Episode 516

Gungi, Docheol, Dool, and the last of the Four Fiends, Jegang.

Zeke looked at Jegang and spoke.

“Jegang, or should I say, your name changed after you ascended to the rank of an evil god.”

He invoked his power once more.

“Reveal yourself, Chaos, the evil god.”

A deep, resonant sound echoed as the entity hidden behind Germain’s mask began to writhe.

Zeke’s invocation of the true name left it with no place to hide.

In an instant, the unique barrier crumbled away.

The icy mountain scenery vanished, returning them to the realm of the hidden world.

The core of Germain, crafted from curses and the power of countless vengeful spirits and otherworldly beings, began to dissolve.

Without Zeke’s intervention, it could no longer maintain its form.

As the grotesque mass melted away, the true form of the evil god Chaos emerged.

A wolf-like head burst forth from the bloated flesh, its maw filled with sharp, menacing teeth.

Mouths appeared across its face, on its forehead and cheeks, and then long limbs and a massive body emerged from the decaying mass.

Four wings, formed of tentacles, unfurled from its back.

The creature, a massive wolf with wings, was more akin to an otherworldly being than the other Four Fiends.

Chaos, now fully revealed, glared at Zeke, drooling a viscous fluid.

Zeke addressed the creature.

“Playing puppet master with tormented souls for a thousand years… what a vile hobby.”

The souls trapped within Chaos had vanished, freed by Zeke’s intervention.

Zeke had uncovered the true identity of the evil god Chaos, who had used Germain as a puppet, by investigating the fundamental cause of the curse—the ‘Gate of Chaos.’

He suspected the Gate of Chaos was linked to the chaos god sealed within the name of the goddess Theia.

His suspicions grew stronger when he learned Germain was creating and using the power of otherworldly beasts.

At the same time, Zeke wondered how Thebea and the allied forces had discovered the method to summon the Gate of Chaos.

Using the Akashic Code and the Eye of the Sage, he meticulously searched for information about the Gate of Chaos.

However, due to a lack of related mediums, he couldn’t find precise information.

So, he absorbed Germain’s avatars, gathering fragmented information to analyze and understand what the Gate of Chaos truly meant.

In the era of the Four Fiends, Chaos’s original name was Jegang.

But he wasn’t satisfied with the power of the Four Fiends alone.

To gain greater power, he devoured otherworldly beings, absorbing their strength.

Gradually, his soul transformed into something other than a fallen Nephilim.

Just as the Carnivorous Emperor Azitahaka became a fiendish god through his acts of carnage, Jegang too transformed into an evil god.

Having attained the rank of an evil god, Jegang called himself ‘Chaos’ and sought to devour everything on the continent.

Ironically, it was Zemens Apollyon, wielding the power of the Demon King, who stopped Chaos.

Unwilling to let another entity dominate the material world, he isolated Chaos in a separate realm.

Zemens Apollyon planned to tame Chaos and make him part of the Demon King’s army, but before he could, he was defeated by the continental alliance led by the Great Sage, leaving only the sealed document known as the ‘Gate of Chaos.’

This document eventually found its way to the Thebea royal palace.

A thousand years ago, when the evil dragon Bahamut threatened to destroy the continent, the king of Thebea, unaware of its contents, performed a ritual to break the seal.

Fortunately, the ritual failed, preventing Chaos from fully manifesting in the material world, but his spirit took root beneath the Thebea palace.

In his weakened spiritual state, he laid curses and absorbed the power of vengeful spirits to prepare for opening the gate and retrieving his true form from isolation.

Zeke, facing the avatar of Chaos, declared,

“It’s time to pay for the centuries of curses and the creation of vengeful spirits.”

His sword shimmered with power.

Seeing this, Chaos’s avatar opened its maw wide.

A roar filled with the resentment of losing a millennium’s worth of vengeful spirits echoed.

Zeke aimed his sword at the creature and unleashed a strike.

The impact shattered one of the avatar’s wings, sending it flying.

Enraged, the avatar charged at Zeke.

Its remaining wings writhed, transforming into tentacles that reached to ensnare him.

But Zeke was faster.

From his shadow, hundreds of blades emerged, severing the tentacles.

The severed tentacles vanished into Zeke’s shadow.

Being forms created from otherworldly power, they could be absorbed by his shadow.

Realizing its attacks were ineffective, the avatar retreated.

Moments later, its body became translucent and vanished.

Zeke understood that the avatar had shed its form and crossed the dimensional boundary as a spirit.

‘The true form of the evil god Chaos is trapped in isolation like Azitahaka. This hidden world is a unique barrier space where Chaos, as a spirit, can manifest forms using otherworldly power.’

This meant Chaos could abandon its form and return to a spirit state, crossing the dimensional boundary at will.

Zeke drew the holy sword Ascalon and invoked the power of spiritualization.

He too transformed into a spiritual state, entering the dimensional boundary.

In this timeless realm where everything floated, Zeke searched for Chaos’s spirit.

Then, from a blind spot, a massive maw appeared, attempting to swallow him whole.

Its teeth were terrifyingly sharp.

