Chapter 212: Chapter 211

[Variant 17]

[Variant 26]

[Variant 31]

...

The Asura Guild had conducted countless experiments. There were many failures, but there were also many successes. The result was those enhanced humans, the dragonid army.

"Gasp...!" Even as he fled in a hurry, Manu Kizal couldn't hide his confusion.

'This is ridiculous! How could this happen!' The dragonid army that the Asura Guild had painstakingly developed was gradually crumbling.

'No, his side still had the upper hand in the war. But what was that?'

'Why...!?' Things were going terribly wrong.

[Kyaaaaaaaaa!]

[Hahahaha! Is that all you've got?!]

'Why won't they die!' What kind of monsters were those? Even if their limbs were torn off. Even if half of their bodies were ripped off. Even if their necks were completely crushed! Those few dozen summons on the other side wouldn't die!

'This is ridiculous! An immortal army! Where the hell did those guys come from?!'

Moreover, that wasn't the only problem.

"Arise!"

𝚏𝕣𝐞𝗲𝐰𝕖𝐛𝐧𝕠𝕧𝚎𝚕.𝐜𝚘𝗺

[Kyaaaaaaaaaa!]

'That damn necromancer! What kind of a cheat skill is that!' He could have never imagined... At first, he thought Liu Zhigang was the problem, but it turned out that the young guy was the bigger issue!

"Arise!"

[Kyaaaaa!]

The sight of black smoke-like souls rising from the corpses of the dragonids at the necromancer's command was chilling.

"Uwaaa! What the hell is that?!"

If he was dreaming, this was the worst nightmare of his life. The other side was immortal, and if his side died, they immediately became part of the opposing forces. The enemies were multiplying! How could such an unfair and one-sided battle exist!

'This is bad! At this rate, it's a sure loss!'

In the end, there was only one way. Manu Kizal was originally a capable person, and he desperately tried to come up with a way to overcome this predicament.

'Overturn the game!'

The principle of unchanging magic power! There couldn't be a real immortal army in this world! If he annihilated them with an overwhelming force in one blow, leaving no room for resurrection, they surely wouldn't be able to revive anymore.

'This definitely requires Mr. Siddharth to step up in person! But that's surely what they want right now!' Manu Kizal grasped their strategy at once with his sharp intelligence.

'That annoying necromancer is trying to confuse us about the situation and lure out Mr. Siddharth. So Liu Zhigang is there as a countermeasure!' That's right. Perhaps this incident was the beginning of a plan by China to invade India.

'China's Liu Zhigang and India's Siddharth Bachchan. There has always been a debate about who is stronger between the two.'

Of course, in the Hunter rankings created by the US Hunter Bureau, Siddharth Bachchan was ranked lower than Liu Zhigang. But Manu Kizal, who knew the hidden truth about the Indian hunter, knew how meaningless those rankings were.

'Ha. China's Liu Zhigang? The world is completely fooled! Mr. Siddharth has already surpassed the wall that humans cannot reach...!'

Manu Kijal, who was desperately running away while shaking his head, suddenly became completely filled with a blue aura. Whether it was because of the stardust necklace or some other influence, the wariness he had felt towards Siddharth Bachchan until recently had melted away like snow. Instead, a new emotion had taken its place: blind loyalty.

'Mr. Siddharth... is an apostle of the great Gods!' Suddenly, Manu Kizal's steps stopped in front of an ominously flickering crack. And he shouted at the dragonids guarding it.

"Quickly bring Mr. Siddharth here! China has invaded!"

"Master is busy. Didn't he tell you to handle trivial matters by yourself?" Manu Kizal faltered, overwhelmed by the sharp gazes of the dragonids. But he quickly remembered the seriousness of the situation and shouted again.

"Hey! Liu Zhigang has appeared! If Mr. Siddharth doesn't come out himself, we'll lose Imphal!"

"...Liu Zhigang?" The dragonids who still had their human memories stiffened at the name.

"Then wait here. I'll report to Master and come back."

"No, there's no time for that now! I'll meet him in person and explain!"

"Ha. You?" The dragonids smirked as he tried to force his way through the gate.

"Forget it. If you go in there now, we won't even be able to collect your bones. Master is very hungry right now."

Shiver. Realizing that the words weren't just a threat, Manu Kizal faltered.

"Hun-hungry? What do you mean? There should be enough food."

"Food? Kehehekeke."

"Kihikihi. He means sacrifices." At the mocking laughter, Manu Kizal looked anxiously beyond the gate they were guarding.

"What the hell are you doing in there..."

Bang! Before he could finish his sentence, the huge sword the dragonid was holding plunged into the ground in front of his feet.

"Refrain from blasphemous words! This is a sacred sanctuary!"

"...Hiccup."

"Tsk... Anyway, wait patiently. My subordinate has already gone to wake up Master."

Manu Kizal's legs gave way, and he collapsed in front of the cracked sky. At the same time, he couldn't help but feel uneasy as he ruminated on the words he had just heard.

'...Wake up?' Was it his imagination? For some reason he suspected those words didn't simply mean waking up from sleep...

