Many people were gathered outside. News of the current situation had stirred up a commotion in the main base camp, which caused the heroes to burst out of their rooms. In the end, all the surviving members of the fifth, sixth, and seventh recruits had gathered together with the natives, not out of their own volition, but out of necessity. After all, they had no way of dealing with this sudden crisis.
As more and more heroes appeared, the natives gradually quietened. They looked at the heroes with visible distress and anxiety; many turned to Chi-Woo in particular like he was their last strand of hope. Chi-Woo pretended to not notice their stares.
‘What do they expect me to do…?’ He understood they had high hopes for him due to what he had achieved in the past, but it would be difficult for him to meet their expectations. Besides, it wouldn’t be his decision to make.
‘I just can’t do it.’ If their opponents had been the broken beings, he might have thought differently. However, the ones coming this time were the cursed beings. Neither talisman nor the club worked on them. Furthermore, there were even several mutated ones among them, the likes of which had managed to critically injure Giant Fist with a single blow. Given the damage they could inflict on a hero, it seemed clear that someone with an ordinary physique like Chi-Woo wouldn’t be able to do anything; in fact, Chi-Woo would’ve counted his blessings if his head somehow didn’t explode when a mutated cursed being hit him.
“We don’t have time for this,” Ru Amuh announced. “Our enemies are coming from all directions. Everyone who can fight should get their weapons and build barricades around the camp even if they end up shabby.” That was the best they could do right now.
“I concur.” Allen Leonard, the hero whose face was covered in as many rough scars as the strands on his beard, agreed. “If we are surrounded, there’s no way out of this. Rather than getting wiped out by doing nothing, we should at least try to fight.”
“Yeah! I fought them, and they aren’t much of a threat!” Ru Hiana shouted. “There’s no need to worry even if a hundred of those mindless ghouls are attacking! Let them come whenever they want!” She wasn’t saying anything the others didn’t know already, of course, but their concern was with the mutated ones. Even though Ru Hiana was also aware of these beings, she had purposefully shouted confidently, knowing how important it was to boost morale in a war.
After the three heroes voiced their opinions, more and more heroes began to echo their sentiments. They all knew what they had gotten themselves into, and they knew there was no way out, but tentatively, they allowed themselves to hope.
But then Zelit’s cold voice rang across the room like a bucket of icy water, “For what purpose are we fighting? So that we can get annihilated?” Zelit said while pacing in a wide arc. “So that a few of us may survive at the expense of the majority?” Zelit’s chilling words quickly doused the fire in the heroes’ hearts.
Allen Leonard’s eyebrows twitched. He didn’t like that someone had brought down the mood before the battle even started when the situation warranted every bit of strength from them. He sternly challenged, “What else do you suggest?”
“First, we should discuss our goals.”
While Allen and Zelit argued back and forth, Chi-Woo had been standing quietly on the side and fumbling with the die in his pocket. The World’s Milestone was the only thing that could change the situation.
‘I just have to avoid 1, 2, 3.’
All he needed were 5, 6, or 7. If he rolled a four, he could always reroll. There was a fifty-fifty chance for him to succeed. However, to bet everything on chance would be…
‘Still, the situation warrants an intervention even more this time.’ His head was in a mess. He had to think quickly, but he couldn’t just roll the die. The two conflicting thoughts engaged in a tug of war in his mind.
“Sir Chi-Woo.” At that moment, someone called out his name quietly and grabbed both of his shoulders. Chi-Woo turned around in surprise and saw a giant lizard.
“Mr. Giant Fist?” Giant Fist smiled widely. “You woke up?”
“Yes. I couldn’t stay asleep because of how loud it was outside…”
Chi-Woo let out a deep sigh. The tangled thoughts in his head loosened a little, and the simple fact that someone he knew was standing by his side gave him a sense of assurance. Of course, that didn’t mean the problem had magically resolved itself, but…
“Right now—”
“Yes, I know.” Giant Fist said, “I heard the gist of it from Mua Janya.” From behind Giant Fist’s back, Mua Janya waved her hand with a slight smile on her face. “She told me what happened when I woke up briefly. It seems that you’ve achieved something great while I was unconscious.”
“That was because—”
“As expected of his younger brother. I knew I hadn’t made the wrong judgment about you.” Giant Fist gave Chi-Woo a thumbs up and winked. Chi-Woo was at a loss for words. Dark eyes, dried lips, and a face that lacked vitality—Giant Fist looked ready to keel over any moment, but his expression was calm. He even looked disinterested even though he knew about the situation they were in.
