episode_0084

It was a certain time when the afternoon sun was shining and dusk was falling.

Although it was not a metropolis-level city, Han Se-jun was walking with heavy steps in the center of modern civilization, where a population of nearly 170,000 resided.

The sound of everyone’s footsteps pounding the asphalt, denying the gradually falling silence of darkness.

“Keuuut!”

The fire of this ability arises and surrounds his sword body. It was an ability that was developed instinctively for survival, rather than thinking with the head and putting it into action.

A jet-black ray of light flying towards you. Seeing the light of death flying towards them like a bunch of forked arrows, they bare their teeth and kick the floor and roll over.

Whi profit!

A light green curtain-like curtain falls in front of Sejun’s eyes, blocking him from the black rays of light. It was her ability that could be known without saying anything.

Sejun instinctively places his right hand, which is burning heavily, on the barrier.

Kugwagwagwang!

Sejun’s supernatural ability touched the shield in front of him and a huge explosion occurred. Pieces of asphalt swept away by the explosion fly into the sky and dust obscures vision.

Sejun held his breath at the explosive impact, as if it had been launched by a missile.

“Huh! Huh! ”

The barrier, which became stronger with the addition of Sejun’s ability to Tania’s barrier, barely managed to block a direct hit from the beam of light.

Before he had time to soak in the relief that he had avoided the death that was right before his eyes, the sound of Sejun’s sneakers hitting the floor was heard, and in that brief moment, Sejun was running towards his teammates.

“Ahyeon Jang!”

“Leader!”

A rumbling, unwanted sound was heard.

“Cough. Ah, kuhuu.”

It was the sound of someone bleeding from the corner of their mouth.

And the party who sheds that blood.

It was Sejun’s own leader, Jang Ah-hyeon.

“Ah?”

She places her hand on her abdomen and spits something out of her mouth.

It was a fleeting moment, a moment that an ordinary person would not be able to see properly and could vaguely sense that someone was moving. Jang Ah-hyeon quickly glanced at the corner of her mouth.

He is a leader. Therefore, you should not lower the morale of your team members.

Therefore, she tried to quickly get her bearings, but everyone could see that her abdomen was gradually becoming wet with a heavy red light.

In fact, the rays were most concentrated on Jang Ah-hyun.

Tania hit the barrier, but it wasn’t enough. It is unavoidable. Wasn’t Sejun also barely able to block the destruction ray as a result of adding his superpowers?

Even if you wore the bulletproof vest that Tania gave you, the barrage of concentrated rays would have had unfortunate results.

“Ah, Ahyeon!”

“Ahyeon Jang! Are you okay?”

She tried to smile. Actually, I didn’t think it was that fatal.

It wasn’t able to block everything, but as a result of being affected by the barrier, the trajectory of the beam was slightly distorted. Therefore, it couldn’t hit Jang A-hyeon directly.

It just exploded at close range, causing an explosion that scattered pieces of stone.

“Lee, leader!”

“Ugh! Senior Ahyeon!”

Choi Byeong-gi and Muriel held their breath. Stone fragments flew in all directions along with the explosion, creating numerous bullet marks, like bullets from a shotgun.

And at a glance, the condition of the leader who was hit was close to a fatal wound.

Since he was a person with a strong physical ability to manipulate mana, he would not die right away, but it was a serious wound that could put his life at risk if he did not receive treatment quickly.

“What are you doing! Everyone scatter!”

An explosion of golden light came from her. As Jang Ah-hyun lifted her right leg, her supernatural ability was revealed and an explosion occurred on the ground.

With that momentum, Jang Ah-hyun was flying away from the main street where they were standing and into the alley.

“Uh, uh… ”

Choi Byeong-gi stood there blankly at the sight, but suddenly came to his senses and frowned at the crushing pressure he felt on his arm. By the time he let out a groan, his body was flying somewhere.

This is because Sejun grabbed his arm with enough force to crush it and threw it far away.

And in that place, an explosion of light occurred once again.

“!!!”

Byeong-gi Choi, who had lost his mind after encountering an enemy close to a very strong wall in his first appearance, came to his senses again, and Se-jun twisted his body to avoid the beam of light.

Behind Sejun, who avoided the beam with an acrobatic movement, another explosion occurred, causing the wall of a three-story commercial building to explode.

Sejun held his breath at the sight of the building’s exterior wall being shattered and blown away, as if it were a self-destruction truck attack.

The ray seemed to contain enormous amounts of heat. I just passed by. The air in that path was already hot, sending a burning sensation to my skin.

‘How did I avoid it?’

At the same time, a question arose in Sejun’s mind, and that question was immediately resolved.

Trappist swordsmanship. It was a movement engraved into his instincts while learning the sword technique known as the Dean’s Secret Sword Art.

When I was learning that swordsmanship, I didn’t say anything, but I wanted to ask them if it was a swordsmanship they could master.

