Chapter 363
Chapter 363
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 363
Chapter Title: Interracial War (2)
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A heavy footfall that shook the earth echoed through the air, accompanied by a massive shadow that blanketed one side of the battlefield plains.
The shadow's owner was a black dragon boasting a colossal body rivaling a mountain range.
Its form was covered entirely in pitch-black scales, its eyes burned like molten sulfur, and black smoke laced with an aura of despair endlessly seeped from the corners of its maw.
Just its presence alone sent instinctive terror rippling through the surrounding异種族, stirring them into unrest.
...It was unmistakably Ataraxia.
Ataraxia had followed Sepiro.
The second vessel he called 'Park Chan-woo,' that is.
But everything changed after Sepiro's victory.
Ataraxia was no different.
The gentle demeanor of before was nowhere to be found.
It was truly a being worthy of the title 'Despair' itself.
"So you've resorted to using the remnants of the Black Witch, have you, Adora?"
Ataraxia's voice carried contempt laced with an ominous certainty.
His gaze lingered briefly on the relics of Park Chan-woo that Adora possessed, especially equipment like the 'Star of Pride.'
Items that symbolized 'Park Chan-woo,' such as the Lushenju Staff, were equipped on her.
"......"
Adora silently met Ataraxia's eyes.
Her red pupils sank into cold depths.
"It doesn't matter. I'll crush you—who deceived me—and everything connected to 'him' like insects underfoot."
Black smoke of despair erupted from Ataraxia's maw like a storm.
Seething hatred overflowed.
'Him.' Park Chan-woo.
After Sepiro's first clone returned through the great rift, Ataraxia seemed to have learned every 'truth.'
The being he had so fervently worshipped was not the Dragon God Sepiro after all.
The fact that he had been used by a mere human.
That sense of betrayal twisted Ataraxia's soul, transforming him into an incarnation of pure despair and destruction.
However.
He had been the dragon among the dragonkin who believed in and followed Park Chan-woo most fervently.
Adora suspected this drastic change was deeply tied to Sepiro.
That Sepiro had tampered with Ataraxia's mind.
After all, Ataraxia had trusted Park Chan-woo in any situation.
"Come forth then. I'll grant you all the greatest 'despair.'"
With those final words, Ataraxia departed.
As the massive dragon's shadow vanished from the battlefield plains, the異種族 finally escaped the suffocating pressure and began to murmur.
He had entered the fray as a warrior of the dragonkin.
Which meant a calamity of that level was one of the participants in this interracial war—a horrifying reality.
"W-What the hell is that? A real dragon?"
Reaper Johnson stammered in bewilderment.
Han Shin glared at the sky where Ataraxia had disappeared, his face set in stone.
The pure hatred and killing intent Ataraxia had exuded moments ago were genuine.
The biggest problem was that Ataraxia might not be the only one.
If the entire dragonkin sought humanity's extermination.
"Worst case scenario."
As Han Shin said, it was the worst.
Ling Ling remained silent, her face pale.
Her eyes rapidly scanned the surroundings, gauging the reactions of the other異種族.
Her senses warned her that countless enemy gazes were now fixed on the human representatives.
Those gazes mingled blatant mockery with a cold pity, like looking at a terminally ill patient handed a death sentence.
"Targeted by the dragonkin from the start? Talk about the worst luck."
A warrior from a grotesque crustacean race clacked his claws in derision.
"Poor things. They probably won't even clear the first scenario before vanishing. Why would weaklings like that crawl into an interracial war?"
A reptilian warrior flicked out a serpentine tongue, his voice dripping with contempt.
"I hope we get matched against them."
"Newbie races make the tastiest prey."
Some races even seemed to relish humanity's misfortune.
To them, humanity was already a confirmed dropout—or prime prey.
Such reactions were more than enough to crush the human team's morale to rock bottom.
Han Min-ho hung his head without a word, and even Adriana bit her lip with a hardened expression.
Lee Hyuk-soo sensed his teammates' agitation and spoke up.
"Pull yourselves together."
"Yeah. The Twelve Races are top seeds anyway. No chance of facing humans right away."
Han Shin added.
It was then.
As the system announcement concluded, the space right in front of the human team warped, and a new message appeared.
