“What are you talking about?” Although Byeok had been talking to herself, someone else heard her. “What do you mean by only opening one?” A woman wearing a simple navy blue dress with her hair neatly combed back quietly approached her and sat down.

A cup was offered to her, and Byeok accepted it with a smile. “Why are you awake at such a late hour?” She lifted the hot steaming cup.

“Just,” Eshnunna wrapped her hands around the cup and said, “I finished my evening training, but couldn’t fall asleep.”

“Hmm. You’ve been working pretty hard lately.” Byeok lifted the teacup to her mouth and glanced sideways as if she suddenly remembered something, “But don’t you usually fall asleep right after training?”

“Ms. Byeok, I don’t.”

“What do you mean no? I can hear your snoring all the way in my room.”

“…” Eshnunna closed her mouth, and Byeok chuckled like a jokester.

“I’m curious. I wonder which man is keeping the future ice witch up at night?”

“Isn’t it probably the same man that you’re thinking about at this dawn, Ms. Byeok?”

Byeok smirked at her counterattack. Although she didn’t confirm or deny Eshnunna’s assumption, her silence was already an answer.

“I’m used to it now. It’s not the first time I couldn’t sleep because I was worried,” Eshnunna said calmly, “From the very first time I met him in the forest, it’s always been like that. Whenever something serious happens, he always steps forward, and there were times when he went missing and came back unconscious.” She looked slightly dazed as she caressed the teacup. “I wonder why it’s like that. Most heroes don’t act like him. Why does he always…”

Byeok was about to say something, but closed her mouth in the end. She tilted her teacup and gulped down her words with the tea. After a short silence, she said with a subtle scent of tea lingering in her mouth, “Don’t worry too much. He’s at least not dead.”

“Would he come back safely?”

Although similar, ‘not dying’ and ‘coming back safely’ meant two different things. Byeok became silent at Eshnunna’s question.

“…I don’t know,” Byeok answered after a short silence. “Whether he’ll come back or not…”

Eshnunna slightly frowned at her strange response. According to her words, Byeok was more concerned about whether he was going to come back rather than if he was going to live. Why did she think this?

“I would be lying if I said I wasn’t worried. I’m the one who tied up his powers after all.” Byeok let out the breath she had been holding and shrugged.

Eshnunna doubted her ears. Chi-Woo’s powers were restricted? She asked, “Why? Why did you do that?”

“Because I had to.”

Eshnunna was quick-witted and clever. After hearing Byeok’s suddenly firm tone, she caught on that Byeok had no intention to explain in detail. At the same time, she could roughly guess what Byeok meant by ‘only one’ earlier on. “If he lifts one seal, would he be able to release the things binding him, at least partially?”

Byeok gave her an impressed look and snorted. “Well, he might be able to freely use an arm.”

“Then what if he lifts two seals?” Although Eshnunna knew she should not ask further, she couldn’t help herself.

“…” Byeok didn’t say anything, but simply lifted the slightly cooled down teacup and stared at the endless night sky.

“Then would he be able to take off all his restraints and use his body freely?” When Eshnunna asked one more time, Byeok finally opened her mouth. Expecting a reply, Eshnunna was taken aback by Byeok’s following actions.

Byeok widened her eyes, and her expression changed into one of shock. “Uh… Why…” She gaped with a trembling voice, her eyes fixated on the night sky—or to be more precise, while looking at the star that was beginning to emit a strong light that brightened up its surroundings.

* * *

The center of the Hala Forest became calm again after a disturbance in the night. Although it was crazy to dismiss a battle with their lives on the line as simply a disturbance from the expedition member’s perspective, it really was no more than a mere commotion. It might have been a fierce battle for the expedition members, but it was just a noisy commotion that needed to quiet down in the queen’s perspective. As proof, the queen hadn’t made a single step since the battle started.

“Are you going to do more?” she looked around and asked.

None of the expedition members remained standing in good condition. Most had one knee on the ground or were sprawled on the ground. One of them was even caught in a tree branch. It was the same for Chi-Woo. Perhaps due to the side-effect of digging into the depth of his power, he was extremely dizzy. His whole body felt lethargic and heavy. While lying down and groaning, he clenched his teeth.

Chi-Woo knew it would be difficult to fight another king candidate given his experience facing the Sun King. Thus, he lifted the first stage of the ban on his abilities, and most of his original power came back to him. Chi-Woo felt ecstatic after La Bella’s blessings returned with his Core of Balance as the center. An enormous amount of energy that he couldn’t feel before flowed through his body. He had thought this might be enough for him to beat the queen and had never imagined that she would be this strong.

Of course, he had thought it wouldn’t be easy since she’d absorbed the king candidate who earned Ismile’s information, but he couldn’t even touch the tip of her toe. Their opponent went easy on them rather than show her full strength, and she was basically playing around. It was an overwhelming defeat.

