Chapter 1108 - 240 - 244

Chapter 240: Chapter 240

The elite Shadow Soldiers numbering over 130 thousand that managed to survive the last war under the guidance of their Sovereign erased their presence as much as possible and hid within the human's shadow.

It was a trap.

Now suddenly finding itself coming face-to-face with the Shadow Army, the Sovereign of Iron Body felt this dizzying sensation of being sucked into a quagmire.

'They got me.'

Currently, the army manning the western battlefront didn't possess enough power to face off against the Shadow Army. Not only that, the ones leading this Army of the Dead were Bellion and Igrit, so the Sovereign in charge now had to worry about its own neck, instead.

Most likely, the Shadow Army – no, the Shadow Sovereign, was aiming for this result.

'….I need to let them know.'

The Sovereign of Iron Body urgently tried to communicate with the Dragon Emperor. However, some kind of 'power' was blocking its attempts to send the word out.

'Could it be….??'

Did the Shadow Sovereign plan this far ahead?

The Sovereign of Iron Body hurriedly activated its sensory perception to locate the source of the 'power' interrupting the contact with the other side. When it did, it discovered a certain High Orc Shaman standing next to Igrit, diligently murmuring out some kind of an incantation while holding onto something small in his hand.

'….!!'

That d*mn creature's spell was disrupting all forms of communication with the other Sovereigns.

The spell from the Commander-grade Fangs, now that he had experienced a rebirth as a true Shadow Soldier, as well as borrowing the power of the Bead of Avarice, was more than strong enough to perform that role.

Grin.

Fangs blushed slightly when his gaze met that of the king he used to serve. Even then, he didn't try to stop casting his spell.

The King of Monstrous Humanoids, the Sovereign of Iron Body felt as if it was being made fun of after looking at Fangs' smile. An uncontrollable rage welled up from deep within.

[You pathetic insects dare to…!!]

No, hang on – this tactic was not something the Shadow Sovereign would have cooked up, never mind his Shadow Soldiers. Indeed, this was not how the Shadow Army conducted its business; this army used to proudly announce the approach of unavoidable death right in front of their enemies every single time.

This was….

'….A human's way of thinking.'

The current Shadow Sovereign, the human, had perverted how the war was supposed to be fought. Didn't he possess any pride as a Sovereign?!

Now thoroughly enraged, the Sovereign of Iron Body expanded its muscles. As his body ballooned up to a near-bursting size, thick veins bulged up on its various muscles.

The Sovereign of Iron Body roared out.

[That b*stard is not qualified to be called a Sovereign!]

It then arrived right in front of Fangs in less than a blink of an eye, but its path was suddenly blocked off by Beru.

Boom-!!

The former ant king grabbed both hands of the Sovereign and began a contest of pure physical strength. He glared at the enemy and growled in the language of the monsters.

[What you said just now…. Retract it. Or else, you shall pay a heavy price for the sin of insulting my liege.]

As a reply, the Sovereign of Iron Body exerted enough power to twist and yank off Beru's arms while shouting out even louder than before.

[How dare a measly little soldier try to stop a Sovereign!!]

And when that happened….

Kiiieeeehhhk-!!!

An ear-splitting screech exploded out from Beru's mouth as his entire body quickly expanded to double his previous size.

***

The Dragon Emperor saw it.

It saw the corpses of countless soldiers of the Chaos World that died during its brief period of hesitation, as well as the number of Shadow Soldiers that matched those that had fallen.

Figurative flames erupted out from the Dragon Emperor's eyes as it strode outside the Gate. The end of its glare was locked onto Jin-Woo, currently swallowing whole a portion of the Chaos World's army after becoming a literal giant storm in their midst.

The man…

'That b*stard must die!!'

The Dragon Emperor didn't even have the necessary time to transform back to its original appearance, so it hurriedly fired the Breath of Destruction, instead.

Kuwaaah-!!

A flash of light flared brightly in the distance and Jin-Woo, even though he was in a trance-like state while butchering the forces of the Chaos World, didn't miss that blink-and-miss-it moment.

'It's him!'

Jin-Woo's figure vanished from the spot. Right afterwards, all the soldiers of the Chaos World as well as the new Shadow Soldiers were exposed to the Breath and got incinerated without a trace.

Kuwaaaaaahhhh-!!!

Jin-Woo made his timely escape and settled down on a location not too far away.

Ending its Breath attack, the Dragon Emperor glared right at him. Countless Gates opened up behind it and through them, Ancient-class Dragons and Dragonewts revealed themselves.

And so, the King of Berserk Dragons, the Sovereign of Destruction, had entered the fray. What appeared now alongside it was the main portion of the Army of Destruction.

Forces capable of destroying this planet in one day had been mobilised in their entirety just to deal with the lone Shadow Sovereign. And in front of them stood the King of Kings, the Sovereign that lorded over other Sovereigns – the Dragon Emperor.

'….'

Jin-Woo had to quickly swallow back his saliva after sensing the truly vast, seemingly-limitless sea of power from the Dragon Emperor.

At once, every single Shadow Soldier still fighting against the forces of the Chaos World stopped and retreated according to his new command. Just like the army of Dragons choosing to stand behind the Dragon Emperor, the Shadow Soldiers also stood right behind Jin-Woo.

The leader of the Army of Destruction formed a mocking grin.

[Are those pathetic soldiers everything you possess?]

There were several thousand Shadow Soldiers hurriedly 'recruited' to his cause after killing the enemy forces. However, he was facing off against nearly ten million soldiers, hundreds of Dragons, and most importantly, the truly dangerous existence called the Dragon Emperor.

Of course, Jin-Woo knew full well the differences in the size of their armies. That was why he chose to enact this plan from the get-go.

"Advance!"

Jin-Woo had his Shadow Soldiers, initially brought to one location, march forward again. An expression of confusion floated up on the Dragon Emperor's face.

'He saw my soldiers, yet he wishes to confront me head-on?'

Those were the actions of an insane fool!

As if to mock the Dragon Emperor's suspicion, the Shadow Soldiers simply rushed forward towards their enemies. Dragons immediately fired powerful, vicious flames at them.

Huwaaaa-aahk!!

With that, Shadow Soldiers were enveloped in flames before disappearing away like expendables, with nary a hint of regeneration happening among them.

Almost instantly, the Dragon Emperor realised that these were simply decoys to buy time.

'Where is he….?!'

It quickly expanded its sensory perception. The Shadow Sovereign was using his shadow to escape to somewhere.

Seeing this shameful sight, the Dragon Emperor formed a mocking grin. It seemed that the human b*stard was planning to slowly shave down the forces of the Chaos World by repeating the tactics of hit-and-run, but he had made one crucial oversight, something he had failed to consider.

And that would be the fact the leader of the enemy's forces could chase after him no problem. The Dragon Emperor easily traced Jin-Woo's shadow now being connected to the western front.

��There you are!'

It'd never let him get away.

The Dragon Emperor quickly generated a Gate connected to the exact spot where Jin-Woo had fled to and jumped in without hesitation.

Just as it took the first step out of the Gate….

'...'

….It was greeted by the sight of the 130,000-strong great army surrounding it.

That wasn't all.

Jin-Woo had been waiting for the Dragon Emperor's arrival and spoke in a calm voice when it did show up.

"….Rise up."

Just one command and every single creature belonging to the Western portion of the Chaos army that were killed at the hands of the true Shadow Army rose up as new Shadow Soldiers.

The Dragon Emperor took a sweeping look at the Shadow Soldiers that now numbered well past two hundred thousand and spoke.

[Is this what you were aiming for?]

Draw your enemy to the battlefield of your choosing and establish the upper hand – since the Shadow Army was facing an overwhelmingly disadvantageous number of enemies, the current tactic could be seen as a must, but still, a mocking grin didn't want to leave the face of the Dragon Emperor.

[How laughable.]

It finally understood what the scheme of the Shadow Sovereign was. Although the process of uncovering the plot resulted in the loss of the western portion of the Chaos World's army, that was not a large cost to bare as long as the Shadow Sovereign could be killed here today.

'Even losing half of all the soldiers would not be a loss.'

'Fear' would bloom in one's heart when one couldn't predict the events of the future. But its opponent had been laid bare here.

[Oh, Shadow Sovereign.]

The Dragon Emperor chuckled and looked back at Jin-Woo.

[You must've thought that only I was capable of chasing you down, but….]

'You are wrong.'

In reality, there stood a certain Sovereign that could be seen as the greatest sorcerer in the Chaos World waiting right behind the Dragon Emperor.

Not too long afterwards, the Sovereign of Transfiguration waiting for the surprise attack from the Shadow Army created countless Gates that connected two battlefields.

Before long, a seemingly-endless number of soldiers from the Chaos World poured out before the measly two hundred thousand or so Shadow Army.

'So, how do you feel now?'

With this, your plan has been smashed to bits.

Your miscalculation will result in your death today.

The Dragon Emperor stared at Jin-Woo with a triumphant expression on its face.

[This is your defeat.]

However, Jin-Woo grinned as his reply.

He actually smiled right back at the Dragon Emperor and his satisfied expression.

'He got suckered in.'

Indeed, the Dragon Emperor had acted exactly according to his will.

The King of Berserk Dragons, of course, didn't miss that brief flash of a smile on the human's face.

'….He smiled?'

Sure enough – the summoning of the Shadow Soldiers was cancelled in an instant, and they all got sucked into the dark shade below the Shadow Sovereign's feet.

Just what was this human thinking?

Withdrawing his soldiers now was no different from trying to kill himself. If he had no soldiers to buy him time, then he'd not even be able to escape to somewhere else, either.

Even if he didn't want to lose his precious Shadow Soldiers, no one would've taken him for a fool who would expose his back to his mortal enemies while hurriedly scurrying away!

Before Jin-Woo could do something else, the Dragon Emperor closed the distance first. At the same time, the entirety of the forces of the Chaos World also pounced towards Jin-Woo's direction.

