Ch.278278. The Battle of One Praised as a God (1)

The dragon god Bahamut, who had descended from the sky, used his momentum as a weapon and delivered a powerful Rider Kick. His kick precisely tore through space and struck the solar plexus of the “Master” of the Cult of Immortality just as he was emerging.

It was like being struck by sudden lightning the moment he appeared. The “Master” that the Cult of Immortality had boasted about fell helplessly to the ground from the merciless impact, but only briefly.

When the “Master” of the Cult of Immortality rose again, all the Awakened who witnessed the scene froze. When he waved his hand, the ground split open, and black magic energy, sticky like black blood, began to surge throughout Seoul through the cracks.

That ominous magical energy didn’t invade the bodies of the task force protected by dragon armor. However, in safe places at a distance, there were multiple reports of even Awakened struggling to endure the sight, suffering terrible curses just from looking at the black magic.

“Hmm.”

There were no more explosions or roars, but Bahamut could understand why the Cult of Immortality followed their “Master” without question as he observed the quiet despair spreading rapidly around him.

Gazing at the revealed “Master” of the Cult of Immortality, Bahamut spoke with a tense expression, identifying his opponent.

“I can’t believe the one they call ‘Master’ is the No Life King. Indeed, as a being who has reached the pinnacle of all undead, he’s worthy of being called a god.”

No Life King.

In other words, the King of Immortality, or the King of Those Without Life.

The ruler of death appeared in the form of a specter wearing a crown and a wizard. His body consisted only of skin and bones rather than flesh, and his two eyes burned like red jewels, as if hating all life.

“Why?”

With each step the No Life King took, Seoul’s asphalt rotted and crumbled. The Death Knights who had fallen around Seoul Station began to resurrect one by one.

Not only that, but even the undead golems that had surely been destroyed by divine magic inscribed on the Black Tortoise missiles began to resurrect in perfect condition by absorbing nearby undead. Dozens of undead golems began to surround Bahamut, interfering with his movement.

And before him, an evil lich riding an undead golem larger than Bahamut was staring at the dragon god with hateful eyes.

“Why are you interfering with me?”

“Interfering? What do you mean?”

Having built a relationship as sworn enemies, Serabal and the Cult of Immortality could never move forward together.

They had clashed numerous times and fought life-or-death battles. Now he was talking about interference?

Bahamut looked at the lich with an incredulous expression, as if he couldn’t understand what the other was saying.

“Isn’t it obvious! This is the cleansing of this rotten world! This country is full of unresolved, stagnant injustices. Dragon god, look at this scene. At the achievement I’ve obtained!”

“…You call this an achievement?”

The lich seemed to have interpreted Bahamut’s gaze as agreement and began asserting his distorted beliefs. Bahamut couldn’t hide his bewilderment.

There’s a saying that killing one person makes you a murderer, killing a million makes you a conqueror, and killing everyone makes you a god. But was he supposed to acknowledge this as an achievement?

Considering how many people had died in the Korean Peninsula and how the country’s population had decreased by more than half, at least ten million civilians had died. Tens of millions had lost their homes and families, or become disabled. The collateral damage from the apocalypse continued.

If creating this disaster was an achievement, then it certainly was one—as the instigator of the Korean Peninsula’s apocalypse and a mass murderer in history.

“Yes! The world has always been rotten. There are too many corrupt people eating away at this country! They must be eliminated. Everyone has the right to pursue and achieve happiness. But because of some corrupt individuals, people lose their dreams too suddenly and too easily. That’s not coincidence. It’s inevitable because corrupt humans are alive! I know this fact all too well.”

‘What on earth is this guy talking about?’

Bahamut couldn’t understand at all.

The opponent’s actions clearly seemed intended to inform the dragon god of his ideology and persuade him of his noble intentions. However, compared to the power he possessed, his arguments lacked empathy and seemed almost weightless.

