Chapter 724   - Complete Chaos (10)

[All restorations have been completed.]

『Hahaha. Even though you’re my son, I still question myself sometimes on whether you’re really a human.』 Kronos chuckled as he watched Yeon-woo’s clockwork wheel spin.

At one time, Kronos himself was seen as a great being who approached the level of ‘emperor’, so it was a little strange for Kronos to see his son rise and reach a loftier level than what he had ever achieved. As things went on…

『The laws of causality, did you consume a lot?』Kronos stopped chuckling and asked in a serious tone.

Though Yeon-woo was feeling nervous, he replied casually without showing his inner emotion. “It was worth it. I’m fine”

『Really? It doesn’t seem so.』 Kronos was one of the few people who knew the status of Yeon-woo’s ‘true body’. Even though Yeon-woo’s true body was now connected to darkness, its identity was still rooted in the Giant Demonic Divine Dragon. Thus, it was impossible for such an existence to manifest itself within the physical law framework of this world. Yeon-woo’s use of polymorph had made it possible, but the amount of law of causality he had to sacrifice to continuously use polymorph and maintain the manifestation of his body was considerable.

Up to now, Yeon-woo was somehow able to manage the law of causality with what he had accumulated through the many ‘dreams’, but… Nothing good would come about if he continued to consume the law of causality at the current levels. Moreover, it was clear that Yeon-woo had already used up a considerable amount of his law of causality reservoir from fighting the numerous egos of the Black King and delaying the ‘dream’.

However, throughout all this, Yeon-woo had never expressed any outward concern or panic.

Kronos was saddened to see Yeon-woo’s state and his lonely sacrifice. In times like these, Kronos wished that Yeon-woo would confide in him and share his emotional burden.

However, when it came to the most important and critical things, Yeon-woo always conducted things alone. He alone carried the burden. Perhaps Yeon-woo was like this because he grew up alone from a very young age? Kronos felt sorry for Yeon-woo and felt guilty that he was largely to blame for Yeon-woo’s current state.

Additionally…

“Father, what do you think I am?” Yeon-woo acted like nothing was wrong this time as well.

Kronos’ guess was right, but he did not give off any impression that he knew.

‘No one knows what I’m planning to do, but I especially can’t have father ever find out. If that happens, something really bad will happen.’

『But…!』

“There’s still one remaining magic region. Let’s deal with those first and then talk.” Yeon-woo intentionally cut off Kronos’ words and firmly gripped Scythe.

『…Hmm.』 Kronos deeply sighed. His sigh relayed his deep concern for Yeon-woo.

***

One bright spot was that the remaining magic region’s ruler, the one in Antarctica, had run away from the region. The ruler probably got wind of what happened to Vimalacitra.

“The ruler sure gathered a lot.” Yeon-woo gave a sigh as he recovered the fragments of darkness that had been gathered in the magic region.

The center of Antarctica had a huge sinkhole that was dug so deep that the depth could not be fully seen or gauged. Based on Yeon-woo’s rough measurements, it seemed the hole had reached the inner core. The hole was at a level where it could almost be called an abyss. Darkness was pouring out from the inside like boiling sulfuric fire.

『If you were a bit late, it seems the ruler would have been able to bring out R’lyeh entirely.』

“Yeah.”

Unlike the other rulers of the other magic regions, except Vimalacitra, it seemed that this magic region’s ruler still possessed a sense of reasoning ability and ego. After all, it would not have been easy to create an abyss-like pit that penetrated the inner core while absorbing the life force of the Earth.

Even though the ruler withdrew, he or she seemed to be mindful of not leaving any traces behind. Thus, though the abyss was still present, no divine power remained. This meant that the ruler moved thoroughly and deliberately so as not to reveal his or her identity.

‘The reason Vimalacitra was tied to Earth was to grab my attention and to make me drag my feet in the first place. Was it also to buy some time for this region’s ruler to escape?’ Yeon-woo smiled coldly. His exposed teeth coolly gleamed. He was not smiling because he found something funny or entertaining. It was a smile that originated from exasperation.

