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“It’s the final battle! Everyone, raise your weapons!” I shouted, straining my lungs so everyone could hear me over the deafening roar of monsters and explosions around. 

I normally only needed a small amount of mana to amplify my voice. However, the intensity of this battle demanded my all. 

My comrades’ faces showed panic and exhaustion from the endless onslaught. However, they steeled their resolve and continued to fight at my lead.

“We did it!” Shouted one of the soldiers, a hint of exhaustion and excitement in his voice. 

“The giant has fallen,” said another.

Cheers erupted along the battlefield as the victory sank in. While the celebration was well-earned after the deadly battle, I could not help but feel uneasy. 

As I watched the mages, near collapse from pushing their magic to its limits, embrace their comrades, my experience through multiple regressions warned me that the danger had likely not entirely passed. We had only faced one threat, and I could see new monsters still coming from the crack.

“It’s not over yet! Look!”

I pointed to the dimensional crack in the sky. Everyone glanced at it and gradually stiffened. 

The cheers died down, and their tension rose again. Though the giant had fallen, thin fissures remained on the horizon, periodically spewing out new monsters from the other world.

“Heroes, the cracks still linger,” I called to the hero’s party gathered nearby, who followed my gaze upward with weary but determined eyes. “Your strength is still needed,” I continued. “The crack must be sealed, or all our efforts will be in vain. Will you help me seal the crack?” 

“Leave it to me.” Without hesitation, the hero stepped forward. 

The others soon joined him. They stood firm in their resolve to safeguard humanity. 

I took heart in their courage and looked ahead. It was time for humanity’s strongest to force a breakthrough.

“We will separate from the army and close off the crack,” I said.

Without complaint, the 6 of them nodded at my command.

“I will open the path,” said the paladin as he charged ahead.

“Huh, reckless as always. I have no choice. I’ll help.” said the sword saint as he followed.

With every swing he took, he cut a swarm of monsters. Whether it was a bone dragon diving from the sky, a giant mollusk from underground, or even the seemingly endless swarm of monsters, nothing could block his path.

“What happened to strategy? Geez, this is why young people these days are,” said the archmage as he shook his head.

He casted colorful magic that shook the world. The ground exploded, and the sky distorted as if cut by the wind. Then, a rain of meteors fell from the sky, killing the monsters without mercy. This scenery reminded me of the world’s end that the Seer prophesied.

“Fufu, don’t worry. I’m here if anyone ever gets hurt. Plus, isn’t it cute for men to be reckless sometimes?” said the saintess as she smiled softly.

A domain of light spread out beneath our feet, instantly recovering our wounds and buffing our prowess.

"…"

The archer silently pulled her bow. However, the effect of her attack was far from silent.

With inhuman strength, her arrow split the ocean in half. She accurately one-shot all the giants and enemies on their weak points. 

Even better, without me telling her, she chose to target enemies with high defense, high enough that none of us could kill them easily. Our teamwork was flawless, proof of having fought together for years.

It was a really, really long time. Even if I didn’t count the regression, was it more than 8 years?

“Raon Eva,” said the last person as he called me.

He was the hero, a person with androgynous beauty that seemed out of this world.

“Hero.”

“No.”

He shook his head. His golden hair, tied in a ponytail, swung with the movement.

“Rather than me, you are more deserving to be a hero, Raon.”

“... I’m just a weak person who was trying his best to survive.”

“A weak person?” The hero laughed. “Say that again after you stopped killing monsters with bare fists. Aren’t you killing more monsters than me even as we speak?”

“I just happen to know their weakness and my strength, that’s all.”

It was thanks to the countless regressions. Was it called the save and load function? 

‘The player sure has a weird naming sense about these things,’ I thought.

Then again, he was more trustworthy than anyone I know.

[“I will draw out a path.”]

Along with the player’s voice, a map appeared in my head. The map told me which path to take and which enemy to engage. 

‘As expected of the player. Truly the best,’ I nodded and smiled.

It was a path without a single error in sight. I conveyed the plan to the others and took command.

“Everyone, charge!”

We moved ahead, killing only the monsters we needed while saving energy to prepare for an emergency. In the end, we managed to arrive at our target while maintaining perfect condition.

“As expected of sir Raon,” the paladin said.

“No, it’s not me.”

“I know,” the sword saint said. “It’s the player, right? Hahaha, you’re still going on and on about that.”

“It’s true,” I said with a sigh.

I felt sad to hear them dismiss my partner’s effort. Then again, it was a common occurrence.

From what I’ve seen, the player treated this world more sincerely than anyone else. But everyone didn’t want to admit the existence of a higher being who played with their lives and treated them like games, except for the hero.

“I believe you, Raon,” the hero said. “People’s hearts turn darker every time they sin, but Raon’s heart is pure white.”

The hero is a being who can see and judge evil. He continued.

“Raon never tells a lie, not even white lies.”

“Hero…” I said, feeling touched.

“So, after everything is over, I would like to meet them too. The player.”

The hero smiled at me. That might be an impossible wish to fulfill, but…

“Yeah. Me too.”

