I Became the 101st Hero – Chapter 14

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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: Wjin
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“I’m not entirely sure of the cause myself.”

I found myself sitting in a stark white room.

A doctor sat before me, my mother beside me.

“This is your son’s leg.”

The doctor gestured towards an image on a screen, an MRI scan of my leg.

White bones, intricately intertwined with muscles and blood vessels.

While I couldn’t make much sense of it, the doctor assured us there was nothing physically wrong.

“But then why can’t he stand?” my mother pressed, her voice sharp with worry.

“Well…”

The doctor hesitated, glancing at me.

Perhaps he had noticed.

That my legs were indeed perfectly fine.

“It could be psychological. I recommend seeking therapy.”

His words were a thinly veiled diagnosis.

I simply kept my head bowed.

Back then… I just didn’t want to run anymore.

The thought of running filled me with dread.

The pressure to perform, to win, every time I competed.

And the repeated failures.

It wasn’t that I was never in contention.

But I always choked, always falling short right before the finish line.

I kept telling myself I’d do better next time, clinging to that hope.

But when the time came, the result was always the same.

Even so, I kept running, pushing myself.

Exhausted, burnt out.

The future seemed bleak, mirroring the disappointments of the past.

All that remained was the faint, flickering hope that maybe, just maybe, I could win next time.

That’s when they suggested switching to long-distance running.

Looking back, it wasn’t a bad proposition.

But to me, at the time, it felt different.

After receiving that suggestion, I finally took a good look around me.

The weight of my family’s expectations, the uncertainty of my future…it all crashed down on me.

To make matters worse, my first long-distance race was a disaster.

The coach reassured me it was just my first time, but I was already beaten down by my failures in short-distance.

Fear gnawed at me. Was there even an end to this endless cycle of disappointment?

And so, I gave up.

Lost all motivation. Told myself I’d take a week off.

That one week turned into a month. Then months turned into…this.

Remember now? What kind of person you were?

I remembered.

No, I never truly forgot.

I was a coward, a pathetic excuse for a human being who chose to give up when faced with an uncertain future.

So give up then. Just like you always do.

I didn’t reply.

Instead, I looked at my mother, her shoulders shaking with silent sobs.

Guilt twisted in my gut, keeping my head bowed.

Are you ignoring me now? Or have you already given…

‘Shut up.’

Huh?

‘Yeah, I gave up. I was a coward. But that doesn’t mean I should give up now.’

The voice was trying to use my deepest insecurities against me.

But it had misunderstood one crucial thing: why those memories haunted me so much.

‘I always regretted it. Not getting back up. Every single day, the thought of what could have been…it drove me crazy.’

I picked up my phone, ignoring the messages, and unlocked the screen.

The familiar sight of Hundred Braves greeted me.

Allen, slumped on the desert sand, facing those wolves.

‘Raising Allen…it was a way for me to prove something to myself. He was a character with no guarantee of success. I wanted to see how far I could go, if I just refused to give up.’

(…)

My silence seemed to displease the voice.

Without another word, the scenery shifted once more.

This time, I found myself on a sidewalk, cars whizzing by.

‘If only I hadn’t given up back then. If I had at least tried…could I have achieved something? I wanted to see that through Allen.’

A blaring horn jolted me back to the present.

A wave of nausea washed over me as I recognized the scene unfolding before me.

‘Because I was already beyond saving.’

A car, running a red light, was barreling towards me, towards the wheelchair I was trapped in.

And in that moment, a stupid thought had crossed my mind.

If I’m hit by that car… I won’t have to run anymore, will I?

And because of that thought, I’d hesitated for a fraction of a second too long.

That was the day I lost the use of my legs.

The day I lost the ability to even attempt to stand again.

What if I hadn’t given up on walking?

The chance to prove it to myself was gone, ripped away in a moment of despair.

‘That’s why I have to prove it.’

Through Allen Blake.

It was the only way this pathetic version of myself knew how.

I thought you were going to crumble. It seems I misjudged you.

The car was getting closer, a blur of metal and speed.

I didn’t have time to hesitate.

Nor did I have a reason to.

‘Just standing up…’

I pushed myself, trying to will strength into my legs.

Muscles, weakened from years of atrophy, screamed in protest.

But it didn’t matter. Even if I couldn’t run, even if I could barely walk…

Just standing up was enough.

‘It’s such a simple act.’

Yet, I was a fool who couldn’t even manage that.

But I refused to make the same mistake twice.

With a surge of adrenaline, I pushed myself out of the wheelchair.

The screech of tires, the sickening crunch of metal as the car clipped the wheelchair, sending it spinning away in a shower of sparks…

And then, reality shattered.

‘Get up, you idiot!’

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I was back.

It felt like waking from a long, torturous dream.

I didn’t even need Absolute Obedience.

