Chapter 377. Everyone’s Circumstances (3)

“You spoke aggressively to us at the temple”, the Last Dragon cautiously began. “It sounded like a threat at that time, but I wasn’t disappointed. Because…even if a problem broke out as you predicted, I had faith that you would come back.” She continued slowly as if she was trying hard to have a conversation with Chi-Hyun. “That was what I had thought, but after seeing your attitude just now…I think it had only been wishful thinking on my part.”

“…”

“You’re the most talented hero I’ve ever seen, but you’re also the most awful one. In the process of saving a world, you don’t consider the noble spirit of sacrifice or the greater good at all. Nevertheless, you desperately try to save the world with all you have.” Like someone forced to do so obsessively…

Chi-Hyun bit his lower lip when the Last Dragon murmured the last part.

“Tell me,” the Last Dragon asked, “Why on earth are you going so far? What karma is making you act like this?” Although she asked in a fervent voice, Chi-Hyun didn’t respond, as if he didn’t want to answer and found no reason to. Meanwhile, Chi-Woo, who had been listening silently, tilted his head. Their conversation was too important to let it pass from one ear to another.

‘Karma…?’ If he considered it in the sense of a task, it meant an action or deed that must be fulfilled. In other words, some level of coercion was involved. Come to think of it, it was strange. Considering his brother’s personality, it would be normal for him to step back now. He should have said, ‘Is that so? Then I won’t stop you, so do whatever you want’, and leave without turning back even once—if it was the brother he knew. However, as the Last Dragon said, his brother was giving it his all to not step back. He was pushing forward with determination like he was fighting with his back to the sea, as if he was going to die if he took a single step back. Did he want to go back but wasn’t able to? Then there must be a reason; a reason why his brother was hanging on with all his might.

“As expected…you don’t trust me enough to tell me yet.”

When the Last Dragon smiled bitterly, Chi-Woo asked, “Does that karma…perhaps have something to do with your younger brother?”

At that moment, Chi-Hyun’s mask of nonchalance broke, and his expression changed noticeably into one of shock. He opened his eyes wide and looked at Chi-Woo with surprise for a brief moment. Although he immediately put his straight face back on, he couldn’t hide the tremors in his facial muscles, perhaps due to his young age.

In the end, Chi-Hyun couldn’t resist and asked, “…Seriously… Who…are you?”

“…” Chi-Woo inferred the truth from his brother’s reaction. He now understood why Chi-Hyun was acting like this. Although he didn’t know the exact circumstances yet, it seemed clear that his current action was deeply intertwined with Chi-Woo.

“How the hell—no, that’s not what I should focus on. Laguel!” Chi-Hyun, who had been chewing his lips, suddenly shouted as hard as he could as if to shake something off. “To 37th WI5H—.”

—Sorry, what? But the 37th is…!”

“No, let’s go with 39th.”

When Laugel freaked out, Chi-Hyun quickly corrected himself. Although she wasn’t as startled as before, she still looked at him with concern.

—But the 39th is also…

“There’s no other way. Although 37th is a bit too much, I need at least 39th. I can’t beat him as of right now.”

—It’s not going to last considering the current state of the World here. Even if it’s possible, another problem will definitely arise.

“It doesn’t matter. It’s a World I’m going to get rid of anyway,” Chi-Hyun firmly cut her off.

When Laguel hesitated even then, he glared at her angrily, “…Why?” At the same time, he let out a hollow laugh. “Are you going to betray me too…?”

Laguel’s face turned pale; she looked conflicted for a bit and then tightly closed her eyes and lowered her head.

–…37.2 seconds.

After a while, a small but quiet voice said.

–You have to finish it by that time. If you exceed that time…

“It doesn’t matter. If it’s the 39th WI5H, 30 seconds will be enough.”

–Then your request has been accepted. The 39th WI5H’s user information will be invoked in accordance with user Chi-Hyun’s will.

Laguel raised her head, and soon, a translucent light emitted from her whole body. Chi-Woo, who had been watching their conversation play out, sensed the grave atmosphere and said, “If your brother is the problem—!”

“Shut up!” Chi-Hyun roared before Chi-Woo could even finish the sentence. “I don’t know what you know for you to go yapping your mouth, but my brother is never the problem.” He glared at him murderously and retorted, “He’s just someone who’s a little special!” He reacted like Chi-Woo had touched his greatest weakness. The next moment, before Chi-Woo could even reply, streams of lights began to stretch out around Laguel.

