Chapter 381: Nerpa (4)

—boom!—

Melchizedek looked at Hansoo in a daze.

“Yeah. Just stop. You’ve worked hard enough.”

It remembered the things it had heard about Hansoo from its old ally, Clementine.

Kang Hansoo.

The savior of humankind.

In a world divided into seven zones, he had flipped that very world upside down and restructured them as he climbed up.

Hansoo’s actions weren’t so different from what he had done in the past.

‘It seems he and I cannot co-exist.’

Melchizedek chuckled.

Hansoo had to bring peace to this place, and it had to take this place to war.

Their goals were different, so they had to fight.

But the situation now was a bit different.

That had only been the case if Hansoo had the ability to change reality.

‘Yeah, not anymore.’

—booooom!—

Melchizedek thought as it looked at Hansoo who was continuing to struggle even as he listened to it.

Break this reality, and dream of the infinite possibilities beyond.

Anyone trapped in a reality they didn’t like had all dreamt of such a thing before.

Especially if it was a reality that was cruel and unfair.

Wanting to change it was a normal course of thought.

Except Hansoo had a clearer vision than others and had the abilities to actually make it happen.

But not anymore.

It was finally time for him to face the cruel reality, the cold wall that stood in front of everyone.

The giant wall that caused countless people to fall into despair, something that caused such people to give up on their current dreams and find a more suitable path for themselves.

The fact that he had done very well up until this point made him stand out from the others, but it was time for him to make a different choice as well.

He had met a wall called Melchizedek.

So then…

Once he realizes that he won’t be able to meet his vision anymore, wouldn’t he then act like everyone else?

Like everyone else who decided to live with this reality.

Melchizedek thought up to this point and continued to speak:

“Isn’t it time for you to rest now? Work under me. If you stand next to me, then I promise I’ll support you with everything I can. And once we’ve conquered everything, I’ll allow you to sit upon a higher position over there and give you the rights to control everyone. Isn’t that enough?”

The Pompeion Empire.

Neropa Union.

All the power and control they currently possessed.

He would be able to grasp a power that no human could even dream about; power that would allow him to fulfill any desires he had.

A proposition that anybody would accept.

And Melchizedek’s expression turned into that of anticipation.

‘Accept it.’

It had felt regret that someone like Kang Hansoo had been killed off in the past, but now there was something else added on top of it now.

It wanted to see Hansoo accept this offer.

It wanted to see Hansoo bend.

It wanted to see Hansoo, whose determination was so unyielding it was blinding, accept this reality and become a normal human being.

And this was the most important point.

The thing that was causing him to be so blinding was not his strength.

No matter how strong or beautiful a blade was, it was nothing more than a piece of metal once it hung on a wall.

A blade’s fame did not originate from that.

It originated not from its materials but from what it had cut.

And it was the same for Hansoo.

The thing that made him shine so much was not his strength but his goal and conviction.

No matter how strong he was, if his faith were to break then that light would also disappear.

If his faith, that which had driven all his actions up until now, were to break then he would become something it wanted him to become.

So Melchizedek felt anticipation.

It wanted to see him break down.

—rumble—

Nelkipa didn’t even attack him anymore as if it was giving him time to make a choice.

It would allow him to rest and heal up, but Melchizedek was more than happy enough to give him this brief moment.

Hansoo chuckled and spoke as he stood on top of the calm surface of Nelkipa.

“What an evil taste.”

Melchizedek flinched.

It felt like its inner thoughts had leaked out.

But it was too late to back down.

Melchizedek continued to speak.

“It’s not a bad offer for you, right? If you can keep your friends alive, then… isn’t that good? Your friends are probably in a bad situation as well.”

Although Angkara would turn into a sea of flames.

He and his two comrades would be able to live good lives.

And that wasn’t all.

Although the countless humans coming afterward would die, but Transcendents like him would be able to survive.

And they would all gather under Hansoo’s command.

‘And Clementine is already doing that.’

Hansoo thought to himself as he listened to Melchizedek’s words.

‘Giving up now…’

That was the easier choice for him.

As their leader…

If he kept his life and climbed up with strong people who listened to him well.

Leaving behind all the weaklings and only taking the useful ones.

It would be great for him too.

But he couldn’t do it.

‘My life is not my own.’

He thought of the past.

The past.

Numbers and strength.

Nothing was enough.

Countless people had been killed off like bugs in the battlefield called the Abyss.

What of their sacrifices then?

Their sacrifices just to send him back in time.

The remaining ten thousand humans had given up their lives for this.

And their sacrifice was not so he could stay happy all by himself.

It was so that the people precious to them would have another chance at life.

Everyone had similar thoughts as they sacrificed themselves.