Allen’s body still had some fight left in it, and in the end, that’s all that mattered.

My will to keep going.

I scrambled to my feet.

Reaching into my inventory, I drew the sword, gripping it tightly.

The relic Gwen had entrusted to me.

With a roar, I swung the blade, slashing at the nearest wolf.

I could have aimed for a killing blow, but I didn’t.

Not with this many opponents.

‘No need to kill them. Just drive them back.’

My mind, laser-focused, cut through the panic.

My body might be exhausted, but my mind was ice-cold.

Fight like the character, think like the player.

And right now, that meant utilizing the relic to its fullest potential.

I reversed my grip on the sword, raising it high above my head.

“Gravitas Replicant…!”

The name left my lips, a prayer and a command.

I felt a resonance, a connection between the sword and the Stigma on my arm.

Activation successful.

Now, to unleash its power.

‘Unleash your weight. Maximum output.’

The air around the blade shimmered, distorted.

I could barely hold onto the sword as its weight increased exponentially.

With a grunt, I slammed the blade into the sand.

BOOOOM!

A deafening roar ripped through the air.

A shock wave, like a physical force, slammed into me, throwing me off balance.

Sand erupted around me, a geyser of dust and fury.

I clung to the sword, barely managing to stay upright.

“Ugh!”

As the dust settled, the echoes of the impact still rang in my ears.

And then, I heard them.

The panicked whimpers of the wolves.

‘Good. Now get lost.’

The sand settled, revealing the aftermath.

A massive crater, a perfect hemisphere carved into the desert floor.

The wolves were gone, vanished without a trace.

“Ha…ha…”

I collapsed to my knees, gasping for breath.

‘Just a moment…to rest…’

It had been a short, brutal fight.

But my stamina was already depleted, my body pushed to its limits.

I needed a moment to catch my breath.

As I sat there, my gaze drifted towards the horizon.

‘I must have crossed at least a hundred of these dunes…’

Which meant the one looming in the distance was number one hundred and one.

And yet, here I was, ready to give up without even trying.

Imposing limitations on myself, when I had no idea what lay beyond.

‘I don’t even know what’s on the other side…’

I would go.

As far as my body would carry me.

There was no need to fear a limit I hadn’t even reached.

‘But first…’

I looked down at the sword in my hand.

‘Item Information.’

The familiar blue screen materialized before my eyes, displaying the relic’s information.

‘Powerful…’

I had chosen this relic for its weight manipulation, thinking it would be useful even after I improved my low Strength.

Of course, I knew gravity manipulation wasn’t limited to simply increasing or decreasing weight, but I never imagined…

‘This is what they call “limited”?’

And this was just a 2-star replica.

The thought of the original Gravitas, capable of manipulating gravity in a wide area, not just the blade itself…

The destructive potential was staggering.

‘This is a relic…’

No wonder the game lore mentioned heroes wielding 4-star relics capable of splitting mountains in half. It wasn’t just hyperbole.

It was a shame this relic wasn’t mine to keep.

I had to return it to Gwen after the trial.

Lest I want to end up like those bandits I’d encountered earlier.

The image of Gwen, her expression cold and resolute as she vaporized blood from her sword, flashed in my mind.

‘But first, I need to complete this trial.’

I still didn’t know where the desert ended.

Or if it even had an end. Perhaps there was no end at all.

But one thing was certain: I would not give up. Not anymore.

‘Time to get going.’

And that’s when it happened.

The world around me darkened.

‘What?’

I looked up at the sky.

A single raindrop splattered against my cheek.

Just as I wondered if it was my imagination, more raindrops began to fall.

‘It’s raining!’

I quickly pulled out my water flask.

Thirst had been a constant concern, so this was a godsend.

‘But how do I collect this?’

I needed something, anything, to act as a funnel.

As I frantically scanned my surroundings…

‘It’s coming down pretty hard.’

The rain intensified, transforming from a drizzle into a downpour within seconds.

And then, to my astonishment, the water began to pool.

The sand seemed to vanish, swallowed by the rapidly rising water. Panicking, I tried to scramble to higher ground, but it was too late. The water was already knee-deep, then waist-deep…

The familiar feeling of being pulled under, dragged down…

It was just like when I first jumped into that lake.

And then, everything went dark.

“Gasp…ha…”

I coughed, sputtering, struggling to make sense of my surroundings.

All I could see was a tree.

No, “tree” didn’t even begin to describe the sheer scale of what towered before me.

It was like someone had plucked the Burj Khalifa from Dubai and planted it here in this strange, alien world.

“What…what is this?”

The words escaped my lips, a whisper lost in the immensity of it all.

Well, well. Could you at least try to sound a little more impressed?

The voice, oddly familiar, sent chills down my spine.

[Congratulations, by the way. You’ve passed the trial.]

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