If he had simply forced others to follow him through power, Bahamut could have easily understood it as the logic of strength forcing the Cult of Immortality to follow him. But his attempt to persuade using pre-apocalyptic methods made the atmosphere increasingly strange.

“Is this… the devastation you’ve created?”

“It’s not devastation! It’s an achievement! This scene is my power that has strongly changed this rotten world! The corrupt humans will soon disappear, and only those who follow the meaningful savior will remain in the Korean Peninsula to pursue happiness! I plan to correct politics, law, education—everything in this collapsed Seoul!”

“And that’s why so many people had to die?”

While Bahamut had been a keyboard warrior himself, he understood pre-apocalyptic life well.

He had many complaints about the world and sometimes blamed society or the country rather than himself for being a keyboard warrior. Nevertheless, that could never justify people dying. He believed that life itself hadn’t changed at all even in this apocalypse.

“Yes! When I obtained this power, I thought only I could do it. No! Someday, most people will surely think my actions were just and this event was inevitable! This is my divine mission. I am chosen by God to reform this rotten world and create true peace and an ideal world!”

‘This guy probably gained power through a phenomenon similar to me or Phoenix, but he’s completely gone berserk. We don’t have such a mission, and I have no intention of being forced into one.’

Bahamut finally realized that his opponent wasn’t truly a divine being but a human just like himself, and he stared at him with a hardened expression.

If such a mission existed, Bahamut himself could have changed the world from his position, but he had no intention of doing so directly. He merely exerted a positive influence and left the future to Yu-na and Serabal’s cabinet.

Of course, there was the private matter of not feeling confident enough to take responsibility for all of Serabal, but he also believed it was contradictory for someone who could barely take care of his own life to interfere and dictate others’ lives.

“It’s a great achievement that even you cannot accomplish! Do you think you can guide the world… humans in the right direction? This world is full of petty people who will use this power only for their own selfish interests! I have never once thought about my own benefit! I’m completely different from villains who make money by imposing their ideas on the weak!! Such villains are the enemies of the world! And I am the only savior who can solve all these contradictions.”

‘How contradictory.’

It was a contradictory claim that didn’t even mention the evil deeds committed by the Cult of Immortality.

Bahamut closed his eyes as if he could hardly bear to listen, and seeing this, the lich declared with a triumphant expression, as if about to deliver a finishing blow to Bahamut.

“Even if you win, you’ll only return to a rotten world! You must know. There are definitely people in this world who would be better off dead. We can kill pests, so why is it considered evil to kill harmful humans?”

So he had killed evil humans, and continued to kill them.

As if only good and kind humans remained in this land now, he proudly claimed to have cleaned up all the trash that deserved to die.

“Don’t you think it’s contradictory to kill innocent people who have nothing to do with the evil you’re trying to eliminate?”

“What?”

Conversely, more people unrelated to the “corrupt humans” he mentioned had died than the corrupt humans themselves.

Contrary to what he claimed, ordinary citizens and relatively weak individuals didn’t receive protection from the state or military when the apocalypse occurred and were killed indiscriminately. The survivors all lost parents, siblings, friends, or lovers.

Even the Dragon Priestess contracted with Bahamut couldn’t escape this tragedy. All contractors vividly witnessed their families dying before their eyes and experienced the pain of being left alone. They were just ordinary citizens or people who had lived normal lives—the opposite of the evil people the lich claimed to target.

Although Alicia, the Dragon Priestess, was born into power as he would define “corrupt humans,” she only inherited the throne because the entire royal family had died. Otherwise, she would have been too young to even know the term “succession to the throne.”

‘That can’t be a reason to die. Considering that the Cult of Immortality sought cooperation with Seoul’s influential figures, his argument isn’t even worth listening to—it’s full of contradictions.’

The contradiction in his words was that the Cult of Immortality had actually sought cooperation with and provided services to these supposedly “corrupt” groups. Many wealthy and influential people had survived safely using their own weapons while ordinary citizens were dying.

