Chapter 40 - Episode 7. Master of Gorgon (2)
Chapter 40: Episode 7. Master of Gorgon (2)
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The first to regain consciousness was Maihan, the Outer Chief Administrator.
“How dare you!”
Maihan trembled with rage at the sight of subordinates rolling across the floor.
Deadman Sealing had been within reach.
Yet some man who had appeared out of nowhere was ruthlessly destroying the plan.
“Who the hell are you?”
“Outer Chief Administrator, stop acting already.”
The Anti-Evil Squad Commander, standing behind Jaehwan, shouted.
“Your treason has already been exposed.”
The Horn Lords stirred at those words.
The Outer Chief Administrator asked in a stiff voice, “Treason? What grounds do you have for making such absurd accusations?”
“Playing dumb will not help you.”
The frowning Anti-Evil Squad Commander had a person tucked beneath each arm. The Outer Chief Administrator knew them well.
“The other commanders have already confessed.”
The Outer Chief Administrator narrowed their eyes at the Guarding Horn Corps Commander and Folding Horn Corps Commander, who had been thrown onto the floor.
“O-Outer Chief Administrator...!”
They had been beaten so badly that they were barely conscious, their bodies utterly crushed by overwhelming Combat Power.
The Outer Chief Administrator, Maihan, was slightly surprised.
They did this to them?
The Folding Horn Corps Commander and Guarding Horn Corps Commander were no weaker than the current Anti-Evil Squad Commander. If the two of them and their battalions joined forces, they had enough strength to stop even the Divine Doctor.
Damn it, what happened?
The Outer Chief Administrator did not know what had happened. One thing was certain, though. These bastards were about to ruin everything.
Maihan's gaze turned cold.
“I’m sorry...”
The Folding Horn Corps Commander let out a low groan.
Then, in the next instant, the Folding Horn Corps Commander and Guarding Horn Corps Commander exploded at the same time. By the time the startled Anti-Evil Squad Commander reached them, both were already dead.
“What have you done, Outer Chief Administrator?”
“I did not do anything.”
The Outer Chief Administrator shrugged.
“Perhaps they killed themselves after their betrayal was exposed.”
“That is absurd!”
“We do not have time to waste on pointless slander. Continue the 「Deadman Sealing」.”
The commotion quickly died down.
After all, the Fortress Lord was what mattered now. A few Horn Lords spoke as if trying to calm the situation.
“Anti-Evil Squad Commander, we do not know what happened, but first, after the Fortress Lord’s sealing is complete...”
The Anti-Evil Squad Commander cried out.
“Come to your senses, everyone! It is treason! The Outer Chief Administrator is guilty of treason! If Deadman Sealing proceeds like this, everything will go according to their intentions...”
“Remove the Anti-Evil Squad Commander!”
Dozens of Shadow Corps members, including the Shadow Corps Commander, began surrounding the Anti-Evil Squad Commander and Jaehwan.
Jaehwan silently watched them, then spoke to Yulhen beside him.
“What a mess.”
“...I apologize.”
Yulhen bit down hard on their lip.
At Jaehwan’s single remark, Yulhen realized it. The man before them had already grasped the whole truth of what had happened in the Fortress.
Jaehwan spoke again.
“You made me a false promise.”
“...”
“Gorgon cannot guarantee my safety.”
Yulhen’s heart sank.
“Then that means...”
Their first contract had been that Jaehwan would save the Fortress Lord, and Gorgon would protect Jaehwan in return. But Gorgon could no longer keep its promise, which naturally meant Jaehwan had no reason to help Yulhen.
Then Jaehwan said something unexpected.
“We will change the terms of the promise.”
“What?”
“I will save the Fortress Lord and kill every traitor over there.”
It was so unexpected that Yulhen could only stare blankly at him.
Several Shadow Corps members at the front charged Jaehwan. He casually knocked aside their attacks, and they flew away as though struck by lightning.
Yulhen watched in a daze.
“In exchange, give me that old man.”
Jaehwan pointed at Cheongheo, who had been carelessly tossed onto the floor.
“And...”
After shattering several blades flying toward him, Jaehwan continued.
“Help me establish an expedition.”
An expedition.
The moment Yulhen heard the word, their heart began to race. They did not know why. Perhaps it was because of the meaning hidden behind the word “expedition.”
“I will reestablish the 「Abyss Expedition」.”
A moment passed like an eternity in Yulhen’s mind.
The Fortress Lord’s face suddenly came to mind. The Fortress Lord who had barely returned alive from the expedition. The Fortress Lord who had lived for centuries in regret and pain...
“Yulhen, the people here need hope. An overwhelming hope that will not lose to anything.”
Looking at Jaehwan’s back, Yulhen wondered if this man might be the hope the Fortress Lord had waited for all this time.
“This sounds like a promise you can keep, so do not break it.”
Yulhen only realized they had answered, “All right,” after hearing Jaehwan’s reply.
Then Jaehwan’s Dokbul erupted in flames.
A fierce barrage of Stabs, as if to blow away all the frustration that had built up until now.
