Chapter 707 - Earth (3)
‘Sergeant Cha…?’ Brigadier General Woo Ji-hoon was certain that the person he saw in front of him was the person he had just been thinking about. The person in question was too far away for Ji-hoon to be sure, but somehow, Ji-hoon had a gut feeling that it was Cain.
Unfortunately, the person suddenly disappeared just as quickly as he had appeared. Moreover, Ji-hoon was left with an image of someone being carried in that person’s arms… However, Brigadier General Woo Ji-hoon’s thoughts did not last long.
Sss!
[Brigadier General! What are your orders…! There’s always a shockwave hazard once a break happens…!]
Due to the magic pulse-field that spread out from the gate break, the radio transmission line was filled with background static, so much so that Ji-hoon had no idea what was being said on the radio transmission line.
Brigadier General Woo Ji-hoon soon regained his senses.
The destructiveness and disruption of a gate break were not only confined to the explosion that occurred when a gate broke. The Monster Wave, a tremendous magic and physical power shockwave, that followed was the largest problem.
However, Brigadier General Woo Ji-hoon was unable to give out any orders to his troops. This was because a roar and explosion came down from the sky. Rumble!
Ji-hoon murmured to himself as he watched the black and red lightning bolts and yellow flashes spread across the sky. “W-Why are divine beings…?”
And around that time… All players present, including the Spiral Band, received a common message.
[Warning! Immediately evacuate from your positions!]
[Warning! Beings whose powers are impossible to measure have descended. The system strongly advises you to evacuate!]
[Warning! Escape from your current planet. If you remain, your life cannot be guaranteed!]
***
The happiest moment for players on Earth was when they were offered an Apostle position from a god or demon. If chosen by a being with superpowers, even an F-class player with little to no talent and growth potential would have his or her fate change overnight. Players would not only be able to receive powerful skills that they could never have dreamt of previously, but they could also gain seemingly absolute power as the leader amongst the followers of their god or demon.
However, aside from those positives, the moment that players feared and dreaded the most was meeting gods and demons ‘directly’. Gods were arrogant beings. Demons were eccentric. Both of their natures could not be judged by human standards. That was why apostle-designated players only hoped to receive occasional revelations and oracles from their god or demon.
Apostle-designated players were reluctant to have their gods or demons descend for any type of meeting, because the players had no idea what their gods and demons were thinking. If a god or demon were ever to get upset for whatever reason, the player’s life would be seen as something as insignificant as a fly. Essentially, the players were worthless in the eyes of the gods and demons.
So, when the rare news of the appearance of a god or demon within a gate was heard, the players usually left those gates as an unclosing gate. It might be the god or demon’s holy territory, and even if it was just a god or demon who happened to go out on a stroll, there was nothing good that could come out from a player meeting a god or demon face-to-face.
When the aurora of the ‘Swamp of the Faraway Beginning’ was judged to have an unprecedented black-darkness color, this was a major point of concern. The gate break and Monster Wave were also a problem, but many wondered if there was perhaps a demon within the gate. Since there were gates that specifically stated the nonsensical task of defeating a sealed demon, the players had no choice but to interpret the black-darkness aurora of this gate as such. And, in this case, that expectation became a reality.
“Y-You can’t measure it?”
“What is this…!”
“Wait, did an ‘Untouchable’ appear?”
On the other hand, the players at the site and the ‘Unified Safety Command Division’, which was monitoring the site with various advanced equipment in preparation for a gate break, were also thrown into disarray.
This was because of the consecutive warning messages that emerged as a notice to all players. Whatever thing that had appeared was impossible to measure, meaning an Untouchable had appeared. Of course, to humans, all gods and demons were ‘Untouchable’ beings, but among them, those who were at the top were classified separately.
Supreme Gods were beings who enjoyed independence, as they were not affiliated with any heavenly societies. Precisely, these beings possessed the power to turn the Earth back into a protoplanet or particles of dust. For example, representatively, there were Supreme Gods such as Cernunnos, Vimalacitra, Agares, and Hermes.
