Chapter 147
Chapter 147
Episode 147. Jeong Si-woo (1)
“Ugh… Ah, arrrgh…….”
When the giant monster died, the Great Overlord was also injured. After falling from high above, he groaned as he rolled on the ground. And numerous monsters rushed forward to protect him.
But it was different from before. The monsters that had been so threatening were slow.
Skills, characteristics, stats.
Everything that was part of me was gone, but I was stronger than ever.
Clang!
I slipped in amid the sound of metal clanging. The moment I slid in, I swung both of my arms into the monsters. And one of the lines drawn on my hand shined brightly.
A powerful image came to my mind.
Fire. Scorching flames that engulfed and burned everything.
At that moment, a light flashed. And the monsters, cut to pieces, were flung to the sky.
“Oh…….”
Someone let out an exclamation. The monsters’ shells were so hard that even hunters that trained magic all their lives couldn’t penetrate them. But the simple fire I created burned the shells and ripped them apart.
It was because the fire came from a Transcendent’s power. A force unrestricted by rules and created purely from the image I came up with.
“Ugh… You, you… bastard!”
The Great Overlord’s voice turned bizarre, and the sky I turned white slowly became red again. It meant that one of his abilities was activated. His ridiculous ability to create Rifts at will and summon his legion of monsters from them.
The red sky began to split open here and there. And the hunters’ faces hardened again. The onslaught of Rifts. No one in the world could rejoice at the sight.
“Han Yeon-soo.”
“……”
“How long are you going to stay like that? Get up. You need to get up if we’re going to deal with those.”
But I didn’t even blink. He wasn’t the only one with a legion. The -Great Overlord- had a loyal army, but we also had one that obeyed the -Queen-.
Han Yeon-soo’s eyes started to shine. She was no longer in despair. And her shadow slowly began to creep over the entire -Land of Death-.
“…Yes. You’re right. Who would stop those scary monsters if I don’t get up?”
The scale of her ‘Queen’s Army’ was unlike its usual amount. Her shadow covered the entire area, and even part of the sky that the Great Overlord turned red was dyed black.
“That guy. We kill that guy, and all of the Disasters will disappear, right?”
“Yes.”
“Don’t you dare be wrong. I’m going to pour in everything I built up. And when I’m done… I’ll be an ordinary person. A nobody.”
Instead of replying, I nodded slightly. She looked satisfied with my response. And then, her shadow oozed, letting loose the legion that had been staying inside.
“What is that?”
Someone muttered in an incredulous voice.
The legion was too massive and terrifying for a single human to possess.
Before I came back in time, when I was an Analyst, Han Yeon-soo never summoned even half of her legion. It was because she didn’t know what would happen to them if she died. And also because she was scared that people would think of her as a ‘freak woman’.
Her legion was made of the invaders and enemies of humanity that she collected over her dozens of years as a 1st class hunter. Every single monster was strong, not to mention how many there were. Her legion was no less than that of the Great Overlord.
In fact, her legion was probably even more overwhelming.
“You need to protect me well. If… if I die, I don’t know how they will act.”
Han Yeon-soo smiled bitterly. Right. This was how she died in the past. When she was in danger of dying, she put her legion back into her shadow and died alone.
Her ability was very powerful and dependable, but it was also frightening. A double-edged sword. I patted her shoulder.
“Trust me.”
It was the only thing I could say to her. And with that, I ran forward. The hunters, who feared Han Yeon-soo’s legion at first, yelled and readily followed my lead once they realized they were allies.
‘I must end this quickly.’
No matter how impressive Han Yeon-soo’s legion was, its number was limited. But the Great Overlord’s legion could be supplied without end.
He could create an infinite amount of Rifts, and their power would amplify with time. If he sneakily disappeared and secretly created Rifts to expand his army……. There would be no way to completely stop them.
“Ahead, a big one!”
Someone muttered. Instead of replying, I made a move.
I kicked the ground hard. With the sound of the ground cracking, my body shot forward like a cannonball. I stretched my fist, containing the momentum forward. With the sound of air exploding, the monster’s head burst apart like a watermelon.
After becoming a Transcendent, my body had become a weapon stronger than any characteristic or skill.
Crack, craaaack!
I kicked the ground, killed a monster, then kicked the dead monster and approached another one. And I kept repeating this.
I continued to accelerate, and in the end, I was moving so fast that no one could see me. A speed so extreme that it made me think the monsters were standing still.
