Chapter 65: Apostle (7)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 65: Apostle (7)
Barcus reeled in confusion, at a complete loss.
He had definitely unleashed his Lightning Qi.
An attack of that magnitude should have incinerated a pathetic human like him, leaving nothing but ash. He’d expected the man to be blown away, but he had somehow endured even that.
“Kuaaah…”
Amid the stench of burning flesh, the man still gripped his spear.
It had been a rat-like sneak attack.
Exploiting a momentary lapse, he had lunged like a beast tearing at its prey’s throat.
In a single instant, his Barrier had been torn apart.
Why?
Barcus couldn’t understand. This made no sense.
The Barrier was a blessing and a restraint, bestowed upon him by The Great Being. It was not something a mere human should ever have been able to pierce.
The spearhead was lodged deep in his heart. The ominous mana clinging to its blade was preventing the wound from healing.
It was as if it were slowly gnawing away at the injury. His heart wasn’t regenerating. The wound was only getting deeper.
He looked down at the man. He was already unconscious.
His entire body was so badly burned that it must have been impossible to even remain conscious.
And yet, he refused to let go of the spear.
To make matters worse, a swarm of insects was waiting for the surrounding storm of lightning to subside.
Even if Barcus managed to shake the man off, enemies were poised on all sides, ready to finish him off in his wounded state.
They watched stealthily, eyes glinting, waiting for an opening. Even for someone like Barcus, fighting them in this condition would not be easy.
Death.
The moment the word crossed his mind, every nerve in his body screamed.
That could not happen. He could not be a detriment to The Great Being’s grand plan.
The only reason he had shown this man an opening was because of the terrible news he had just received.
‘The four other Apostles, excluding Barcus, have all been ejected.’
It was unbelievable.
All the Apostles on the battlefield, save for himself, had been withdrawn.
They hadn’t succeeded; it was a forced ejection.
The possibility of the other Apostles being defeated had never even entered Barcus’s mind.
Therefore, he could not comprehend it.
No matter what, he had to survive.
For this execution, The Great Being had bestowed upon him another Authority.
He felt a sense of revulsion at having to use it to eliminate such a worthless insect.
But now, he had no other choice.
I cannot die here.
At the very least, he had to be ejected.
He would have to be content with simply returning.
A barrier of Lightning Qi enveloped the area.
Within it, space began to warp.
With the spear still embedded in his heart, Barcus’s body flickered faintly.
Fzzt.
In an instant, Barcus vanished.
Black lightning enveloped Jung Hae-in.
And then, they were both gone without a trace.
*
In a void space where time and space stood still.
Barcus took a deep breath, savoring the sense of fulfillment that washed over his entire body.
He was completely free from the fear of death.
Dark red blood still flowed from his wound, but that no longer mattered.
“I thank you for your grace…”
Barcus murmured piously to the great existence who had granted him this Authority.
Overcome with loyalty, he fell to his knees. After a few minutes, he rose leisurely.
Now, it was time to crush the insect.
It had been a surprise attack. An all-or-nothing blow that disregarded all defense.
For a moment, his attention had been elsewhere, and he had allowed it to land.
Objectively speaking, it was an excellent strike. For an insect, it was outstanding.
But that was only by human standards.
By all rights, he shouldn’t have even been scratched. And yet, the tip of that spear had pierced his heart.
Mana.
That ominously pure mana had torn through his Barrier and was preventing his recovery.
“…”
For some reason, he had a foreboding feeling.
He had to end this here and now. The thought flashed through his mind.
Barcus strode across the void space toward the man.
However.
Hah.
He had expected to find him sprawled on the ground, unconscious. But as if mocking his prediction, the man was sitting up perfectly fine.
He had somehow managed to lift his blood-soaked body and was perched on a tree stump.
“Impressive.”
Did he still have the strength to resist?
He was like a candle whose wick had already burned out.
Still, he would at least serve to vent his anger on.
Just then.
“…did well.”
The man muttered.
He was a complete wreck, yet he was repeating something to himself.
“What was that?”
Barcus frowned.
“You did so, so well. You’re… better than me. Truly.”
Only then did he see the man’s expression.
Barcus’s eyes wavered slightly.
The emotion on the man’s face was not fear of death, nor was it anger.
Instead, there was only a pure smile.
The man was beaming.
He was shedding tears of joy, his expression one of transcendence.
He looked bright, relieved, as if he’d cast off every burden and was about to take flight.
He was clearly crying, but anyone could see they were tears of joy.
The man pushed himself to his feet.
Crrrack.
A gruesome tearing sound echoed from his body through the space.
It was the sound of a body pushed beyond its limits. He was no different from a corpse.
“Tch.”
So he was already finished.
His interest vanished.
It was admirable that he’d managed to stand, but he was just the remnant of an insect with no ability to fight. There was no need to waste any more time.
Barcus turned his head, his eyes devoid of interest.
More importantly, he needed to find out what had happened to the other Apostles.
“Then, and now.”
At that moment.
A chilling voice brushed past his ear.
Barcus spun around instinctively.
“You run away again.”
The man slowly lifted his head. His face was faintly streaked with tears.
But the look in his eyes had changed completely.
His lips trembled, as if even opening his mouth was a strain.
Nevertheless, the man slowly spoke.
“Your very existence is the pinnacle of unfairness.”
Barcus’s brow furrowed.
At first, he paid it no mind. He thought it was just nonsense muttered into the air.
But then.
Somehow, the man was holding his spear.
It was definitely the same man he had just fought.
