Chapter 1040

KWA-BOOOOM!

A deafening explosion shook the earth.

The shock wave burst out without warning, rattling everything around it. It reached beyond a radius of several dozen jang¹, all the way up the steep hill.

Rumble.

“May I say something?”

The old man’s voice cut through the rumbling. Beneath a silver-white veil, red lips stirred.

“No. You may not.”

There was no trace of the woman who’d been rattled by the Blood-Sword Demon Lord’s fury just fifteen minutes ago.

At his superior’s calm, almost icy reply, the old mage flinched.

“…Grand Sorceress.”

His voice was full of concern.

But the woman called the Grand Sorceress, standing at the center of the white-robed figures, paid him no mind as she spoke.

“Put your worries aside. What you’re afraid of won’t happen.”

“B-but…”

“But what?”

Ordinarily, the old mage would have fallen silent by now.

Dark Heaven’s hierarchy was mercilessly strict, and the woman before him could crush him like an ant with a flick of her hand.

But he had seen it clearly.

At the last moment, countless flashes of light had swallowed one man.

A young man who’d thrown himself toward certain death, so far beyond recklessness that it was as if he’d already given up on living.

The old mage knew his role. Swallowing hard, he forced himself to continue.

“But if this goes on, he may be in danger. As you know, if ‘he’ dies here, how are we to bear that person’s wrath?”

He was right.

Jin Taekyung, the Blazing Flame Divine Dragon.

If a man who had drawn such keen interest from the absolute one met such a futile end, they too would die for failing their mission.

No—they would die. Without a doubt.

The old mage believed there would be no exception, not even for the woman before him: his superior, and one of the absolute one’s closest confidantes.

Of course, that was only what he thought.

Danger? Die?

The woman repeated his words, then gave a quiet laugh.

Beyond the finely woven veil, her black eyes remained fixed on the hill below.

Who, exactly?

“Pardon? Why, of course…”

The old mage was about to answer when—

FWOOSH.

The hazy cloud of dust at the foot of the hill split apart.

And, as if an invisible, razor-sharp blade had passed through it, the veil parted cleanly to reveal the scene hidden within.

“……!”

“……!”

The old mage—and everyone else on the hill—stared wide-eyed.

Amid ground devastated as if a meteor had struck it stood a towering figure.

“Th-that’s…”

One mage pointed before he knew what he was doing. The gesture was pointless. Everyone was already looking.

No one could miss that nine-foot frame, with arms and legs as thick as pillars. Or the familiar black armor enclosing it from head to toe.

“Black Ghost…!”

A trembling groan escaped the old mage.

His brief shock gave way to despair as his gaze fell on the bloodied man lying at the Black Ghost’s feet.

The man who must not die here.

Jin Taekyung.

It’s over. All of it.

The old mage’s vision blurred.

He’d taken a sliver of hope from the Grand Sorceress’s composure a moment ago. That only made the shock worse.

Half the hundred elite fighters they’d kept back as guards had vanished, but that meant nothing beside Jin Taekyung’s death.

All twenty mages thought the same.

At least, until the Grand Sorceress’s quiet voice rang out the very next moment.

“As expected…”

The mages’ eyes widened at the murmur, its meaning beyond them but its note of admiration unmistakable.

Then, all at once, they saw.

Rustle. THUD.

Far below, the Black Ghost crumpled like a rotten log.

Only now, with his enormous body falling away, could they see the silver spearhead lodged between his brows.

They could see it. But they could not hear—

Ding.

The clear chime meant for only one person.

It rang in the ears of the man everyone believed dead, but who still lived: the sound of his return to life.

System

• You defeated Lv. 175 So Gunak!
• Level Up!

Warm light welled up from deep within his cooling body.

It stopped the blood seeping through the gaps in his red armor, shattered by countless strikes of Sword Energy and Force. It mended torn flesh and broken bones, rekindling the flame of life once more.

Huff.

His breath was hot as fire.

As if waking from a long dream, Jin Taekyung slowly opened his eyes. He looked up at the dark sky before him once again and muttered,

“Fuck, it’s good to see you.”

The moment the old mage saw it, he understood.

Danger? Die?

He understood what the Grand Sorceress had meant.

Who, exactly?

The Grand Sorceress had been right.

Jin Taekyung wasn’t the one who now had to risk dying.

They were.

WHIP—GRAB.

The spear lodged deep between the Black Ghost’s brows flew into its owner’s grasp as if drawn by an invisible force.

No sooner had it reached his hand than it shot out in a flash.

SHWAAAAK—SPLAT!

Blue-black flames swept through the surviving enemies in a savage arc like a giant dragon’s tail.

“Grand Sorceress!”

“We have to stop him, whatever it takes! If this goes on, he’ll—he’ll…”

Urgent shouts rose all around her, beginning with the old mage.

