Chapter 403
Chapter 403
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 403
Chapter Title: Racial War (42)
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Park Chan-woo's declaration brought silence to the cabin.
Lee Hyuk-soo barely suppressed the cheer rising in his throat, clenching his fist tight.
The thought of impossibility didn't even cross his mind.
Because that being had said it, it was already a predetermined future.
Han Shin bit his lip.
Arrogant nonsense.
But since the words came from that mouth, he couldn't bring himself to scoff.
Adora gazed at him with complex eyes.
That very arrogance seemed to prove he was indeed Park Chan-woo.
It was right then.
In the air thick with taut tension and awe, a faint sense of dissonance began to rise.
It was like a shadow that had been there from the beginning, unnoticed by anyone.
Right beside Park Chan-woo, beyond his shoulder leaning against the window, another figure slowly materialized.
"…!"
Han Shin reacted first.
His demonic eye and spirit eye rang alarm bells in his mind.
Lee Hyuk-soo sensed the presence almost simultaneously, jumping to his feet in shock.
How?
In this cramped cabin, with such powerful beings gathered, who could possibly fool all their senses and approach undetected?
The newly appeared being was Sepiro.
Cold eyes devoid of all emotion.
A face inhabited only by chilling rationality, not warm sentiment.
He quietly opened his mouth.
"It will be impossible."
A firm denial.
Words that directly contradicted Park Chan-woo's absolute affirmation.
As Lee Hyuk-soo angrily reached for his sword—
Clang!
His movement stopped.
The sword wouldn't come out.
His hand was gripping the hilt, and he was pulling with all his strength, yet the blade didn't budge, as if fused with the sheath.
No, it was a more fundamental problem.
'How… do you even draw a sword?'
The very act of "drawing a sword" seemed erased from his consciousness; he couldn't even fathom how to exert the force.
Sepiro shrugged as he watched the futile struggle.
"It's useless. I've temporarily erased your 'concept' of it."
He continued, scanning the group frozen in panic and rage.
"I merely adjusted your blind spots, the reflectivity of light, and the subtle refractions in the air to conceal myself. I existed in a realm beyond your senses."
His cold gaze swept the cabin.
"If you can't even detect such a 'prank,' you have no hope of facing a dragon."
He was the Sepiro that Park Chan-woo had created.
Born from the heart that had regressed together from the future, yet existing independently.
He spoke again.
"No need for confusion. I was once called Sepiro, but now I'm a separate entity."
Everyone swallowed hard at his words.
"However, 'Sepiro' was a name given by the previous Dragon God Bahamut. I never liked it anyway, so let's rename myself on this occasion."
He paused, declaring as if redefining his own existence.
"From now on, call me 'Zero.'"
Zero looked straight at Park Chan-woo.
"In my view, victory for the human race is impossible. Your calculations omit far too many variables."
Park Chan-woo showed no disturbance at Zero's assertion, instead flashing a faint smile of intrigue.
"Calculations, huh. That's so like you."
Zero's eyebrow twitched faintly at the smile.
"Park Chan-woo. You're underestimating the current Sepiro."
Zero took a step forward.
In that instant, the air in the cabin froze solid.
"The current Sepiro is not the Dragon God you knew. He has devoured the Great Rift, the Lord's Spear, and 'death' itself."
He had learned the worst variable called 'death' through Park Chan-woo.
And even made it his own.
To Zero, it was as if Park Chan-woo had handed Sepiro his most powerful weapon.
At the same time, Zero's gaze shifted to Lee Hyuk-soo, Han Shin, and the other survivors.
"And look at them."
At his gesture, everyone instinctively shrank back.
"They know how to swing a sword and wield aura. But what can they do against 12th-circle magic or higher, causality-defying curses, or authorities that erase concepts? They were rendered powerless by the mere loss of the 'concept' of drawing a sword. And that was mere play, without even 10% of my power."
Zero spat coldly.
"The warriors of the superior races fold space-time, brand souls directly, and twist the laws of existence. You lack even basic defenses against magic. The moment they step onto the battlefield, their very presence becomes a weakness that shackles you. You'll have to expend more than half your power just to protect them. Does your calculation account for that?"
Park Chan-woo still didn't drop his smile.
He silently endured Zero's barrage of logic.
"You fail to grasp yourself, your enemies, or even your allies properly. You're charging into battle on blind faith and will alone that 'it will happen.' That's not courage—it's recklessness. Archmage."
When Zero finally finished, a heavy silence blanketed the cabin.
His logic was so flawless it left no room for rebuttal.
The one to break the silence was none other than Park Chan-woo.
