CH 279

Old Man Hwang and Hwang Chae-Il quickly realized a lot of things. Why they couldn’t contact Gi-Gyu through the crack, why they couldn’t monitor Eden, and even why they didn’t have an eye on the Ha Song-Su fight.

“M-my goodness…” Old Man Hwang mumbled.

The man resting before them on the bed like a corpse had a naked torso and a broken monocle.

“L-Lord Paimon?” Old Man Hwang gasped. He had finally realized Paimon was behind everything.

Tao Chen had carried Paimon and Bodhidharma here. The monk was also unconscious in the room, but Old Man Hwang and Hwang Chae-Il were only interested in the demon.

“Is this really Lord Paimon…?” Hwang Chae-Il asked again.

Old Man Hwang looked at his son before nodding. Hwang Chae-Il had never met Paimon before, but he had.

The father-son duo alone weren’t in shock.

Baal whispered, “I can’t believe Paimon is here…”

He was the one who had contacted Gi-Gyu, explained the situation, and even opened a path for him. Still, Baal was just as baffled. Paimon was a comrade, a supposedly dead comrade, but here he was, sleeping.

“This is crazy… Just what did Andras do?!” Baal grabbed his head in shock. He had always kept calm no matter the situation. He hadn’t panicked even when Soo-Jung lost to Ha Song-Su. Yet with Paimon in front of him, Baal couldn’t hide his surprise. He had never been shocked like this before.

“This wasn’t done just by Andras… Paimon…” Baal became quiet, his brain bolting to think of something.

Inside the Sephiroth Tree, an uncomfortable silence fell. Everyone was having a hard time accepting what was happening.

Kaboom!

Suddenly, a powerful explosion originating from inside the wooden wall, caught their attention. Its aftermath was so intense that everyone inside Eden felt it.

Old Man Hwang, Hwang Chae-Il, and Baal turned to watch the fight.

“...!”

“Oh my god…”

“I can’t believe this.”

The three figures gaped. What they saw on the screen shocked them almost as much as the fact that Paimon was back from the dead.

***

Boom!

Each crash seemed strong enough to rip the space. The explosions were quieter now, and the space was filled with rampant sorcerous energy, magic, Life, and Death.

Boom!

Two human forms clashed with each other. But they couldn’t be humans. It was more like two mountains butting against each other.

“Ugh,” El groaned, followed by the sound of shattering glass. The barrier she had created with everything she had quickly lost its layers. Blood dripped down from her lips.

“Dark Flame!” Soo-Jung tried to help.

Lim Hye-Sook added her strength as well.

“I’ll help too!” Yoo-Bin offered.

There wasn’t much these three women could do other than make El’s barrier sturdier.

“Ugh,” Soo-Jung moaned.

“Kya!” Yoo-Bin shrieked.

All four women worked together but still couldn’t contain the battle between the two beasts. The barrier kept breaking, and they kept mending it, taking the brunt of it all.

“I’m sorry…” Tao Chen looked down, his face ridden with guilt. Sadly, he didn’t have any barrier-forming skills. For now, he had to rely on them to remain alive.

‘What’s the point of gaining a ruler’s power if I can’t even help them now?’ Tao Chen felt terribly useless. He had fought Aamon, defeated the president, and gotten close to becoming a ruler. All great accomplishments, but he couldn’t help them now.

“I can’t even get involved in this battle…” All he could do was stay alive, which wouldn’t even be possible if not for the four women risking their lives to protect everyone else.

Soo-Jung shouted, “Stop the pity party and send us your magic! We’ll turn it into a useful form ourselves!”

“O-okay!” Tao Chen immediately released his power. His face brightened, happy he could help.

As for the women, they just focused on maintaining the barrier.

Boom!

Another crash occurred. Soo-Jung turned to look at the giant wall Brunheart had created. Every time Ha Song-Su and Gi-Gyu clashed, a small piece of the wall broke off.

Still, Brunheart’s wall stood strong. Soo-Jung was impressed.

‘She’s amazing, but I guess this was expected.’ Soo-Jung thought. Although many others might not have realized this, Brunheart was basically Eden itself. Brunheart had just as many skills and power as Gi-Gyu, which helped her form such a powerful wall.

Also…

Soo-Jung muttered, “Gi-Gyu is wearing Brunheart, so it’s no wonder he’s doing so well.”

Gi-Gyu had become one with Brunheart, giving him access to all her power and skills. It was a sight to behold, but Soo-Jung couldn’t help feeling annoyed.

“Fucking bastard… I thought he would fix everything when he returned, but he would end up killing everyone at this rate,” Soo-Jung mumbled. She was grateful Gi-Gyu was here to fight Ha Song-Su, but this battle’s shockwaves were too difficult to endure.

And it didn’t seem like Gi-Gyu was aware of what he was doing to the rest of them.

“Lucifer! Focus!” Lim Hye-Sook ordered when Soo-Jung began to get distracted.

