Chapter 348
Chapter 348
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 348
Chapter Title: Establishing the Existential Foundation
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It went beyond mere survival from annihilation. It was a sign that his existence was beginning to reassemble, a movement to reclaim consciousness.
A single, intense ray of hope piercing through the depths of despair.
Lee Hyuk-soo clenched his fist without realizing it.
His heart pounded wildly.
Kuuuung-!
The interior of Chalpham began to vibrate with a softer yet more powerful resonance than before.
The chaotic Abyss landscape visible beyond the walls flowed rapidly in one direction.
Chalpham's majestic voice echoed once more in everyone's minds.
Chalpham began to move on its own.
Reacting to Lee Hyuk-soo, the 'key,' and Park Chan-woo's 'remains,' the 'compass.'
It was heading toward the unknown focal point where the scattered fragments were gathering.
A space where time itself seemed frozen, everything locked in ashen gray.
Remnants resembling the ruins of a shattered ancient civilization floated at grotesque angles in the void, with thick shadows flowing like rivers between them.
A place of profound silence, devoid of sound or motion, where only eternal stillness and eons of time lingered.
"This place..."
Dagon muttered in a low voice.
Awe mingled with deep wariness etched across his face.
"Among the depths of the Abyss, this is the profoundest abyss... the realm called the 'Tomb of Time.' No living being should tread here lightly."
Dagon's low voice carried a solemn warning, stripped of its usual frivolity.
A heavy silence descended upon the interior of Chalpham at his explanation.
The ashen landscape visible through the windows exuded an eerie, ominous aura all on its own.
A space where it felt as if all the world's colors and sounds had been sucked away.
One couldn't even gauge if time had stopped or stretched infinitely onward.
The massive floating ruins of structures appeared crumbly, as if eroded over eternal ages, while the shadows slithering between them writhed like living entities, encroaching upon the space.
"Huuuuh."
Lee Hyuk-soo rose to his feet, still breathing heavily.
The ferocious power surging from the Baal Set still roiled within him, threatening his very being, but it was far more manageable now than before.
Adapting to his newfound strength, he stared at the bizarre scenery outside.
A place that felt strangely familiar, yet sent danger signals prickling across every sense—a profoundly alien realm.
"The Tomb of Time."
Adora murmured softly, gazing beyond the ashen void.
Deep wariness filled her eyes, mingled with complex thoughts about how they had reached this point.
Even she, who wielded the authority of death, found no comfort in this realm's stagnant time and aura of demise.
But she had heard of it before.
'Even the witches feared a certain place in the depths.'
The witches who dwelled in the Abyss.
This was one of the abyssal zones they shunned.
Chalpham's voice echoed once more.
Beneath its usual grandeur lay a faint unease toward this place, the Tomb of Time.
Even an outer god seemed unable to treat lightly a domain that governed time itself.
At Chalpham's words, Lee Hyuk-soo reached into his bosom.
A scrap of cloth and a shard of glass.
Park Chan-woo's remains still held a faint warmth.
And since donning the Baal Set, that warmth had grown sharper, vibrating subtly like a compass pointing in a specific direction.
"Which way?"
Lee Hyuk-soo asked.
All eyes turned toward the direction Chalpham was advancing.
Beyond the ashen space, amid countless ruins and shadows, loomed an ancient structure of peculiar size and intact form.
Unlike the surrounding debris, it resembled not a temple or grand clock tower fragment but something that embodied time itself, radiating an overwhelming presence that had endured—or perhaps contained—the ages.
Kuuuung.
Chalpham cautiously accelerated toward the structure.
The closer they drew, the more bizarrely the surrounding time flows distorted.
Some ruins corroded rapidly into dust before their eyes only to reform, repeating the cycle; other shadows rushed at grotesque speeds before suddenly freezing.
"Keep your wits about you! Here, your very existence can be swept away by the flow of time and vanish!"
Dagon warned once more.
Cold sweat beaded on his forehead.
At last, Chalpham arrived before the colossal ancient structure.
Up close, it was no mere building.
Countless gears, springs, and intricate mechanisms interlocked to form a massive device, with a faint yet potent ancient power pulsing at its core.
And at its highest point, upon what resembled a throne, sat a being.
Its body petrified like stone, yet emanating a strange sense of life.
An aura transcending time's flow, as if it had witnessed eons.
Chalpham's voice rang out with reverence.
-You've finally come.
In the deepest recesses of the Tomb of Time, Chronos—the shadow reaper and spirit—awaited them.
It was at that moment.
Shaaaa!
Myriad 'malevolent spirits' materialized around Chronos.
-To save Park Chan-woo, my contractor, your lives are required.
Chronos's assault began.
Shaaaaaa-!
Black forms rose like smoke from around his throne and the vast shadow he cast.
They were the grudges wandering the Tomb of Time—malevolent spirits stripped of purpose, consumed by shadows.
Lacking distinct forms, they moved as pure malice, driven by hunger for the living and Chronos's command.
They clung to Chalpham's outer walls, seeking to devour its very essence, blackening and seeping through.
The group inside felt a chilling dread, as if parts of their souls were being torn away, their existences fading under the oppressive pressure.
"Mental attack!"
Dagon groaned, clutching his face.
Beyond simple assault, it was an erosion shaking the roots of their beings.
"Slash!"
Lee Hyuk-soo swung Baal's sword, cleaving the spirits adhered to the walls.
The spirits scattered like shadows, only to regroup and charge again.
Even the power of the evil god inflicted no decisive blow on these tenacious shadow wraiths.
