Chapter 411: Episode 78 – Climax/轉 (3)
During her adventures on the ‘Isle of Reincarnators’, Jang Ha-Yeong utilised the [Unidentifiable Wall] several times; she used its first-stage function, [Chat System], to engage Constellations in conversation.
– Demon King of Salvation-nim.
– ....Why are you calling me like that?
From a certain moment on, she even got to talk to Kim Dok-Ja as if nothing had happened, too.
For a while there, she oh-so-wanted to deny that ‘Demon King of Salvation = Kim Dok-Ja’ and ended up having a mental breakdown, but she had no choice but to come to terms with it now.
The ‘Demon King of Salvation’ Jang Ha-Yeong liked so much happened to be Kim Dok-Ja, and the dimwit Kim Dok-Ja was none other than the ‘Demon King of Salvation’. She barely managed to accept that fact now. Of course, she hadn’t 100% accepted it, though.
– I was talking to ‘Demon King of Salvation’-nim. So, Kim Dok-Ja should keep his mouth shut.
– ......
– It can’t be helped, then. Don’t say anything unnecessary, and just gimme the answers I want.
– ....What kind of answers are they?
Now that he openly asked her that, the sorrow she’d been suppressing until now exploded onto the surface.
– Why don’t you want me to join the ‘Kim Dok-Ja Company’?
She always wanted to ask him that question. She watched her comrades use ‘Context of Constellation’ and get to the next scenario, and was left behind along with the teachers at the rear of the scenario. She did want to go with them. She thought that it’d been nice if she could become one of those shining stars, too.
Is it because I lack the qualifications?
Maybe, it’s because I haven’t been with Kim Dok-Ja from the beginning of the scenarios.
Jang Ha-Yeong remembered the times they shared during the revolution of the Demon World as well as the Demon King Selection fights. For the first time in her life, she experienced bliss during those moments, and now, they had become an indelible part of her.
And that was why, she thought that she too had become Kim Dok-Ja’s comrade now. But, maybe, she was simply deluding herself.
– I’d like you to live a free life.
Jang Ha-Yeong’s anger suddenly bubbled up after hearing his reply. She wanted to shout back and ask, what kind of bullshit was that after they had come this far. But then....
– Forcibly being transferred to another dimension and living in the Demon World, neither of those were your choices, right?
She couldn’t argue with that. As if her breathing had come to a standstill, all she could do now was to read the incoming messages.
– Ha-Yeong-ah, please live the life you want.
Those words were coming from the ‘Demon King of Salvation’. Words of a high and mighty Constellation, who was addicted to the Fable of saving someone and periodically disregarded his own life.
That was why these words were not from Jang Ha-Yeong’s friend, ‘Kim Dok-Ja’.
⸢His voice can’t be heard anymore.⸥
The ‘Unidentifiable Wall’ spoke to her. Even with the wall that allowed her to talk to any being in this world in an instant, she couldn’t hear Kim Dok-Ja’s voice.
He resolutely remained as the ‘Demon King of Salvation’, just like what she asked of him.
“Come on now. What do you want from me when you say stuff like that?”
That was why... she wanted to hear Kim Dok-Ja’s voice.
[‘Unidentifiable Wall’, is bearing its own name!]
That was why, Jang Ha-Yeong was standing in this place.
[‘Unidentifiable Wall’ is evolving into the ‘Wall of Impossible Communication’!]
[2nd stage functionality of ‘Wall of Impossible Communication’ is now available!]
She unlocked the power of her new wall, persuaded all the Constellations that could aide <Kim Dok-Ja Company>, and brought them to this place.
All for the sake of the life she wanted to live, and not for anyone else.
Tsu-chuchuchut!!
The stupefied faces of the <Kim Dok-Ja Company> members could be seen looking back at her. Jang Ha-Yeong shouted out, as the sensation of the Status filling her head made her consciousness dimmer and dimmer. “All of you, wake up and get a move on! I can’t stay like this for long!”
She shouted, her mind submerging deeper and deeper. The presence of a Constellation was taking over her entire Incarnation Body.
[‘Wall of Impossible Communication’ is currently activating ‘Impossible Longing Lv.1’!]
The ‘Impossible Longing’ – an ability of the ‘Wall of Impossible Communication’ that allowed Jang Ha-Yeong to form a temporary ‘Sponsorship Contract’ with a Constellation, even though she had no sponsor backing.
[Constellation, ‘Prisoner of the Golden Headband’, is looking at his Incarnation Body.]
The ‘Prisoner of the Golden Headband’ – the Great Sage, Heaven’s Equal, Sun Wukong. According to Kim Dok-Ja, one of the greatest Constellations in the <Star Stream> itself.
That great and noble Constellation scanned the world with his aloof, arrogant eyes, and spoke in a lofty tone of voice. [Now that I’m here, it’s kind of annoying.]
Jang Ha-Yeong became dumbfounded by that and yelled out.
“Ah?! But, you said you’d help! And I even listened to your personal troubles, too! So, hurry up! Please!”
From her perspective, she couldn’t help but be flabbergasted by this situation, but it wasn’t as if she couldn’t understand why the Great Sage, Heaven’s Equal said that. For some reason, his condition after incarnating into her body felt strange.