–Attempting to connect with WI5H…Approved.

–Retrieving information from the 39th WI5H…Approved.

𝗳𝐫𝚎𝗲𝚠𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝘃𝚎𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝗺

–Overlapping NS2L with information…Approved.

A mechanical voice quickly continued; as she spoke, the glow around Laguel began to turn green one by one like a green signal light.

–Requesting final approval…Rejected.

Although one of them turned red—

—I order you to enforce it in the name of Laguel.

The red light turned green again. Meanwhile, the streams of light flowed toward Chi-Hyun and became even more intense.

—…Approved.

—All connections are green.

As soon as he heard that—

Duduududuuduu! A tremendous tremor emerged out of the blue and swept through their surroundings, and it didn’t end after just one time, but instead continued to occur relentlessly.

“Aghhhhhhhh!” Then Chi-Woo heard a piercing scream.

“Captain!” Yunael cried out hastily. Chi-Woo’s face stiffened when he looked back. The World was suffering; the girl in Yunael’s arms was struggling as if she couldn’t stand it anymore. Her pale face became even paler, and the wounds on her body began to gradually widen. At the same time, the light accompanied by the terrifying tremor was intense enough to obscure Chi-Hyun.

Laguel, who used to be translucent, was now completely covered in light. The Last Dragon hurriedly shouted something, but Chi-Woo wasn’t able to hear her because before he realized it, the area around them had already turned into a strange space where he couldn’t hear or see anything but light and vibrations. Furthermore, ever since Laguel began to make mechanical sounds, an indescribable pressure had been weighing on his whole body. It was hard to even take a step forward. Instead, he was getting slowly pushed back; that was how truly astounding the energy was. Amid the radiance that shook even the whole space, the group of lights dancing fiercely like a whirlwind began to transfer from Laguel to Chi-Hyun.

—All processes have been completed.

—Loading complete.

The light wrapping around him from the bottom of his foot came up one by one and gathered in one circle.

—Executing ‘The Legend’s Second-Coming!’

Soon afterward, Chi-Hyun opened the eyes that had been closed throughout the process.

Flashhhhhhhh! The light surged in brilliance like the sun. At that moment, Chi-Woo could clearly see a huge structure quickly rise into the air behind his brother’s back.

Thuud! That alone made the sensation of the sky and earth shaking swept over him. The grand Sky Castle that the Sernitas boasted of looked lackluster in comparison to the structure, which looked like a strong, majestic fortress in one way and the Tower of Babel reaching to the sky in another way. Moreover, rather than simply seeing the structure with his visible eyes, Chi-Woo’s senses were picking up its presence as well.

Regardless of what the structure was, one thing was clear; Chi-Woo felt an energy so vast that he couldn’t describe or measure it just by looking at it like this. He felt a stuffy feeling as if something had forcibly entered an already tightly packed space. In the space where it was difficult to even breathe, Chi-Woo finally realized that he had misjudged Chi-Hyun as a hero so far. Whether it was now or in the future, his brother hadn’t been able to fully show his real skills on Liber. Chi-Woo finally realized how powerful his brother truly was when all the conditions were met, and why heroes praised him as the legend. The strange space returned to its original state. However, no one could properly open their mouths because a stronger metaphysical pressure was weighing on their chests.

—Starting countdown.

The moment Chi-Woo heard Laguel’s voice, Chi-Hyun looked down indifferently.

—37.2 seconds.

“Damn it!” The Last Dragon flinched. Soon, the girl with pigtails radiated a whitish light from all over her body and began to grow exponentially. She transformed into a giant dragon that was more than a dozen meters in length and then hurriedly flapped her wings to take flight. She rushed towards Chi-Hyun, opening her mouth to shoot a fiery breath at him.

And Chi-Hyun quietly reached out his hand. “…” It was just a simple movement, but the result was astounding.

Flash—! The moment the golden light slightly swept her by, the Last Dragon was dissected—the breath she shot out and the pair of wings on her back. Her wings were cut in half and snapped off. An explosive fountain of blood burst from the Last Dragon’s back.

“Ah…!” The Last Dragon fell without being able to properly display her power.

—32 seconds.

