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Chapter 456: Solitude (3)

Translator: Ares

Editor Group: Liber Reverie

Ruuuuuuumble!

"Huhk! You're crazy!"

People had dumbfounded expressions after seeing Hansoo plunge inside. If that were to happen, what should they do? Follow him inside? Even if they didn't want to, they couldn't enter, to begin with, since the white surface that swallowed Hansoo was now fully recovered and closed. Now, there was only a smooth white surface amidst the blue light.

Seeing the blue-colored white surface, Dell Marcus took a deep breath as he raised his weapon.

"Hey! What are you going to do?!"

"Kyahahahahahaha!"

Before Hosang was able to stop him, Dell Marcus let out a large scream and delivered a blow with all of his strength toward the huge structure in front of them.

Boooooooooooooooooom!

The powerful blow literally ripped through the air as it crashed down onto the surface like thunder.

Though the distance was about 2km away, the blow, which gave off such intense force implying that it would never be intercepted, struck the white surface directly in less than a second.

Soon, a large roar was heard.

BOOOOOOOOOOM!

"Woah…"

'… When did this bastard get so strong?'

There were dirt and branches flying all around.

Hosang, who was watching from the side, looked in awe at the huge sandstorm that was created from a simple shockwave.

He knew that Dell Marcus was strong, but for him to possess such power…

'Well, I did become quite strong as well.'

Grip.

He grasped on his fist and felt the overwhelming power stream through his body.

He felt that he had become much stronger in this span of less than a week than he did in the last 6 months prior.

It wasn't easy to follow Eres while fighting and hunting, but the difference was this vast.

It was a hell of a training.

He was forcefully carried around and fought like crazy in life-or-death scenarios. He had to utilize all of his skills, experience, and his proficiency in his weapons to survive in these intense crises. Not only that, he obtained a lot of crystals from killing the beasts to reward his efforts.

As long as he stayed alive, there was no way he wouldn't get stronger.

Hosang frowned after seeing Dell Marcus in the sandstorm.

'… There's not even a dent.'

The terrifying blow that was struck down by Dell Marcus did not even dent the white metal surface as the blue light that swirled above it perfectly blocked his attack. If Dell Marcus's attack with that much force was blocked, it was meaningless for them to attack in unison.

It was a shield that boasted absolute defense, causing the Transcendents to swallow back in envy. It was a scene that helped them realize that they had no choice to start. Now, there was nothing for them to do with the guy who had entered the ship.

All they could do was wait or decide on what their next course of action would be.

'Damn it…'

Seeing the blue light become stronger, the Transcendents turned their heads toward a specific direction.

They looked at the man who had created this present situation; the one who had given Hansoo a new skill and induced him to go inside.

"Who are you? What are you thinking?" Hosang asked Sangjin. It was then…

"Huhuk… Huk."

Crash!

Sangjin kneeled down and let out rough groans. It wasn't because his body was a total mess, but it was because his body was recovering at an astonishing rate.

5-Star.

It was a strength that was more than enough to destroy the planet Angkara in the lower zone. However, that current strength was the problem itself.

Beat! Beat!

His heartbeats became rougher. No, in fact, it was Neropa's soul that was divided into him by the Neropa Emperor that was becoming bigger. He had done all he could to suppress the strength of this soul. It normally didn't go on a rampage like this, but there was only one reason he could think of why it suddenly began to fluctuate.

"Groan…"

'As expected… That structure.'

Sangjin kneeled down and drooled as he looked at the huge white structure in which the blue light was becoming brighter.

——————-

"Is this… the Red Jade? The one that we had seen below?" Eres muttered subconsciously.

When they arrived at the space, Clementine had walked over to a certain area and raised his hand over something, causing the whole area to brighten.

Once the place lit up, she realized that they were at the control unit of this huge place.

The blue light began to spiral all across the place, and what changed foremost was below them.

The floor of the space, which used to boast a heavy dense material, suddenly became transparent.

Eres couldn't help but be surprised to see what was happening as they looked under their feet. Something familiar caught their eyes.

Eres gulped as she saw the sight of dozens of red beads that were shining under their feet. They were smaller than the ones that were shining on the planet Angkara but didn't look like they would lose out in power alone against them.

Dozens of red beads were currently spiraling below them.

Even while admitting that this structure was massive, it was still an unbelievable sight.

