863
[Battlefield of Myths (6)]
A clash between gods.
People watching the broadcast were left dumbfounded from the middle.
The battle between Noh Eun-ha and Armageddon was truly a fight beyond their comprehension.
""""..."
Flames and darkness collide.
Players in the world of flames are armed with fire attributes added, and resurrect even if they die.
"Hey, what's going on..."
"Stop talking and just watch."
The screen flashes repeatedly.
The frame stutters.
Nevertheless, people could hardly take their eyes off the screen.
Even though only fiercely swirling flames were visible on the screen now.
They tried to find Noh Eun-ha appearing even a little there.
By then they could sense intuitively.
That the battle would end soon.
"...What's this, what's happening? The screen's gone black and nothing's showing!"
"Just stay still for a bit. It'll come back soon."
People held their breath.
They all prayed for Noh Eun-ha's victory with one heart.
And finally.
The reddened screen gradually faded, and N Seoul Tower was appearing.
Whoosh!
The flames were subsiding.
All the monsters in that world were disappearing becoming embers.
The battle had ended.
Players fighting monsters lowered their hands holding devices.
"Noh Eun-ha! Where's Noh Eun-ha!?"
"Ah, geez!!"
People approached the screen.
Then other people cursed and did the same thing.
They searched the screen thoroughly, forgetting even to breathe, as if burying their faces in the monitor.
They could intuitively sense how the battle had turned out.
But they wanted to confirm if what they imagined was really true.
So just one person.
They searched for that person.
""""..."
Players' faces appear.
Players who achieved great merit in this battle and raised their value to citizens.
Among them were Twelve Seats.
There were also Pandora Clan members.
But the person they were looking for wasn't visible anywhere.
Thud thud thud thud
The screen was moving from the observatory elevator to the edge of the observatory.
The propeller sound was annoying.
People forgot even that and finally found a figure visible at the edge of the screen.
"Oh!?"
A man's foot was visible.
Soon the screen moved sideways.
The man's silhouette was revealed.
A man gripping two swords with both arms pulled to the opposite shoulder.
The screen slowly zoomed in.
""""...!!""""
At that moment, the man collapsed.
People watching the screen all exclaimed in surprise.
They were deeply worried if he had died.
To this, they leaned their heads in even more trying to check the life or death of the man lying face up towards the sky.
─Stretch
And shortly after.
When the screen got closer to the man, suddenly the man raised his right hand.
The hand not gripping a sword clenched into a fist, raised straight towards the sky.
At that moment, people could no longer hold back the cheers about to burst out.
""""Waaaaaaah─!!!!!!!""""
""""Noh Eun-ha won!!!!!!!""""
Cheers that started from who knows where.
As cheers echoed in every home, eventually the whole country was in an uproar.
By then, loud cheers were also echoing in the broadcast.
The commentators were also shouting at the top of their lungs forgetting their roles because they were so happy.
[Pandora Clan Lord!
When that sound belatedly burst out.
People cheered again.
People who had their faces close to the screen now jumped up and down in their seats showing gestures of joy.
An old man who couldn't even straighten his back properly straightened his body without feeling pain and hopped around.
"Pa-Panties!! Where are my panties!? Everyone take off your panties and shout! No, take off your shouts and panty!"
"Grandpa, that's right!"
"Waaaaaaah!! I've decided! I've decided now! I'm quitting my job! Who cares about work at a time like this!!"
For two weeks.
People were each preparing to accept death.
In that process, they had the opportunity to look back on the lives they had walked.
People who thought they had fallen to money-making machines working about half the day decided to retire that day.
Noh Eun-ha opened a new world by defeating Armageddon.
So they impulsively decided to retire to live a new life.
"Waaaaaaah!! Screw school! What's the point of studying! I'd rather become a player!"
"I'm not going to academy today! Everyone just know that!!"
People's shouts didn't stop even after 5 minutes.
That day, while the number of people retiring nationwide explosively increased, a similar phenomenon occurred in succession.
On the other hand─
"─Make
"Make the Crimson God this country's lord! Make the Crimson God a Twelve Seat!!"
"There's no dealer more suited for that position than Pandora Clan Lord in this country anymore!!"
People absolutely didn't want Noh Eun-ha, temporarily appointed as a Twelve Seat, to step down from that position.
The people's will was heaven's will.
☆
In a world where myth was ending.
Eun-ha thrust swords into himself.
The two swords eliminated Armageddon's mana dwelling in Eun-ha.
Whew, I thought I was going to die.
For a moment he almost had his body stolen by Armageddon and was about to disappear.
He also almost died by his own swords.
Fortunately, Eun-ha who wasn't injured at all collapsed on the ground.
"..."
He felt refreshed.
The sky was deep blue.
He was just satisfied that he had protected this world.
It was then.
"He~y! Eun-ha Eun-ha, are you alive?"
"Are you alive?"
Ariel and Hoshimiya Kaede.
The two occupied the sky Eun-ha was looking at.
