Chapter 135. Infection (4)

---

Kwadudududk!

“Kuuhh…”

Gwanje, who had been laid out on the ground after having been turned into a mess, tiredly shook his head as he heard something breaking part.

The sound of the person guarding him getting smashed away.

Gwanje spoke with a dumbfounded expression after finding out the identity of the originator of the sound after raising his head.

“It ended huh.”

The silver Akadus covered the skies as they were suppressing and capturing the people who participated in the event.

Gwanje, who had been looking at the scene in front of him which reminded him of the blade of judgement that reprimanded the sinners, stared at Hansoo who had appeared in front of him to rescue him.

‘This quickly…’

It hadn’t been long since those guys had started moving around in order to cause the damage.

“What happened to the hostages they had? Did they all die?”

Though it hadn’t been that long, it was more than enough to capture hostages.

Hansoo replied in a simple manner.

“The really important ones aren’t useful as hostages anyway.”

One couldn’t use somebody who they knew were important as hostages.

Since they knew what would be coming their way when something happened to those hostages.

The wrong move of this event’s mastermind was the reality that they couldn’t change that fact.

Gwanje quietly mumbled in reply.

“That’s only possible because it’s you.”

What Hansoo had done was only possible when one could smash apart their enemies whole.

“Since I rescued you, I’ll leave the clean up job to you. I’m not really good at these things.”

Destroying the one who caused the chaos and cleaning up the chaos were two completely different things.

Gwanje hugged his wife, who had been kept here along with him, lifted her while clenching his teeth and then made a strange expression after seeing that nobody was behind Hansoo as he asked him.

“Did you come and rescue me first? What about that cute lady who came up from below?”

Hansoo replied in a simple manner as he turned around.

“Someone of your caliber is very precious.”

“…You’re one strange fellow.”

Gwanje made a strange expression after feeling a very peculiar sensation rising up from deep within him from Hansoo’s words.

He then spat out a few words while gazing at Hansoo.

“The Gragos has been cured, you’ve gained the Body Enhancement Surgery… Are you going up now?”

This single blow was very large.

They would be able to work without any collisions from this point on.

Hansoo nodded at Gwanje’s words and spoke.

“After solving one more thing. I’ll go up right after that. It won’t take long.”

Gwanje made a confused expression as he looked at Hansoo who was about to set off.

“What’s left?”

Hansoo cracked his neck.

“There’s another fellow who worries me a bit.”

Someone who wasn’t in the memory crystal but had caused the final thing that happened to Taruhol.

‘Shall I start preparing then, the ones who we caught this time would be very helpful.’

………….

‘…As I expected it’s a huge drain on my stamina. It’s not easy to handle these guys.’

Taruhol held onto his aching head after having inserted the cure in the final Gragos.

The Crown of Thorns above his head to be precise.

‘Well. It’s all done at least.’

Taruhol mumbled quietly after kicking away the Tiradus which had been shredded apart at the hands of the golden Akadus.

And since all the Gragos had been cured, the urgent fire had been extinguished.

Since these things won’t charge at Lazar to gobble him up anymore.

‘My god. Does this make me the new Great Patriarch then.’

Though his head hurt, his mind was full of excitement.

Since he had accomplished the task of finding their holy land where they had been away from for hundreds of years and had saved the Akarons with his own hands.

‘Shall I go get the Dragon Essence Blade then? Damn, for it to be this hard to get a simple present for a friend.’

According to the Crown of Thorns the Dragon Essence Blade was in the deepest part of this place, the dragon-shaped Gragos.

It wasn’t weird for it to be here.

Since this was the Gragos with the second largest colony after the one on the Lazar.

If the Lazar was the capital city then this place had the qualifications to be called the second capital.

Taruhol touched his aching head and then lead the golden Akadus into the deep regions of the Gragos.

Taruhol walked in a manner as if he was spellbound for a while with the Crown of Thorns upon his head and then walked into the Temple located deep within the Gragos.