The gazes of tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands of soldiers still breathlessly emerging from the Gates were locked on Jin-Woo and Jin-Woo alone.

It was then – just as the Dragon Emperor arrived right before Jin-Woo's nose and reached out towards him…

….At that moment, Jin-Woo's eyes changed to resemble a Dragon's.

Only then did the Dragon Emperor realise that something had gone terribly awry.

[You….!!]

A moment of stillness came and went.

'…..'

From Jin-Woo's mouth, a loud and vicious roar exploded out. It was the cry from the soul that pushed every single being near him, every single being weaker than him, into a state of pure despair!

[Kuwaaaaaaahhh-]

It was the Dragon's Fear. The vilest and cruellest Skill of Dragons he learned from Kamish's Rune Stone. He hadn't been interested in it since its powers didn't differentiate allies from enemies, but now…

'But now, it's different!'

The skill that drove hundreds of elite Hunters gathered to hunt down a Dragon to the pits of hell had now been used against the Dragons, instead.

[-Aaaaaaaahhh-!!!]

Just like how Kamish had done to the human Hunters all those years ago, the Shadow Sovereign froze up all the soldiers of the Dragon Emperor, too.

There was no being alive that could break from the effects of Fear produced by the near-bottomless supply of Mana belonging to the Shadow Sovereign, save for one lone individual, and that would be the Dragon Emperor.

After making every single one of the enemy forces freeze up in an instant, Jin-Woo reached out and grabbed the Dragon Emperor's arm next.

[You b*stard…!!]

The brows of the King of Berserk Dragons crumpled.

Jin-Woo gripped the arm tighter as a grin suffused on his lips.

"You, come with me for a sec."

Chapter 241

The circular shadow spreading out from beneath Jin-Woo's feet rapidly grew large enough to swallow up the Dragon Emperor. The creature's expression hardened.

'From the beginning, had he been aiming for this….?'

From the moment he appeared in the battlefield all alone, directing the Shadow Army behind everyone's back and mopping up the western front, and finally, even drawing the Dragon Emperor to here – were all of those just for the sake of this moment?

Although this human was its enemy, the King of all Dragons couldn't help but admire the meticulousness of the Shadow Sovereign.

At first, he created a situation where it simply had to make a move, and through what looked to be a pretty obvious tactic to lower its guard, then finally, by relying on an unexpected hidden card, he eventually got what he was aiming for.

'….To think, he'd actually use Dragon Fear here.'

The Dragon Emperor formed an expression of someone suffering from a sucker punch. Jin-Woo's grip on the creature's arm tightened after witnessing that unmistakable expression.

'I did it.'

There had been no mistakes so far. A couple more steps, and then…

Soon, the shadow swallowed up both Jin-Woo and the Dragon Emperor.

The darkness blinding them quickly rescinded and they re-emerged at the pre-selected destination.

Having succeeded in his endeavour of inviting the Dragon Emperor to the true battlefield of his own choosing, Jin-Woo quickly distanced himself away from his opponent.

And now, finding itself in a location very far away from its underlings, the creature began scanning the surrounding scenery with mystified eyes.

[And this is….?]

"A place on the opposite side of the world from where your army is."

Truthfully, it was a bit incorrect to call it the exact opposite side, but regardless, that's how far they were now.

They were in Japan, a land where an enormous amount of Mana had densely permeated into its every pore after the King of Giants died.

The land and atmosphere fortified by Mana should be able to withstand much of the potential impact forces resulting from his battle against the Sovereign of Destruction.

Once a massive sea of forest, this location now resembled a barren wasteland stretching endlessly beyond the horizon, all thanks to the concerted efforts of his Shadow Soldiers cutting down the trees present here.

What particularly drew one's attention was this huge white-coloured fortress built up on the top of a hill. The Dragon Emperor pointed at it with a black flag flapping in the wind on top.

[Is that your castle?]

"….Something like that."

[For a castle of the Shadow Sovereign, its size is fairly lousy, isn't it.]

Why did Jin-Woo briefly feel apologetic to Beru all of a sudden? Of course, there was no reason to get suckered into his enemy's pace now, was there?

Jin-Woo threw out a genuine warning at the Dragon Emperor, currently looking rather relaxed despite the situation – it was unknown whether that was because of its sky-high confidence, or it was simply trying to bluff him.

"Well, I think that building's just about the perfect size to commemorate your death today."

Only then did the gaze of the Dragon Emperor fix on Jin-Woo. He didn't try to avoid meeting that glare.

[….]

The King of Berserk Dragons stopped looking at the human and closed its eyes for a moment while trying to communicate with its underlings.

Sure enough, not a hint of their signal could be captured. Some creature borrowing the power of the Shadow Sovereign was using a spell to interfere with all forms of communication.

The Dragon Emperor grew conscious of the fact that his human enemy had prepared everything from the beginning in order to perfectly isolate it.

It slowly opened its eyes again and found the entirety of the Shadow Army surrounding it from all sides.

A battle that should have been ten million against one was suddenly turned on its head to become two hundred thousand against one, with the 'one' being a completely different person.

The Dragon Emperor had been surrounded.

[So, this is it…. A battle where either I survive or fall, until my soldiers pinpoint my current location.]

However, its expression was not as gloomy as one would hope for in the current situation.

The thing was, although it didn't mind the types of battles where it'd use the overwhelming numbers to completely massacre its enemies, it also found the exact opposite of that situation quite enjoyable too, where it'd get to overwhelm the enemies alone.

In short, it was an existence born solely for warfare.

It was the incarnation of destruction, one who would not mind its own demise if it was all for the sake of blood, screams, madness, and destruction swirling in a dizzying storm of warfare.

That was why the Dragon Emperor could smile brightly.

[Allow me to show you the real thing.]

At the end of those words, that smile vanished from the creature's face.

Jin-Woo also sensed something at the same time. His senses that had far surpassed the limits of a normal human continuously rang loud warning bells.

Shiver.

Along with a chill running down his spine, goosebumps broke all over his skin.

It was then. Like a scene from an unrealistic movie, a truly frightening roar scary enough to stop one's heart just from hearing it exploded out of the Dragon Emperor's mouth.

Khayaaaaaaaah-!!

This was the Dragon Emperor's Fear, the ruler of all Dragons. The level of terror previously never experienced before slammed into the Shadow Army like a massive shockwave.

AAAAAH-!!

A seemingly endless chain of ripples began shaking the atmosphere. Even the ground quaked violently.

As the shaking akin to an earthquake rocked the world, Jin-Woo detected an extreme amount of terror, pain, and confusion from his soldiers and he urgently brought them back inside his shadow.

AAAAAH-!!!

During that process, vicious dizziness assaulted him and he wobbled unsteadily for a moment there.

The Dragon Emperor finally ended its roar. The corner of its lips curled up after seeing how pale Jin-Woo's complexion was.

[That was the real thing.]

The true Dragon's Fear.

Jin-Woo roughly shook his head in order to get rid of that attack's horrifying impact. Meanwhile, the Dragon Emperor addressed him in a calm manner.

[When you grabbed my arm, I could've easily shaken you loose.]

However, there was a reason why it didn't. It continued on.

[It's only because you impressed me with your efforts to trap me.]

Jin-Woo stared at the Dragon Emperor praising him with a suspicious glare. However, there was not a single hint of ridicule within that serious light shining from its eyes.

[That made me want to speak to you in a quiet place as two Sovereigns on equal ground.]

Jin-Woo's breathing, disrupted by the Dragon Fear just now, finally reverted back to being normal. He quickly righted his posture, his vigilance remaining high.

The Dragon Emperor continued to address Jin-Woo and his tightly-shut mouth.

[If you have inherited the previous Shadow Sovereign's memories, then you should know this by now…. Our real enemy is not this land, but well beyond the sky up there.]

It was referring to the armies of the Rulers. The first and the last ultimate command given to them was to annihilate all Sovereigns born from the darkness.

Quite obviously, the Shadow Sovereign wouldn't be an exception.

[I originally thought of disposing of you first and then get ready to fight them. However, I changed my mind after seeing how you conduct your battles. You possess a different set of skills compared to Osborne. And from your skill set, I foresaw our glorious victory.]

The Dragon Emperor extended its hand out towards Jin-Woo.

[If you take this hand, then I shall do as you want.]

His gaze slowly lowered towards the extended hand.

[If you wish to save your family, so it shall be. If you wish to save your nation, then that shall be done. If you wish for me to leave this land, fine. My soldiers and I shall quietly withdraw from this world.]

Jin-Woo gaze briefly lingering on the hand gradually rose up again until it stopped at the Dragon Emperor's face. The creature was carrying an expression full of compassion.

[You shall become the master of this world. Become a master of this whole planet, not just that small castle on the hill. You amply possess the qualification to do so. All you have to do….]

A gentle smile formed on the Dragon Emperor's lips now.

[….Is to take my hand.]

Once we cooperate and defeat the forces of the Rulers, not only you and your family, even your country – no, even more than that, everyone living on this land will gain peace and freedom.

That was the promise the Dragon Emperor was making here.

[So, how about it? Shadow Sovereign?]

Did he get enticed by the offer? A thin smile slowly spread on the face of the Shadow Sovereign as he quietly listened to the tempting words.

The King of Dragons also formed a smile of its own.

[Will you join me?]

Too bad, Jin-Woo's reply was rather curt in nature.

"Don't make me laugh."

The Dragon Emperor's expression hardened after hearing that pointed retort.

"You want me to trust a b*stard with the eyes of someone that can barely hide its desire to kill me?"

[Haha…. Euh-hahahahaha!!]

The King of all Dragons grasped its forehead and guffawed for a long time. Its laughter must've contained Mana, because every single wave of sound emitted by the creature caused a powerful reverberation within Jin-Woo's heart.

When it finally took its hand away from its forehead, both of its wide-open eyes had changed to that of a reptile's.

[I just can't seem to hide these eyes of mine.]

Appeasement attempt had ended in failure. If conning the other party didn't work, then the remaining way was to destroy him with everything it possessed.

