Even Hell Is Here (Part 2)
Clang…
Splash!
I spat out a mouthful of blood amid the rubble.
“Ugh… haaa… crrgh…”
Thud, thud-thud-thud…
My entire body ached.
A tingling sensation rippled through every inch of me.
Where… am I?
I glanced around and assessed the situation.
This was the ruined government-general building.
The surrounding occupied zone had been reduced to scorched earth.
Every structure and facility built by the human race had become nothing but ash.
Even the sturdier ones had collapsed into heaps of garbage.
A wasteland.
Yes, it had become a wasteland.
Boom, rumble!
I snapped awake to a distant thunderclap.
A barrier array woven around the seven Gwanghan Orbs in the eighth occupied zone.
The central point of that barrier array.
Seven banners bearing the image of a black dragon had been driven into the ground at the core, forming the same shape as the barrier.
That must be…
I staggered over to the banners.
Jeon Myeong-hoon…
The banners formed a single formation.
Using the power of the barrier that covered this occupied zone, it was a formation meant to seal Jeon Myeong-hoon.
Woooon…
I sat cross-legged in the barrier array.
I could sense no trace of his physical form.
He must have already perished after exhausting the remaining three original souls in a battle against me.
We had fought day and night for nearly three days.
Jeon Myeong-hoon’s Brain Thunder Technique was truly terrifying.
One solid hit would paralyze my body completely, rendering me unable to move.
Even after the paralysis wore off, the residual brain energy would chase after me like a homing missile.
Slower than real lightning though it was, each strike had been impossibly fast and devastatingly powerful.
Against a technique boasting peak offensive power, I had been forced to expend everything I had.
‘I barely won using ninety percent of my strength.’
I stared at Jeon Myeong-hoon trapped at the heart of the banner formation.
Dense black miasma had taken the form of chains, imprisoning the Thunder Orb at the array’s center.
It was his Golden Elixir.
I looked at his Golden Elixir and the original souls trapped inside it with a complicated heart.
“I have no idea… how much time you lived, for I cannot understand.”
Crackle…
“Maybe… yes, it’s my fault.
I could have chosen the Heaven-Changing Gate of Great Creation instead of the Golden God Heavenly Thunder at that moment.
I simply thought I could not escape the limits of true immortality and so chose the Heaven-Changing Gate of Great Creation.
But…”
I could not change the fact that I was a true immortal.
But perhaps I could have known what kind of life the man had lived.
Maybe I had been cowardly, knowing he would suffer pain, and simply abandoned him because I lacked the strength to save him.
To a regressor who could rewind time, the words were absurd.
Time could not be rewound.
Even if time could be rewound at this exact moment, it would never cease to exist.
It would remain inside me forever, intertwined with me, and live on.
‘I’m sorry.’
Jeon Myeong-hoon had died with this as his only comfort.
I had, in a way, killed my first comrade from the same world with my own hands.
“…Rest well.”
Splash!
Once more, blood gushed from my mouth because of the wounds I had inflicted on Jeon Myeong-hoon.
I turned my back on him just like that.
Choke, choke…
Blood kept spurting from my mouth in thick gushes.
The beings I had tried to protect…
The moment the battle began, I had led them through the original souls with Gyeon Shin to the underground of the government-general residence and safely evacuated them.
I walked to the collapsed government-general building and cleared away the rubble.
Boom, bang!
My body, strengthened by the Embracing Technique, could toss away the building’s rubble like feathers even while injured.
After clearing the rubble, I searched for the entrance to the underground.
Tap, tap…
I slowly descended into the underground.
How long had it been?
Far in the distance, I saw a green glow.
Tap, tap…
Beyond the green glow, the demons living here and Gyeon Shin were whispering to each other.
“S-Sir Governor!”
“Governor Uncle!”
From far away, Su-in and Hong-yeon spotted me walking toward them with blood dripping and rushed over urgently.
‘Everyone… is safe.’
From behind the two of them, I saw Gyeon Shin, who had been riding on the puppet I gave him, running toward me in a panic.
I lost consciousness.
