Chapter 468 - Attack (2)

“

Skreeeeeee!!

”

“

Grrrrrrrk!

”

Golden flames engulfed the insects filling the sky like the sun had descended. The swarm of insects that could be mistaken for clouds screeched as they burned and turned to ash, resembling black snow as it fell.

“K-Kurgh,” grunted one of the monsters that barely survived the flames.

Unlike the other insects, this one, who had been commanding the insects from the sky, had the appearance of a human. However, it was easy to identify him as an otherworldly being due to his bulging vessels and a green mucous stem protruding from the back of his head to his waist.

“H-Half of the Cockroaches were eradicated in just o-one blow...?”

The otherworldly monster widened his fully black eyes in disbelief. It was not just the Cockroaches; the evolved lifeform Medusa as well as the Nest that endlessly birthed Parasites had severely reduced in number due to the flames. The attack was overwhelming to the point that the monster wondered if their king would be capable of such an attack.

“I-I must let him know.”

The death of the Medusas was of no consequence, but the destruction of the Nests would negatively influence their plan. The Nests were the key to their plan to invade the area with an infinite number of Parasites. The king said that he would not participate in the invasion, but that was no longer an option, considering how overwhelming that attack had been.

The otherworldly monster sprouted transparent wings and flew into the red Rift in the sky. Inside the Rift was a land corroded by countless Nests. It looked as if the land itself was covered in giant blood vessels. The Parasites had completely invaded this world, previously known as Huan.

The otherworldly monster arrived at the largest Nest among the countless and bowed.

“M-My king,” the monster said.

A handsome middle-aged man was sitting on a giant throne with his eyes closed. The king couldn’t be distinguished from a human in appearance, but the otherworldly monster knew exactly who was inside the human body.

[Raging Temperance.][1]

The voice echoed directly into the head instead of being transmitted through sound waves. The middle-aged man slowly opened his chilling fully black eyes and gazed at the otherworldly monster.

“I-I have something to report!”

The otherworldly monster known as Raging Temperance quickly reported what had happened on Earth. The eyes of the middle-aged man, who had been listening in silence, gradually began to shine.

[Half of the Cockroaches were killed in one blow?]

“N-Not just the Cockroaches. The number of Nests added to the vanguard was greatly reduced as well!”

[Oh?]

The middle-aged man leaned on one side of the throne, highly intrigued. He slowly raised his arm and looked down at himself. To be more exact, he thought about the

former

owner of this body.

[He was disappointing,] the man said as he clicked his tongue.

The man had been highly anticipating the battle against the strongest martial artist in Huan but was utterly disappointed after getting to fight him.

[Haaa.]

The Parasite King[2] sighed deeply. He had not managed to find anyone who could break his boredom. He had been bored for a very long time; being the strongest for what seemed like forever was no different from suffering a long and gruesome death. Parasites endlessly desired to evolve, and the Parasite King arrived at the Triad to search for someone who could give him some sort of thrill.

[Then is he the one known as Bael?]

To be more exact, he had come in search of Bael.

“I-I do not know.” Raging Temperance shook his head. “But... I do not believe it is Bael because I heard that he is a demon.”

There was no way that a demon would use golden energy.

[Hmm.] The Parasite King shook his head in disappointment and slowly rose from his throne. [Well, I might as well warm up before I face Bael.]

The Parasite King headed to the red Rift with a smile.

***

“Fuuu,” Oh Kang-Woo exhaled.

The ashes made from burning the insects filling the skies of Seoul were falling like snow.

“Not bad.”

Kang-Woo lightly warmed up with a smile. He could now use wide-area attacks like this after his mastery over the Flames of Voracity rose.

‘Though it consumes an ungodly amount of Divinity.’

𝐟𝕣𝕖𝐞𝐰𝕖𝚋𝐧𝗼𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝗰𝐨𝐦

He needed to mix Divinity with his demonic energy to use the Flames of Voracity effectively. He could use as much demonic energy as he liked, but it took quite a lot of time to replenish Divinity.

‘That’s enough for now.’

Kang-Woo did not want to risk running out of Divinity before fighting the boss because he was spamming AOE attacks. Making the insects that were attacking civilians retreat was good enough.

Crack! Crunch—!

“Hyung-nim!”

“Kang-Woo hyung!”

As for the rest of the insects that survived the flames, Kim Si-Hun and Kim Tae-Hyun were running toward Kang-Woo as they killed the insects. The monsters that were like natural disasters to regular people were nothing more than slightly larger cockroaches to the two of them. Several insects were wiped out with each of their sword swings.

‘Nice.’

Kang-Woo smiled. Saving his own Divinity stores was exactly why he had raised Si-Hun.

‘Thank God I made him awaken Deific Essence before this happened.’