And then opened the hidden space inside that Temple.

Rumble

A very small piece of bone appeared from within that space.

A dagger which looked extremely puny and crappy even in comparison to what Hansoo had gained.

But Taruhol knew the moment he saw it.

The aura that had remained despite hundreds of years of time having passed, the energy that was in it.

This was the real one.

This was the holy artifact handed down over generations of Akarons, the <Dragon Essence Blade>.

Taruhol raised the Dragon Essence Blade very carefully as if he was dealing with Mekido, the Great Patriach.

‘The strength to smash a Tiradus is in here…’

Taruhol mumbled.

Black Tiradus.

A powerful entity that could only be balanced when three of the golden Akadus charged at it.

The moment one puts this inside their body, they will gain the strength to even smash apart the black Tiradus.

Taruhol, who had been gazing at the Dragon Essence Blade in a daze, chuckled as he brought it towards his inner pockets.

Since this was a present for his friend.

‘Where would I even use this?’

At that moment.

Puuuk

“…Uh?”

Taruhol made a confused expression as he stabbed the Dragon Essence Blade onto his body.

‘Why did I stab this into my body?’

Taruhol realized something was wrong as he looked at his right arm that had stabbed the Dragon Essence Blade onto his body without his control and tried to pull the blade back out.

But it was too late.

Kwaarururururk

The Dragon Essence Blade made crackling noises, broke apart into thousands of fragments and then bore into Taruhol’s body.

The bright marbles that were inside the Dragon Essence Blade, which had broken apart into thousands of fragments, started to get larger and larger as they covered Taruhol’s body patch by patch.

Crack. Crackle.

The skeletal structure changed as a whole due to the Dragon Essence Blade and the essence that came out from it restructured every corner of his body.

A tremendous amount of strength which overflowed from his body.

Though he should be happy as a warrior, he was not.

“This fucking body! By itself! Roarrr!”

Taruhol’s roar resonated throughout the entire Temple within the Gragos.

Taruhol realized where all this change originated from in an instant and quickly grasped ahold of the Crown of Thorns upon his head.

And then started to tear it up.

“Kuaaaaaa!!!”

Snap. Snap.

Even the Crown of Thorns, which had bored deep within his head, couldn’t handle the strength of Taruhol which had been greatly enhanced due to the Dragon Essence Blade.

But at this moment a different train of thought came into Taruhol’s mind.

‘…If I take this off then who will control the Akadus? And what about the Humans and the Akarons who are with them?’

He could only ponder.

Since a massacre would happen.

And the sensation he could feel from the Crown of Thorns which was boring into his head was not that of hostility.

‘…Desperation?’

Desperation about something.

Taruhol knew what this sensation was.

Feelings about one’s race.

Desperation about the Akarons.

Taruhol flinched at the extremely familiar feeling which he had carried for hundreds of years.

Then got curious.

‘Who is it that is this desperate?’

But then Taruhol knew the answer in an instant.

‘Ah….’

A nostalgic name.

The moment he realized who it was.

Taruhol gave up resisting as he handed over his body to the one boring in from the Crown of Thorns.

Kwadududk

In that moment where he stopped, the newly grown Crown of Thorns bored into Taruhol’s head again.

“…”

Squirm squirm.

Taruhol’s entire body constantly changed from the Dragon Essence Blade and his head got covered by the Crown of Thorns.

When every movement stopped and quietness filled up the Temple.

“Mmm…”

Taruhol opened his eyes again.

And made an extremely confused expression.

“Why am I here? I should be in the Abyss.”

Taruhol’s soul which had fallen into slumber.

And her own soul which had pushed Taruhol’s soul out.

Taruhol made an extremely confused expression at the body and he touched around his entire body.

Crown of Thorns.

And the Dragon Essence Blade.

These two things were definitely things she had arranged and left behind.

But this shouldn’t have happened.

No matter what.

‘I don’t understand.’

Taruhol searched around his memories as he found someone inside his memories.

