Chapter 300: Seventy-Fifth Floor, The Old Man and the Spirits (6)

[Resolve the old man’s regrets. Time remaining: 10 hours 2 minutes.]

It was time to conquer the second event.

The familiar sensation of teleportation washed over me once again, and my vision slowly returned. I could feel the earth beneath my feet.

The moment I sensed the summoning was complete, I activated Shadow Veil.

Just like the previous event, my goal was to make an impactful appearance.

I am only meant to assist with the three failed events.

Timely interventions tended to leave the largest impact when they came at the brink of disaster. That was true in movies, comics, and novels alike.

Considering that I had been summoned atop a cliff that gave me a full view of the battlefield, I had been lucky the first time. That didn’t guarantee the next one would grant me such a convenient angle of attack, however.

It wouldn’t do to suddenly appear, dazed, in the middle of the battlefield.

Which was precisely why I had hidden myself immediately.

After cloaking both my presence and appearance, I turned my attention to my surroundings. I was located in the heart of a vast forest, shrouded by the darkness of night.

The dense layer of leaves overhead didn’t allow even a sliver of moonlight through.

Thick air and darkened soil surrounded me, matching the corrupted environment I had seen from Hyun’s hut—a telltale mark of one of the “Evils” he had spoken of.

I expanded my sensory range and noticed dozens of life signatures nearby, with thousands more in the distance.

Focusing on the deluge of information assaulting my senses, I began to assess the current situation.

***

“Huff— huff—”

Muk-Hyen, also known as the Empire’s Greatest Spear, was fleeing through the forest with his detachment at his side.

They exhaled raggedly in the heavy air. The escape had left their lungs on the brink of collapse, and they fell to the ground again, their tongues dry from exertion.

Muk-Hyen felt a chill run down the back of his neck, unlike any he had felt before. The instinct that had protected him since childhood now warned of imminent death.

He cursed silently to himself.

Damn it, where did it all go wrong?

If he had to trace it back, it all tied back to the shaman Hyun’s dimensional gate theory.

After the Great Flood—said to have occurred a thousand years ago—sea levels had never receded. The Empire had lost seventy percent of its territory, and the remaining habitable land was even smaller.

Any attempt to sail across the ocean failed due to violent storms and massive waves. Not a single soul had returned from the tens of thousands who had tried to cross.

A hundred sixty years ago, shamans prophesied the continent’s collapse.

“Sea levels will continue to rise.”

“The land is losing its strength.”

Over time, different regions began to lose their ability to grow crops, even to the point that magic wouldn’t be enough to enrich the soil. On top of that, the sea levels continued to rise, reducing the total available land.

There were two hundred forty years left until the projected end.

While shamans everywhere despaired, Hyun—hailed as the greatest of his generation—proposed a daring plan.

“According to ancient texts found in ruins, another dimension exists.”

“We can construct a gate to it using a resource called a Spirit Stone.”

“If our power is great enough, we can bring resources from that world, and perhaps even conquer it!”

In hindsight, it was an utter catastrophe, but the Emperor supported the idea wholeheartedly. With the outcome set in stone and the Emperor driven by a thirst to leave a legacy, he committed everything to the project.

Hundreds, even thousands, of shamans were mobilized. They scoured the land for Spirit Stones and constructed Hyun’s magic array.

The process took years.

Someone should have stopped it then.

The gate was completed. However, in the end, it was revealed that it wasn’t a gate to another dimension; it was a summoning circle.

Whether it was due to a mistranslation or misinterpretation of the ancient text, no one knew. Regardless, it brought forth three monstrous beings, each radiating unnatural power.

They were the Three Evils.

The Imperial castle fell almost immediately. The Emperor died, and Hyun—who had led the effort—vanished without a trace.

The crown prince, who had been hunting on the nearby plains, barely escaped by rallying the remaining soldiers. The princess, stationed in the southern region, was cut off with no path of retreat.

That is when it all began.

A war to prevent the fall of the continent started.

The Three Evils were sentient. They absorbed knowledge by devouring humans and slowly corrupted the land.

Still, the princess was shrewd. Seeing that the enemies had put in so much effort to surround her, she predicted that an escape would draw significant attention. So instead of having Muk-Hyen accompany her, she ordered him to infiltrate the heart of enemy territory—the Imperial castle.

Of the Three Evils, the Creeping Madness isn’t especially strong in direct combat.

It was responsible for maintaining the dimensional rift, drawing more otherworldly power to strengthen the Three Evils. With the Rising Dread stationed at the northern front and the Screaming Parasite pursuing the princess, the path to the castle had opened.

They only had one goal, which was to eliminate the Creeping Madness and weaken the remaining two Evils. If successful, they could tip the scales and claim victory in a war that had only been slipping further from their grasp.

The princess had wagered her life. Even if she and Muk-Hyen died, their sacrifice could ensure the continent’s survival.

So why is the Rising Dread in the castle?!

The Rising Dread was supposed to be on the northern front, the base the Crown Prince had secured. Now that the Screaming Parasite was tailing the princess, only the Creeping Madness should have remained in the castle.

Muk-Hyen quickly realized that the Creeping Madness had read the princess’s mind. It was something he had feared all along.

Isn’t the northern front supposed to be turbulent?

Even if the Rising Dread could fly, it shouldn’t have made it in time.

Did the Crown Prince pull back from the front temporarily?

It was the only plausible explanation.

Even if the region was swarming with monsters, a solid push could have held them at bay without the command of one of the Evils.

The Rising Dread’s screech split the sky.

“Skreeee—!”

Muk-Hyen snapped out of his thoughts and instinctively looked upward, his mouth dry.

A monstrous bird-like creature was soaring above them, massive enough to dwarf a cluster of homes. It had clearly spotted them.