“Damn it! South America was ravaged due to Vimalacitra’s ‘playful’ activities, so the level of destruction here will be immense…!”
“How the hell did these guys appear all at once?”
“Ah! Goodness! Are they planning to inflict other hardships on us humans on top of those damned gates?”
Not one but two Untouchables appeared at once, so naturally, the Unified Safety Command Division members had no choice but to fall into a state of panic. And the UN Security Administration, which was intently following the developments in Korea with concern due to the black-darkness aurora, overheard this breaking news and issued an emergency alert. China, Japan, and Russia, as well as other Southeast Asian countries and the United States across the Pacific, issued military alerts in preparation for fallout events.
“Hurry! Find out the identities of those two beings, from the divine beings’ names to the societies they belong to! Right now!"
“Another u-urgent message has just arrived!”
“What else?”
“The message reads that Kill King and Big Mountain’s attack squads, who were presumed to be dead, have all been found unharmed!”
“What? You’re saying they survived that explosion?”
“We are checking the validity of this news as it comes in!”
“If there are survivors, this is something that cannot be overlooked. Don’t pass on information to the other intelligence agencies until we can check the status of the survivors! Hurry!”
While the intelligence agencies of each country were busy moving to accurately determine the identity of the two beings that suddenly appeared…
Rumble, Rumble, Rumble! The clash between Yeon-woo and Zeus was reaching its climax.
‘This is a little inconvenient.’ Yeon-woo frowned slightly as if he did not like how things were progressing. He was sickened by Kim Bum-seung/Zeus, who was smiling triumphantly from a distance.
Of course, Yeon-woo could easily tear Zeus apart if he wished. As long as Zeus did not directly descend, Yeon-woo wouldn’t face any difficulties with eliminating the figure in front of him. More precisely, even if Yeon-woo were to fight the real Zeus, who now possessed two Soulstones, Yeon-woo was confident that he could defeat Zeus easily.
For a moment, Yeon-woo thought he should find the real Zeus, break his leg, and throw him in front of his father, who whined and sulked every time he saw Zeus. However, the problem was that Zeus had to be ‘captured’.
‘If I just rip his head off, father will feel depressed. In addition, I have to find out what Yvlke has been up to.’
With Harmonia dead, the only opponent that Yeon-woo had left was Yvlke. The problem was that Yeon-woo had no idea what Yvlke’s purpose and inclinations were.
There was only one way to gain some clues and figure out where Yvlke was, and that was through Zeus. So, in one way or another, Yeon-woo had to capture Zeus alive. Though it was not important if all Zeus’ limbs were cut off, Yeon-woo had to make sure that Zeus’ mouth was operational enough to speak. The problem was that Zeus was not the kind of being who could be captured so easily.
Of course, Yeon-woo could just ignore all the restrictions, kill Zeus, and use Summon of the Dead, but, there was another issue. ‘This isn’t a stage.’
Even if a stage within the Tower was destroyed, there was always backed-up data in the Tower’s system to recreate the stage, so a stage could be restored at any time. Hence, when Yeon-woo was in the Tower, he did not pay much attention to the havoc he created and just ran wildly, but Earth was a completely different story.
What would happen if Yeon-woo released his true power here? Everything would cease to exist. Thus, at the moment, Yeon-woo was a little sensitive. Moreover, all the activities that were already taking place on Earth, the activities of all living things, including humans, were all transmitted to him as cognitive information in real-time.
It was clear that the commotion caused by Yeon-woo’s appearance was already troublesome, and if a couple of countries were to be blown away by mistake, his sudden appearance would not end as just a nuisance. And if Yeon-woo went a bit too far, Earth itself could turn to dust. Of course, Yeon-woo did not have any special feelings for Earth. Even so, Earth was still his hometown.
‘Furthermore, it’s also the place where R’lyeh is buried. I’m not sure what will happen if I instigate it unknowingly.’
Seeing Zeus as soon as he awakened was annoying, but Yeon-woo felt further annoyed by the steps Zeus took to fan the flame.
