Chapter 133
Chapter 133
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 133
Chapter Title: Sanctuary
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Destroyer Cygnus.
One of the oldest divine beasts, a being whose stature matched its vast years.
In the Abyss, its infamy and prestige were known to every demon lord.
It didn't just destroy created Abysses—it devoured the lords associated with them as well.
Rumors held that Cygnus had obliterated over 800 Abysses, slain 200 lords, and massacred hundreds of thousands of demons under their command.
Thus, creators prayed fervently that Cygnus would never appear in their Abysses.
Cygnus was a calamity no lord's power could touch.
A grotesque, ferocious, and atrocious evil god.
Yet for over ten thousand years, Cygnus had not appeared.
—It fled from Dragon God Sepiro.
—That Sepiro failed to capture it?
—Sepiro never lets go of anything that catches his interest.
—He was famous as a collector of divine beasts once.
—Doesn't that just prove how mighty Destroyer Cygnus is?
—But no trace of it for over ten thousand years.
—Lucky for us, if you ask me.
—Maybe it's dead?
The divine beast that had intensely piqued Dragon God Sepiro's interest!
Yet it was also the one and only divine beast he had let slip away.
Many tales surrounded it, but nothing was confirmed.
Because Cygnus, having escaped Sepiro's grasp, hadn't surfaced for nearly ten thousand years.
Normally, it would have constantly slipped through rifts, ravaging Abysses at will.
Speculation abounded on this too, but the lords believed Destroyer Cygnus was dead.
What greater fortune than the destroyer of their territories being gone?
However...
Contrary to the creators' wishes, Destroyer Cygnus was alive and well.
In the depths of the rift.
In the divine beasts' sanctuary, it was preparing to lay its eggs.
"Cygnus, you've finally shown yourself."
Dragon God Temple.
Atop its highest throne, a man sat with a bored expression, legs crossed.
Only one being could sit here.
Dragon God Sepiro!
He had sensed Destroyer Cygnus's emergence.
From somewhere amid the countless Abyss realms, it had at last appeared.
No matter how stealthily it hid, Sepiro never missed anything that caught his interest.
"Have you finally finished all your preparations?"
Sepiro smiled faintly.
All demons were mistaken.
They thought Dragon God Sepiro had failed to capture Destroyer Cygnus.
That Cygnus was so overwhelmingly powerful even Sepiro couldn't handle it.
But that wasn't the case.
He had simply let it go.
Sepiro's interest had never been in "Destroyer Cygnus" to begin with.
'Destroyer Cygnus was chosen by the Sanctuary.'
Sanctuary.
The sacred realm at the rift's core.
The place all divine beasts revered as holy.
But Sepiro knew its true nature.
That the place itself was the "Rift's King," called the Sanctuary.
The Rift's King had chosen Destroyer Cygnus.
Or more precisely...
'The egg Cygnus lays is the Sanctuary's offspring.'
It had taken Cygnus as its mate.
Of course, Cygnus wasn't the only such divine beast, but it was enough to pique Sepiro's interest.
Divine beasts resembled spirits but were distinct.
Spirits were purely ethereal beings.
Divine beasts were not.
They were real, yet spiritual.
Spiritual, yet real.
They sounded the same, but meant entirely different things.
Whether emphasis fell on the spiritual or the material changed the interpretation vastly.
Clarity here enabled deeper insight.
It would unlock understanding of the "rift"—something no one had proven.
Above all.
The only beings that could live within the rift: divine beasts.
No other existence could survive inside it.
Aren't you curious?
Why that is.
Thus, Sepiro had dissected and experimented on countless divine beasts.
Wondering whether to call them ethereal or material entities.
And how they adapted to the rift.
Yet he still hadn't reached a conclusion.
'The Sanctuary is the closest to the original form. Dissecting its offspring at birth should prove it definitively.'
He hadn't confirmed it despite dissecting many divine beasts.
He had no experience dissecting a Sanctuary hatchling yet.
That was why he let Cygnus go.
Waiting for it to enter the sanctuary, lay the Sanctuary's egg, find a nest, and reemerge into the Abyss.
Observe the exact moment of hatching, probe every inch inside—surely then he'd know.
Sepiro stroked his chin.
'The question is whether it can even hatch.'
It was the Sanctuary's offspring, after all.
No ordinary nest could bear its stature.
If the nest was subpar, even a Sanctuary hatchling might fail to hatch.
And even if it did, it could end up defective.
Smooth.
