Chapter 379: Star, Open War (4)

“A way to get better? Hmph! What do you want? A magic fairy to grant your wish? Let me tell you something. You’ll stop progressing the moment you start relying on luck.”

Baek Gyeo-Ul recalled what Durga, his teacher, told him some time ago. In their first encounter, Durga disapproved of him and Kali even though she was the one who invited them. It seemed she invited them because she had a lot to talk about with them, not to bring them under her umbrella.

Kali and Durga had a conversation while Gyeo-Ul wasn’t present, which was when he started respecting Durga as his teacher. Although he only found out about it a little later, she was an absolute being who had less than nine equals.

Nevertheless, she never showed off her power. In fact, she lived like an ordinary woman, growing her vegetable patches in a remote forest of the outskirts region instead of building her own divine ground. Still, her every word left everlasting imprints in Gyeo-Ul’s heart.

“Keep walking forward. There will come a time when you’ll wonder about the path you chose. When you look back, you’ll realize that you’ve come quite far and even climbed a high mountain. That’s what life is.”

Watching Kali, who just had a new turning point in her life, Gyeo-Ul thought that this could be what Durga meant in the past.

‘Chang-Sun hyung-nim and Kali noo-nim… are walking down their own paths. What about my path?’ Gyeo-Ul contemplated for a moment and then came to a conclusion. ‘Follow them and find Father.’

Maybe it was to bring back his family, which he barely remembered anymore.

『Nonsense. What can you do with such a feeble mindset?!』

At that moment, Bardiya snapped in Gyeo-Ul’s mind, but Gye-Ul remained unaffected.

‘Don’t worry. You’re also my family.’

『What?』Bardiya asked, sounding dumbstruck. After a moment, he let out a long sigh. 『You’re just like your father.』

Bardiya always found Xerxes’ good nature frustrating, so Gyeo-Ul taking after Xerxes made him lament.

『It’s not too bad, though. Keke!』

Gyeo-Ul could feel how much Bardiya missed Xerxes from his voice. Although Bardiya always grumbled about Xerxes, he missed Xerxes more than anyone.

“Then let’s keep walking.” Gyeo-Ul held out his left hand, tightening his grip on Black Dragon Fang.

Shadow amassed above his palm, turning into a crow mask, which was Bardiya’s incarnation that Chang-Sun gifted to Gyeo-Ul.

Click!

When Gyeo-Ul put the mask on, he felt power surge in him. However, he felt the indescribable warmth emerging from deep within his heart more clearly. His armor was made from the shadow that Chang-Sun gave him, his skills and techniques were from Kali, and the personality that was left by his father was with him. Unlike his lonely childhood, Gyeo-Ul was now covered with three people’s gifts and adored more than anyone.

‘With those three… I guess I’m invincible.’

Gyeo-Ul couldn’t help chuckling when the cheesy thought crossed his mind.

Paah―!

Gyeo-Ul sprang forth, his eyes turning sharper than ever under the mask.

* * *

Neither nor the Zodiacs had claimed the tide of the battle yet, but overall, was slowly losing ground due to their insufficient combat capabilities. They couldn’t even have survived this long if not for the —no, the siblings, who started assisting the Celestials as soon as they joined the battle. The only other reason they were managing to hold out was that despite their relatively low Divine Classes, the Celestials specialized in combat.

The Zodiacs were bound to eventually gain the upper hand. More aware of that than anyone else, Chang-Sun had to find a solution. The problem was…

[The Celestial ‘Scorpio’ has activated the Authority ‘Venom’!]

… these Zodiacs would never let him go.

Swoooosh―!

Antares raised his long scorpion tail to pierce Chang-Sun. After deflecting the poisonous tail to the side using the [Juque Sword], Chang-Sun immediately had to turn to the opposite direction to dodge another opponent’s attack.

[The Celestial ‘Geminus’ wishes to get his revenge!]

Judging from his spiteful expression, Pollux, the younger of ‘Gemini,’ seemed to be hellbent on getting payback for being humiliated by Chang-Sun last time.

