CH 353

“Tough bastard,” Gi-Gyu said in irritation. He swerved Dark Dragon to dodge the giant’s hand. By now, his steed was panting heavily, so he injected sorcerous energy into it. He could immediately feel its exhaustion melt away. Its damaged scales and broken teeth recovered as well.

“Kwerrrrk!” Dark Dragon roared as if it was pleased.

‘But it’s still tired,’ Gi-Gyu thought in concern. The sorcerous energy injection had seemingly rejuvenated Dark Dragon, but it was honestly just a temporary boost. Its stamina had hit the bottom of the barrel and was still there. The dragon had to rest soon; if it didn’t, it would die.

“Dammit, I need another ride.” To fight Ironshield in his giant form, he needed to be airborne. Ironshield was stronger than Gi-Gyu had anticipated, so effectively attacking from the ground would be difficult.

“Besides, the ground is…” Gi-Gyu looked down to see the ground disappearing. Since he had only focused on keeping the ground around Haures and the rest safe, the ground around Ironshield was gone. So there was no ground available for Gi-Gyu to fight from.

“Kwerrrrk!” Dark Dragon roared, unhappy that Gi-Gyu was underestimating it.

“I know you can still fight.” Gi-Gyu patted the dragon to console it, but he continued to frown. “Ironshield isn’t even getting tired.”

Ironshield, the giant, looked far from falling.

Whoosh!

The giant’s fist rushed forward Gi-Gyu again at an incredible speed. Gi-Gyu dodged it while remaining on the dragon, and he managed to punch the giant’s palm. Gi-Gyu’s fist looked so tiny compared to the giant, but he had no problem piercing the giant’s palm.

He had injected Death into his attack and prayed, ‘Die already.’ 

The giant’s hand turned black, but to Gi-Gyu’s annoyance, it quickly returned to normal.

“Again?” Gi-Gyu muttered in frustration as Death failed to harm the giant again. As a matter of fact, the giant looked even more lively.

‘It’s eating my Death too.’ Gi-Gyu hadn’t expected that. He had injected Death into Ironshield to make him explode from the inside, but even that failed. Ironshield just devoured Death to expedite his healing. Gi-Gyu’s attacks weren’t working, as Ironshield kept on healing himself. Consequently, a battle that should have ended quickly continued.

“Hmm…” Gi-Gyu dodged the giant again and thought about his next move. Suddenly, he grasped Dark Dragon’s reins and ordered, “Let’s go.”

“Kwerrrk!” Dark Dragon roared and flapped its wings quickly. It was almost as fast as Hermes during Super Rush. Gi-Gyu and the dragon ripped through the air to reach the top of the giant’s head.

“Let’s finish this,” Gi-Gyu announced. There was no simple answer to his problem. So, he decided to stop directly attacking the monster, who kept on regenerating.

‘My resentment for you is deep, but it’s time to end this,’ Gi-Gyu thought grimly. ‘Ironshield… I wanted to talk to you before you died.’ 

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In the past, Gi-Gyu had wanted to ask him the reason behind his actions. He had wanted to know what Ironshield was trying to accomplish. But now, Gi-Gyu felt he had been childish. He didn’t have to ask to know what Ironshield’s answer would have been.

The truth was that such a long time had passed that Gi-Gyu’s resentment had lost all its purpose. He still hated Ironshield, but he had forgotten why. At some point, Ironshield became a motive and a goal to Gi-Gyu that helped him continue forward.

“It’s over now…” Chaos filled Gi-Gyu’s fists. As Death and Life mixed, it turned gray, and Gi-Gyu’s eye color changed accordingly. The gray hue dancing in his eyes and around his fist grew until it swallowed Gi-Gyu.

“Kwerrrrk!” Dark Dragon screamed as if in pain. It may have accepted an overwhelming amount of sorcerous energy, but Chaos, and so much of it, was dangerous for it.

That was exactly why Gi-Gyu ordered, “You can go now.”

Dark Dragon looked disappointed, but with a roar, it flapped its wings to fly away. Gi-Gyu floated in the air for a moment.

‘Just a little while longer.’ He needed Hermes to keep him afloat for a bit longer. Hermes was dying, but Gi-Gyu only needed a few seconds.

“I’ll make it painless,” said Gi-Gyu to Ironshield. With everything he had, he flew toward the giant. A beam of gray light came down from the sky and pierced the top of the giant’s head.

***

‘Where am I?’ Gi-Gyu tried to remember. The last thing he did was summon Chaos. It was the greatest amount of Chaos he had ever used. It was enough to turn everything into nothing. The power in his fist could have destroyed the world. Using it, Gi-Gyu had rent Ironshield across the median plane.

Gi-Gyu remembered landing on the ground. Ironshield hadn’t even gotten the chance to scream, and before Gi-Gyu knew what was happening, a bright light had blinded him. He looked around to find himself in a white space; it felt familiar.

“I guess I’m inside a shell,” Gi-Gyu murmured. As the world around him brightened, he looked down to see his hands. He was obviously inside a shell, and he soon realized whose.