The Dragon Emperor finally revealed its true self. A hostile aura that couldn't be concealed anymore flooded out from its body.

[Bet everything you have and attack me, oh, Child of Shadow!!]

Jin-Woo's eyes widened in shock.

In an instant, choking heat rushed into his face. He quickly retreated to a far-off distance, his gaze still locked onto the unbelievable event unfolding right him.

A mountain of raging inferno suddenly materialised in front of his eyes.

If a sea of boiling lava gained sentience and willingly morphed into the shape of a Dragon, would it look like that?

Jin-Woo watched this appearance of a Dragon made up of endlessly-burning flames and immediately recalled the outer shell of the Demon's Castle instant dungeon that was also burning in perpetual flames.

A battle between a living 'castle' and a man.

It wouldn't be too surprising for anyone to get scared by this incomparable pressure, but Jin-Woo calmly grasped the pair of Kamish's Wraths.

BOOM-!!

When the Dragon Emperor took one step, the world rocked viciously.

'It's coming!'

The massive Dragon was trying to stomp him to death, so Jin-Woo quickly evaded that and ran to create some distance before summoning up the Sky Dragon 'Kaisel'.

Kiiaaahk!

His mount was already getting ready to take off, so as soon as it emerged from the shadow, it flew up into the air. Jin-Woo quickly climbed up on its back.

Kaisel rose up as fast as it could; Jin-Woo then had his ride change directions and descend towards the Dragon Emperor's location. As if it was waiting precisely for that, the Dragon made up of flames fired a Breath of Destruction.

"Go down!!"

Almost at the same time as the blinding flash of light exploded forth from the Dragon Emperor's jaw, Kaisel descended at the rate of knots. The flames capable of erasing everything – the chill-inducing white beam of light brushed past right above Jin-Woo's head.

Kuwaaaaah-!!

Kaisel followed after its master's instruction to descend closer to the Dragon Emperor while barely managing to side-step the Breath continuously pouring out towards it.

Fuuuwoo….

Once the Breath attack came to an end, Kaisel was already near the head of the gigantic flame Dragon. Jin-Woo gathered every drop of his Mana while riding on the back of his mount.

'You did well, Kaisel!'

The gathered Mana flowed into the Kamish's Wrath held in his right hand. The black aura danced and tumbled about as if to signal that it was ready for that final strike.

With everything in his power – Jin-Woo swung his sword containing all of his might towards the Dragon Emperor.

SWIIIISH-!!

The black aura that looked capable enough to tear through anything in a single breath split up like the claws of a predator and took a powerful swipe at the head of the flaming Dragon.

Kwa-gah-gah-gah-gah-gah-gahk!!

However…

'….How can this be?!'

Jin-Woo's brows shot up high.

There wasn't even a scratch on the creature's flaming scales; instead, the unscathed Dragon Emperor began raising its head towards him.

Jin-Woo's expression crumpled.

'Is it Breath again?'

He got ready to quickly descend again in case another round of Breath of Destruction came at his way, but he was greeted by an ear-splitting roar, instead.

Kuwaaaaaah-!!

Dragon Fear!!

Jin-Woo had developed some amount of immunity after experiencing it the last time, but it was a different story for his Sky Dragon. It couldn't withstand the roar from the Dragon Emperor and froze up in mid-air.

Not even giving him any time to un-summon Kaisel, in came the ruthless beam of light signalling true destruction spat out by the King of all Dragons.

RUMBLE-!!

Even though they were in a free fall, Kaisel still twisted its body to push Jin-Woo away to a safer location, and collided head-on against the Breath of Destruction with its body.

"NOOO!!"

Jin-Woo cried out as he watched Kaisel disintegrate in an instant, not even leaving behind ash in the process. Utterly disregarding his wishes, the Sky Dragon was erased from existence without a single trace.

Grit.

Jin-Woo bit his lower lip and fired Mana out from behind to fly into the chest area of the Dragon Emperor in an instant. And to make sure he wouldn't fall off, he grasped tight the scale of this nonsensically humongous creature.

Chiieeiik!

His palm was instantly scorched by the ultra-high temperature.

"Euh-euhk!!"

Jin-Woo gritted his teeth and raised up the Kamish's Wrath held in his other hand up high above his head. The shortsword held in reverse grip was enveloped in the dancing black aura.

Crack!!

The blade stabbing down with all his might managed to break past the scale. But that was all it could do.

Crack! Crack! Crack!!

No matter how many times he lashed out, all he could do was to leave behind small, inconsequential nicks on the Dragon's flesh just below its scales.

It was then. Sensing this ominous chill creep up behind his neck, Jin-Woo hurriedly took a look behind him.

'…..!!'

The giant arm of the Dragon Emperor was swinging closer to his location. To dodge that, he unhesitatingly jumped down.

He didn't suffer any impact damage when landing on the ground due to his Mana, but then, without giving him a break, yet another round of the Breath of Destruction poured out from above.

Kuwaaaaahhh-!!!

Somehow managing to evade that merciless attack once more, Jin-Woo breathlessly panted hard.

"Hah-ah, hah-ah, hah-ah…."

He rained down so many attacks, yet the Dragon Emperor remained standing, imperious like the legendary Mt. Tai. It possessed the level of defence and attack power that not even Giants could match up to.

He realised that he couldn't subjugate this Dragon by relying on the same tactics.

'I need stronger power….'

Indeed, he needed an even stronger power – the power that might bring down a giant covered in thick armour with nothing but bare hands.

Just like how an insect small enough not to be noticed by one's eyes couldn't do much about a human being, one needed to become a mountain if a mountain was blocking his path.

It was then.

'Hang on…. Armour, is it?'

A certain possibility flashed by like a bolt of lightning in Jin-Woo's head.

If he could manipulate the power of darkness to create regular-sized armours, then couldn't he also be able to create something much larger and thicker than that, too?

When his thoughts reached that far…

….The shadow beneath Jin-Woo's feet suddenly began growing much larger.

[….??]

Even the Dragon Emperor noticed this change.

The blackish liquid bubbled and rose up from that shadow to wrap around the Shadow Sovereign, layer upon layer, his size abruptly increasing at an alarming rate.

'What is this human b*stard trying to do now?!'

The thing was, answering its instincts took priority before satisfying its curiosity.

Just before the Dragon Emperor got ready to fire yet another round of Breath of Destruction towards that unidentifiable black mass, it felt the sensation of something poking softly at its back.

'….??'

It quickly took a look behind.

Fangs had been hiding in a distant corner to perform the communication-disrupting spell but to aid his Sovereign, he had grown into a giant to fire his own pillar of flames at the back of the Dragon Emperor.

Once their gazes met, the Bead of Avarice powerlessly fell from Fangs' grip.

Tumble, roll….

The massive Dragon's murderous rage was now redirected to the scared and trembling Fangs.

[How dare a measly b*stard like you….!]

The Dragon Emperor shifted the direction of its head.

And naturally, the aim of the Breath was shifted towards Fangs, as well.

Just before the attack capable of erasing everything could be fired from the Dragon's maw….

A humongous black shadow that had risen up high into the sky, before anyone had noticed it, viciously punched the head of the Dragon Emperor.

KA-BOOOM!!!!

Chapter 242: Chapter 242

As it was being shoved away by the enormous impact force coming from the side, the Dragon Emperor saw it.

It clearly saw a gigantic shadow tall enough to touch the skies standing there proudly. And perhaps trying to reject an existence that shouldn't even exist in the first place, thousands, no, tens of thousands of black lightning bolts could also be seen violently roiling and crackling beyond the shoulders of this black shadow.

'….Spiritual Body Manifestation?'

No, that couldn't be right.

The Shadow Sovereign used to be one of the Fragments of Brilliant Light. He didn't have any other 'hidden' form to activate, and how he appeared was how he looked.

However, how could the current Shadow Sovereign assume such a massive form right this moment?

Kwa-gah-gahk!!

The Dragon Emperor pushed down hard with its legs, causing a thin layer from the ground to peel off like the skin of an apple, as its gigantic body came to a stop.

'Could it be….?'

When a certain theory brushed through its head, the eyes of the Dragon quaked in sheer surprise.

'The b*stard…. Could he be summoning the power of death to the surface world?'

But, how could that be?

How could a man who used to be a normal human not too long ago control the power of death to such an astonishing degree?

[So, that's how it was.]

Another sigh of admiration left the mouth of the Dragon Emperor.

[You have spent a lot of time on the border between life and death, haven't you?]

There was a reason why the previous Shadow Sovereign, Osborne, chose to hand all of his power over to a measly little human being. This particular human had been continuously fighting a bitter battle against himself right up until he inherited this power.

All for the sake of his life.

The Dragon Emperor had been looking down on the current Shadow Sovereign just a tad in comparison to his predecessor but now, he felt renewed respect for its human opponent.

[….]

And then, it reflected on itself for even thinking of manipulating the weakness of humans to pit him against the Rulers earlier.

'Without a doubt…. This human must die. As expected, he's far too dangerous.'

While the Dragon silently glared at its opponent, the giant Shadow Sovereign was also doing the same thing in silence.

Having become this gigantic Shadow Sovereign, Jin-Woo shifted his surprised gaze lower to his hands that had also grown into a size easily exceeding his own imagination.

'This…. Is this really me?'

He tried to move his fingers. The ginormous body that had become the darkness itself began moving according to his will. It wasn't just his body that had grown huge, though.

From deep within his gigantic frame, the kind of dizzying power that defied all attempts to estimate how big it was gushed out infinitely. He had truly become a mountain in order to bring down another mountain.

Jin-Woo raised his head back up again. And there it was – the personification of Destruction rushing towards him.

BOOM-!!

Violent flames and black lightning bolts scattered in all directions.

Jin-Woo propped his body with his legs extended to his rear and stopped the charge of the Dragon Emperor.

Their physical strength was about evenly matched!