“Um…Can we talk in private for a bit?” asked Giant Fist.
“Right now?”
“Yes, it won’t take long.” Giant Fist steadied his breathing and let out a deep breath from his nose. “First of all, I think I owe you an apology, sir.”
“Why?”
“I was the reason why you’re here.”
“No,” Chi-Woo shook his head and said. “I had many chances to back out, but I chose to come here. There’s no need for you to apologize.”
“That is indeed the case, but you wouldn’t have even learned of all this if not for me. I can’t deny that.” He was at fault even if it wasn’t intentional on his part. Giant Fist continued, “You know, sir. While I was asleep…I had been thinking a lot, such as the reason I came to Liber.”
“Well, that’s because of my brother.”
“That’s my goal, but not my reason.” Giant Fist had taken the recruitment exam six times and failed every time. And yet he had suddenly been recruited in the seventh one after another failure. What was the reason for that? Giant Fist had been wondering why the prophecy had changed.
“I thought…and thought…And reached a conclusion.”
Chi-Woo blinked.
“Do you remember what I told you about the prophecy orb, sir?” Giant Fist had talked to Chi-Woo about its selection process.
[The orb judges whether or not you are a necessary existence for saving the World that has fallen into danger.]
[Then who will the orb prioritize?]
[Let’s say that our goal is to make the toilet perform its function in an hour…We need to send those who ate a lot rather than those with an empty stomach. Or someone who drank a lot of water. We may also consider those with enteritis. So that they can poop and pee as fast as possible.]
Following Giant Fist’s toilet analogy, if the main character for saving the World had been determined, they would then need people who could send the main character to the toilet as fast as possible. For example, they needed those who would prepare a great amount of food for the main character and pour them water. That was how Giant Fist knew the role he would have to play.
“Yes, I remember what you told me.”
“Good. Then there’s no need for me to say more.” Giant Fist dropped his hands from Chi-Woo’s shoulders.
“I am really glad that I was able to wake up.” Giant Fist looked above him. “This is the last chance this World has given me…and I will do all I can to fulfill my role. Giant Fist had been considered unfit for the mission, but with Chi-Woo’s involvement, many things changed, and Giant Fist was able to join the team. Thus, Giant Fist believed he had to pay the price for the great role he was given, and that it was time for him to do so.
“I…don’t get what you are saying….”
Chi-Woo could not understand what Giant Fist was trying to say. Before he could ask him to clarify, though, Giant Fist’s legs buckled suddenly.
“Are you all right?” Chi-Woo quickly supported Giant Fist, and Giant Fist barely managed to stop himself from falling.
He didn’t look in pain. Judging from the dilation of his pupils, Giant Fist seemed to have lost focus for a brief moment. “Ah, right… I’m sorry. My mind blanked out suddenly…” Having caught his breath, he gritted his teeth and said, “Sir Chi-Woo.”
“You should at least lie down.”
“No, I can’t. Please listen to what I’m about to say.” There was a change in the way Giant Fist held himself. “You’ve achieved something great, sir, and I understand why you did it.” His words were punctuated by raspy breaths. “However, the world does not follow our desires or expectations.” His gaze became sharp. “All heroes go through an enormous amount of pain and trials, but that isn’t limited to fighting enemies.” He enunciated each word to emphasize his point. “Even if you don’t want to, even if you hate it, there are times when you must make the difficult choice.”
Giant Fist was acting completely different from his usual playful and cheerful self; Chi-Woo had never seen him so serious.
Seeing the ineffable spirit in Giant Fist’s gaze, Chi-Woo responded, “I’m…not a hero.”
“I know,” Giant First immediately agreed. “But you came here as a hero, so you need to become a hero.” After a pause, he added, “At least at this moment.”
The strange energy Giant Fist seemed to be radiating rendered Chi-Woo speechless. He didn’t know exactly why, but it felt like Giant Fist was a teacher giving his final lesson to his pupil before going into retirement. Like a person who was going to leave soon.
Giant Fist asked, “Do you understand?”
Chi-Woo nodded blankly, swept away by the atmosphere around them.
“That’s good.” Giant Fist beamed. “What’s going to happen from now on is not your fault at all.”
“What?”