This was why his life wasn’t his own.

“You speak too much. I’ve been able to rest thanks to you, so I’ll go easy on you when I beat you up later.”

Melchizedek’s expression turned icy cold as he stared at Hansoo grasping his hammer tightly.

“It seems… this is it.”

As Melchizedek muttered—

—kaduk!—

—the calm surface of Nelkipa started moving chaotically again as it charged towards Hansoo.

Then—

—kuooooong!—

—the spikes that rose dozens of kilometers into the air started emitting sounds as thousands of tiny blue bubbles appeared on top of those spikes.

A tremendous amount of energy.

—kiiiiiing—

Nelkipa’s cannons, which were now filled to the brim with the energy from the blue sun inside Nelkipa, aimed towards Angkara in the distance.

“Even if you don’t like it… you won’t be able to escape the war.”

Melchizedek looked between Hansoo and the Nelkipa’s cannons and mumbled expressionlessly.

The moment those cannons fired—

—the existences on Angkara that weren’t attacking Nelkipa seriously because of their internal strife would then realize…

How dangerous Nelkipa is.

And from that point on, they won’t even have time to care about each other.

The Pompeion Empire and the Neropa Union would stop at nothing to break Nelkipa apart.

They would use everything to attack and stop it.

Of course, Melchizedek was still confident that it would win even if that happened.

It was more than confident enough to withstand all those attacks and smash them apart with this Nelkipa.

But what of the humans that would come up afterward?

Would they be able to withstand the flames?

The flames hidden inside Angkara, the flames bestowed onto their powerful army?

‘I’ll let you know what regret is, Kang Hansoo. How dare you reject my offer?’

Melchizedek thought without expression.

It had thought it wouldn’t feel bad even if Hansoo denied its offer, but it had felt more anger than it expected.

So its plan changed.

It would have killed him off cleanly, but its thoughts changed.

To give him as much mental pain as possible, it would keep him alive.

And while keeping him alive, it would show him everything that would happen from this point.

The deaths of countless humans that it would kill off like tiny insects.

‘And… let’s see if you can stay sane while you watch them all die.’

“I’ll first show you the pain your friends will have to suffer! It seems you treat your life as worthless, but… would your friends think the same? It’s your two friends right after you!”

—booom!—

But as Melchizedek shouted at Hansoo, a change occurred.

—oooooong!—

The cannons that were gathering energy in the distance had started to turn off one by one.

And at the same time, the Nelkipa started to lose its momentum in attacking Hansoo.

Like a weapon being turned off.

‘What the hell?!’

—sssss—

Even his throne had disappeared.

Melchizedek stood up and clenched its teeth.

All of Nelkipa’s weapons that it had turned on were turning off.

But as Melchizedek was about to look into why that was happening—

—tonkonkonk!—

—Hansoo hammered away a few of the now-weakened spears and looked towards the distance as if he had somewhat guessed what had happened.

‘…Kiriel. Enbi Arin.’

Hansoo looked towards their directions with an expression that hid a hint of sadness, but then replied to Melchizedek:

“We’re all risking our lives here. You… you should also do the same.”

—booooom!—

Hansoo’s body quickly charged towards Melchizedek in the distance.

…………………………………….

—rumble!—

The giant crystal that Ares Valentine was trying to blow up.

A woman stood before the sub-crystal that controlled the weapon system.

Of course, her situation wasn’t quite the best.

“Haa… haaa..”

Enbi Arin, who was completely covered from head to toe in blood, touched her crystal and was focusing.

The posture was similar to what Ares Valentine had done when he was trying to blow up the crystal, but her actions were vastly different.

If the energy had grown chaotic when Ares Valentine poured in energy, the energy right now was slowly calming down.

And she heard a weak voice coming from behind her.

“You crazy girl… You’ll die at this rate.”

Ares Valentine walked over weakly and spoke in a tired voice.

He didn’t look any better than Enbi Arin.

His armor had long been broken apart, and the longsword had been cut in half.

Ares Valentine looked at Enbi Arin while doing his best not to fall to the ground in a dumbfounded manner.

‘…To try to control that.’

Of course, that was the reason why he was still alive.

If Enbi Arin hadn’t run off to stop the crystal then he would’ve been killed.

But that’s not something a human can control.

If that was something that was so easily controllable, then he would have chosen to do that as well.

Although she was suppressing it now… sooner or later she would lose her life.

From the reaction of the crystal resisting her suppression.

The energy inside her body would go haywire.

And from Ares Valentine’s words.

“I wish… my dreams hadn’t ended as dreams.”

If she gave up now, then those scenes would eternally remain inside her head.

Enbi Arin clenched her teeth as she focused on the crystal.