Ju-jujujut....
It was as if several different beings temporarily had become ‘one’ creature, and his status felt unstable as a result. That ‘annoyance’ he talked about might have something to do with that condition. However, that was his problem, not hers.
“If you don’t keep your promise, then your hair will.....”
[I’m doing it! Look, I’m doing it!]
Sun Wukong replied in a voice full of dissatisfaction and grasped the Ruyi Bang. The Status leaking out from his body caused several Constellations to display their interest.
[Great Sage, it’ll be a suicide trying to send them back. Even if it’s you....]
[And who you might be?]
[....I’m Cheok Jun-Gyeong.]
As if to resist the Great Sage’s Status, Cheok Jun-Gyeong opened his chest wide. The former wordlessly studied the emotions etched in the latter’s eyes, before throwing a question out. [Hey, you. Do you know who this Master Sun is, then?]
Cheok Jun-Gyeong needed a moment or two before realising that this ‘Master Sun’ was the way the Great Sage, Heaven’s Equal referred to himself as.
[I’m well aware that you used to be a famous Constellation in the past. Even then....]
[Well, yeah, sure. It’s been way too long since this great me did something in a scenario, hasn’t it?]
Sun Wukong yawned disinterestedly and after shrinking the size of the Ruyi Bang, he began digging his ear. Cheok Jun-Gyeong was about to blow his top from that arrogance, but then...
[Constellation, ‘Prisoner of the Golden Headband’, is unleashing his Status!]
Not just Cheok Jun-Gyeong, but the Incarnation Bodies of other Constellations near him were blown away in the air. His eyes opened wide in shock after sensing the powerful presence that could make other Constellations shrink away by simply releasing its Status.
[Look, the sparks...!]
One of the suffering Constellations cried out in pain. Jung Ha-Yeong’s body with the Great Sage incarnated into it was now completely enveloped with an insane amount of sparks. It was not an odd thing to see Probability’s sparks appear when Constellations unleash their Statuses.
The actual problem here was the fact that this area was currently going through the 89th scenario. In an area that could deal with most types of Probability, such a blinding show of sparks taking place meant....
[Now, look.]
The sides of the Eight Trigram, the Bagua, began spreading on all four cardinal directions of the Great Sage, Heaven’s Equal.
Geon (乾, Heaven/Firmament), Tae (兌, Lake/Marsh), Yee (離, Heart of Fire), Jin (震, Thunder), Son (巽, Wind), Gam (坎, Water), Gan (艮, Mountain), Gon (坤, Ground/Earth).
Those letters energetically spun around his Ruyi Jingu Bang (如意金箍棒) and emitted swirling golden light rays. The clones of the ‘Indescribable Distance’ detected that vigorous aura and began flooding towards him.
Tsu-chuchuchuchut!
The Probability’s sparks were the precursor to the approaching storm of aftermaths. As if they were pouncing on a tasty prey, the clones of the ‘Indescribable Distance’ opened their maws all at once towards the Great Sage. There were a total of five, six of them.
Never mind Fable-grade Constellations, even a Myth-grade would find it difficult to deal with this many.
However, the Great Sage didn’t back down.
The moment those vast fogs of darkness enveloped him, his entire figure suddenly lit up in the brightest golden rays of light. And then, his Ruyi Jingu Bang began piercing through the open-mawed fogs along with the vicious whirlwind.
Ku-dudududu...!
Not once did the ‘Indescribable Distance’ get damaged after getting struck by a lone Star Relic until now. But then, the spinning wheels created by the Ruyi Jingu Bang increased in number to hundreds in an instant and began pounding on the clones, and quite shockingly, horrifying screeches resounded out from the fogs.
Gu-rurururuk....!!
On top of that, one of the clones even tried to dodge the Ruyi Jingu Bang.
Every Constellation in the battlefield couldn’t take their eyes off from the Great Sage’s Status as he dyed the sky in a spectacular shower of light and fought against the ‘Indescribable Distance’.
That included Dionysus, Surya, and Cheok Jun-Gyeong.
[It’s a technique of ‘Chaos’.]
Hades immediately and accurately read the seditious power permeating within the Ruyi Jingu Bang held by the Great Sage. That power was neither ‘Good’ nor ‘Evil’.
It was a distinct Taoist technique that only the Great Sage, who had compiled unique Fables for himself, could use.
The Mei Houwang. (獼猴王, Handsome Monkey King)
The Great Sage, Heaven’s Equal. (齊天大聖)
The Victorious Fighting Buddha. (鬪戰勝佛)
The ‘Prisoner of the Golden Headband’, Sun Wukong, who continued to exist under many different names, was fighting now.
And he was engaged in a one-versus-many battle against the calamities of the void, something that even Cheok Jun-Gyeong could only barely defeat by giving his all.
As if they didn’t want to lose to him, two Constellations decided to pitch in right then.
[Constellation, ‘Demon-like Judge of Fire’, is wringing out all of her true powers!]
[Constellation, ‘Abyssal Black Flame Dragon’, is roaring out as if he doesn’t want to lose!]
