Ch.228Chapter 228. Destroyer of All Things

The silence that followed after the monster threatening the ark slit its own throat.

Yet no one at the scene dared to celebrate prematurely.

They hadn’t defeated the monster themselves, and the fear once directed at the creature had now shifted to the woman who had single-handedly dealt with it.

“…Cough!”

Despite the tension, Tashian Pailoi could only cough and stagger in place.

The droplets of blood escaping her lips revealed the strain her body had endured.

As she watched the coagulated blood turn to ash, her eyes gradually filled with complicated emotions.

‘I pushed myself too hard after all.’

Though her biological rank was high, her body was in far too precarious a state to bear the accompanying burden.

If one were to use a metaphor, she was like a vessel covered in holes and cracks.

No matter how much power she tried to accumulate, it couldn’t gather properly, so the strain from overexertion was inevitable.

‘I shouldn’t worry that child…’

Despite her determination to maintain her position, it was ultimately a futile resistance.

When her body finally reached its limit and began to collapse, someone rushed to her side to support her.

“Are you alright?”

Hero Jaseong Nam.

A member of the ark who had been on the brink of death in the previous battle but had managed to regain consciousness.

“Ah, yes. Thank you for supporting me.”

Tashian recognized his face and managed a strained smile before looking down at her bloodless hands with a pitiful voice.

“…Pathetic, isn’t it? To be in this state after using my power just once.”

She had destroyed what she cherished and when she tried to make amends, her body had already exceeded its limits.

The realization that she could never return to her former self was making her test many things as she forcibly extended her lifespan.

To the point where she firmly believed that if the being who sustained her were to disappear, she would immediately cut the lifeline she was clinging to.

“Don’t say that. We’re not so shameless as to insult someone who fought for us.”

But Jaseong continued to support Tashian, disregarding her self-loathing.

As he continued to support her toward the ark, there wasn’t a trace of hesitation in his steps.

Nor in his following words.

“Besides, we’re family, shouldn’t we help each other?”

“…Family?”

“I’ve shared meals with Hyoseong, so if you’re Hyoseong’s mother, you’re my mother too. So don’t feel burdened. Family is about enduring hardships together.”

Family.

The word that tormented her at the end of her life and filled her with regret.

And now, it was what she was willing to protect with everything she had, even refusing death.

“…Yes, everyone here is family.”

And that sentiment wasn’t hers alone.

Everyone in this ark wanted to protect this place. They were all waiting for him to return.

This realization gradually breathed life into her heart that could collapse at any moment, bringing a bright smile to her face.

-Kugugugu.

But just as she hoped for this feeling to continue, a tremor in the atmosphere occurred.

Feeling her thoughts being interrupted, Tashian quickly turned her tense gaze behind her.

“Mother? Why are you…”

“Danger.”

A hardened voice and a face turned pale.

A dragon who had lived for ten thousand years was beginning to sense something ominous approaching this place.

“Ugh, aaaah…!!”

Was it because the monster with its head separated from its body was writhing and standing up?

“Uaaah, aaaaaaah!! This… I can’t accept, I can’t accept this!!”

A bizarre scream rising from the head that had fallen to the ground.

Along with it, the body that had been raised from its place began to swell greatly, covering the surroundings with flesh.

A drastic change compared to the form it had maintained until now.

“My, beautiful body… My power, it’s all crumbling! Ugh, uaaaaaaaaaah!!”

As if feeling her reason being buried, Auria’s voice was tinged with madness and anger.

It was the result of the fragments of multiple races, which had been miraculously balanced, collapsing after receiving a fatal shock.

Though life might still be maintained, a vessel once broken could never return to its former state.

“That monster, it never tires…!”

Whatever it was, the monster wasn’t finished yet.

Sensing the danger, Jaseong gripped his spade and prepared to push Tashian towards the ark.

“Mother, please go inside. I’ll try to hold it off as much as I can…”

“It’s not from there.”

“…What?”

Turning with confusion, Jaseong saw Tashian looking up at the sky above Auria, not at Auria herself.

As he followed her gaze, he soon began to express his shock.

“What on earth is that……”

Yes, what Tashian hadn’t overlooked was the massive power approaching this place.

That which was flying from afar was distorting everything in its path.

It was not only cutting through the clouds in the sky but also the light… and even space itself.

“I’ll never, forgive youuuu. I’ll devour all of you hereee…!!”

