Chapter 301. The World 2 Years Later (1)
Part 2: Demon King’s Tower. The Beginning.
In the past, when they had been heading towards the Time Dimensional Crystal.
Eres had asked me something.
What was the first thing I would do when I returned to the past?
What did I regret the most?
And I replied instinctively.
The thing I regretted about the most deep inside my mind.
— I shouldn’t have killed those bastards back then. Even though they were like demons… I needed to keep them alive.
And I remember her face.
A face of deep contemplation while looking at me.
As well as Kangtae and Keldian.
Maybe this was why you sealed by memories before sending me into the past.
Since I needed to be the humankind’s savior according to Eres.
But I do not think I am wrong.
In the end.
What this world needs is not a savior.
It’s a Demon King.
King of the Demons.
So once I leave this egg…
***
Rummmble.
Below the half-destroyed mountain range.
Four people were running through the blizzard.
“Fuck! Don’t slow down!”
“Keep using the scans and don’t stop looking around!”
Though the might of their skills showed how strong they were, none of them looked the slightest proud.
Their expressions only showed hurry.
Rumble.
After a bit of running, a red light exploded out from one of the 2 pairs of males and females.
Kiiiiing!
As the girl felt nothing being caught in the red light that swept around their surroundings, she shouted at her comrades in relief.
“Phew! Slow down! They aren’t following us anymore!”
The three people cursed out loud as the stopped.
“Fucking… Haaa. Are they really gone?”
“Fucking Dakramas.”
The 4 sat down on the spot while cursing out at the Abyssal race, the Dakramas.
‘Fuck. We’ve come too far. Really far. Damn… For us to become like this the moment we come up from the 3rd zone to the 4th.’
Taesang, the temporary leader of this small group, frowned as he checked his surroundings.
A mountain range covered in snow and blizzard.
Though parts of the mountain range had been destroyed, the 2 years of blizzard did a very good job of hiding a lot of the damage.
Apparently a huge explosion had occurred here 2 years ago.
The Green Zone of the past.
A huge explosion which shook this entire place, which was now called for the 4th zone.
And the change that came afterwards.
That day was named the <day of change>.
The day when the steel pillars smashed through the ceilings of the 7 zones and landed.
The Seven Zones had changed a lot.
To some, it was a very welcome change.
And to some, to newcomers like them, a very unfortunate change.
‘For this huge chaos… To have been caused by one person.’
Kang Hansoo.
Taesang looked around as he thought of the legendary name that evoked both good and bad meanings.
A girl standing next to Taesang spoke in dejection.
“… I want to eat pork belly.”
“Dumb bitch. Get used to it. We’ve been in this bloody world for over a year already.”
Taesang looked at the girl, Misun, and scolded her.
Though it wasn’t a long time to adapt, there was nothing else they could do.
They needed to adapt in order to survive.
‘Damn. We were the best back in the 3rd zone.’
From the 1st zone to the 3rd which were respectively called Red, Orange and Yellow Zones in the past.
They had charged through with their friends.
But the 4th zone.
The Green Zone.
This world, created by the man called Kang Hansoo, was the materialization of hell.
‘Kang Hansoo…’
While Taesang was thinking about this name.
One of the females, the one who had sent out the red light just before, called out to him and the others.
“Hey, guys… Do you guys know what this is?”
“What is it?”
The adventurers approached her and looked at the thing she was pointing at.
“… What the fuck?”
Past the horizon.
There was a huge hole in the middle of the broken down mountain range.
As if it had been hit by a meteor.
And within this huge hole.
There was a round, silvery object.
‘… Egg? What the hell?’
They frowned as they looked at the silvery egg in the center of this hole.
And there was another thing.
There was a small box next to this egg.
A small box the size of a pencil case.
‘Hmm… Weird.’
These two things should not be in the middle of nowhere like this.
This place wasn’t within the territory of the humans.
Taesang turned his gaze away from the strange egg and the box and spoke to Lauren.
“Can you feel anything?”
The scout, Lauren, shook her head.
They could only barely find the location of the egg with the skill, they had no way of finding out what was within it.
The mysterious egg was doing a great job of separating what was inside it from the outside world, including shielding the powers of the skills.