Ariel squatted down and poked his head.
Kaede was smiling faintly.
Eun-ha smiled faintly back.
"How does it feel to die once?"
"Since I died in an urgent situation, I'm not sure if I even died. But it wasn't a very good feeling."
"Eun-ha Eun-ha! I hurt so much I really want to eat dew, waaah. Can Ariel drink alcohol today?"
"Didn't I tell you not to use third person?"
Ariel makes crying sounds.
Eun-ha wasn't fooled by her.
Sure enough.
Ariel clicked her tongue.
By then other clan members also approached asking about Eun-ha's well-being.
"Are you okay?"
"How do you feel?"
"Hmm... I feel somewhat refreshed."
This time Ryu Yeon-hwa spoke.
She almost accurately grasped what Eun-ha was feeling.
Eun-ha silently nodded.
Then she held out her hand.
"Here."
"Thanks."
Ryu Yeon-hwa pulls him up.
Eun-ha raised his upper body.
He sat cross-legged on the ground and chatted with clan members.
He didn't feel pain.
Is it thanks to Belphegor's inner pill?
Though strength drained from my body when I activated the gift, it doesn't hurt.
His heart was quiet.
It was beating no different from usual.
The backlash from gift
Just strength drained from his body.
There wasn't much backlash from myth either.
Is a Mine's body really tough?
Unlike last time, I don't feel like my soul is being pulled out even after manifesting myth.
The price for manifesting myth couldn't be ignored.
You lose existence power and soul as the price for maximizing your existence in the world.
The body breaks down like that.
But Eun-ha's heart seemed to be preventing his soul from leaking due to myth.
Yet his body felt comfortable.
"Oh my, look at your body. It's because Riya unni and I cast magic to suppress pain."
"...Ah, so that's why?"
"A lot of adrenaline is being secreted so you feel less pain. Strong pain will come soon."
"..."
Though he avoided soul loss.
It seemed pain would come a little later.
Eun-ha decided to entrust his body to Noh Eun-ah and Ilya's treatment.
Meanwhile, Ryu Yeon-hwa pointed at the swords on the ground.
"Eun-ha, perhaps..."
"Yeah, that's right."
Eun-ha gave a bitter smile.
Both Zangetsu Kōsei and Hundred Flowers Scattered.
The sword blades were pure white.
There were no patterns at all.
"I don't know if they couldn't withstand myth or if it's because of the final attack, but it seems the built-in magic disappeared."
""""..."
As if they had fulfilled their role.
The two swords eliminated Armageddon inside Eun-ha's body and lost their inherent power.
Eun-ha knew by feeling.
Even if he entrusted them to Byeok Hae-su for repair, he wouldn't be able to fix the magic of the two swords.
In the end, his swords had no particular value other than being made as Eulji-grade treasures.
"Well, whatever. Swords can be made anew. Right? They'll go into a museum because of this incident."
Jo A-ra spoke changing the mood.
Her words were right.
Though Mammon and Lilith remained, he would receive rewards according to merit after defeating the remaining Seven Devils.
Moreover─
─Probably with high probability...
I'll be able to obtain a Taegeuk-grade treasure this time.
Obtaining a Taegeuk-grade treasure.
Eun-ha smiled just thinking about it.
"By the way, are you okay A-ra? How does it feel to die once?"
"How does it feel, you try experiencing it yourself. I thought my hair was going to fall out."
"That's why I said don't like free things."
"Excuse me? My hair is healthy you know?"
Eun-ha got up from his seat.
Jo A-ra and Jin Seo-na supported him.
He could see other players approaching him from far away.
Meanwhile, Jin Pa-rang came running stark naked.
This time unlike before, he tactfully sent telepathy.
[Hey! I found the soul stone!]
Jin Pa-rang shows what he's holding in his hand.
Eun-ha burst out laughing.
There was no need to be tactful in the first place.
"Who would ask for that."
Undisputedly.
The only owner of Armageddon's soul stone could be Eun-ha.
With this,
☆
Somewhere in Gyeonggi-do, an underground laboratory.
The lab was lined with glass tubes filled with green liquid.
There were people with closed eyes inside the glass tubes.
They were all dead people.
"...!!"
At that moment.
One man's corpse twitched.
The man opened his eyes wide.
The man who checked his condition immediately swung his arm breaking the glass tube.
The glass shattered miserably at one strike imbued with mana.
"Hup, hup, kuk...!!"
Green liquid gushes out.
The man took off the mask in his mouth and gasped for breath.
Then he removed devices stuck all over his body.
The man came out of the glass tube.
"It was, beyond expectation. I almost really disappeared. Leaving a soul in this child's body just in case was a brilliant move."
The man, Armageddon, spat out words.
He who wiped moisture dripping from his hair tips with his hand recalled the final battle with Noh Eun-ha shared through his soul.
The more he thought about it, the more amazing it was.
A myth of immortality, resurrection.