"Gremlin Tribe?"
Han Shin furrowed his brow.
The name didn't sound particularly threatening, but the parts about 'cunning traps' and 'small machinery specialization' nagged at him.
Humanity currently had effectively nine members.
Park Chan-woo hadn't shown himself yet.
Shuuung!
One side of the battlefield plains warped, and diminutive green-skinned figures with pointed ears and sly glints in their eyes materialized.
Warriors of the Gremlin Tribe.
Spotting the human team, they let out mocking snickers.
"...I thought we just had to fight?"
Adriana murmured lowly.
A battle with vision blocked was extremely disadvantageous.
Especially against opponents skilled in cunning traps.
All eyes turned to Lee Hyuk-soo.
The first fight, under such unfavorable conditions.
Who should step up?
Lee Hyuk-soo closed his eyes briefly.
A fight in total darkness.
Send out a key fighter to seize the initiative?
It mattered who the opponent sent first too.
"...Something's off."
Han Shin muttered softly.
His keen senses detected an eerie dissonance from the Gremlin Tribe beyond mere weakness.
Something like desperate pathos hidden behind those sly eyes.
"What do you mean?"
Lee Hyuk-soo opened his eyes and asked.
His gaze remained fixed on the Gremlin Tribe.
Han Shin replied, brow furrowed.
"Those guys... they don't seem quite right."
At that moment, Adora spoke in a cold voice.
"Gremlin Tribe. According to records, they've never cracked the top 100 in any interracial war over the past several centuries. In recent wars, they've placed dead last consecutively."
Adora stared piercingly at the Gremlin Tribe.
Surprise flickered across everyone's faces at her words.
Consecutive last place.
It signified not just weakness, but a race teetering on the brink of extinction.
Adora continued.
"Interracial wars impose various curses on defeated races. The Gremlins have accumulated so many penalties that their entire species is on the verge of annihilation. If they finish last again this time, they'll vanish from the Abyss—literally."
Her explanation clearly accounted for the desperate looks in the Gremlins' eyes.
For them, this interracial war was their final chance, a desperate struggle for survival.
Such desperation could unleash unimaginable power—or lure foes into unpredictable traps.
Moreover, prolonged penalties likely left their bodies and minds far from 'normal.'
"...Meaning they'll do anything to win."
Reaper Johnson swallowed hard.
No enemy was trickier than a weak but desperate one.
As Lee Hyuk-soo surveyed his comrades,
"Humans. Couldn't you... surrender, please?"
A scrawny Gremlin cried out in a trembling voice, laced with desperation.
His sunken eyes held a mix of faint hope and deep despair.
"You have... a chance."
Another Gremlin struggled to continue, voice hoarse from prolonged suffering.
Crude mechanical devices clung to his body, but they appeared rusted and broken, barely functional.
"We don't... This is... truly our last shot......"
Their plea was no mere bluff or deception.
Centuries of defeats and the resulting curses and penalties had driven their entire race to the precipice.
Their green skin was flaky like the diseased, their once-sharp ears drooping limply.
The sly glint in their eyes had dulled into raw desperation and yearning.
"Please... show us mercy... We don't want to vanish like this. Our race's children... are branded with death from birth......"
"They don't even live a tenth of their natural lifespan. Newborns often close their eyes without drawing a single breath in their mothers' arms."
"Lost our... handiwork."
Another particularly gaunt and sickly-looking Gremlin forced open his mouth.
His voice was little more than a whisper, like wind through cracks.
"Lost our... laughter. Our children don't know how to smile. We've all lost the feeling of happiness."
"Everything's fading. Our ancestors' great achievements, the reasons we must live... The interracial war's curses are eating away at our very minds. We're becoming nothing but empty shells clinging to breath."
"We beg you, human warriors."
One Gremlin finally broke into sobs, collapsing to the ground.
In his hand clutched a single rusted gear.
It seemed pathetically emblematic of their so-called 'cunning traps' and 'small machinery'—all they had left.
This was the harsh reality of the interracial war: the pitiful end of defeated and culled races.
Lee Hyuk-soo made his decision.
"...Han Shin."
Han Shin shrugged his shoulders.
"I'm used to playing the villain."