* * *
I was dreaming.
In the dream, I replayed the battle with Jeon Myeong-hoon.
From the beginning to the end of the fight.
What I had lacked during it, what I had done well, what I could develop further.
I reflected on all of it and grew myself anew.
Then, suddenly, I felt I could understand something.
‘Something… something that could pursue a higher realm.’
Why?
Was it just a mood?
But I knew it was not a simple mood.
‘It is not a mood.’
It was clear.
Something clear was calling me to this other side.
‘What is it…?’
After pondering for a long time, I finally awakened.
‘Ah, I see.’
The dream tore apart.
It was a green battle-axe.
The overwhelming trace of destruction I had seen long ago!
That memory began to replay inside my head.
Why had this memory replayed at exactly this moment?
The reason was obvious.
Jeon Myeong-hoon’s lightning was immature, but it was endlessly like Heavenly Tribulation.
And the green battle-axe was the same.
‘That too is like Heavenly Tribulation.’
It was not speaking of destruction’s attribute.
The power of destruction itself was a realization that the Heavenly Venerable Hancheon had obtained through his life.
What I felt was the principle behind that single strike of destruction!
‘It is the same.’
The strike of the Heavenly Venerable Hancheon was endlessly similar to Heavenly Tribulation.
‘Exactly, what is it similar to?’
But while I felt his strike was similar to Heavenly Tribulation, I could not understand exactly what and why.
Perhaps on the day I understood it, I would be able to go to this [other side].
‘Perhaps the reason the dao immortals fear and hate the demons…’
It might not simply be because they learned powerful and incomprehensible techniques.
I closed my eyes inside the dream, staring blankly at the Heavenly Venerable Hancheon’s strike and the lightning close to the one Jeon Myeong-hoon shot at me.
* * *
Blink…
“Ah, Uncle!”
“Governor Uncle!!!”
When I opened my eyes, familiar faces appeared.
“…Where am I?”
I clutched my head and stood up.
“H-He’s awake!”
“He’s awake! The Governor has woken up!”
Hearing Su-in and Hong-yeon, the two demons, the many demons around rushed over.
“Oh my, Sir Governor!”
“You’ve awakened?”
“We were worried sick because you’ve been unconscious for two days!”
As I looked at them in a daze,
[Everyone, step aside.]
Clang, clang, clang.
Gyeon Shin landed on the puppet’s head and approached me.
[Lord Seo, are you all right?]
“Ah, there are a few spots that ache, but it’s fine.
By the way… why are everyone’s reactions like this?”
Until now, the demons had not been that friendly with me.
Even with children like Su-in and Hong-yeon, to the adult demons I was simply a vicious human Governor.
Especially recently, after trying to drive the demons far away because of the Plan to Extinguish the Heavenly Void, there was nothing more to say.
Yet why were they reacting this way?
[I had been sending rescue signals to my kin for a long time with no reply.
But when you were fighting, a reply finally came.]
Gyeon Shin’s explanation continued.
[The Integration Realm Lords of the Demon Realm captured the human frontline forces and interrogated them, learning about the Plan to Extinguish the Heavenly Void.
Because of that, they realized the Governor was trying to send us far away.]
“…So you told the demons about it.”
It seemed he had been captured by the Integration Lords of the Demon Realm and the plan had ultimately been exposed.
“So this is why everyone is happy? No matter what, I was the one who drove you from your homeland and exploited you…”
[Hahaha! Exploited, you say, Lord.
My words are not yet finished.
We learned about the Plan to Extinguish the Heavenly Void, and this time a huge incident occurred in the Demon Realm…]
Gyeon Shin’s tentacles wriggled with a serious tone.
One end of his tentacles pointed somewhere.
It was the Gongryeong-ji.
[Lord, didn’t you think it strange?
Why was such a precious place called Gongryeong-ji, which the Demon Realm side easily took from the humans?
Why hadn’t I said anything about this Gongryeong-ji to you until now, even though I am a former Demon Army Lord?
And why were three of these rare Gongryeong-ji sites found in such close proximity in the occupied zone the humans had seized?]
