gods.

‘A god is a being of absolute power that cannot be resisted.’

That was the standard Wilhelm held.

By that logic, the “gods” worshipped by the masses were nothing more than pretenders.

‘The entity that is pulling my strings. That is the only true god.’

From his first moment of consciousness, his hand was already wrapped around a hilt.

He slaughtered everything the world labeled an enemy, and the people crowned him the Knight King.

It was a destiny stapled onto him, a life of forced labor and scripted heroism.

It all originated from the god who piloted him.

In those brief, flickering moments when his own will surged, Wilhelm could only ask one thing.

‘Who am I?’

He grew more powerful with every passing sunset.

As his strength peaked, so did his self-awareness.

But his physical form remained a puppet.

The god offered him no autonomy.

‘Will my shackles break once this task is complete?’

The objective was clear: execute the Demon King and bring order to the lands.

Would the god discard the puppet once the show was over?

If he could just win back his freedom, he could finally seek the truth and live for himself.

‘Then I must become even stronger.’

Wilhelm’s growing ego hungered for absolute power.

He cataloged and perfected every micro-movement of his muscles, engaging in endless mental warfare.

He gained insights, demolished personal barriers, and forced his evolution.

Whenever the god’s grip loosened slightly, allowing him a moment of movement, he played the part of the perfect “Knight King” with even more intensity, all to protect his secret ambition.

A dream of walking the earth without chains.

“Finally…!”

The moment he transitioned beyond sword energy and perfected his sword aura.

Wilhelm shook with raw emotion.

This revelation was on an entirely different scale than anything he had felt.

Grasping the essence of sword aura didn’t just fortify his sense of self; it plugged him into the very source of mana and truth.

A true awakening.

For the first time, Wilhelm felt like a living being.

His perception of reality shifted entirely.

‘I manifest my soul through the blade. I become the god.’

Indeed.

This perfect internal rhythm and balance was the inaugural step toward divinity.

The flawless execution of absolute power could only be described as a divine act.

And the architect of that power—could he not be considered a god in his own right?

‘I can do this. I can reach that level.’

Now, he felt capable of finishing his mission.

Whether facing the Demon King—or the god itself—he felt he had a chance at victory.

Simultaneously, Wilhelm glared at the heavens.

How do you like that, you pathetic god?

I am bleeding and struggling just to finish the task you gave me.

I am playing my part, succeeding against all odds.

So, give me an answer.

…I’m begging you.

Give me a sign.

Tell me this is the right way.

Tell me that at the end of this road, I will find what I’m looking for!

If you choose to stay silent until the very end…

“You filthy dog of a god! I will burn down every single world you’ve built!”

You might find that I actually have the power to set your creation on fire.

—

Wilhelm’s memory.

The core essence of the moment his sword aura was born.

For a heartbeat, it felt as though I was looking through Wilhelm’s eyes.

‘You really despised me, didn’t you?’

Just like all the others.

Like Isabella and Isaac, he felt a deep-seated hatred for the entity that treated his life like a toy.

No—it was probably even deeper for him.

‘Wilhelm was entirely aware of what was happening.’

Isabella and Isaac had almost no recollection of being piloted.

Not until the very end when they slipped into their long slumbers.

Likely not until I had stopped playing their characters.

Wilhelm was different.

He knew.

He felt his body moving against his will.

‘Wilhelm’s power wasn’t just a result of my gameplay.’

Without Wilhelm’s own fierce determination, he never would have made it to the Demon King’s throne room.

The sheer grit he displayed was something no normal person could ever hope to mimic.

Staying focused on nothing but strength while his entire existence was being stolen.

That was a feat of pure insanity.

‘Understanding sword aura… it’s the first move toward achieving godhood.’

I finally got it.

I could feel the weight of it.

The true meaning of sword aura.

The desperate will that Wilhelm had poured into that energy.

The single moment he felt truly human was the second his sword aura sparked to life.

That surge of joy, that profound meaning—nothing else could ever replace it.

《Your ‘Sword Mastery’ level has increased.》

《Sword Mastery has reached level 31.》

《Sword Mastery has ascended beyond the level 30 limit.》

《You have finished the hidden quest ‘Mastery Level Transcendence (7)’ initiated by the ‘Lord of the Mountain of Training’!》

《You have attained the achievement ‘The Pioneer Who Wrote the Myth of Mastery.’》

《Do you wish to receive your reward?》

《As a reward, you can claim the Unique-tier ‘Apocalypse.’》

…At that exact moment, my mastery level ticked upward.

Thanks to the passive effect of ‘Winter (Final Twilight)’ which pushed the mastery ceiling.

This allowed me to develop my Sword Mastery all the way to level 35.

However, I had no idea what kind of shifts occurred after passing level 30.

Even with the cap lifted, gaining mastery points beyond 30 was considered a statistical impossibility.

Hitting level 31 was nothing short of a miracle.

‘Unique-tier Apocalypse, huh.’

This was the hidden quest from my ascent of the Mountain of Training.

When my growth speed broke the 400% mark, the Lord of the Mountain set this challenge before me.

Originally, the goal was ‘reach Sword Mastery level 25,’ but since I kept turning down the rewards with every level I gained, the stakes of the quest kept snowballing.

And now, on the seventh iteration.

I had earned the right to take Apocalypse—a name signifying a total cataclysm.

‘That’s a name I’ve never heard of.’

Even with my extensive knowledge, it was a total mystery.

I knew the names of almost every piece of Unique-tier equipment on the continent, yet this didn’t ring a bell.

If it wasn’t a weapon or a legendary mystery, what could it possibly be?

‘Just like with the mystery. The more difficult the achievement, the more insane the reward.’

The one certainty was that the quality of the prize was skyrocketing.

But, I had never once reached mastery level 32 before.

Maybe I should take the win here.

If I got greedy and failed the next step, I would lose ‘Apocalypse’ entirely.

This was a different beast than the Tower of Mysteries.

There were no shortcuts or exploits to use this time.

But.

‘I decline.’

《The challenger has turned down the reward.》

《The scale of the quest has increased.》

《Hidden Quest ‘Reach Mastery Level 32 (The Miraculous)’ has been initiated.》

I decided to keep pushing.

A chance like this would never come again.

Anyone looking at me would call me a fool, asking why I was being so stubborn and reckless.

But it didn’t matter.

This trial was my first true act of being a pioneer.

‘……I was your god, after all.’

As the one who played god to Wilhelm, the least I could do was follow his path to the very end!