Chapter 377
Chapter 377
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 377
Chapter Title: Racial War (16)
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“……”
“The King of Divine Beasts?”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
All eyes turned to Han Min-oh in unison.
The youngest member of the team, who until moments ago had been hanging his head, swallowing even his tears under his brother’s contemptuous gaze—the one who seemed the weakest and most ordinary.
He… was harboring the King of Divine Beasts?
No matter how little knowledge of such things humanity possessed, those gathered here were the strongest of the strong.
They knew far more about the Abyss than most others.
And Divine Beasts devoured Creation Abysses.
They were like sudden calamities that struck out of nowhere.
Disasters that affected humans, demons, and every race equally.
Yet the King of Divine Beasts had taken root in Han Min-oh?
“Nonsense. Divine Beast nests are limited to fertile Abysses. They don’t lay eggs in humans.”
Han Shin denied it outright.
It simply didn’t make sense in reality.
The idea that such a massive monster would use a mere human as a nest was absurd.
Compared to a fertile Abyss, a human body lacked the proper nutrients for a Divine Beast to grow.
Let alone Han Min-oh?
It was laughable, even to a passing dog.
But Adora maintained her unchanging, cold demeanor.
“Han Min-oh possessed ‘potential’ sufficient to substitute for that fertile Abyss. He was a vessel suitable for bearing Signus, the King of Divine Beasts.”
“Hah! That guy had that kind of potential?”
Han Shin let out open mockery.
His lifelong assessment of his younger brother wasn’t something that could change so easily.
To him, Han Min-oh was still just a pathetic, weakling existence.
However, Adora’s red eyes simply gazed at Han Shin quietly and coldly.
There was no anger or pity in that look.
Only a chilling certainty, as if she already knew everything.
She knew far too much about both Han Min-oh and Han Shin.
Park Chan-woo’s countless diaries and logs—records as dear to him as his own soul—contained every detail of the brothers’ story.
“A narrow-minded fool like you could never comprehend such realms.”
Adora finally spoke.
Her voice was low and dry, but the weight it carried silenced Han Shin’s sneer in an instant.
“Signus, the King of Divine Beasts, didn’t choose Han Min-oh by mere chance. It’s known as a being that brings destruction and calamity, but at its core, it’s tied to the pure life force of the Abyss. To fully contain and control that power requires a pure soul untainted by any grudges, and an immense capacity to embrace everything. A soul filled with arrogance and distrust like yours could never be a vessel for a Divine Beast. Han Shin.”
“…Are you saying I’m lacking? Compared to that guy?”
“Decisively, you weren’t chosen by ‘him.’”
Him.
The word referred to Park Chan-woo.
Adora’s final words pierced Han Shin’s heart more sharply than any spell.
In that moment, he felt a faint crack in the cold arrogance that had dominated his entire being.
The muscles on his ever-expressionless face trembled ever so slightly, almost imperceptibly.
‘Not chosen… me?’
He had never once in his life heard the words “not chosen” from anyone.
He was always the one doing the choosing, convinced that his overwhelming talent placed everything beneath his feet—talent no one else could rival.
He was a man unbound by the world’s standards or judgments, even kicking away the heir position in Han Yeon Group of his own accord.
Yet now, this mysterious witch was comparing him to the brother he’d despised his whole life and declaring that he hadn’t been chosen.
Disbelief and longing flashed in Han Shin’s eyes.
The aura of Demon God Belial writhed in response to his rising anger, but he barely suppressed it.
Losing control here would be foolish.
But inside, Han Shin’s mind raged like a storm-tossed sea.
‘I’m lacking? Compared to that worthless fool? What the hell does Park Chan-woo see in him?’
His unimpressive little brother possessed something he didn’t?
And because of that, Park Chan-woo had ignored him and chosen his brother?
His pride could never accept such a thing.
Han Min-oh trembled even more at Adora’s words.
The fact that his brother hadn’t been chosen brought him no comfort.
On the contrary, it filled him only with the fear that it might provoke his brother’s rage even further, bringing greater misfortune upon himself.
Everyone who had ever provoked Han Shin had met a destructive end.
…Han Min-oh still couldn’t escape his brother’s shadow.
Lee Hyuk-soo looked back and forth between Han Shin and Adora with a complicated expression.
He believed Adora’s words were likely true.
But would that proud Han Shin accept them at face value?
“Ridiculous.”
After a long silence, Han Shin finally snorted.
His voice had sunk even colder than before.
“Choice… Judging everything by such sentimental criteria is for the weak. Park Chan-woo and you alike.”
He addressed Adora directly.
“I need no one’s choice. I decide my own path, and I prove my own power. Whether you worship him as a god or not is irrelevant to me.”
Han Shin’s voice was like ice.
Within it lurked the venom of a man desperately clinging to his trampled pride.
His gaze no longer fell on Adora or Lee Hyuk-soo.