"Not a single word wrong, Zero."
Park Chan-woo readily admitted it.
"As you say, my calculations aren't perfect. Sepiro has grown stronger than I knew, and we humans are ignorant of magic. All of it is true."
Park Chan-woo slowly rose from his seat.
His eyes no longer turned to Zero.
He looked around at his trusting comrades—Lee Hyuk-soo, Adora, Han Shin—in turn.
"But there's one massive variable missing from your calculations."
Zero's eyes narrowed.
Park Chan-woo spoke lowly, yet with conviction stronger than anything in the world.
"Me."
With that one word, a faint crack seemed to appear in the fortress of perfect logic Zero had built.
Park Chan-woo held out his palm.
There was nothing on it, but Lee Hyuk-soo and the others saw an illusion: all the tickets from Earth Station crumbling into golden dust and scattering.
"I've monopolized every ticket from 'Earth Station.' Do you know what that means?"
No one answered.
They simply awaited his next words.
"We've bought time. The Eternal Train will stop at the next station, but we won't get off. While other races without tickets fight to the death, we'll have this train—and our own time—to ourselves."
Park Chan-woo's gaze returned to Zero.
"Your points are valid. As we are now, we can't guarantee survival at the next station, let alone victory. That's why I'll strengthen you all."
The air in the cabin stirred once more.
Strengthening.
It was irresistibly appealing, yet it bred doubt about whether it was possible in this short time.
Park Chan-woo read their thoughts.
But this wasn't an ordinary Abyss.
His gaze turned to the window, to the endless track of darkness.
"To reach the final destination, you need every ticket. Conversely, missing even one means you can't arrive."
Zero's eyes flashed at that.
"Is that why this train is called the 'Eternal Train'? Because it might never arrive?"
"Exactly."
Park Chan-woo nodded.
"We've secured all the tickets from 'Earth Station.' That makes this train a space of infinite time and possibility for us. While the doors of the next station open and close, we can spend an eternity in this cabin."
Awe and hope dawned on everyone's faces at his explanation.
Time.
The most precious and absolute resource in the Abyss.
Just possessing it made the once-impossible 'strengthening' feel real.
"Of course, only I can control this time."
"…Have you created a new system of magic?"
Zero showed interest for the first time.
Park Chan-woo nodded.
"Asking the obvious."
Then he mentioned the miracle manifestable only in his current zero-point state, a higher phase of 'Dream.'
"Lucid Dream. A conscious dream."
"Conscious dream?"
Lucid Dream.
Dreaming while aware that you're dreaming.
In short, achieving strengthening in the dream world.
Park Chan-woo continued.
"I'll invite your consciousness into my dream. It follows the same physical laws as reality, but time flows differently. One minute in reality could be a day or a year there. In that infinite time, guided by me and analyzed by Zero, you'll be reborn."
Park Chan-woo looked around at them all and asked one final time.
"Are you prepared to destroy and recreate yourselves in pain worse than death?"
No one answered.
But their burning eyes said it all.
In that fervent resolve, only one cold gaze turned toward Park Chan-woo.
Zero.
"I can't comprehend it."
Zero's voice held no emotion, only pure doubt.
"Your plan is logically flawed. The 'Lucid Dream' concept is intriguing, but it's confined to the mental realm. Training in a dream directly strengthening the real body? That violates the Abyss's core principles of 'causality' and the 'law of equivalent exchange' outright."
He knew better than anyone how absurd Park Chan-woo's plan was.
"Swing a sword a million times in a dream, and your real strength rises by even 1? Engraving magic circuits on a soul? Imprinting that on the body requires massive real-world energy. Where do you get it? Your mana? Their life force? Either way, it's pouring water into a sieve."
Zero's analysis was cold and precise.
"Even if you warp the laws temporarily via the 'Wish' variable, the backlash will come. The Abyss system doesn't tolerate such errors. Can you handle the consequences? You and they could all face existential erasure. Success probability under this plan converges to 0%."
It wasn't mere criticism.
It was a rational judgment pointing out the fatal flaws and warning of the risks.
Zero saw the ruin at the plan's end.
In response, Park Chan-woo smiled faintly.
"Your analysis is perfect, Zero. Not a single error."
He met Zero's eyes head-on.
"That 'price' you mentioned. The backlash of causality. The bill for defying the laws. It exists, of course. And it will all be charged to one person."
He tapped his chest.
"Me."
Zero's pupils shook for the first time.
An incomprehensible variable had entered his perfect calculations.
Park Chan-woo emphasized once more.
"I'm prepared to abandon myself."