An even contest of strength briefly played out before the Dragon suddenly bit Jin-Woo on his shoulder. Crimson-red flames danced around the bitten part. Jin-Woo didn't panic, though, and proceeded to grab and yank at the Dragon's horn to pull the creature's head away.

And then, one more punch to its face-!

Ka-boom!!

This time, though, the Dragon Emperor wasn't pushed back.

Kuwaaah-!!

Almost as soon as it was shoved back, the Dragon pounced towards him again, before opening its huge maw wide to take a big bite of Jin-Woo's side.

"Keuh-eeeeuhk!"

For the first time since he began fighting against the Dragon Emperor, Jin-Woo couldn't hold back and spat out a pained cry.

Boom! Boom!! Boom!!!

He used his elbow to smack down on the Dragon's head several times, but the creature still lifted him up in the air and began shaking him around without mercy.

An incredible pain akin to his waist being snapped in half rushed up from below.

"Kuwaahk!! Keuh-eeeeuhk!!"

Deciding that enough damage had been inflicted on its enemy, the Dragon Emperor threw Jin-Woo to the ground.

THUD!!

That was followed by another round of Breath of Destruction pouncing on him. When the conflagration-like Breath swept by, one of Jin-Woo's arms had vanished.

However, he didn't scream in pain. He just gritted his teeth. He instantly closed the distance and shoved his remaining hand deep into the Dragon Emperor's jaw.

Rip, riiiip!!

Along with the thick leather being torn apart, the Dragon Emperor's huge tongue was ripped out of his throat.

[Kuwaaaaahk!!]

Rather than blood, crimson lava exploded out from the torn wound of the creature's tongue.

The Dragon writhed in pure agony. Jin-Woo took this opportunity to punch the head of the creature. The lengthy maw was spun to the side as lava spilt in all directions.

The Dragon Emperor glared at Jin-Woo with its vertical-slit eyes and rammed into him with its horns.

The battle's flow see-sawed between the two over and over again.

BOOM-!!

Whenever the two collided, the ground quaked and the heavens screamed. Every plot of land being showered by the falling flames was scorched black; every square inch being struck by the black lightning bolts was ripped apart without mercy.

A desperate battle ensued.

From the sideline, Fangs witnessed the battle between two Sovereigns with dazed eyes.

At this grandiose yet frightening spectacle unfolding right before his eyes, the High Orc Shaman was left completely flabbergasted, unable to turn his head away nor close shut his slack jaw.

What if…

….The Absolute Being created these beings in order to witness a fight of this magnitude? If that was the case, the High Orc Shadow Soldier thought that he might sort of understand the reasoning behind that decision.

Indeed, the battle between these two was no doubt a world-ending calamity but, at the same time, it was a spectacular once-in-a-lifetime event as well.

Tears slowly fell from the eyes of Fangs as he continued to take in the sight of two god-like beings colliding with everything they had.

The power of Destruction and the power of Death smashed into each other, writhed around, and shook the world to its very core.

Jin-Woo clenched his fist even harder.

Boom-!!

It was working.

It's working, it's working, it's definitely working!!

Each of his punches, issuing shock waves that tore apart the air every time he threw one, landed on their targets with scary accuracy.

Boom!! Bang!! Thud!! Kwahng!!

The Dragon Emperor struck out with its sharp claws, brushing past him and hitting the empty air.

WHOOOOSH-!!

Jin-Woo took a step back to evade the attack before pushing forward on his tiptoes to slam his shoulder against the Dragon and shoved it to the ground.

KA-BOOOOM!!!!

He then quickly mounted the toppled Dragon Emperor. What followed next was the continuous stream of vicious punches.

BOOM!! BOOM!! BOOM!! BOOM!!

Brutal attacks rained down from above, without a single break in-between.

BOOM!! BOOM!! BOOM!! BOOM!!!

Lightning bolts, sparks of flames, and the screams of air being torn endlessly reverberated throughout the land.

Unfortunately, it was clear to see that just one hand was not enough to land that one fatal blow.

He concentrated all of his Mana to the remaining hand, but as if he was stuck inside a dream, his strength continued to seep out of him the longer he continued on.

'What's going on?'

Jin-Woo's expression hardened gradually.

Not too long afterwards, the Dragon Emperor also noticed the change taking place in Jin-Woo. Its clawed hand shot up to grab his fist.

Grab!

It happened too suddenly. Jin-Woo got flustered as he couldn't pull his fist back. Meanwhile, the Dragon Emperor addressed him.

[This is the difference between our experience level!]

Jin-Woo's eyes widened considerably.

"Uwaaaahk!!"

The Dragon pierced into Jin-Woo's side with the claws on its remaining free hand and spat out its mocking words filled with laughter.

[Didn't you know that maintaining a large body wastes an unimaginable amount of stamina?]

After completely immobilising Jin-Woo, another round of horrifying energy began gathering and swirling inside the Dragon's maw. The Breath of Destruction was being readied to put an end to this battle.

'This is the end….!'

The Dragon Emperor was sure of its victory now.

However….

Just before the Breath was ready to fire, a new arm suddenly sprouted out from Jin-Woo's shoulder missing a limb.

'He still had that much energy left?!'

The Dragon was stunned but knew that it was still impossible for a different victor to emerge from this situation.

Soon, a blinding light formed inside the maw of the Dragon Emperor. It was then – Jin-Woo shoved his newly-generated arm inside that maw.

"Uwaaaaah-!!"

And then, he scrounged up every ounce of energy and concentrated it to his hand.

Wuuong-!!

Accompanying an incredible impact force, powerful blinding light blanketed the surroundings.

Eventually, the light receded and silence descended on the land.

*

Jin-Woo reverted back to his human form from the giant shadow. He lay sprawled on the ground and panted heavily.

"Pant, pant, pant…."

His entire body was burning up as if flames had scorched him. He was covered in wounds from head to toe. His current status was an utter mess.

He did his absolute best to control his heavy breathing while sucking in a lot of air. A short while later, he forced his fatigued body to slowly stand back up.

Just beyond the veil of thick fog kicked up from the explosion, someone was making its approach towards him. Jin-Woo could only marvel wryly as the Dragon Emperor, in its human form, revealed itself.

'What a monster….'

The Dragon b*stard was not okay either, but compared to Jin-Woo's own condition, it was noticeably better off.

[You are a very tenacious b*stard, aren't you?]

'That's my line.'

Too bad, Jin-Woo wanted to save the energy required to make that retort so he had to swallow back his opinion. Instead, he wordlessly summoned the pair of 'Kamish's Wraths' and held them tightly.

The Dragon Emperor also unsheathed its sword as well.

Shurung-!

Even though it no longer possessed enough strength to maintain its Spiritual Body Manifestation, the King of all Dragons still scrounged up every little bit of remaining energy in order to kill the human for good.

Jin-Woo, too, held his rough breathing back and gritted his teeth.

The Dragon Emperor arrived before him in just one step and swung its longsword at him. The pair of shortswords and one longsword clashed and clanged chaotically.

Every time sparks flew off from their clashing blades, sweat and blood sliding off their wielders' bodies rained down on the surroundings.

It was then.

Crack!

One of the Kamish's Wrath shattered after its edges had been badly damaged from attacking the Dragon Emperor's toughened steel-like scales earlier.

'…..!!'

He managed to tilt his body in time to let the longsword cutting down diagonally brush past him, but that resulted in him losing balance for a brief moment.

The Dragon Emperor didn't miss that opening. It thrust forward its weapon in the blink of an eye and penetrated Jin-Woo's midriff.

Stab!!

Even in the midst of the torrent of terrible pain, he gritted his teeth and swung the shortsword held in his other hand towards the neck of the Dragon.

Too bad, just before his blade could reach the Adam's apple belonging to the Dragon Emperor, the creature grabbed the weapon with its bare hand. The black aura wavering around the blade was blocked by the reddish-black aura of the Dragon.

A mocking grin floated up on the creature's face.

[Did you truly believe that the shortsword fashioned out of a Dragon's tooth can actually hurt this body of mine, the Dragon Emperor's?]

After declaring confidently as so, it pushed the hilt of the longsword with even more power. The weapon sunk deeper into Jin-Woo's midriff and he vomited out a mouthful of blood.

"Keo-heok-!!"

The Dragon Emperor pushed Jin-Woo off with its foot and pulled the longsword back.

Jin-Woo ungainly rolled along the ground and barely managed to stop himself. Just before he could force his body up, the Dragon Emperor arrived right in front of him and pointed the tip of its blade at his throat.

'…..'

His actions came to an abrupt halt at the weapon that was uncomfortably close to his vital point. The Dragon Emperor chuckled as it addressed him.

[Don't you find it funny?]

Not even once doubting that it'd end up as the victory, the Dragon in human form looked down at the face of its helplessly cornered enemy.

[A battle between the flame born from the darkness and the darkness born from the light. However, this battle is finally drawing to its conclusion.]

Jin-Woo readily agreed with the Dragon Emperor's assessment.

"You're right. Its conclusion is around the corner."

[Oh-hoh.]

The Dragon formed a half-puzzled and half-satisfied expression and scanned Jin-Woo's grievously-wounded body, before asking him a question.

[Have you decided to give up on the meaningless resistance now?]

It was then.

He seemed energyless and defeated, pretty much ready to give up, but in an instant, the light gleaming within Jin-Woo's eyes changed.

[….!!]

The Dragon Emperor urgently thrust the blade forward. To its great surprise, however, Jin-Woo unexpectedly pushed himself forward instead of dodging backwards.

The longsword brushed past his artery with barely a hair's width. The skin on his neck sliced off and blood spluttered out like a fountain, but it wasn't a fatal wound.

'I can do this.'

By paying the price of a grievous wound, Jin-Woo got near the Dragon Emperor's vicinity. He then summoned his father's shortsword stored in his 'Inventory'.

The Dragon's eyes widened.

Even before the creature could decipher this new turn of events, Jin-Woo's shortsword stabbed deeply into his enemy's chest.