These two’s Statuses were being overlaid on top of the Great Sage’s. The [Black Flame] from the Dragon and Uriel’s [Hellfire] were combined into one and caused the Riyu Jingu Bang to grow to an abnormal size.
[Fable forgotten under a lengthy period of time has begun its storytelling.]
⸢And so, stars of Good, Evil, and Neutral have gathered in one place.⸥
Three kinds of Statuses were combined to cause an explosion of a blinding flash.
Go-ooooooh!
The Riyu Jingu Bang, now boasting tremendous girth, slammed into the sky. The heaven and earth rocked violently, and the enormous shockwave distorted time and space itself.
By the time the screaming Constellations opened their eyes again, a huge hole had opened up in the sky once covered in the fog of darkness.
The Great Sage spoke. [Now, go.]
Three people didn’t miss that opening and made their move. Yu Jung-Hyeok used [Air Steps] to run in the air, Han Su-Yeong rode on the shadow clone of the Black Flame Dragon while Jeong Hui-Won borrowed the wings of the Archangel to shoot up vertically.
All three of them penetrated past the fog of darkness and breached the boundary of the sky in an instant.
The moment they escaped the atmosphere, though, their movements dulled rapidly. The cosmic space created by the clashes between the ‘Indescribable Distance’ and the ‘Final Dragon of the Book of Revelation’ was filled up with an astonishing amount of Fables chaotically swirling around.
“Keuph.....”
Blood trickled out from the corner of Han Su-Yeong’s lips at the unbelievable density of Fables. Just sensing their presence alone was so painful that her body felt like it’d crumble away.
Kim Dok-Ja was somewhere in this space. Not too long afterwards, they located his trace, scattered around like bread crumbs.
⸢Only by doing this will I be able to earn the proper Climax.⸥
A broken fragment of Kim Dok-Ja was floating aimlessly in the empty space. Jeong Hui-Won was the first one to reach out; as if she was catching a very small and fragile bird, she cautiously brought that fragment into her bosom.
Was she mistaken in thinking that she saw the distant world Kim Dok-Ja wanted to reach just beyond the full stop of that sentence?
After catching that sentence, and then, another one.... Just like crossing a monkey bar, by continuously moving one step at a time, they would arrive at the end of this trail.
Han Su-Yeong spoke. “I guess you’re also a Constellation now, Kim Dok-Ja.”
All Constellations were addicted to Fables, and in order to reach that single Fable they pursued after, they indulged themselves on every other type of Fable available.
And that was why they didn’t have a true substitute of themselves. Because, they had to create all Fables by their own hands in the end.
⸢My companions will acquire a Fable that should allow them to oppose any Nebula out there.⸥
Even if that Fable was meant for other people.
“God damn it, since when did I ask you for this kind of story??”
The clones of the ‘Indescribable Distance’ discovered the trio and rushed towards their location.
Han Su-Yeong shot [Black Flame] out from her hand, while Jeong Hui-Won’s [Sword of Judgement] activated [Hellfire]; Yu Jung-Hyeok’s [Breaking the Sky Swordsmanship] sliced through the space and opened up the path for them.
Normally, they shouldn’t have been able to fight against this calamity. The only reason why they could was because of the star existing at the end of that path.
[Constellation, ‘Demon King of Salvation’, is still activating Stigma, ‘Sacrificial Will Lv.9’!]
The ‘Sacrificial Will’ – a deadly Stigma that raised the combat capabilities of one’s companions by risking one’s life.
After being strengthened by that starlight, Yu Jung-Hyeok swung his sword, Jeong Hui-Won unleashed more Hellfire, and Han Su-Yeong continued to punch over and over again.
And eventually, they began sensing the faint presence of Kim Dok-Ja. Like the breathing of a dying man, his weakened Fables were telling them of his current location.
Tsu-chuchuchut....!
Suddenly, Uriel’s and the Black Flame Dragon’s Status began dwindling rapidly. They had finally reached their limit, in other words.
[Constellation, ‘Demon-like Judge of Fire’ is issuing a warning!]
[Constellation, ‘Abyssal Black Flame Dragon’, says that he needs to use the bathroom and it’ll be harder to use his powers....]
They finally spotted a pale, faint star on the far side of the thick fog of darkness. Yu Jung-Hyeok and Han Su-Yeong both saw it. It felt so desperately within reach, if only they could extend their hands out.
Unfortunately, the path to that star was fraught with much danger. The number of clones rushing in continued to grow, and the pressure of the Statuses surrounding them was getting heavier quite quickly.
All three no longer had much magical energy left in them as they had been flying like a one-way rocket with total disregard for fuel preservation.
Ku-gugugugu!
The distance towards the clones was getting shorter and shorter.
If all three of them marched forward by breaking through all these clones, then never mind saving Kim Dok-Ja, they wouldn’t be able to return at all.
However, what if they focused the remaining magical energy into only one person?
“....There’s only one way.”
All three of them stared at each other at the same time. They couldn’t rescue Kim Dok-Ja together.
Which meant that only one among them could reach that star.
<Episode 78. Climax (3)> Fin.