Dean, who is a dragon, more than once the words rose up in my throat, asking if this swordsmanship was tailored only to you or if it was something we could learn.

‘But you are still the dean.’

But now, that swordsmanship saved his life. If it were my usual self, I would have died from the attack just now.

All bodies were shattered by the huge explosion, and even the bodies could not be properly recovered.

Once again, he owed his life to Dean Northmund.

With that thought in mind, Sejun put his foot down and kicked the ground.

‘Damn it, there’s no place to hide…’ .”

Sejun hid in an alley and ran through the back alleys of the city. I could feel the booming sound and the air vibrating as if they were looking for him.

And mixed with it.

─Keeek!

─Kiiike!

The cries of citizens who had become hosts to the Corruptor were heard.

They weren’t dead, and they weren’t in a state where the infection could be removed and returned to their original state, but I couldn’t afford to pay attention to them right now.

It was a sad death that happened like a shrimp’s back exploded in a whale fight, or rather, a simple gesture from a whale, but we can’t focus on that.

Sejun did not stop walking even though he felt puzzled by the fact that, unlike his usual self, he had become cool-headed at the deaths of others.

Was it a change in his mindset? Or was it because my mindset changed while learning a practice called luminescence?

Although he felt death, Sejun trembled at the feeling of numbness, as if he had just stepped on an ant and killed it.

[Everyone!]

Sejun, running through the alley, heard Yue’s voice in his head. She continued speaking without even having time to reply.

[Phew, did you check your phone? It is said that gates have broken out in some parts of the world!]

‘It’s a big deal.’

As for the attack on the circular bridge, the timing was perfect. No, planning this timing itself was probably their doing.

According to what has been revealed so far, it is clear that the ring bridge and monsters have some kind of relationship, and it has already been proven that they control monsters.

It must have been the Ring Bridge that brought the damned bastard called Corruptor to Earth.

[That, and. This time, it is a large-scale invasion led by high-level monsters, not just low-level monsters… .]

“Pfft!?”

Sejun tried to move his feet, but his steps got twisted and he fell down. When the palm that created the magic touches the floor, the concrete floor of the alley bursts, leaving a mark in the shape of his palm.

Sejun frowned at the subtle sensation of a broken piece of stone hitting his face.

[Yue, then this incident is happening all over the world right now?]

[Yes, most of them are intermediate level or higher monsters!]

[That means the monster that appears before us is at least intermediate level. Judging by his power, he seems to be close to the upper class.]

[damn! Are the Ring Bridge guys really planning to wipe out the entire world?]

I can hear Jang Ah-hyun’s voice and Muriel’s furious voice.

[Yue! Is there any information about the monster we are facing now?]

Sejun shakes off his clothes covered in concrete dust and delivers a message to her.

[Now, I’m not sure! There is no such information. All I know is that gates have broken out in the places where our academy students were dispatched.]

Sejun forgot what he was saying for a moment after hearing those words. Doesn’t that mean that monsters are targeting people with special abilities?

Instead of sending waves of low-level monsters, they sent mid-level or higher level monsters.

They really are. They are seriously trying to annihilate us.

[Then we will have to retreat. If it were such a high-ranking monster, it would be impossible for us to deal with it now.]

[…] That’s surprising, Sejun. I thought you would say that we have to fight until the end.]

[just… Because this is not normal now. Plus… .]

If the monsters are targeting those with special abilities first, then getting defeated individually here would be the worst move and would serve the purpose of the circular bridge.

First of all, surviving and preserving life as much as possible becomes the driving force for planning the future.

[yes. I will retreat.]

Jang Ah-hyun’s voice agreed with Se-jun’s opinion, and Se-jun heaved a sigh of relief.

In fact, the reason Sejun brought up the word retreat was not the only thing he was talking about. Because I had to take Jang Ah-hyun to a treatment facility first.

[Then let us each retreat. The best option would be to run away in different directions─]

Sejun couldn’t finish the sentence in his head. The mana practice method taught by the Dean, the magic circulation of Luminescence, has several special features.

Due to the nature of the practice of dissolving mana into the blood, mana is always activated and the senses remain sensitive at all times.

And as his sensitive senses indicated, Sejun launched himself.

Kugwagwagwang!

A huge flash of light covered his surroundings. It was a beam of light that came from a long distance, but this time it was on a different level.

Unlike the existing flash that explodes when it hits a building, it erases everything in the path of the beam like a spear that pierces everything, creating an empty space.

“Ha.”

Sejun couldn’t help but laugh at that sight. This… It was on a different level.

Sejun, who had just left the alley and came out onto the other side of the main street, swallowed his laughter as he was dumbfounded to see that the entire road he had passed had disappeared.

And beyond those spaces where everything had been erased, that existence was visible.

The being clearly recognized Sejun, and it felt as if he was smiling.

‘what.’

What on earth is it? Immediately after hearing Yue’s words, Sejun thought that the guy was probably a monster.

