Gate Overload (3)
I remembered the first time I faced Nephilia.
A commander leading a massive undead army, mounted on a spectral horse and radiating blue spiritual energy as she stood proudly atop a hill. She truly looked like the generals people often spoke of.
“Hero, this is no time to stand still.”
Rhea’s words snapped me back to reality.
“Right. Why would I freeze up in front of something like that? Didn’t I say I was going to save the world?”
“You’re more of a scaredy-cat than I thought.”
My companions each tossed out a light jab, easing the tension.
Only then did my body finally relax. I turned and looked behind me.
The hero who once tried to change the world alone now stood alongside a united front of humans and other races, along with the dragon legion battling the First Legion Commander far in the distance.
The young man who had only dreamed was now walking atop that very dream.
“Alright… let’s go.”
With swelling anticipation, I took my first step toward hope.
Of course, it didn’t even take a single hour for that hope to shatter.
My armor was broken and falling apart. One arm was already useless.
She was strong.
Even with the martial arts I’d learned in Murim, my status window, and even the Holy Sword, the only effective hit I’d landed was a single stab to her shoulder.
“This… is just overbalanced.”
“You’re weaker than expected. Aside from the Holy Sword, there’s nothing worth seeing.”
“Shut up.”
My companions were desperately holding back the swarming undead legion. The only comfort was that the monster was solely focused on me.
I have to survive.
Right as that thought crossed my mind, Nephilia lowered her spear.
“…?”
Wondering what she was doing, I looked up at the sky and saw a massive shadow looming over us.
“Ha…!!”
A sigh of relief escaped me.
Rhea and the dragons had arrived.
“Hero, I have one question.”
“What is it.”
“Why do you think the gods summoned you… what do you believe the reason was?”
“Obviously, to protect humanity from the demon race…”
Nephilia shook her head.
“The Demon King also appeared out of nowhere, just like you, and seized the throne with overwhelming power. Always keep the question ‘why’ in your heart.”
“What does that even—”
Nephilia mounted her horse and vanished in an instant.
Breath poured down onto the undead legion.
Through the flames, I watched Nephilia’s back. For some reason, she looked lonely.
What on earth is she thinking?
“Why?”
Nephilia stared at Jeok Hwa-ryeon standing before her.
Her beloved spectral horse was trembling violently for some unknown reason.
Fear in a creature that was already dead? That made no sense.
When she looked down, she saw that the hand gripping her spear was shaking like a leaf in the wind.
“No… I…!!”
Refusing to believe it, Nephilia yanked her reins and charged straight at Jeok Hwa-ryeon.
Her spear swung toward Jeok Hwa-ryeon’s throat.
“My master and father once told me this: Always know your place.”
Jeok Hwa-ryeon recited the words calmly as she caught the long spear with her Blood Demon Sword.
That’s right.
Jeok Hwa-ryeon was someone who knew her place.
I… was wrong. The balance between the righteous and demonic factions must be maintained to have any meaning… Never, ever walk the same path as me, my daughter.
The final will left by the previous Blood Archdemon—who had plunged Murim into terror—was almost unbelievable.
The words coming from the person who had killed thousands of promising righteous sect talents and destroyed entire factions were far too weak.
The fact that almost no one above the Peak realm existed in Murim was also because they had all died during the Blood Demon War.
Master regretted it.
Every time he tried to suppress the righteous sects with his own hands, they only banded together more tightly and grew stronger.
“I wash the world with blood.”
She had seen it through the Blood Jade.
How much discrimination her ancestor—who had once been nothing more than a red-haired shaman—had suffered upon arriving in Murim.
Driven out to the outskirts, tormented and discriminated against because red hair was considered impure, her ancestor had thought this:
She wanted to erase all discrimination and injustice from the world.
“Washing it away with blood.”
It must have meant she wanted to eliminate the prejudices and discrimination people saw with their own eyes.
But Jeok Hwa-ryeon’s will was different.
I want to protect with blood.
I want to become a massive barrier so that no one can ever harm my family.
“Uwaaaaaaaaaah!!!”
Nephilia’s relentless barrage continued. Jeok Hwa-ryeon didn’t dodge. She simply stood in place and deflected every attack with her Blood Demon Sword.
Clang—clang—clang—!!
The sharp ring of metal echoed without end.
Realizing her attacks were pointless, Nephilia reached into her own chest and pulled something out.
It was a flag made of souls.
“Border of the Dead.”
The moment she planted the flag in the ground, the sky turned from azure to deep navy, and the earth transformed into a murky greenish hue.
The eyes of every undead within range blazed with ghostly light.
They all turned toward Jeok Hwa-ryeon at once and began charging.
Jeok Hwa-ryeon simply watched without any particular reaction.
In the blink of an eye, she was completely swallowed by the legion of death knights.
“Blood Prison Blade Realm.”
A prison made of blood unfolded.
Anyone who stepped into the domain would be torn into a thousand pieces by invisible slashes of blood blades.
Even after seeing their bodies being shredded, the death knights charged at Jeok Hwa-ryeon like moths to a flame.
Soon, not a single death knight remained to rush her.
“H-How… is this possible…”
Nephilia clenched her fist, then lifted the head she held in one hand.
