Chapter 262. Ragnarok Pt. 4

“Are you saying…” Lee Jun-Kyeong himself seemed shocked and was left speechless, let alone the others.

“It’s not the first time?” Zeus said on behalf of the dazed Lee Jun-Kyeong.

“I mean, it’s a little different if we’re being precise. A Jun-Kyeong, but not exactly this Jun-Kyeong…”

Zeus also seemed to be stimulated, his voice rising. “What on earth do you mean?”

Understanding their confusion, Heimdall continued with an expression of understanding, “I’m saying that it’s not the first time people with memories of the future have come to defeat the Demon King.”

“Fine…let’s continue with the assumption that what you’re saying is true. Then what did you mean that Jun-Kyeong isn’t this Jun-Kyeong?”

Heimdall looked over at Lee Jun-Kyeong.

“I have a guess,” Lee Jun-Kyeong said, having finally gotten over his shock. “The Book of the Demon King.”

“...”

“You’re saying that I’m not the only one who owns that book, right?”

Heimdall slowly nodded.

“In the past, the Demon King failed and then created books containing his power to correct the failed past. They were left to the future generations so that qualified people could return to the past and correct history,” Lee Jun-Kyeong said. His eyes were calm and his face was full of determination as he then continued, “Or at least, that’s what I thought. Am I right?”

“No,” Heimdall refuted firmly. “You’ve got it all wrong.”

“...”

“It’s not like that. The reason I said that you were Jun-Kyeong but also not exactly Jun-Kyeong was…” Heimdall slowly looked at Gehenna before continuing, “All the books only have one owner. You. However, when you go back to the past, your names always change. The name Lee Jun-Kyeong isn’t even your real name right now, right?”

“...”

“Like you said, the Demon King had his own intentions for leaving the books behind,” Heimdall said in a charged manner. “However, that book was only meant for one person.

Lee Jun-Kyeong took a deep breath. Something…something felt wrong. He intuitively felt as though he shouldn’t be listening to this.

Fortunately, Heimdall considered his feelings and continued, “I’ll tell you everything.”

***

“Like Jun-Kyeong said, the Demon King is, by nature, a Hunter like us. Someone who lived in the same era as we did.”

Everyone paid attention as Heimdall began his tale.

“Although he may not have been in the public eye, he had unrivaled strength and was someone who sacrificed everything, more so than anyone else, to save humanity.”

“...”

“As he grew stronger, the world found more and more stability. His actions during the cataclysm saved many people’s lives.”

“That…” Jeong In-Chang interrupted Heimdall. “That sounds like Mr. Lee.”

“Yes.” Heimdall nodded. “Jun-Kyeong is following a path similar to the first path that the Demon King had taken. He values humanity and sacrifices himself to save people.”

Heimdall’s eyes shifted over to Lee Jun-Kyeong.

“Of course he would.”

Heimdall took a moment to catch his breath.

“It’s only natural as Jun-Kyeong is no different from the Demon King.”

“...”

Everyone held their breath, but none of them reacted with any alarm or surprise. They already had their suspicions.

‘I thought that was the case.’

‘It really was suspicious.’

‘I did think that was possible.’

The stories about the Demon King that they had briefly heard from Lee Jun-Kyeong had made them think that Lee Jun-Kyeong and the Demon King were similar. That hadn’t changed over time.

Additionally, he was the owner of that special item called the Book of the Demon King. Considering they both possessed inexplicable powers, it was reasonable that the two of them might be the same person.

“Because we have never met the Demon King… If Mr. Lee and the Demon King really were completely separate entities, that we would have met him as an ally rather than as an enemy,” Merlin said.

“That itself is also a misunderstanding.”

“What…”

“Although Jun-Kyeong and the Demon King are the same type of person, in this timeline, the Demon King is a different type of being.”

“What on earth are you talking about?!”

Everything that Heimdall said just became more and more incomprehensible.

“I’ll explain everything one by one. The Demon King failed in his first timeline. He risked everything to save humanity, but Gehenna still destroyed the Earth.”

“...”

“Wait, Jun-Kyeong, isn’t that different from the history you know?”

“Yes. From what I understand, Gehenna had been taken down, and Eden was erected.”

“Yes, yes. I’m trying to explain it all right now.” Heimdall raised his head. “The Demon King had more special abilities than anyone else. Abilities that even he, let alone anyone else, knew about.”

Lee Jun-Kyeong knew what Heimdall was referring to. “Time regression…”

It was the ability to go back in time. Moreover, the trigger condition was most likely his failure or death.

“He probably went back in time after failing in his first timeline. After doing so, he would have worked harder and harder to succeed then.”

Heimdall nodded and said, “However, despite his first regression, the Demon King still failed. There was a second, a third… His regressions continued over and over again. But, he just kept failing.”

“Oh my god…” Merlin gasped, covering her mouth with both hands. “How could someone repeat the same thing, over and over again, for such a long time? And with just the sole purpose of saving the world?”

Just three regressions would have been over sixty years. That wasn’t all.

“Has he also gone to Andlangr?”

Heimdall nodded.

“With just three regressions, that would have been at least a hundred years…” Arthur also said in astonishment.

If that time would have been days of peace, that might have been okay. However, every second of that time was filled with death and destruction. He had to live that era, where people constantly needed to be saved and where there were countless casualties, over and over again.

