Chapter 42
Chapter 42
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 42
Chapter Title: The Ruined World (6)
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An endless expanse of red desert stretched out before them.
Not a single charred tree trunk, not even a single withered blade of grass could be seen in this red desert—it was truly a hell of sand.
Because of that, it felt as if ash-gray clouds soaked in blood had descended from the sky...
In the Song of the Stars, it had been golden fields where warm sunlight, clear streams, and cool breezes harmonized.
People called this place the "Blessing of Runes." Of course, endless wars over control of it had also earned it the moniker "Blood-Soaked Land," but its unending abundance had fed countless souls.
Whoooo...
But now, it was nothing more than a desert filled with red sand. Prosperity had turned into a mirage, and even the traces of that prosperity had long been buried under the dunes.
Lee Sang-hyun stood atop a sand dune, gazing up at the sky.
Whiiiir...
"......"
But the sky was filled only with ash-gray clouds. There was no sign of the green star.
Had he waited long? Between the drifting gray clouds, the green star twinkled. Right above the desert.
And beyond the massive sandstorm.
Rooooaaar...
The colossal sandstorm was a calamity. A disaster crafted by demons that utterly destroyed even the trees rooted in the golden fields, the grass, and the tiniest seeds.
Even after the demons had departed, it continued ravaging and trampling the golden fields without cease, evoking sheer terror.
...Something's there.
Lee Sang-hyun sensed that something lurked within the sandstorm.
Through his Super Sense.
It wasn't a resident of Rune. Nor was it a demon or anything alive. It merely moved like a machine.
I need to check it out.
To confirm what it was, Lee Sang-hyun charged toward the massive sandstorm.
Rooooaaar...!
To humanity, the Towers were enemies that had to be conquered. The reason was that the Towers served as forward bases for invaders and lightning rods summoning calamities and demons.
Thus, humanity assaulted and toppled the Towers.
"What is this?"
"To think such beautiful ore exists..."
"It's blindingly bright..."
"Is this the tears of the gods?"
"So beautiful..."
"Aaaah...!!"
But the discovery of "Nectar" within the Towers completely changed everything.
Nectar was the tears of the gods, their mercy, their grace. It was incomparable to any earthly material.
"My God!"
"I can't believe it...!"
"Even the Guardian Knights of the Papal Court gave up on this illness... and yet it's cured so easily."
"My arm...! My arm is growing back...!"
"The cancer in my bones is vanishing?!"
"I-I can't believe it! I'm young again!"
"My horrific monster plague is gone!"
"Ooh...! My memories...! Long-lost memories are returning...!"
"No more pain! I feel refreshed, like I could fly!"
"This is a miracle! A miracle!"
"Lord almighty...!"
Nectar cured every disease known on Earth. From cancers that had tormented humanity to diabetes, dementia, heart disease, cerebrovascular disorders, depression, and all manner of mental illnesses—it healed them perfectly.
Beyond that, it cured the "monster plagues" brought by the beasts, restoring normal bodies to those born with congenital deformities.
It repaired incurable diseases without treatments and regenerated lost limbs. It granted the elderly youth and vitality for a second life.
This alone was enough to call it the "Blessing of the Gods," but Nectar's powers didn't end there.
Sprinkled on fields, it yielded bountiful crops. Used in sewage treatment, it produced the purest water in the world. It even perfectly neutralized radioactive waste that required immense time and cost to process.
"S-Such numbers can't exist...?!"
As an energy source, its value surpassed nuclear power. It was beyond comparison.
Nectar was truly an all-purpose substance.
Even more astonishing was that many of its functions remained undiscovered...
"Mana reaction?!"
"Nectar is causing a mana reaction!!"
"A-Awakening!!"
"Awakening as a Player!!"
"No way!!"
There existed a miracle that went far beyond curing diseases: inducing "mana awakening."
"Turning an ordinary person into a Player...!!"
"This is a revolution...!!"
Vmmm!!
Unsurprisingly, this miracle brought yet another upheaval to the world.
Rooooaaar!!
The sandstorm was as vicious as the grasp of a demon's claw.
Each grain of sand lunged like bloodthirsty bats, while the whipping winds tore at his skin with relentless fury.
Thump. Thump.
Fortunately, Lee Sang-hyun was unscathed. His power, which had transcended humanity and reached the realm of demons, was not so frail as to fall to a mere sandstorm.
It's stifling, but bearable.
Moreover, the breathing issue he'd anticipated as the biggest hurdle was resolved by generating air from his heart.
Thump. Thump.
Lee Sang-hyun trudged through the fierce sandstorm, searching for the presence he'd sensed with Super Sense.
It moved.
But it had shifted. Whether it had read his approach and fled or hidden itself, he could no longer sense it.
Where is it?
Lee Sang-hyun pushed his Super Sense to the limit, but to no avail. The raging sandstorm blocked everything.
Let's head to where it vanished.
He dashed toward where it had disappeared, but soon lost all sense of direction.
Rooooaaar!!
In less than a minute, the sandstorm had completely reshaped the terrain.
Damn...
Lee Sang-hyun grimaced in frustration. Worse still, the sandstorm's intensity was growing stronger.
