Chapter 395
Chapter 395
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 395
Chapter Title: Racial War (34)
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Earth.
Abyss Safety Department underground control room.
Minister Park Sang-min stared at the massive front screen displaying the 'Racial War - Earth Sector' with a haggard face.
It had been a long time since everything had slipped from his grasp.
Dozens of auxiliary monitors showed emergency video conference windows with heads of state and Abyss-related department heads from various countries, but they too remained silent, fixated on their screens.
Watching and praying was their only recourse.
On the screen, humanity's desperate struggle continued.
Lee Hyuk-soo's valiant stand, Witch Adora's dark magic, Han Shin's bizarre extreme demonization.
All of it crumbled one by one before the massive wall that was the Dragon of Despair, Ataraxia.
"Ah!"
"No!"
Short sighs and stifled anger occasionally leaked from inside the control room.
Park Sang-min bit his dry lips.
What was unfolding on the screen now was more brutal and overwhelming than any Abyss dungeon he had ever experienced.
"Minister... even Lee Hyuk-soo...!"
"To end so meaninglessly...!"
The voice of the young agent briefing the situation beside him was soaked in despair.
Lee Hyuk-soo's final charge and death.
It was the moment everyone thought it was all over.
Park Sang-min squeezed his eyes shut.
He no longer had the strength to watch.
'It's over.'
It was humanity's complete defeat.
They had pushed relentlessly even into the mid-tier league, but the gap with the upper races was on another level entirely.
Even when humanity's strongest Awakeners charged all at once, they couldn't handle that single black dragon.
Thud-
Park Sang-min leaned back in his chair, utterly drained.
The control room was filled with heavy silence and the muffled grief of replaying the heroes' deaths on screen.
The faces of the heads of state on the dozens of auxiliary monitors were a chaotic mix of bewilderment, disappointment, and fear.
No words of comfort, no discussions of next steps—pure, unadulterated despair.
'We advanced to the upper league, and it all ended immediately.'
His shoulders slumped heavily.
Was that... was that the power of an upper race?
Ataraxia on the screen spread despair just by breathing, and with a casual wave of its hand, humanity's greatest heroes fell like leaves in the wind.
Every spell it cast was a catastrophe in itself, and its very existence felt like an insurmountable wall.
And if that was just a single warrior from the dragon race...
Then what kind of power did Dragon God Sepiro, who ruled them, and the other legendary overlords and transcendent beings of the upper leagues possess?
Park Sang-min couldn't even imagine it.
No, he didn't want to.
No matter how much humans struggled or created miracles, weren't they just specks of dust before such distant existences?
The civilizations they built, the values they risked their lives to protect—all could vanish in the whim of such a being.
It was a harsh reality that transcended mere fear, shaking the very foundations of existence—a profound awe.
Like a lowly creature facing a god, or a mortal glimpsing the cosmic abyss.
He could only sense the overwhelming difference in power.
'Maybe... we were never even worthy opponents from the start.'
The stage of the Racial War. Was it an opportunity for humanity, or a cruel execution ground to realize their own insignificance?
What Park Sang-min saw was no longer hope.
Just the cold despair of how insignificant and pathetic the human race was in this vast, merciless universe.
How to break this horrific outcome to the public, how to weather the aftermath—it filled his mind with bleakness.
What was left for humanity?
What penalties would come if they were wiped out in the upper league like this?
No, would they even have the luxury to worry about penalties?
Perhaps the entire species would be erased.
A self-mocking smile tugged at his lips.
Abyss Safety Minister.
The title felt utterly hollow today.
If he felt this way, how must the watching public feel?
Right then, just as he closed his eyes to surrender to it all.
Fwaaaaaah!
A sudden flash of light.
In the center of the 'Earth Sector' screen, which had been filled with despair, a massive golden pillar erupted toward the sky like an explosion.
It was right where Lee Hyuk-soo had breathed his last.
"Wh-what is that?!"
A agent shattered the silence with a voice full of shock.
His trembling finger pointed at the screen.
Minister Park Sang-min straightened up reflexively and stared at the screen.
An expression of disbelief crossed his haggard face.
Like oil poured on a dying ember, a faint light began to flicker in his eyes.
The golden pillar was no mere mana phenomenon.
The aura emanating from within was incomparable to before—pure, overwhelming divinity itself!