“W-What is this?”
“Argh!”
With a single Stab, two or three Shadow Corps members were reduced to dust. The flustered Shadow Corps Commander reformed the formation and gave an order.
“Attack him all at once!”
Dozens of Shadow Corps members standing before Jaehwan vanished at once.
Jaehwan’s Normal Stab had begun.
Rumble.
A heavy black light covered the area, and half the Shadow Corps were incinerated on the spot. That was not all. Two or three Horn Lords, who had been standing there in shock, were rendered unable to fight and thrown aside.
The black light pierced through the outer wall of the Inner Fortress and vanished into the sky.
The Shadow Corps Commander, who had lost their lower body in an instant, opened and closed their mouth as they looked down at their body in disbelief. No voice came out.
The Shadow Corps Commander’s body turned into white dust and disappeared.
The terrifying technique had reduced the Shadow Corps and its Fifth Adapter commander to dust in a single blow. The entire area fell into shock.
The Outer Chief Administrator, Maihan, who had barely blocked the blast with a swing of their sword, gasped for breath.
So it was him.
Maihan had heard the story before. Someone had supposedly sent Janya, after he became a Deadman, on his way with a single Stab. But Black-Tongued Wolf, the man who had reported it, was a notorious lecher and liar. Maihan had not taken the story seriously.
Yet it had been true.
Maihan looked at how far they had been pushed back. Deep scars had been carved into the floor. That attack had pushed them back at least five steps.
It had wiped out the Shadow Corps in a single strike and forced them back five steps.
This was no ordinary opponent.
Jaehwan was their equal, or stronger.
Only the Divine Doctor in Gorgon could pressure Maihan like this when they stood on the verge of the Seventh Adaptation.
The Outer Chief Administrator, Maihan, quickly changed their stance.
“What is the meaning of this? Who might this honored guest be, to disrupt such a sacred ritual...”
Meeting Jaehwan’s murderous eyes, Maihan could not finish the sentence and took a step back.
...I was overwhelmed by his presence? Me, who had reached the end of the Sixth Adaptation?
Push messages coming from all directions were reaching Jaehwan through 「Doubt」.
[Senior Elder, what should we do? Can the plan still proceed like this...?]
[If we cannot perform 「Deadman Sealing」, we will have no choice but to use the next best option...]
[We must spread the Black Cloud immediately!]
[Even if it means exterminating every living thing in Gorgon...]
“Maihan Keldegran.”
Maihan’s shoulders jerked at the voice calling their name.
“The Outer Chief Administrator of Gorgon Fortress, and the Senior Elder of Geumcheon Hall.”
For the first time, Maihan’s expression changed. How did the man before them know their name and affiliation?
“I do not know exactly what you are planning or how you infect souls.”
As Jaehwan approached, Maihan unconsciously stepped backward.
“But I do know one thing. I like bastards like you.”
“W-What do you mean, like?”
Looking at Jaehwan’s sword, which radiated dreadful killing intent, Maihan desperately gripped their own sword.
Maihan understood instinctively. If they could not stop this man here, every plan would fall apart.
“Kill him!”
At the Outer Chief Administrator’s shout, charged with spiritual power, seven Horn Lords drew their swords at once. The traitors had willingly revealed their true colors.
At nearly the same time, countless Geumcheon Hall troops poured through the entrance to the Inner Fortress prison.
The Anti-Evil Squad Commander and Yulhen went pale.
Even if the Divine Doctor or a master of the Ten Halls came, they could not stop such a force. One Sixth Adapter and seven Fifth Adapters attacking together, along with hundreds of Third Adapters.
And yet, something felt wrong.
“This is truly something to be grateful for.”
Jaehwan looked pleased.
“Because bastards like you exist.”
Dokbul, clutched tightly in his hand, let out a roar.
“I can destroy this world without worry.”
The moment Maihan met that expression, they realized something was wrong.
At nearly the same time, they realized nothing could be undone.
Something enormous was rushing toward them.
Before they could finish the thought, something swept them away. A massive beam of light tore away the entire ceiling of the Inner Fortress, shattered its spires, and shot into the sky.
The beam rose like lightning and created a colossal rift in the night sky. Light streamed through the rift, temporarily driving back the darkness of night.
Startled by the thunderous roar, Gorgon’s residents ran out of their homes and looked up.
Starlight was falling from the sky.
Fragments of scattered starlight struck the Inner Fortress. The Geumcheon Hall troops rushing into the Inner Fortress were hit by the starlight and turned to dust one after another. White souls scattered through the raging wind.
It was the first time Jaehwan’s Hard Stab revealed itself to the world.
* * *
A short while later, the Outer Chief Administrator, Maihan, emerged from the settling dust. The Horn Lords and Geumcheon Hall members around them had all been annihilated.
The Outer Chief Administrator, Maihan, realized they could not survive. In the previous clash, they had lost both arms and both legs. More than half of the spiritual body that formed their organs had been blown away.
“Cough... Where did a monster like this...”