There was only one way left. He still had his last resort, but Chi-Woo hesitated. Since they were about to face death, he needed to utilize all possible methods, but hesitation and doubt messed up his decision because…

“It’s not over yet…” At that moment, Ru Amuh struggled to get up. “I…can still fight.” Although his face was haggard, he didn’t lose the sharpness in his eyes. Emmanuel, who had fainted for a short time, also got up while stumbling. Their feelings were no different from Chi-Woo’s; it was especially so for Ru Amuh. Ru Amuh had always followed Chi-Woo, but it was the first time he had felt so useless. He personally experienced how Ru Hiana must have felt during the Narsha Haram expedition.

Although it was a truly devastating situation, the fight wasn’t over yet. Ru Amuh was the promise child, who had worked with all his might to keep his promise after pledging to walk by Chi-Woo’s side. He had really not wasted a single day, and it was now time to show the results of his hard effort. Ru Amuh took a deep breath and closed his eyes gently. He stayed unmoving for a good while.

The queen tilted her head at an indescribably strange feeling. “Huh?” She slowly looked around and blinked quickly. “…Wind?”

Flutter. The wind shook the leaves. If she wasn’t mistaken, the wind around her was moving all towards one place. Winds from all directions swirled around Ru Amuh. Then it disappeared into his body as if it was seeping inside. While this process endlessly continued, the queen’s eyes were filled with deep curiosity because at some point, she felt Ru Amuh’s body become one with the wind. She wasn’t mistaken. Ru Amuh’s eyes burst open and—

Sling! Startled, the queen turned around and inadvertently raised her hand to swipe her neck. She found her hands stained with fluid. She also felt a thin line at the tip of her finger. When she looked back, she couldn’t see Ru Amuh anymore.

Sling! The wind blew again, and part of the laurel crown on her head was cut off. As she looked around in a hurry, surprise filled her face for the first time. Gusts of wind continued to blow, swirling around her and turning into a gale. The biting wind came from all sides, but this wasn’t the only thing she needed to pay attention to.

Crack! A sudden sound of thunder and a flash of light with countless sparks shot towards her. Even in the midst of this hectic situation, the queen managed to deflect all the attacks. Then the lightning rod that was being bent like a whip multiplied into two when Emmanuel stretched out his arm as hard as he could.

“Ah?”

The two rods turned into four, then eight, then 16, 32, 64, 128, 256, 512, and more… The queen’s eyes slightly shook as she saw streaks of lightning continuously double and shoot towards her. By that time, the gale had grown into a storm, and the Hala Forest was swept by the fierce storm on one side, and on the other side, a thousand and more lighting rods shot towards her in a spectacular sight. Then a windstorm attacked her like a fierce tidal wave, and the queen hurriedly spread her wings of branches to protect herself.

Bang! An ear-splitting explosion broke out. Soon after, “Ugh—!” Spraying blood all over his body, Ru Amuh was pushed back. Emmanuel also collapsed again after spitting a mouthful of fresh blood.

Crumble—debris fell to the ground. The pair of wings that wrapped around the queen fell into pieces, but she was safe and sound, and her main body was not hurt in the least. Emmanuel’s face was distorted, but he soon spat out blood and shouted, “Now!”

The queen quickly turned around at his shout. A fiery dragon came into her sight along with Apoline, who was sweating while chanting spells. As soon as their eyes met, Apoline fired a dragon, and the queen was surprised for a moment because the dragon wasn’t moving towards her, but—

Craccccckle! Yeriel’s bead opened, and crystal-like ice formed in the air. After the bead swallowed the flying dragon and shut closed, fire and ice pushed and collided against each other inside it.

“Ugh…!” Yeriel ground her teeth as she controlled the wildly fluctuating bead. Her whole body shook as well as her hands. When the queen detected the energy from the series of eruptions that formed as a result of the ice crystals and fire dragon, the bead reached the queen’s neck and opened up.

Baaaaaam! With a deadening sound, everyone’s vision shook wildly. Those who couldn’t endure the pressure were pushed back and thrown far. Chi-Woo closed his eyes tightly as he tried to maintain his balance while clutching the ground. The brilliant explosion covered the area with white and red lights. The series of seemingly never-ending shocks finally showed signs of slowing down.

When it completely subsided, Chi-Woo held his breath. He became speechless after seeing the destructive power of Apoline and Yeriel’s collaboration. The smoke mixed with dust came up to the atmosphere and fell like rain, and the jungle of intertwining and tangled vegetation was all burned up. However, Chi-Woo’s hopes were shot down when he saw a faint figure through the smoke. When their surroundings returned to normal brightness, he saw the queen again.

