Chapter 394
Chapter 394
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>Translator: Ryuma
>Chapter: 394
>Chapter Title: The Darkest Light
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**Chapter 394**
Zzzzt-!
The light blooming from Lament was the power that had driven Kang Seol and Yurin to the brink in that winter.
Huuu…
After taking a single breath.
Paaaang-!
He closed in on Jamad in an instant.
Ugh-!
Jamad hesitated for a moment at the changed movement, but that didn't mean he was in danger.
Tiiiiiing-!
Jamad's expression soured as he deflected Kang Seol's sword.
"...A troublesome power."
Zzzzt...
Paat...
Kang Seol released his power.
'...An incredible strength.'
His entire body boiled fiercely.
The storm's energy tore through him, mana enveloping his whole form in an instant.
However, the power Kang Seol felt wasn't just the storm's energy.
Shin Yu.
It was his power.
When his power mixed with the Yaksha's, it produced a tremendous synergistic effect.
'...I can follow it.'
The Yaksha's path.
The world as he saw it.
Zzzzt...
As Kang Seol exerted force once more, a powerful energy flowed from his sword.
Jamad scanned him once and assumed a stance.
Paaaaat-!
'I see it!'
Blue lines connected.
He swung his sword following the lines.
Whooooosh-!
Kaaaaaaaang!
But his sword was immediately blocked.
'Why?'
Grit...
"You're still immature."
Puuuuhk...
"Kuh...."
The Yaksha's path pierced through movements. But it wasn't as if only the Yaksha could see that path.
Jamad, who had reached the supreme realm, was fully countering that power.
Kang Seol retreated once, but he wanted to clash with Jamad a bit more.
Kang Seol moved, and Shin Yu guided. He didn't need to focus on the hand gripping the sword. Surrendering his body to the Yaksha's flow, the sword entrusted to Shin Yu advanced in the optimal direction.
"What the hell is thiiiis!"
Lament screamed.
Such natural movement.
Kaaaang!
Kaaang!
Even as it bounced off the stone armor, it wasn't precarious.
Kagang!
Kaaaaang!
When he swung for Jamad's neck, Jamad used his stone armor to block with the back of his hand.
Whoooosh...
When the opposite fist loomed toward his face, he bent backward and kicked upward with his foot.
Naturally, Jamad sidestepped fluidly to evade the combo and counterattacked.
Kaaaang!
Paaaaaaaang...
Kaaaang!
Chiiiit...
Sweat and blood sprayed in lines, staining the floor.
Like a painting endlessly spattering paint. Minor wounds regenerated, broken bones realigned swiftly.
Kang Seol's body was monstrously resilient, but Jamad's recovery, enhanced by his origins, was tremendous.
The exchange of blows never ceased. At some point, Jamad began taking short breaths.
Thuuuung...
Paaaaang-!
"Kuh...."
Huuuuk...
The battle flowed with intense urgency.
'One mistake... and I'm dead for sure.'
Kang Seol followed every Yaksha path now. Yet he couldn't gain the upper hand easily.
The accumulated force in his fists could crumble mountains, and each sorcery was lethal.
That was good.
Dancing on the tightrope of extreme tension, that precariousness thrilled him.
His opponent was serious too.
Even if fake, even if a remnant from long ago, Jamad was giving his all.
Peeeeeowk-!
Mid-exchange, Jamad's fist smashed into Kang Seol's face.
He'd prepared, avoiding blackout, but his mind blurred momentarily.
He thrust his fist along the Yaksha's path.
Zzzzt-!
Kwaaaak!
Kang Seol's fist also buried into Jamad's jaw.
Even as they traded punches, neither broke eye contact.
Because they knew what a fight truly was.
Whirrrl-!
Paaaat-!
Kang Seol pulled back from the fierce exchange for a moment. He needed to recover his stamina briefly.
'Jaw shattered, ribs cracked.'
With his primal blood boiling like this, it'd heal in seconds, but he needed to catch his breath and prepare the next move.
Gradually, the Yaksha's burden was accumulating in his body.
His whole body boiled.
Standing on this battlefield, facing his past self, set his entire being ablaze.
- Seol-ah.
Shin Yu spoke.
- Aren't you cold?
Kang Seol chuckled.
"Yeah... it is cold."
They were already in that winter, on the snowfield. Their gazes, facing each other, looked to the same place.
Zzzzzzt...
Jamad was enveloped in rock armor.
He used sorcery only when necessary, conserving his power.
He was probably preparing a big move. It was the flow he often used alongside Kang Seol himself.
If Jamad unleashed that power all at once through grand sorcery...
'Can I block it?'
Doubt in himself.
Disgust at his past weakness.
Suddenly, words came to mind.
A conversation with Shin Yu long ago.
- Gang-i hyung said it. Facing the wall makes him feel strange about himself.
