Chapter 1298

Chapter 1298

[The only way is to enter Hell through the pits of the Abyss.]

[Even I don’t know how far the pits of the Abyss could go. You won’t be able to determine how deep it could get or what type of things or people are living in it.]

[But... Helenia had hidden her fragment in its depths to restore her body.]

[That’s why I think it might be possible for you.]

[I don’t know how long it’ll take you to climb out of that place. You might even get locked up in that place forever. Or maybe you’ll get revived in the Beyond the Heavens Empire once you die. Too many variables make it hard for me to predict what will happen.]

[The only thing we can probably determine is where we will show up when we warp into the Abyss.]

[From what I can tell, Helenia had hidden her fragment in a place close to Hell.]

[I think it’s worth trying as long as we can appear in that location.]

Worry was etched on Obren’s face as he continued to speak.

[There are just way too many variables. I don’t even know what we can expect. Even so, will you still choose to go?]

Minhyuk just smiled at him. Obren understood what the young man wanted.

[Then, let’s depart right away.]

Minhyuk and Obren warped straight to Hell’s Abyss.

[You have entered Hell’s Abyss.]

[You are the first player to have stepped into Hell's Abyss.]

[The Hell’s Abyss is a deep and bottomless pit. No one knows where and when it ends.]

[The Abyss has several zones divided based on grades and ranks.]

[If you lose your path in the Abyss, there’s a high chance you will be trapped in its depths forever.]

[If you lose your path, you can escape by forcing yourself to log out.]

[However, if you choose the forced logout route, you will receive five times more than the usual penalty.]

[You have entered the Abyss’ K-135 Zone.]

The two were plunged into darkness. They could not see anything in front of them.

“How do you know if we’re going to the top or the bottom?”

[I don’t know either. We’ll just try to go up and find out if we’re going the right way.]

Obren smiled bitterly as he pointed a finger up. At that moment, something sprang up that made his eyes grow wide.

It was like a sinkhole had opened up, and tens of thousands of arms appeared. These arms belonged to those trapped in the walls of the Abyss and stretched toward Obren and Minhyuk as if they longed to touch them. The sight was hair-raising.

Minhyuk hurriedly summoned the Ego Chain Sickle. It could lead him to a higher and better ground.

[In five seconds, all the beings in K-135 Zone will start attacking you.]

Rumble!

The walls began to crumble, revealing the figure of the beings trapped within them. With their hair almost falling out and their skin rotting, they held tightly to various weapons and swayed with a silent rhythm. Both humans and non-humans alike groaned and roared. They looked and acted like zombies.

[Abyss Prisoner. Level 785.]

Their level was crazy high. Of course, even more special beings were trapped in the Abyss, and these beings were much stronger.

Obren created a light that illuminated their surrounding area. As the light rose higher, they could see countless arms on the walls of the never-ending Abyss.

[In one second...]

At that moment, the walls that trapped the millions of prisoners collapsed. Freed from their restraints, the prisoners hurriedly tried to grab onto Minhyuk and Obren.

“Go up!” Obren shouted. He had told Minhyuk that he could only stay here for fifteen minutes. After that, he would have to go back.

Huge lightning bolts fell and struck the prisoners who were trying to grab onto the two of them.

Clank, clank, clank!

The floating Ego Chain Sickle wrapped around Minhyuk’s wrist and immediately pulled him into the air.

Boom, boom, boom!

Of course, Minhyuk and Obren did not stop fighting. Every swing of their weapons created explosions that swept away the prisoners in their vicinity. Smoke would rise if they made contact with any part of their bodies.

Minhyuk, with his sword engraved with the word Destruction, and Obren continued to climb up just like that.

‘Is there an end to this?’

The ground beneath them seemed to have been filled with zombie-like prisoners. They had even stacked themselves together and became a growing mountain rising at the same speed as Minhyuk’s ascent. Unfortunately, they weren’t just coming from beneath. There were also Abyss’ Prisoners squeezing out of the gaps in the walls and trying to grab the soaring Minhyuk.

“Keuhaaaack!”

“Kihyaaaaack!”

Obren had also started to climb up. He was beneath Minhyuk and was trying to hold the swarm of prisoners back. Suddenly, someone grabbed Obren by the ankle while someone tried to jump at him.

[Climb! I’ll delay them.]

Between the prisoners below and the prisoners falling from above, the bigger problem was the former. It was necessary to stop them to ensure they could climb up more quickly. Seeing that Obren could still handle himself despite being almost overtaken by the Abyss’ Prisoners, Minhyuk let go of his worries.

‘Obren is not in any danger right now. He can handle it.’

As if to prove his thoughts, sparks burst out from within Obren and created an explosion that sent the thousands of prisoners trying to engulf him flying away. With that attack, he pulverized the growing mountain of prisoners.

