Chapter 236: Endgame (5)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 236: Endgame (5)
"Nonsense... My kin. Kill that insolent fool!"
At Lebeus's command, his kin began to move.
The first was the Eater of Darkness, Darkness. Lacking a physical form, he unleashed the darkness he had consumed over the ages. The Demon Realm, including Cloud, was instantly plunged into blackness.
As the Demon Realm sank into darkness, the agonizing screams of monsters echoed from all directions.
It was because the Famished One, Hunger, was thrusting its endlessly multiplying maws through the darkness, devouring monsters simultaneously. For him, sating his own hunger came before his creator's command.
Having devoured all the monsters, his gaze turned to the Dragon King and the Blood King.
"Ahem. Not those children. They may be a bit dim-witted, but they are my creations. If you don't want to die, will you get that filthy maw of yours out of the way?"
Hunger licked its lips, eyeing the Blood King and the Dragon King. But it dared not defy the command and ultimately gave up. That left only one meal.
Chomp. Hunger's maw opened wide, attempting to swallow both Cloud's body and Han Jisu at once.
Han Jisu swung his sword and tore the filthy maw apart. In response, dozens of gaping mouths materialized around him. It was a clear display of Hunger's fierce will: if it couldn't swallow him in one bite, it would chew him to pieces.
"Star..."
Han Jisu's sword hand blurred for a moment.
...Shhh-chak—!
The result of his movement appeared a beat later. The maws targeting him were torn to shreds.
More mouths surrounded him, and each time, he personally ripped them apart.
After repeating this several times, all that remained was a single, whimpering little maw.
Han Jisu brought his sword down.
Slice.
The maw split, and no new ones appeared.
But the darkness still remained.
Han Jisu opened his mouth.
"Light."
No other embellishment was needed; that one word was enough. Light spread out from him, erasing the darkness. Having lost all its darkness, Darkness itself vanished.
When the darkness was gone and the light had faded, what filled Han Jisu's vision was a Minotaur with a raised axe.
The creature was the size of an ogre, and if that were all, one might have dismissed it as just a large Minotaur. But it was pitch-black from head to toe, without any variation in color, and most importantly, it had no eyes.
Whoosh!
The Minotaur's axe sliced through the air as it came crashing down. With his free hand, Han Jisu caught the axe blade.
-Ngh?!
The stunned Minotaur struggled to pull its axe free, but it wouldn't budge. Without letting go of the axe, Han Jisu turned his head and scanned his surroundings.
He was surrounded by black monsters like the Minotaur—all of them far superior to their original counterparts. He realized they were fakes, created from shadows.
'This is a much higher-level technique than Shedia's shadow arts.'
Shedia's shadow arts had a weakness.
For example, when she created a clone, the main body's abilities would weaken, and the clone itself would be inferior to the original.
But the creatures before him now were different. Each one was not a clone but a main body, and unlike ordinary shadows, they possessed a strange power that was unaffected by light.
'I wonder if Shedia would like it if I taught her this later?'
Hmm... I'm not so sure.
She's such an oddball.
She'd probably prefer getting a lap pillow from Katarina over something like this.
After a moment of thought, Han Jisu sighed.
Still, it's better than nothing, I guess.
He stabbed his sword into the shadowed ground. Swoosh. The shadows were sucked into the blade. At the same time, the shadow monsters that had been about to pounce on him melted away like water.
Having dealt with the King of Shadows, Han Jisu pulled his sword from the ground. It was then that he felt something was off. He shifted only his eyes, looking toward the source of the unease.
A knight exuding an ominous aura was drawing his sword. By the time Han Jisu's gaze fell upon him, the blade was almost fully drawn.
The knight's sword cut through the air.
And yet, it did not cut through the air.
His sword always cuts its target. It is a law, an inescapable causality. Han Jisu decided not to defy it.
"Leah."
-Yep.
Just twist it a little.
Leah's blade glowed as it distorted space. As space warped, the trajectory of the slash aimed at Han Jisu shifted toward Lebeus.
Tink—!
A scratch appeared on Lebeus's black breastplate.
-?!!
The knight was stunned.