KWA-JEECK!!

The blade penetrated past the chest armour and stabbed the Dragon's heart.

[Kuwaaaaaah-!!!]

Not yet.

Not over yet!

Jin-Woo knew all too well that this much of an attack wasn't enough to kill a Sovereign. Even he himself was continuously fighting on with the types of injuries that would have killed any normal human being, after all.

Jin-Woo yanked the shortsword out and activated the skill 'Violent Slash'.

Dududududududududu-!!!

Countless attacks stabbed deeply into the Dragon Emperor's body.

One more time!!

Dudududududududu!!!

[You… you b*stard….!!]

Shockingly enough, even though it was being subjected under the barrage of countless attacks, the Dragon Emperor still raised its sword up.

An earthquake erupted within Jin-Woo's eyes after seeing that.

The Dragon, inflicted with heavy injuries on its chest where various holes could be seen, began deflecting Jin-Woo's shortsword. The longer his skill was deployed, the faster the Dragon Emperor's speed became, as well.

This was the display of the might possessed by the strongest creature borne out of darkness for the sole purpose of destruction. Cold sweat drops formed on Jin-Woo's forehead as he was gradually pushed back in the one area he felt most confident in – his speed.

[Khayahk!!]

The Dragon Emperor spat out a beastly howl and shoved Jin-Woo away. The force was so strong that he thought his wrist broke just now.

'Keu-heuk!'

By the time Jin-Woo regained his balance, the Dragon was already right before his eyes. Unlike before, though, the creature didn't repeat the same mistake of staying its sword.

The weapon penetrated past his Black Heart.

"Keok!!"

Jin-Woo felt the burning pain shooting up from his chest. His breathing tightened and he couldn't even voice his pain anymore. All strength abandoned his legs and automatically, he knelt down on the ground.

Plop.

As if its anger hadn't been cooled down, the Dragon Emperor viciously roared out towards the sky.

Kuwaaaaaaaahhh-!!!

It transformed into a Dragonewt-like form that was halfway between a human and a Dragon's appearance before anyone noticed it, and extended its claws out in order to attack for one last time.

A growling-like voice leaked out of the Dragon's mouth.

[You b*stard, I shall rip you apart piece by piece and feed you to my Sky Dragons!]

If trying to show courtesy and give the Shadow Sovereign a death fitting for a king was a mistake on its part, then the Dragon Emperor would bestow a cruel and miserable death that would make up for that mistake many times over.

'I shall show you what happens to the one daring to obstruct me, the King of all Dragons, at the end!'

The Dragon Emperor raged on with such thoughts filling up its head. It bared its lengthy fangs and continued to roar on. But then…

….Out of the blue, a loud chorus of vigorous warcry exploded forth from the heavens.

Waaaahhhh-!!

The Dragon Emperor raised his head. It was greeted by an unbelievable spectacle just then.

The army of the Rulers, the soldiers of the heavens were endlessly pouring out from a gigantic Gate that wasn't there before. Their flapping wings began filling up the gloomy, clouded sky with the colours of whitish silver.

'Impossible…!!'

The Dragon Emperor inwardly freaked out.

Without a doubt, there was no Gate when it arrived here. So, just from where did that Gate come from, and how could the soldiers of heaven enter this world so quickly?

One would need an incalculable amount of energy to open up a portal connecting this world to the other side. So how….

When its thoughts reached that far, the Dragon Emperor looked down with its trembling eyes at Jin-Woo on the ground, currently panting heavily on his knees.

[You b*stard…. The reason why you attacked me with everything you had from the beginning was to….?!]

It wasn't the difference in experience levels, but he had been working towards this end result from the very beginning? To call the allies from the other side by tearing the space up with the collision of two great sources of power?

Up until now, the Dragon Emperor had been guessing what Jin-Woo's scheme might be through its own world view. The reason for attracting the attention of the army of the Chaos World, the reason for bringing it to this desolate location…

The Dragon took that as the human not wanting their battle to be interrupted by outside factors. But as it turned out, the Shadow Sovereign had a different goal altogether.

Even then…

[Even then…. You couldn't have any other way to communicate with the Rulers….?]

The Dragon Emperor couldn't finish its sentence.

There was a way – the vessels of the Rulers.

Weren't there still a few vessels, connected to the Rulers through the lending of their powers, left on this planet? And that was how the Fragments of Brilliant Light were able to prepare a Gate in this location.

[…..]

The Dragon Emperor glared at Jin-Woo.

Just for that one-in-ten-thousand chance, he had chosen the method where even if he lost the fight, he'd still win the war before starting this battle.

It was a complete defeat for the Dragon, who only focused on the fight in front of its eyes and nothing else.

Jin-Woo, barely managing to hold back the dizzying pain from all of his wounds, formed an energyless smile.

"It was you, wasn't it?"

[…..?]

���It was you who told the Sovereigns of White Flames and Beastly Fangs to ambush the Shadow Sovereign from behind."

[….Did the Sovereign of White Flames run its mouth off?]

Rather than answering right away, Jin-Woo looked up at the sky filled with innumerable winged soldiers. He lowered his gaze back down to the Dragon Emperor a little later and formed a grin.

"Osborne wanted me to pass along this message."

Jin-Woo slowly unfurled his middle finger. The Dragon Emperor exploded in pure rage just then.

[You b*stard!!]

The deadly-sharp claws rushed towards defenceless Jin-Woo kneeling down on the ground.

Too bad, those claws couldn't reach him, instead getting blocked off by six beautiful wings gently embracing Jin-Woo's figure.

The Dragon Emperor stopped its actions and withdrew its claws. It looked at the figure that blocked its attack and spat out a pained grunt.

[The most Brilliant Light….]

The Dragon raised its head next.

From above, six angels, each with three pairs of wings, slowly descended all around the creature.

Indeed, the conclusion of this battle had been around the corner. The Dragon Emperor recalled that brief conversation he shared with Jin-Woo, and began forming a self-mocking smile.

[….This is the end.]

Soon, the spears belonging to the Rulers penetrated the Dragon Emperor from all directions.

Chapter 243: Chapter 243

The desperate and gruelling battle between the two Sovereigns also left its mark up in the sky, as well. Ash, scattered into the heavens from the aftermath of the fight, quietly fell like snowflakes.

Jin-Woo watched the grey ash settling down on his shoulders one by one and lifted his head up.

From the distance far away, somewhere above him – the soldiers of the Rulers utterly blanketing the sky were moving to another location via countless Gates.

The spectacle of tens of millions of soldiers all marching in unison according to their Rulers' bidding was truly an overwhelming spectacle to behold.

Their aim was to completely eliminate the remaining forces of the Sovereigns. Now that not just the Dragon Emperor, but several other Sovereigns, had died, there was no chance in hell that the Army of the Chaos World would be able to survive.

That was why the soldiers of the heavens were marching forward to announce the end of this war that had been going on for far too long.

Jin-Woo felt his chest become numb for some reason while watching their deployment. While he was stewing in his emotions, the 'most Brilliant Light' finished giving commands to its soldiers and returned to where he was.

A truly beautiful lifeform that no known expression in human language could adequately describe folded its proudly-unfurled six wings at once, after landing in front of Jin-Woo. Other Rulers also landed behind the 'most Brilliant Light' one by one.

It studied Jin-Woo's current condition. At a casual glance, he seemed to be any other regular human being.

'However, this lone human managed to bring an end to the war between us and the Sovereigns.'

Who could have imagined such a thing?

Who could have thought that the curtains on the eternal war, with seemingly no end in sight, as designed by the Absolute Being, would be closed by a weak existence in a world so far away?

At the least, this angel had never imagined it.

And that was why its initial surprise had morphed into pure respect for Jin-Woo's accomplishments.

[You have ended our war. I do not know how to even properly express my gratitude.]

"…"

Jin-Woo wordlessly looked at the ash falling from the sky before shifting his gaze to look at the Brilliant Light.

"There's a favour I want to ask you, although it might come across as a bit too big for a gesture of saying thanks."

[A favour…?]

The Brilliant Light formed a slightly puzzled expression.

The power of the Shadow Sovereign could very well be on the same level, no, maybe even greater than its own. However, such a being was asking for a favour?

As if to lessen the confusion within the head of the Brilliant Light, Jin-Woo answered first before the obvious question could be asked.

"It's something only you can do."

The angel with six wings nodded its head.

[If it's within my power to make it happen, I pledge to aid you to my fullest.]

The Shadow Sovereign played an important role in killing the Dragon Emperor and the Rulers now owed him a large debt of gratitude that couldn't easily be repaid. There certainly was no excuse not to do fulfil his favour.

However, a rather difficult favour came out from Jin-Woo's mouth.

"One more time…. Can you use the 'Chalice of Rebirth' one more time?"

The Brilliant Light felt a shock akin to someone hitting it at the back of its head. Even the other Rulers standing behind it couldn't hide their astonishment.

As their leader, the Brilliant Light simply had to confirm it again.

[Did you ask me for the usage of the 'Chalice of Rebirth', and to reverse time once more?]

"That's right."

Jin-Woo nodded his head and explained himself.

"And after reversing the time flow, I��d like you to not send anything to Earth. I shall kill the Sovereigns, and their armies, in the gap between the dimensions."

The Brilliant Light was left flabbergasted by what Jin-Woo wanted to do after the time reversal and couldn't immediately say the words stuck in his mouth.

'Alone… He wishes to fight this war all by himself?'

Jin-Woo had heard the explanation on the 'Chalice of Rebirth' from the former Shadow Sovereign.

Even if the tool of God was used and time was reversed, the higher-beings such as Rulers and Sovereigns would keep their memories. In that case, since he had inherited the power of the Shadow Sovereign through becoming one with Osborne's ego, his current abilities wouldn't disappear.

Jin-Woo was planning to take this power, as well as his memories, and willingly enter the gap between dimensions.

[You wish to fight them all by yourself?!]

The Brilliant Light spoke in a disbelieving voice.

