Phew!
Frozen time flows again.
Suho's spirit returned to reality.
In the middle of a dimensional rift where shadow soldiers are currently wiping out demons in the rift.
To Seo Jiwoo, who is struggling with Harmakan.
That moment.
Fit!
Sung Suho's eyes flashed, and then he disappeared from that spot.
The place where he reappeared was in the middle of the remaining gap demons.
Hurrah!
At that moment, 'Kamish's Wrath' emitted a crimson aura from Suho's crossed hands.
'Advanced Dagger Technique'
Chomp chomp chomp chomp chomp chomp chomp chomp chomp!
A crimson aura fills the entire field of vision.
The newly acquired skill expertly tore through the air.
... ... Crackle!
And then, when Suho's feet, which were nowhere to be seen, slid to a stop far in front of me.
[The Demon of the Gap has been defeated.]
[The Demon of the Gap has been defeated.]
[The Demon of the Gap has been defeated.]
[The Demon of the Gap has been defeated.]
... ... .
All the demons that he had passed by were torn to pieces on the spot without even being able to scream.
The one whose eyes widened at that sight was none other than Beru.
[Keeeeeek?! Th-That can't be?!]
"... ... Sung Suho Hunter?!"
Seo Jiwoo, who was behind, also looked at the daggers in Su-ho's hand with a shocked expression, a step behind.
"Where did that weapon suddenly come from... ...?"
From Seo Jiwoo's perspective, there was no real magic.
In her eyes, it seemed as if devil horns suddenly appeared in Suho's hand, and in an instant, they seemed to transform into two daggers.
Even at first glance, she could feel the powerful magic power of these daggers.
[Your Majesty! Where did you get this precious item?!]
Suho smiled and answered the question that Beru asked while flying in quickly.
"My father gave it to me."
[... ... !]
"...father?"
Seo Jiwoo tilted his head.
On the other hand, Beru's eyes sparkled with a deeply moved expression.
There was no way Beru would not recognize Kamish's wrath, which was once Sung Jin-woo's main weapon.
[My lord! Do you know what Kamish's Wrath is? Let me tell you about these daggers. They are the weapons he used to defeat other Monarchs.]
With a deep expression, Beru began to talk earnestly about the memories he had with Sung Jin-woo.
Kamish is a dragon of the highest rank among the demons excluding the monarchs.
'Kamish's Wrath', made from the sharpest fangs of the mad dragon, can even cut through the flesh of monarchs.
Except for one person.
[But even Kamish's anger, which had cut off the heads of other monarchs, was useless against the Dragon Emperor.]
It was difficult to even break through the hard scales, and even if one managed to do so, it only left a small wound on the skin.
Kamish's Wrath was not enough to strike a fatal blow at the dragon.
There was even a situation where one of the swords broke during a fight with the dragon.
However, when Sung Jin-woo used the Cup of Reincarnation to turn back time, he found that there was no weapon he could use normally, so he sought out Kamish and created Kamish's wrath once again.
"Oh, as expected from an explanation bug."
[Ahem. Sorry. I'm a bug that's good at explaining things.]
As Suho gave a thumbs up, Beru shrugged his shoulders and continued his explanation with confidence.
[However, in the decades of war that followed, the blade was damaged like this. Especially when fighting the Dragon Emperor, it was inevitable... ... .]
"Ahem. That's only natural."
Nod nod.
At Beru's words, a small lizard was nodding its head with its arms crossed next to Suho.
Antares's lips showed a very satisfied expression.
He clearly remembers the moment when Sung Jin-woo dared to attack him without knowing the situation and the blade broke.
"In the first place, it is impossible for a dagger made from a dragon's tooth to pierce the body of this dragon emperor. I am Antares, the strongest dragon... ... ."
[So these days, the king is wearing a dagger made from the 'Fang of Antares.']
"What, what?!"
Wow!
Antares's eyes grew wide as if they were going to pop out, his mouth wide open at Beru's words.
The sharp, pointed canines visible through the gaping mouth felt somehow painful.
Of course, it's probably because of my mood.
But the clueless Beru raised his thumb towards the dragon and praised him.
[I've made weapons from many dragon teeth, but the dragon emperor's teeth were by far the best.]
"... ... ."
Is this a compliment or an insult?
Antares gritted his teeth with very complicated emotions and growled lowly at Suho.
"... ... Enough with the small talk, let's resolve the reason we came here."
"That's right."
At those words, Suho turned his head.
'The Sea of Death'
Wasn't the original purpose of Seo Jiwoo and the gap in this dimension to find a way to the sea of the afterlife?
[I will guide you!]
Beru first guided Suho in the direction where the 'purified demon souls' he had found were heading.
* * *
The dimensional gap itself is full of cracks.
The place where these cracks change in real time, appearing and disappearing at any given time was an unknown dimension called the Dimensional Gap.
In short, it was by no means easy to find the hole that led straight to the afterlife sea even if you figured out the direction.
So what you need is bait.
It was the role of Seo Jiwoo suggested by the Dragon Emperor.
"Keugh... ... !"
While moving along the flow of purified demons' souls, Seo Jiwoo suddenly became lost in thought and sat down on the spot.
Suho looked back at Seo Jiwoo in confusion.
"Hunter Seo Jiwoo? Why are you doing that?"
"Ugh, ugh... ... . I, I can't breathe properly... ... ."
Something is strange.
Extreme fear.
Seo Jiwoo was overcome with fear that she would die if she went any further, to the point where she couldn't even breathe properly.
"Harmakan! Find the cause!"
Suho immediately looked back at Harmakan and gave an order.