Unfazed, Zeke swung Ascalon.

The blade pierced the inside of the maw.

Chaos’s spirit recoiled, shrieking in pain.

In the dimensional boundary, the spirit’s form differed from the avatar.

It had seven mouths on its face, shoulders, hands, and legs.

The grotesque mouths, with tentacle-like tongues, revealed its hideous nature.

‘So this is Chaos’s true form.’

The spirit, reflecting the true form of Chaos, was more horrifying than imagined.

But it didn’t affect Zeke. In the dimensional boundary, he couldn’t use his shadow powers, so he relied on other strengths.

His body was enveloped in light.

Transformed into an elf, Zeke summoned the spirits.

In an instant, the four great spirits appeared.

Existing in another dimension, the spirits could be summoned even in the dimensional boundary.

[Capture it!]

The great spirits unleashed their powers at Zeke’s command.

The earth rose, the still winds howled, fire blazed, and a wall of water surged.

Chaos’s spirit, overwhelmed by the assault of the four great spirits, couldn’t regain its composure.

It tried to swallow the spirits’ attacks with its seven mouths.

But the great spirits’ attacks were formidable.

A massive stone hand emerged from the earth, seizing Chaos’s spirit.

It lifted the spirit and slammed it into the ground repeatedly.

The spirit’s head, crushed by the stone hand, was pulverized.

Zeke nodded in approval.

[Well done.]

Though the spirit’s head soon reformed, there was no escape.

Zeke approached Chaos’s spirit.

At that moment, the spirit, held by the stone hand, turned translucent again.

It crossed the dimensional boundary, returning to the hidden world.

Zeke wouldn’t let it go.

Releasing the spiritualization power, he too returned to the hidden world.

Back in human form, Zeke faced the avatar of Chaos, its face and body half-destroyed.

He spoke to the avatar.

“You have nowhere to run.”

As he finished speaking, shadow blades rose from the ground, piercing the avatar’s limbs.

It tried to evade, but it was futile.

Already damaged, the form couldn’t move properly.

As the avatar of Chaos was impaled by hundreds of shadow blades, it let out a final, desperate cry.

As soon as he locked eyes with the chaos trapped within the blade, a message appeared before him.

[The Evil God of Chaos shows hostility towards the Immortal.]

Though the spirit was present in the physical realm, its true form was divine, making direct communication impossible. Instead, it sent an indirect message.

Zeke looked down at the avatar of chaos and spoke.

“I’ll give you one last chance. Where is Abel Draker?”

[The Evil God of Chaos shows even greater hostility towards the Immortal.]

Zeke nodded, as if he had expected this response.

“Of course, that’s how you’d react.”

With that, he summoned shadows to rise around him.

Ssshhh—

“This avatar is linked to your spirit. If I absorb it, even your true form will feel the effects.”

The shadows opened their maw wide.

Another indirect message reached Zeke.

[The Evil God of Chaos proposes a deal with the Immortal.]

Zeke scoffed at the message.

“Always with the deals. Just like those fallen constellations, baring their teeth when they have the upper hand, only to beg when things turn against them.”

Half of the avatar’s body was swallowed by the shadows Zeke had conjured.

Ssshhh—

As the avatar was absorbed into the shadows, the Evil God of Chaos, seemingly panicked, sent a flurry of messages.

[The Evil God of Chaos offers to grant the Immortal’s desires.]

[The Evil God of Chaos urgently claims that the secret of Arthur Draker was revealed by the Priest of the Abyss.]

[The Evil God of Chaos…]

Zeke shook his head at the barrage of messages.

“It’s too late.”

Ssshhh—

The shadows consumed the entire avatar of chaos.

Zeke felt the spirit of chaos within the avatar being absorbed into the shadows.

And then it happened.

Rumble!

The hidden world began to tremble.

The unique barrier space, maintained by the spirit’s power, seemed to be collapsing.

Before the space could completely shatter, Zeke wielded the holy sword Ascalon and invoked the power of the spirits once more.

Wooooom—

He re-entered the dimensional rift, leaving the hidden world behind.

To his surprise, the rift, where time stood still, appeared unstable, like shattered glass.

Yet Zeke remained unfazed, quickly searching for the mirror door through which he had originally entered.

Crack—

The mirror door, along with the unique barrier space, began to fracture and crumble.

‘If I’m not careful, I could become lost in this dimension.’

Calmly, he located the mirror he had used and summoned the wind technique taught by Duke.

Boom!

Zeke sprinted forward, diving into the mirror just as it was about to break apart.

Screeeech—

The moment he leaped through the mirror, he sensed the entire hidden world collapsing.

Simultaneously, his vision shifted completely.

Rumble!

Zeke had narrowly escaped the collapse of the hidden world, crossing dimensions to return.

He immediately released his spirit form.

Ssshhh—

Fully back in the physical realm from the dimensional rift, Zeke let out a sigh of relief.

“Phew…”

The thought of becoming lost in the dimension sent a shiver down his spine, and he wiped away the cold sweat.

Just then, a message appeared before his eyes.

[You have acquired an incomplete divinity.]