Zeus was well aware of Yeon-woo’s thoughts and concerns.『If you keep trying to kill me like this, you’ll blow up this entire place. Are you fine with that? I heard that this is where father fled to long ago. It’s also your hometown, no?』 Zeus’ smiling face made everything worse for Yeon-woo.
“Did you say this was a gate?”
“Huh? Yeah.”
On the other hand, Sesha, who was in Yeon-woo’s arms, looked up at Yeon-woo in a daze. From bursting the gate so easily to climbing up high into the stratosphere to fight a fierce battle, Sesha was thoroughly stunned. She realized that the position her uncle occupied was beyond her comprehension. Because of her relationship with Cha Jeong-woo, Sesha had always been in close contact with transcendental beings. However, none of them could compare to Yeon-woo.
When Yeon-woo suddenly asked about the gate, Sesha finally came to her senses and nodded.
Gate was a new phenomenon that occurred after Yeon-woo fell asleep, so of course, Yeon-woo would have a lot of questions about it.
However, Sesha did not understand why Yeon-woo was asking such a question in the middle of his fight. Still, she did understand that it must have been a critical piece of information to deal with Zeus…
“Why is it so weak?”
“…huh?”
“The durability of the gate is terrible. I just gave a simple Sword Thunder strike… I didn’t think the entire dungeon and gate would explode so easily.”
“…”
“Is this normal? Or was it just this case?”
“…” At that moment, Sesha had a million questions she wanted to ask Yeon-woo. The place that her uncle just smashed up was one of the unclosing gates, boasting a level of difficulty that no one had been able to beat for the past ten years. Normally, various societies would go in and never be able to ever come out.
Based on Yeon-woo’s words, it seemed that he was just trying to catch Zeus in the dungeon… Yeon-woo seemed to be taken off guard that the dungeon had crumbled so easily. He muttered, “If it’s originally that weak, how the hell can other humans work there? If I do anything inside a gate, won’t it just break?”
Sesha could not offer an answer. Yeon-woo was serious, saying, “Things can’t continue like this. I’ll have to figure out another way.”
“Huh? What are you going to do…?” Sesha looked at Yeon-woo with concern in her eyes. What was her uncle planning to do? Yeon-woo was an uncle who always did extraordinary things, so Sesha had no choice but to worry. But before Sesha could say anything…
“Darken,” Yeon-woo muttered something in a low voice, and Sesha shot up straight as she felt a chill run down her spine. With her draconic eyes still open, Sesha’s blurred vision could only make out distortions in the space.
The world, the laws of nature, the truth… Everything was changing. The dark matter that filled most of the universe came down and covered the entire Earth. As if a curtain came down to hide the stage, all the activities and phenomena that took place on Earth were hidden behind a dark matter shield. Earth was locked into a ‘dream’, and it disappeared as if it had never existed. Instead, there was only Yeon-woo, Sesha, and Zeus.
『You’re placing a ‘dream’ atop reality…?』 Zeus, who had been using Earth as an intimidation factor against Yeon-woo, looked bewildered.
The figure above the ‘dream’ was no longer Kim Bum-seung, whom Zeus used like a puppet. Zeus’ true body was present, a figure of the old king with long yellow curly hair hanging down like a lion’s mane.
Sesha unconsciously gulped. It was because she knew how great Yeon-woo’s actions were.
Draconic Speech was a magic-filled manner of speech used to hold coming-of-age ceremonies. It was a manner of speech that required a tremendous amount of mana and was only capable of being done by dragons who possessed the title of ‘ancient’.
No, to be more precise, no matter if Draconic Speech was used, it could not manipulate the laws of the world so freely. What Yeon-woo exhibited was something far beyond that. If this was the case, was it more accurate to say that Yeon-woo had created new laws?
Yeon-woo had created a temporary world and locked Zeus within it. And there, Yeon-woo spread his dragon wings. At that moment, Sesha saw what was behind Yeon-woo.
Above the space where Yeon-woo was standing stood a huge dark-red dragon that would make most solar systems pale in comparison. The power that Yeon-woo emanated was equally ridiculous. This Great Demonic Divine Dragon…must have been Yeon-woo’s ‘true’ body.