Chapter 502
Chapter 502
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 502
Chapter Title: New Authority
-----------------------------------------------------------------
A massive wave that began in the heart of the World Tree spread across the entire Abyss.
The demons' territory.
The seven lords were plotting their next move amid the shock and fury of their defeat in the interspecies war.
They were scheming dark plans on how to assassinate Park Chan-woo and how to divide up the scattered dragonkin territories.
Right then, the ground beneath their feet trembled.
A sudden system announcement.
All the demons began to stir.
[Restructuring? What nonsense is this?!]
Their confusion snowballed uncontrollably.
The dragonkin territories, the giants' mountains, the duskkin shadow cities, and the worlds of countless other races scattered across the Abyss.
Before everyone's eyes, a message that would alter the fate of the entire Abyss appeared simultaneously.
The changes were immediate.
Distant territories that once took days to traverse became neighbors reachable in mere hours via the World Tree's branches.
New mana springs bubbled up from barren lands, and rampaging mana zones fell eerily silent.
Everyone was thrown into disarray by the sudden upheaval.
The Twelve Sovereigns, the remaining seven demon lords, and all other races.
They could only stare blankly, unable to gauge whether this shift would benefit or harm them.
But the true shock had yet to begin.
The message paused for a moment.
As if building dramatic tension.
And then, the next instant.
A single word froze the entire Abyss.
Transcendence.
Until now, that word had been reserved for a godlike few—a realm untouchable by any.
Yet that possibility...
had opened to all beings?
The first to react were those who had stood at the pinnacle of power for eons.
"Gr... grraaaaaah!"
The giant sovereign Hecate roared from his throne.
His body swelled at an unimaginable speed, the earth's energy boiling like lava between his muscles.
A euphoric sense of liberation, as if blocked veins had burst open.
The duskkin sovereign Shadein's shadow expanded endlessly, poised to blanket her entire territory.
Her mind connected to depths of darkness beyond the shadow's abyss—places she could never have reached before.
They realized it.
The invisible wall of limits, which they had confined themselves within under the name of 'sovereign', was crumbling right now.
They could grow stronger.
They could climb higher.
And it wasn't just the sovereigns.
Most beings in the Abyss felt their vessels expanding to the next level.
It was a historic 'blessing'.
A new era's potential, bestowed equally upon all.
But.
Not on everyone.
For example, the great seven lords.
[...Why.]
Despair tinged one lord's will for the first time.
[Why does this blessing not reach us?!]
Their limits didn't budge an inch.
The demons instantly understood why.
[......The penalty from the interspecies war.]
[We can no longer grow.]
[Damn it!]
[Are we just supposed to watch the other races surpass the demons like this?!]
The demon race, who had placed dead last.
A curse that halted growth, trapping even newborns against the level 99 wall.
As every being in the Abyss raced toward new possibilities...
...they alone had to stand still and witness it all—the most horrific, humiliating punishment.
In the confused silence.
The most cunning, the 'Lord of Black Glory', murmured lowly.
[The source of this change... is the 'Creators' Domain'.]
His will quivered faintly.
With senses keener than any, he could read the mana flows.
He immediately sensed that this massive wave shaking the Abyss originated from the primordial sanctuary they dared not approach.
The other lords' consciousnesses turned to him in unison.
[The Creators' Domain? What does that mean?]
[Don't tell me... a Creator has returned?]
An absurd hypothesis, but the only one that explained this cataclysm.
If not a Creator, who else could upend the very foundations of the Abyss?
No.
That couldn't be.
If a Creator intended to return, they would have appeared during the countless moments when the Abyss teetered on the brink of destruction.
[Then... could it be Park Chan-woo again?]
That name circled their minds once more, like a curse.
The other lords immediately refuted.
[Impossible! No matter how capable he is, he can't set foot in the Creators' Domain. It's a forbidden sanctuary even transcendents dare not breach!]
[Above all, isn't he on Earth right now?!]
Yes. That was the most damning proof.
Park Chan-woo was on Earth.
Their spies reported daily.
He shuttled between the Dragon God Temple and Earth, orchestrating the new era's order.
Overseeing training among humans, dragonkin, and allied races, urging the completion of new magic systems—faithfully playing his role as a new god.
That's why they had let their guard down.
As long as Park Chan-woo was before their eyes, they figured he wouldn't pull any more bizarre stunts.