It took only five seconds for all this to happen. The next challenger was Bael. As soon as their eyes met, Bael spread her wings reflexively. Although she was still at a loss of what to do, her body moved instinctively when her eyes met Chi-Hyun’s. She roared and flew, swinging her sword like crazy. However, Chi-Hyun remained steadfast. No matter how much Bael swung her sword, none of the attacks reached him; they all were blocked by an intangible barrier that bounced everything off. Soon, countless weapons formed around Chi-Hyun; more than that, the countless doors of the structure behind him opened, and warrior angels walked out. The summoned warrior angels rushed towards Bael with weapons of every shape and size. Bael swung her sword and desperately tried to fight them all off, but her attempt was fruitless facing the overpowering number of enemies. Soon after, she was swept down and fell.

—27 seconds.

Chi-Hyun’s eyes glanced down. Boboris was putting on many layers of barrier while pouring out sweat, as if she was trying to hold out with sheer grit. Then dark clouds gathered from all directions. In an instant, the sky darkened, and thunder and lightning struck down.

Crackkkkkle—! The structure behind Chi-Hyun, which absorbed all the lightning that came down, began to emit yellow electric currents. Boboris had a foreboding feeling and raised her head, but it was already too late by then.

Zzzzzzzing. The beam of light from the structure penetrated through her layers of barriers diagonally, grazing past Boboris and striking the ground. Then the ground rose up in shambles. Boboris’ expression went blank as dust and dirt poured down from behind her back. However, it wasn’t over yet. The structure behind Chi-Hyun’s back shone once more and began to indiscriminately shoot out laser beams. They tore apart the barriers made by Boboris like sheets of paper. Then Boboris couldn’t even let out a scream at the following electric explosion. The sky and earth were overturned once again as a huge crater formed and let out smoke. All that was left was a burnt dingo falling to the ground while steam rose from all over her body. The three strongest fighters representing Liber in their own way did not even last 20 seconds against Chi-Hyun.

—21 seconds.

Only then did Chi-Hyun finally look down at Chi-Woo. He collected all the energy he had used to attack the three and combined them, and the final result was the sun. Shining like the sun in a clear, blue sky, it began to descend. The moment the blazing heat touched him, Chi-Woo had a hunch that this sun was unstoppable. However, he couldn’t avoid it either; at this distance, no matter where he went, he would be within the range of attack. So even though he knew he couldn’t beat it, Chi-Woo raised his hands according to his instincts.

“!” His eyes widened when the devastating energy seemed to burn and destroy his hands. Without exaggerating, it felt like he was literally pushing against the sun. On the other hand, he held out a little longer compared to the other three.

—15 seconds.

It was only a matter of seconds, however. He didn’t even groan; he was simply appalled by this situation. Chi-Woo was now experiencing firsthand how the great demons he faced had felt. His exorcism mana, which he had scraped out as much as he could, was already reaching its limit. It was quickly depleting as if he was pouring water into a bottomless jar; however, the sun showed no signs of weakening in the least. On the contrary, it seemed to get fiercer as time passed.

‘At this rate-!’ No, he would get devoured by the sun as soon as his exorcism mana ran out.

“Why…! Why are you trying so hard to kill me!?” Sensing that her end was really near, the World let out a despairing, pained cry from behind Chi-Woo’s back. “You can save me!” The girl screamed in spite of being in Yunael’s arms. “You can save me!” The girl shouted again. “I want to live too…!”

Yunael held the struggling girl and curled up. Chi-Woo was already unable to stop the attack; the sun had pierced through his exorcism mana. He saw Yunael’s back burning from the heat and turned forward again while clenching his teeth, but Yunael wasn’t the only one suffering. His hands were also gradually breaking and turning into light. His expression grew distorted. ‘No…!’

—10 seconds.

Laguel, who was counting nervously, showed a relieved expression because she could guess how things would go in the next five seconds. Although it didn’t work out as the prophecy wanted, it didn’t matter because Chi-Hyun’s wish was her priority. However, did Laguel know this?

—9 seconds.

The future that would arrive in five seconds…

—8 seconds.

Was not that the sun would burn the mysterious man, woman, and the World without leaving a trace…

—7 seconds.

It was showing signs of flowing in a completely different and unimaginable direction.

—6 seconds.

Chi-Woo raised his trembling head with great difficulty.

—5…

Then his two eyes emitted a bright light.