#31 Eternal Crystal
Eternal Crystal.
The black mana stone was embedded right in the heart of Mother Crypto.
'What is this?'
At that moment.
Theo and King finally arrived, panting heavily as they climbed up the mountain below, clearly having broken a sweat just from running.
Flinch!
Just then.
A single drop of sweat rolled down Mother Crypto's forehead. Kang-ho stared at her intently, then looked over at the newly arrived Theo.
"Is this it?"
Mother Crypto looked at Theo and then shifted her gaze back to Kang-ho.
How in the world could this be happening?
That was unmistakably Theo Itilurg Gamigin.
That crazy Demon Lord, alongside this human in front of her who, judging by her senses, felt even stronger than him.
She spoke in a low voice.
She had no more strength left to hold on. A venomous glint appeared in her eyes.
—Self-destruct.
The legion she had so painstakingly cultivated had turned back to dust. For her final act of revenge, she chose self-destruction. As she was throwing away her life, all the power she possessed would trigger a massive explosion.
Theo flinched in surprise.
"They do that kind of thing too?"
However.
The reaction of the man in front of her was entirely underwhelming.
—Why...?
She wondered.
"Can't we just talk it out?"
But it was already too late. With a face full of malice, she had begun to detonate the power within her entire body.
While Theo panicked, Kang-ho reached his hand toward the black mana stone located in her heart.
Click!
The mana stone detached far too easily, almost like plucking a magnet off a refrigerator, and it was about the size of a fist. It was a cold mana stone that harbored a bizarre power.
After pocketing it, he channeled mana into both wrists.
Vwooom—
His bracelets, the Aura Blades, projected eerie, glowing blades. In that state, Kang-ho sliced right through her.
Slash!
Her lower half was deeply rooted in the ground, but her upper half was easily lopped off. Kang-ho then immediately took that upper half...
—No, wait...
Smash!
...and kicked it high into the sky.
"......"
King and Theo watched with their jaws dropping open. The severed upper half soared into the sky with unstoppable momentum, and just as it turned into a tiny black speck...
Kwaaaaaaang!
It exploded.
Kang-ho stared at the corpse, whose lower half was still firmly planted in the ground.
Swaaaash—
The white spores everywhere were withering away.
With the mother dead, the spores all around were dying off incredibly fast. The mountain, which had been completely covered in white, was rapidly turning into sheer desolation.
Once the mother dies, the hosts can no longer survive.
Before long, the mountain had become completely barren.
"......"
Down at the bottom of the mountain.
There lay the two Rankers who had become hosts. Looking at them, now resembling dried, twisted corpses, Kang-ho let out a short sigh.
'A dangerous breed.'
The Crypto clan.
They were a dangerous type of species. If they hadn't been discovered in time, the scale of the infestation might have grown even larger. Then, they might not have been able to resolve it as easily as they just had.
While he was lost in deep thought...
He noticed Theo looking utterly bewildered.
"What?"
Theo stared blankly at Kang-ho before shaking his head.
'This guy is even crazier than I thought.'
Theo swallowed hard without realizing it.
He had just witnessed every single detail, right down to the scene of Mother Crypto being effortlessly disposed of.
To be completely honest, he was so utterly stunned by the sheer disbelief of it all that he felt a bit dazed.
The Crypto clan were annoying bastards that even Theo had struggled to deal with in the past. Especially when they formed a colony of this scale, disposing of them easily was truly an arduous task.
But...
This monster standing in front of him had just casually sliced and diced this entire colony like he was julienning radishes.
'What level would he be at in the Demon Realm?'
In his prime, Theo was Ranked 4th in the Demon Realm.
Back then, Theo's specialty was engaging in territorial warfare alongside the powerful familiars he had amassed over roughly a century.
In other words.
Rather than directly declaring war and aiming for a higher rank, Theo enjoyed a defensive style of combat, fending off the lords who challenged him.
Kang-ho was belligerent.
He enjoyed charging in headfirst and engaging in all-out brawls.
Meaning...
He was a similar type to guys like Agares and Baal.
