Chapter 399

Chapter 399

Chapter 71 Decision (4)

Before I could even attempt to escape, I felt an intense desire.

“Khuhp…”

A desperate tenacity to postpone annihilation and continue existing.

The resolute will that I possessed, and the fervent wish I had, couldn’t be described with mere words.

I felt as if I was being devoured. As if I was sinking into the depths.

A chilling sensation as if I was losing my own identity, being buried within it.

If things continued like this, I was certain I would lose my will and dissolve into this abyss.

A common being would have succumbed to this will and surrendered their life force without hesitation.

But was that even conceivable?

Could I come all this way just to lose because of exhaustion?

Should I reluctantly submit simply because my will was weaker than this creature’s?

“Tell it to shut up.”

I didn’t come all this way, through relentless struggle and effort, to be consumed by this entity.

Grind!

I clenched my teeth and stared into the abyss of Omby that covered me from all sides as if it was about to consume me.

“You think I’ll get eaten by the likes of you?”

It’s not just that thing that possesses a maniacal tenacity.

I too, have something I sincerely and desperately wish for.

Do not presume that just because what it has continued for so long, it is more persistent and intense than mine.

If it tries to suppress me with its will, I will gladly do the same.

“You Die here.”

Muttering in a low voice, I sent forth my puppet infused with my intense desire.

The pure destructive thunder was absorbed into the black abyss as soon as it was created, but I didn’t give up and continued to create more puppets.

I was determined to burn and tear apart all of Omby’s obsessions that enveloped me and escape from this place.

And then, I would erase the damned creature that gifted me this hellish war without leaving a trace.

I would reclaim the glorious peace I had once lost.

Crackle!

The puppet imbued with my will began to incinerate the corrupted divinity that surrounded me.

In an attempt to suppress my rebellion, the abyss that imprisoned me became thicker and darker.

But I wouldn’t succumb to it.

The spreading puppets congregated in one place, transforming into a solid form.

In an instant, BOOM!

With a massive explosion, a path opened within the abyss that held me captive.

A sharp enmity sliced me open as if trying to prevent my escape.

Even though my body was being pierced, I did not back down and confronted it.

Retreating could reduce my injuries.

There might be a way to devise a strategy to escape while preserving my life here.

Since I never wished for death, that option would have been included in my choices.

But I didn’t even glance at that choice, reaching beyond the corrupted divinity.

My skin was torn, peeled, and set aflame by the intense resistance.

Yet, without halting, I pushed forward and finally…

Snap.

I escaped out of the corrupted divinity that imprisoned me and grabbed Omby’s neck.

The crystallized puppet extending from my fingertips tore through Omby’s neck and body.

– You damn creature!

I had no intention of ending it here. I intended to obliterate it.

Even if I was to be torn to shreds and Die here, absolutely, I would do it.

That was the reason for my divinity’s existence.

It was the utmost recompense I could offer to those I had sacrificed to claim victory thus far.

“You Die here.”

Was it because of my indomitable spirit?

Startled, Omby took a step back.

That one step, the moment its will faltered.

Omby tried to escape beyond causality as if fleeing.

Did it judge that releasing more seals here would incur a cost too steep for causality to bear?

Perhaps it thought that eliminating me first, on the other side of causality, was more urgent.

Regardless of the reason, I had no intention of letting it escape beyond causality.

“Where do you think you’re going!”

The battleground should not be shifted beyond causality.

The moment it freed itself from the constraints of causality, my defeat would be inevitable.

For though I was exerting my full strength, Omby was not.

Therefore, the battlefield should absolutely not be moved, no matter what.

Even if the Earth were to become a wasteland and civilization collapsed entirely.

“That thing must Die here.”

It was a conclusion I already decided in my heart.

“Even if it was your will to enter, there’s no way you’re leaving.”

In a flash, the radiant golden light grasped hold of Omby’s ankle as it attempted to cross causality.

Without hesitation, I used the puppet to break its power and will.

At the same time, a dazzling white light intervened, beginning to suppress Omby.

The system had joined in.

The two divine entities, sharing the same intent, dragged Omby into the depths of the material world.

There was no way Omby, unable to exert strength befitting its status, could withstand the pull.

Omby plummeted without resistance.

Simultaneously, I felt a surge of divinity gathering more than usual.

I could clearly hear the voices of those wishing for my victory and believing in me.

It was the beginning of a relentless struggle that would never cease as long as this solid divinity was not exhausted.

* * *

The first sighting of the mysterious black light was in Seoul.

The light erupted as if it created a tornado, blending various hues into a murky, ominous color.

Drab and gloomy, it bore no resemblance to the beauty of the night’s darkness.

It induced an instinctual aversion in any living being born with life.

“What, what is that…?”

“Could it be an enemy? A new monster?”

“Is it like that turtle thing from last time?”

“Do we have to fight that?”

“No, no way!”

“There’s no way that’s possible!”

“How are we supposed to beat that?!”

Even without knowing its exact nature, players instinctively realized.

That the black light ascending toward the sky was a being beyond their capacity to deal with.

It was a truth so certain that there were no differing opinions or doubts.