‘Antares hurt Xerxes, and Pollux is responsible for Kali’s injuries.’ Chang-Sun’s gaze sharpened. ‘I’ll get both of them here.’

[The third chapter ‘Jūs Postrémo’ has been applied, turning the Anomaly into an Abomination!]

Paaah―!

Shrouded by , Chang-Sun’s hair turned white, and his [Gnostic Eye] gleamed. At the same time, his divine power drastically increased, momentarily frightening both Antares and Pollux. After swallowing the Incendiary Burial Whale, Chang-Sun’s Anomaly reached a new level, which in turn gave him access to his current form. The upper body of the Cataclysm Celestial standing behind him now looked like an unrecognizable monster.

Chang-Sun swung the [Juque Sword] horizontally. His dripped from the sword, and his supreme sacred light blazed it up, making it seem as if it could explode any second. Through the [Juque Sword], he started another explosion using and supreme sacred light. However, unlike before, they no longer assumed the shape of a sphere. Rather, they were now moving like the sunset, looking like a kind of Aura.

“Keough!”

Boooom!

Craaaash―!

Building up barrier after barrier, Pollux tried to stop the explosions, but they broke through his defenses as if they were made of glass. Hit in the abdomen, Pollux coughed up blood as he was catapulted toward Kali. Chang-Sun didn’t bother chasing after him, though. After all, Kali should be the one to get revenge on him.

‘But not Antares,’ Chang-Sun thought.

Perhaps because Antares thought that Chang-Sun laid himself vulnerable, he tried to strike Chang-Sun’s waist with his palm, which had green ripples of light coming out from its center.

Chang-Sun could tell that Antares was trying to hit him with [Amorphous Hand] and [Gaia’s Curse], which was what degraded him into a mortal in the past!

“Die!” Antares screamed.

At that moment, many memories flashed across Chang-Sun’s head.

He remembered being poisoned, falling to his knees, and coughing blood. He remembered Antares laughing confidently with his foot on Chang-Sun’s head and the other Zodiacs sneering at him. He remembered Bel-Marduk smiling enigmatically, his defeat in the , going through a Divine Trial with the Divine Steel shackles on him, and… Cha Ye-Eun suffering because of [Gaia’s Curse].

The flashbacks put Chang-Sun on high alert. With his senses now sharper, he clearly saw through Antares’ every single movement, making him realize that he shouldn’t try to dodge or block Antares’ attack. If he tried to dodge it, the blast from the palm strike would hit him. Should he choose to somehow counterattack, the poison from the [Amorphous Hand] would spill on him.

One drop of [Gaia’s Curse] could end Chang-Sun, collapsing his , and he hadn’t found a way to overcome the poison. Even Antares wasn’t absolutely safe from it so he never used it in a life-or-death crisis. Being exposed to the poison was basically suicide.

What Chang-Sun needed right now was overwhelming violence. An attack so powerful that it could engulf the entire [Amorphous Hand]!

Chang-Sun let go of the [Juque Sword] and turned his torso to pull out the [Twilight Spear] from [King’s Treasury].

Swooosh―!

Chang-Sun thrust his spear, leaving a long and bright afterimage. His rose up and twirled around the spear, dyeing it pitch-black. Meanwhile, his white supreme sacred light only enveloped the spearhead. A pool of purple light burst out from where his and supreme sacred light overlapped, turning the world red.

Flash!

A blinding light flashed as Chang-Sun pierced through the [Amorphous Hand] with the spear. The purple explosion created a tornado and tore away Antares’ right hand—no, his right arm.

“…!” Antares screamed, the explosion muffling the sound.

The attack was so powerful that it could even rip a Zodiac to shreds. The tornado turned clockwise, devouring Antare’s upper body and blowing away his lower body. Chang-Sun wasn’t completely safe from the powerful tornado either, but he had a way to counter it.

[The Abomination attempts to push away the tornado by rotating it counterclockwise!]

The indiscriminately spreading through Chang-Sun and the Cataclysm Celestial’s upper body turned counterclockwise, sending it to the tornado created by the explosion from the [Twilight Spear]. The two tornadoes meshed with each other like gears, minimizing the shock.