Although she wasn’t completely fine, the queen was standing firm with one hand stretched out. Soot smears and scratches scattered across her body, but that was the extent of her injuries. She hadn’t fallen.

“…Amazing,” she muttered with a stunned look. “First…no, it might have been a little dangerous if I had only absorbed rock.” She sounded slightly angry in her monologue.

“Ha…haha…” Yeriel laughed in vain and looked down at her completely burnt hands.

“Crazy…” Apoline cursed with a stunned face and collapsed after turning around. Emmanuel closed his eyes, and Ru Amuh tried to stand up, but his body didn’t listen to him. Since there was such a huge gap in power between them and the queen, they had decided to risk severe injury and use their secret weapon for a showdown. However, it didn’t work. No, it didn’t work in the slightest. The queen still hadn’t moved a single step back, and this was proof that she was still holding back quite a bit.

“It’s…really…over…” Emannuel muttered in a feeble voice. Even if they wanted to do more, there was nothing they could do both in terms of ability and strength. Although they had brandished their secret weapon while knowing it wouldn't work, it was now really over. Feelings of hopelessness and defeat quickly spread among the expedition members after their failure.

You want to know the reason why I divided the seal into two stages?

Byeok’s words suddenly flashed through Chi-Woo’s brain.

The first stage contains abilities that come from La Bella, the god that you serve.

Although it’s true that those are also amazing abilities, they’re still within a certain limit.

Because it’s also important where the abilities come from.

The first stage sealed most of the abilities that Chi-Woo received from La Bella. La Bella was the daughter of Astrea, the maiden of stars, and the bloodline of Jupiter. While it was true that La Bella was a very strong god, considering her lineage and her alignment as a true neutral god, Byeok said that her powers were still within comprehensible limits.

But Stage 2 is another story.

La Bella’s blessings were not the only abilities that Chi-Woo had.

In Liber’s perspective, stage 2 seals abilities from a foreign god.

And a god incomparable to even La Bella…

While Byeok was telling him this, she told him to think about his past fights, and how it was that this ability had allowed him to defeat a god, albeit reconstructed, when Chi-Woo had no real skills. Then she asked him how much stronger it would be now after his training.

No one knows their intention. I don’t, of course, and neither do you. Only that unknown god knows the truth.

I did tell you not to hold back if your life is on line, but I hope you use it with extreme caution.

Make sure you etch this in your mind—the fact that the more you use that power, the closer you are to fulfilling that god’s unknown intention.

Try to handle it? Don’t make me laugh. That’s a power that not even your brother, the legend, can handle, let alone you.

Don’t you already know this as well?

Chi-Woo agreed with her, and he had felt it a little bit. To be exact, he first recognized that he couldn’t handle this power when he went to the future and went crazy once. For the first time…

“Can’t you stop now?”

Chi-Woo pulled himself out of his thoughts.

The queen continued, “I know your full strength now.”

He returned to the present at her words.

“If you want to continue even after this, I won’t be able to go easy on all of you anymore.”

This meant that she had been going easy on them this whole time. Aside from being shocked, Chi-Woo was reminded that he had a chance left. The queen was still extending her first offer. If he said that he fully realized their differences in power and surrendered, she might allow them to live.

Chi-Woo smiled bitterly after thinking this. Yeah. If everything went well, they could return alive. However, if they did this, the Sernitas’ plan would be completed, and after devouring the last remaining candidate, the queen would even absorb Hurodvitniru’s cub and evolve into a completely perfect being. Then inevitably, either the Last Dragon or his brother would have to step forward…

‘No.’ Chi-Woo couldn’t let this happen. ‘No, I can never let this happen.’ His intuition was ringing harder than ever that he should never let his brother and the queen meet after she awakened as a goddess. The thought prompted him to throw away his lingering hesitation caused by his master’s stern warning. Then he said, “I’m sorry.”

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The queen’s eyes widened at his sudden apology.

“Honestly, I didn’t want to do this…” Chi-Woo looked composed unlike before and spoke as if he was in a trance. “I really didn’t want to do this, but…” He let out a long breath and smiled bitterly. “I guess I’m still too lacking.”

The queen gazed at Chi-Woo, who looked aloof and detached, because she felt a strange sense of foreboding.

“Are you planning to go berserk or exponentially increase your power at once?” Then she said, “Don’t do that. It’ll weaken you in the long run.” She sounded concerned, unfitting of the present situation.

“No.” However, Chi-Woo shook his head.

“…Then?”

“It’s not that… It’s what I had originally.”

“What you had originally?”

Chi-Woo no longer replied to her questions because he now had to save even his energy to breathe. He took a deep breath and relaxed his body. She also did not ask any more questions—no, she couldn’t.

Release II Seal will be released.

White light shot out from Chi-Woo’s eyes.