Chapter 242. Unsealing (4)

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Chiiiiiiik.

The moment Hansoo’s hand was placed on the flail.

Whoosh!

A tremendous amount of energy and heat started to burn Hansoo’s hand.

Einchel, Christopher, Kamiyou and the others realized why Hansoo had stopped them as they saw the scales of Hansoo melting down.

‘We… Would get burnt the moment we touch it. Jesus, is that guy even human?’

A tremendous amount of mana.

And a powerful reinforcement skill that could turn him into a moving fortress.

A body that was countless times more powerful than the others.

He was barely holding on because he had all of these things in addition to his artifacts.

A scene which befuddled Kamiyou who thought that everyone eventually ended up at similar levels and only had time and hard work as a difference.

If runes and skills were the basis of one’s strength, that guy’s foundation was at a whole other level.

It felt like he belonged to another race entirely.

Then.

Chiiiiiik.

Hansoo spoke towards Kamiyou while grabbing the blazing flail.

“I’m going into the test now.”

A test.

As they looked at Hansoo with a confused expression.

Kamiyou asked a different question.

“… Can we help you with anything?”

“Nope.”

Kamiyou made a bitter expression as if he had expected this answer.

‘As I thought.’

In terms of overall strength, the eight hundred of them were more powerful than Hansoo.

But a test.

A test was something which tested an individual’s ability.

At the same time.

Squirm.

The veins started to climb up the arm of Hansoo who was grabbing onto the blazing flail.

Like hundreds of tiny snakes.

The veins which heated up the flail, filled with a countless amount of despair and mana.

The heat from them was no less than from the the flail itself.

Chiiiiiiiik.

The thousands of red veins covered Hansoo’s arm as they climbed up.

‘… We are nowhere worthy, huh… How powerful is he to be able to handle that…’

As Kamiyou looked at Hansoo, whose body was covered by the red veins, in shock.

Hansoo, whose body was slowly being covered by the snakes and were now climbing up to his neck, spoke towards Kamiyou.

“While I go through the test, I’ll be completely cut off from the world. Think of one thing during that time. Survive.”

Chiiiiiiiiiiik.

Soon the veins climbed up above his neck and started to cover the lower parts of his face.

Right before he was covered entirely from the veins.

Hansoo spoke some words for everyone who was listening.

“Hold on until I get back.”

With those words.

Kuuududududuk.

The red veins covered Hansoo from head to toe.

At the same time.

Badump! Badump!

The red veins started to aggressively thump.

As if they were happy at gaining something to devour.

Einchel spoke to Kamiyou while watching the strange scene.

“… We need to fight for ourselves I guess.”

Kamiyou nodded at her words.

‘Can’t change anything now.’

In a fight where they had to fight for themselves, there was no hatred.

Hansoo breaking that mysterious seal was the most important thing.

The moment the Scarlet Demons decided to hunt them, fight was inevitable.

Just when and where they would fight was the issue.

‘And… I need to take charge.’

Though he had created the Ant Tunnel which was supposed to be for everyone’s benefit, the results clearly told them something different.

He had led them here and had to take responsibility for them.

‘But not yet.’

Kamiyou spoke to the surrounding adventurers with a resolute expression.

“There’s something I haven’t been able to tell you guys.”

“…?”

As people looked at Kamiyou with confused expressions.

Kamiyou tightly grasped the weapon in his hands and shouted.

“It’s a very important matter so please survive. Since it’s important, you guys all need to be alive to hear it right?”

Everyone chuckled and somebody spoke.

“Heheh. You yourself should stay alive captain. If there’s no mouth to say anything, we can’t hear it right?”

“Keeping you alive will relieve my curiosity, huh. Don’t be too harsh when you’re missing a leg.”

The people warmed up their bodies and started to gather around Kamiyou.

As if they were protecting him.

Kamiyou was a leader who protected them and had done his best for their safety and their survival.

He had the right to be respected and was much more precious than themselves.

Even if they survived here, they needed someone to lead them.

No, just receiving a means of safety for them who roamed around the Green Zone without a clue was a huge debt in itself.

3 years of safety and survival.

This was the time for them to repay their debts.

Kamiyou clenched his fist tightly as he watched the groups of people surrounding him.

‘Please don’t. I’m not worthy of all this.’

He wanted to shout.

About the contract he had with their opponents, the Ant Eaters.

That he was the one that should be killed.

But he couldn’t shout it yet.

Since it would cause the minds of the people to falter and fall into chaos.

Kamiyou thought of the words Hansoo left behind and clenched his teeth.

‘Just like Hansoo said… Just focus on surviving.’

At the same time.

Boooom!

A giant tower of flame charged toward them from the maze.

“Kuhuk! Block it!”

Kwadddddddudud!

They had already expected that these guys would come.

Rumble.

Though they had been able to block it because they were prepared for it, their expressions weren’t that good.

Since everyone knew.

That this was the beginning.

Then.

Boooom!

“Hahahahaha! It’s been a while!”

“You’re all here, huh!”

Over a hundred people started to charge towards them from behind the flaming pillar.

The Gold and Scarlet Demons.

And the extremely chilling blue light and the scorching red light in the front.

Olsen and Sharon Stiller.

The tremendous amount of energy that radiated out from these two filled the entire area.

While suppressing the aura of the adventurers.

Soon, they will die out in large numbers.