『But rushing made the ruler miss a critical detail.』

“Yeah, that’s right.” Yeon-woo reached his hand out toward the abyss. “The ruler probably didn’t expect that I’d be able to turn the clockwork wheel.”

Except for those who were at the ‘emperor’ level, who were completely independent entities free from the constraints of time, space, and causality, everyone, from gods to demons, had no choice but to be entangled to the effects and whims of the clockwork wheel. So, what would happen if that clockwork wheel was rewound? Thus, like any other being, the ruler of this magic region would have been affected by the clockwork wheel.

Of course, rewinding the clockwork wheel came with a commensurate price of law of causality consumption.

‘It cost a lot, but still, it’s not as much as spinning the large wheel.’ Moreover, though Yeon-woo had to be mindful of how much he should use, Yeon-woo knew that he should not hesitate to use the wheel when necessary. Thus, he had reached out toward the abyss.

[The two springs have engaged. Winding speed increases.]

[The spring of time is rewinding!]

[The little wheel begins to spin!]

Sss. Following the range and area set by Yeon-woo, the abyss that reached down into the inner core started turning counterclockwise, revealing many things that were previously hidden away. A blizzard raged, and above the abyss, a holy temple which had existed just a moment ago was resurrected.

『Ha! This guy, he even built a lab? Was he trying to create a resource mining facility?』 With his vast experience, Kronos was able to immediately recognize the purpose of the holy temple that was built in the south pole.

The facility was not created just to absorb the Earth’s vitality. It was a vicious device capable of extorting Earth’s power of civilization… It could absorb the future potential of the planet and essentially make Earth a barren land.

Not even the most devious of divine beings would commit such a heinous act. For divine beings, the more planets they secured, the more faith they could potentially gather. Such a tactic was only used when a divine being was sure that his or her territory would be taken over soon. Thus, as much of the resources would be collected before retreating.

The ruler of this magic region had done just that. He must have tried to extort all that he could from Earth, convert it to divine power, and try to awaken R’lyeh.

Suddenly, Yeon-woo was clutching onto a being’s neck.

The being had a face full of shock. Apparently, his last recollection was of running away from Earth, so he could not understand why he was back in the magic region.

“There’s always beings like this.”

『W-What the… This is absurd…!』

“They have to be beaten to near death before they come to their senses.”

Whoosh!

[You have entered the instance dungeon, ‘Punishment of Hell’!]

Having fought with Vimalacitra and experiencing what would happen to Earth if his powers were utilized, Yeon-woo made sure that this opponent could not escape the darkness.

The illusory world opened. Yeon-woo’s opponent squirmed under his tight grip. Boom! Yeon-woo smashed his opponent onto the ground.

『Ugh!』 The guy vomited a tremendous amount of blood. He wanted to shake loose of Yeon-woo’s grip, but he could not. Yeon-woo’s grip was too strong. The image of Yeon-woo’s true body, the Giant Demonic Divine Dragon body, overlaid like an afterimage on his body. Thus, the full weight of his true body was put behind the smash.

“Your name.”

『Do you think… I’ll say…!』

“It really doesn’t matter if you don’t.”

『Huh…?』

“I’ll just kill you and obtain what I want, no?”

『…!』 Yeon-woo’s opponent’s face stiffened from shock.

Yeon-woo put some strength in his hands. Crack. The opponent soon lost the light in his eyes and stuck out his powerless tongue.

“Summon of the Dead.”

Sss.

「Huh, how am I…?」

Yeon-woo’s shadow completely consumed the body and vomited out the being’s fallen soul. And then…

[Power, ‘Purgatory Furnace’ has been activated!]

「Ack!」

As he did to subjects he tortured in the past, Yeon-woo let the soul steepen in the purgatory flames for a while.

「Ack! P-Please stop! Help! Save me! I’ll tell you everything you want to know, so please stop…!」

“I’m not done yet. You still have a ways to go.”

「P-Please stop…!」

And after a long period of time had passed…

「Ugh… Ugh!」With a shaky gaze, the guy looked at Yeon-woo. His expression screamed out his desire to be killed.