He looked as if he couldn't comprehend what had just happened. Han Jisu smirked at Lebeus, who was openly scowling in displeasure, and then swung his own sword just as the knight had.
But his method was different.
While the knight had adjusted the laws of reality using an authority granted by his creator, Han Jisu simply cut space itself.
Slice—
The knight's head fell.
-...!
Realizing the nature of the strange phenomenon that had just occurred, Lebeus's expression hardened slightly. Sensing his emotion, his kin cast aside their pride and charged at Han Jisu all at once.
Han Jisu swung his sword.
Each time Leah cut through the air, the bodies of Lebeus's kin were split apart.
A shield of malice forged from the bones of ten thousand humans, bones made of a metal so hard not even dwarves knew of it, an amorphous body that ignored all physical interference—these and all other incredible defenses were meaningless before the distortion of space.
Some spilled blood, some spilled lava instead of blood, and some scattered deadly poison on the ground. After a long line of countless deaths, they all met their end.
Just a few steps away from their target, Han Jisu.
Watching the unbelievable sight, the Dragon King, Kaisullan, was utterly aghast.
'So I was never a match for him from the start. Was he just toying with me...?'
His pride wounded, he felt a sense of displeasure, yet a part of him was relieved to still be alive.
Though his life was hanging by a thread.
It was only because Han Jisu wasn't paying him any mind; if he chose to, he could kill Kaisullan at any moment.
Distraught, he turned his gaze to his mother, Iries.
He believed that she could somehow break through this situation.
But something was strange about Iries's appearance. Her pupils had constricted and her face was slightly flushed, as if she were not only surprised but also a little excited. Kaisullan couldn't understand why Iries was acting this way.
...And it seemed he never would.
Lebeus felt much the same as the Dragon King. However, unlike the Dragon King, he wasn't overly stunned, merely a little puzzled. He turned to chide Iries for not deploying the angels, and so, unlike the Dragon King who was sprawled on the ground, he could only see her from the side.
"Iries, are you all right?"
"...Hm? Did you call me?"
"You don't seem well."
"Really? That's strange. I feel perfectly fine."
"...Is that so? Well, that's a relief. More importantly, Iries, it's time to move the angels."
"Pardon? Do we have to?"
Iries tilted her head as if she didn't understand. Lebeus was taken aback.
"Hm? What do you mean, 'do we have to'?"
"Lebeus, you just saw it yourself. Your children were no match for him; they were completely wiped out. If your children couldn't do it, ours won't be enough either. Is there any reason to force them into a needless sacrifice?"
"W-Well, even so, they can at least support us, can't they?"
"Hmm..."
Iries still looked displeased. Lebeus tried his best to persuade her, but in the end, she just shook her head.
"Mm. No matter how I think about it, I don't believe it's necessary to go that far."
"Iries!"
"Shouting won't change my mind. Meifa? Take the children and go back."
The Archangel, Meifa, hesitated, looking back and forth between Iries and Lebeus. She was worried she might get caught in the crossfire over this later.
"Go. Now."
Only after Iries repeated herself did Meifa bow her head and lead the angels away.
As the angels flew up, the sky that had been radiating a holy light closed. The heavens that had offered a glimpse of the Celestial Palace were now just dark and faintly red.
"Iries! You really... Ghk?!"
While he was distracted, Han Jisu kicked off the ground and shot up, kicking Lebeus in the face. He was sent crashing diagonally into the ground, piercing through the crust, and the impact caused the earth to erupt like an active volcano.
"Oh, my."
Iries's eyes went wide as she covered her mouth.
Han Jisu grabbed her by the neck.
"You shouldn't have a lover's quarrel in front of someone."
"We're not exactly a couple, you know?"
"What?"
"Lebeus and I. We're not a couple. We've known each other since we were young, but there are no romantic feelings... If I had to define it, I'd say we're more like business partners..."
"Oh, really?"
"Yes!"
Iries nodded emphatically.
Han Jisu promptly threw her. Thwack! A new volcano erupted right next to the spot where Lebeus had crashed.
"Fuck, so what?"
Annoyed, Han Jisu spat on the ground.
Just then, Leah whispered conspiratorially.
-Master, Master. That bitch smells like a female in heat, you know?