Chapter 233. The Meaning of the Cataclysm Pt. 3

“The cataclysm can be called…” The first question that Saeynkaed answered was about the cataclysm. “It can be seen as the final chapter.”

“The final chapter?”

“Do you know what lies at the end of the cataclysm?” Saeynkaed asked.

Lee Jun-Kyeong nodded slowly.

How could he forget? At the end of the cataclysm, there was only one thing: a single gate.

“Gehenna…”

It was the harbinger of the end, and it was something etched into history, etched into his memory. Gehenna had served as the marker that the world had reached the final stages of the cataclysm.

‘It was the most terrifying gate of them all, the bringer of an unprecedented catastrophe.’

The world had suffered almost irrecoverable damage throughout the cataclysm in the previous timeline. However, during the current timeline, the damage that the world had faced was nowhere near that of Lee Jun-Kyeong’s past yet.

‘Back then, the Demon King hadn’t destroyed England…or even established his power, for that matter.’

In truth, more than half of the damage that had wracked the world in the current cataclysm was the direct or indirect result of the Demon King’s actions. In the previous timeline, the cataclysm itself had caused little damage.

England still existed in Lee Jun-Kyeong’s past, alive and well, and the Round Table emerged to protect its people. Moreover, because a large number of British Hunters survived, they were then able to go out and defend Europe.

It was the same for the Korean Hunters. In the previous timeline, the Demon King even joined forces with the Hunters to defeat the monsters that arose in the cataclysm, taking down the Ruler himself.

Because any Ruler who died at the hands of the Demon King wasn’t able to revive itself, Korea was quickly able to find stability.

As Korea was a Hunter powerhouse, still standing strong after the defeat of the Ruler, the country dispatched its Heroes and Hunters all over the world, and the world soon entered a stable state.

It was then that the nightmare truly began.

‘Gehenna.’

The most terrifying gate of them all appeared. Although it was only a single gate, its ripple effect was far greater than anything that had ever appeared before it.

It appeared in the center of Korea, but its effects reached across the entire world. Moreover, the monsters that appeared from it were on a completely different level from any monsters before them.

The survivors of all the Hell that had come thus far, the cities that had stood the test of apocalypse, were all crushed and killed by the monsters that emerged. Even the Hunters and Heroes that had only brought the horns of victory thus far died in the face of the monster tides.

Desperate to block the neverending tides of monsters, they turned to the method they always relied on, the best way to stop it all.

‘Closing the gate.’

Gehenna was a unique gate that spewed out monsters even though it hadn’t undergone a gate break. So, the only option was to go inside and raid the boss.

The world assumed that was the best way to end the situation at hand. It was a large-scale operation involving all of the named Heroes. Not only the Demon King, but also Zeus, who had laid the foundation for Eden, entered Gehenna.

In the silence, in the destruction, people waited for many days. Finally, after a long time passed, they saw the signs.

‘Gehenna had been closed.’

The day that Gehenna was closed and the raid was completed, the cataclysm ended. However, that didn’t mean the fight was over.

The Heroes that had entered Gehenna all showed their true colors—their ambition to dominate all of humanity. They wanted to build an organization that would rule over the planet through the incredible power they had obtained from Gehenna, while the Demon King fought against their ambition.

The result of the battle was something Lee Jun-Kyeong already knew: the defeat of the Demon King. Eden was established, and the organization lived on, continuing to the era in which Lee Jun-Kyeong lived.

That was what Lee Jun-Kyeong knew.

Looking at Lee Jun-Kyeong, Saeynkaed’s eyes widened.

“As expected, from the one who had the power of the source… Those who know that name are rare even amongst the Rulers…”

Saeynkaed seemed genuinely surprised, and she nodded. “At the end of the cataclysm is Gehenna. That is the end of the final chapter.”

But then, did that mean that Gehenna was what brought destruction and devastation?

Lee Jun-Kyeong couldn’t understand.

Gehenna was the beginning of Eden, so it definitely wasn’t a herald of the apocalypse or anything like that.

However, his thoughts shifted as Saeynkaed’s ensuing question brought about a grave issue deep within Lee Jun-Kyeong.

“Do you know what Gehenna is?”

“...”

Lee Jun-Kyeong had no answer to that question.

Even in history, even in the Book of the Demon King, there wasn’t a single mention of what had happened within the Transcendental-grade Gate, Gehenna. It wasn’t easy for him to guess what sorts of horrors lurked within Gehenna, but he didn’t need to do so, as Saeynkaed seemed to know the answer.