In the first place, those giant red beads had enough supply to charge a planet's core and was able to store dozens of them. It would have taken up as much space for one red jade like how one did for the planet Angkara.

However, this structure in calculation from the curvature on the outside was by no means as huge as that planet.

'I still haven't received my answer from Clementine.'

Since her question wasn't answered, her curiosity grew more.

Eres looked at Clementine as if she was urging him to answer.

She had the right to know.

However, it was another existence that passionately responded to Eres's stare.

Jijiiiiiiiiiiiiiiik!

A translucent hologram began to form in the air before them.

It soon identified their shapes and adapted into a common human form.

There was pride in the hologram's face, who smiled while pointing at the 18 Red Jades that were circulating in a dark space similar to outer space.

It was as if the person was boasting a carefully crafted work of art.

Seeing this hologram, Eres frowned.

Though he couldn't feel a killing intent, he was an unpleasant fellow.

Seeing this, the hologram paused momentarily before having an enlightened expression.

"…"

Eres narrowed her brows while looking at the guy, who was making wild guesses.

The hologram smiled and continued.

The hologram, who finished speaking, walked around and smiled.

———–

Ruuuuuuuumble!

Hansoo, who was fighting furiously inside, felt something suddenly and frowned.

The level of energy remained unchanged, but the flow of energy was different.

The energy that was constantly flowing under established rules so far had at some point began to flow with a different purpose.

There was only one reason why such a scenario was occurring.

'… It has awoken.'

In fact, he didn't know what exactly happened to Noah here on out since they had failed in awakening Noah in his previous life.

The only attempt to awaken Noah was blighted by Clementine.

Though he lost his head to him in the end, it had been quite a while since the control room was destroyed by him.

They might have been able to fix the control room if they had enough time, but they didn't have time to spare since the Beasts of the Abyss attacked them relentlessly. In the end, they gave up Noah and chose to dive deeper into the Abyss naked.

They fought endlessly and continued to do so like what he was doing right now.

Booooooooooooooooooooooom!

Hansoo struck down his Mjolnir onto the beast that tried to bite him.

Boooooooooooooooom!

Kyaaaaaaaaaaaak!

He was fighting endlessly, again and again.

The beasts that were trapped inside were full of rage as they all focused on expressing their pent-up anger to him.

He was cut and blown away.

In return, he also made sure to return the favor as he destroyed them, and amidst the process, he became stronger.

Craaaaack!

The seed that had settled within him was growing quickly.

Hansoo, who was able to feel the seed's growth, began to concentrate. If he were to make a mistake, he would really die.

Whatever they did, it didn't matter. Just like how he couldn't afford to care about them, it seemed that they didn't bother to think about him as well.

This was evidenced by the huge flow of energy, which immediately faltered temporarily before resuming its normal stream.

After being somewhat rattled momentarily, he quickly recovered and began to fight relentlessly.

Ruuuuumble.

'Wait… a bit longer.'

—————-

With Eres behind him, Clementine asked Noah, "Are all the features available?"

At those words, Noah, to be precise the hologram that named itself Noah, shook his head with excitement.

From Noah's words, everyone looked below.

Like Noah had said, there was only one active Red Jade out of the 18.

As Eres and Keldian both narrowed their brows, Clementine, who was standing in front, smiled and said, "Then, can you float?"

Clementine laughed from Noah's words.

"First… go up. I want to show these friends of mine something."

< As you request.>

Soon…

Kureeeeeeeeeeeeeeung

The huge white structure that was Noah began to tremble in its entirety.

Chapter 457: Solitude (4)

Translator: Ares

Editor Group: Liber Reverie

"Huuuuuuh?"

The people were shocked to see something large rising.

It was a white thing the size of a mansion covered in blue light.

There were still hundreds of kilometers north of their current location. It wasn't that short of a distance for these superhumans, but that didn't mean that it was a distance easy to traverse either.

What had initially caught their eyes was the blue light, but now their eyes were fixated on the overwhelming size of the structure with its beautiful white surface curves.

That was how grand the object was.

One of the Transcendents that had seen this subconsciously uttered out a word.

"Moon…?"

To be honest, it was much smaller than a moon and there was no way a moon would be buried under the ground, but there wasn't another word that could explain the scene that unfolded before his eyes.

It was a round white sphere with a sparkling cold blue that radiated sadness.

