Ch.113113. The Hidden Secret in the Hero’s World

“You’ve got good momentum, Gerogius.”

Red Dragon wiped his cracked and scratched jaw as he recovered from the fall.

Even in this disadvantageous situation, he was trying to continue the battle alone.

He deliberately sent Ji Se-hwa away. That means he’s watching his back.

He targeted Lena, not me. He must have some kind of plan.

I can’t give him any more time.

I gripped a card between my index and middle fingers and immediately inserted it into my belt.

“Rage.”

Whoosh!

I filled both fists with unquenchable flames, with the intent to pierce and kill.

Red Dragon must have sensed the danger too. He frantically operated his Pad.

[Shape Managed!]

[Ultimatum!]

[Include! REVELATION!]

“Famine, Death—Forced Release!”

Bang!

His helmet burst open, revealing his face. Using the black of Famine, he transformed into a skull and went berserk.

Simultaneously, Red Dragon compressed Death’s blue scythe and wrapped it around both arms.

Is he using the Pad to manipulate and control his skills?

“Ooooh—!!”

Boom!

Red Dragon charged forward with a sonic boom. He was heading toward Lena. I immediately reacted, blocking his path and crossing arms with him.

His arm muscles burst, and his teeth and jawbone began to corrode. Waves of berserk energy emanated from his body. There was no aura to speak of.

So he’s been leveling up his abilities as a hero. He’s found a way to enhance the basic skills of the Apocalypse to their limits.

In that moment of confrontation, a light flashed between his empty eye sockets.

‘He has consciousness?’

In an instant, Red Dragon ducked. He slipped between my legs and approached Lena behind me.

I hadn’t expected such a humiliating tactic.

“Ooooh!!”

He swung the scythes on his arms. Lena went into defensive mode.

But his target wasn’t Lena. It was the ground where Lena was standing.

I see. So that was his aim.

Slash—Crash!!

The scythes on both his arms created a massive arc that cut through space. In an instant, the surface split and the floor became visible.

There was a barrier there.

A barrier that was splitting and beginning to collapse.

“So this was your objective from the start. Damn bastard.”

I immediately charged and threw a punch at him. Red Dragon tried to dodge, but I hit him. I blasted and burned the upper part of his right arm.

“Kuh, aaaaargh—!!”

Red Dragon screamed and swung his scythe at me. Was he planning for mutual destruction?

“No!!”

A shadow blocked me. Somi jumped between Red Dragon and me, getting slashed by the scythe.

Blood spurted from her abdomen. I immediately caught her body.

“Kah—!!”

Red Dragon fell through the collapsing barrier and disappeared. Ring out.

At the same time, the entire battle field began to break down, distorting and being sucked toward the center.

“Ui-seok!”

I looked up while holding Somi, straddling the gap. I could see Lena’s face.

“Get the symbol! Red Dragon’s plan was to flip the board!”

His plan was to destroy the location where the symbol would appear so we couldn’t get it if he was losing. What a vile bastard.

Lena followed my order without argument. Instead of trying to save me, she stayed in position to wait for the symbol. After confirming this, I took out the card of Greed and equipped it.

If he could cut the barrier with Death’s blue, it means this barrier could be treated as a type of ability.

Then maybe I could counter the phenomenon of space breaking down.

I drew out a spear, wrapped it in light, with enough force to pierce through a planet’s inner core. I threw it.

Swoosh—Crash!!

“Tsk.”

The speed of the space being sucked in slowed, but the collapse itself didn’t stop. The radius shrank in an instant.

Meanwhile, Lena desperately held her ground. She wasn’t going to move a single step until she got the symbol. Her hair was wildly blown by the air pressure.

Is there no way to buy time?

While I was contemplating my next move, I heard a voice.

“You look unfortunate, Gerogius.”

A pure white helmet mocked me.

“Sulphur.”

“I should separate the space, right?”

Sulphur came down and positioned himself next to me. He extended his arm upward and activated his ability.

“Altair.”

Sulphur pointed to one end of the gap with his left hand.

“Vega.”

He pointed to the opposite side with his right hand. The two points sparkled and connected with a line.

Snap!

When Sulphur snapped his fingers, a rippling white galaxy erupted from the line he had drawn.

The galaxy literally separated the space where we were standing on the broken barrier from where Lena was on the ground.

At the same time, the ground began to stabilize.

The torn barrier greedily tried to swallow only the three of us and no longer affected the battle field.

Through the translucent galaxy, we could see the situation above. All the villains of Vengeance were being ringed out through the shrinking barrier.

Lena was the last one remaining. Something shining rose up in front of her.

It was the symbol.

Boom!

When Lena grabbed the symbol, a massive shock hit us, and I, Somi, and Sulphur were thrown into the broken barrier below us.

***

“Ugh… haa, Ui-seok.”

“Are you awake?”

“Yes. How’s the battle?”

“We won. We got the symbol too.”

“That’s good.”

I gently stroked Somi’s cheek as she opened her eyes. We were taking shelter in a cave near the beach.

