episode_0140

45. This is your grave. (4)

The black thread extending from the tower begins to break with a ‘thud, thud’ sound as I move forward, and with each slow step, pure white flames spread from my feet and the desolate, black landscape returns to its original appearance.

As I started to approach, Choi Si-woo, who had been so proud, took a step back and ran away in a depressed manner with a fearful expression on his face.

” What, what are you…? ”

” It’s time to end it now. ”

” Don’t make me laugh…! Ugh! ”

Choi Si-woo quickly waves his hands to create a portal made of black flames behind him, trying to escape.

Looking at him like that, he snapped his fingers and said,

” That’s also ‘rejected’. And I’ll ‘confiscate’ it. ”

” What, what is that…! ”

As the portal of black flames disappeared with a snap of his fingers, Choi Si-woo waved his hands several times again. When the portal was no longer ‘summoned’, he looked at his hands and asked me.

” What, what… Why…? Did you do that? Did you take it from me!!!! ”

” I told you. I was going to ‘confiscate’ it, because it wasn’t your ‘ability’ to begin with. And the ability was just given to you as the ‘authority of the goddess Gaia’. So it wasn’t taken away. Now, it’s just been given back to me, the successor to her. ”

” Don’t make me laugh…! That’s mine! Me… Me!!! ”

Choi Si-woo, unable to control his anger while speaking, creates a sword made of black crystal and rushes forward, spraying sharp, thorny needles made of wood from the ground.

” I’ve told you this many times, but it wasn’t your ability to begin with, right? So I’ll take it. ”

With another snap of my fingers, the sharp wooden spikes shooting out of the ground towards me disappeared, leaving only the holes they had emerged from, and the thing that had been rushing at me in anger and ignorance tripped over them and fell over, rolling around in an unsightly position.

” Ugh…! Shit! Don’t make me laugh!!! I… I…!!! ”

He stumbled into the hole and fell, covered in dirt. He glared at me and began to unleash the power of Thanatos that was still within his body.

The guy smiled happily as the scenery, which was returning to its original state, changed into a desolate landscape again due to the black smoke flowing out of the guy’s body.

” Hahahaha! That’s right, this is it! No matter how much you… ”

With a ‘thump’ sound, the black smoke disappeared, enveloped in pure white flames, and the desolate landscape returned to life.

” What about me? No matter what you do, it’s over now. Treating other people’s lives like bugs, trying to justify it with the ridiculous nonsense that you’re the main character. All of it! ”

The guy looked around with a blank expression, not saying a word, and as if he realized that the strength he had been showing off just a moment ago had disappeared, he started to cry and took ugly steps backwards, then fell over and tried to turn his back and run away, but

” If a person commits a sin, he or she should be punished accordingly. Right? ”

‘Bam!’ I snapped my fingers and a ‘circle of pure white flames’ appeared in front of the running guy, and the guy who had been running away from me went into the hole.

and

” What, what is this… I’m definitely running away… ”

It came out as a ‘circle of pure white flames’ created right next to me.

Let’s just kick the guy in the stomach and knock him down.

” Cool, kekekekeke… ”

” This is your grave, you fucking punk. ”

The guy looked at me and started screaming in surprise, vomiting sticky black blood, and I started hammering nails made of pure white flame into his hands and feet.

” Kkaaaah! T-T-T Stop it, I… I did it wrong… That’s why aaah…! ”

[ In the name of Manienu, I ‘take away’ everything you have. ]

” Stop it…!!!! ”

As soon as I placed my hand wrapped in pure white flames on the guy’s head, a ‘sizzling’ sound was heard along with black smoke, and all of the ‘abilities’ and ‘lifespan’ the guy had were wiped out.

Now, all that was left there was the body of Choi Young-wol, who was Ji-seong’s friend.

*****

Choi Si-woo. After erasing that guy from this world, he became slightly dizzy and collapsed on the spot with a ‘thud’.

” Sigh… I guess I used too much strength in a short amount of time… But I guess this is it… ”

As I watched Choi Young-wol’s body slowly burning in pure white flames and prayed for him to rest in peace, I felt a great energy.

” Oh… I guess I’m too late because I was enjoying the scenery. ”

I quickly got up and looked back at the words I heard along with the sudden feeling of a huge energy. There he was.

” Why… are you here…? ”

It was such a cliché line. But right now, there was nothing else I could say to him. Because someone I really didn’t expect had appeared.

Because ‘Oh Hyuk-jin’ appeared in front of me. Wearing a black robe with the symbol of the tower engraved on it.

” It’s been a while. Hmm, I thought you’d know why I showed up here by now. ”

” What…?! ”

Oh Hyuk-jin passed by me, emitting a deep and dark abyssal black energy that could not be compared to what Choi Si-woo had been emitting.