“…It’s not normal, is it.”
With a solemn face, I asked.
Gyeon Shin flicked his tentacles.
[During the days you slept, the Demon Army contacted me.
A huge commotion erupted in the Demon Realm.]
“Huge commotion?”
[Yes.
What we are seeing is not a normal Gongryeong-ji.]
“Not a normal Gongryeong-ji?”
[Correct.
According to the information I heard, what we see before us is the trace left when the Heavenly Demons of the Hyeol-eum Realm tried to break the dimensional barrier of the Demon Realm from outside to enter the Demon Realm.]
“W-What?!”
I jumped up from my seat.
“So that means it’s connected to the Hyeol-eum Realm!? Then… I shouldn’t be here, right?”
I had heard it before.
Even if they were the same demons, the Heavenly Demons of the Hyeol-eum Realm did not hesitate to eat each other, and they were far more cunning, vicious, and treacherous than the demons of the Demon Realm.
However, Gyeon Shin smiled.
[Hahaha, that’s correct.
This Gongryeong-ji was indeed made by the Hyeol-eum Realm.
But it is not connected to the Hyeol-eum Realm.]
“What?”
[The beings of the Hyeol-eum Realm grow by absorbing negative and evil energy.
And in places where such evil exists, the beings of the Hyeol-eum Realm can exert their power.
Thanks to the countless evils accumulated by the humans who have infiltrated the Demon Realm, seized it, slaughtered countless demons, and weakened them, the beings of the Hyeol-eum Realm have succeeded in connecting a Gongryeong-ji not in the eighth occupied zone to the Hyeol-eum Realm.]
The man grinned.
The other demons also looked at me with smiles containing relief.
[The Demon Army says the eighth occupied zone is the only human-occupied zone that has not accumulated enough evil to connect to the Hyeol-eum Realm.
In short, Lord Seo, because of your benevolence, this occupied zone has not become hell.]
“….”
[Deep in my heart, I thank you for not having abused the demons here and for not having enslaved them…
I bow deeply in gratitude for your benevolence itself.
Thank you, Lord Seo.]
Including Gyeon Shin, countless demons who knew about the Heavenly Demons of the Hyeol-eum Realm bowed their heads to me and expressed their gratitude.
“…It’s me who should be thanking you.”
I slumped back down into my seat.
Somehow, looking at that scene, words I wanted to say to Jeon Myeong-hoon came to mind.
I hoped I could convey to that man what I felt while looking at these people.
Sss…
The figures of those who were now thanking me were added to my qi.
I wiped my eyes and returned their greetings.
“Thank you.”
Even if the world is hell…
―You don’t need anything.
Just die.
Nothing has meaning in this life.
Even if this world is filled with pain and madness…
Perhaps there is something with meaning.
Someday, even if not now.
I wanted to convey that to that man for sure.
I sat inside the Gongryeong-ji reflecting the dimensional barrier, receiving the gratitude of the countless demons I had rescued, and pondered those thoughts.
* * *
“…This is quite a scene.”
A long line of troops was approaching from this direction.
Huge transport ships and countless carriages carrying Gwanghan Orbs.
And countless human soldiers were flying toward the eighth occupied zone.
Woooon!
The purple sky of the Demon Realm was now wrapped in a faint red light.
Wooouuung!
With the Dimensional Step, familiar faces landed outside the barrier of the eighth occupied zone.
“It’s been a while, Chief of Staff.
No, perhaps I should call you Military Affairs Director now?”
I looked at a beggar-like dao immortal in tattered clothes and said.
“…Don’t joke around and open the barrier, Governor Seo.”
He bit his lip and said.
“…The left hand and left foot of the Venerable Hyeol-eum have descended.
However, thanks to you, Governor Seo, protecting the Gongryeong-ji well, the left eye of the Venerable has not descended either.
We will remain stationed in the eighth occupied zone until support arrives from the Gwanghan Realm mainland.”
In this way, the occupied zone that had been governed by a spy of the demons and a traitor to the humans until now…
Had ultimately become the last hope of the defeated human soldiers.