At the hands of those two.

‘Fuck…’

Kamiyou turned around at the vicious aura of the two.

Towards Hansoo who was surrounded by the thumping veins.

‘Please… Please hurry.’

They needed to hold on until Hansoo came out.

With him taking the brunt of it at the front.

Kamiyou clenched his teeth and charged forward.

Towards Sharon Stiller who was approaching them with a demonic expression.

Soon.

Booooooom!

The entire area was soon filled with countless different lights.

Along with sounds of explosions and screams.

***

Rummbllee.

Hansoo’s soul was in a different place.

A red space.

Some red liquid was up to Hansoo’s ankle on the floor and as he looked up, the sky was blood red as well.

Hansoo mumbled as he looked at the red space.

‘… It seems my body didn’t arrive here. Did only my soul come here?’

His body was probably surrounded by some red veins.

Then.

Sssssssk.

A ripple was created from the red liquid on the ground as a change occurred.

Kuuuurrrrruk.

The red liquid bubbled and rose up as it started to form into a human.

Not just in a few locations but in tens of thousands of locations.

Hansoo mumbled as he watched the liquid form into people.

‘… These are the souls, huh.’

The 66,666 souls that were sacrificed for the Kingdoms and Empires.

Some looked like farmers and some looked like soldiers.

Some looked sick and some resembled cripples.

But they all had two things in common.

First, they were all either weak or had some form of disability.

Second, they all had looks of rage hiding underneath their dazed looks.

Soon Hansoo was surrounded by countless souls and the tens of thousands of these vengeful spirits started to mumble at Hansoo.

— It’s been a long time.

— … Fucking… Bastards.

— Those who come in here…

— … Can he really…

Then.

A loud voice could be heard from somewhere.

— 800 years. Since somebody came into this place. Well, you have the right to at least.

Hansoo looked towards where the voice came from.

A man covered in scars with a sword in his hand was looking at him.

The moment the man spoke.

The voices of the souls stopped.

Hansoo looked at that man and thought.

‘So this guy is the leader, huh.’

But the silence only lasted for so long.

The spirits started to mumble again.

— The ones who came into the maze were all empty husks.

— What does it matter if they cannot die. Since there’s no filling, there’s a limit to their growth. Since they are limited, they can’t even handle the test of their physical body.

— Sad. If they were our descendants, they might be able to accomplish it.

— They don’t dare to come in because they’re scared of the curse. Fucking hell, if only the curse wasn’t there…

— At least this guy isn’t that bad.

The test of one’s physical body.

Hansoo realized what this test was about.

‘Surviving the blazing heat of the veins is the first test.’

Even if the players could get in here, they wouldn’t be able to handle the test.

Since they had a limit on their levels.

No matter how many skills they stack, they wouldn’t be able to handle the test.

‘If I didn’t go through the Body Enhancement Surgery or had the Mana Jade then it would’ve been hard.’

Then.

The man, who looked like a leader, started to speak.

— Quiet.

The 66,665 spirits surrounding him quieted down.

As they all stopped talking, the man started to speak again.

— I don’t know the reason why you came all the way here but there is one thing we want from you. Strength.

Hansoo nodded.

His goal was destroying the seal.

But of course obtaining the God’s Flail was part of his plan as well.

The man started to speak again,

— Some random half-hearted ability is nowhere enough to control the strength within the flail and our hatred. Since you can withstand the energy from the mana node, you have some potential but… The test of the spirit is a different matter entirely. If you don’t have the qualification then… Even if you gain the strength, either your body will blow up or you will go crazy.

“Let’s hurry.”

There was an ongoing battle in the outside world.

There was no time to waste.

The man laughed coldly.

— Woah. You should at least listen until the end. Even if you pass the test and obtain the right to use the strength… There’s no meaning if we don’t give you the strength, right?

Hansoo frowned at the man’s words.

He realized they wanted something from him.

“What do you want?”

The man, who was laughing just a bit before, started to turn extremely grim.

As if he remembered something he had kept hidden.

The man spoke to Hansoo while trembling in rage.

— Simple. Can… You avenge us?

The spirits surrounding them started to chatter again.

— If you nod… and pass the test. We can give you the strength of an immortal.

— But if you deny, you won’t get anything. Even if you pass the test, we won’t help you.

— It’ll be the same if you break the deal after you gain the strength. Your body will get ripped apart.

Hansoo spoke as he watched the enraged spirits.

“Revenge, huh… Who are the targets? The Ains?”

These were people who fought against the Ains.

They might want to get their revenge against the Ains.

The spirits started to laugh out loud.

— Hahahahaha! Why would we hate the ains?

— If they hate us then they can hate us. They’ve done nothing wrong.

— What we want are the flesh and blood others.

Soon.

They all started to scream.

The shouts of tens of thousands of spirits filled the entire red space.

— We want the flesh and blood of those who turned us like this.

— Kill them all. The ones who did this to us. All the citizens of the kingdoms and the empires.

— Those who sacrificed us because we became useless.

— We just got tired and injured much faster because we fought at the front. They just treated us like trash.

— We, who should be hailed as heroes, are now suffering for all eternity. Kill all those who are living their lives in glory up above.

— Sacrifice their flesh and blood to us.

— That is what we want. we want them to be shredded apart.

The shouts that were filled with hatred entered Hansoo’s ear.