A person who caught the eye in an instant.

‘Kang Hansoo. This person may know something.’

Kiiiiiing

Taruhol got atop of the golden Akadus and flew towards the Lazar.

………….

Hansoo looked at the golden Akadus flying towards him from the distance.

Hansoo, who had been gazing at the golden Akadus, looked around his surroundings.

There weren’t many people.

Since there were only people who could fight against the Golden Akadus and stood at the peak of the powerhouses upon the Gragos.

‘Those below the Margoth levels would only increase the damage anyway.’

But there were others than the Margoth levels as well.

A very special group.

Hansoo spoke towards them.

“Prepare.”

At those words the formation users, who had barely survived from the mass massacre, all nodded.

Not a single bit of resistance was shown.

Since they had seen what that man did with just his body.

The man who was covered from head to toe with scales as if they had the armor of a heavenly god.

When they had first seen him, the aura and pride radiating from him was so huge that they felt like the villains.

But they knew now.

‘Evil god. He’s an evil god.’

The man who had massacred until the golden scales got dyed in crimson.

The formation users clenched their teeth, tied and mixed up numerous formations and prepared the <Black Jade>, the formation they had created earlier.

Soon the golden Akadus and Taruhol got close enough to the point where they could see them.

Along with the larger and redder Crown of Thorns upon the head of Taruhol.

‘…As I expected.’

Hansoo activated the Soul Fragment just in case.

Just to check if the Soul Fragment within Taruhol’s soul worked.

— Lift your right hand.

But Taruhol, who was flying in from the distance, didn’t even budge.

No, it wasn’t that the Soul Fragment wasn’t working properly.

It was just that Taruhol’s soul, in which he had implemented the Soul Fragment, was no longer the owner of that body.

The one controlling that body was somebody else.

Hansoo ruthlessly looked at Gwanje after confirming the situation and spoke.

“Tell the others to smash everything.”

“…Everything?”

“Yeah. Every remaining Akadus.”

“Damn, this is a huge waste.”

“Don’t worry about it. We can always make more.”

This wasn’t time to be frugal.

If that guy flying in from the distance had strange thoughts then the calamity of the past will happen all over again.

Gwanje nodded as he started to send carrier pigeons into all directions.

— Smash all of them.

Soon small and large sounds of destruction rang throughout the Lazar.

Booom!

Clang!

Sounds of the silver Akadus, who had been standing calmly and upholding the peace, getting destroyed.

‘Thankfully the others caused a ruckus.’

Hansoo mumbled inwardly.

Controlling the rules will be much harder without those things.

But since he had lured out the ones who would cause trouble once already, the next waves would be much weaker.

Hansoo gazed at Taruhol who had gotten quite close to him and then suddenly shouted at the formation users.

“Now! Trap us all in there!”

At those words the formation users activated the Black Jade.

Koooooooong

Space distorted as it took in Hansoo and the other Margoth levels near him.

Along with Taruhol and the golden Akadus.

‘There might be some hidden Akadus so disconnect everything from the outside and deal with it from the inside.’

But surprisingly Taruhol didn’t respond at all as he obediently came into the formation.

Hoooooong

A scene appeared within the vast white space which had no decorations whatsoever.

The scene of the 10 golden Akadus, Taruhol and Hansoo’s group.

But Taruhol didn’t do anything.

Taruhol moved the Akadus back a bit as he smiled, looked at Hansoo and moved his mouth.

“I have no thoughts of hostility. Kang Hansoo. Can we talk by ourselves? There’s nothing much I can do in a situation like this… And I have so many things I’m curious about.”

Hansoo nodded at those words.

They spoke only by moving the mouth so others couldn’t hear.

— Sure. There’s a lot of things we need to talk about, Elkadion.

The change which had occurred due to the Crown of Thorns and the Memory Crystal.

Who else would it be other than the one who made it?

Hansoo shrugged his shoulders and looked at the savior of the Akarons who had borrowed Taruhol’s body, Elkadion.