Chapter 82. Akuma (1)

Jukma looked at his surroundings.

There were a few familiar faces.

Patriarch of Lighthouse, Michael, and Patriarch of Helper, Gichul, and other patriarchs of the Six Great Clans.

And their Guards that they had fought with since the Base Roots.

Though they had gathered from time to time if there were things to discuss but this was the first time when all six had gathered like this.

A very rare event if one took account of the patriarchs of the 12 Roots who would arrive soon.

But there was no time to chitchat.

Since the clansmen of the Six Clans were shedding blood while going against the parasites even at this moment.

Jukma looked at Michael as he spoke.

“I heard that you crawled into the Devil’s Mouth. Is that thing coming down your doing?”

The thing which had been quiet for 20 years suddenly went on a rampage.

There was only 1 thing that could effect that giant thing.

Jukma grinded his teeth at Michael who didn’t reply.

“I don’t care if you kill the Calamity Fish and cook it up or make a salad out of the Devouring and Vomiting root but you should at least do it so you don’t bring us harm. You aren’t going to share the things you gained with us anyway right?”

At those words a few people who had been quite dissatisfied nodded their heads.

The fact that he killed the Calamities was amazing.

But what of it.

It might be different if they were going to stay here longer but the Red Zone’s peace did not matter to them who were going to go up soon.

There wasn’t anything bad but nothing really good about it either.

If it ended at the Ouroboros coming down then they wouldn’t have really said anything.

But to block their escape hole.

Jukma, who had seen the five to one scenario, made a satisfied expression as he got to the main point.

“I won’t stretch it out long. Bring that Kang Hansoo guy. Since it wasn’t just your clan’s doing.”

Kang Hansoo.

The guy who had acted out without any fear and saying that he will kill the Calamity Fish.

They scoffed at him at first.

But they could not anymore.

Since they knew that two of the Four Great Calamities had been killed by that guy.

But they didn’t really feel like congratulating him.

Kang Taeho, who held the responsibility as the Union Head of the Triple Lights Union, quietly listened and then spoke out:

“Bring that guy. If he had killed two of the Four Great Calamities then he should know something about this situation too.”

From the start they had never even considered the fact that Hansoo killed the Calamity Fish with his battle strength.

Since logic still existed.

Sofía Vargera who had gotten strong at an illogical pace with her trait, Library, still took 3 years to get strong.

Him getting that strong when it hasn’t even been a month since the tutorial ended had not entered their brains.

Which meant that the thing they needed was the intel and the method to solve the current situation.

‘Hoo. I’m going to go crazy.’

Kang Taeho signed inwardly.

For them to rely on one person in solving such an emergency situation.

They were that desperate.

There was no way for them to drive all of the things from the lake out with their current gear.

Michael grinded his teeth inwardly as he saw the other clan Patriarchs glaring at him.

‘That crazy bastard. For him to really do it.’

He wanted to block them but there was no way for him to.

How could they block one of the Seven Departed Souls with just 150 people.

— You crazy bastard! then you will basically be turning not only the six pillars but the 12 roots into enemies! are insane!

Hansoo answered quite simply.

— Will they think that i did it? i’m just a newcomer?

— …

Once logic and reality got too far apart from each other people tended to think of logic more than reality.

There weren’t any words more suitable than newcomer to make them drop their guard.

Especially more so if the person was an existence that defied all rules like the one in front of him.

No one would have thought that this guy would have gotten this strong.

— I’m gonna go do my work now. we won’t see each other for a bit. i’ll give you some useful things before i leave. this should be enough.

Michael, who had finished thinking about the conversation he had with Hansoo, thought of the objects that guy had found after the battle.

‘This… Is more than enough for the reward for killing the Calamity.’

Michael finished his thoughts after bringing up the image of the millions of weapons that had poured out from the air.

“I don’t know where he went. But… I have thoughts of sharing the things I’ve obtained.”

“What?”

The moment his words ended, the clansmen of Lighthouse who had received the orders held onto huge amounts of items as they slowly walked towards the Pillars.

Jukma squinted his eyes as he saw the clansmen of Lighthouse walking towards them from the distance.

***

Chwajajajak

Sofía and Hansoo who had gotten out in the small frame after they had smashed the tail of the Ouroboros hadn’t gotten as far away as Jukma and Michael had thought.

They were headed towards the heart of the World Tree that was located above the Lake where the Pillars sprouted from.

Sofía Vergara, who had applied Stealth which was a side effect of mastering the Monumental Air Path to the extreme, felt a cold sweat running down her back from the extreme amounts of mana that she could feel behind her.

‘This is a newcomer?’

But being surprised is being surprised and grasping the truth was grasping it.

There was a need to dissect his battle strength objectively.

Sofía looked over Hansoo with her eyes at the same time she used the skill, Monumental Air Path.

‘Though it’s amazing… There’s a limit to transferring this to his battle power.’

It was a huge amount of mana for sure.

But there was a limit on how much of this mana Hansoo could actually absorb.

Since there was a difference between using it for himself and spreading it in all directions.

Like how a power plant didn’t use all the energy it generated.

‘…But he should still be stronger than myself.’

Sofía was angry but she decided to recognize the things she needed to recognize.

She hadn’t fought him but it had been long since he had gone past the line where she needed to fight him to realize it.

Though it wasn’t an infinite amount of mana but an amount of mana that had exceeded the limit of a human with that much mana control.

Though he had only a few gears on, every one of them looked oppressing.

‘He might really be able to get Akuma…’

But Sofía shook her head.

This guy was quite amazing too but Akuma was a thing that made one scared the moment one saw it.

‘The Judgement will be given by the Leader, Miyamoto.’

