Suicide Before Defeating the Final Boss

Suicide Before Defeating the Final Boss – 65

EP.65 Return Part 3

The phrase “everyone was stunned” seemed to fit the situation perfectly. As Jeong-hyeon observed that everyone’s attention was completely focused on Hana, he immediately attempted to pry out the blade from her cheeks by pinching them with his fingers.

“Daddy.”

Realizing that nothing was coming out, he couldn’t hide his astonishment.

‘How did she manage to swallow something that large?’

He had heard of stories about people eating things like Legos, but he never imagined she could swallow a blade of that size.

With a face full of confusion, Jeong-hyeon asked Hana.

“Are you okay?”

To this, Hana looked up at him with an expression of not understanding what was happening, then tilted her head and smiled.

It seemed like she wasn’t in pain, which was a relief, but it was still necessary to check to be sure. As he was pondering what to do, a message appeared before his eyes.

*-*

– [The World Tree absorbs the fragment of the Holy Sword!]

– [The growth of the World Tree accelerates!]

– [The restoration of the Holy Sword accelerates!]

*-*

Contrary to his concerns, the holy sword fragment had been absorbed into Hana’s body. Relieved, Jeong-hyeon dismissed the message.

Hana then eagerly grabbed a piece of meat from the dish in front of her and placed it into Jeong-hyeon’s mouth.

“Daddy, eat too.”

As he chewed the piece of meat, Hana, pleased with the food, continued to pick up more and repeatedly place it into his mouth.

“……”

Jeong-hyeon felt it was awkward to refuse her, so he accepted the food. Seeing this, Miria sighed and asked.

“So, what did you get from the treasury?”

“Elixirs and Growth Potions.”

Jeong-hyeon had to speak in vague terms since Hana was present. Miria, initially responding with a neutral tone, suddenly looked shocked and asked.

“An elixir?”

Jeong-hyeon nodded slightly. Miria’s eyes widened as she continued.

“The legendary elixir? The one that can even bring back the dead?”

Jeong-hyeon nodded again. Miria’s eyes grew even wider as she exclaimed.

“Do you know how valuable that is? Even with the penalty of having to use it without the kingdom finding out, it’s still…”

Seeing Miria mumble about the potential gains, Jeong-hyeon briefly cut in.

“I’m not planning to profit from it.”

The elixir was, after all, a lifeline.

Using such a rare item for mere transactions seemed wasteful. He decided to save it for a situation where it would be truly needed.

‘Moreover, the source is too obvious.’

If he used it for trade, all his carefully laid plans would likely fall apart. Therefore, rather than using it for a minor gain, he chose to keep it safely in the subspace pouch and use it only when absolutely necessary.

“Really? Well, if that’s the case, there’s nothing to be done. So, did you bring anything else besides that?”

“Of course.”

Jeong-hyeon began summoning and showing Miria the items he had collected. Miria, unable to contain her excitement, covered her mouth and started cheering with joy.

‘It seems like it’s quite valuable, though I’m not sure.’

He decided to leave the valuation of the items to Miria. As he was doing so, a thought suddenly crossed his mind.

‘Oh, I was supposed to meet with Sword Saint Neriah.’

Since returning now would be quite a hassle, he debated whether to go or not. He shrugged and concluded.

‘I can just use the excuse that I couldn’t make it because of the terror attack in the kingdom.’

Perhaps she would understand. Although it wouldn’t matter much if she didn’t.

He made this decision and chose to focus on the meal for now.

***

Upon returning to the dormitory, Jeong-hyeon checked that Hana was asleep and then brought up the topic he had not yet discussed with Miria and Lucia.

“Do you remember the elixir I mentioned earlier? It’s actually made from the World Tree.”

“What?”

Lucia looked the most shocked at this revelation. Her eyes widened in disbelief as she asked.

“… Are you saying it’s an elixir made from the World Tree that supports and protects the world?”

Hearing the full description made the kingdom’s actions seem even more outrageous. He nodded silently, and Lucia could only let out a short, disbelieving sound.

“Ah…”

As they watched each other in stunned silence over the kingdom’s actions, Miria seemed to realize a crucial detail and asked with a look of disbelief.

“Wait a minute, didn’t you say you found it in the kingdom’s treasure vault?”

Jeong-hyeon nodded to confirm this. Miria fell into thought for a moment before speaking to Jeong-hyeon and Lucia.