All this doubt might stem from that.
- The path you've walked is your proof. You're not weak. You're strong, just a different kind from me. Gang-i hyung said all paths eventually meet at the crossroads. Yours will too.
'No way... is this the wall?'
His constant criticism and doubt had brought Kang Seol here. Maybe he hadn't even realized there was a wall before him.
- Seol-ah. How much longer can you hold out?
'...Five minutes at most.'
Transmitting his intent to Shin Yu, a response came soon.
- There's a way.
'...What?'
- This time for real. The brothers told me. You can definitely take one more step. Can you trust me?
Kang Seol answered without a shred of doubt.
'I trust you.'
He'd once received his sword directly. A beautiful sword.
- ...Thanks.
Kang Seol turned to Jamad. He was shaking his head, grimacing.
'...He seems to be thinking the same.'
- What?
'He's probably planning to end it soon.'
Kang Seol knew Jamad as well as, or even better than, Shin Yu.
He could read his thoughts from his eyes and expression alone.
"Kuh... heh heh... too bad."
"...A problem?"
"The labyrinth's will intervened. It's endlessly nagging me to kill you. Annoying bastard... well, this much fun is enough."
"......"
"Kang Seol, do you remember? This day."
This place was Kang Seol's frozen winter, but also Pointy Rock Mountain where he'd met Jamad.
"I remember everything."
"I never told you, but... this memory would occasionally resurface for me."
Kang Seol's unknown thoughts of Jamad.
"You were a pathetic wretch fidgeting behind scrap metal back then."
"...I knew, but that's a bit harsh."
"Heh heh... well done... well done...."
Jamad's eyes calmed.
"You've come this far. That naive kid from back then...."
"......"
"But the important thing is one step. Give it everything. Soon, the labyrinth will take control of my body..."
Zzzzzzzzt...
Majestic mountain sorcery gathered toward him. The immense glory granted only to those who overcame trials.
Its beauty.
"If you die, die by my hand first."
Trials that seemed impossible were overcome because he was there.
But now, it was time to stand alone.
Claaaap-!
Jamad's palms clapped, his fist pulled back.
Whoooooooosh...
The final signal flare.
"Pour everything into me, Jamad!"
[Jamad uses Grand Sorcery: Stone Fist.]
[Deals composite damage of mountain and shadow to the target.]
Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzt...
Kwaaaaaaaaaaaang-!
The massive sorcery began from Jamad's hand.
The whole world filled with rock. The terror Azanic felt, now confronted by Kang Seol.
Huuuuuuu...
Yaksha, show me the path.
'...Damn.'
The blue lines converged in one place. Toward the center of the giant stone fist.
Not avoiding the fight.
Was that the path?
Then.
Srrring...
Paat...
Kang Seol stepped forward without hesitation toward the end.
If he didn't trust the Yaksha, if he didn't trust Shin Yu who'd fought for countless ages...
He wouldn't have reached here.
He'd asked Yurin.
If this path was right.
Naturally, no answer came.
Body light, ordeal heavy.
Zzzzt...
The sword sang.
A different energy flowed from the sword than before.
- Seol-ah, the ancestor left this sword in the records. Unfinished, as is.
Time slowed.
Perhaps Shin Yu shared the same sensation.
Or maybe these words transmitted by will alone unfolded as swiftly as thoughts in his mind.
- The record said it was a sword inspired while fleeing an approaching storm.
Shin Yu's sword was undoubtedly a storm. But the storm from that winter was pure fear.
Fierce and desolate.
- I was a fool. This isn't a sword made from fear.
Shin Yu recalled what Shin Hyun had told him.
- The ancestor loved jokes. He'd twist important parts in records on purpose.
The ancestor wanted his descendants to realize it themselves.
- Demons infested those days. A mountain village like where the ancestor stayed would vanish overnight. ...He didn't flee from the storm. Another record you didn't see confirms it. That's how I learned.
Bandits.
A bandit gang chasing with hoofbeats like thunder.
So no storm in this story?
- Disappointed?
Such a great sword, why...
- Heh heh... there was a storm. That's certain. You get what I mean?
Shin Hyun's words left much for Shin Yu.
- Seol-ah, the storm wasn't chasing from behind.
The storm was there.
- It was right in front of him. The ancestor... didn't flee from the storm.
In that instant, an immense flash and lightning burst from Lament.
Kwaaaaaaaaaaaaaa-!
- The pursuing bandits, even the traces they'd trampled. The ancestor charged into that dangerous storm that would suck it all in.
Not a sword of fear.
- This is a sword of awe.
Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzt-!
The sword cleaved through the stone fist. As sword met sorcery, Kang Seol's mind blurred.
Falling toward the abyss.
* * *
He regained consciousness in utter darkness.
