I Start with 13 Hidden Traits Chapter-26

Ch-26. **Monster Wave**

—

That he had killed the Demon King.

And that he had driven the *Path of Light* into the core—only to die himself in turn.

Serengeti could hardly believe it.

No—she *still* couldn’t believe it.

“…Think back to what you told me before I took the star.”

Serengeti was cautious.

Her expression was even heavier and more serious than before I had mentioned my death.

It meant my words had not yet fully earned her trust.

*There’s something more.*

I knew Serengeti—far more deeply than I ever had when she was just a character in the game. Meeting her as a player had given me a strange sense of kinship… even longing.

And because of that, I understood.

There was another reason she could not speak openly about my death.

Which meant she needed another reason to believe without doubt that I was the *Knight King*.

*…What exactly did I say back then?*

But I couldn’t remember.

Of course I couldn’t remember.

Back then, when I saved her star, I had “encouraged” Serengeti. I remembered *that* clearly. The problem was that I had no way of knowing what exact “encouragement” I had given her.

It had only been a character command.

Holding Ctrl and pressing T triggers one of twenty-six emotes.

The “Encourage” command mutters something while patting the other’s back—but how could I possibly know what was said?

“…You always worried that once you ate the star and transcended, you might no longer remain the ‘Serengeti’ you were.”

The words slipped naturally from my mouth.

Words I had no way of knowing.

“At the time, I didn’t understand that fear in you. But thinking back now, it must’ve been your hope that your love for Hudson would never change.”

“…Yes.”

“Before the star, I encouraged you. I told you to shut up.”

“Ah…”

Brrrrrr!

Serengeti trembled violently.

A memory known only to her and the Knight King.

I was just as startled.

Suddenly, the scene resurfaced vividly in my mind like a panorama.

— *Those who take the star all change. I fear I may become like them.*

— *Shut up.*

…Perhaps I didn’t so much encourage her as literally shove her toward the star with my foot.

Was that really encouragement?

And is it normal to be *moved* by someone telling you to shut up?

…She’s crying?

*I must be reading the star’s memory.*

A hidden effect of the Star Successor class.

Just as each class carries secret traits, so did mine: the ability to read the memories of the previous star-holder.

It was almost certainly because of that.

“Are you truly Lord Wilhelm?”

“I am.”

“But… but your appearance is…”

“There is a reason.”

“You’ve become a ‘Sinner,’ have you?”

“Sinner?”

A sinner—someone who has committed a crime.

Usually, it referred to those locked away in prison.

But it seemed Serengeti meant something else entirely.

When I tilted my head, she wiped her falling tears and continued.

“There are those who hunt people who possess memories of their previous life and ‘possess’ the bodies of others. They call such people sinners—and call themselves hunters, or reapers…”

“Never heard of them.”

Reapers. Definitely player hunters.

I vaguely recalled hearing the word when listening to Hudson’s life story.

But I didn’t know the details.

Serengeti shook her head.

“I do not know much either. Only… please be careful. Their obsession with finding ‘sinners’ is said to surpass imagination. Rumor says they carry a ‘black bell’ .”

“I’ll keep that in mind.”

“And… about Lord Wilhelm’s final moments, there is something you must know. Even now I can hardly believe what I saw myself. But if it is true…”

Serengeti bit her lip.

With trembling eyes—eyes that still doubted what they had witnessed—she began to speak.

—

—

 

That day.

The Knight King forcefully opened the warp leading into the Demon Realm, accompanied by two hundred thousand soldiers.

The demons resisted fiercely; even stepping into the Demon Realm cost the lives of thousands.

The priests chanted desperately, but the darkness of the Demon Realm was far too powerful.

“I don’t like this. It feels as though the Demon King’s army knew of our attack in advance.”

The warp to the Demon Realm.

Only a handful knew the exact time and date it would be opened.

Yet the demons moved as though fully prepared.

But even such meticulous defenses shattered in a single blow.

KWAaaaaaaaaAANG!

When the Knight King swung his colossal sword of light, thousands of demons evaporated in the blink of an eye.

The terrain changed, traps became useless.

He was the God of War—no, a living god himself.

His very presence was so overwhelming that one almost pitied the demons standing before him.

“The Knight King does not fall! All forces, CHARGE!”

“Kill the demons! Sweep away the darkness!”

“The Goddess of Victory smiles upon us!”

As long as the Knight King lived, victory was theirs.

But the darkness of the Demon Realm was far deeper than expected.

*Where is everyone?*

…As time passed, soldiers vanished.

The distance between the vanguard and those behind grew unnaturally.

At first Serengeti thought the others were simply slowing down—but that wasn’t it.

Something was wrong.

They had prepared for this. They had calculated every scenario.

They had brought countless *Torches of Dawn* to avoid losing their way.

*This is intentional. Artificial.*

The army was collapsing.

Little by little. So subtly no one noticed.

Not by demons—but by humans.

By the time they realized, it was too late.