[But, why do you want to do that? We have used the 'Chalice of Rebirth' many times before, but never did we achieve a result better than this.]

'…..'

Jin-Woo looked down at his father's shortsword and calmly made his reply.

"Far too many lives were lost during this battle. I just wish to bring them back, that's all."

If it meant he could bring them back by reversing time itself, then Jin-Woo was fully prepared to fight the Sovereigns one more time.

The Brilliant Light closed its eyes to give itself some time to think, and suddenly realised that it did empathise with Jin-Woo's answer. Regardless of what, though, reversing time remained a very dangerous action to take.

[The 'Chalice of Rebirth' is nearing its limit. In case you fail in your objective, it is likely that we won't be able to reverse the time itself.]

Those words implied that a future far more cruel and horrible might be in store for this world. Meaning, the current development might be the best end result for everyone.

[If you wish for it, you could remain in the memories of everyone, forever, as a hero who has single-handedly stopped the invasion of the Sovereigns. But, instead….]

An all-too-easy to see sorrow suffused on the expression of the Brilliant Light.

[The battle you wish to start will be remembered by none except yourself. If you are defeated, annihilation awaits. And even when you emerge victorious, no one will celebrate your accomplishments.]

The six-winged angel confirmed Jin-Woo decision for the last time.

[Even then, do you still wish to turn back the time?]

Before he answered, Jin-Woo quietly closed his eyes and thought of the important people in his life. The eyes of the Shadow Soldiers inserted into their shadows allowed him to see them in real time.

His mom and young sister were holding each other's hands with worried faces, anxiously watching the news coming from Japan on their TV.

Cha Hae-In had her eyes deeply closed as if she was ardently praying to someone. Meanwhile, the Association President Woo Jin-Cheol was also watching the news broadcast with tearful eyes.

Jin-Woo felt their heartfelt emotions and a certain corner of his chest warmed up gradually. And when he opened his eyes, his mind was already made up.

"I'm going back."

….To those people who still remained, and even to those who were no longer here.

The faces of Association President Goh Gun-Hui, Adam White, and his father all brushed past his mind. Lots more people besides them were sacrificed in this war. Jin-Woo swore that no one else would be lost ever again.

The Brilliant Light clearly saw his unwavering determination.

[…..]

The reason why the Rulers went as far as to use the 'tool of God that should never be used' and save this world was because this planet was originally unrelated to their ongoing war.

However, a denizen of this world and a hero who saved it came to a decision. He said that he'd save not just a portion, but the entire world with his own powers.

And that he'd bear that burden all by himself.

For a moment there, the angel thought the face of the former Shadow Sovereign had overlapped with that of Jin-Woo's just now.

It was the face of its stubborn comrade that refused to step aside even though the soldiers of heavens completely blanketing the skies threatened him so he could protect its master, the Absolute Being.

He might have been a scary enemy, but at the same time, the angel greatly respected him.

'….They resemble each other.'

A thin smile formed on the lips of the Brilliant Light after recalling Osborne's face.

[I understand. I shall pray for your success.]

"Hold on."

Jin-Woo quickly asked a question.

"What will happen to my Shadow Soldiers that didn't exist in the past?"

For instance, soldiers like Beru.

Osborne's original soldiers would still remain within his shadow, sure, but what about others like Greed who was a human named 'Hwang Dong-Su' back ten years ago, or Beru, who didn't even exist back then?

The Brilliant Light explained according to what it knew.

[Those that ends up being overlapped with the time flow of the past will be erased, while those that don't will remain as they are.]

That meant that Beru would continue to exist, while Greed would disappear. He could now hear the soldiers crying out in sorrow from inside his shadow.

Jin-Woo bade his goodbyes in his mind to those soldiers about to part ways with him and raised his head up with a smile.

"I'm ready."

The Brilliant Light summoned out the 'Chalice of Rebirth' from subspace and nodded its head.

[I pray that your courage will save your world one more time.]

*

The blinding light enveloped the entire world.

A small, easy-to-miss article about a middle school student who went missing after leaving behind a letter with the words 'I've something to do' appeared on the corner of a certain local newspaper.

And about two years later.

The world became noisy for a brief moment after the middle school student who went missing suddenly came back home completely fine, as if everything had been a dream. But everything soon returned to its usual calmness, as it should.

And then, time marched on, quietly.

No incidents of Gates, monsters, or Hunters stepping forward to hunt those monsters ever happened again.

***

Yu Jin-Ho found himself in the middle of a freshman welcoming party but his expression remained quite stiff.

The enticing odour of pork belly strips sizzling on the grill coming from here and there tickled his nose, but thanks to how tense he felt, he just couldn't work up his appetite at all.

But, how could this be?

Although he was hiding his family background, for the time being, he still lived a life fitting for the last born son of a wealthy 'Chaebol'. For some reason, though, this diner specialising in the frozen pork belly didn't feel unfamiliar to him.

'But, how come?'

Yu Jin-Ho tilted his head this way and that, leading one of his university seniors to lightly tap him on the shoulder.

"Hey, Jin-Ho? C'mon, man. Loosen up, dude. Someone might think you're being led into a slaughterhouse or something."

Yu Jin-Ho got flustered and his voice naturally rose higher.

"N-no, that's not it, Senior!"

"What I'm saying here is, stop doing that for the time being, alright?"

The senior guffawed mischievously but then, sneakily withdrew his laughter.

"Ahh, right. I think, you know, it'll be prudent to behave yourself in front of 'that' senior, just in case. We have this really scary senior in our faculty, you see."

"Heok."

Yu Jin-Ho's expression stiffened a lot worse now.

"You know, that kind of a guy? He doesn't just punish or discipline the juniors for no reason, but just by standing next to him, his incredible charisma is so….."

If one were to talk about such a person, Yu Jin-Ho also knew someone like that pretty close by, too.

He briefly recalled his father's face, often referred to as the CEO of Iron Blood, before roughly shaking his head in order to get rid of the distracting thoughts.

Perhaps he was getting properly drunk now, the senior began talking enthusiastically about this mysterious and scary 'senior' all of a sudden.

"Hey, you know that athlete named Cha Hae-In?"

"Uhm…. Are you talking about Cha Hae-In who became really famous not too long ago as the idol of the athletics world?"

"Right, right. Her. That Cha Hae-In is the GF of our scary senior, you see? Aigoo, here he comes."

The senior jumped up from his seat after seeing a certain man enter the diner and hurriedly bowed his waist.

"Senior-nim, thank you for coming!"

"Senior-nim!!"

"Senior-nim!"

After seeing the polite, disciplined greetings of his seniors, Yu Jin-Ho realised that the drunk senior hadn't been exaggerating a thing until now. With the entrance of one single man, the atmosphere of the noisy, boisterous freshman welcoming party changed instantly.

The useless nervousness he felt right now was good for nothing other than to make his dry saliva slide down his throat quite painfully.

Gulp.

The thing was, though – an unlucky man would supposedly break his nose even when falling on his butt. Yu Jin-Ho couldn't even raise his head from all the fear he felt, but for some reason, that scary senior in question settled down on the spot right next to him.

'Ah….. Dear senior-nim, why did you have to choose the spot next to mine when there are so many available elsewhere?!'

Yu Jin-Ho spat out a sigh deep inside his heart, his head still lowered in dejection, but then, that scary senior suddenly presented him with a glass filled with a clear liquid.

"Take a cup from me."

To think, a glass of booze given to a freshman was not one of those tiny little soju cups but an actual glass cup??

Yu Jin-Ho thought that this action was as expected of a hardcore senior and cautiously took the offered cup, hoping to not make any mistakes here.

��I'm actually not that good with alcohol, though….'

He squeezed his eyes shut real tightly and forced the liquid down his throat. But then, his eyes shot open wide in surprise and he ended up asking a question at this unexpected development.

"S-senior? Isn't this soda?"

"It is."

That supposedly-scary senior was making an expression that was definitely not scary at all as he shook around a soda bottle.

"Why don't you and I drink this, instead?"

For an unknown reason, the senior was forming the face of a person running into someone he really wanted to see after a long, long time of separation.

"Oh, and Jin-Ho? I'm gonna feel really bad about myself if you keep calling me senior this and senior that, okay?"

The senior filled the empty glass up with soda and spoke in a friendly tone of voice.

"From now on, call me 'hyung'."

"Eh?"

"What, you don't want to?"

The once-affectionate eyes of the scary senior suddenly changed to something far more serious. Yu Jin-Ho instinctively straightened his back and energetically shouted out his reply.

"N-no, I shall, hyung-nim!!"

'…Huh?'

After involuntarily spitting out the words 'hyung-nim', Yu Jin-Ho suddenly grew puzzled by how they felt so familiar to his tongue.

'Besides… Hang on, have I ever told the senior what my name is before?'

He continued to tilt his head this way and that, and in the meantime, the senior lightly clinked their glasses.

"Cheers."

For some reason, Yu Jin-Ho realised that grin on the senior's face was not unfamiliar at all; the corners of his eyes grew reddened with moisture as he energetically clinked his own cup with the senior's once more.

"Yes, cheers!!"

***

Yu Jin-Ho's somewhat dissatisfied voice came out from the phone's speaker.

– "Ah, hyung-nim? Why haven't you come to the faculty classroom yet?"

Jin-Woo replied with a grin.

"I've got a small errand to run today, you see. Ah, that's right. Hey, Jin-Ho?"

– "Yes, hyung-nim?"

"There's this really important matter I gotta take care of first, so can you sub for me during the afternoon class? Thanks."

– "Eh? Hyung-nim? Hyung-nim!!"

Jin-Woo distanced his ear away from the voice desperately calling out to him and ended the call.

Click.

Jin-Woo raised his head and caught the name of the hospital written in large font right before his face.

'Seoul Il-Sin General Hospital.'

There was someone he had to meet staying in this place.

He stopped walking for a bit to fix his attire. Then, just as he took a step towards the hospital, a rather familiar face brushed past him.

