Chapter 503. Can’t Cry

The war that had begun at the break of dawn continued even as the sun was high in the sky. It had been a long while, yet the rear part of the army was still putting up a vigorous resistance to buy more time. The battle was still far from over. Frontlines that should’ve been swept away and crumbled a long time ago were still maintained somehow. The Seven Stars’ members played a crucial part in that, but the biggest reason was, of course, one person—Chi-Hyun.

While floating in the air, Chi-Hyun hadn’t rested even a second since their enemies launched the assault and poured out magic attacks one after another. He triggered explosions at parts of the battlefield where enemies were heavily gathered and cast barriers in places that seemed to be in urgent danger. He fought from the front, sides, and back, so he had no time to rest. But surprisingly, that wasn’t all he did. Currently, the rear members were only dealing with enemies on ground level, but the Abyss and the Cassiubia League’s main force also had air forces. And all of them, including the Last Dragon, rose to where Chi-Hyun was. In other words, Chi-Hyun was dealing with enemies’ air forces while simultaneously overseeing the situation at ground level. He really showed that he was a legend by doing two tasks where each one would be too much for most to handle.

When Chi-Hyun cast a spell, enemies rushing from all sides bounced off at once. Then Chi-Hyun glanced below him while moving across the air. The part he had triggered an explosion to help with was again struggling to resist after a couple of minutes. At this point, it could be said that their defense lines weren’t simply failing but almost wrecked. It couldn’t be helped. The battle was rigged in a way that their side would keep losing numbers while the other side could keep forming infinite troops.

If the situation continued, they would be at a greater disadvantage. It wouldn’t be long before they wouldn’t be able to even hold on like this. They would all crumble down at some point, and then the only thing awaiting them would be defeat. Thus, they needed to change how the fight was unfolding foremost and at the least, make the other side suffer as much damage as they had. And in order to do that, they needed to do something about the Sernitas’ main body.

Chi-Hyun surveyed the entire battlefield and smacked his lips. They were at a standstill. Though they were advancing forward little by little, they couldn’t reach the main body. He couldn’t just blame Chi-Woo for failing either. While the frontlines were only dealing with the Demon Empire, theirs was a battle more arduous than the one the backlines were fighting. It was because the Sernitas were paying more attention to them, considering that the frontlines were heading for their main body, as evidenced by the hundreds of enemies that were generating in Chi-Woo’s vicinity every second. Rather, it was almost miraculous that he was penetrating through this barrier little by little and making any progress at all. Still, Chi-Hyun hoped Chi-Woo would press on harder since the rear end was almost reaching its limit.

‘Instead, should I…?’ Chi-Hyun thought about utilizing all the mana he had saved up until now to settle the situation in an instant, but then he shook his head. He had the same thought as Chi-Woo. They were both certain that the Sernitas were scheming something and thus couldn’t reveal their full strength and power before that, especially considering the Sernitas’ ability to amass information. And since they didn’t know what the Sernitas had under their sleeves, they needed to hide and preserve as much power as they could. Of course, it was uncertain what would happen from now on since the situation was dangerous even now, but they had no other choice. Chi-Hyun would have to trust his brother.

***

He didn’t know how long he’d been fighting. Chi-Woo relentlessly swung his club around and then opened his eyes wide after dealing with the last enemy. He looked around with a dazed look on his face. Wallie, who had always been by his side protecting him since the beginning of the war, was gone. He didn’t die, but failed to catch up to Chi-Woo since he had to focus his all on fighting the enemies that kept trying to pull Chi-Woo back.

Chi-Woo steadied his breath and looked up. He saw the Sernitas’ nest from far away. He was closer to it than before, but there was still a distance between them. It felt so far away even though the distance was 1 km at most. The farther he moved ahead, the harder it became for him to advance forward. Before he could take another step, countless enemies sprouted before him.

The only change that occurred was that the Sernitas’ main body had become smaller. He wondered what the main body’s shrinking body indicated. The best scenario was that every time the Sernitas revived their troops, their body size decreased because the main body’s powers had been used, but that sounded too good to be true. That would mean that if the main body decreased in size so much that it could no longer decrease anymore, humanity would rise victorious. But would the Sernitas be defeated that easily?

No, certainly not. Reviving troops countless times was simply a ploy to bide time. The Sernitas’ true schemes were something else. Thus, it seemed more convincing that the decreasing size of the main body was simply part of the preparation process of whatever the Sernitas was doing. If that was the case, they needed to quickly penetrate through the Sernitas’ defense and attack the main body this instant. But as soon as Chi-Woo thought this, his view became clouded with enemies again. The situation was the same as before.

Chi-Woo took one step forward and had to battle countless Sernitas rushing at him. He repeated this process continuously. Soon, it would become hard for him to move his feet, much less take a step. Chi-Woo felt a greater sense of urgency when everyone, including his brother, was putting their trust in him. Thus, he wondered what to do and after contemplating a bit, he came to a decision. He originally planned to penetrate through the Sernitas’ defenses with the minimum amount of power possible, but now, he decided to show the power he had been saving up.

Though he was a hundred percent certain that the Sernitas were aiming for him, he was left with no other choice. At this rate, everyone would die before he reached the main body. And as soon as Chi-Woo decided on this, his body radiated a brilliant light. A shining book came into existence on top of his head, opening to form a glowing circle. His eyes were also radiating bright light.