Chang-Sun’s had to be sturdy and spin fast to make it possible, but he didn’t worry about it too much because the Incendiary Burial Whale, which his Jūs Postrémo was keeping active, put up a strong resistance.

Kieeeeeeh―!

Creepy ghost wails echoed, each one sounding like fingernails scratching glass windows. At the same time, Chang-Sun repeatedly thrust his [Twilight Spear] at Antares, using his injury as an opportunity to incapacitate him. Much to Chang-Sun’s delight, It looked like [Gaia’s Curse] was reversed and affected Antares’ Spiritual Body instead, which was covered in poison and melting.

『I’m sorry, but he’s a valuable asset that I can’t give to other people yet.』

Unfortunately, Bel-Marduk interfered.

A big spatial gap opened up, and Bel-Marduk’s hand came out of it and grabbed Chang-Sun’s nape. Bel-Marduk’s and Chang-Sun’s tornadoes ferociously clashed with each other, resulting in a bizarre, thunderous sound. While Chang-Sun’s tornado was an abnormal phenomenon that created ghost wails and lightning, Bel-Marduk’s was a natural catastrophe that created raging rainstorms.

Creeeeeeak!

Bel-Marduk held out his arm amid the shredding tornadoes. Although Bel-Marduk didn’t look any different since their last encounter, Chang-Sun deduced that he should never assume that Bel-Marduk was on the same level as the other Zodiacs.

‘The problem is that ‘Leo’ and ‘Aquarius’ are behind him,’ Chang-Sun thought in discontentment.

‘Leo’ was known to be comparable to Bel-Marduk, and ‘Aquarius’ could grant people unparalleled recovery and blessings. If they joined the battle as well, Chang-Sun and woud lose all chances of winning. Although those two Zodiacs were still just spectating, there was no knowing when they would join in. Chang-Sun had to finish this before then.

[Activating the ‘Teleportation Rune’!]

Paaah!

Hence, Chang-Sun teleported him and Bel-Marduk to where [Naglfar] was.

『What are you trying to do…?』

“Did the thought ever cross your mind?”

『…?』

“That I don’t have to keep fighting this losing battle against you guys?” Chang-Sun asked.

『…!』

Bel-Marduk was surprised. When they ambushed Chang-Sun to eliminate him, they believed that he would have no choice but to fight them once they showed up. After all, almost everyone in knew about the grudge that ‘Divine Twilight’ had against the Zodiacs.

The Chang-Sun that Bel-Marduk knew never shied away from combat and was hard-headed enough to fight even in disadvantageous battles until the end. What if he stopped acting stubbornly? Could they still capture him if he decided to run away? If they somehow caught up to him, could they subdue him if he resorted to other methods?

“Explode.” Chang-Sun smiled coldly, activating [Wordwielding].

Woosh.

A gust of hot wind blew. At the same time…

[You have commanded ‘Naglfar: Ship of the Deceased’ to self-destruct!]

[‘Naglfar: Ship of the Deceased’ is detonating.]

Rumble―!

[Naglfar] exploded. Although Chang-Sun had absorbed most of the Anomaly, quite a lot of it was left within the ship. Hence, the damage it could cause by self-destructing should never be taken lightly, especially if one was standing in the center of its explosion.

『Twilight!!!!!!!』Bel-Marduk furiously yelled at Chang-Sun as he focused on redirecting his tornado to block the explosion of [Naglfar]. Chang-Sun’s and supreme sacred light created more explosions, keeping Bel-Marduk’s hands full containing the explosions.

Meanwhile, Chang-Sun summoned the warriors of and back to the Changgwi Cave and used a Teleportation Rune to return Antares. When Chang-Sun grabbed Antares by the nape, who was already pale due to [Gaia’s Curse], he noticed that his limbs were melting down.

“Neat,” Chang-Sun said as he looked around the battlefield, which had turned into an absolute disaster. He then drew Teleportation Runes in the air to get out of the area and escape the heat storm blowing from [Naglfar].

[The ‘Teleportation Rune’ has been activated!]

[The ‘Teleportation Rune’ has been activated!]

[The ‘Teleportation Rune’ has been activated!]

…