“I once heard a rumor that the World Tree wasn’t cut down by demons, but by humans. Everyone dismissed it as nonsense, but it turns out it was true. No wonder relations with the elves have been cut off since that day. This must be the reason.”

“That day?”

“Yeah… Do you remember when the kingdom and the elves teamed up to send three people to fight the Demon King?”

At those words, Lucia appeared even more shocked than Jeong-hyeon. She stared at Miria with disbelief, clearly disturbed by the mention of “three people.”

Miria continued, puzzled by Lucia’s reaction.

“Princess Karina, High Elf Daisy, and Archbishop Lea. Those three went to defeat the Demon King but failed and returned. That’s what I’m talking about.”

Hearing that his existence wasn’t even recorded, Jeong-hyeon couldn’t help but let out a dry laugh. He had already read about it in the articles, but it still left a bitter taste.

‘Well, anyway.’

He sarcastically thanked the kingdom for bringing up such unpleasant memories. He folded his arms and fell into thought.

‘Come to think of it, I need to get revenge on Daisy too.’

He hadn’t had the chance to deal with her until now, but he knew he would have to eventually. He thought about Daisy, Karina, and Lea, who was still asleep in the subspace pouch. He reaffirmed to himself that he wouldn’t kill any of them easily.

‘Now, I need to decide what to focus on next.’

If his previous goal had been to survive the ceremony, now he needed to either focus on building his influence or thoroughly destroying the kingdom. He decided to consider which path to take.

‘So, the next target should be Princess Karina.’

Unlike Archbishop Lea, who had lost her standing and was being held accountable, Karina had only grown stronger and more influential, making her a more challenging opponent.

‘But it doesn’t matter.’

If she had a lot of power, he would strip it away. If she was difficult to deal with, he would crush her head-on. Although it would require more conditions and higher demands than with Lea, he would also grow stronger, so it didn’t matter much.

For now, it was crucial to become stronger, to the point where he could crush any variables that arose. Jeong-hyeon briefly wondered if his conclusion had always been to get stronger, but he dismissed the thought and looked at the message floating beside him.

‘Finally, the reward is coming.’

*-*

[Calculating rewards…]

– Due to the significant achievements, the calculation is taking a long time.

[Remaining time: 29 minutes 32 seconds]

*-*

He thought it had been a long wait for the level-up rewards and waited for the activation.

***

*-*

[Reward calculation complete!]

– The level of ‘Domain Declaration’ is increased!

[Domain Declaration -> Sanctuary Declaration]

Sanctuary Declaration Lv: 1

– Effect 1: By declaring a sanctuary, blessings can be bestowed upon allies and curses upon enemies.

– Effect 2: Summon stored soldiers.

*-*

Increasing the level of Domain Declaration, Jeong-hyeon couldn’t fully grasp the extent of its improvement from just the description. Deciding to test it out himself, he activated Sanctuary Declaration.

‘Oh?’

While Domain Declaration had merely pushed away and exerted physical force on those within its range, Sanctuary Declaration added a unique feature: it now provided healing and buffs to allies in addition to its previous abilities.

‘The effect doesn’t seem very significant yet, probably because of the low level.’

He knew this would improve with leveling up. The ability to cover a wide area at once was particularly attractive, making him quite satisfied with the result.

‘It’s great that it also debuffs enemies.’

From his perspective, it was a nearly perfect skill.

‘Anyway, that’s good, but the real important part is the soldier summoning.’

Depending on what this allowed, his future combat strategies could change significantly, so he looked at the feature with hopeful anticipation.

[Soldiers can be summoned to the area where Sanctuary Declaration was cast after being stored.]

As with previous updates, there were no detailed instructions provided. Since it would be difficult to test this in the dormitory, he decided to test it out at the usual back mountain.

***

Arriving at the back mountain, Jeong-hyeon recreated his greatest masterpiece, the Royal Corpse Golem, and declared that he would store it.

[Successfully stored the Corpse Golem!] (1/3)

Seeing that such a large entity could be stored was impressive. He had wondered if size might affect the ability to store it.

As the thought crossed his mind, a good idea struck him, and he grinned slightly.

‘If it can really be stored regardless of size…’

It meant he could carry around a Corpse Golem as large as when he first encountered it.

‘That’s great.’

Of course, a simple Corpse Golem would be boring. He thought it would be far more entertaining to combine noble or royal corpses and those made of blue blood, to create something much more visually striking.

Heading to the location where he first discovered the Corpse Golem, he began merging the bodies to create the golem.