Chapter 474 - I Didn’t Think So Either

“Master Kang-Woo?”

Lilith looked down at the collapsing world and then at Kang-Woo dumbfoundedly. Kang-Woo’s shoulders flinched.

“Well... You see,” Kang-Woo stuttered as he squeezed out an excuse. “The skills combined all of a sudden... Bael, that scumbag...”

Kang-Woo tried to make whatever excuse he could, but there was no way any of them would work after they saw with their own eyes Kang-Woo turning Huan into ash with the Flames of Voracity.

“Haaa,” Lilith sighed deeply as she stared at Kang-Woo dumbfoundedly. “Let’s go back to Earth. It’ll be dangerous if we stay here for any longer.”

Once the Flames of Voracity reached Huan’s inner core, there would be an explosion close to a supernova. Kang-Woo might survive with the Doors open, but his retainers like Balrog, Echidna, Halcyon, and others could not survive the explosion.

“Okay.” Kang-Woo nodded without argument as the culprit for Huan’s destruction. “Let's go back.”

Kang-Woo flapped his wings as he stared at the red Rift connected to Earth. The Rift was gradually getting smaller, possibly due to Huan’s destruction. Kang-Woo and the others turned their backs on the collapsing Huan and threw themselves into the Rift.

Whoosh!

“Urgh...”

Filled with smoke, Seoul came into view along with a slight dizziness.

“For the light!!”

“The God of Splendor will guide us to salvation!!”

“Let us fight as one!”

The first thing Kang-Woo saw was the members of the Church of Splendor from Aernor, with Cha Yeon-Joo at the forefront.

“Ohmeeeeeeeeeeeen!!!” Yeon-Joo preached as she sprayed red chains covered in thorns, which were now covered in brilliant golden light, at the Parasites that had reached the heart of the city.

Crunch! Smash!!

The chains infused with the power of Divinity pierced several Parasites hiding in buildings.

‘She’s doing well.’

Kang-Woo looked down at Yeon-Joo in satisfaction. She had said at first that she would rather die than shout

Ohmen

, but she had become the most faithful devotee of the Church of Splendor after Kang-Woo’s sincere (smartphone-induced) persuasion.

Yeon-Joo was not lacking in any way as the incarnation of the God of Splendor as she wiped out the regular Parasites attacking civilians instead of fighting against the evolved lifeforms one-on-one.

‘Let’s see. Where are Si-Hun and Tae-Hyun...?’

Kang-Woo had ordered them to neutralize the Evolved Parasites. He searched the area with the Authority of the Beholder and felt two beings exuding powerful energies speeding around the city. Kang-Woo nodded after figuring out why.

“The Parasites must have changed strategies.”

The Parasites noticed that reinforcements were no longer arriving from the red Rift and decided to switch their approach to a guerilla tactic of buying time by scattering throughout the city.

‘A wise choice for a bunch of insects.’

It was only natural since the Parasites had no way of defeating the twin protagonists Kim Si-Hun and Kim Tae-Hyun head-on.

‘Si-Hun and Tae-Hyun seem to be having a hard time because of that.’

There were countless places for Parasites to hide in the heart of Seoul. Since Si-Hun and Tae-Hyun couldn’t afford to destroy buildings to find the Parasites, they had no choice but to run around to find them.

“Thank goodness I was transferred control.”

Kang-Woo separated from the group and flew across the skies of Seoul by himself. He moved to an area where he could see the entirety of the Han River and slowly raised his arm. There was no way he would let such a wonderful opportunity pass by.

[Hear me, evil parasites.]

Kang-Woo’s voice was transmitted directly into the people’s minds.

Whoooom!!

Brilliant golden light spread throughout the surroundings. Even his wings were covered in golden light instead of the Flames of Voracity.

[The God of Splendor commands you.]

Kang-Woo used the privileges transferred to him from the Parasite King. Kang-Woo wondered for a moment if he should use the Parasites as his pawns.

‘It’s not worth it.’

After weighing the benefit of being able to control the Parasites and the risk of people possibly finding out that they were under Kang-Woo’s control, it was far better to just rid himself of them.

Kang-Woo commanded the Parasites hiding throughout the entire city, [Die.]

“Gyaaaaaaaaah!”

“

Skreeeee!!

”

The Parasites all over Seoul screeched and began to rip themselves apart with their front legs akin to scythes.

‘And for the finishing touches.’

Kang-Woo scattered the golden light around him, which had no effect other than its color, throughout the city to add some more visual effect.

“A-Aaaahh.”

“O God of Splendor...”

“S-Salvation! It is the light of salvation!”

People mistook the golden light as the cause of the Parasites’ deaths.

“Good.”

Kang-Woo smiled. This was far better for the eyes than simply commanding the Parasites to die.

‘I can hear Slushy cheering from here.’

This event would grow the Church of Splendor’s reputation severalfold as well as amplify his Divinity collection.

“Hyung-nim!”

Si-Hun quickly ran toward Kang-Woo using Void Steps.

“What’s the damage?” Kang-Woo asked.

“Most of the civilians were safely evacuated thanks to the help of Guardians and the Aernor soldiers, but the people who were attacked before that were...”

Si-Hun lowered his head with a somber expression. Kang-Woo smiled bitterly and nodded.

‘It couldn’t be helped since we were the ones invaded.’

Rather, it was a miracle that there had been minimal casualties from such a sudden large-scale invasion.