“Jumping in front of the blue was reckless, you know.”

“It was the blue you used on yourself, Ui-seok. If it has the same lifespan, you both would have died. I should have a longer lifespan than humans, so I’ll be fine.”

“That’s logical.”

“Of course.”

Somi sat up, her wounds almost completely healed.

“I met Minseo. Just as you predicted, she approached me trying to convince me to betray you.”

“Heh. Good. Next time, let’s deliver a critical hit.”

I had expected Choi Minseo to recognize Somi. The history is different, but we caught her.

I don’t need to worry about Choi Minseo recognizing me. No skill can extract information about me now. It’s an additional function of being the master of sins.

But Somi looked a bit uncomfortable.

“Um, Ui-seok…”

“Yes?”

“Aren’t you worried? Do you ever suspect that I might really betray you…?”

“That’s impossible.”

Somi smiled brightly, relieved.

“Thank you. For trusting me.”

“Of course.”

These worries probably stem from her own insecurities. Is she now imagining that I might abandon her?

“Han Somi.”

“Yes, Ui-seok?”

“I love you.”

“…Me too.”

Somi lowered her head shyly and took my hand.

“Hey, stop rubbing salt in wounds and come out to see the situation. You know it’s serious, right? Gerogius.”

Sulphur banged on the cave entrance wall casually. Somi and I got up.

“What’s so serious about the situation?”

“Well, it’s become like that.”

We went outside the cave. I transformed into Armaggedon form and flew up. Sulphur was on my left, Somi on my right.

We were at Incheon’s coast. Somi, who had been looking around after gaining altitude, finally realized something was wrong.

“Ui-seok, is this…?”

“Yes.”

I nodded.

“We’ve been thrown into their world.”

A moment of silence followed.

The Incheon and Seoul we knew had subtly different building lights.

Above all, the barrier.

We were now beyond the barrier that we couldn’t cross in our original world.

“Why are we here…?”

“The three of us weren’t just normally ringed out—we were sucked through the gap in the barrier that Red Dragon destroyed. That must be the cause.”

“Haha. You must have been shocked, Gerogius.”

“What should we do? Round 2 will start soon.”

“The announcement came out. It’s tomorrow. The battle field will be in Calcutta, India. We can enter together when the people from this side go in.”

“But our preparations…”

“The keyword ‘technology’ has been announced in advance, so Lena will prepare for whatever rules come up. No matter where the location is, Lu-a can transport us there immediately.”

“That’s true. They’re all excellent villains.”

“You’re boringly calm about this.”

“This is actually an opportunity. Let’s find information about this world before we go back. Sulphur, you cooperate too. You’re partly responsible for us ending up here.”

“Well, I save someone from drowning and now they want my belongings too.”

“It would be good to find more weaknesses of the Dragon King Sentai. Above all, I need to understand how Red Dragon works.”

“Gerogius, he’s you, isn’t he? What’s different?”

“The way he handles subordinates and the formula for achieving victory are the same. His battle sense was definitely there too. But the fundamental driving force is completely different. I think of him as a doppelganger wearing my skin.”

That’s right. He is not me.

“I started my hero activities 6 years ago. That’s enough time for a human to completely change. I need to find out what happened.”

“I’ll go with you.”

Somi nodded.

“Then I’ll scout the route in advance. I don’t want to be erased along with this world. See you later.”

Sulphur twisted his body and flew away. Somi and I headed toward Seoul.

***

We disguised ourselves as ordinary citizens and wandered around the city.

Night had fallen. The skyscrapers of Seoul, which should have been illuminated with brilliant lights, somehow lacked energy.

As we passed through a slum, the people’s faces showed no vitality. On the electronic billboards, advertisements for Dragon King Sentai transformation devices and combination robot toys played endlessly.

We entered a suitable internet cafe and searched for information about the Dragon King Sentai. Without advanced hacking skills, the information we could obtain was limited, but we didn’t have much time, and it should be enough.

“The Association Chairman is still alive here. The Seoul Hero Association ended up becoming the center.”

“The formation and debut timing of the Dragon King Sentai is similar. The date of Red Dragon’s promotion to S-class hero is exactly the same.”

“Similar? Why is there a difference?”

I played the debut video. The Dragon King Sentai striking cool poses after defeating villains. I checked the interview video.

The red, blue, yellow, green, and pink warriors each gave a brief statement of determination.

And both Somi and I noticed one huge difference.

“…Ui-seok.”

“Haha, yeah.”

I could only laugh bitterly at this absurdly obvious difference.

***

“Damn it, damn it. What is this?”

Sulphur removed his helmet as he flew through the sky. His brain simply couldn’t process the information entering his vision.

But even with the naked eye, no matter how much he rubbed his eyes, the scenery didn’t change.

“What have you done? What on earth is this place, what has this world’s Jung Ui-seok done?”

Sulphur—Kang Yerin—screamed. No one could hear her cry from high in the sky.

“What kind of hero are you? Damn bastards!!!”

Her scream disappeared, buried in the wind.