At the same time, Muk-Hyen could feel the pressure from the monsters encircling them from every direction.

Making a split-second decision, he shouted to his detachment, “Damn it! Scatter! Live to see another day!”

No one had ever survived the Rising Dread’s pursuit once it spotted someone, but even the slimmest chance was worth the risk.

Before they could break formation, however, the Rising Dread let out another blood-curdling cry.

“Skreeeeee!”

It dove sharply toward the ground.

Muk-Hyen stopped in his tracks and spun around, pulling his spear from behind his shoulder. He knew his struggle was meaningly, but standing still and waiting for death was never an option.

Even if the creature’s feathers were harder than steel, he wanted to leave a scratch at the very least.

Fuck.

He continued breathing raggedly, shoulders and arms trembling from exhaustion. He hadn’t noticed it earlier, but he now realized that his grip had been so tight during the escape that the blood had stopped flowing to his hands.

Still, just once.

Muk-Hyeon wanted to land at least one clean hit.

Muttering inwardly, he drew upon his shamanic power. His spear glowed a vibrant, orange hue.

With all his strength, Muk-Hyeon hurled it. The world flashed at that moment.

He instinctively closed his eyes. When he opened them again, he saw his spear radiating with a brilliant, golden-blue light.

Wh-what is this?

The golden streak pierced through the dense darkness and struck the Rising Dread head-on.

Muk-Hyeon saw it all—clear as day.

Clang!

That was when he realized: the flash of golden light hadn’t come from him.

The moment it collided with the Rising Dread, he saw a mysterious silhouette.

“Skreeeeee—!”

The massive creature was struck like a common bird hit mid-flight, tumbling from the sky.

A second golden flash streaked downward.

Rumble— Boom!

Lightning tore through the sky and shattered the ground.

Despite all that destruction, the monsters were already charging toward Muk-Hyeon.

He yanked the dagger strapped to his thigh and shouted, “Focus!”

No sooner had the words left his mouth than shadows rose from beneath the trees—humanoid figures cloaked in darkness holding strange, iron devices.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

The lumps of iron spat fire, their thunderous roars shaking the forest like the act of creation itself.

Muk-Hyeon barely suppressed a gasp, though some of the men in his detachment screamed and collapsed to the ground.

“The earth is angry!”

Muk-Hyeon gritted his teeth and yelled, “No, it’s not that! Look closely!”

Bang! Bang!

With every burst of fire, another monster collapsed. It was like watching ghosts rip through reality.

“Skreeeeee!”

While his focus had been briefly pulled elsewhere, the Rising Dread’s dying cry echoed through the forest.

Muk-Hyeon turned his head immediately.

In an instant, one of the Three Evils had fallen. He couldn’t comprehend what had just happened. He was witnessing something so surreal, so impossible, that his mind couldn’t keep up.

As all living things do when faced with the incomprehensible, Muk-Hyeon turned to the heavens. “Oh, Divine Grace...”

Far in the distance, the golden light was watching them. Had the god heard him?

The light’s gaze lingered on them for a brief moment before swiftly turning away, heading toward the Imperial Capital.

Muk-Hyeon stood with his mouth agape, silently watching the retreating figure until the golden glow vanished from sight.

***

[Resolve the old man’s regrets. Time remaining: 9 hours 52 minutes.]

The battle ended far quicker than expected.

Just like in the previous event, I immediately assessed the situation and intervened at a critical moment.

The corrupted divine creature, the Rising Dread, had been eliminated swiftly. It hadn’t been difficult, but it did use up a significant amount of my reserves.

As I suspected, the second event is tougher than the first.

I had burned through every ounce of my divinity. Not even a sliver remained.

In fact, near the end, the divine energy I had left was so meager that I had considered dragging the fight out to recover a bit more before finishing it.

The creature had already been on the brink of death, though, so I bludgeoned it to death with pure mana. If I had been just slightly weaker, it would have dragged out longer than I wanted.

The shadow soldiers were surprisingly effective.

I had built a mental picture the moment I acquired the revolvers, and they matched it perfectly.

Though my allies had been a bit startled, likely due to the technological difference, that actually worked in my favor. Their unfamiliarity with such weaponry would only add to the mystique surrounding me.

As I ran, I scanned the area.

Even after the Rising Dread fell, the monsters aren’t retreating.

Unlike before, the corrupted land seemed to be enforcing its will on them.

I could have purged them with lightning, but I chose not to. I had used up too much divine energy and mana fighting the Rising Dread.

I turned my thoughts to the humans I had left behind.

They will be fine.

Hyun had told me that the second event would be centered around a rescue mission, just like with the princess. My priorities shifted the moment I entered this place, though.

The castle lay at the very edge of my vision. It was the same one I had glimpsed from Hyun’s hut, although a corrupted divine presence currently emanated from it.

Approximately fifteen minutes have passed.

That left me with about three hours and forty-five minutes to spare. If I could reach that castle and slay the corrupted being within it, then I probably wouldn’t even need to be sent to the past again.

The moment I saw that castle, I felt confident that it was a part of a hidden mission.

My divine energy and mana are running a bit low, but I should recover most of it on the way.

Defeating the Rising Dread had earned me a bit of divinity back, too.

This seemed like the right time to aim for the hidden mission.

Besides, the soldiers I encountered earlier all seemed fairly capable.

As long as the Rising Dread was gone, they wouldn’t die so easily. Additionally, once I made my way toward the castle, the monsters would start shifting their attention to me.

I let out a faint breath.

“Hoo—”

With the limited time I had to conquer the castle, it was starting to feel like a speedrun.

The thought amused me for a moment, but I shook the notion away.

Focus.

I was confronting the third Evil in advance, and that meant I needed to stay sharp.

As tension mounted, I picked up speed.