Rooooaaar...!!
...I'll be buried before I find it.
The sandstorm unleashed torrents of sand like a mad deluge. Enough to bury a person in under a minute.
What a pain.
Tsking his tongue, Lee Sang-hyun tried to move. But the attack came from an unexpected place.
"?!!"
Right below him.
Splaaash!! Chomp!!
A colossal maw hundreds of meters wide swallowed Lee Sang-hyun whole in an instant and vanished beneath the sand.
Rooooaaar...
The sandstorm erased its traces as always, carrying more sand along.
"This place..."
After being devoured by the unknown entity and carried for about ten minutes, Lee Sang-hyun emerged from its exit into an unbelievable sight.
"An underground city...?"
It was a city.
A city built beneath the sand. Moreover, a human city with glowing stones that emitted their own light.
"Impressive."
Lee Sang-hyun was genuinely amazed.
Because it was astonishing that a city had survived hidden from the demons' eyes.
"But... no people."
Regrettably, there were no survivors—no living beings. Only chilling cold permeated the air, as if all had perished long ago.
...They were buried and wiped out.
If anyone had been alive... the situation would have been very different. But repeated checks confirmed no life remained. They were all certainly dead.
"......"
Lee Sang-hyun concealed his pity and ventured deeper into the city. Built with survival as the sole priority, the underground city was eerily silent. It felt like rectangular fortresses slammed underground.
Air's flowing... that way.
His aimless steps now had purpose.
Step. Step.
The glowing stones awoke to his footsteps, emitting a melancholic light.
"......"
Moments later, a massive machine—a "magitech device"—appeared.
Traces of the city's builders were also found. It seemed they, distrustful of one another, had fallen to infighting and self-destruction.
Examining the magitech device revealed a lingering "Ego," akin to artificial intelligence.
Through this Ego, Lee Sang-hyun learned a shocking truth.
"To think the sandstorm wasn't made by demons, but by these people..."
Incredibly, the destruction of the golden fields into a desert had been wrought by the "Aka" race who built the underground city.
Of course, not for destruction's sake, but to deceive demons and block their approach...
Yet in the end, it destroyed both the golden fields and the hidden Aka within.
"How ironic. Their bid for survival brought death instead."
Swallowing bitterness at the Aka's fate, Lee Sang-hyun tried to shut down the magitech device—its Ego.
There was no reason to generate sandstorms now that the demons were gone.
But the Ego wouldn't stop. It rejected the shutdown and began acting on its own.
"This is...!!"
Lee Sang-hyun instantly realized what was happening. He had no choice but to.
Demonic energy was emanating from the Ego's core.
『Die, die, die, die, die, die, die, die, die, die, die, die, die, die, die, die, die.』
『Die already, die already, die already, die already, die already, die already, die already, die already, die already.』
And then the Ego went berserk.
Viiiing! Viiiing! Viiiing!
The intense red glow was undoubtedly the malice left by the demons.
Lee Sang-hyun swung his sword immediately.
Slash!!
His blue sword aura cleaved through the malice-corrupted Ego. And it didn't end with one strike.
Flash-flash-flash!!
Dozens of sword auras flickered in a single second.
Powerful barriers layered to protect the magitech device—Ego—stood no chance against Lee Sang-hyun's sword auras.
Sizzle! Sizzzzle! Boom!
In the end, the magitech device—Ego—shattered to pieces. But the command had already executed; the entire underground city began to tremble ominously.
And the Aka's magitech weapons activated.
Viiing! Clank-clank!
Slash!!
Hundreds of magitech weapons were troublesome simply due to their numbers. Of course, long buried underground, less than 50% even functioned properly, and even those were depleted of energy, worthless as weapons.
Yet they fulfilled their role by buying time.
It's going to explode...!!
Vmmm!!
The energy piercing the entire underground city had reached its limit.
Judging evasion impossible, Lee Sang-hyun enveloped himself in mana and braced for the blast.
Kabooooom...
At last, the roar subsided.
It was an explosion defying common sense. So massive it scattered even the sandstorm, leaving a crater three kilometers in radius.
Drip. Drip-drip.
Moreover, it had detonated deep within the sand.
The shock underground must have been far worse than what was visible.
......
Yet Lee Sang-hyun did not die. He survived and ascended to the surface.
Considering it was an explosion even colossal Titan monsters couldn't withstand, it was unbelievable.
...That was close.
Of course, Lee Sang-hyun's condition after enduring it was poor. Squeezing out his mana had drained his ocean-like reserves dry, and his body was charred black all over.
Super Regeneration barely kept him going, but with his exterior and interior cooked, moving at all was a miracle.
...I'll be more careful next time.
Cough! Cough!
Lee Sang-hyun sprawled on the blackened sand, exhaling ragged breaths.
"......"
Different from Earth's bombs in structure, the flames and smoke had already vanished.
But a massive hole gaped in the ash-gray clouds—ridiculously large, almost comical.
Lee Sang-hyun closed his eyes to rest briefly.
Oh no...
But he had to open them soon.
A magitech weapon—a sandworm—crawling underground was approaching.