Or, I thought he was like the conductor of the circuit bridge, dressed like a strange monk who used a mace, that I met before.

But what he saw was a strange sight.

It had a human form, but its appearance was very different.

When a child draws a human being, it is like scratching a pencil, drawing a black circle with crooked hands, and drawing the torso and limbs connected by lines.

It looked like a being with a shape that made you wonder if it was a living thing.

‘Conductor of the circular bridge? Or a monster?’

The form did not change, or perhaps Sejun was the only one who felt that way, but he felt that the being was clearly smiling.

It was the smile of a ruler, as if he was seeing something enjoyable, as if he were proud of a hamster running on a wheel in its cage.

And beyond that laugh, other rays of light followed and flew towards him.

Quagwagwagwang! Quagwang!

This time, the beam of light flew in all directions as if it had been fired at random, probably without a specific target.

The rays that do not specifically target him, but spread out randomly, hit and shatter buildings in all directions.

Not only the buildings but also countless citizens affected by the Corruptor are erased.

It looked somewhat familiar.

It felt similar to the heavy rain of light that fell during the Seoul Gate incident on the day Dean Northmund first came to this world.

However, what is different from that magic is that, firstly, it is a conflicting black light, and the other thing is that, unlike the Dean’s magic, which had inductive properties, it simply falls to the floor.

The black light hit the roof of a private house and destroyed it, and struck the center of a high-rise apartment building, making an explosion and causing the apartment to tilt.

A building whose floors were gradually increasing as it was built went back to the time when the first shovel was broken, accompanied by an explosion sound and a thick layer of cement dust.

Steel scraps from cars that had been torn apart by the explosion were flying, and there was a cloud of dust from the remains of buildings that were shattered and collapsing.

Sejun ducked and escaped through the mess.

The power of that ray is enormous. Although it didn’t seem like he was the target, Sejun took a step while avoiding the attacks that could have hit him.

And immediately.

A time so short that ordinary thinking cannot even understand that something is coming.

Sejun sensed something ominous and raised his sword to try to strike it down.

And that, along with binge drinking—

─It made Sejun’s body float.

Sejun’s resistance was in vain. No, it is natural that it cannot be prevented in the first place.

Even Tania’s barrier cannot completely block it. It was impossible to block it with just one’s own abilities, which were similarly strengthened but much weaker.

“Wow!”

However, fortunately, the trajectory of the ray was successfully twisted, and the jet-black ray passed by the side, causing an explosion next to it.

Sejun was swept away by the explosion and flew through the air.

Stone fragments similar to those experienced by Jang A-hyeon flew towards Sejun’s side like bullets from a shotgun.

However, the reason Sejun was luckier than Ahyeon was that his special ability was a strengthening ability.

The stone fragments hit Sejun’s body directly – although it was incredibly painful – they did not penetrate into his body.

But it was not a sight that could be considered heavenly luck.

All I do is just roll around on the broken floor like water-soaked laundry, with my whole body covered in white concrete dust.

[What is fate?]

A voice rang in his head. A voice that is different from Yue Nakajima’s supernatural abilities, as if I really heard it with my ears, rings in my head.

[It refers to things that flow according to the laws of this world.]

It is said that human senses inherently have limits, and when faced with great pain, they block pain that exceeds that limit.

That was the case with Sejun now. I couldn’t understand what someone was saying due to the pain that felt like my whole body was being broken.

[Because it is the same in your case. Even though I was supposed to function as a cog of a gigantic will, I became a being outside of that flow, so I came to visit it myself.]

“What… It’s a sound.”

When Sejun raised his eyes, a strange vision filled his eyes. The monster seen up close was even more bizarre. The body made of lines was vibrating as if it were made of some kind of energy.

[I tell you the story of my first days. This world was originally like a blank page with nothing in it, so a great will began to write a story on that blank page.]

“… .”

[The world seems to be circling and everything is spinning, but that is not the case. Because a great will wrote down a pure story, this world must flow according to that story.]

“No, what on earth are you talking about.”

I felt a strange sense of discomfort. After meeting him, there was a great pain in my head.

[For you were one of the world’s preparations to follow that will. However, this world has no choice but to gradually collapse because the cogs are being moved out of place by some intrusive particle.]

what? Could it be that this guy is also a member of that circular bridge? Sejun frowned.

This is truly absurd. After becoming a strong person, does one learn a unique way of speaking?

Of all the strong characters I’ve met so far, I’ve never seen them speak intelligibly. Yes, the same goes for the Northmund dean.

“What is that huge will? Are you saying you can become a god?”

[You can call me that. This world is a place created by Him, so if it does not follow the plot, it will no longer function as a world.]

“… Who are you?”

[Guardian Adramalek, who serves Alexstras, the guide who carries on the task of maintaining this world as a world. That is my name.]

Sejun gave up thinking about those still incomprehensible words.