At the same time, a different battle in Zepar’s territory was also reaching its end—with the expedition team’s defeat. Ru Amuh kneeled on one knee and tried to prop himself up with his sword, but eventually faltered. Despair overtook his expression as he stared at the weapon in his hand; half of its blade was gone. The sword had melted, unable to endure their enemy’s strong attack, and what was left was also damaged. Since it was impossible to repair it, Ru Amuh unsheathed another longsword from his waist.
However, since even the magic sword that Chi-Woo gifted him had turned out like this, it was unlikely that a normal sword would be able to last long. Ru Amuh somehow picked himself back up and looked around. Three out of five of his group were combatants, but two of them had already collapsed. The young man protecting Abis was on the ground and groaning in pain. Nangnang seemed to have received a severe injury, as there were deep scars all over his body, and he lay prone in the muddy puddle without moving.
One of Ru Amuh’s arms dropped to his side; his condition didn’t look good, either. His left arm suffered severe burns with patches of skin melted. In comparison, their enemy was still very much alive and well. She looked the same as when she first appeared in front of the expedition team, in fact, and a slight smile played on her lips. Ru Amuh smiled bitterly as he lamented his insufficient skills. The absence of his teacher made too much of a difference. Of course, Ru Amuh had no intention of giving up until the very end, but he needed to also face reality. It was safe to say that this fight was basically over. All that was left was a desperate and frantic struggle.
Ru Amuh took a deep breath and stared at Astarte with fierce eyes. There was no stopping that monster. Ru Amuh would die here; this was an undeniable fact. However, if that happened, this monster would probably go and find his teacher’s party. In that case, Ru Amuh couldn’t let Astarte leave in peak condition even if he couldn’t stop her. He needed to at least hurt her a little bit—even if his next attempt got him killed. Ru Amuh tightly gripped his sword and prepared to attack Astarte with his life on the line.
“Stop it.”
Then he heard a voice behind his back. Noel, who had been protecting Abis, got to her feet. Her eyes were full of resolute determination as she stepped forward. As it happened, Noel had a similar thought as Ru Amuh. She needed to protect the young master. Even if everyone died, she needed to get him safely out of here.
Being the composed and rational hero she was, on the other hand, she knew that she couldn’t ensure Chi-Woo’s safety in their current situation. Thus, even if she couldn’t directly ensure Chi-Woo’s safety, she must significantly increase his probability of leaving this place safely by removing their present threat. This was where the difference between Ru Amuh and Noel’s thoughts lay—Ru Amuh tried to injure Astarte with his life on the line, while Noel tried to finish off the monster even while sacrificing her life.
Noel said, “Just step back and don’t waste your energy. I’ll take care of that monster myself. Find and rejoin the rest of the team members.”
Ru Amuh looked at Noel, asking for an explanation for her unexpected declaration. However, she simply shook her head. “Don’t ask anything and please do as I say.” Then she stopped walking forward.
Noel Freya was an extremely rare priest hero, but she was more known for following another hero, for constantly following one person like a stalker. However, her behavior was understandable if the subject of her devotion was the legend. There were much more than a couple of heroes who admired and were in awe of Choi Chi-Hyun. It was only natural that a good number would follow him like Giant Fist and Mua Janya. However, Noel was the only one who persisted, which was only possible because Chi-Hyun tolerated it.
That made Noel a special one. Chi-Hyun’s implicit permission signified his acknowledgment of her skills, and she should be viewed as his companion, not a stalker. Some people accused her of being an opportunist, saying that she was trying to reap the benefits of the legend’s accomplishment by staying in his shadow. However, those who had followed Chi-Hyun even once and experienced and witnessed the same situations he’d gone through would never say such a thing. Because they all knew how the name of legend was created, and how much weight and burden Chi-Hyun’s followers had to bear just to support him. Noel was the only one who had followed Chi-Hyun to all of his missions since she met him. It was for this reason alone that the Celestial Realm gave her special treatment.
“Ramiel.” Noel turned on her device and called out a name. Cchik—A hologram popped up, and an angel appeared in a blurry shape. Ru Amuh's eyes widened. How could Noel connect directly with an angel from the Celestial Realm? It should be impossible unless it was a very special case.
Noel said, “I give everything that I have.”