*Who betrayed us?*

Someone with enough authority to break apart such a massive force had betrayed them.

Not just one—several.

Such organized concealment couldn’t be done alone.

“Ugh!”

“Saintess Seia!”

The saintess twisted in agony.

She had been reciting the Sacrificial Prayer to prevent the knights from being corrupted.

Her once beautiful face and body had sprouted boils filled with demonic energy; her eyes turned pitch black like those of a demon.

Saintess Seia—while her body rotted, she shouted:

“G-go! Please go forward! I will bless you with my life!”

“But—!”

“You must not stop! You must NEVER look back! This area is the *Hell of flies*! The place where the Demon King’s miasma is strongest! Anyone who turns back will rot away!”

She was using her own body as a sacrifice to counter the miasma.

Which meant that some knights ahead had succumbed and kept turning back.

A hell where you could not turn back… where you could not help the fallen.

Once inside, you couldn’t check if others followed—so no one realized the army was collapsing.

*Then… someone must have known this hell existed beforehand.*

This was humanity’s first time setting foot here.

If someone knew already… they had colluded with the Demon Realm.

Serengeti looked at the Knight King still charging forward.

He had not hesitated for even a moment.

The Hell of Flies was far worse than the previous seven hells.

…When they finally escaped the eighth hell, fewer than thirty knights remained.

*Where… did everyone go?*

Serengeti gasped for breath.

She looked down—

Her legs were gone.

“…Fool.”

The Knight King looked down at her.

Just as they were about to exit Hell of Flies, a trap had awaited them.

A magic circle engraved personally by the Demon King.

It activated after sinking half of the Demon Realm itself—its true target had been Wilhelm.

At that instant, Serengeti used her transcendence to swap positions.

A power gained through transcendence overrode everything.

She lived—but lost everything below her waist.

“Cough!”

Serengeti spat blood.

She was dying.

With trembling fingers she reached the Knight King.

“Wilhelm, most noble and glorious of kings… If we succeed in this campaign, please protect Hudson. And please deliver this… and my message. Tell him I’m sorry I went first… and that I truly loved him.”

She handed him the necklace.

But Wilhelm shook his head.

“Such cringe-inducing words—you can deliver them yourself.”

He immediately poured a top-grade elixir onto her severed torso.

Then he placed a talisman on her chest.

Serengeti’s eyes widened in shock.

“W-why give something like this to someone like m-me…?!”

“I can’t use it anymore anyway.”

The **Supreme Ward Talisman — Extreme Annihilation Formation**.

A talisman that rendered its bearer invisible to monsters, creating a sanctuary.

Useless against transcendent monsters, but even they could not kill someone protected by this *specific* talisman.

It had been reforged countless times, far beyond its original grade.

But now, he no longer needed it.

Because—

“Watch from here. Watch me kill him.”

…The Demon King stood before him.

GROOOOOO!

The Demon King’s core cracked. The *Path of Light* embedded in it shredded its miasma mercilessly.

Victory. They had won.

The long campaign into the Demon Realm had finally come to an end.

But only for a moment.

*What…?*

Serengeti doubted her eyes.

As the core shattered and the Demon King died—

ZZZAAAAaaaAAAK!

The exploding core unleashed a devouring miasma that bound Wilhelm.

And then—

“You monstrous human. To think you pushed me this far without even a single divine concession from your goddess.”

…the Demon King’s shadow began moving of its own will.

Time slowed.

The world around them seemed to freeze.

The shadow looked at its ruined body and clicked its tongue.

It was in tatters. With its core destroyed, resurrection was impossible.

“But that was your fatal mistake.”

His flesh had died, but his essence had not.

Only complete divine authority—*the goddess’s concessions*—could erase him.

The human who butchered his body was indeed a peerless hero, but lacked the goddess’s full power.

And so the demon king’s form began to change.

Sssssss.

The shadow seeped into Wilhelm.

If it fully invaded and devoured him, it would resurrect using his body.

This was the Demon King’s final authority.

*Truly… an extraordinary vessel.*

A body transcended through devouring five stars was beyond imagination.

Its very nature surpassed humanity, reaching the realm of a demigod.

“…Hm?”

SuuAAAAA!

Light burst from Wilhelm’s body.

Above his head appeared the afterimage of a goddess.

“Leah…!”

The shadow recoiled violently.

It drove away the goddess’s light—but lost the most important thing in the process.

“You steal the life of a knight who followed you only to keep his ‘star’? And still dare call yourself a goddess?!”

The goddess had forcibly taken Wilhelm’s life to reclaim the star.

Because of that, the Demon King failed to fully dominate his body.

When the light faded, Wilhelm lay pale and dead.

—

—

 

“…That is the last memory I have.”

“…”

“But… what emerged after that… was like pure evil itself…”

Thump!

KWAaaAANG!

At that moment—

Ground shook violently as explosions echoed.

Hudson shouted from outside the door:

“M-monster wave! The city is under attack!”

 

 

 

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