As certain as the sun rising in the east tomorrow morning, an inevitable future.

At that precise moment, they all felt the same emotion.

Despair.

Players did not dare to think of directly confronting the being that overshadowed the sky and could only hope it would vanish.

And then at that moment.

“Look, over there!”

At someone’s exclamation, those who had forced themselves to avert their gaze from the sky lifted their heads once more.

Chasing after the black light spreading across the sky was something swift.

To the players, it was a fairly familiar golden light.

There was no need to exhaust themselves inquiring who emitted the light.

The golden lightning sprawling broadly in the sky was exceptionally vivid.

“K.”

“K!”

“Damn, I knew you’d come!”

Everyone recognized the identity of the golden light and, as though they had been waiting, started to chant its owner’s name.

Though an impossible task for them, if it were K.

If he directly confronted that black light.

‘Then maybe, he could win.’

The moment hope sprouted in everyone’s hearts.

The golden light entangled with the black light and plummeted to the ground.

As if an Angel without wings fell into hell, as if a dragon’s will was unfulfilled and could not reach heaven, like that.

That single fall somehow instilled an inexplicable belief.

“K!”

“K!”

“Win it, K!”

Even knowing it wouldn’t reach, everyone who witnessed the celestial phenomenon began to wish for K’s victory.

As if in response to their wishes, the golden light flared more brilliantly.

Within the radiant, soaring light, the golden lightning strikingly vibrant.

Caught in a tangle, gnawing at each other, shortly.

The two lights soon vanished.

But they only departed from the skies of Seoul.

They reappeared and clashed in various places around the globe.

The movement of the two lights observed through satellites was intense.

One day, the lights were seen near the Namrim Mountain Range in North Korea.

Boom! Boom!

The collision that lasted for several minutes came with cataclysmic roars that could shake heaven and earth.

And it wasn’t just the sound.

The collision of the two lights triggered a vast landslide that threatened to engulf all the residents of the area.

“Aaah!”

“Landslide!”

“Evacuate!”

“It’s collapsing!”

“Help!”

So much earth was displaced that it engulfed residential areas, and the local landscape entirely altered its appearance.

As a result, the Namrim and Hamgyong mountain ranges were partially severed.

And that wasn’t the end.

The two lights did not stop at the border with North Korea and continued to move north, through China, Mongolia, and into Russian territory.

The traces left by the contentious lights resulted in disasters.

“Earthquake!”

“Everyone, get outside the buildings!”

The aftermath of the clashing divine entities could not be endured by fragile nature.

Landslides became the most common disaster, and with the fractured and contorted ground, earthquakes started to occur frequently.

It was truly a merciless catastrophe, a disaster that could not be countered with manpower.

Average people could do nothing but get swept along.

As continuous reports of damage came in, nations around the world remained on high alert.

Amid the scrutiny of all, the two lights passed Central Asia, moved across the Middle East and Europe, and entered the Pacific Ocean.

A flood caused by a dam’s destruction.

Strikes of lightning and hail from clear skies.

Tsunamis slamming into many coastal nations.

The endless onslaught of disasters caused damages in human lives and property so extensive that proper assessments were impossible.

In reality, trying to tally the losses held no meaning.

By the time the lights entered North America, people around the world realized.

“The ground is cracking!”

“Is the world ending?”

The North American continent had split.

A crevasse that formed in the middle of a city divided it in half, destroying its capital and sewage systems completely.

The video captured via satellite depicted the surreal event of the continent splitting apart, delivering it vividly to all living on Earth.

This was undoubtedly an event outside the realm of rationality.

Something beyond human reach, impervious to understanding.

A sense of awe and terror grew toward the entities responsible for the phenomenon.

“Was K that powerful?”

“What kind of monster is he facing?”

“What if K loses, what happens to us?”

On a day when human civilization crumbled and the ground became rubble, living beings pondered.

If the black light’s owner were to win this battle that ravaged the entire world.

What position would they find themselves in?

“It’s not possible to fight and win.”

It was logically as impossible as an ant being born and bred to become a human.

“There’s no place to escape to either.”

Although they know of other civilizations and dimensions besides Earth.

Humanity does not possess the power to escape to them unaided.

They are unable to leave Earth and flee on their own strength.

Those living on Earth had no alternatives.

K’s defeat would mean the defeat of all living beings.

Realizing this, they shivered in fear and began to pray.

“Please. Please, win.”

“We’re sick of war. Please, win for us.”

“K can do it.”

“We believe.”

“I’m so scared!”

“K!”

“Please save us.”

“You can do it, K.”

“Please.”

“K!”

“K!”

“K!”

“Kang Hyunwoo!”

Did those countless voices reach him?

On a morning seven days since the initial clash.

The grand, rising golden light tore the black light to shreds.

The resulting effect saw the surrounding space fragment and float bizarrely.

At the same time, as if preordained, the holes scattered globally vanished.

And K, the target of those who felt the golden light, also disappeared.

Damned System

**New Elements and Characters:**

– **옴빈 (Omby):** It (unknown entity possessing formidable tenacity)

– **강현우 (Kang Hyunwoo):** K (he, the central figure engaged in the battle involving massive lights)