The sound of wind brushing past me and the monsters being crushed. Even those disappeared far away. I was faster than sound. And it felt like I had surpassed the human limit. Whenever I opened my eyes and kicked the ground, the waves of monsters were swept away to the sky.
With a single gesture, the landscape changed, and the battlefield turned upside down. My heart pounded. Transcendence. The power I gained as a Transcendent was shining brightly in this world.
My method of fighting was completely different from before. And then I met the Great Overlord’s eyes. He had fallen down far away, but now he was quite close.
Everyone was standing still, but just the Great Overlord moved in the frozen world. His lips slowly moved.
“Go… away…….”
That moment, it felt like my mind was burning black. I saw an illusion of my head falling off my body and rolling on the ground. Then, my body halted. I dodged the trajectory that came to my mind by moving bizarrely. And the frozen world started to move again.
“Go away!!!”
Thud, thud.
The monsters I wiped out dropped from the sky, and their blood splattered around.
The Great Overlord’s shout rang out loudly. The hunters in the back who couldn’t catch up with my speed were looking at the slaughtered monsters, confused at what had happened.
And.
‘I almost died again.’
There was a long, straight line where I had just been standing. It was different from a Rift. It didn’t connect to a different world; it was a Dimensional Distortion Phenomenon that cut through space itself.
It looked like he had partly applied his ability to create Rifts. I turned my head slightly and looked at the Great Overlord. He seemed confused like he didn’t understand why his attack had failed.
“What… Why are all the monsters dead?”
It was the same for the other hunters. My time was moving a lot faster than others. I was the only one who wholly understood the situation.
Thump, thump!
Han Yeon-soo’s army that crawled out of her shadow began to surround the Great Overlord.
Of course, we weren’t exactly winning by a landslide yet. Monsters were still pouring out of the Rifts, and numerous monsters still guarded the Great Overlord.
But we definitely had the upper hand. I slowly approached him.
“Bring out your last weapon. I’m going to crush it and dismantle you from head to toe.”
“…Hhh, eek!”
“I said bring it out. Right now.”
The Great Overlord backed away, groaning. He had one weapon left. A power that took away Seung-hyun Hyeong’s life and brought down the Five Heroes completely. I was going to crush that weapon in front of his eyes and thoroughly wipe out all monsters from this world.
Only then will those darn Transcendents high above stop playing games. I needed to carve my presence in their minds so that they wouldn’t take away and destroy innocent lives for entertainment.
“Ugh… Aaaaah!”
The Great Overlord let out an ear-splitting scream, and his entire body turned red. It was his last weapon.
Creaaak.
Five hideous monsters appeared next to the Great Overlord. The guardians. The guardians that we had so painstakingly killed had been resurrected.
This pattern only occurred when the Great Overlord was in serious danger. In the past, we lost helplessly to the guardians that had reappeared stronger than before. But this time, it was different.
Snap.
I snapped my finger. And a different line drawn on my palm began to glow. It was a power I created when I asked the Traveler for some time before coming here. An image I constantly envisioned and prepared for this moment alone.
-It suits you well.
When Seol Ah-rin taught me how to use Great Legacy a long time ago, I looked deep down inside myself. And I eventually found the core that made up who I was.
When my characteristics and skills vanished, the Great Legacy disappeared, as well. But I didn’t forget that image. I envisioned it over and over again, and I was finally able to restore it as a power.
“Karma always catches up, Great Overlord.”
The glow on my palm soon turned into human figures.
One, two, three, four, five.
A total of five figures appeared as a group of hazy, dazzling light.
The power I created with the sole purpose of defeating the Great Overlord. Those I trusted the most in my past life, who I also cared for the most right now.
What would happen if they returned here with their old-time strength intact? How would the Great Overlord react if the heroes that protected humanity and this world for dozens of years under far more desperate situations suddenly appeared?
“Killing you by luckily going back in time and transcending would be too easy, don’t you think? So, I personally brought some people to kill you.”
Yoo Ji-yeon.
Han Yeon-soo.
Zhang Wei.
Kim Seung-hyun.
And me.
Jeong Si-woo.
The Five Heroes, much older than now but also much more experienced and sturdy.
They calmly stared down at the Great Overlord.
“History has changed for sure. Unfortunately, I received something quite useful instead of an E-level or F-level skill. So it made things a lot easier.”
The Great Overlord looked confused as he heard what I was saying.
I didn’t bother to reply. I smiled faintly and flicked my finger.
It was the signal to kill the Great Overlord.
And with that, the Five Heroes of the past rushed forward, cloaked in a faint glimmer of light.