Agares was Ranked 2nd, and Baal was the 1st Rank who had absolutely crushed Theo.
'He wouldn't lose out at all even compared to Agares.'
What if compared to Baal?
'Baal is... an absurd monster of a bastard, so...'
No matter how incredibly strong this human named Choi Kang-ho was, Theo figured he probably still wasn't on Baal's level.
But that guy was genuinely, absurdly stronger than anything Theo had ever seen.
Gulp!
Feeling a cold sweat trickle down his back without realizing it, Theo offered a sheepish grin.
One way or another.
'If I get on his bad side, I'll really be screwed.'
Kang-ho held out the mana stone to Theo.
"Do you know what this is?"
Theo looked at the mana stone Kang-ho presented. After staring at it intently, he shook his head.
"Hm."
Kang-ho rubbed the mana stone. Then, he slowly tried breathing mana into it.
At that moment.
Vwoom—
Text began to float before Kang-ho's eyes, just like when he used the Beast Eye.
"......!"
Kang-ho looked at King and Theo. It seemed neither of them could see it. In other words, this was currently only visible to Kang-ho.
'Eternal Crystal...?'
Something he had never heard of or seen before.
Kang-ho slowly asked Theo.
"Do you know anything about something called an Eternal Crystal?"
Theo tilted his head before answering.
"Hmm."
Kang-ho narrowed his eyes.
Upon infusing it with mana, he felt he could grasp what kind of power the fragment of the Eternal Crystal possessed.
'Overwhelming regenerative power.'
However, Kang-ho instinctively felt it.
'It's dangerous.'
This power was sweet but dangerous.
If its owner was someone qualified, they would be able to control the power, but if they fell short of the qualifications, they would be devoured by it.
'Baal was looking for this..?'
There was a lot weighing on his mind.
First.
The text reading "1st Dimensional System, Earth" bothered him.
In the modern era, the existence of multiverses had already been confirmed. If so, it meant that each dimension had something called an Eternal Crystal.
Thump— Thump— Thump—
His heart began to beat a little faster.
Kang-ho closed his eyes, briefly organized his thoughts, and then tucked it away in his pocket.
"Let's go."
It was right as he was turning around.
"Boss!"
King quickly bowed at the waist toward Kang-ho.
"Why am I your boss?"
At Kang-ho's question, King answered with sparkling eyes.
"It's been my lifelong dream to serve someone as strong as you, Boss."
"......"
Kang-ho stared at King for a moment before shrugging his shoulders.
"Not interested."
"I'll do whatever you tell me to. I'm good at cooking, too. I want to become like you, Boss."
"......"
When Kang-ho showed a distinct lack of interest, King cried out with a desperate face.
"I... to be honest, I've been stuck at a standstill for a year."
"A year, huh."
"You said it before, didn't you? That I'd end up facing a wall."
—You're going to end up facing a wall.
He had said that back in the dungeon where they picked up Theo.
"......Truth is, I'm facing that wall right now. I want to go higher. But no one can teach me how."
Kang-ho stared intently at King.
An SS-rank Awakener.
How many beings in this world could possibly offer teachings to an Awakener of that level?
Unless it was a master who had been systematically training them since childhood, no one would even dare try to casually meddle with their growth.
However.
It seemed he had circumstances separate from that.
"Hmm......"
Kang-ho felt a spark of curiosity toward the human named King standing before him.
"You'll do anything?"
"Yes, sir!"
"Then, come to Cheorwon."
"Did you say Cheorwon?"
"Yeah."
"A-a-are you serious?"
"Seriously."
Kang-ho smiled softly.
"Starting now, don't use any mana, and run there from here."
"Excuse me?"
While King was standing there with his eyes wide open, Kang-ho climbed onto Furball's back.
"About 50 years ago, it used to take about three days."
Grrr—!
Furball began to move swiftly.
He could see Theo, riding behind Furball, clicking his tongue and waving goodbye.
.
.
.
.
.
.
The massive office of the Mercenary Guild.
Guild Master Im Cheol-bae let out a heavy sigh.
"Haa..."