They were scheming ways to survive as Abyss's masters on the board he had set.
Exploiting his lofty ideals of 'coexistence' and 'protection' to bide their time, rebuild strength, and reclaim hegemony someday.
But.
All these changes were Park Chan-woo's doing?
How could he, on Earth, trigger such a cataclysm in the Creators' Domain simultaneously?
[......A clone.]
The word from the Lord of Black Glory drew all their wills to him.
[Ridiculous! We've confirmed multiple times that it was the real Park Chan-woo!]
Another lord shot back fiercely.
[Our spies verified his mana directly! It was unmistakably him. Even the dragonkin and human warriors revere him like a true god. How do you fool all those eyes with a mere clone?!]
His argument held water.
The demons had obsessively monitored Park Chan-woo's every move.
Dozens, hundreds of confirmations.
Every report: 'Definitely the real one'.
[Yes, it's Park Chan-woo. The clone theory is just your delusion.]
But the Lord of Black Glory stood firm against their rebuttals.
[......One is missing.]
He pressed on with his will.
[On the final day of the interspecies war, the other self Park Chan-woo conjured. That entity identical to Sepiro... it's nowhere to be seen. Have you forgotten?]
All the lords' consciousnesses froze.
Zero.
The bizarre entity that had commanded the alliance with Park Chan-woo during the war.
Undoubtedly, he had returned to Earth with Park Chan-woo after the war.
Yet his whereabouts were a mystery.
No record of him anywhere in their vast intel network.
As if he had never existed, his traces had vanished cleanly from the Abyss.
They had dismissed Zero as insignificant until now.
Just a temporary creation of Park Chan-woo, a shadow obeying his orders.
But.
What if?
A horrifying thought flashed through their minds simultaneously.
[Everyone, search.]
[Mobilize every demon scattered across the Abyss. Find Zero's whereabouts. Any clue will do. Now!]
The seven lords' authority spread like a net across the Abyss.
All networks activated; countless demons' eyes and ears awoke.
They deployed every ounce of power to hunt for Zero.
And realized.
[......He's gone.]
[This can't be.]
Nowhere.
Zero was invisible.
What if?
Their last hope: they turned their gaze there.
Earth, above the skies of South Korea.
That being receiving worship from countless souls, orchestrating the new era's order.
That Park Chan-woo...
......was Zero?
Their faces twisted as if punched.
Rumble!
The seven thrones shook simultaneously.
They had been lulled into security watching Park Chan-woo's shadow, Zero.
Meanwhile, the real Park Chan-woo had slipped their eyes, seized world-shaking power from the Creators' Domain.
All their plans, all calculations—foiled in an instant.
But realization came too late.
Even as they trembled in rage and humiliation, the Abyss's changes pressed on.
The World Tree's branches reached the darkest depths, and the blessing lifting all limits had become an irreversible torrent.
Truly.
A 'perfect defeat'.
...They hated to admit it, but they had no choice.
And moreover.
If Park Chan-woo had truly gained authority in the Creators' Domain to reshape the Abyss...
And the Abyss had advanced to the next stage...
'We must beg for our lives.'
Perhaps.
They realized.
...This Abyss might no longer belong to the demons.
At that moment.
Park Chan-woo was examining the authority he had gained.
'Transcendence, huh.'
As if responding to his curiosity, the system displayed supplementary details on the authority.
Unique Abilities: (1) Locate the 'mythic roots' tied to origins and primes.
* Currently locatable mythic roots: Ragnarok, Evil God Baal.
(2) Gather scattered mythic roots, supreme relics, mysteries, or conceptual fragments from the Abyss to transcend them to 'Abyss rank'. (3) Issue 'proclamations' from the Creators' Domain across the entire Abyss. Proclaimed content imprints on all beings, but cannot interfere with free will.
Incredible.
Number 3 seemed like a 'system announcement' function.
...But to directly transcend to Abyss rank, and even locate the materials needed.
'Just find Baal's Sword, and the Baal set completes.'
He knew its power better than anyone, having briefly completed the Baal set via a wish.
Not to mention transcending the full set to Abyss rank?
Without hesitation, Park Chan-woo activated the authority.
And.
Activating the authority instantly revealed where 'Baal's Sword' was.
However, its location was utterly unexpected.
'The Black Witch?'
...Why on earth did the Black Witch have 'Baal's Sword'?