Right then, a story began.
[Long ago, a man arrived in Kongori.]
Soon, scenes unfolded like a landscape.
The time when Kang Seol had just transferred and begun adapting.
[The man was weak, but he steadily gathered strength.]
Uwaaaaaah-!
The bloody battle at Pointy Rock Mountain unfolded.
[He defeated the Rock Fang chieftain, and...]
The many incidents in the Great Forest.
[Many events happened in the Great Forest near Nobira too.]
[The world the man experienced was full of negation and sorrow.]
- Heroes are lazy. They didn't save me. Me... me...
- I... am a villain.
[Life wandered seeking light.]
- And while living, try to do good deeds occasionally.
- Kill my brother for me, Jamad. That cursed body... kill it...
- Ebony, it's okay to fail. You're a mage; mages always fail.
[He must have been exhausted. No, he was.]
[There was no light anywhere.]
[The man walks a desolate world of despair.]
Kang Seol walked slowly.
Suddenly, he sensed presences around him.
[Look around.]
Familiar faces appeared.
Toki, Kirri, Ziliak.
All the words he'd experienced walked around him one by one.
Kang Seol walked blankly.
As if entranced, forward.
[They're all the same. Ravaged by so much, yet they must push through.]
[The man steels his weary heart and faces forward again.]
[Trials always lay before him. Ah, Mansang. Mansang Library.]
- I will expel them from Mansang.
[Yes, there was that too.]
- You really... came...
[This... Yaksha? Oh, this story later. It's quite long.]
- I returned from hell.
[Who knew bonds from Mansang would upend the North?]
[The man had many other events. Chases with brutal dragons, tangled tales with the empire's princess too.]
[From one to ten, all wore him down.]
Soon after, words flowed again.
[Now, look around once more.]
Gone.
No one was around.
[The man's path was faster and rougher than anyone's. Maybe falling is natural.]
- Yeah, from here, I walk alone.
[Isn't it okay to fall once in a while?]
[Falling is just another proof of walking.]
Whiiiiiing...
The air suddenly grew cold.
[Then, an unexpected event befalls such a man.]
- Eek! What're you thinking, Seol-ah?
[He met a girl in a dream.]
[The girl changed many sides of the man.]
[Their meeting sparked countless flames.]
[And... it hurt too.]
- Let's go back, together...
- ...I'm the Yaksha.
[Yes, she's the owner of that horrific mask from earlier. Surprising, right?]
[Her existence represents the world's cruelty.]
- Sobs... we can't pretend it never happened, Seol-ah. Everything that happened to us... to me, Yurin...
[Even such a kind girl.]
[Huh? Where was I?]
Step...
Step...
Kang Seol realized where this was. He knew because he'd longed to reach it so badly.
[Already here? Well then, I'll ask.]
[You're at a crucial crossroads. You've come this far.]
Kang Seol stopped.
He'd never stopped once upon arriving here.
Yet before the light, he had to.
Because of her.
No, everyone including Yu-hyun was there.
Watching him.
[Is the girl smiling?]
Yurin, mask removed, smiled brightly.
"...Yes."
[I see. So, what will you do?]
[Will you stop here?]
Kang Seol shook his head.
He began to move.
Slowly... very slowly...
Toward the light.
[This is the crossroads.]
[Where all paths intertwine.]
[You're there now.]
This was the tunnel leaking light where Jamad and Karen had met.
Its other name, crossroads.
[Run.]
Tap...
Tap tap tap...
He started sprinting.
"Huff... huff..."
Breath grew ragged.
Head felt like bursting.
No sounds reached him but his breathing and footfalls on the ground.
That became music.
[Don't forget.]
[That you're free.]
[That you're infinite.]
[Raven of the curtain, now is time to soar.]
He ran the endless runway.
Faster than anyone.
Stronger than anyone.
He stepped forward.
Da da da...
"Haa... haa..."
Finally, he exited the long tunnel.
Emerging from the light, familiar faces appeared.
Faces blurry, but all his kin.
Karen and Karuna.
Jamad and Ur too.
All waited there.
[This is one man's story.]
[No, your story.]
In that instant, the world vanished.
Puuuuuuk-!
He'd pierced something fiercely.
"Kuh... heh heh... so it ends like this..."
"......"
The sword plunged into Jamad's chest.
Kang Seol met Jamad's eyes with shining ones, then grinned.
"...Serve."
[Your story will continue.]
[Your footsteps are the era.]
"Ahh... that's..."
[Hold the world beneath your feet. Giant of the era.]
[Darkest light...]
Jamad's head slowly tilted downward.
"Nostalgic... words."
[The Giant of the Era is born!]
[You ascend to the Supreme Realm!]
[You successfully complete the Legendary Adventure 'The Darkest Light.']
[The inheritance of power begins.]
……