Their torn vocal cords could no longer produce a proper voice.
“But it is too late. This Gorgon... the Fortress Lord...!”
Those were Maihan's final words.
Jaehwan stabbed Maihan through the throat with his sword.
Jaehwan pulled his sword from the silver dust, then kicked Cheongheo, who lay sprawled behind him.
“Old man, get up. We are late.”
“Ugh, what kind of chaos is this? ...Looks like you caused quite a scene while I was out, brat.”
The alarm installed in the Inner Fortress prison began to beep.
[Warning! The target’s soul contamination has exceeded 99.9%! Mutation will begin!]
[Warning! The spiritual power of the target undergoing Mutation is excessively high!]
[The System will measure the target’s danger coefficient.]
...
[...Measuring... Measurement impossible!]
[System judgment: Identified as a Colossal Deadman!]
[Activating Gorgon’s automatic emergency alarm!]
Sirens soon began echoing from the Outer Fortress. An announcement declared a Gorgon One alert and ordered every resident throughout Gorgon to evacuate.
Cheongheo let out a sigh and spoke tensely.
“You only need to assist from the side.”
“...”
“Your ‘Stab’ is too sharp to save people.”
With that, Cheongheo raised his sword. The sword moved as if it were a brush writing characters in the air.
The world was dyed white.
A Life-Saving Ultimate Technique that carved a soul, about to disappear from contamination, back into the world. Deadman Slash had begun.
The Fortress Lord’s soul burned black at the center of the blank page.
The memories the Fortress Lord had forgotten were being carved back in by Cheongheo. Whenever the darkness writhed, beads of sweat formed on Cheongheo’s forehead.
How much time had passed?
The Fortress Lord suddenly opened their eyes.
Eyes infinitely clouded.
Eyes with the depth of a distant abyss filled with darkness.
Cheongheo abruptly stepped back several paces.
“...Old man?”
A soul opening its eyes meant it had regained its reason. Yet Cheongheo’s expression was unsettling.
“Something is wrong. It is not the Fortress Lord, but something else...”
Jaehwan also understood something from the Fortress Lord’s ominous gaze. The being before them possessed power far too vast to be an ordinary human.
Light slowly gathered in the Fortress Lord’s eyes. The Fortress Lord rose slowly, then began examining their shriveled body.
Cheongheo knew.
What stood before him was not the Fortress Lord.
[How surprising. To think I would descend through this body... So this one became a Deadman in the end.]
Jaehwan watched the Fortress Lord’s body recover rapidly. A sheen returned to the dry flesh, and immense spiritual power covered the body.
It was an aura Jaehwan had never seen before. A gigantic shadow behind the Fortress Lord’s soul.
...A Deadman?
When he used 「Doubt」, he saw a being standing in profound darkness.
The being before him was not human. It was close to a Deadman, but it was not one. It was neither alive nor dead, yet it did not resemble an inanimate object either. Still, it looked like something that combined all those things.
Jaehwan did not know what to call it.
It was like a single “world.”
[I see another familiar face.]
Cheongheo was trembling beside him. His eyes were steeped in complete fear.
[Why do you still remain in 《Chaos》, incomplete Awakened One?]
“K-King of Chaos...”
Something occurred to Jaehwan at Cheongheo’s words.
As far as Jaehwan knew, the strongest beings in Chaos were the Fortress Lords of the Four Fortresses and the Hall Masters of the Ten Halls. Yet none of them held the title of “king.”
Now Jaehwan knew why.
Because something like that existed.
The one being who alone bore the title of king in 《Chaos》, where no one else could become king.
Cheongheo muttered.
“Sole King, Catastrophe...”
Cheongheo knew the being before him. Nine hundred years ago, he had once faced that terrible thing.
The Sole King, Catastrophe.
The king of all Deadmans, and master of the 「Palace of the Dead」 at the center of Chaos.
The only being who could open the Door to the 《Abyss》.
[Why have you not yet left 《Chaos》? Are you trying to protect this wretched world?]
The calm voice made Cheongheo’s soul tremble. No being capable of hearing could hear that voice and remain sane.
The Sole King extended a hand toward the white world Cheongheo had created. The blank page was instantly dyed black by pitch darkness.
[Did you not already find what you wanted in the 《Abyss》?]
All strength drained from Cheongheo, and he collapsed onto the ground. It had surpassed the limit a single soul could withstand.
Then the Sole King’s eyes turned toward Jaehwan.
[How interesting. A being who has achieved complete Awakening, yet still possesses a human heart.]
Jaehwan realized he had tightly gripped Dokbul’s hilt without noticing. His hand had moved beyond his control.
It meant he was tense.
Jaehwan spoke.
“Old man, you failed, right?”
There was no need to ask what had failed.
With his trembling jaw, Cheongheo looked at Jaehwan.
How could this man be unharmed even after seeing that thing?
How could he remain so proud and composed before the king of the Deadmans?
Jaehwan spoke again.
“I am thinking of killing that thing now.”
Footnotes:
Chapter discussion