“No, but you do. Tell me.”

The apocalypse she referred to was different from what he had been expecting.

“Gehenna is another Andlangr created directly by the Sponsors to take away the bodies of the Incarnations for themselves.”

What she said was even worse than he had expected.

“The Incarnations that entered to close Gehenna either all died because they couldn’t stand the power of the souls of their Sponsors…”

Basically, it was a different form of the end of the world.

All of the strongest Hunters would be annihilated, no longer able to hunt the monsters escaping from Gehenna. The world would be trampled on by the monsters and perish, unable to do anything as the people watched everything crumble around them.

But, even worse than that…

“Or their bodies were taken over by the Sponsors…”

It was the ending that the absolute beings wanted. They were finally getting the bodies they so desperately desired.

“It signaled the birth of a world where the absolute beings would descend.”

Just as Saeynkaed said, it was the true end of the apocalypse.

It was only after this explanation that Lee Jun-Kyeong was sure of it.

His eyes shifted toward Zeus. He had been a Hero in the previous timeline who had entered Gehenna and returned alive as the founder of Eden.

Zeus…

“A Sponsor…that was what you became.”

***

It had served as the end of the cataclysm and the beginning of Eden.

However, the Eden made after Gehenna wasn’t actually founded by Zeus. Instead, it was founded by the Zeus who had been deprived of his body by his Sponsor.

The Master of the Blue Current was the real master of Eden. The others in Eden wouldn’t have been different. Everyone would have been empty shells stolen by their Sponsors.

They were living nightmares.

All of the suffering in the previous timeline was because of the Sponsors.

Lee Jun-Kyeong staggered from the gravity of the unbelievable truth. It wasn’t the Heroes that the Demon King fought, full of hubris, calling themselves gods. No, it was a battle against true gods, a battle to save mankind and save mankind from the resurrected nightmare.

He was truly a Hero. Lee Jun-Kyeong didn’t know what had happened to the current Demon King, but the Demon King in his other life was definitely a true Hero.

“But…”

There was something Lee Jun-Kyeong didn’t understand.

“We can assume that all of those who entered Gehenna and came out alive lost their bodies, right?” Lee Jun-Kyeong asked.

The Demon King confronted the Sponsors. But if that was the case, then… What the hell did it mean that he fought against them? Was he the Hero that Lee Jun-Kyeong knew him to be? Or was it all just a Sponsor fighting another Sponsor?

Saeynkaed nodded as if to acknowledge it was a reasonable question.

“If they returned alive from Gehenna, their bodies were taken over. There was no other possible way to leave that space. In the first place, the Incarnations received their power from the Sponsors. What I mean is, they are the ones who are encroaching on the Sponsors’ lands…no, they fell into a trap that was already waiting for them.”

“And, of course, they would have their bodies taken away in that case,” Zeus finished for her.

“Yes, it’s only to be expected. If they couldn’t accept the power of their Sponsor, they’d either die…”

“Or be used as a Ruler like you.”

“Exactly.”

“No,” Lee Jun-Kyeong said, interrupting the conversation between the two.

“There has to have been an instance of one entering Gehenna and not being taken over by one’s Sponsor, right?” Lee Jun-Kyeong said to Saeynkaed. “Like the way you were freed from the bondage of the system. There must be some sort of similar way to avoid the Sponsors.”

He was referring to an exceptional being. The others had been used in whatever way the Sponsors desired or had been forced to play the part of the immortal puppet Rulers.

However, the Ruler in front of them, Saeynkaed, was different.

During their battle, she had found a way out of the system’s noose. That was what they were searching for—the method to escape the hands of the Sponsors.

“The powers of the source.”

“The powers of the source.”

Lee Jun-Kyeong and Saeynkaed looked at each other and spoke at the same time.

Although Lee Jun-Kyeong wasn’t quite sure of what it really was, he knew they needed that power.

“You’re right. If one holds the powers of the source, it should be theoretically possible to not lose control of one’s body even within Gehenna.”

It was the reason that Lee Jun-Kyeong was sure that the Demon King didn’t have his body stolen from him. He was sure that the Demon King was still a human being, not a Sponsor with grudges against other Sponsors.

The powers of the source that Saeynkaed said Lee Jun-Kyeong had to have had was why Lee Jun-Kyeong was sure that the Demon King was still the Demon King. Lee Jun-Kyeong’s strength came from that source, after all. If he had those powers, then the Demon King definitely had them as well.