The long battle had prolonged the day into the night, and the blue light that was sprinkled by the object was as if it was protecting them.

It was overwhelming and unrealistic that those who were quarrelling among themselves were left in a speechless daze.

Caron Belphegor who had insisted on heading to the north loudly shouted.

"We need to immediately head north!"

"…?"

From Caron's cry, everyone had doubtful expressions as to what they just heard.

Seeing the crowd mumbling among themselves, Caron shouted once more.

"Everyone should know on their way up to the elevator that this is the last zone!"

Everyone nodded their heads. It was true that the last floor that the elevator ascended to was this place, the Seventh Zone. There were no more floors that they could up. Everyone thought that since this was the end, it would be the zone where they would restart their lives. Whether they dislike or like the place, they had to survive.

Belphegor seeing their expressions continued.

"But, are you going to just stay here and watch that suspicious object float? Whether we go investigate or destroy it, are we going to let those things float above our heads without any response?"

"Hmm…"

The people nodded since he was correct. Surely, there was no reason to fixate on the issue of the object floating unless this was the last place they would spend their lives in since they would just train themselves before ascending to the next zone. However, this time, the story was different. The elevator had signalled that this was the last zone, and if this issue wasn't resolved, they would be swept with discomfort as they live on.

No, it would be a relief if it was just discomfort, but what if that object was something dangerous.

What if it were to activate and instantly wipe out all the creatures in every direction? Then, they would have to pay the full price of negligence with their own lives.

At that moment, there was a cry of disapproval from another side.

"So? Are we going to leave this place and depart? If we leave, then what do we do with the others before?!"

It was truly difficult to ascend up to this place. If the other Transcendents had not been holding the formations in place, they would have been killed by the monster army they had seen earlier. They had defeated them and pushed them back, but it didn't mean that they had completely overwhelmed their opponents. They were just readjusting and replenishing their armies. They would have pushed on if they had judged that they could completely defeat them. However, the monsters had retreated despite knowing that there were still more people ascending from the elevator. There was meaning to that. It meant that if they all united and reorganized their divisions and numbers, they had confidence that they could win again. However, if they were to take their forces and head north, then it was obvious that the others that were currently ascending would be engaged in tougher battles than before. No, it could be said that they could be cut down and slaughtered.

AT the cry of such a man, Belphegor frowned for a moment before muttering internally.

'What do you know.'

Experience had told him so far that there was a supernatural power in each zone.

The first zone had the World Tree, and from zones 2-6, all of them had such cases as well. There was someone that had controlled all of mankind and had enough strength leftover, the one that was extremely famous who had that kind of power in his hands.

'Kang Hansoo.'

He was the true ruler of mankind, who possessed all of the Transcendental weapons in all six zones.

He hadn't personally ruled or controlled them, but no one could escape his influence.

People grew stronger as he had ordered, and was controlled by his orders henceforth.

Rules have risen, and people were not able to act of their own free will. Of course, there was no way to deny that it allowed them to reduce internal conflict and grow rapidly. However, Belphegor could not be satisfied with this much. He wanted to vent his strength to his heart's content, and become a presence that was in the top 0.01% of humans.

But, what was this situation?

At this rate, they would become mere spare parts to the system that was created by him. They would grow as he had ordered, and be forced to fight if he wanted.

He could never be content with such a rule. He wanted to enjoy the right of authority, make his own subordinates and men, and reign like a king. He wanted to take whatever he wanted, and keep all the women he willed.

Until now, it was impossible since Hansoo's strength was too enormous for them to dare resist no matter how much they struggled.

However, it was different now.

That strength had appeared before their eyes. There was no room for doubt. That object would be the ultimate power to control this area.

'That… if I could control that thing.'

Belphegor tightly gripped his fits.

The one that was able to laugh last was the final victor.

Even if Hansoo was the one that had devoured the previous six zones, he would become the final king by occupying this zone.

And… there was still an opportunity for himself

If Hansoo had already occupied that power, there was no way that sphere would have stopped working until now.

Hansoo would definitely have wiped out the alien species or used it to control them. Something should have already been done. The fact that no actions were taken place, it meant that he hadn't succeeded yet.

Belphegor shouted once more.

"I have no intentions of letting that thing stay above my head. I need to know what that is! I'm going to go investigate so you guys stay here!"

Belphegor shouted loudly as the surroundings began to shake.