He didn't mean to get noticed, but perhaps because his gaze had lingered on for a moment too long on her, she stopped and turned around to face him.

"…?"

It was Ju-Hui.

The rank B Healer who got scared often but still entered the Association and did her best so that the power given to her wouldn't be wasted.

She used to be like that, but now, she was staring at Jin-Woo with the appearance of a regular university student. He ended up forming a gentle smile after realising just how well not being a Hunter suited her.

Ju-Hui intensely studied Jin-Woo for a long time before she opened her mouth in a hesitant manner.

"Uhm, excuse me…? Have we met somewhere before?"

The words of happy greeting rushed up all the way to the tip of his tongue. However, he chose to shake his head, instead.

"No, I don't think so."

And then, turned around to leave without looking back.

For a little while there, Ju-Hui tilted her head this way and that as she looked at Jin-Woo's departing back before she too continued on her path. He heard her distancing footsteps and formed a satisfied expression.

He had protected her.

He had protected the peaceful everyday lives.

Whenever he ran into the evidence of peace created from his sacrifice, it felt as if he had reaped the benefits of all his hard work.

That was why….

'That's enough for me.'

….That was enough for him.

Jin-Woo stood before the entrance of the hospital and took a look at his left palm with untreatable burned skin. He then slowly stepped inside the building.

If someone asked him about this wound, he'd always reply like this:

That he got this injury while saving the world.

***

When the doctor in charge walked into a hospital room, a certain patient lying on the bed gestured at him to come closer.

"Can you… help me sit up, please?"

The doctor hurriedly ran up to the bed and cautiously helped the upper torso of the patient lying on his back to sit up.

"Thank you."

It was then, the doctor spotted a wooden bottle he had never seen before on top of a table next to the patient's bed.

"What is this, Chairman?"

The gaunt patient, as thin as a desiccated tree, painfully coughed and wheezed before making his reply.

"A young man gave it to me just now."

The doctor formed a flustered expression.

This was a VIP patient's room in the hospital, which meant that there were two guards constantly manning the front entrance. No one could enter without express permission from the doctor himself.

But just who managed to sneak in here to leave behind that bottle?

"It is a truly strange thing, indeed…. However, what that young man told me was even more incredible."

That young man told the tale of a time now long overwritten, when the patient used to battle 'monsters' alongside him. The young man continued on and said that he came to visit him with this gift as a thank you for everything that happened back then.

"And then, he just simply vanished. As if he was a mirage, as if he was never here, to begin with."

If it weren't for the physical evidence, even the doctor in charge wouldn't have believed it. But there it was, the gift supposedly left behind by that young man.

While the doctor stood there wondering how should he respond in a situation like this, the patient's trembling finger was now pointing at the wooden bottle.

"Give it… to me."

The doctor picked the bottle up and placed it in the patient's hand. The old man sitting up in the bed studied the bottle and chuckled.

"He said that, as long as I drink what's inside this thing, my disease will be completely cured as if being washed away. Huh-huh."

"C-Chairman. You can't possibly be believing in the words of a….."

"I'm tired."

The Chairman cut the doctor off.

"Let me ask you this one thing. Even if I don't drink this, how long do I have left anyway?"

"…."

The doctor couldn't make his reply.

Even now, the absolute best that modern medicine had to offer only barely managed to keep the patient breathing, that was all.

At this point, one could even claim it a miracle that he was still alive.

The 'Chairman' lightly tutted as the doctor was unable to say anything.

"If I drink this and things go wrong…. I want you to write this down on my gravestone. Chairman Goh Gun-Hui, buried in this place, having never given up, and fought against his illness right until the end."

"Mister Chairman…."

As a doctor, he knew it was his duty to stop this, but he couldn't bring himself to do so when Chairman Goh Gun-Hui formed a determined expression on his face while opening the lid of the bottle.

He then began drinking the liquid inside with some difficulty.

Gulp, gulp.

After making sure that every drop had entered his throat, Goh Gun-Hui began recalling the face of that young man who left this bottle behind. He recalled those eyes, specifically.

Goh Gun-Hui felt that it was definitely worth it to trust a man with such a powerful pair of eyes.

And then…

Once he finished drinking every drop of this medicine…

Ba-dump.

Ba-dump, ba-dump, ba-dump.

His dying heart began pounding healthily once more.

His heart… was beating again.

[Only I Level Up – Fin.]

<< Author's afterword >>

Hello, everyone. It's Chugong speaking.

Actually, after I wrote 'hello everyone', I've been stuck deliberating on what to write next for almost ten minutes now. But, it's as expected.

If the afterword at the novel's completion is a letter from the author, then as I thought, there can only be one thing I should say.

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

I'd like to thank you from the depths of my heart for following these lacking words of an untalented wordsmith, for liking and following them, and for waiting patiently as much as you liked them.

We're at the end now.

A few of you have expressed your worries that the end has come too abruptly, but honestly speaking, this conclusion had been planned from the very beginning.

Things like Jin-Woo reversing time, Ju-Hui that made her appearance at the beginning of the novel appearing again at the end, or even him healing Goh Gun-Hui's illness, all of these.

Although, I did add the reunion with Yu Jin-Ho a bit later on after writing the diner scene between Jin-Woo and him, thinking that it'd be fun.

And so, at the end of the almost-250-episode-long march, [Only I Level Up] has come to an end in this fashion.

When I asked other authors on what they felt after ending their novels, they all said that it was a mixture of relief and sorrow, but why do I not feel any relief, just sadness?

Even as I write this afterword, tears threaten to break out my eyes.

I can't even act my age, it seems.

I might be feeling sad for some reason, but truth be told, I'm thinking of taking about a week off before coming to visit you again with a series of side stories.

I pray that you will all remain unscathed until then!

And since I'm writing this afterword, I might as well burn some page real estate and take this opportunity to express my gratitude towards those who helped me to make [Only I Level Up] a success: my greatest partner, Goh Dong-Nahm Deputy Manager-nim, Lee Seok-Won Associate Editor-nim, who helped me in various ways, as well as Author Leltree, the rising star of our Unique Team.

In all honesty, I thought it'd be awkward to thank just two people so I added Author Lel as well, but after I did that, I was reminded of me whining to him over the phone whenever I got stuck in the writer's block and now I feel really apologetic about almost forgetting him.

I'm really sorry, Leltree!

And so, I'd like to announce once more the end of [Only I Level Up] created out of 10% whining, 39% hard work, and 50% love from all of you, dear readers.

One more time, I'd like to thank you from the bottom of my heart.

Although it was quite tough during the writing of this novel, I still found the journey very enjoyable because of you, my readers, who chose to accompany me on this ride.

I shall prepare even more thoroughly and come back to you better than ever before next time.

Everyone, stay healthy, and farewell!

– Author Chugong, signing off.

Chapter 244: Chapter 244

Side Story 1

1. I am an employee of the Hunter's Association.

When you're taking a stroll on a street, ask this question to any student you run into. Ask them what kind of job they would like to have in the future.

A hundred times out of a hundred, you'd get one of these three answers.

One, a famous Hunter; two, a staff member of a major Guild; and three, an employee of the Hunter's Association.

If a kid you talked to was a bit slow in the head, he or she would end up wasting each day wishing to become a famous Hunter.

A kid smarter than the above example would want to get a job in a major Guild that paid you according to one's abilities.

The smartest cookies of the lot would choose to become an employee of the Hunter's Association, where one would still get paid as much as the large Guilds while being treated as a quasi-government official which lessened the danger of getting unceremoniously fired from the job.

Me? I was a smart cookie.

A very smart one, to boot.

And perhaps that was why when I announced my intentions to join the Hunter's Association, both Mom and Dad were saddened somewhat, which was a bit different than how other parents would have reacted.

Dad wanted me to become a prosecutor, and Mom preferred to see me become a doctor. Of course, as the only son in the family, it wasn't as if I didn't know my parents' wishes of seeing me follow after their career choices.

However, I too had my own dream. And that dream played a big part in me choosing to become an employee of the Hunter's Association.

– Why do you wish to become a member of the Hunter's Association?

Those words were thrown my way by none other than the Chairman of the Association, Goh Gun-Hui, as I sat in the interview room with a stiff-as-rock face.

I was busy scolding myself for messing up almost all of the questions asked by the interviewers because of how nervous I had been. But, when I heard that question piercing into my brain and waking me up in an instant….

The light shining in my eyes changed.

At least, I remembered replying to that question with a determined look flashing up on my face.

– Even now, Hunter-nims are risking their lives to protect innocent civilians in many parts of our nation. In that case…. Where are those people who risk their lives for the sake of Hunter-nims?

My voice rose up while saying that I wanted to become a member of the Association and stand on the side of those people that protected Hunters.

Was I mistaken back then when the still-nervous me heard the soft gasps of "Wow" coming from my side and to my front?

But, one thing's for sure – I distinctly remembered seeing a nearly-imperceptible smile on the face of Association Chairman Goh Gun-Hui as the corners of his lips arched up slightly.

That was how I became an employee of the Hunter's Association, a job that others would certainly die for. Putting my parents' slightly lonely farewells behind me, I set off from the hometown that I grew to love and came to Seoul, where the HQ of South Korea's Association was located.

I felt totally over-the-moon because I'd successfully taken my first step in fulfilling my dream of becoming a member of the Association that protected Hunters.

I even had this vague expectation clouding my mind, wondering if everything was going the way I wanted them to.

Unfortunately for me, though, my beautiful image regarding the Association was shattered into a million little pieces on the first day of work. My thoughts of something still remaining that only I could do for the sake of Hunters was completely wrong.

It had already been over nine years since the Awakened, Gates, and monsters began appearing in this world.

The society had already entered a period of stability after experiencing many failures as well as countless trials and errors. And as a newbie member of the Association who had taken his first baby-steps in said society, there was not a snowball's chance in hell that I could have my say in it.

Since my initial goal was to help Hunters out, I was assigned to the 'Support' department accordingly, but what waited for me there were all sorts of unrewarding miscellaneous tasks.