‘It was lucky to find it as well.’
Lauren mumbled as she looked at the egg in the center of the huge remnant of an explosion.
Actually she was feeling uneasy standing here.
‘I can feel traces of a tremendously powerful being.’
Though most of the traces had been covered by the snow, she could still feel it.
The power that swept through the surroundings.
And if some power hadn’t destroyed the mountains, people like them wouldn’t even have been able to approach this egg.
‘Apparently nobody has come all the way to this place yet.’
Though they had come all the way to this location by coincidence, it was still within the territory of the Dakramas.
A stay-away zone for them.
‘Perhaps… He’s a transcendent?’
A completely different existence from them.
A small amount of monstrous beings who had been born after the Abyss descended.
‘No way.’
As Lauren made a expression full of disbelief, Taesang continued to frown.
“Mmm…”
If this originated from the Abyss then the first steps in handling it would be extremely important.
Since the 2nd floor of the 4th zone, which had ignored the mysterious object from the Abyss at first, had now become a land of death.
Since that specific mysterious object was the infected host of the Abyssal Race, the Aroels.
‘Should we take it back?’
The moment Taesang put his hand on the egg.
Paaaajaaajajaak!
“Uaaaaak!”
Taesang freaked out.
His energy was furiously being sucked into the egg.
‘Fuck… I can’t take my hand off!’
As he was freaking out.
Boooom!
Misun figured something was wrong and kicked him far into the corner and away from the egg.
“Kuhuk…! Fucking bitch! Kick more softly!”
“What the hell are you saying? I just saved you.”
Misun turned back to the egg in fear.
She had also been in danger for a short moment her own energy got sucked into the egg the moment she kicked Taesang.
Though she didn’t know what was inside that egg, it was clear that it was extremely dangerous.
Even if they used skills on it, it would probably absorb the skills’ energy.
Misun spoke to Taesang who was walking back while complaining quietly.
“Hey, let’s just go. Ignore this.”
“Just go?”
“Yeah, we have no time to mess around like this either. It’s not like we completely escaped them anyway.”
Taesang pondered for a moment but then nodded.
‘Yeah… We have no time to waste.’
The egg didn’t feel safe and they didn’t have any time to play around here.
But they couldn’t just leave.
‘If the egg’s a no go then at least that box…’
Taesang put his hand on the box.
Thankfully, it didn’t suck in his energy or anything.
‘Let’s try opening it.’
Taesang picked up the box and tried to open it.
But it was useless, despite his strength which could even pry apart a car.
‘… It’s not opening?’
Kuududuuk.
The small box seemed to not care about Taesang’s strength at all as it remained unmoved.
He even used the reinforcement given to him by a high ranker in the 1st zone, the <Scarlet Sun Reinforcement> but the box remained the same.
‘… I guess I’ll just have to take it.’
Though it was hard for them here, someone stronger than them existed back in the base.
‘Well, at least we got something.’
“Let’s go back.”
Since they memorized the coordinates, they could return at any time.
It was time to leave.
Lauren nodded and the 4 people quickly disappeared into the snow.
And near the spot where the box was, only the mysterious egg remained behind and slowly disappeared under the snow.
At that moment.
Kwadddduduk!
A hang broke through the egg.
Crack.
Craaaacck.
As the egg broke apart.
The silvery egg turned into liquid as it started to get sucked back into the man.
And soon.
A man walked out.
A thin but lean body.
Crunch.
Crackle.
‘… I’ve come out a bit earlier than expected, huh.’
The man, Kang Hansoo, examined his body which seemed to have shrunk a bit as he mumbled.
He thought that he would have to absorb the energy for about another week but thanks to a small burst of excess energy, he had been able to come out faster.
‘Anyways… Who was it?’
Hansoo frowned as he looked around.
He wasn’t talking about the people who had just been here.
A bit before that.
Hansoo thought back to the words he had heard while being inside the egg.
— Kang Hansoo. Sigh… I can’t believe you’ve become like this. Phew… Unbelievable… I’ll put… In the box so open it when you come out.
‘It’s not here.’
Hansoo looked at the ground.
‘Look at these brats.’
He could still see the footprints of the four people.