Chapter 470: Star, Identity Establishment (8)

A middle-aged man with a stern look was standing there with a bastard sword in his hand. The man was both foreign and familiar to Chang-Sun.

“Tan.” Chang-Sun nodded.

“...You must really be him, to call me by that name,” the middle-aged man murmured.

The man’s name was Tanis Loberial. As the red lightning guard’s follower and right-hand man, Tanis was called Tan by the guard, but he never called Tanis that in public. That was why Tanis had to believe that Chang-Sun had harmonized with the red lightning guard.

Tanis had been very shocked when he first received Chang-Sun’s telepathic message. Since Tanis had only been on Tomte’s side to get revenge for the red lightning guard, he had immediately joined Chang-Sun’s side after receiving the message, but he still retained a trace of doubt. It seemed that doubt was unnecessary, however, because even Chang-Sun’s smile was similar to the red lightning guard’s.

After a moment of reminiscence, Tanis’s expression quickly turned serious as he said, “It’s dangerous to head that way. Based on what we’ve learned so far, each boulder seems to have a limit on how many people can step on it.”

Chang-Sun nodded after checking the durability of the boulder he had tried to step on using his [Gnostic Eye]. Just as Tanis said, its durability was decreasing little by little. Had he stepped on it, Chang-Sun would have fallen into the river of fire or been forced to move urgently in search of the next boulder.

“Thank you,” Chang-Sun said.

“We just want to see the end of this endless maze.”

The maze’s end... Their samsara had been repeating endlessly for an unknown reason, forcing them to wait for an incredibly long time as they died 665 times.

“Can you show the end to us?” Tanis asked, his gaze sharp. It was the same for the past reincarnations who were standing behind him, their eyes filled with hope.

“I will.” Chang-Sun met their gazes and said, “That’s why I’m here. I’ll be the last, regardless of how the end will turn out.”

“...That’s all we need to hear.” Tanis heaved a sigh of relief. With a sharp gaze, he tightened his grip on his sword and said, “We’ll open up the path, so focus on running and reaching the destination we’re hoping for.”

Chang-Sun nodded.

Paah―!

Tanis and his people immediately scattered.

“Get out of our way!”

“We’re going to achieve our dream!”

Clang, clang, clang!

“Those fucking shits...!”

“Are you going to be a hindrance until the end?!”

Boom, boom, boom―!

Chang-Sun quickly sprang forward along the path, where pillars of lightning energy soared.

Swoosh―!

Chang-Sun had calculated a safe route of boulders using his [Gnostic Eye], so he could keep darting forward without hesitation.

“Are you going to rely on another person to accomplish your dreams instead of doing it on your own? You people are a disgrace to the spark of the !” a past reincarnation shouted with a frown, because he suddenly had to stop running and block Tanis’ attack.

Claaaaang!

Anxiety that Chang-Sun would take the past reincarnations’ chance of accomplishing their dreams overtook them. A of the ... Their pride in the fact that their origin started with the universe’s creation was their drive, and their only reason to stay patient and endure everything that came their way for an eternity. From their perspectives, Tanis and his people were a bunch of sad sacks who had thrown away their pride.

“Nonsense. How am I relying on another person to accomplish my dream?” Tanis retorted. Despite all sorts of criticisms, he was not affected in the slightest. “He and I are the same person, so this is how I’m going to achieve my dream in the end.”

Tanis’ voice was full of faith.

* * *

“Die, Twilight!”

“I’m never letting you pass through here!”

Chang-Sun could not focus on sprinting just because Tanis and his people were helping him. Quite a few of the past reincarnations waited until he was in their vicinity to ambush him. Since Chang-Sun was undoubtedly going to be the strongest competitor, most of them were trying to eliminate him or absorb him to gain an advantage in this race.

Due to their number, it was difficult for Chang-Sun to deal with each one of them, so he had to change his strategy. Instead of fighting them, he intended to push them away as hard as possible to break through their defense. As soon as he decided on his plan, Chang-Sun put the [Yuchang Sword] and [Tiamat’s Snaggletooth] back into the [King’s Treasury] and withdrew the four slayer swords, tossing them into the air.

Paah! Paah! Paah!

[The Effect of the Trait ‘King of All Weapons’ has been applied, using Weapon Telekinesis!]

[Balmung] was on Chang-Sun’s left, and [Gram] was behind him; meanwhile, [Nothung] was on Chang-Sun’s right, and [Trollsverd] was in front. Four swords circled him and blocked the past reincarnations one after another. Meanwhile, Chang-Sun himself grabbed the [Twilight Spear].

Rummmble―!

Chang-Sun spun the spear in a small circle and thrust it forward, creating a lightning storm that struck down the past reincarnations who had been waiting for him up ahead.

“Keough!”

“How can an attack be this strong when he’s still running...? It doesn’t make sense. Damn it!”

“It’s the guards’ spear techniques. He got stronger!”

“We have to find a way...!”

The past reincarnations groaned as they fended off Chang-Sun’s attacks with difficulty. Chang-Sun was already a difficult opponent to deal with, but the guards’ memory made him more experienced and skillful with his spear, bewildering the past reincarnations. However, that was not the only problem.

Rumble, rumble, rummmble!

The lightning bolts that the past reincarnations deflected away ended up hitting the nearby intact boulders or the fire tsunami’s surface instead, aggravating the chaos.

“Hey! B-Behind you!”

“What do you mean beh... What the hell?!”