Finally at ease, Minhyuk climbed up with renewed vigor. As he got further away from Obren, the falling beings tried to grab any part of his body. They would not let go when they got hold of anything on him. As he soared above with the help of the Ego Chain Sickle, he cut down the prisoners trying to drag him down with them.

When Obren disappeared, the darkness of the Abyss once again settled upon him. This time, Minhyuk’s eyes had adjusted and grown accustomed to the darkness. He could now see the prisoners who surrounded him. However, lingering fear of the unknown and the never-ending Abyss was still in his chest.

No matter how many times he swung his sword and how long he climbed up, he could not seem to see the end.

‘Is there even an end to this? Am I going to be trapped here forever? How long have I been here? Has it been three hours? Six hours?’

His concept of time slowly faded the longer he stayed in the Abyss.

[The Abyss’s mysterious power is trying to neutralize your abilities and powers.]

This notification had been ringing nonstop in Minhyuk’s ears. Shockingly enough, he could not hear it. The power of this place called the Abyss had already blocked his ears. Unfortunately, the power of the Abyss could not be stopped by Minhyuk’s invincible body, leaving him feeling listless and indolent. It even left him feeling as if there was no hope and he had no choice but to give up.

‘Anyway, I won’t reach the end. Isn’t it better to just stop?’

Minhyuk slowly forgot the reason he came here, to the point where he started to wonder why he was doing this.

When he felt the chains of the Ego Chain Sickle digging painfully into his flesh, he tried to break them. Why? Because there was no point in trying to climb this endless pit. He did not even care if he fell into the Abyss’ bottomless pit if he broke free from the chains.

At that moment, a whisper arrived.

[

Verak

: Minhyuk, this is Verak. Thank god! I finally succeeded in sending a whisper!]

“...?”

And it was from someone with whom he was familiar. At this moment, a hypothesis formed in his head.

‘There is a high chance that whispers from the outside cannot reach the Abyss.’

Yet here he was, now able to receive a whisper. And the fact that the whisper, which was not working earlier, could reach him now meant one thing.

[

Verak

: Please save the God of Death! I know that you already know this, Minhyuk, but Helenia did not think of attacking him first. For your sake, the God of Death risked his life and extinction...]

[

Minhyuk

: Because of me?]

[

Verak

: ...You did not know? The relationship between Helenia and the God of Death is not hostile.]

Minhyuk’s mind turned blank when he was made aware of this fact. It seemed like the God of Death and Hell would have been spared if he had not done anything.

[

Verak

: Why are you climbing up from the Abyss to save him, Minhyuk? Ah... I see...]

Verak felt admiration.

[

Verak

: It’s because he has already become dear to you. That’s why you’re coming to save him even though you did not know he’s willing to die for your sake.]

Minhyuk’s consciousness finally returned to him. Then, he began to resist everything trying to drag him down.

[You have reached a state of extreme concentration. You are resisting all of the Abyss’s temptations!]

He wound the chains that he had loosened earlier on his wrists again. He wouldn’t have known that this place was close to the entrance had the whisper not reached him. Nevertheless, the Abyss did not allow him to escape easily.

[The power of the Abyss has blocked all of your skills and summoning abilities.]

The Ego Chain Sickle disappeared. Minhyuk, who lost his support, hurriedly stabbed his sword on the walls of the Abyss.

Thud!

Fortunately, the walls no longer held any prisoners.

Now that he knew why the God of Death clashed with Helenia, he would escape the Abyss by all means. Minhyuk hurriedly pulled out another sword from his inventory and used it to climb up and out of the deep and endless Abyss.

***

[Your body is being recreated.]

[You can recreate your body after death a total of ten times. You have used all of your chances.]

[You can no longer revive and recreate your body.]

[If you die now, you will disappear and face extinction.]

The feeling of his bones breaking, his organs exploding, and the blood draining out of his body as his heart got stabbed felt very unfamiliar and strange for the God of Death. The more he experienced it, the more he felt familiar with the feeling.

‘I see. I was not used to dying.’

The worst part? The more he died, the closer he got to true and eternal extinction. This made the fear clawing in him grow more prominent.

This feeling grew within the God of Death as he fought a fierce battle against Helenia.

Helenia felt exhausted when she saw that the God of Death was not backing down. Even so, the God of Death was no threat to her. No, she believed that he was not a threat.

[After Ten Deaths.]

[The power you accumulated after ten deaths has increased your strength.]

[You have become 6% stronger.]

[You have become 8% stronger.]

[You have become 7% stronger.]

[You have become 9% stronger.]

[Your strength has increased by a total of 64%.]

The God of Death, who was holding his scythe, disappeared. When he appeared again, he was already in front of Helenia. He hurriedly cut her down and grabbed her by the neck. At the same time, hundreds of hands pierced through the ground and held tightly onto the great mage’s body.

“You... don’t tell me...?!” Helenia shouted.