If that were the case, then the Demon King’s body shouldn’t have been stolen away within Gehenna. He had remained human and fought against the Sponsors as a Hero.

“You said that these ‘powers of the source’ weren’t the Arms of Surtr.”

According to Saeynkaed, Lee Jun-Kyeong’s Authority of Fire was not what she was talking about.

But if that was the case, then what did he and the Demon King have in common?

Whatever it was, it had to be the powers of the source.

“Our dimension was special,” Saeynkaed said, finally moving on to talking about the powers of the source.

***

It was a world where humans and the other races coexisted.

In Saeynkaed’s world, there existed beings that were referred to as monsters, beings that were like the human race that Lee Jun-Kyeong and Zeus belonged to.

Races like elves, or the race that Saeynkaed belonged to.

“Our original name was the Draconians.”

Lee Jun-Kyeong didn’t know much about other dimensions, so he listened to Saeynkaed’s story with interest.

It was the first time he heard about the Draconians and the origins of the dragons—the so-called strongest race.

“Thanks to our incredibly sturdy bodies, we were able to escape the genocide wrought on by the humans in our dimension. However, to be honest, it’s a little much to call it an escape. The only option we really had was to hide in the depths of the earth and avoid the gazes of the humans.”

‘To think that the dragons had such a history…’ Zeus now also looked at Saeynkaed with interest.

“Centuries passed in that manner, and we were forced to go deeper and deeper underground to escape the pursuit of humans.”

Anger flickered on her face. Lee Jun-Kyeong wondered if she had also been through that tragedy.

No, she couldn’t have. She had been a dragon from birth.

The anger she was expressing right now was the innate rage from her race, an indelible grudge engraved deep within her bones.

“One day, one of our ancestors who had gone underground and lived through that bereft life…found it.” Saeynkaed's eyes shone.”

“It?”

“The ancestors said that it was, at the same time, fire, water, and forest.”

“...”

Lee Jun-Kyeong and Zeus couldn’t understand what she was trying to say.

Saeynkaed looked at the two and smiled. “I know it doesn’t make sense, but that was the only way they described it. We also didn’t know what they meant. Still, that didn’t mean that their words were lies.”

Saeynkaed's eyes widened.

“After our ancestors discovered it, our race was completely transformed. Our race, which hadn’t been able to use mana, whose only benefit was a sturdy body…”

“You became the Lords of Magic. You became the dragons.”

If that was the case, then what her ancestors had discovered had completely transformed their race.

“It was the powers of the source. I didn’t know it then. However, after I became a Ruler and sifted for information for eons, what I discovered was that the object my ancestors had found was a fragment of the powers of the source.”

That power had created a race that could be called the strongest.

“However, it eventually turned out to be a disaster.”

“The Sponsors were seeking the powers of the source…”

“Exactly. They discovered the fragment in our dimension and saw potential in us.”

A plan must have been devised to take over the dragons’ bodies, and they must have begun their invasion. Creating more incarnations like they did to Lee Jun-Kyeong and Zeus, starting the sponsorship process.

In the process, amid the overflowing tide of monsters, the dimension would have been driven to destruction.

“They still must have failed.”

Saeynkaed was the strongest dragon, and she had still been relegated to becoming a Ruler.

“You’re right. However, it wasn’t because of the powers of the source. The powers of the source that we had obtained had really only been a small piece of a fragment. So small that all of the powers of the source disappeared in the process of turning the Draconians into dragons.”

Saeynkaed lowered her head as if she was thinking back to her dimension for a moment. “That’s not the important part. Either way, although the powers of the source disappeared back then, the influence of that power and the memories of my ancestors still remain within me.”

Saeynkaed looked directly at Lee Jun-Kyeong.

“The powers you exhibited, I saw it within those flames.”

Because she had been influenced by the powers of the source, Saeynkaed was sure of what she had seen and what she had felt inside her.

That connection was the reason she had been able to escape the bondage of the system. Within the powers that Lee Jun-Kyeong had shown that held a glimpse of extremity, she had found what they all had been searching for.

“You have that power. A greater power than our ancestors discovered.”

Lee Jun-Kyeong knew that this information had the potential to bring things to a true end, so he was cautious with his next question. “If, by chance…the powers of the source that you speak about…”

Lee Jun-Kyeong stared at the sky outside the window for a moment.

“Is there a possibility that I could have gotten it from sponsorship?”