As he passed by, the scenery around me that was regaining its original appearance changed even more severely than it had because of the tower.

The ground was completely blackened and began spitting out stagnant water, and the surrounding trees had completely rotted away and collapsed, leaving only their bases behind.

” Hmm… I guess I won’t be able to use this. Well, it doesn’t matter, I already have something saved anyway… ”

” What are you talking about. You…! ”

” It’s nothing special. Looking at it, it looks like the ‘vessel of God’ is complete. ”

” How…! ”

As I slowly drew up my divine power and confronted him, black smoke and white flames began to swirl and devour each other between him and me, and he looked at it.

” But I haven’t achieved complete ‘awakening’ yet, so it’s my victory. ”

” Don’t make me laugh!!! ”

The moment I quickly grabbed my sword and swung it at him, there it was… ‘that’… appeared in front of me.

The one I love, Hyunseok, is there…

” Tsk! ”

Quickly release the sword you were swinging and look ahead.

” Hehehe, even though I’ve awakened as a god, I still have a ‘human heart’ so you can’t stop me. ”

” Shut up! ”

Oh Hyuk-jin. The moment I was about to fire a spear and sword made of pure white flames at him, I had no choice but to stop because Hyun-seok blocked my way.

” How on earth…! ”

” Haha… I just prepared in advance. ”

” You said you… used your hands in advance…? ”

When on earth did I touch him… A scene comes to mind the moment I think about that.

While talking at Seoul Station, suddenly ‘he was staring blankly into space’

Obviously… the person he was talking to back then…

” That was it…! That was it! At Seoul Station!!! I can’t forgive you!!! ”

As I snap my fingers and bring Hyunseok into the area, I see him fall down with a ‘thud’ like a puppet whose strings have been cut, and I quickly swing my sword at his neck in a flash of pure white light. I hear his voice.

[ Didn’t I tell you before? Don’t stop me when we meet again ]

The moment I heard those words, my body stopped moving.

As if time had stopped…

I could only roll my eyes and watch him move.

He looked at me who was still and smiled slightly and took out the ‘Black Crystal Heart’ embedded in Choi Young-wol’s body that was burning in pure white flames.

” Then, this… I’ll take it. It’s useless, but I guess there’s something to be salvaged. ”

He took out the ‘Staff Carved in the Shape of a Tower’ he had on his waist and struck the floor with a ‘thud!’, and a black door appeared in the air with a ‘clunk.’

Oh Hyuk-jin, who was opening the door and going in, looked at me and said, “I almost forgot.”

” This is… a way to repay you for helping my friend. We should hurry to ‘Namsan Tower’. I’ve already made arrangements there. And now we’re going to move towards the settlement or the tower.

Soon, our new ‘god’ will be born. ”

As he left those words and disappeared, his still body began to move and the sword he had been swinging fell to the floor with a ‘thud’.

” How on earth… ”

I wondered how he could have stopped me from awakening as a god.

I could tell that the fact that he had a lot of Thanatos power and that he had prepared in advance… applied not only to Hyunseok, but also to me.

I looked at my body with my strengthened eyes, pouring divine power into it. There was a very, very thin black thread wrapped around my body, and the power contained within it was so strong that I had to pull out quite a bit of strength to cut it.

” Haa, I didn’t know you’d do this in advance. At this point, it’s definitely… It was inevitable that you’d stop in the middle… ”

After cutting the thread, I held him as he collapsed in the area, stroked his head, and breathed divine power into him. He slowly opened his eyes and spit out black thread.

” Sha, Charlotte…? Just a moment ago… What the heck… ”

” I have a lot to ask, but… I’m sorry. I have to go to Jisung oppa and Yeonseo right now. ”

Slowly, I freed myself from my embrace and supported him as he stumbled, snapping my fingers to create a portal of pure white flame.

” This is… Choi Siwoo used to write… ”

” I just got back what that guy took from me. ”

” I see, and that’s over there… ”

Hyunseok turned his head slightly and saw Choi Yeongwol’s body burning in pure white flames behind him. I supported him and said as I entered the portal.

” It’s all over. There was a little… interrupter at the end, but I guess we can leave it alone. Yeah. ”

” That’s good. Let’s go. You said it was dangerous? ”

” Yeah. It’ll be hard, but… just hold on a little longer. ”

I confirmed that he nodded and entered the portal with him.

Soon after, I emerged from the portal and what I saw before my eyes was…

It was the sight of Yeonseo collapsing with an army of summoned beasts made of ice shattered and Jisung fighting a large, three-headed demon.