“Fine, I got it!” Soo-Jung answered in annoyance. This wasn’t the time to grumble. Every one of them needed to concentrate to survive.

***

Gi-Gyu was surrounded by darkness. In this world of black, there was only one thing he could see.

‘Ha Song-Su.’ 

Was this because of the berserk mode? Because Gi-Gyu had literally gone berserk. He forgot his creatures and even the fact that he needed to capture Ha Song-Su alive to extract information.

‘Kill him. Rip him into pieces!’ That was the only thought circulating in his mind and controlling him.

Activating the berserk mode meant he had let sorcerous energy take over him. All his accumulated sorcerous energy was released temporarily. Dragon Hunter, the unique armor, protected his body, and his mind was only awake enough to keep him sane. If he also lost this, he would forget everything and lose himself.

‘Kill him, kill him, kill him, kill him.’ The determination to kill Ha Song-Su kept him going.

Kaboom!

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Lou, covered in sorcerous energy, attacked Ha Song-Su. Several swords appeared in Ha Song-Su’s hands to block Lou, but all of them shattered helplessly.

Clank!

Ha Song-Su dropped his arms and moved away from Gi-Gyu while panting heavily, “Haa… Haa…”

Another sword, white as if it were made of bones, appeared in his hand, but it didn’t matter to Gi-Gyu.

“I’ll kill you,” Gi-Gyu announced.

“You have lost your sanity.”

“I will kill you.”

“Tsk.” Ha Song-Su tried to converse with Gi-Gyu many times, but it wasn’t working. When he realized it was no use, he took another step back.

Clunkkkk!

The sorcerous energy made Lou even bigger. The sword was giant, but Gi-Gyu swung Lou like a twig. All of Lou’s swings left a black tract behind, turning the entire space even darker.

“Ugh…” Ha Song-Su groaned while backing away; he couldn’t fight back. “Dammit!” he swore and moved both of his hands.

Boom!

Finally, for the first time since the battle began, Gi-Gyu stepped back. A wave of dense sorcerous energy rushed toward him, who pushed it back using Lou.

Ha Song-Su screamed. With him at the center, the surrounding area began sinking. The ground seemingly couldn’t endure the weight of the huge amount of sorcerous energy he was releasing.

“Ugh.” For the first time, Gi-Gyu groaned. He raised his sword straight up to fight the gigantic force from his opponent. The sorcerous energy from Lou poured out like black liquid and began forming a protective sphere around Gi-Gyu.

Ha Song-Su and Gi-Gyu were fighting primarily by means of strength, without using their skills.

Dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun.

Their distinct sorcerous energy crashed and resonated. Magic disappeared. Life and Death, the energies supposedly stronger than sorcerous energy, left as well. The “sorcerous energy” Gi-Gyu and Ha Song-Su used had gone beyond definition. It was thicker and way more destructive.

Dun dun dun dun dun dun!

The two sorcerous energies mixed to constitute a dark fog.

Finally, Soo-Jung screamed, “You bastards!”

She turned to the other woman and ordered, “Put everything into the barrier! Or else we will all die!”

Before she could finish her order, the two similar yet distinct sorcerous energies exploded.

Kaboom!

It swallowed everything, including Soo-Jung and the others. It even reached the giant wall but didn’t make it explode. Instead, the explosion began to tear the wall apart.

***

The battle was over.

“Ughhhh…” Hal moaned. The others groaned as well.

“Victory… Victory is ours.” Hal used his halberd to stand beside the drake, which had collapsed.

They had annihilated their enemies. The demons were dead, and they didn’t deserve to live.

“Haa… Haa…” Botis walked up to Hal. “I can’t remember the last time I fought like this…”

Botis had lived in hell, but the battle left even him shocked. He was beyond exhausted because he had fought beyond his limit. Since the wounds of Gi-Gyu’s creatures healed near instantly, they had fought and fought without rest until it was finally over.

“I guess it’s over there too…” Botis, his face covered in blood and mucus, pointed at a giant hole. It was so big that it looked like an asteroid had fallen from the sky. The Eden creatures slowly looked up. They could barely move, but they all began moving toward the hole.

Gi-Gyu’s creatures surrounded the hole.

Their faces hopeful, they looked inside.

In the middle, they saw a man panting roughly, “Haa… Haa…”

“We…” Hal opened his mouth. “We won…!”

The panting man was wearing Dragon Hunter, which was ripped in many places. The man was covered in blood and black energy.

It was Gi-Gyu.

“Haa… Haa…” Gi-Gyu continued to gasp as he stabbed Ha Song-Su’s neck.

Ha Song-Su was on the ground with his eyes closed as if he were dead.

Everyone was certain of Gi-Gyu’s victory when suddenly, a woman screamed, “No!”

It was El. The fatigue was apparent on her face, but she still opened all her wings and flew toward Gi-Gyu.

Whoosh!

She wanted to take the white spear meant for Gi-Gyu.