He had potential, but he was still a long way off.
And yet.
Who is this?
He had never seen this person before. The face was the same, but it was not the same being.
“Finally.”
The man slowly twisted his neck.
Crack, creak.
“It seems the scales are finally balanced.”
The man’s lips slowly curled upward.
Upon his tear-stained face, a twisted smile appeared.
“I won’t miss a second time.”
Shk.
In that instant, the man’s form vanished.
Barcus’s arm shot up on its own.
An instinctive defensive reaction. But even that was too slow.
CRUNCH.
The man’s form seemed to distort before his eyes, and in the next moment, the spearhead had pierced through his arm.
“You and I were never supposed to meet…”
A mocking whisper, accompanied by a blazing gaze.
“Thank your god for letting us meet again.”
He let out a short, derisive laugh.
“How dare you!”
Barcus’s heart pounded.
He couldn’t understand it completely, but he felt it was a clear mockery of The Great Being.
He hastily threw a punch.
His entire body lunged forward.
Just then.
CRUNCH!
“Kuaaagh!!”
It was as if even the moment his balance broke was part of the man’s plan.
As if waiting for that opening, the tip of the spear pierced the hole in his left chest.
Along with blood, mana erupted in a violent backflow.
Barcus instinctively reached out, but he couldn’t stop it.
Crunch, crunch, crunch.
Unrelenting.
Relentlessly, cruelly.
Barcus fought back desperately.
He gathered all his strength and unleashed a torrent of lightning.
KRA-KAAAA-BOOM!
He leaped into the air.
Amplifying his Barrier to its limit, he put distance between himself and the man.
“……”
But the man didn’t even glance at Barcus’s retreat.
He simply stood his ground and quietly raised a hand.
Scrape, scrape, scrape.
Space distorted, and tens of thousands of shapes formed from the ground.
They were clones.
And then, those clones began to converge, thousands of them intertwining into one.
Finally, they formed a single, colossal spear.
Barcus’s breath caught in his throat.
“What in the…”
It wasn’t just one spear. It was the same spear that had just pierced him.
Its power, its number—it had all grown so immense it was impossible to measure.
Fifty…? A hundred…?
There was no need to count.
The moment that thing hit him, he would be obliterated without a trace.
Each and every spear radiated an ominous energy.
This is…
No.
But.
There was no time to hesitate.
In that instant, the man uttered a single word.
“Phalanx.”
Simultaneously.
KRA-GWAGAGAGAGAGAGANG!!!!!!
A flash of light erupted.
With a deafening roar, space itself twisted.
For a moment, Barcus’s consciousness went completely white.
*
The man walked toward a massive crater.
It was a deep, enormous pit, as if a meteorite had struck the ground.
He slid down toward its center.
His entire body was charred black from the lightning.
From a distance, it looked as if he were wearing a black robe.
Willpower.
It was the only thing keeping the man going.
This body had already reached its limit. It wouldn’t have been strange if he had collapsed long ago.
Even so, he could not fall until he had finished the job.
This was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
He was a being bound by the Suppression Force, one who should never have been able to come out.
But to think that someone capable of withstanding that Suppression Force would personally bring him out.
The Evil God.
It was a moment where the enemy’s transcendent intuition had ironically become his opportunity.
Before he knew it, he had arrived.
The enemy was missing half of his head and an arm; his entire body was practically blown apart.
“Kh… hehehe.”
What was so funny?
Barcus laughed, his blood-soaked lips parting.
A faint, yet grotesque laugh.
“To think a bastard like this existed.”
He repeated himself.
“I have something to report to The Great Being.”
His cackling laughter lingered like an echo.
But the man laughed as well.
The reason Barcus could be so composed.
It was because he was certain he would not die.
This space was a sanctuary that protected him.
They had always fought battles they could not lose, from a position of absolute advantage.
Disgusting bastards.
Now, it was time to correct that delusion.
The man squeezed out the last of his strength.
Just then, like stars vanishing from the night sky.
Everything in that place began to slowly fade away.
An infinite space of black.
A domain unfolded, covering the massive crater.
The man had no Fragment.
He had to create whatever he needed to survive.
He devised and deliberated, struggling madly, trying every possible action.
And thus, the realm he finally reached.
His own fangs, created to tear apart the restraints of the Mines.
The domain of Mukgui. It now unfolded here.
[Non-Action Non-Form]
It didn’t matter if it was an absolute being, a transcendent, or a god.
No existence was an exception.
Restraints? Divinity? Spacetime?
All such concepts vanished here.
Within this domain, all laws were meaningless.
“Hoo…”
The man let out a sigh.
“What… is this…?”
Barcus’s expression twisted in horror.
“This is… impossible…”
He began to grope at the ground like a grub.
He felt every connection he had being severed.
He must have sensed it instinctively.
Here, not even The Great Being could save him.
In the end, once you peel back a single layer, you’re all just weak beings.
The man staggered, gripping his spear with both hands.
His arms trembled, but he could still manage to bring it down.
“No… No…!”
Barcus’s hands flailed, grabbing onto the man’s leg.
There was no time to hesitate.
If he was even a moment too late, the man would be the one to collapse.
Shunk!
The spear was pulled from the ground and aimed precisely above the enemy’s head.
And just like that.
“NO!!!!!”
“It’s…”
CRUNCH!
“…done.”
With a final scream.
The man’s entire body collapsed at the same time.
And then.
Beyond the black domain.
The void space where time had stopped.
Slowly, it began to crumble.