—…
“It’s okay even if it’s for a brief moment. Please connect this planet with my home planet.” Noel’s words were concise and clear, and the angel named Ramiel stared at her with melancholy eyes before closing them and nodding silently. Soon after, Noel received a notification that her request was approved, and countless notifications followed.
Then she said to Astarte, “Sorry about that. You’ve been waiting for a long time, haven’t you?”
Astarte had watched her with slight anticipation at the appearance of a possibly worthy opponent, and Noel gave her a smile and said, “Don’t worry. I guarantee you that you won’t be bored. Rather, I think you’re going to have a lot of fun.”
Noel had originally been a saintess as well. She wasn’t a saintess who chanted spells or healed people. She was a combat saintess who specialized in heresy interrogation and beating up enemies with an ironclad. Just in time, the messages that flooded her device abruptly stopped. As a passage between her home planet and Liber was formed, Noel’s original powers were revived, and dim light surrounded her. Ru Amuh, as well as Astarte, looked up with slightly startled eyes. Even though they were definitely underground, light was leaking through the ceiling. Noel felt a familiar energy wrap around her body and lifted her necklace up high.
She shouted, “Orugangtisia!” Brilliant light shot out from her eyes as she tilted her head back. “Let your glory enter my body!”
Bam! A pillar of light crashed down from the ceiling.
* * *
The tip of the club touched the top of Zepar’s head. There was no line of contact or surface of contact, but a single point. Chi-Woo retracted his club as soon as he made contact with Zepar. It was a snap hit that didn’t waste even a single ounce of power. As soon as Chi-Woo’s feet touched the floor, he collapsed. Still, he used the last of his strength to turn around while he keeled over.
Zepar was still standing in the same place, but that soon changed. The darkness that was eating up the dragon quickly disappeared. The iron armor covering him from head to toe began to crumble and fall one by one. One would be hard-pressed to call what was finally revealed a body; it was more a concentration of darkness that gathered like thick, dark fog. However, it then lost even the appearance of fog as Zepar’s body began to swell up everywhere and grow bigger in size.
“Ugh…” A moan escaped his lips. Zepar tried to keep the swelling in check and endure somehow, but soon after, the top part that looked like his head started bloating unevenly. “Aghhhhhhhhh!” It ballooned uncontrollably until his head exploded with a terrible scream. Then the darkness that formed Zepar began to crumble.
Bam! Bam! A series of explosions occurred like a tidal wave, spreading indiscriminately across the whole space. Chi-Woo held onto his consciousness and forced himself to watch the situation unfold. Apoline was sitting on the ground, struggling to breathe, but she didn’t move her eyes away from Zepar. Jin-Cheon also glared at Zepar with half-opened eyes. They hadn’t simply exhausted their strength. At Philip’s request, they had used all the energy they could possibly muster and overextended themselves. And Philip himself couldn’t properly recover his consciousness after getting snatched by Zepar and caught up in the aftermath of Chi-Woo’s attack.
That proved how risky Philip’s plan was. If the last attack hadn’t been successful, the result would have been reversed. Everyone closed their eyes in relief when they saw the remains of Zepar almost disappear and leave a stain on the ground. However, Chi-Woo’s relief only lasted for a moment. He needed to rest for now. No—he needed to treat his injuries first. If he fell asleep like this, he might die from excessive blood loss. It was the first time that he felt as if his guts would spill out from breathing, so he opened his mouth to call steam bun over. However…
“…Whaaat?” Jin-Cheon blinked and made a stupid sound. “It’s…gathering…together…?” True to his words, pieces of darkness were gathering from all over the place as if they were being sucked in through the walls and floors. They all gathered toward where Zepar was standing, and that wasn’t the end of it.
Hawa, who had withdrawn to a considerable distance, also noticed this abnormal phenomenon. Even though the situation seemed a little precarious, she had thought Chi-Woo would be able to pull through. Chi-Woo had always been like that; he was so strong in any crisis that Hawa couldn’t imagine him losing or dying. Thus, Hawa had thought Chi-Woo would be able to do the same this time and had been quietly watching their battle. However, the situation was starting to shift strangely. The muddy and damp space was quickly drying up. The deep darkness that surrounded them also faded, and their surroundings became brighter than before. Then, at last, they saw the results of this strange phenomenon.