And that was me being kind here. In reality, it was no different than taking care of the mess left behind by the Hunters affiliated with the Association.

– What's this? I heard that Hunters in the area next to ours get a cup of coffee or snacks before going on raids, so how come we don't get any?

– There's this thing I urgently need to take care of, so can you give me an advance on this month's wages?

– If I participate in today's raid, there's no one to bring my child home, so can you do me this favour for me, please?

Indeed, it was always something like this.

Even if it was low-ranked Gates worth not much money, someone still had to deal with it. But, the number of Hunters were limited, so their needs and wants had to be met no matter what.

In an unlucky chance that someone lodged a claim against Hunters, a pretty awful day would wait for me, but if the Hunter with a claim against him suddenly decided to leave the Association, then….

As I ran around all over the place trying to put out all these fires, I grew disillusioned at the reality that was just too different from my imagination, and as I become more and more fatigued, I also became used to my situation, as well.

And so… on a certain day.

As I was listlessly spending time, a phone call came at my way.

Ringggg…. Ringggg….

I spat out a long, long sigh while looking at the phone ringing off the hook, and wondered just which dear Hunter-nim was calling me this diligently to lay out his or her complaints. I reached out and picked up the receiver.

As soon as the plastic touched my ear, a seriously agitated voice exploded forth from the speaker.

– "I told you people never to send Mister Seong to my location, yet why didn't you listen to my requests?!"

I had no idea what this guy was talking about, but first things first – which was to apologise.

"I'm terribly sorry, Hunter-nim. There must've been an error during the formation of the raid team. Can you please tell me what happened in detail?"

– "What the heck, my man. Forget about details or whatnot. I told you my team don't want to be responsible for a corpse, you know? You keep pushing this weak guy who gets injured from falling over on our team claiming that he's still a Hunter. How do you expect us to take care of the aftermath if something happens?! You guys do this again, and I'm just gonna quit right there and then, got that?!"

The call was one-sidedly cut off there.

I put the receiver down while repeatedly recalling the spelling of the word 'patience' in my head, and then, began collecting data on the Hunter the person on the phone spoke about before any sort of claims could be lodged.

Just like how varied the reasons were for demanding one's raid party member to be changed – such as disagreement over the leader's decision, they didn't like each other, or didn't fight as well as one hoped, etc – such requests were made quite often so I never really paid much attention to the specifics until now.

But then…

'Mister Seong…. Mister Seong…. His name is Jin-Woo, right?'

I saw the record of Hunter Seong Jin-Woo and soon realised that something had gone really wrong here.

'Huh….??'

His rank was only 'E'. As for the amount of magical energy he possessed, it was right at the bottom of the rank E, too.

'Hey, his magic energy emission is no different from a regular person's, isn't it??'

As expected, his record was full of all the instances where he ended up getting injured.

"Oh, my god."

I closed his file in stunned amazement, my heart wildly pounding away.

This… This was definitely wrong.

If I pretended that I didn't see his story and move on here, he'd really die not too long from now.

It was at this point when I recalled the declaration I made back in the interview room.

Hunters risked their lives for the regular citizens, but who risked their lives for the sake of these Hunters?

My head nodded all by itself.

For the first time ever since I started working for the Hunter's Association during this past year or so, I finally found what I needed to do.

***

The first thing I did was to seek out a senior officer.

Unfortunately, neither my immediate superior officer, or the officer above him, or even the person above that guy, wanted to get involved in a matter that could potentially prove to be too much trouble for what it's worth.

Eventually, I had to seek out the Chief of the 'Support' Department.

"Sir, this is a matter concerning a person's life. It's not going to get solved by itself when we continue avoiding reality like this."

Chief was forming an expression of a deeply concerned man after seeing the junior agent suddenly transform from a well-behaved kid who worked hard without complaints to the current me.

However, I didn't stop voicing the things that needed to be said out loud.

"What if that Hunter dies during a raid, sir? What will we say to his surviving family members then?"

"Uh-huh, you shouldn't say anything so unlucky…."

"That's how much Hunter Seong Jin-Woo's life is in danger, sir. Please, take a look. This is his hospital admittance record. It's already a miracle that he managed to survive until now."

"…."

For a while there, Chief wordlessly scanned the data I brought along before raising his head.

"So, what you're saying is that we need to do something as the Association and stop Mister Seong Jin-Woo acting as a Hunter, is that it?"

"Yes sir, that's correct."

Because he'd definitely die in the end if he continued to act as a Hunter.

"Fella, I hope you're aware of this Hunter's backstory while telling me all this."

I nodded my head.

His mother was currently admitted to the intensive care unit. I knew that she'd not survive for another day without the aid of the life-support machines.

And I also knew that he worked for the Association in order to receive financial support for the hospital fees.

"But, sir. Patients struck with the Eternal Sleep Disorder will never wake up. Surely, we can't let a living person march to his grave for the sake of a dead person, don't you agree?"

Even now, countless people were dying because of the illness, the Eternal Sleep Disorder.

It was indeed a regretful thing, but we just couldn't continue to drive him into death traps over and over again for his mother's life. We needed to save him, at the least.

Even though Chief did his best to dissuade me and change my mind, I didn't back down from my decision.

In the end, Chief had to nod his head.

"Alright, fine."

My expression brightened quickly, only for the Chief to add a stipulation first.

"Except that you will personally be responsible for changing Hunter Seong Jin-Woo's mind. If he willingly decides to stop, then we shall do so."

I had already made up my mind about that. Indeed, I've never even entertained the idea of forcibly kicking him away without his consent, to begin with.

Even though I was facing perhaps the most difficult hurdle…

"I understand."

….I still nodded head at the Chief, my expression full of determination.

***

Seriously now, have I ever been so committed to something to this degree in my life before? I was preparing so much data that I ended up asking myself that question.

This wasn't to make a grand announcement in front of higher-ups nor to pass a difficult examination. No, it was just to persuade one single Hunter named Seong Jin-Woo.

'He's twenty-three years old… he's younger than me by six years.'

Thanks to my meticulous preparation, I felt reasonably confident of my chances today. Well, I had in possession plenty of evidence and records of him driving himself towards the jaws of death, more than enough to chide him for his reckless actions.

I was planning to go through each and every one of these records to argue my case why he should stop being a Hunter. I was even prepared to lecture him that one needed to value one's life as much as one valued the life of his mother.

Clink.

The door of this cafe opened and a face that I only saw through the file photos stepped into the establishment. When I saw him in person, though, I froze up solid on the spot.

He scanned the cafe's interior before spotting me. He cautiously settled down on the seat opposite mine.

"H-hello, there."

He greeted me first. I couldn't say a single thing I've been preparing in my head, though.

***

"It's not as if we haven't tried to do the same thing."

Chief pushed forward a shot glass filled with soju and I swallowed it one go, my expression scrounging up afterwards.

Whether it was because of the bitter taste of the booze, or maybe my heart felt heavy, I didn't know why my expression refused to loosen up.

"Even then…. Sir, still, this isn't right, you know? That was just wrong, sir. He's a young kid, only 23 years old, so his eyes shouldn't look like that."

I honestly thought that, at the very least, Hunter Seong Jin-Woo would show up to the meeting place with an expression filled with unfounded confidence, believing that he'd always survive no matter what, or with a look of a scared person searching for someone, anyone, to help stop him.

And I felt confident of persuading him regardless of where his mental state was in.

However, Seong Jin-Woo was different. He seemed to have completely acknowledged the predicament he was stuck in.

There was this thin smile on his face implying that, although he was shivering away in fear, he somehow barely managed to overcome it.

So, how could I push someone's back towards a corner, to the precipice of a cliff, when that person had barely managed to overcome his fear?

I just couldn��t do that.

And also, I came to realise that I shouldn't bad-mouth my superior officers just because they failed to do something that I, too, had failed to do.

Chief didn't say anything while filling up the shot glass, but then he quietly asked me a question.

"Fella. Why did you join the Hunter's Association?"

"I…."

That moment when I began thinking about helping Hunters out for the first time – my head dropped a little and recalled the events of that fateful day.

"When I was young, I saw a certain news broadcast, sir. It was about a Hunter who ended up being trapped inside a Gate while trying to save his comrades from getting stuck like him."

I recalled seeing the grounds of a theme park, a place where people were supposed to smile and have a good time, now filled with Hunters soaked in blood from head to toe as they lay there helplessly while moaning in pain.

Back then, I became really curious.

– Those folks saved other people while bleeding heavily like that, but who is saving them now?

My parents couldn't answer my question, and that was when I made up mind. If no one could help them, then I shall be the one to do so.

I shall do everything in my power to make sure that Hunters don't get injured or die.

"But now, even I became the same as the rest, sir."

I failed to become that source of support, strength, to Hunter Seong Jin-Woo who was facing a deadly crisis in his life.

There was nothing I could do for him.

I scolded my uselessness with such thoughts. Meanwhile, Chief studied me for a moment or two before putting down his shot glass.

"What if you still have something you can do?"

"Pardon me?"

I raised my head up.

Chief reached into his bag and pulled out a file containing information on a high-ranking Awakened. He then placed it before me.

"You see, there are people who Awakened as a high rank but due to not being interested in monetary gains, they chose not to become Hunters."

"….??"

"How about helping the Hunters affiliated with the Association by persuading these folks to join us?"

My mind snapped awake from that and I looked down at the file.

"Rank B Healer Hunter Yi Ju-Hui…."

An upper-rank Healer!

If someone like her joined the Association, then surely, she'd be able to save people from dying or suffering from heavy injuries. Even a weak Hunter should be able to fight to his heart's content without being worried about his safety.

For a moment there, Hunter Seong Jin-Woo's face I saw earlier brushed past my mind. My eyes were sparkling brightly, causing the Chief to gently chuckle and speak up.

"So, how about it? Are you interested?"

I stopped staring at the file and nodded my head energetically.

"Yes, sir. I am!!"