So Bahamut pointed out that the lich’s claim was contradictory.

“You seem to have caused this apocalypse in the name of God, claiming to be chosen by Him. But this is not God’s judgment at all. You’re just a foolish child pretending to imitate God’s judgment.”

“I’m foolish? A child?”

Bahamut assessed the lich’s actions as those of a fool or child running wild with unmanageable power.

Yes, he was a fanatical believer who thought only he could change the world, even if it meant burning everything down, and Bahamut had no intention of accepting his contradiction-filled claims.

Even madness should be elegant madness. Could the deaths of so many innocent, unknowing people truly be called reform?

This wasn’t reform—it was just a childish tantrum from someone dissatisfied with the world.

“Yes, what you’re doing is simply… forcing your supposedly ‘right path’ on everyone in the world. Can a world where someone’s ideology is forcibly imposed truly be called just and peaceful?”

Bahamut had seen much while running Serabal.

Not everyone always followed Bahamut’s guidance; they pursued their interests or happiness in their own ways.

Not all these methods could be considered right, and even Bahamut found some approaches absurd, but at least they were acting as citizens of Serabal and walking their own paths.

Bahamut had no intention of forcing people who were pursuing their own paths and happiness to follow what he deemed the right path, and hearing the lich’s claim only confirmed his belief that his own path wasn’t wrong.

So Bahamut could confidently refute the lich’s contradiction-filled logic.

“Of course not. Right and wrong are always conceptual laws, and what is the right path or the wrong path, what is justice and what is evil—these are things people must realize and pursue for themselves. Even I, who am praised as the dragon god, cannot be certain that my path is right. Can you truly be confident deep in your heart that the path you’re forcing is the right one?”

“Yes, I am justice. I am destined to rule this world… Yes, I am the god of the new era who will destroy the inferior old humanity and guide the new humanity!”

But the opponent already harbored delusions of grandeur, claiming to be a god worthy of praise.

‘There’s no answer. If he wants to rule, why doesn’t he think about governance?’

He seemed to control his power, but to Bahamut’s eyes, it felt more like he was being controlled by that power.

If he intended to rule the world, he should have at least attempted governance rather than using such a clumsy approach that only provoked resistance.

But he didn’t, and as a result, Serabal gained the opportunity to establish a nation and would become known as the arch-enemy and opponent of the Cult of Immortality.

“I see. Well, one thing is clear. I’ve discovered a fool with delusions of grandeur who thinks he’s a god.”

“…You’re just an idiot who can’t understand my noble intentions. Die.”

As if there was no more hesitation, the lich attacked Bahamut as he took a combat stance.

A storm of curses that overturned the ground tried to swallow northern Seoul, and all the urban debris in that storm began to target Bahamut.

At the same time, the resurrected undead golems began to attack Bahamut indiscriminately, and the undead golem the lich was riding—larger than Bahamut—threw a terrifying punch at him.

“Did you think I’d be crazy enough to fight here? I pride myself on being quite perceptive.”

However, Bahamut hadn’t just been listening to that nonsense.

He had already assessed the surrounding situation, and it was also a strategy to buy time for the task force in Seoul to retreat to Gangnam.

With the task force that could restrict Bahamut’s movements now back in Gangnam, Bahamut could also exert his proper strength and rampage here.

Defending against the giant fist falling on him with his powerful arms, Bahamut entered the undead golem’s embrace and grabbed the lich who was protected by a spherical barrier.

“What? Release me at once!”

Perhaps because he was protected by the barrier, it didn’t crack under Bahamut’s grip, and instead, the repulsive force caused Bahamut’s scales to start burning.

Realizing that while his actions were foolish, his power was real, Bahamut spread his massive wings wide and leaped into the sky.

“Did you think I’d be crazy enough to fight in northern Seoul, which has become your territory?”

Bahamut had only one goal.

A battlefield where they could fight fairly, and Bahamut flew with all his might toward the end of the sky, heading for that battlefield.