Sepiro raised his right hand and swept it through the air.
Whoosh!
Hologram-like, countless "Abysses" unfolded before his eyes.
A thousand realms appeared at once.
He scanned them all in less than a second.
Smooth.
He swept his hand again.
Hundreds, thousands of times he repeated this.
Finally.
Tap.
His gaze locked on one realm.
In an instant.
"Oh ho. This place..."
...A flicker of interest sparked in Sepiro's eyes.
Moon Lord Aheta's territory.
That's where he sensed Cygnus's presence.
It was half a gamble.
He had never activated the "Offering System" this way before.
But he believed it was possible.
'This is Han Min-oh's world.'
Park Chan-woo had fully assimilated with Han Min-oh—over 100% even.
He understood Han Min-oh better than anyone, had become Han Min-oh himself.
Naturally, they shared equal ownership of the "nest."
In a word, he was the "homeowner."
Connected to Cygnus from inside the house, Cygnus was no mere tenant—it was now equally Park Chan-woo's possession.
Park Chan-woo was Han Min-oh, and simultaneously Cygnus.
'My head... feels like it's splitting.'
As Cygnus's waves intertwined with Park Chan-woo's, the aftermath was beyond imagination.
Too vast.
Far beyond what he could control.
He couldn't fully possess it.
But he didn't need full possession.
Just satisfy the conditions.
If the Offering System responded, if the God of Offerings reacted...
Cygnus intensified its mana waves.
In that instant, Park Chan-woo's mind was swept away like by a tsunami.
Grind!
Park Chan-woo gritted his teeth.
Still not enough?
Were there more conditions to fulfill?
Cygnus had no intention of letting Park Chan-woo live.
Scanning his memories had left it aghast.
A time regressor, no less.
No telling why he possessed such absurd talents, but likely tied to "time regression."
This made him a "world error."
An existence that shouldn't be would cause endless chaos.
And that chaos would ripple through the rifts and Sanctuary.
Because world errors accelerated rift expansion.
If the barely stabilized rifts expanded again, even the Sanctuary couldn't endure.
'World error—you and your kind summon great rifts.'
Great Rift.
After the Abyss emerged, errors arose as dimensions connected.
Those errors triggered Great Rifts, collapsing countless dimensions, devouring them, birthing hyperdimensional beings.
Monsters that extinguished stable worlds.
If a Great Rift hit now, the already weakened Sanctuary could perish, ushering true apocalypse.
Thus.
...World errors must be eradicated.
And the egg must hatch no matter what.
"Cygnus, make your choice."
That was when.
Park Chan-woo suddenly spoke.
Clinging desperately to his fading mind.
"Save the hatchling, or save yourself."
"You know it too, don't you? This isn't the best nest for the egg to hatch. The environment isn't properly prepared."
Through connection with Cygnus, Park Chan-woo realized.
The egg might not hatch properly.
Cygnus knew this too.
"You can become the nest yourself."
"You know it's possible. Just as I've come to know you, you've come to know me."
Cygnus fell silent.
...Because it knew.
It hadn't scanned all his memories, but it vaguely sensed facts about the "God of Offerings" Park Chan-woo mentioned.
Offered to the God of Offerings as a sacrifice, becoming the nest itself—the egg would hatch perfectly.
But.
Then, it couldn't correct the "world error."
So, a choice between the two.
Sacrifice itself to save the hatchling, or the hatchling to save itself.
'God of Offerings. A name I've never heard.'
The problem was the name "God of Offerings" itself felt alien.
Cygnus had lived eons.
A name it didn't know?
An entity powerful enough to make the impossible possible—impossible not to know.
'Save the hatchling, or correct the error...'
No easy choice.
It had finally settled in this human Han Min-oh's nest, but Cygnus knew better than anyone it wasn't enough.
An ordinary divine beast egg might manage, but the one it carried was the Sanctuary's bloodline.
An inadequate nest would only poison it.
Yet the finest nest would naturally be Cygnus itself.
A divine beast becoming a nest was unheard of, but the God of Offerings made it possible.
...What to do.
Fail to correct the world error, and a Great Rift could kill the Sanctuary.
Couldn't have both. Only one.
But the deliberation didn't last long.
"I'll raise it well."
A human raising a divine beast.
Absurd, yet somehow understandable.
This one was a mage pursuing truth.
Contradictory for a world error, but not opposed to truth itself.
Then...
"No need to rack your brains over naming it."
Ding!
The moment Cygnus consented.