But the Grand Sorceress watched the horrifying, wondrous sight in silence, an inscrutable light in her eyes.

At last.

The quiet exclamation hovered on her tongue.

Even when the mages could wait no longer for her command and stepped forward with clenched teeth, she alone stood there, smiling quietly.

From the moment I first opened my eyes in Murim, I’d faced the same reality again and again. Put simply:

High risk, high return.

It had always been that way.

An adventure with no set ending always came with enormous danger. But the greater the risk, the more certain the reward.

Just like now.

Ding. Ding. Ding. BEEP-BEEP.

Chimes and warning beeps rang out in rapid succession, tangling together in my ears.

A message confirming I’d defeated the Black Ghost, the last obstacle. A Level Up. A holographic window telling me I’d recovered as a result.

And that final warning beep…

System

• Fire Dragon Armor has suffered severe damage from powerful energy!
• Fire Dragon Armor has been automatically recalled to Inventory! It cannot be resummoned until the damaged sections are repaired to a certain degree!
• Time until Fire Dragon Armor is automatically repaired: 3 days

It told me the divine weapon that had made this gamble possible had taken the hit. Despite the crazy stunt I’d pulled, it had kept death at bay, if only for a little while.

I actually survived.

Maybe it was because I’d come so close to death, but it still didn’t feel real.

I’d made the gamble hoping I would survive, of course.

I just hadn’t been a hundred percent sure.

If that damned Black Ghost had taken even a little longer to die, the best I could’ve hoped for was taking him down with me.

But…

SHK!

I was alive. I’d survived.

And just as I had from the beginning, I was still here, cutting down enemies without stopping.

My body was brimming with life—the reward I’d won for risking my life.

PUK! BOOM!

I drove my spear through three enemies in a single powerful thrust, then swept out a palm strike at those rushing in from my blind spot.

KWA-AAAA!

Flesh and bone melted in the terrible heat.

Of the fifty or so enemies who’d survived my clash with the Black Ghost, fewer remained by the moment.

Faster. Faster.

I gritted my teeth and pushed harder.

I had to end this fight as quickly as I could.

My mental strength had already been pushed to its limit. I was running on empty.

If the Level Up hadn’t restored my body—if I hadn’t been thinking of everyone still behind me—I might have collapsed already.

They won’t fall until I bring them down.

I swung White Flame as if possessed.

I’d pushed the Middle Dantian’s ability to its limit, and my mind had slowed noticeably. My hands and feet, guided by instinct and movements ingrained through endless training, swept through the enemy faster than I could think.

I was relying on instinct more than reason.

Even so, there was one last thread of reason I clung to: the reason I couldn’t fall, and the greatest variable my enemies had.

Magic.

Maybe that was why my instincts, keener than ever as they raced ahead of my thoughts, picked up another change. I’d been wary of Magic all along.

WHOOOOOM.

Space trembled. The air trembled.

At the same time, desperate voices rang out in the distance.

“The power of the Wind Ghost!”

“The might to uproot mountains!”

FWOOSH!

Energy boiled up from the hilltop and hurtled toward me.

An invocation, followed by its manifestation.

But I knew this kind of body-strengthening Magic could only take effect if its target was still alive.

SHWAK!

White Flame’s spearhead, wreathed in blue-black fire, tore through the air.

The terrifying ring of fire swept through a dozen or so enemies within the spell’s range.

SHK! PUK!

Ten heads flew into the air.

At that very instant, pain shot through my side.

I’d been ready for it. Without slowing down, I turned and drove my elbow back.

CRACK! KWA-BOOM!

The enemy’s face caved in, and he went flying. I pulled the dagger lodged deep in my side free and whipped my arm out in a flash.

SWISH—PUK!

With a dull thud, another enemy’s head snapped back. Only about twenty remained.

“What is this…!”

“No! Stop him!”

Listening to the shouts of the white-robed figures—or rather, the mages—now tinged with fear, I could roughly guess what was happening.

There was a limit to the Magic they could use.

That was what set them apart from the mages I knew in the modern world.

And in the next moment, that realization lent force to my feet.

CRUNCH—BOOM!

The ground buckled, then melted.

Flamefire Path.

I shot forward in a single explosive burst. No one nearby could stop me now.

No matter how strong you made a hunting dog, it couldn’t stand against a wolf. Even a thousand-year-old imugi² couldn’t ascend to the heavens without a dragon pearl.

Not even something inhuman could stop me.

“Taishan.”

WHOOOOOM.

“Fall and crush him.”

A voice I remembered rang out, and immense pressure descended on me as I shot forward like a streak of flame.

But unlike last time, I was ready.

I can see it.

I could feel it, too.

The flow of qi. A single line hidden beneath that immense power.

And…

Now.

SHK!

My spearhead crossed the space without a sound.

It cut through Taishan.