Like primordial light condensed, driving out all darkness and heralding a new beginning—a majestic presence.
The control room stirred.
Stifled breaths burst out all at once, and incredulous gasps echoed here and there.
The heads of state were the same.
Cracks formed in their rigid expressions, a mix of bewilderment and a sliver of hope emerging.
Minister Park Sang-min shouted urgently.
"Who is that? Who is that being! Analyze it now!"
"We don't know! There's no identifiable data at all! B-but it looks like Lee Hyuk-soo and Adora's equipment... has been absorbed by that entity!"
The young agent's voice cracked with shock and confusion.
On the front screen his finger pointed to, a divine being that had just emerged from the golden pillar was clearly visible.
The screen had miraculously recovered.
It was an unstable feed that could cut out again any moment, but the sight within was enough to stop everyone's breath in the control room.
Its face was hidden by a helmet, but the divine being wore Lee Hyuk-soo's sword, Adora's staff, and other equipment.
As if it had inherited everything from the two heroes, their relics shone even more powerfully on their new master.
'No way... did that thing kill our heroes and take their gear?!'
Minister Park Sang-min's heart sank.
The hope that had flared for a moment threatened to turn back to despair.
Had he barely lifted his head from the pit of despair only to find an even greater one waiting?
The control room fell into desolate silence once more.
In the video conference windows with the heads of state, only grim stares at the screen were visible.
Everyone was in a whirlwind of confusion. They couldn't tell if this divine being was an ally or a more powerful enemy.
But right then, 'it' moved on screen.
It reached out an empty hand toward Lee Hyuk-soo, who had breathed his last.
From its fingertips, faint golden particles flowed out, drifting down to the ruined earth.
Like spring rain, breathing new life into the land of death.
And then, everyone in the control room—along with a select few officials worldwide—doubted their own eyes.
Thump! Thump!
Faint but real—Lee Hyuk-soo's stopped heart was beating again.
The dying spark of life reignited.
Color returned to his pale face, and faint breaths continued.
"H-he's alive?"
"Lee Hyuk-soo is alive! It's a miracle! This has to be a miracle!"
The control room exploded in shock and joy at the unbelievable sight.
Young agents hugged and wept, while seasoned analysts pounded their monitors, struggling to comprehend the miracle.
Minister Park Sang-min rose on shaking legs.
Hot tears welled in his eyes.
Just moments ago, he had been dwelling on humanity's total defeat and despair, and in the blink of an eye, a dead hero was alive again.
By the hand of an unknown entity.
Or perhaps it had undone the 'death' Adora imposed.
But.
He couldn't just rejoice blindly.
"That being... what... who is it...?"
Humanity's hope, or another despair?
The uncertainty amplified his anxiety.
Then.
One agent muttered in a trembling voice.
"Park Chan-woo..."
Hearing the name Park Chan-woo snapped Minister Park Sang-min to attention.
"Isn't that... Lee Hyuk-soo's master? Humanity's tenth warrior finally joining the fray?"
The man named Park Chan-woo who had been absent all this time.
Lee Hyuk-soo's master, the enigmatic figure said to have guided his path.
But was that golden-aura-clad being Park Chan-woo?
It felt like a god.
Was that truly human power?
Gulp!
Park Sang-min swallowed dryly.
His heart pounded wildly with expectation and unease.
In that instant, the figure presumed to be Park Chan-woo opened his mouth.
His voice echoed across the world.
-Rift King, Cygnus.
-Open the gate.
No sooner had he spoken,
Craaaaaack!
The empty air tore open.
A distortion on a whole other level from when he appeared.
A massive rift evoking primordial chaos, as if the boundaries of the world itself were collapsing.
And.
Kieeeek!
Kuooooooo!
With earth-shaking roars that rattled dimensions.
"Th-that's...!"
"Divine beasts! Divine beasts!"
"H-how many divine beasts are there...!"
Rift King Cygnus appeared, along with hundreds of his kin—diverse in form and aura.
Everyone was speechless.
No words could describe or express the scene.
By any measure of their past experiences and knowledge, nothing surpassed this phenomenon.
Truly.
...Even the overwhelming presence of the High Dragon of Despair, Ataraxia, seemed like child's play in comparison—a wondrous spectacle.