"…haha."

The hologram created by Noah was able to show the full appearance of the large moon-like ship to everyone.

Keldian gulped as he watched the towering white body. He knew that it was enormous when he first saw the hull. However, he didn't expect such a large object to float in the sky.

At Noah's words, Keldian frowned.

He recollected Noah's words previously.

'There are conditions to fully awakening these functions.'

Curious of the conditions needed to awaken, he asked Noah.

"You've said that there are conditions, so what are they?"

Noah shrugged from his remark.

The hologram who made a pretty sly expression looked down towards the Red Jade and spoke.

""Yes."

Noah laughed from Keldian's nod.

"You mean…"

"It's simple. Increasing the number of registrants solves everything.>

Noah smiled as he saw Keldian narrowing his eyes looking at the large populations of people over at the elevator.

——————-

Ruuuuuuuuuumble!

Countless beasts from all sides swarmed onto Hansoo.

Dragon-like creatures swirled all around Hansoo while hundreds of millions of cockroach-like beasts gnawed mercilessly into his armor to dig out his skin and whatever existed beneath.

Booooooooooooom!

Melting everything around him with fire, he could hear a voice of frustration.

<… I've seen a lot of crazy guys, but I've never met someone as crazy as you.>

It was the voice of the demon, Barmamunt, that had reappeared after a long while. It couldn't be helped since if this guy was to make a single mistake, he would die all for nothing.

It hadn't even seen him in despair yet, so it would be quite problematic for him to die, so much so that he was somewhat regretting giving this man power.

The reason why he had taken away his memories in exchange for their strength was largely due to wanting him to create chaos and disaster. They had wanted to see him destroy what he was protecting.

However, this idiot was using that power to crawl towards his death as if he was jumping on a chance to finally die like a lunatic.

They were flabbergasted to see him crawl into higher areas of danger the more strength he garnered.

They didn't even like the seed he had received from below.

It was a skill focused on self-sacrifice. With that kind of skill, his soul would be shattered and scattered. If it was a skill that destroyed one's soul, it was certain that they would disappear regardless of their contract.

It would mean that an unimaginable strength would burst out. However, that was his position since there was nothing beneficial for them.

What would be the point of using a doll without a soul.

The demons were roaring, which caused Hansoo to smile.

"It's up to me to decide what to do with the power I was given. Shut up.>

If he were to choose one of the few pleasures from this damned world, it would be the distorted faces of those demons.

"If I die, try saving someone else."

From those words, Barmamunt including the rest all groaned and gnashed their teeth.

If it was so simple, they wouldn't even be speaking.

Transcendent?

The rest were all fake. They were like weeds born through the cracks of the Abyss and the Underword.

It was too special to let waste of a soul where only one true Transcendence was born in each world.

Where do they get the opportunity to make the sacrifice of another admirable soul contract elsewhere?

However, that guy knew this and yet… he was like this.'

Deep underground, Barmamunt muttered.

Chapter 458: Solitude (5)

Translator: Ares

Editor Group: Liber Reverie

Roooooooooooooar!

"Hmm…."

Belphegor gulped as he saw the huge ball floating in the air.

Seeing this from up close, he could feel a different level of pressure than before. It wasn't just a matter of size. Of course, there was a sense of pressure seeing how it covered the entire sky, but he wouldn't have come here, to begin with, if he was afraid.

They were the ones that could break the mountain if needed.

Even if a star of this size were to float in the air, they were confident of splitting it down in the middle given time if this was a normal, moon-like star like before. However, that blue light that was surrounding the white sphere was like a calm, overwhelming burden weighed on their shoulders. Seeing the energy flowing through the surface of the white sphere like a river was like a premonition that this could never be stopped by the power of humans.

John Stone, who was next to him, spat out.

"Why? Are you afraid to enter after coming here?"

"… I'm not sure what you're talking about. By the way, you were saying this and that to come here and remain here."

John Stone frowned from Belphegor's remark.

'You bastard. That's because the situation keeps changing.'

How could he come up with consistent opinions and orders when the situation kept changing. At first, they had thought about going up since they wanted to help out Hansoo.

However, currently, they weren't in a position to back him up.

Rather than worrying about the loss of contact with Hansoo, they needed to be more aware of preserving their power in the near future and confront the armies that would come toward them.