The fire river had already been high enough to almost reach the boulders, but after the impact, a fire tsunami rose several times higher and poured down on the past reincarnations. They turned pale and searched for a different escape route.

Boom, boom, boom―!

Lightning bolts suddenly poured down on the boulders that the past reincarnations had chosen to use for their escape, shattering them.

“...!”

“...!”

“No...!”

Chang-Sun had fired his Aura and annihilated the boulders around the past reincarnations, and that proved to be their end.

Splash―!

The fire tsunami not only swallowed the past reincarnations, but also spread waves of fire everywhere after hitting the ground, enlarging the damage zone to an unimaginable degree.

“Twiliiiiight! You crazy shithead!”

The disaster created by Chang-Sun affected all the past reincarnations who had been focusing on running ahead without joining the fight.

Whirl!

Leaving behind the disaster, Chang-Sun leaped high above the boulders. He saw a lot of boulder fragments, and darted forward using them as his stepping stones.

Tap, tap, tap―!

“I-Impossible...!”

“How can he do that?”

The past reincarnations who had finally managed to gain balance and pull themselves together all had their jaws drop after witnessing Chang-Sun’s divinely skillful move.

Of course, using the boulder fragments as stepping stones was theoretically possible because all the boulders were sturdy enough to survive in the fire deluge. However, each fragment had a different size and durability, and a lot of fireballs were mixed in among those fragments. Choosing only the boulder fragments to climb up the blazefall was practically impossible, but Chang-Sun was doing that right now. In fact, he even managed to parry away any obstacles in his way with his four slayer swords.

Tap!

Chang-Sun arrived in front of the blazefall and looked up, thinking,

‘I’ve arrived at my first destination for now...’

He found the blazefall, which was unfathomably tall as if someone had endlessly copy-pasted it, majestic.

‘The problem is this place. I had the feeling when I saw it from afar, but it’s really insane.’

The blazefall was more dangerous than the fire tsunami on the ground. It seemed as if one could be annihilated just by standing under it, and it was extremely hot to the point that even Chang-Sun was unsure if he would be able to recreate it. Just looking at it gave him a rough idea of Perkwunos’ hidden depths.

Fortunately, there were boulders around the blazefall too, so Chang-Sun leaped to the first one he saw near it without hesitation and went upstream like a salmon.

‘...Is Tomte in the lead?’

Chang-Sun thought.

Dozens of the past reincarnations were climbing up the blazefall. Every one of them was close to or at the Four Kings’ level.

After briefly wondering how he could outrun them, Chang-Sun’s eyes sparkled.

‘I knew it.’

It seemed Perkwunos had no intention of allowing Chang-Sun and the other past reincarnations to get to him with ease, however.

[Warning! A new disaster is taking place soon!]

“W-What...?!”

“What the hell?!”

The announcement message was saying that the deluge was not the end, so the past reincarnations who had been running at the front cursed.

[A meteor shower has started!]

With a new message, the sky shook violently once again.

Rumble!

Whoosh, swoosh, swish―!

Over a dozen more small spatial gaps appeared in the sky. From them emerged enough meteors to cover the sky, ranging from ones hundreds of meters wide to others that were several kilometers wide; it was a jaw-dropping sight.

Every one of them was hotter than the fire deluge, so it was obvious what would happen to the subconscious realm if they fell from the sky. A fire tsunami that was incomparably wilder than before would spread to the entire realm, evaporating moisture and the air itself, so the past reincarnations would not be safe from it.

“Perkwunoooos! What?! What in the world are you trying to doooo?!” Tomte exclaimed angrily.

As he was leading in the race, Tomte was the first one who had to deal with the meteor shower. The past reincarnations who were right behind him were also swallowing down their saliva anxiously.

Rummmmble!

When the meteor shower began, the past reincarnations who had not gotten to the blazefall yet frantically ran toward it.

On the other hand, Tomte tried his best to fend off the first meteor. He threw a powerful straight punch and created a sharp storm at the same time, crushing the meteor instantly. Many of the fragments ended up hitting the fire tsunami’s surface and the blazefall. The meteor had just been too big to begin with, so its fragments were also big, creating catastrophic damage just like before.

Amid the ear-splitting noise, the past reincarnations’ screams could not even be heard anymore. The fire tsunami grew fiercer and a rain of fire poured down with every quake, so the past reincarnations could not afford to do anything other than focus on their survival. Tactics? Abilities? None of that mattered right now, because surviving alone was already challenging enough.

However, from a crisis also came opportunity. When Tomte’s chaotic attack slashed the blazefall down the middle, it created a wave of fire that took out many of the past reincarnations and also slowed down Tomte.

That was Chang-Sun’s chance.

‘If I use the meteor pieces...!’

Just as he had used the boulder pieces to get to the blazefall, he intended to climb up it by using the meteor pieces.

Pzzzz, booom!

Chang-Sun amassed a great deal of lightning energy around the spearhead of the [Twilight Spear] and used [Dream-Eating Beast] to strike the boulder he was standing on powerfully. Using the explosion, he soared into the air, and subsequently hit the meteor pieces in his path the same way to gain momentum.

Swoooosh―!

Around the time Chang-Sun and Tomte drew close to the hole where Perkwunos was, Chang-Sun finally caught up to Tomte and had the opportunity to try outpacing him.

“You bastard!” Tomte’s face reddened with anger after belatedly noticing what Chang-Sun was doing.

Perkwunos and Chang-Sun... There were just too many people getting on Tomte’s nerves.