00634 An Embarrassing Omen(?)
How much time had passed?
How much, how much time had really gone by?
…I don’t know. All I could see was a sky heavy with dark clouds and rain falling intermittently. The rain came down like tears, like sobs—almost as if mourning someone’s death.
Standing there, letting the raindrops soak my entire body, I felt as if I were in a dream. A vague, dreamlike sensation washed over me, enveloping me completely.
It was strange. Normally, after defeating a tough opponent, you’d feel joy or relief. So why did this odd feeling keep creeping in?
Suddenly, I felt something cold and damp on my back. It seemed a puddle of rainwater had flowed over me. Soon, the mingling of blood and rainwater on the ground gave off a distinctly unpleasant smell.
“……”
The grassland was silent. No, it had grown quiet just moments ago.
In the stillness at the center of the plain, I slowly closed my eyes and sank into my thoughts.
Kushan Thor was dead.
Taking him out as quickly as possible had definitely been the right call. His death would have a huge impact on the battlefield.
As the king of giants, his fall not only lowered morale but, more importantly, caused the monstrous birds to turn away.
I guessed that the moment Kushan Thor died, the forced obedience effect over the birds was lifted. Regaining their senses, the monstrous birds chose to leave the battlefield.
In other words, this freed up the chance to reinforce the ground forces fighting the beast army.
As expected, Vivian immediately deployed the beast army, joining forces with the users to attack the giants.
From that point on, the tide of battle must have started to turn.
Though I watched all this unfold from the center of the grassland, I hadn’t actually taken part in the fighting. I was just a silent observer.
Of course, I wanted to find and help my clanmates, but circumstances made it impossible. Right after the battle with Kushan Thor, I was struck by a sudden magical exhaustion and had to lie still, unable to move.
The only thing I could do was ask Gong Chanho to look after my brother, who was unconscious as if dead.
Yeah. That was all I could do…
Then, suddenly.
Lost in my daze and thoughts, I heard a chorus of shouts erupting from somewhere nearby.
Shouts.
There was only one reason for cheers to ring out now.
‘Did we win? Or is it over?’
You only cheer if you’ve won. No one cheers when they’ve lost.
Ding!
At that moment, a clear notification sound rang in my ear.
It was a message tone I hadn’t heard in a long time. I stared blankly into the air, puzzled.
[Legendary Achievement!]
[User Kim Suhyun and six others have succeeded in defeating Kushan Thor, the king of giants!]
[Kushan Thor was a key figure in the mythical era’s Giant War. Back then, the king of giants was the ruler of the land, revered by all. Though his power has since been weakened by a curse, the feat of defeating Kushan Thor as a human will be remembered in history.]
[Users Kim Suhyun and six others are awarded 60,000 Gold Points!]
As the message streamed before my eyes, I felt my pupils sharpen.
‘Huh? Legendary achievement? Why is this popping up here now?’
Achievements come in many kinds: great, tremendous, unprecedented, legendary, and so on.
Legendary achievements rank second highest among eight tiers. I’d only managed to earn three of them in my first run.
No, actually, the only achievement above legendary was the Zero Code, so legendary was practically the highest tier.
Anyway, the higher the achievement rank, the better. The rewards are generous, and there are plenty of extra bonuses.
‘But 60,000 Gold Points for a legendary achievement? That’s pretty stingy…’
Ding!
Then, more messages began to appear, so I decided to read on.
[Correction to reward: It has been confirmed that Kushan Thor was defeated while awakened as a ‘demigod,’ not under a ‘curse.’ The original Gold Point reward is multiplied by 100. Total reward: 6,000,000 Gold Points.]
[However, user Kim Yuhyun, who caused Kushan Thor’s awakening, is excluded from the distribution. The total is divided among six users, each receiving 1,000,000 Gold Points.]
[Caravan System confirmed! Additional Gold Points awarded based on each user’s contribution. 1st place: Kim Suhyun (78%)… An additional 78% of the total reward (4,680,000 Gold Points) granted!]
[Caravan System confirmed! User Kim Suhyun, who landed the final blow, receives an extra 50,000 Gold Points!]
‘Whoa.’
As I read the remaining four messages, I was stunned, staring blankly into space.
Putting everything else aside, the Gold Points I earned from this single battle alone had crossed into the hundreds of thousands.
‘They’re really generous with the pay.’
At this rate… with the GP I’ve already saved up, I’ll be able to enjoy some serious shopping at the user store anytime I want.
Well, I can’t spend it now, even if I wanted to.
I shrugged and began clearing the flood of messages from the air, one by one.
Ding!
But just as I deleted the last message, another popped up.
[User Kim Suhyun has earned the title ‘Godslayer.’ For details on this title’s effects, please visit a nearby shrine.]
‘Godslayer? And it’s a title, not a true name?’
This was the first time I’d seen the title system. I was about to check my user info when—
“Oppa! Oppa! Where are you? Please answer me, oppa!”
Suddenly, a familiar voice called out nearby. It was Lee Yujeong.
Come to think of it, the cheers I’d heard earlier had stopped. Instead, I could hear frantic voices searching for someone and the sounds of people bustling about across the grassland.
Instinctively, I knew.
‘They’re cleaning up the battlefield.’
Battlefield cleanup. In other words, the war was truly over.