Perhaps feeling the situation was bleak, he massaged his forehead before plopping down onto the sofa.
Kang-ho sat across from him and smiled bitterly.
"The Demon Realm, huh."
Im Cheol-bae let out another long sigh.
"Information is being gathered from all over. The situation is taking an increasingly bizarre turn. Just how many more secondary dimensions are there? Honestly, it's hard to predict even an inch ahead these days."
"You can say that again."
Cheol-bae nodded.
"Thanks for handling that troublesome request."
"I'll just consider it payment for the Fairy Stone."
"Someone dying... it's something you never get used to, no matter how many times you go through it. Even for people like us who see it to the point of being sick of it."
"If we got used to it..."
Kang-ho looked out the window, his words trailing off.
"That would be a problem."
Cheol-bae placed a cigar in his mouth. After lighting it, he exhaled a thick cloud of smoke and began to speak.
"Lately, the things I do only leave me with regrets, Kang-ho. Maybe it's because I'm getting old, but nowadays, I find myself starting to regret things from the past. About a lot of things, really."
"It's just because you're getting old."
"Guess it's almost my time to kick the bucket."
Soon after.
Knock, knock—
A knocking sound was heard, and the door opened.
"Respectfully contact Hitman and Hound's families... and prepare for their funerals."
"Yes, sir."
The Team Leader bowed his head.
Lifting his head, the Team Leader looked at Kang-ho and bowed again.
"......Thank you, Senior."
"Just make sure to give them a good funeral."
The Team Leader stepped out.
Im Cheol-bae sat in silence, simply puffing on his cigar. Only when he had nearly finished the entire cigar did he finally speak.
"Anyway. Thanks for this time, I wanted to tell you that. Oh, and by the way. What's with the smartphone?"
"Ah, I'm planning to give it to someone."
"I see."
Cheol-bae stood up and walked over to his desk. He opened a drawer and pulled out a brand-new smartphone.
"I already had it activated. Apparently, it's a new model that just came out. I paid special attention to it."
"Thanks."
Kang-ho stood up and walked over to Cheol-bae's desk. Taking the smartphone, Kang-ho suddenly noticed a picture frame lying face down on the desk.
Flipping the frame over, there was a photograph inside.
A group photo.
Familiar faces were in it.
Park Jun-woo, Kim Ho-young, Lee Min-ah, Im Cheol-bae, and himself.
It was a group shot of those who were once called the Five Heroes.
But...
There weren't five people in the photo.
There was a man standing next to Kang-ho with his arms crossed.
A man with long black hair.
A man who wasn't recorded in any textbooks or on the internet. More precisely, a man whose existence couldn't be recorded.
Kang-ho stared at him intently before speaking.
"Kang Jun-seok."
"......"
At Kang-ho's words, Im Cheol-bae shifted his gaze to the photo and smiled bitterly.
"Jun-seok is exactly one of those regrets."
"......"
Kang-ho thought quietly for a moment, then placed the frame face down again.
"I'm heading out."
"See you later."
When the snowflakes began to flutter down, the feeling of finally being home set in.
Whine—
Seol-a let out a low cry.
As if overwhelmed by something, the little one was staring fixedly at Furball. As Furball panted and hopped around, she slipped right out of his arms and ran after Furball.
Seol-a's eyes were filled with absolute adoration for Furball.
Kang-ho knew exactly why she was acting like that.
'Looks like she's itching to get into a fight.'
Having closely observed Furball's stellar performance from the safety of his arms, Seol-a was now practically begging to be let into battle herself.
Kang-ho chuckled softly.
True enough.
It was about time for Seol-a to begin her training in earnest, too.
First of all, while it was true that she had grown much faster than expected due to the demonic energy, there was a limit to that.
Basic stamina.
That wasn't an issue exclusive to Awakeners.
Theo suddenly spoke up.
"That guy?"
Kang-ho thought for a moment before letting out an "Ah—" and nodding.
"King."
"Hmm... I wonder."
Kang-ho offered a shrug of his shoulders.
He wanted to see the guy's grit.