-Kwaaang!!

Indeed, this was not an attack that could be blocked by a mere monstrosity formed from fragments of races.

Jaseong quickly deployed a barrier, but it was insufficient to block all the incoming waves of power.

From the moment of impact, gravity descended upon the area, and everything before their eyes turned white, threatening to strip away even reason…

“Kuheck… Keck!”

And with it came a widespread burial in the soil that surged forth.

Bearing the weight of the soil with his body, Jaseong finally emerged to the surface with Tashian in his arms and surveyed the scene.

“What is this…?”

Everything had been overturned from the point of impact, and everything on the ground had been buried.

Buildings, the corpses of angels, and even the ark.

Even the ark, which could be called a massive fortress in itself, had tilted on the sunken ground, and severe cracks had formed on its outer walls.

“Is, is everyone safe!? Hey!”

Fortunately, most of the ark’s members had taken refuge inside the ark.

Though many had been critically injured as the ark tilted greatly, they could somehow survive with treatment.

“Hey! Someone say something! Are you…”

But among those who had regained consciousness and were looking down at the scene, no one dared to speak.

The same was true for those who had just awakened and were calling out to those around them.

Soon, upon seeing the massive crater below the ark, they sat down abruptly, their breath caught.

“Wh-wh-what…”

They didn’t know exactly what had happened.

All they knew was that a massive power had cut through the atmosphere and collided with this land, and everything at the point of collision had disappeared…

And the monster that should have been there had been crushed and burst under the overwhelming power.

“…King.”

The cause was now stirring at the bottom of the crater.

Just by standing, it induced a phenomenon where everything around it was distorted and crushed by the surging currents of power…

The moment they encountered this bizarre being whose form couldn’t be distinguished, a single word came to the minds of everyone gathered at the scene.

“De-Demon Lord…”

Demon Lord Solomon.

A calamity with such overwhelming power that even the greedy and selfish Demon Tribe absolutely obeyed and rallied around him.

And until now, not once had his appearance, let alone his strength, been properly revealed to humanity.

“Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!!”

Such a being was now roaring at the bottom of the crater.

At the scene filled with blood squeezed from the flesh he had crushed, he continued to wail despite the liquid soiling his body.

“This isn’t it… This isn’t iiiiit!!”

Kuwung, kuwung!

The tremors that occurred each time his feet stomped the ground.

With just that, the cracks on the outer walls of the ark intensified, and the people inside began to wail as they experienced a disaster akin to an earthquake.

With each force he unleashed to suppress his own emotions, a disaster that could transform the entire area occurred.

“When I came here, I thought I’d finally be satisfied, but why…”

With just that, everyone present could sense it.

That what had descended here was not a being that could be defined by the word ‘calamity’.

A concept that far transcended what humanity had ever conceived…

It would be an error from the outset to evaluate him within the category of common sense possessed by mere intelligent beings.

‘An army isn’t even necessary. He alone can wipe out all of humanity.’

That was the assessment made by the insignificant beings who recognized his existence.

Before him, no matter how large an army or how powerful a hero, they would all be reduced to mere dust.

“…Oh, ooh.”

The moment the head of such an absurd being turned towards the top of the crater…

Towards him who was looking down at the scene from above, Jaseong tightened his grip on Tashian in his arms.

“Yes, you there… you, there… woman.”

He wasn’t looking at him.

The target was Tashian, who was still unconscious from the shock.

The eyes that watched her burned clearly even amidst the currents of power, instilling a sense of crisis in those who met them.

“That, power. Show it to me… so that I, can be satisfied…!”

We’re going to die.

From the outset, the concept of ‘fighting’ against such a monster wouldn’t even be applicable.

“…Damn it!”

Nevertheless, Jaseong gripped his spade and prepared to block the way.

It was an action based on instinct rather than reason.

His will to risk even his life for loyalty couldn’t be broken even by the massive calamity before him.

-Ziiing!!

But he was far too powerless to fulfill such a wish.

Feeling his consciousness fade as a ringing sound pierced his ears, Jaseong finally collapsed and went limp.

With his consciousness half-broken, his body gradually losing strength, and his family whom he ultimately couldn’t protect lying limp on the ground.

“…Demon Lord.”

The voice that was heard at that moment made him feel a familiarity, as if he had heard it before.

“Dealing with such incompetent beings is too precious a time for you, isn’t it?”