It was a myth that seemed to completely deny the path Armageddon had walked so far.
How is that possible?
Did he actually experience death?
No, that can't be possible.
Even I could only reach the brink of death at best.
There can't be a method I don't know.
Armageddon shook his head inwardly.
Noh Eun-ha's myth was incomprehensible.
On the other hand, Armageddon realized one thing by momentarily possessing Noh Eun-ha's body.
That too was an amazing fact.
He still couldn't believe it.
"That child's myth isn't complete yet."
Noh Eun-ha probably didn't know.
But he who had researched myth in detail could tell Noh Eun-ha's myth was still imperfect.
"That child... hasn't completely approached the essence yet. Yet to show such a myth... What kind of life must he have lived to embody a myth surpassing resurrection."
That guy was a monster.
Just thinking about it made his teeth chatter.
But because of that─
─I covet it even more.
Armageddon chuckled.
He was deeply curious how omnipotent a being he would become if he stole his body.
"Though I failed this time, I won't be defeated like that next time."
Rather it's good.
Noh Eun-ha would surely have received people's unwavering faith because of this incident.
That faith would make him stronger.
So it wasn't a bad situation for Armageddon trying to steal his body.
"So I should prepare for next time. It seems this child's body also has power similar to yours, I'll face you using this child's power next time."
Armageddon soon looked at the face reflected in the glass window.
A handsome face.
He was very pleased with a face that seemed to easily gain people's favor.
It was pleasing to look at too.
"I'll need time to adapt to On Tae-yang's body for a while, but well, waiting isn't bad either. I've waited for over decades. What's a few years?"
Armageddon looked forward to next time.
He looked around.
One more test tube was broken.
"Did Mastema already leave? I should contact him soon."
Armageddon muttered calmly.
Then he too decided to quickly put on some clothes and go outside.
It was then.
Click click
Beyond that hallway.
The sound of high heels was heard.
Armageddon flinched.
"..."
Few people knew about this place, and they wouldn't be here at this time.
Moreover, the only women who knew were Lilith and Beelzebub.
Then who are the women approaching now?
No, who are the 'women'?
Armageddon tensed.
Eventually they revealed themselves.
"My thought was right. I don't know how many years I struggled to find out up to here."
A woman wearing yellow sunglasses.
A woman dressed in fashion that looked like it came out of a pictorial smiled seeing Armageddon.
On the contrary, the woman beside her wearing a suit stood expressionless.
"Who... are you?"
Armageddon was wary of them.
At the same time, he was scheming to kill them using force if necessary.
Though he didn't know what was going on, it was good to eliminate witnesses.
Even if he hadn't possessed On Tae-yang's body for long, he could find an opening somehow.
So he spoke to them while quietly trying to cast magic.
Right then─
─Snap
The woman wearing sunglasses suddenly snapped her fingers.
Armageddon's magic was cancelled.
"This level of magic, well... I might look like someone who just travels around ignorant of the world, but I was selected as a Twelve Seat candidate, I can't not do this much."
The woman grumbled.
She leaned on the stair railing.
"It's difficult to see a Mine's star. But it's relatively easy to see the stars of people involved with Mines
"It's difficult to see a Mine's star. But it's relatively easy to see the stars of people involved with Mines. So I traveled around the country. Looking for clues to catch you."
"..."
"And I reached here by reading and chasing people's stars like this. I wonder if this answers your curiosity."
Though Armageddon hadn't asked.
The woman kindly explained.
Meanwhile, Armageddon cast another magic.
Snap
Of course, that too was cancelled.
"Stop being so persistently annoying. Just give up already."
"Who on earth are you?"
"Just a fortune teller passing by chance. Just know that much."
Armageddon gritted his teeth.
He rolled his eyes trying to find a device that might be somewhere.
But it was too late.
The woman's words were faster.
"Hermit."
"Yes."
"It's that person."
"What should I do?"
"Kill him. Can you do it?"
"Really... do I have to kill him?"
"If you don't kill him now, countless people will die. He's originally a dead person. He's just a corpse with a soul overlaid on it."
"...I understand."
The woman who had been quietly standing by.
The woman with long tied-up hair leapt down the stairs.
She took a boxing stance wearing black gloves.
Armageddon activated magic.
"...What!?"
The woman throws one punch.
The magic is miserably crushed.
Armageddon couldn't believe what happened before his eyes.
Eventually─
────!!
The woman's fist touched him.
One lightly thrown punch shook his entire body.
The woman immediately straddled his fallen body.
"W-Wait, hold on...!!"
Wait a moment.
I don't know your purpose but surely we can resolve this with words.
So...
Armageddon's words didn't get through.
The woman emitted a murderous aura.
"So it's because of you that I've had to hide like this all this time."
"...!!"
"I can't forgive you."
One strike, one strike.
Destroyed Armageddon's body.
The woman swung her blood-covered fists until Armageddon died.
"With this, the future trouble is eliminated."
The woman wearing sunglasses.