As if denying their very existence, he stared at a single point in the empty air.
The aura of Demon God Belial faintly writhed around him once more, but he managed to hold onto his reason and suppress it.
Adora watched him silently for a moment before turning her head away, as if she’d lost interest.
There was no lingering attachment or regret in her red eyes.
It was the attitude of someone who’d been spoken to by a roadside pebble but dismissed it as trivial.
To her, Han Shin’s reaction was entirely within her expectations—something not even worth responding to further.
Because.
‘Fool. In the end, your own arrogance will be your undoing. You’ll never grasp the meaning of his choice.’
Han Shin hadn’t been chosen by Park Chan-woo.
The atmosphere inside the tent was at its absolute worst.
Reaper Johnson and Adrianne fidgeted anxiously, glancing only at Lee Hyuk-soo, Han Shin, and Adora.
Ling-Ling kept her cold expression, but her eyebrows were slightly furrowed.
Aurum and Yoo Jin-seo quietly observed the situation.
The one hit hardest was, of course, Han Min-oh.
‘I harbored an egg of a Divine Beast?’
Han Min-oh knew Adora.
From the fourth night.
When the demons suddenly turned hostile and attacked the humans, Demon Merchant Dagon had appeared, pushing a “Divine Messenger Contract.”
It was to summon Adora, the Creator of Death.
The sight of her massacring the demons still sent shivers down his spine.
And when Adora had stepped up as humanity’s representative out of nowhere, he’d been floored.
Even his mentor, Lee Hyuk-soo, seemed aware and stayed silent, but the problem was her current statement.
The claim that he’d harbored a Divine Beast egg.
If it came from anyone else, he might doubt it, but from Adora, there was no room for skepticism.
“Signus… That Divine Beast egg is still inside me?”
When Han Min-oh asked in a trembling voice, Adora shook her head.
At her denial, a flicker of relief crossed his face, only to be replaced by even greater confusion.
“Then… where did it go? No, was there really something like that inside me to begin with?”
He still struggled to fully accept the staggering fact that the King of Divine Beasts had dwelled within him.
Adora’s expression remained her usual impassive one, but her eyes seemed to pierce straight into the depths of his soul.
“Not in egg form. It ‘hatched’ long ago.”
“H-Hatched?!”
Not just Han Min-oh—all the team members in the tent gasped once more.
The King of Divine Beasts had hatched—inside Han Min-oh, no less.
Adora nodded.
“Normally, you would have died the instant it hatched. Divine Beasts devour their entire nest upon birth. He staked his own death to save you.”
“…You’re saying he risked everything to save me?”
Adora nodded.
“Normally, you would have died the instant it hatched. Divine Beasts devour their entire nest upon birth. He staked his own death to hatch Signus in his place. To save you.”
Han Min-oh asked in a trembling voice.
“…Risked everything to save me?”
“You had potential.”
Adora’s answer was concise, but it carried her deep faith in Park Chan-woo.
She briefly shifted her gaze from Han Min-oh, slowly scanning the other team members in the tent.
Each time her red eyes met theirs, the team members unconsciously swallowed.
“You’re not the only one.”
Adora’s low voice echoed through the tent.
“All of you here have received salvation from ‘him,’ directly or indirectly.”
Her words spread like cold ripples through the tent.
Confusion crossed everyone’s faces, mingled with deep contemplation as they each reflected on their own pasts.
Watching their bewildered expressions in silence, Adora finally spoke again.
“So,”
She paused for a beat, then declared as if drawing a conclusion to everything.
“Wait quietly.”
It was a command, and at the same time, a prophecy-like proclamation.
As if telling them that a grand fate beyond their comprehension was already in motion, and they shouldn’t disrupt its flow with rash actions or needless doubts—just wait silently for ‘him’ to arrive.
Heavy silence once again filled the tent.
Clap!
Lee Hyuk-soo clapped his hands sharply to break the mood.
“That’s enough for now. Right now, mutual trust is what matters most.”
At his firm voice, the heavy air in the tent seemed to stir slightly.
The others were still wrapped in their own thoughts and emotions, but Lee Hyuk-soo was the current leader.
Despite the avalanche of revelations—Park Chan-woo’s enormous secret, the King of Divine Beasts Signus slumbering within Han Min-oh, and the invisible tension between Han Shin and Adora.
Too much had exploded at once, and they needed time to process it all and prepare for the next step.
“Do you know anything about the ‘Chaos Archipelago’?”
When he asked Adora, she shook her head.
“No. But one thing’s certain: the lack of a ‘Betrayal Penalty’ means even traitors can emerge within the same race.”
“…We won’t worry about internal betrayals, then.”
“No. We must.”
“Why?”
“There’s sure to be some mechanism that induces betrayal—or forces it.”
Adora glanced around and stated with conviction.
“By now, someone among us has probably already received a message related to ‘betrayal.’”