‘It might have ended up like the future that Tae-Hyun saw if I didn't fly into the Rift.’

Seoul would have become no different from Hell for sure, forming a mountain of corpses and a river of blood.

‘But I managed to stop it.’

Kang-Woo was not able to save Huan, but he was at least able to protect Earth. He had stopped the first invasion from the outer worlds.

“Hyung-nim. I will go to the evacuation area with Layla.”

“Got it. I’m sure everyone is panicking, so try to keep them under control.”

The citizens would more or less listen to Si-Hun since he was the globally famous Sword Dragon. Si-Hun nodded and quickly leaped away. Kang-Woo flew down to the top of a highrise building.

“Fuuu.”

Even Kang-Woo was exhausted after a battle as heavy as this one.

‘I also opened the Doors.’

Kang-Woo looked down at his heart. The doors of the Ten Thousand Demon Core sealing the Demonic Sea were closed shut.

‘There... weren’t any side effects again.’

He couldn’t feel even a prickle of the excruciating pain that inevitably came with opening the Doors.

Kang-Woo’s expression froze. He knew that it was not good news. To make a comparison, it was like feeling no pain after one’s limbs were severed.

‘I’ve heard that the most terrifying kind of cancer was a painless one.’

Kang-Woo turned around with a sorrowful expression. He could instinctively tell that it was dangerous as it was now, but he had no other choice since nothing was strong enough to replace opening the Doors.

“That aside, what are those bastards from Olympus doing?”

Kang-Woo frowned as he looked down at the city. Even if they were busy managing the divine realm, not manifesting while Earth was being attacked was unacceptable.

‘I’ll have to bring this up to that bitch Gaia later.’

“K-Kang-Woo hyung!”

Kang-Woo heard Tae-Hyun’s voice as he was gritting his teeth inside his head. Kang-Woo turned to see a riled-up Tae-Hyun with tear streaks around his eyes.

“Did we... do it?” Tae-Hyun asked.

There was no need to even think about what he was asking.

“Yeah.” Kang-Woo lightly nodded. “We stopped the future that you saw... with our own hands.”

Tae-Hyun became teary-eyed. He lowered his head as his shoulders subtly trembled. “

Sniff

. I’m... I’m, so glad.”

He had suffered from immense shock after seeing the end of the world through Foresight. He could no nothing but despair as he saw the burning sky and the mountain of countless corpses.

‘We stopped it,’

Tae-Hyun thought.

Heroes had banded together to stop the end of the world.

“It would have been impossible... if not for you, Kang-Woo hyung.” Tae-Hyun wiped his tears, grabbed Kang-Woo’s hands, and smiled brightly.

“We stopped them together.” Kang-Woo lightly patted Tae-Hyun’s shoulders.

‘This guy looks more and more like a protagonist with each passing day.’

Kang-Woo couldn’t help but feel that way as he stared at Tae-Hyun bawling his eyes from the fact that they stopped the end of the world. Si-Hun felt like the protagonist of a Korean fantasy story and Tae-Hyun felt like the protagonist of a Japanese light novel.

‘They both feel like heroes of their own stories but Tae-Hyun is a bit more of a pushover... or should I say that he’s more sentimental?’

Si-Hun was able to make level-headed decisions to an extent but Tae-Hyun mostly acted based on his feelings. He was a textbook isekai chuunibyou protagonist. Even now, Si-Hun had headed to the evacuation area to do what he needed to do as soon as the invasion was dealt with, but Tae-Hyun was crying because he was so moved that the end of the world was stopped.

‘Well, if I had to choose, he’s easier to manipulate.’

Kang-Woo smiled as he stared at the crying Tae-Hyun.

‘He’d be usable if I raise him as a protagonist duo with Si-Hun.’

Tae-Hyun had also made significant contributions to stopping the invasion.

“Let’s go. We should regroup with Si-Hun—”

“Argh!” Tae-Hyun suddenly crouched as he grabbed his head. “Arghhhhhhhhh!!”

Blood vessels bulged around Tae-Hyun’s eyes. Tears mixed with blood flowed down his cheeks.

‘The hell? What’s up with him now?’

Kang-Woo stared at Tae-Hyun in confusion.

“A-Aaaahh.” Tae-Hyun stepped away from Kang-Woo, his eyes filled with terror. “No... It can’t be.”

‘What can’t be?’

“That’s... impossible.”

“...”

‘Oh, fuck. I know this pattern.’

“Wh-Why are you... hyung... n-no. There’s no way... hyung would...”

‘It’s not what I’m thinking, right? Right?’

“Wh-Why are you... there?”

‘Tae-Hyun. The future you saw was of Seoul after failing to stop the Parasite invasion, right? Right? I’m not in there, right?’

“It wasn’t... the Parasites?”

‘No, Tae-Hyun. It was the Parasites. I didn’t do any of that shit.’

“K-Kurgh!! Arghhhhh!!”

‘Why are you doing this, Tae-Hyun? I’m being a good boy. See? I even saved Earth from the Parasites.’

“...”

‘You know how much I care about you, right? I take super good care of my little brothers. You trust me, don’t you? You know how much I love you, right? Right? I didn’t express it in words, but you have no idea how moved I was when you called me hy—’

“Demon... King? God of Voracity? Wh-What? What the hell?!!”

“...”

“Hyung... You were the Demon of Prophecy?”

‘Mm. Yeah, I didn’t think so either. No one reads light novels these days.’