“So…” Lee Jun-Kyeong asked slowly. “How many times did he have to regress to succeed?”

The Demon King must have eventually succeeded in order to create the timeline that Lee Jun-Kyeong knew. How long had it taken until then?

“I don’t know exactly, either. But…” Heimdall said as if he was reminiscing. “At first glance, it seemed it had taken about three thousand years for his first success.”

“Three thousand years…”

As everyone was paying attention to the time frame of three thousand years, Lee Jun-Kyeong was focused on Heimdall’s word choice.

“First success…”

“Yes.” Heimdall’s response changed Lee Jun-Kyeong’s doubts into confidence. “Even after his first success, there were many problems.”

“That would be…”

Heimdall nodded. “The era after his first success. That’s the era that you know. It was the era of Eden, where the Sponsors had taken the bodies of the humans to be resurrected.”

It was the time that Lee Jun-Kyeong had read about in the book of the Demon King.

***

‘Finally, I…’

It had been a long, long time. Over three thousand years to be exact. Three thousand years of going for a single goal.

There were times when he had given up and times when he had just surrendered himself to his fate. However, he inevitably returned to his original purpose. If he had been alone, he might have even been able to survive in that chaos, even in the midst of such absolute destruction. However, the others couldn’t.

In the timeline he had given up and had left himself to fate, everyone else had died a terrible death. That was true for those who were precious to him, those who had betrayed him, and even those whom he had nothing to do with.

He had been so lonely after everyone had died. If he could have just overcome that loneliness, then he wouldn’t have had to suffer anymore. But he couldn’t do it, and so he once again threw himself into his goal of saving the world.

This occurred for three thousand years.

‘Humans are weak.’

Humanity could never overcome the aggression of their Sponsors. If it weren’t for his ability to regress back in time, then he would have also just been another human being lost in a world that had already perished. However, he had that ability.

‘It was long, and longer still.’

He had found a way to make full use of his ability.

Although he had tried to overcome it all by himself, when he had reached the age of a thousand, he gave up. He couldn’t do anything on his own.

‘The others have to become stronger.’

He now believed that his companions had to become stronger. He studied and studied his ability of time regression. Eventually, he was able to understand it.

‘It’s impossible to use my powers on others. Their memories aren’t passed down. But there is one weak power that can be.’

It was an ability that he had gained by chance during one of his regressions: the powers of the source. That could be passed down, regardless of the time or the regression. So, he used it to strengthen himself and his companions. They had been weak at first, but, as time went by and his regressions repeated, his companions became stronger.

Then, once his companions and himself had all become extremely powerful, he had achieved his purpose. He had reached Gehenna, faced and slaughtered the hellish monsters that had emerged from the transcendental-graded gate, and cleared it.

Furthermore, he wasn’t alone.

'Everyone…’

He had done it with his companions.

They had overcome Gehenna, and he had assumed that they had reached the end. It was over. But, at that moment, Zeus began to groan.

‘Ugh…’

Thud.

Athena fell.

‘No…’

Horus lost consciousness.

‘Please!’

Heimdall screamed.

This was the first time he had reached the end of Gehenna, and he found himself unable to stay composed due to the sudden situation. Even his mind, which had been trained for three thousand years, couldn’t accept what was going on. Then, a voice came to him.

[Accept me.]

His Sponsor—it was definitely its voice.

'What?'

In that moment he had taken to enjoy the joy of his victory, a terrible pain overtook him.

‘UGH!’

‘No! Please…!’

The screams of his companions continued. Everyone was experiencing the same thing. There was a feeling of helplessness where all of the mana and vitality of their bodies were disappearing. There was a strange sensation of something creeping in and excruciating pain was taking over them.

[You played your role properly.]

The voice that was only supposed to be within his ears was searing directly into his brain.

[To think you could use my abilities so well. None of the others were able to withstand any of the pain that comes with time and destroyed themselves.]

‘Don't…treat us humans like objects!’

[You are terrific. Unlike the other failures, you were able to lead everyone to this point.]

He tried to get away, but he couldn’t escape.

[There is no use in resisting. The more you regress, and the stronger you become, the more you accept of me.]

Crack.

His body stopped.

[You are already mine.]

The pain stopped. His mind went blank.

‘Fuck…off…’

There was something his Sponsor didn’t know. It had said that its powers had accumulated within him through repeated time regressions.

‘Do you think things will just end like this?!’

It wasn’t just its powers that had accumulated within him over those long years.

His willpower.

The terrible loneliness.

The experience of losing his loved ones.

Even the tenacity to overcome the things that made him want to give up.

‘I am not yours!’

He already had the power to escape.

[Th…this is impossible! How could such an insignificant…!]

When a panicked voice rang in his head, bloody tears flowed from his eyes.

‘The one to be consumed is you.’

He had regained control of his mind and body. Instead of being overtaken, he had trapped it inside of his body, fusing the Sponsor into him.

The Sponsor’s voice then disappeared. He couldn’t believe it. That bastard, the Sponsor, his companion, who had been with him for all of those years, had actually been a thief who had been targeting his body. When he opened his eyes, all of his companions had disappeared.

‘...’

All he could see was the wide-open exit of Gehenna.

***

Heimdall said, “That was his second beginning.”