She was questioning why the God of Death was going this far. Then, her pupils shook. She seemed to realize why the God of Death was doing this. They did not want Helenia to reach Minhyuk even until his last breath.

Death possessed the skill called Corpse Explosion. This skill was a lower-ranking version of the God of Death’s Death Explosion. And right now, the real Death Explosion was...

[Death Explosion.]

[You have chosen to use up all of your remaining vitality and stats to create a massive explosion. The explosion will happen in three seconds.]

[The explosion will devour an area with a two-kilometer radius.]

It carried the same power as Helenia’s Spark of White Flames. Unlike her power, this depended on one’s life and vitality.

Thousands of bone dragons fell from the sky, trapping Helenia and the God of Death together. The millions of skeletons and Death Knights also jumped into the fray and piled up on top of the bone dragons. They had completely blocked her “escape.”

“Disgusting...” Helenia scoffed.

Helenia did not want to kill the God of Death. She felt that he was the same as her. Nonetheless, this camaraderie had disappeared with the God of Death’s actions. And it was replaced with overwhelming killing intent.

Before she could do anything, an explosion occurred.

BOOM!

A pillar of light extended from the God of Death and spread out until it reached the center of Hell. The light wreaked havoc and devoured everything in its path. The devastation that it left behind looked like the aftermath of an atomic bomb’s explosion. The explosion left Helenia’s body and the God of Death’s body melting.

[The dead squeeze the last of their power to create a barrier to protect their master.]

[They are giving you the handful of vitality they have left.]

“...”

For the first time in his life, the God of Death felt warmth in his chest when he realized that the dead wished to protect him. Despite his body being left in a completely devastated and terrible state, the dead were able to protect him and leave him with a single breath of life.

The God of Death looked utterly terrible. His hair had been burned into ashes, leaving behind a burned scalp that was covered with blisters and blood. The flesh had been burned from his legs, leaving behind a set of bones out in the open. The only thing that looked relatively fine was his upper body.

Dying like this wouldn’t be so bad, but then, the God of Death saw Helenia’s body recover rapidly in front of him.

“...”

He had failed to eradicate the woman.

Helenia, her body wholly restored, looked down at the God of Death. She said, “I liked you because you were similar.”

In her eyes, the God of Death was lonely, just like her. However, it seemed like that was no longer the case. Since it was like that, she no longer had to show any compassion, no? Helenia was wicked through and through. The moment she shed the guise of compassion, she would become the most evil being on earth.

Helenia raised her finger and pointed it at the twitching God of Death.

[Helenia’s mana devours the souls of the dead and uses them to create new soldiers.]

The hundreds of millions of people once again rose to their feet.

“So, I will take them away from you. And I will take it the most gruesome way possible, the Beyond the Heavens Empire and...”

Something popped out on the tip of her fingers. It was the soul of someone waiting for their reincarnation in the River of Reincarnation—none other than the soul of Hella. Helenia pinched the soul with her thumb and index finger. The moment she put pressure on it, blood began to flow from the soul.

“You promised that you would be born together on the same day and at the same time, no? Since you’re going to die and face extinction, it’s only right that she also disappears with you. Don’t you think so too?”

Her army slowly climbed out from behind her and filled Hell.

“I know you have blocked the path going out of Hell from the inside. You must be afraid that Minhyuk will come here and get harmed by me, no?” Helenia mumbled as she put more strength into her fingers.

At that moment, a notification rang in the ears of the God of Death.

[Someone... Hell...]

“He’s not coming. He won’t even mourn your death. He might be your

only

friend, but he has a lot. You two are not destined to be friends,” she laughed mockingly. “Darkness and light can never mix.”

[Hella’s soul only has 10% HP left.]

The blood dripping down from Hella’s soul dyed the ground red.

“Regret and regret again. Then, grow to hate him. What kind of sacrifice you made for him—”

Shwaaaaaa!

Someone suddenly appeared and cut off Helenia’s hand, freeing Hella’s soul from her grip, and sent it flying to the sky.

The God of Death looked at

him

and cried,

“You came. I’m afraid of death. I’m afraid that I will forever leave this world and never be able to return. You even crawled out of Hell's Abyss, where not even the gods dared to enter...”

The man, who appeared so suddenly, jumped up and grabbed Hella’s soul sphere before rushing to where the God of Death was. The God of Death flashed the happiest smile in the world for the first time as he watched the man approach him.

“He’s my friend. Friendship is not a matter of fate. We’re friends because we know each other,” he said as he crouched down and slowly embraced the God of Death.

Despite the God of Death’s hideous appearance, his bare bones and drooping limbs, and the dirt covering his body,

he

still embraced him and gently and slowly laid him on an empty and safer area.

The man then continued to speak up for the God of Death. He said, “Indeed. Darkness and light can never mix.”

The only friend that the God of Death had made in the world looked at him and smiled.

“But darkness can always coexist with light.”