Kang-Woo couldn’t help but smile, seeing the asset that he had steadily raised pay off.

“What in the world are these monsters...?” Si-Hun looked around with a stiff expression.

Their numbers had considerably reduced thanks to Kang-Woo’s attack, but there were still countless monsters flying around Seoul.

Si-Hun looked up at the Rift in the sky and asked, “Has the otherworldly invasion... finally begun?”

“I think it’s safe to assume so.” Kang-Woo nodded with a frown. He slowly raised his arm, spreading golden energy throughout the area. “I have no idea which world they came from, but there’s only one thing we need to do.”

Crunch, crunch.

Kang-Woo absorbed the insect corpses with the Authority of Predation and narrowed his eyes. He couldn’t see the memories of those whom he devoured with the Authority of Predation, but he could at least find out their habits, characteristics, and weaknesses.

“Parasites...”

Kang-Woo was able to find out from the information flowing into his head that these otherworldly lifeforms were known as Parasites.

‘I guess that explains their insect-like appearance.’

They followed the commands of a superior just like bees and ants.

‘The difference is...’

Kang-Woo narrowed his eyes. He flew into the sky as he checked the information that he gained from the Authority of Predation.

“That must be the

Nest

.”

He could see a giant red cocoon-like mass on top of a high-rise building. It was getting larger as it corroded the building with the giant stems that protruded from it. The red mass split open and hundreds of Parasites poured out from it.

Kang-Woo brought the Guardians token to his mouth. “Layla.”

[Ah, yes! K-Kang-Woo!] Layla answered through the token.

Kang-Woo could also hear the screeches of monsters; Layla seemed to be fighting against the Parasites as well somewhere else in Seoul.

“Please let the members tasked to evacuate the citizens to destroy the red cocoons on top of high-rise buildings.”

[But what about the civilians—]

“I have a plan.”

Layla remained silent for a moment. [Okay. I trust you, Kang-Woo.]

She made a quick decision as always. She ordered the Guardians members to destroy the cocoons as soon as she ended the call with Kang-Woo.

“Now, then.”

Kang-Woo put the token back in his pocket and closed his eyes.

- Yeon-Joo.

- Kurgh! Wh-Where the hell are you?! And what the hell are these crazy-ass insects?

Cha Yeon-Joo’s voice echoed within his head. Kang-Woo did not have the time to explain to her what was happening.

- I’m going to send you a portion of my Deific Essence, so kill as many Parasites attacking civilians as possible.

- ...

- Iris is near you as well, right?

- Y-Yeah.

Yeon-Joo was working with the expeditionary troops from Aernor in Seoul after becoming Kang-Woo’s incarnation. It was to build friendly relations with the people of Aernor, who had spread the Church of Splendor throughout Earth, now that she had become the God of Splendor’s incarnation.

- Evacuate the citizens with the help of Aernor’s troops.

- Then what are you going to...

Yeon-Joo was about to say something worriedly but stopped herself because she knew how pointless it was to worry about him in this situation.

- Got it. I’ll get right on it.

Kang-Woo nodded after getting Yeon-Joo’s answer and turned to Si-Hun and Tae-Hyun.

“There should be evolved lifeforms commanding the Parasites near the Nests. I’ll be counting on you guys to kill them.”

“What about y—”

“Si-Hun,” Kang-Woo cut Si-Hun off and said in a low tone, “I’m counting on you.”

Si-Hun closed his eyes and bit his lip. He created a formless blue sword, narrowed his eyes, and nodded. He responded energetically, “Understood, hyung-nim.”

Kang-Woo smiled.

“Kang-Woo hyung...” Tae-Hyun called anxiously.

Blood mixed with sweat was pouring down his cheeks from his eyes. The burning sky and the distorted earth... Things were playing out exactly as the future he saw. All that was left was the hill made of corpses.

“Don’t worry.” Kang-Woo placed his hand on Tae-Hyun’s shoulder and smiled faintly. “I won’t let that future... come to be.”

Kang-Woo turned away from Tae-Hyun, who was blankly staring at him in silence.

‘Now, then.’

Kang-Woo looked up at the red Rift burning the sky.

“Let’s go.”

He did not intend to wait to be attacked like an idiot.

‘If Earth is being attacked because it’s linked to the outer world, I don’t see a reason why we can’t attack them.’

“But man, I don’t wanna eat goddamn bugs.”

‘Well, I guess I have no choice. They’re a great source of protein.’

Taste was not important; nutrition was all that mattered.

Boom—!!

Kang-Woo stomped on the ground and flew up into the air without hesitation.

1. Looks like this is a reference to the novel The Second Coming of Gluttony, which is also on Wuxiaworld. ☜

2. Not to be confused with the Parasite Queen. ☜