“Oppa~ Oppa~? Where on earth are you? Please answer me…”
Her voice was filled with worry as she desperately searched for me.
Hearing that, I felt a wave of concern wash over me too.
Though I’d asked for treatment earlier, I needed to check on Ansol, Baek Hangyeol, and my brother’s condition once more.
Besides, it was about time I got up.
So, slowly and with great effort, I began to lift myself.
Ansol was asleep. Or at least, that’s how it looked.
Though wrapped in clean cloths from head to toe, anyone seeing his closed eyes and peaceful face would think he was sound asleep.
Of course, that was only from an outsider’s perspective.
‘Suhyun… what should we do? Our Sol…’
‘The treatment is complete. For now, we can only wait and see how he progresses.’
But Ansol himself was deeply troubled by his condition.
‘What about you, Suhyun? You weren’t badly hurt, right?’
‘I’m fine. I just experienced magical exhaustion. A good rest will fix it.’
He was definitely conscious, and I could faintly hear the conversations around me.
‘Oh, and what about your brother-in-law? I heard he was seriously injured too…’
‘He’s already been treated. The wounds are severe, but thankfully, he’s not in mortal danger. Skilled priests are attending him, and he’s a strong man. He should regain consciousness soon.’
Just like now.
The problem was that his body wouldn’t move. He couldn’t open his eyes, no matter how hard he tried, and his arms and legs wouldn’t budge. It felt like his body had been taken over.
‘That’s a relief. But if Sol’s in a coma from shock after such a heavy blow, isn’t that hopeless? This isn’t some game setting.’
‘…For now, all we can do is wait.’
Still, being conscious but unable to move was maddening.
Ansol struggled desperately to move even his pinky finger, but nothing changed.
Meanwhile, the faint voices around him gradually faded away.
After a long while of struggling, Ansol finally gave up, exhausted. With a resigned sigh, he let all the tension drain from his body.
Then, suddenly—
‘Huh?’
Out of nowhere, Ansol felt a wave of comfort wash over him.
‘……?’
It wasn’t just that he felt comfortable—it was strange to feel anything at all, since he’d felt nothing moments before.
Slowly, Ansol tried moving his limbs and cautiously opened his eyes. When he saw the darkness surrounding him, he shuddered.
Where was this place?
The space around him was pitch black, as if shrouded in an endless black curtain. There was no sign of an end, no sound of life—only an eerie stillness.
After a moment, a faint glimmer caught Ansol’s eyes.
‘This place…’
He wore a thoughtful expression, then suddenly snapped out of it and frantically looked around.
That’s right.
This wasn’t Ansol’s first time in this all-dark space. It was his second—or rather, his third.
After surveying the area for a while longer, Ansol cautiously began to take a step forward.
The aimless steps suddenly came to a halt at a certain point.
“That’s right. This is where a woman once called out for help.”
The identity of the first woman—the ones who had been impregnated by monsters and hung upside down from the ceiling.
“Here, I encountered a monster radiating a sinister aura.”
The second monster’s identity: Father, the ruler of the pit. But Kim Suhyun had easily defeated him.
“And here… there was a huge monster exuding a sacred energy.”
The third monster’s identity: Kushan Thor, king of the giants. It was a tough fight, but again, Kim Suhyun emerged victorious.
“And now, here…”
Ansol’s steps stopped once more.
This was a place even Ansol didn’t know.
Or rather, it was more accurate to say she felt uneasy.
While Kim Suhyun had saved her from the second and third monsters, from this point on, that was no longer the case.
According to the dream Ansol remembered, Kim Suhyun, who had been walking ahead, suddenly vanished here. All Ansol saw was a massive hole, like a black hole.
And that hole was still there.
Right before her eyes.
“…Ugh.”
Should she look? Or not?
After a long moment of hesitation, a resolute light suddenly flickered across Ansol’s face. Her pale throat moved as she swallowed.
Then, finally, she cautiously peeked into the black hole. The instant she fully looked inside, her eyes, filled with tension, widened in shock.
Flare, flicker!
Inside the black hole, two flames coexisted.
On the left, a flame warm and familiar to Ansol.
On the right, a flame radiating a destructive energy so intense it defied measurement.
Two flames with opposing energies.
But what was strange was that these two opposing flames were tangled together.
Not just touching—they writhed around each other as if desperate to possess one another. Occasionally, the warm flame seemed to jab at the other, as if attacking, but the destructive flame never resisted. It simply accepted it shyly and quietly, like a bride on her wedding night.
How much time had passed?
Flare, flicker!
After a long while of this intimate dance, the two flames suddenly surged upward together.
From somewhere, the sweet cry of a baby echoed.
And then—
‘????????????’
A flood of question marks appeared over Ansol’s head. Her face was utterly dumbfounded. She couldn’t make sense of what was happening inside the black hole. If the two flames had simply switched roles, she might have understood the energy she was sensing. But this… this was something else entirely.
Flare~ flicker~
As the two flames continued to heat each other up, sweet and fiery,
“What… what on earth is going on?!”
Ansol felt her face flush for no reason and screamed alone in the dark space.
Of course, there was no answer to her scream—for now.
Only time could resolve this.
…Perhaps, very soon.
---------------------------= Author’s Note =---------------------------
The black flame that was watching the black hole with us: (sullen) Hmph… I went through all that trouble risking my life… ㅜ.ㅠ