"Lord Chronos! We came here seeking him! Why attack us? Why do you need our lives?!"
Dagon cried out desperately.
No influence from Sepiro could be felt.
In the Tomb of Time, it made sense that even Sepiro couldn't locate them.
Chronos had likely chosen this place knowing that.
Yet the reason for attacking his own allies eluded comprehension.
Dagon's mind tangled in confusion, but Chronos offered no reply to his pleas.
-......
The shadow reaper on the throne remained utterly still.
Its hollow eye sockets gazed indifferently at the battling Lee Hyuk-soo and his comrades, and at the desperately shouting Dagon.
As if their struggles held no relevance to it.
Or as if this was merely the inevitable process to 'revive' Park Chan-woo.
-You all must die!
-Hee hee hee!
-Why'd you come all this way?
-This is the grave of all existence!
In place of Chronos's silence, the spirits' onslaught showed no sign of abating.
Provoked by Dagon's cries, they pressed even fiercer, corroding Chalpham.
"We can't hold out much longer!"
Yoo Jin-seo screamed.
Her holy power was effective against the spirits, but against their endless numbers and the shadows Chronos infused, it was reaching its limit.
The golden barrier now cracked like spiderwebs.
Yoo Jin-seo's face was pale as a sheet.
"Damn it!"
Lee Hyuk-soo swung Baal's sword again, slicing spirits breaching the barrier.
But it was like pouring water into a sieve.
No matter how many he cut, they kept coming.
As long as Chronos sat upon that throne, the spirits would endlessly swarm.
"Isn't there another way? Some other method to block these spirits!"
Aurum shouted urgently.
Neither his spirit magic nor Adora's death magic proved very effective against them.
Chalpham's voice resounded heavily.
Directly attacking the focal point, Chronos, seemed nearly impossible, and substituting the 'lives of the living' they craved was out of the question.
"Chronos! What do you want?! If it's to save him, tell us what we must do!"
Lee Hyuk-soo roared toward Chronos once more.
His voice carried fury laced with desperation.
Otherwise, they would all perish together.
That was when it happened.
-Sacrifice.
A dry, cold voice like rolling sand grains.
Unlike before, a clear word pierced everyone's minds.
"Sacrifice?"
Lee Hyuk-soo echoed, but his gaze was already fixed elsewhere.
Sruruk.
Chronos, seated on the throne, slowly—ever so slowly—raised one hand.
Even that motion of his stone-hardened hand made the surrounding shadows ripple, twisting space.
And when what rested in his palm finally revealed itself, everyone inside Chalpham swallowed hard.
It was a chalice.
An ornate golden chalice brimming with sacred aura.
Ancient runes faintly glowed on its surface, emanating a potent force that seemed to purify the malevolent energy of the surrounding spirits.
As Chalpham spoke, Chronos shook its head.
-A sacrifice is needed for the Chalice of the Demon-Sealing God.
Chronos repeated, holding up the chalice.
Its hollow gaze remained fixed on Lee Hyuk-soo and the others.
-My contractor, Park Chan-woo. To reweave his scattered existence and revive his consciousness...
Chronos's explanation was shocking.
Revive Park Chan-woo using the Chalice of the Demon-Sealing God?
And the price was their lives—the lives of his comrades who had come searching for him?
-Your potent life force and existential weight. That alone is the finest offering to reignite the dying embers.
Chronos explained matter-of-factly.
No hesitation or guilt tainted its logic.
Only the goal of reviving its 'contractor' Park Chan-woo existed.
-Qualification proven. By reaching here, you've shown the minimum worth. Now... offer yourselves willingly. That is the only path you can take for your contractor.
"...Then."
Adora stepped beyond Chalpham's walls.
The incoming spirits lunged at her as if waiting, but she didn't falter.
Her pitch-black eyes held only Chronos on the throne and the Chalice of the Demon-Sealing God he held.
"I will offer myself first. It was my fate to become a sacrifice anyway."
Her voice was calm, yet laced with unyielding resolve.
Just as in the Tower of Pride, when she offered everything to save Park Chan-woo.
Just as at the bottom of the Great Rift, when she willingly became the offering to save him.
Once more, she offered herself as sacrifice.
She wasn't alone.
"I gladly offer my life as well. Without him, I cease to exist."
The demon merchant Dagon.
A choice uncharacteristic of a demon merchant who pursued only self-interest, without blood or tears.
"...For the revival of the remaining fox kin, I shall rightly offer my life."
"Me too."
Aurum and Yoo Jin-seo, now the Ten-Tailed Fox.
Ppyorong!
Even Radiant Anubis Bokshili.
And.
"We didn't need to fight among ourselves from the start."
Lee Hyuk-soo advanced as well.
He wanted to survive, but he was convinced Park Chan-woo was essential for humanity's survival.
Beyond Chalpham's walls, in the ashen space of the Tomb of Time, Park Chan-woo's comrades stood side by side.
Adora, Dagon, Aurum, Yoo Jin-seo, Bokshili, and Lee Hyuk-soo.
-...Your resolve is confirmed.
At that, the spirits halted.
A faint spark lit Chronos's eyes.
-Your loyalty for the contractor. That shall become the purest form of sacrifice.
Chronos slowly extended the Chalice of the Demon-Sealing God.
As the chalice left its hand and floated in the air, a far more intense golden light poured from the vessel.
Ancient runes flowed across its surface like living things, and a powerful suction emanated from its rim.
-The chalice will open the path in exchange for the weight of your souls.
Shuuuung!
The moment his soul and body began to be drawn into the chalice.