As he tried to lift his head to find the source of the voice, a kick was swung.

As his head was pushed back and went limp with a thud, a Demon Tribe member stood before the fallen Jaseong, raising the silk hat on his head and looking down into the crater.

“They’re so insignificant that they’d die even at my level. Did you come all the way here to face such vermin?”

His body didn’t tremble, and his gaze was steadily directed at the form visible beyond the currents.

Even in the face of a being who could annihilate all of humanity alone, his voice exuded not just calmness but even arrogance.

“Ah, aah… Yes, that’s right. I… to fight.”

“Yes, you came to fight, not to trample.”

As if persuaded by those words, Demon Lord Solomon calmed the aura he was emitting towards the limp Tashian.

Afterwards, the Demon Tribe member, turning his gaze away from him, began to point his finger towards the opposite side of the ark.

“Come to think of it, I sense quite a strong aura over there… Would you like to go and see?”

“Oh, ooh. Yes, I, can feel it too. Surely, if I go there…”

Kuwung, kuwung.

The ground trembled just from him climbing out of the crater with his feet.

As everyone felt that noise gradually moving away from the place, the Demon Tribe member who had been watching his back placed his hand on the fallen Jaseong’s head and exerted his power.

“Kuhuck!”

“Stay still.”

The Demon Lord’s presence hadn’t yet disappeared from here.

Even if he had retreated for now, he could reappear before them at any time if variables arose, so they shouldn’t be relieved just because he had withdrawn for the moment.

“That person can destroy not only humanity but this world alone. Do I really need to tell you that rushing at such a person is not courage but recklessness?”

He too must have realized it just by looking, yet he thought of directly confronting him.

While looking down on him, the Demon Tribe member couldn’t hide his sympathy and removed his hand from his head with a deep sigh.

“So, when Hyoseong returns, leave the empire immediately. She confidently said that a being who can even kill that Demon Lord will soon descend upon this land.”

Yes, soon something that even that absurd being cannot handle will descend upon this world.

With the hope that it would go as planned in his heart, the Demon Tribe member rose and prepared to follow the Demon Lord.

“Me…ri…”

It was at that moment that a weak voice was heard.

The Demon Tribe member, unable to ignore the voice, stopped in his tracks and listened to the voice that followed.

“Can you, come back?”

Despite being in a state where he could barely maintain his own body, the foolish dragon couldn’t shake off his concern and let out a plaintive voice.

But the Demon Tribe member said nothing and quietly pressed down his hat as he followed his lord.

Only when he reached a place where his voice couldn’t reach did he quietly recite his inner thoughts.

“…I’ll try. So we can all return together.”

There was no way he could be certain.

When the ‘Destroyer of All Things’, whom even the pinnacle of all beings couldn’t dare to confront, moved, not even the gods could predict what would happen.

***

And, as time passed, we arrived inside the imperial palace.

As I had initially expected, we successfully entered the palace safely, avoiding the danger of angels, but I still couldn’t feel relieved about the current situation.

Just as we left the sewers and entered the palace’s banquet hall, an unexpected enemy attacked us.

“Garam, wake up! Garam!!!”

An attacker who approached under the cover of darkness with all the lights turned off.

I managed to withstand the mental attack he unleashed, but Garam, who was with me, couldn’t and collapsed.

He was still breathing, but his consciousness was cut off.

Just as I felt anger rising within me, someone began to approach from the darkness, laughing.

“Fuhuhu. Well, well. I intended to put both of you to sleep, but you have quite strong mental power, more than I expected. As expected of someone chosen by that person, I suppose?”

“…Vampire.”

“Yes~ Nice to meet you! My name is Scheherazade! As the loyal servant of Prince Seis, I’ve been assigned the role of guarding the path to him~”

I had heard that the vampires who controlled humanity were annihilated, but could it be that one of them was still alive?

If so, why did that vampire become a servant of the prince?

“And I’d prefer not to harm you, whom the prince has chosen… Could you please withdraw from here?”

No, that’s not what I should be concerned about right now.

What’s important is that there’s someone who attacked me and Garam as we entered this palace, and along with him emerged a face that’s very familiar to me.

“You, there…”

“Ah~ Come to think of it, do you have an acquaintance with the lady here?”

Vivian Platonis.

Why is one of the people I wanted to protect standing beside that damned vampire, unconscious and blocking my way?