“I was going to use this on Rhea… that damn lizard.”
She slammed her own head back onto her severed neck. The head and neck locked together like gears, and blue light poured from Nephilia’s eyes.
“This is the ultimate technique of the Dullahan that I discovered—Descent of the Death King.”
The pinnacle of necromancy, in which one claims to be the king of the underworld and draws forth the true power of the afterlife.
It was powerful enough to have mercilessly slaughtered Kim Min-su’s party in the past. Even Rhea might not have been able to withstand this ultimate form.
Nephilia dismounted from her spectral horse and walked toward Jeok Hwa-ryeon.
The sight of the Dullahan approaching while radiating blue light was like the grim reaper come to claim a soul.
Jeok Hwa-ryeon raised her sword toward Nephilia. Then she opened her mouth and shouted.
“Blood Sea Without End.”
Drip—
A droplet of water struck the surface.
The tiny sound didn’t stop. It kept echoing in her ears.
Where am I?
Dozens of Nephilias overlapped across the water’s surface.
In their midst, Nephilia was always looking up at the sky, spear in hand.
“Ah…”
Before she knew it, Nephilia stood in the middle of a vast, endless sea of blood.
“This is…?”
“Not a bad view, is it?”
Jeok Hwa-ryeon stood beside her and spoke.
This place was the ultimate form of the Blood Demon Extinction Blood Art that her master had pursued—Blood Sea Without End.
Nothing remained.
Neither the righteous path nor the demonic path. Not even the heretical cults. Nothing at all.
Only a red sea existed.
“So you really did intend to dye the entire world in blood.”
Even now, the thought seemed absurd.
Not a world without discrimination, but a world where discrimination itself became impossible.
“It’s vast. Just how strong are you?”
Nephilia had already realized the truth.
Jeok Hwa-ryeon had merely been toying with her. She had never once fought seriously.
“Who knows…”
Even she didn’t fully understand it herself.
After all, she still couldn’t draw out even half the true power of the Blood Demon Sword.
Jeok Hwa-ryeon looked at the Blood Demon Sword, then flicked her finger against its blade.
A crimson sword aura formed.
It was the very same aura that had sliced the Heavenly Demon’s throat and shattered Baek Mu-heun’s sword.
It dyed the world in blood.
Just as the words suggested, her sword aura turned everything it touched red. Whether living or inanimate, it bestowed a vivid crimson without discrimination.
Seeing it, Nephilia gripped her spear with both hands.
“Come.”
In response, Jeok Hwa-ryeon’s red eyes glowed as she answered.
“Come.”
Nephilia moved first, unleashing all her power.
The teal-colored spear that sent everything it touched to the underworld swung toward Jeok Hwa-ryeon.
“I’ll send you to the underworld.”
Jeok Hwa-ryeon could only smile.
“The underworld, huh.”
In this space, everything was crystal clear. The countless corpses of those she had killed and the vengeful spirits spitting out curses.
“If such a place exists, I have a question. Jeok Mun, my father. Why did you say those words at the very end?”
The moment she swung the Blood Demon Sword horizontally—
The sea of blood split apart.
“I was wrong.”
I looked up at the enormous blood orb that had appeared in the sky.
I had judged everything based on the time when I was called the strongest under heaven.
That thinking had been completely mistaken.
“Transcendent realm…”
The stage just below ascension—the wall I had knocked on countless times without ever breaking through—Jeok Hwa-ryeon had already surpassed it.
The giant blood orb shattered, and red hair fluttered wildly.
Jeok Hwa-ryeon’s hair, as she stood in midair, was literally blazing.
Unable to contain her own power, her internal energy continuously poured outward.
It was pure energy, yet because it had been built upon blood, it was incredibly fierce and sharp.
“She’s my wife, but damn… she really is ridiculous.”
The murderous aura radiating from Jeok Hwa-ryeon suddenly shifted toward me.
“Honey!”
She used midair steps to rush over and throw herself into my arms.
“When did you get this strong?”
“I told you I’m the strongest under heaven, didn’t I?”
“Looks like we’re just the side characters here.”
Jo Seung-min, who had been sitting on the ground, chimed in.
“Ah, let me introduce you. This is my wife, Jeok Hwa-ryeon.”
At my words, Jo Seung-min stood up and bowed his head.
“Thank you. If it weren’t for Miss Jeok Hwa-ryeon, we would all be dead.”
“Not at all. You’re the people who worked with my husband, right? I’m truly grateful that you looked after him while I was gone.”
A warm atmosphere was settling in when Baek Ji-tae suddenly shouted.
“Over there…! I can see the core!”
“I’ll go break it.”
I headed for the core in place of Jo Seung-min and Baek Ji-tae, whose legs were still shaking.
Jeok Hwa-ryeon sat down to circulate her energy and calm it.
“A core, huh.”
Cores appeared randomly near gates.
That was why hunters’ main objective upon entering a gate was to find and destroy the core as quickly as possible.
Once the core was destroyed, the gate would never reappear.
“It’s been a while.”
The core was so fragile that even an ordinary person could easily break it.
I raised my heavy sword—
Thud—!!
My dantian began to resonate.
“Huh…?”
Before I could do anything, a massive storm swept over us.