There was nothing wrong with having a dream, right? I and the hero sealed the crack while the others protected us. Some time passed, and finally, the crack was closed for good.

“We did it!” we all cheered.

“Now, all that’s left is to clear the monsters, right?”

It was the moment the hero said that. The sky shook as if it was about to fall.

No, not just the sky. The ground, the sea, and even my soul were shaking fiercely. I looked around, but rather than seeing anything strange, I heard the player’s surprised voice instead.

[“What…? Are you kidding me?! We closed the crack, so what is this?! Is this a forced event?!”]

The moment he said that, I knew something terrible was coming. Everything happened in an instant. Where there was once sky, now a fissure vast as the horizon gnawed open, warping the very fabric of reality, from its depths emerged a nightmarish beast so immense it blocked out the sun and entire sky.

It was a familiar monster. To be exact, it was the final boss. This damn monster was so strong it could destroy the entire planet by itself. The problem was that our force could only destroy a continent or two after partying together and giving it our all. 

The difference in strength was no joke. So, the player tried everything to prevent the final boss from coming instead of facing it directly. But in the end, everything we did was useless. 

“[“Everyone, fall back!”]”

The player and I shouted at the same time. We had been with each other for a long time, so we knew what each other was thinking. That’s why I managed to move my body without delay and avoided its first strike. 

However, running away was impossible. Its speed was too great for us to escape from. That’s why we decided to do the next best thing we could.

The saintess saw the beast approaching and cried out, quickening her holy magic to heal her comrades before switching to a magic shield. But its power was too great - its claws descended, and she met her end shielding the archer and archmage beside her from its full brutality.

With courage born of years campaigning together, the sword saint charged forth to engage the monster directly. His blade moved faster than sight and could split the mountain in half. However, even that was not enough to cut the beast’s hide. The beast slammed its hand down, crushing the sword saint to death in an instant.

The paladin wailed over his fallen allies, summoning a barrier of holy light to buy the rest of us precious seconds. Through the veil, I saw him stand firm against the onslaught, shielding us until he met his end, as was his sacred duty.

The archmage summoned arcane forces beyond imagination from the backlines, a firestorm to swallow the sky and the earth along with the beast. But for this beast, even those were not enough. His final spell engulfed the beast, only to be snuffed out in its maw as it bit him to death.

Beside him, the archer let fly her last arrow. Its power significantly strengthened using the precious seconds her comrade had bought. It was such a strong attack that it obliterated the ground and pierced the mountain. The arrow flew and successfully pierced the beast’s outer skin. But that’s it. The arrow stopped there without being able to penetrate deeper into its organs. Blood rained down from the beast’s wound as it cried. It looked at the archer in fury and ripped her body to pieces.

“No…”

I watched in horror as the hero’s comrades fell one by one before the beast’s onslaught. As the monster turned its malevolent glare upon me, the hero strode to meet its challenge.

“Don’t give up, Raon. It’s not over yet.”

“Hero…”

“Even if everyone loses hope, you and I should never do that!”

He stood in front of the colossal beast, his blade burning with a fiery blaze mixed with holiness as if to mirror his unyielding and pure spirit.

“So, stand up, Raon. Let’s fight to the bitter end. Ha!”

The hero cried across the deadened battlefield and swung his holy sword in a blaze of white flame. The blade and claws clashed in a shower of sparks. 

“Kuh…”

The hero resisted the beast’s immense strength with barely a hair’s breadth to spare and bounced the attack. He danced between its limbs faster than the eye could see, striking flawlessly at weak points that would fall lesser foes. 

However, for all his effort, each blow only seemed to chip away slightly at the beast’s vast endurance with shallow cuts. As the fight wore on, the toll began to show. 

Cuts and gashes decorated the hero’s armor, and crimson blood stained his body. Still, he fought on, leaping acrobatically over stomping feet and lashing tails. But a single misstep was all it took—a claw the size of a castle flung him across the plain.

“Hero…!”

I fought the beast to buy time for the hero to recover. I was hoping he would give up and run. 

However, he struggled to rise instead, desperate to rejoin the battle. Yet, as he stabbed his sword to help himself up, it snapped in two under his weight.

“Enough… it’s enough. You’ve done everything you could. So, fall back, hero!”

“Raon… I’m sorry if only I were stronger.”

For the first time, sadness showed on his battered features. But then, it melted into resolve. 

“Though I know I’ll likely die, I want to save my friends’ lives and the people they fought for. So I can’t fall back. I must fight. Because a hero must save the world.”

As the monster closed in to kill me, the hero planted firmly between us. He raised his useless hilt high overhead to deflect the attack. 

I couldn’t stand the wind blast from their impact, and my body flew far due to their clashes. As I regained my balance, I saw the hero giving it his all. 

Jaws large enough to swallow armies descended and bit him, and his brave soul finally met its end. His battlecry carried not fear but defiance to the very end.

“Ah…”

When I saw the hero’s death, I felt like I was going crazy there and then.

“Aaaah!!!”

I let out a beastly scream and rushed to kill the monster. I no longer remember or felt anything after that. 

All I knew was one thing. And it was the fact that the world had ended.

***