A darkness that slowly recovered from sucking up all the darkness around it appeared. Zepar, who should have disappeared, was slowly rising up. Chi-Woo, Apoline, and Jin-Cheon gaped in shock. They all had trouble believing this was happening. Chi-Woo tried to grab his club and stand up, but his body didn’t listen to him. The repeated struggles only brought violent pain. It was the same for Apoline and Jin-Cheon.
“Aghhhh!” In the end, Zepar got up. Of course, he hadn’t completely recovered. It was clear from a glance that Zepar’s condition was extremely dire. He couldn’t even manifest the iron armor which had protected his whole body. Moreover, rather than a solid shape, he looked completely torn up like rags. He really was barely maintaining his ‘essence’. While he managed to revive himself by a hair, his mind was in full panic mode. With a single misstep, he would have been wiped out of existence.
Moreover, he had lost everything in exchange for his incomplete recovery. Even the fortress, which he had carefully constructed in the center of his territory, was gone. Zepar had no other choice. Without sacrificing 90% of the materials he had collected from fighting countless wars, he wouldn’t even have a chance of coming back. This also meant that the Demon Empire’s ambitious plan, which had been on the verge of success, was completely scrapped in a single shot.
Of course, since they had secured Evelyn’s soul, they could try again, but this didn’t change the fact that their efforts had all gone up in smoke. It was enough for Zepar to go crazy in anger. A single hit had made him lose everything and become completely broke. Yes, he would have normally been furious, but Zepar wasn’t. Instead, fear overpowered all other emotions. Zepar’s eyes snapped to Chi-Woo, who was trying to get up somehow, his hands pressing hard into the ground.
‘I need to kill him.’ Zepar thought, ‘I need to kill him here at any cost.’ Zepar wanted to throw away everything and run away, but he couldn’t. He thought about how strong the human in front of him would become the next time they met. Zepar had a strong hunch that even with ten great demons, they wouldn’t be able to defeat him later on. Although their plan to create a fortress to fight the Sernitas’ celestial castle went for naught, it was a cheap price to pay for killing this human.
“No…” Chi-Woo, who had managed to lift his upper body, collapsed again. “Please…give me a little bit…even a little is okay…so anyone…” Chi-Woo raised his index finger as he realized it was impossible for him to get up. He tapped the air and dropped his hand helplessly. Then his body stopped moving as if he had lost consciousness.
Zepar struggled to extend his energy toward Chi-Woo. Darkness slowly gathered together and prepared to fire. He felt a presence suddenly rush towards him, but he paid no attention to it; he could sense it was an ordinary human without much strength.
It was Hawa, and as Zepar thought, nothing would change even if a powerless native girl joined the battle. Hawa knew, but she still ran.
While running, she thought, ‘How do I…’ While she felt conflicted whether or not she should aim for Zepar or try a different method, Zepar fired a bullet without hesitation at Chi-Woo.
“!” Hawa’s eyes opened wide. For some reason, her dim memories of her first meeting with Chi-Woo flashed across her mind.
[You’ll be able to sleep well from today.]
[The things that tortured you is gone forever, so you can finally sleep in peace.]
…He really was going to die? That guy was going to die? For real? At the very moment Hawa thought Chi-Woo really might die, she twisted her foot sharply and kicked the ground. If she acted like how she usually did, she would have ambushed Zepar regardless of what happened to Chi-Woo. However, the situation was different this time. She flung herself towards Chi-Woo so hard that her silver hair fluttered high in the air. ‘Please…’ She couldn’t understand it well herself, but she fervently wanted and wished for Chi-Woo to not die.
‘Please…! Quickly, more quickly!’ Hawa clenched her teeth. She needed to reach him. She needed to reach him faster than the bullet, but… It was too slow. Everything in her sight began to slow down to the point that it felt frustrating—both the bullet and her movements.
“…Ah?” Only then did Hawa feel a strange sensation surrounding her. As soon as she realized something was off, she found herself awashed in pure white, and she regained control of her body. Hawa was standing alone in a white space where everything was erased.
—I could have formed a contract with you in my paradise.
A strong yet soft voice rang out.
—But I didn’t like you.
Then Hawa heard a rustling sound of footsteps.
—In the first place, I didn’t intend to accept anyone else besides that child.
Her presence was so formidable that even giants would bend down at her feet.
—But.
Hawa unconsciously looked back and saw her.
—Your last choice…has moved my heart.
The goddess of balance with a scale in one of her hands.