* * *

Siddharth Bachchan opened his eyes.

"...Liu Zhigang?"

"That's what they say."

"..."

Siddharth Bachchan's eyes narrowed as he smiled at the dragonid's report. Despite being told that humanity's greatest force had attacked with his men in tow, he didn't seem flustered or hurried at all. Rather, he looked indifferent.

"A nostalgic name." His pitch-black eyes sank faintly at the name Liu Zhigang, which he hadn't heard in a long time. And he reminisced about that man, recalling memories of the past that was now lost.

'7-star Hunter Liu Zhigang. A man who was once a comrade.'

"Heh. Liu Zhigang was truly a strong person. Without him, even I wouldn't have survived against the Kamish. But the current Liu Zhigang... is different from the person he was in the past."

That's right. The current Siddharth Bachchan had regained all the knowledge of his past life The moment he accepted the power of the Outer Gods. And the shock of the day when those two sets of memories collided in his mind still lingered. The truly horrific battle with Kamish. The great title of National Level Hunter he gained afterward. However, the overwhelming apocalypse that struck Earth again 10 years later brought him despair in the true sense of the word, on a completely different level from the Kamish incident.

'... what happened back then?'

Did the world end...? He didn't remember the final moments exactly. Because the communication equipment broke down, news from all over the globe didn't reach them anymore. He had heard that a Hunter named Sung Jinwoo from Korea had put up quite a fight, but he was also just a human, so he must have died in the end. Still, if he had to recall the last moment, Siddharth Bachchan was in the middle of a fierce battle with the dragons that had suddenly appeared. At some point, he lost consciousness, and when he came to, the whole world was at peace...

The moment he recalled the shocking memories of his past life. He was dumbfounded, facing the monumental truth. That the horrific history had all been undone. That time had turned back. And decades later. The fact that gates opened on Earth again, similar to that time, and that they were invaded by magical beasts again, sent chills down his spine. At that moment. He realized:

'Ah, is that so?' Amidst this repetition of chaotic history, Siddharth Bachchan, who had once again awakened as an S-rank Hunter, was convinced of the fate given to him. Himself, the only Hunter who lived with all the memories of his past life...

'Only I can save this Earth.' He was chosen as the savior of this world.

Fwooosh!

He grasped the power of the outer gods that had come into his hands and smiled crookedly. If one were to compare, there wasn't much difference between himself in his past life and this life. Back then, he received power from the apostles of the Gods called Rulers and waged war against the Monarchs. In this life, he received power from an apostle who served the Outer Gods... Although the source of the power was slightly different, he once again gained the strength of a National Level Hunter. This was fate. No, it was the destiny given to him.

'Nothing has changed. I just fight.' Then who was this fight for? Naturally, it was a fight to protect the weak humans living in this world. Siddharth Bachchan could vouch for how much he had strived to protect them in his past life.

'But in the end, I failed back then. Many people died despite my efforts.' He blamed himself for the past with a bitter expression. But ironically, his eyes were filled with blue madness.

'So I can't fail this time. That must be why I was given a second chance.' That's why Siddharth Bachchan had made his choice. To avoid repeating his mistakes. To plan for a better future.

'Strengthen humanity!' Thus began the project to strengthen all of humanity.

'No matter how hard I try to protect them, the weak will eventually die in vain.'

'To save the pitiful humans who haven't awakened even a shred of magic power, they must become stronger themselves!'

...And coincidentally, Siddharth Bachchan already knew what that method was. Just as the Ruler's power was forcibly injected into his body once...

'I just need to forcibly inject power into humans' bodies!'

Of course, there would be some overload. Their bodies might not be able to withstand it and collapse. Even he, the mighty one, suffered from the aftereffects of adapting to the Ruler's power for a while after receiving it for the first time. But humans were, after all, creatures of adaptation. If he got them used to it little by little, they would surely succeed someday. There might be minor sacrifices in the course of the research, but historically, sacrificing the few for the many was inevitable... And so countless experiments were conducted under his thorough plan. And unexpected luck was with him. No, in retrospect, it wasn't luck but the teachings of the great Gods, The Itarim.

'Ah! To think there was a path to the Grave of Berserk Dragons in a place like this!'

Following the guidance of Itarim, a new world appeared before him one day as he wandered through the dimensional gap. And the moment he discovered the dragon eggs left unattended there, Siddharth Bachchan offered a heartfelt prayer to the great Itarim. And he gladly injected the dragon blood extracted from those eggs into his body first. As much as it could withstand. No, even more than that!

'To save this world! I need to become much stronger than my past self!'

[Variant 1]

Just like that, Siddharth Bachchan... willingly gave up being human.

Fwoosh!

A pair of blue, dragon-like wings spread out from behind Siddharth Bachchan as he stepped out of the gate. Then, countless dragonids in front of him assumed a submissive posture. Siddharth's lips stretched wide at the satisfying sight.

"Deploy."

Fwoosh!

His past life that ended in failure...

The most terrifying beings he had faced in those painful memories...

Siddharth Bachchan's dragonid army, modeled after the Dragon Emperor Antares's legions of destruction, took flight in unison.