“I’ve talked to Mua Janya. I’ll play your part this time since you’re not ready yet, so there’s no need for you to feel guilty.”
‘What is he saying?’
“I won’t repeat myself.” Before Chi-Woo could reply, Giant Fist turned around and shouted, “Everyone, please listen to me!”
Zelit and Allen Leonard were still fiercely debating, and several other heroes had joined them.
However, Giant Fist managed to silence them with his exclamation, and all their attention was now focused on him.
“I’m Gripping Giant Fist and Rising from the seventh recruitment.”
He introduced himself simply and pulled up the hem of his shirt without warning. Shock gasps could be heard from multiple directions because of the grotesque injury on his abdomen. “Do you see this wound?” His injury was so serious that it was amazing that he was still alive. “Even though I’ve lost my powers, I’m still a hero.”
Once he was sure that everyone had seen his injury, Giant Fist pulled his shirt back down. “I’d always believed that I wouldn’t fall easily as long as I still have the body and fists I’d worked hard to train.” Giant Fist raised both of his fists. “But after crossing paths with a mutated cursed one, it dawned on me…that my faith in myself was merely overconfidence.”
Silence weighed heavily on everyone. “I’ve said it before. I never lowered my guard down even in the slightest. In fact, I had exerted the greatest of caution as soon as I spotted the cursed one.” Giant Fist looked around and continued, “However, its strength went way beyond my expectation. I barely managed to land an attack, but it only made it retreat. If reinforcements hadn’t come right away, I would have been killed on the spot.” Giant Fist looked at his body to indicate that the injury was from the attack.
“There’s no time to argue. Our enemies are coming closer every minute. At this rate, we’ll all die whether we fight or run away.”
“I’m not arguing because I don’t know that,” Zelit said with a sigh. “I’m arguing because there’s no good option.”
“There’s a way!” Giant Fist raised his voice.
Zelit’s eyes widened, while a shadow cast on the natives’ faces.
“Shahnaz’s seer, listen to me!” Giant Fist cut right to the chase without hesitation. “How long does it take to prepare a ritual?”
That was the natives’ biggest fear. As they expected, Giant Fist suggested holding a ritual.
Shakira looked frazzled. However, she soon recovered and said, “If I want to do it properly, it’ll take some time. However, we’ll be able to hold a more streamlined ritual right now.”
“Let’s do that then. Please make the preparations.”
“…I’ll get to it. Hawa, began preparations.” Shakira immediately called Hawa, and the girl did as she was told. While the members of the Shahnaz camp began setting and preparing for the ritual under Shakira’s orders, the natives of the main camp stared at Giant Fist with anxiety. No—anxiety didn’t even begin to describe what they were feeling.
Finally, someone couldn’t stand it any longer and demanded, “Who are you going to sacrifice? In the end, you’re still going to sacrifice us, aren’t you?”
Giant Fist quietly replied, “…We’re heroes.”
“Yeah. You guys are heroes.” The native let out an empty laugh. “However, given the way you people have been acting, even an ordinary villager like me is more—” The native paused when Giant Fist raised his hand.
“I’ll say it again.” Giant Fist put a hand on his chest and pointed at the natives with his other hand. “We are heroes.” He was referring to both the natives and himself rather than singling the natives out.
The native became speechless; they looked confused.
“Of course, I’m not saying you’re wrong. I’ll only be a burden in my current condition, and I won’t be of much help in a fight.” Giant Fist spoke softly to the native and sighed. “I…wasn’t born on Liber, neither did I grow up here, but I still came.” Giant Fist had come here for one reason—to save a World in suffering. “It was my decision and choice to come here, and I have never regretted my decision even once since then. Because even though the situation had turned out like this, we are…” Giant Fist didn’t finish, but everyone knew he meant to say ‘heroes’.
“And all of you here can become heroes, too.”
The villagers looked dazed, shocked and taken aback by the words coming out of Giant Fist’s mouth. At this point, they had all realized what Giant Fist was trying to say.
“I won’t force any of you to do this. I’ll leave it to you to make a decision. Even though my body is in this state, if you want to fulfill your duty as a hero…” Giant Fist looked at the place where the fifth, sixth, and seventh recruits gathered. “If you’re willing to give up your life to protect your home and become a hero…” His gaze shifted to the natives as he continued, “I ask you to please join me.”
The preparations were now over. Giant Fist took a step towards the altar built by the Shahnaz tribe.