The fact that an S-class hunter like Seo Jiwoo had suffered such mental damage meant that there might be some kind ofsorcerer from the underworld hiding there.
But even after hearing Suho's order, Harmakan had a troubled expression.
[Master, this doesn't seem to be someone else's doing. I think this is... . . ]
At those words, Beru spoke while quickly scanning his surroundings with narrowed eyes.
[Your Majesty, I think we have come to the right place.]
For a long time, they had been surrounded by countless cracks, like shattered glass windows.
[Among these cracks, clearly... ... .]
"There must be an afterlife sea."
Antares glanced at Seo Jiwoo, who was suffering from hyperventilation, as he listened to Beru's words.
"The fear that this human is feeling right now is an instinctive rejection that all living beings feel. In other words, it is a survival instinct. No matter how powerful a human's magical power is, it is all fair when faced with death."
"What? Than I...?"
"... ... you are not fair."
Antares ground his teeth with a rotten expression in response to Suho.
Perhaps the first time since the beginning of time.
It was Antares, the king of the mad dragons, who began to discuss the unfairness of bloodlines.
Unlike Seo Jiwoo, who looked like she might faint at any moment, Su-ho looked completely unfazed.
"Anyway, it looks like you came to the right place."
Suho, who had grasped the situation, immediately tried to make Seo Jiwoo step back.
But at that time.
Jeez-!
"... ... !"
Suddenly above Seo Jiwoo's head!
A crack appeared in the empty space, and a giant flower bud popped out.
[Nightmare Bud]
Whaaaaaah-
A hideous flower bud suddenly popped out, splitting into four parts and opening its crocodile-like mouth wide towards Seo Jiwoo, who was sitting right below it.
"... ... !"
Seo Jiwoo, who was already struggling to breathe, couldn't even scream at the sight, and her face turned red with fear.
'It's this guy.'
She realized it instinctively.
That this strange plant was the one that had eaten her soul and dragged it into the sea of the afterlife.
And that it still can't let go of its foolish attachment to her and is drooling.
'I'm going to catch and eat again... '
Kyaaaaow-!
The despair that befell Seo Jiwoo did not become reality.
"Where!"
Chomp chomp-
In that moment, Suho jumped up and cut off the stem of the thing that was trying to swallow Seo Jiwoo in one bite in midair.
"Kiaaaaak-!"
A grotesque, eardrum-splitting scream burst from the mouth of the thing rolling on the floor.
But as the dragon had said, the weeds that grew in the afterlife sea were persistent.
These guys in particular, the buds of nightmares, were so persistent that it was disgusting.
Thump, thump, thump!
Clang-
Even at the moment when the neck was cut off and only the head was lying on the floor, new stems, or rather, disgusting roots, grew rapidly from the severed stems of the nightmare flower bud.
Pavabavabat-
And using those roots, it quickly crawled across the ground like a bug with many legs and rushed towards Seo Jiwoo.
'Ruler's Authority!'
Wedge-
At that moment, Kamish's Wrath flew straight from Suho's hand.
Chomp chomp chomp!
And this time, instead of the stem, he mercilessly chopped off the bastard's flower buds.
Hurrruk!
"Kkiaaaa... ... ."
In the end, the petals of the flower, torn to shreds and tattered, burned as they were.
[The nightmare bud has been defeated.]
"Haaah... ... ."
Seeing the bastard disintegrating into ashes before her eyes, Seo Jiwoo finally felt like she was finally able to let out her pent-up breath.
When she finally saw that the unknown entity that had been watching him from somewhere had disappeared, he felt an instinctive sense of relief.
Seo Jiwoo sat down in that spot, looked back at Su-ho, and asked with a weak smile.
"Did I do a good job of being the bait?"
"Thank you for your hard work."
Suho bowed politely and thanked Seo Jiwoo.
Seo Jiwoo shook her head.
"No. I was the one who asked you to do it first."
Seo Jiwoo still felt indebted to her colleagues who were sleeping.
Even at this moment, her comrades were slowly dying, and she was the only one who had woken up and was living as an S-class hunter. It was more pitiful and painful than she could have imagined.
But Seo Jiwoo's role ended here.
"Harmakan."
Suho raised his head, glared at the dimensional hole from which the nightmare bud had emerged, and gave orders to Harmakan.
"Fix the coordinates."
[Yes, master.]
Flash-
At those words, Harmakan immediately created a magic circle from both of his hands.
Again, the dimensional gap is highly volatile.
Even if you find a passage to the afterlife sea, this is the dimensional gap where no one knows when the coordinates will suddenly become distorted and the connection will be cut off.
But even in this volatile place, there was a being that could create passages that connected dimensions... ... .
It was none other than Yogumunt, the king of the demonic spectres and the Monarch of the underworld.
But the ability to connect passages was by no means an ability granted only to Yogumunt, even though the level of difference was the only one.
For example, the great sorcerer Candiaru, who was the second-in-command of the underworld.
[Harmakan activates an instance dungeon.]
The instance dungeon that was Candiaru's legacy was a large-scale sorcery that distorted the existing dimension to createa 'second world'.
This ability was the ability to twist dimensional rifts to create worlds beyond, but with just a little application, it could also beused to create simple 'doors' rather than other worlds.
Clang!
As Harmakan stretched out both his hands, the chains he had woven with magic stretched out before him.
The chains forcibly tied together the irregularly broken cracks, widening the hole and fixing the coordinates.
As a result.
Paaaaat-
"...oh my god."
Seo Jiwoo's eyes fill with astonishment.
In front of them, a huge gate was created that gave off an ominous aura that made it feel suffocating just to look at.
T-ring!
['Gate: Sea of the Afterlife' has been created.]