“This must be Ironshield’s shell.” If it were his shell, Gi-Gyu would’ve recognized it immediately from its energy and appearance. He had never been in this shell before.

‘It is strange and stained.’ Although it may have looked purely white at first glance, Gi-Gyu could now see better. In this place, tens of thousands of different shells were twisted into one. Each one was losing its color to form one white shell. This was why it felt so confusing and comfortable here.

Gi-Gyu began moving. As if being pushed by an ocean wave, his body floated around.

‘If I want to, I can escape this place,’ Gi-Gyu told himself. At the moment, there weren’t many things that were restraining him. Also, he had successfully escaped Kronos’ dimensional gap, so he wasn’t worried he would fail to exit this place.

But Gi-Gyu chose to stay and floated around.

‘I’m sure it’s fine outside.’ The fact that he was inside Ironshield’s shell meant that the giant was close to his death. Ironshield should no longer be able to move because a shell was like a human heart. Just as a non-player couldn’t move if a foreign object entered their heart, Ironshield should be helpless now.

Gi-Gyu floated around for a while, and as he did, he heard the screams of various voices in his head.

-Ackkkk!

-Save me!

-Kirrrrk!

-Where am I? Where is this place? I can’t see anything! Is someone out there?!

The voices were filled with confusion, fear, and pain, and Gi-Gyu could guess whom they belonged to.

‘It’s Andras’ doing.’

Andras had carried out many experiments on Ironshield. Ironshield went through many experiments carried out by Andras. According to Mammon, Andras had tried to combine Ironshield with tens of thousands of different creatures. He had injected unimaginable things into Ironshield.

‘That’s why I can forgive you. That’s why I’m okay with this.’ What Ironshield had done to Gi-Gyu was traumatic, but in a way, Ironshield had paid for his sins. But Gi-Gyu still wanted to be the one who ended him.

‘I want closure.’ It had been a long battle, and Gi-Gyu wanted to finally fix the mental scar.

-Please… Please…

As Gi-Gyu continued to float around, he finally heard a familiar voice.

‘I think I’m at the center of the shell now.’ 

In the middle of the shell, there was a black nucleus with a developed fetus inside. Two things could be said for certain at this point: The fetus was Ironshield, and the voice also belonged to him.

“Ironshield,” Gi-Gyu called out.

-Please… Please…

It seemed that Ironshield couldn’t hear Gi-Gyu’s voice because he continued to mumble.

-Please stop… Please… I’m going to kill you. I’m going to kill all of you. I won’t forget your names…

Ironshield had already lost his mind, and only his madness-laced voice rang in Gi-Gyu’s head. He stood for a moment to listen.

-Andras… Kronos… Mammon…

Ironshield continued to list names.

-Jung Soo-Jung… Lee Sun-Ho…

“Lee Sun-Ho?” Gi-Gyu whispered. He knew that Ironshield and Soo-Jung were enemies. Their history was just as bad as that between Ironshield and himself. But why was Lee Sun-Ho’s name mentioned?

Unfortunately, Ironshield wasn’t able to provide an answer.

-Kim Gi-Gyu… I’ll kill you. I’ll kill you all…

Hearing his own name made Gi-Gyu smile bitterly. In their case, hatred was a two-way street.

‘I can understand it since I ruined his successful life as a player.’ But Gi-Gyu didn’t feel guilty about this. Ironshield may have been powerful, but he didn’t reach this position ethically. He had committed countless sins, including what he had done to Gi-Gyu. Ironshield had lost everything, but the pain he felt now couldn’t compare to the pain he had caused others.

“Haa…” Gi-Gyu sighed deeply as Ironshield continued to list the names. All humans were selfish, and Gi-Gyu and Ironshield were no exceptions. Just as Gi-Gyu hated him, Ironshield hated him too.

“But today, we will end all of this hatred.” Gi-Gyu was a foreign object in Ironshield’s shell—a foreign object with consciousness and hatred for the shell’s owner. Gi-Gyu reached out and touched the dark nucleus's surface. As if his touch was a pebble being dropped into water, the black nucleus began vibrating.

-Who are you?

Ironshield, now a baby inside the nucleus, turned to look at Gi-Gyu.

-You? Who are you? You? Who?

Ironshield continued to ask Gi-Gyu the same question. Gi-Gyu smiled bitterly and wondered what this emotion he was feeling was. Surprisingly, he felt no relief or happiness from getting his revenge.

‘I don’t want to see him like this.’ 

Gi-Gyu gradually injected Death into the nucleus. The giant could absorb Death and use it to regenerate, but could its shell do the same? He was at the center of the shell, so there was no way this nucleus could absorb Death.

At least, that was what Gi-Gyu thought.

“...!” Gi-Gyu’s eyes widened in shock.

-Morningstar!

-Kim Gi-Gyu!

-We’ve been waiting for this moment!

-It’s finally happening!

The baby inside the black nucleus was now glaring at Gi-Gyu with a smile.

-We will be born again.

-And it will be all thanks to you.

Gi-Gyu suddenly realized that inside the nucleus, there now existed a pair of identical twins. And they were both smiling at him.