“—. —. —. —.”

And he opened his mouth to chant a solemn prayer while swinging his club wide. As soon as he did this, enemies that had been rushing at him in waves all exploded simultaneously. Boom! Of course, they regenerated as soon as they exploded, just like they had done until now.

Boom! Bam! But every time Chi-Woo swung his club, a wide range of enemies exploded. Chi-Woo’s martial arts skills had risen to a level that transcended his species and more when he reached Challenger tier. Furthermore, he had received all sorts of blessings, so of course he would be able to showcase overwhelming strength. With just a swing of his fist or leg, he seemed to shake up the heavens and the ground. As a result, the speed at which he exterminated his enemies superseded the Sernitas’ regeneration speed.

It didn’t matter how the Sernitas were able to generate hundreds of enemies per second when they were destroyed with Chi-Woo’s one gesture. Thus, after being at a stall for a while, Chi-Woo began to tread on. He advanced forward between the exploding enemies. Then, at the end, he kicked off the ground and flew to the sky. Seeing this, small cheers erupted from humanity and the Cassiubia League. In a situation where there was no end in sight, and all were feeling hopeless, a small ray of hope finally shone on them. Chi-Hyun smacked his lips from far away, but in the end, he nodded with a hardened face. He was just thinking that he couldn’t stall any longer.

Though he worried that they had shown their cards too soon, it was already a done deal. Whatever the Sernitas were hiding, they had to deal with it head-to-head. Like that, Chi-Woo blew up everything around him and shortened his distance from the main body at astonishing speed. Seeing this, the Sernitas’ main body moved for the first time. The tentacles attached to the main body and buried underground like tree roots began to rise one by one. Then, it shot forward to strike Chi-Woo as he flew toward it. Thousands of tentacles shot toward one target and gathered together to form a giant lance. It was such an astonishing sight that Chi-Woo clenched his teeth.

As soon as he drew out his power to the maximum, he was prepared to give it his all. Thus, he held his club forward and was about to clash against the main body head-on before his eyes widened. With a great explosion, the tip of the lance of tentacles was crushed miserably before he even made contact. And more explosions followed immediately after the collision. Beyond just crushing the tip of the lance, a large cavity formed in it as if someone was digging a cave.

The more explosions hit it, the more wrecked its inside became, and large bumps swelled from the tentacle lance. In the end, it couldn’t endure any longer and exploded. Tentacles were cut off and fell by loads. Naturally, it wasn’t Chi-Woo who caused this to happen. He didn’t even have to turn back to see who did it. It must be Chi-Hyun. While surveilling the situation, Chi-Hyun must’ve realized that Chi-Woo had made up his mind and supported him. And thanks to him, Chi-Woo was able to effortlessly pass through the scattering tentacle pieces and finally reach the main body.

Chi-Woo stopped mid-air and looked below him. The Sernitas’ main body had decreased in size again and was now as big as a small single-family home. It was still decreasing in size at a very fast speed as if it was running away. Chi-Woo’s eyes narrowed. It was time for him to reveal the inner part the Sernitas had been concealed under a secretive veil until now. Even if they didn’t want to show it, Chi-Woo would make them. And thinking that whatever it was, he would crush it into pieces, Chi-Woo flew downward.

The moment Chi-Woo swooped down, his eyes narrowed. He thought his eyes were playing tricks on him for a second.

‘The nest…?’ As if he was experiencing a double vision, his sight suddenly became hazy, and the figure he saw suddenly divided into two. It looked as if the Sernitas’ main body had duplicated. He wasn’t mistaken, nor was it an optical illusion. The main body was suddenly joined by a semi-transparent twin. After some time, Chi-Woo was able to clearly differentiate between the two. The original decreased in size at a fast pace, while the replica decreased in size at a very slow pace—no, it didn’t seem to be shrinking at all. It just throbbed routinely as if it was impregnated with a life that would be born soon.

Though Chi-Woo didn’t know what was happening, this wasn’t the time for him to question things. To his shock, the original was decreasing in size faster than he was descending to the ground. Like water falling into a drain, it instantly became tiny, and in the end, before Chi-Woo landed near it, it was absorbed into the ground and disappeared. Having fallen just half a second late, Chi-Woo swung his club hard at the ground, leaving a large crater and shaking the earth, but Chi-Woo couldn’t spot that original main body anywhere. As if it had become as small as an atom and disappeared forever, Chi-Woo couldn’t find any trace of it. It was almost as if it had become one with the earth.

‘What? Did it run away? Or did it move through the ground?’ Dozens of questions popped up inside Chi-Woo’s head. But he soon turned his attention to the one remaining: the replica that had come from the original main body. It was the size of a coffin and floated near his vicinity while continuously throbbing. Confirming its location, Chi-Woo swung his club without hesitation, planning to deal with it first.

“What?” Chi-Woo gasped in shock then. His club had simply passed through the semi-transparent nest. Though he was sure he had swung exactly at it, he didn’t feel any impact. Like it was some kind of mirage, he could see the semi-transparent nest, but couldn’t touch it. Chi-Woo reflexively swung his club a couple of more times to no avail. What in the world had happened? Chi-Woo looked around him and then looked below. It was then, he clearly spotted what he had missed.