The six huge pillars that towered up from the grounds got closer and closer to each other as they went further up and eventually combined into one.

And there was a very small tunnel in the center of the location where the six pillars connected to each other.

An entrance that was covered with various skills and artifacts.

Hansoo and Sofía went past that entrance and then followed the vertical tunnel in the center of the World Tree as they climbed up.

At that location the other six people who had received Sofía’s message were gathered.

Miyamoto Junichi.

Kyle Cooper.

Baek Jongsang.

Arc Mariangt.

Yoruba.

Tina Charliz.

And Seven including herself.

Hansoo looked over to the thing that was located in the center of the giant area behind the seven people.

Something that had been pierced with a giant spear and had been tied down with huge chains.

It’s body couldn’t be seen because the chains had tightly and heavily tied him down but the evil aura was spreading out through the chains.

Hansoo mumbled as he saw the thing that looked like an egg of something.

‘Akuma.’

Weirdly, there wasn’t a Divine Stone Fragment within the hidden fifth Calamity.

The fifth Divine Stone Fragment existed within the <flower> located in the top of the World Tree as far as he knew.

A structure where the energy of the Fragment on the top of the World Tree plummeted straight down onto this place.

Basically it had a different mana wave than Hansoo’s mana wave.

‘Maybe the reason why that thing’s so vile is because it doesn’t have a stable energy within its body like the other Calamities.’

Hansoo looked at the tens of thousands skeletons spread around the Akuma.

Two of the Five Great Tiger Generals who had came to kill the incomplete Calamity and had gotten killed.

Ekim and Kaghon.

And their relics, the Chain Scythe and Spear.

Though those two had failed, they had succeeded in sealing the incomplete Calamity, Akuma.

By using the energy of the Divine Stone Fragment that plummeted down from the top of the World Tree.

‘Though it seems like that thing acts as the thing that protects that guy.’

In conclusion, they had turned the Akuma into a pause mode with the energy that would’ve gotten into the Akuma instead but on the other hand the seal was acting as a protection towards that thing.

If he were to pull out the chains in order to kill him then the energy flowing into the chains will flow into Akuma and cause it to gain back its strength again.

The Seven Departed Souls were managing that energy so as much of the energy as possible flowed into the chains and not into the Akuma.

‘It seems it doesn’t like intruders in the system.’

As another person, Hansoo, came into the mana wave the calm breath of the Akuma got slightly faster as the chains shook.

Like a living creature becoming much more vicious.

This might be one of the reasons why Keldian had decided to keep this place a secret.

Miyamoto looked at Hansoo and spoke with a happy expression.

“Oh? Is this the friend? The friend our youngest one has brought. Anyways. For you to want to kill the Akuma.”

Miyamoto laughed with a peaceful expression.

20 years since he had guarded this place.

This new friend was a type that provoked one’s curiosity in numerous ways.

To know about the Akuma and even say he wanted to kill it.

But there was something he could guess.

‘Did one of my friends who had found the Akuma with me before leave behind a record somewhere?’

The owners of the Six Pillars who had found this place along with him.

If one of them had left behind a record and this guy had found it then it was something that he could believe.

‘Shall we see?’

His will was good but if his strength didn’t support it then it was just useless.

He understood that this guy called Hansoo was strong but he had seen the Akuma for too long to get shocked by that.

But Miyamoto could only be surprised once he saw the relics that were around Hansoo.

“…The two around the Akuma weren’t the only ones. For there to be three more.”

The others were a bit confused but Miyamoto, who had guarded the Akuma for longer than them, knew instantly when he saw it.

That the three relics around Hansoo were the same type as the two on Akuma’s body.

“Good. It seems I can strengthen the seal even more.”

Miyamoto smiled brightly.

It was getting harder to suppress the Akuma who was getting more and more vicious anyway.

With those relics he will be able to suppress it with a stronger seal for a while.

‘Things will become easier.’

Miyamoto spoke as he looked at Hansoo.

“Let’s tie down the Seal on the Akuma with those for now. Then our movements will become easier so we will be able to handle the parasites below. You can leave in between then. You haven’t… Seen the Akuma so you probably spoke like that. Look over there. Can you kill that thing?”

Miyamoto then pointed towards the egg that was giving off an aura that twisted one’s body.

There wasn’t much to talk about Ouroboros, that incomplete creature was sending off such an aura.

According to Miyamoto’s logic, killing the Akuma and the Ouroboros was not possible.

It might be different once the Ouroboros came down but with this current situation they had to save the people who can go through the mirror before the Ouroboros came down and the Akuma got released.

Hansoo shook his head at those words.

Since that guy was thinking the exact opposite of what he was planning.

Why would he have smashed the tail of the Ouroboros onto the lake?

‘Well. He might not know that I’ve done that yet.’

Since he had come up right after he hit the tail, this guy might not know it if he was focused on the Akuma’s seal.

Hansoo sighed quietly.

The Seven Worlds that started out from the Red Zone.

And the Seven Legacies left behind by the fallen races.

Revive them all and use them to strengthen the Human Race.

The first stage was the World Tree.

He had to kill the five calamities here, collect the Divine Stone Fragments, complete the Divine Stone, revive the World Tree and use the Relic to control the World Tree.

It wasn’t anyone’s wrongdoing but their views were different.

Since he was looking at the bigger picture, the people who were living in the moment could not understand it.

In order for them to understand, he needed to reveal the future’s story but then the invasion would get faster.

‘I wonder how many times something like this will happen.’

Hansoo shook his head and then spoke.

“I shall decline.”

“What?”

“The seal needs to get destroyed. The relic isn’t something to be used that way.”

Miyamoto’s eyelids were slightly raised at Hansoo’s words.