They had sent the vanguard out, but they could not find any traces of them whether they had flown into the sky or were buried in the ground.

'This is truly crazy. Where the hell did all those guys go?'

John Stone was not happy with the faction splitting that was happening in the midst of all this. It was already an extent to send a scouting party ahead, but for a bunch of guys to swarm to this location?

Looking around, he immediately knew there were tens of thousands of people full of ambition here. They were the determined ones that took the initiative to find out the secrets of this newly emerging object. It was truly a farfetched hope that these guys would use their power morally for the right cause if they were to attain it.

No, there was a higher probability that they would do it for the opposite. These were the ones that had taken the risk of this white object to get their hands on the potential new power, and they didn't look like those that would risk themselves for others. He had to do what he could to stop these blockheads to stop them, which was why he had followed them.

"Damn… It would be nice if these guys were freaked out and ran away for their lives after seeing something incredibly dangerous inside," John Stone muttered, looking at the white sphere floating in the sky.

That possibility wasn't out of the question.

Through his conversation with Kiriel, he had heard the story broadly of the path that Hansoo took.

The dangers that he faced were unbelievable.

Upon hearing the obstacles he traversed and what he did, John Stone had no choice but to admit completely that the guy was truly a madman even if he was crazy himself.

Before he had lost his memory and after, he was crazy regardless. No, it could be said that he was more humane after losing his memories.

If he was in his right mind or even had a speck of wanting to live, he would not have crawled into such dangerous places and did what he did.

"I hope these guys run away fully depleted of spirit," John Stone took a long deep breath and muttered, seeing Belphegor and the other warriors ready to jump in.

The faraway entrance was well over a few dozen kilometers high in distance.

Even if it were them, they had to leap for quite a while to be able to enter.

The moment the others were preparing their whole bodies to jump off the ground…

Booooooooooooooooooooooom!

"Huh!"

"What the hell?!"

The sudden blue light frightened the warriors. The blue light was currently shining above them from the ground that they were standing at like the spotlight given to the actors in a movie theater.

They looked on at the eerie light that looked to capture them. When a few of them began to falter back…

Papapapapapa!

The light in the air quickly began to dance and change its form as the blue light intertwined with each other, creating hundreds and thousands of plates out of that blue light.

All of them were about 1meter in thickness as they began to line up from the sky toward the ground like stairs as if it were guiding them toward the entrance.

Both Belphegor and John Stone gulped after seeing this. Of course, it didn't mean that they couldn't enter without this. The important part was something else. There was someone else inside that was looking at them. That inviting, bright, extended staircase was proof. It was made playfully, but the power of light that was condensed was beyond imagination. If the person inside didn't want them inside and had attacked them instead, it wouldn't be strange at all, but the fact that the stairs were made was clear that it was an invitation.

While the people hesitated from the sudden response, Belphegor ventured toward the staircase.

'Damn… I already started this.'

He didn't know what was inside, but if he thought there was someone dangerous in there who had the will to kill them, there was no reason to invite them. In other words, it wouldn't have been strange to attack them. Therefore, there wasn't a real reason for them to refuse this invitation. He still hadn't got what he wanted.

Thump. Thump. Thump!

Although there were many steps, each of them had a wide gap of several meters as Belphegor jumped on the stairs as if he was walking. The other Transcendents, who saw this, gulped before soon soaring after Belphegor with similar thoughts.

'… Damn. It's not like I can't go in.'

John Stone, frowning, sighed before following the footsteps of the men inside the giant white object.

————————–

"You want to let them all in?"

Eres nodded from Keldian's word.

"I told you. The ark is wide, and if we want to use all of its features, we need to increase the number of registrants."

Noah laughed from the remark.

Eres exhaled, seeing Noah.

Eres always thought that there were causes and reasons for every result. From her point of view, there were reasons why this large white object was made, why it needed this much power, and why engineers had built Noah. There must be a reason for everything, and her intuition told her that the reason for all she had mentioned above was not particularly in their favor. In the first place, for those reasons to exist, there needed to be a common cause, which meant that there was an opponent for why Noah needed such great power.

"In order to prepare for that scenario, we need to build up our strength," Eres muttered.

If Noah was designed to have 18 Red Jades, it meant that there was definitely a time where Noah had to use all of them.

In case that was to happen, they had to increase the number of users which was in line with her ideology which respected the potential of humans and save as many as possible.