Yeon-woo smiled coldly. He seemed to have finally caught the tail of his opponents.

***

‘Sesha.’

『Uncle? What the hell is going on…? Everyone is in an uproar here!』

Was it because the Earth was destroyed once and then brought back? Sesha’s voice audibly quavered.

Even if the resurrected Earthlings did not remember that they had died, they still remembered the natural disaster that Vimalacitra had caused just before the mass eradication of life on Earth. Thus, it was natural for Sesha to be drenched in fear.

Moreover, Yeon-woo was also able to sense and read the enormous resentment that permeated throughout Earth.

[Faith builds up.]

[Faith builds up.]

…

Such primal emotions of fear naturally belonged to the Black King, so the outpouring of strong emotions had no choice but to have a strong influence on Yeon-woo.

‘I’ll be back soon, so wait for me.’

『…you’re going somewhere again?』

Yeon-woo remained silent.

『Haa. I thought you were going to stay here for a while… Fine. I’ll try and take care of things here. In exchange…』 Sesha let out a deep sigh and stopped talking.

Yeon-woo tilted his head. Was she going to ask him to bring back her father? Of course, Yeon-woo was planning to do just that, so he was just about to say yes.

『Bring Melona when you come back.』

‘…?’ Yeon-woo tilted his head as he momentarily did not understand Sesha’s words. It was an old Korean joke-like expression that Yeon-woo had not heard for a long time.

『Sheesh! You’re such a downer. Just be careful, uncle. I’ll take care of mother in the meantime.』

Yeon-woo was only able to reply with a ‘Oh, yes. Alright.’ For someone who had lived disconnected from the reality on Earth for a long time, Yeon-woo’s senses on modern matters and culture had been dulled. No, to be precise, in the first place, Yeon-woo was never really interested or knew of these matters even when he was a normal human. Anyway, now that all his concerns and worries about the Earth were over…

『Shall we go?』

“Yeah.”

『I really don’t understand what the hell is going on. Ah!』

Wishing for his death, the ruler of the Antarctica magic region told Yeon-woo everything he was curious about.

During the interrogation, Yeon-woo found out that the people behind the curtain were not just one faction, like the one Oceanus was associated with, but a variety of other factions.

“I… I was requested to work on this assignment!”

“Requested?”

“Yes…! I was told to build a holy temple to suck the life force from Earth…!”

“Who told you to do this? Who placed this request?”

“I don’t know!”

“You must be longing to return to the Purgatory Furnace.”

“No, wait! The organization I’m associated with and I keep the client’s identity anonymous if the client requests it that way. That’s how we conduct business!”

“Who are you guys?”

“We are…”

What the soul said at that time thoroughly shocked Yeon-woo.

“We are By the Table.”

Was he saying that By the Table was commissioned to build a magic region and holy temple? Yeon-woo had never considered the possibility. Thus, the words were a tremendous shock for both Yeon-woo and his father.

『It’s clear that something strange is brewing! Hmpf!』

Based on who the creator of By the Table was, it was strange that the organization would do something so destructive and unthinkable on Kronos and Rhea’s planet.

“Well, the power structure of any organization is subject to change at any time. We don’t know what happened between them during the meantime either.”

『I guess you’re right. I guess we’ll find out the truth once we cross over. We also need to ask about the ark anyway.』 Kronos murmured a little before suddenly smiling.『By the way…』

Yeon-woo did not miss the sight of Kronos gazing up toward the sky. Fearful gazes were firmly fixed on Yeon-woo and Kronos.

[A god of [Deva], Agni audibly gulps.]

[A god of [Deva], Vayu exclaims aloud in an exasperated tone.]

[A god of [Deva], Ravana is visibly concerned about the upcoming war.]

…

[A god of [Memphis], Horus is visibly shaking.]

『…what should we do with those bastards? Are you going to leave them alone?』

“Would I have ever considered leaving them alone?” Yeon-woo smirked. “Since they came at me, I need to return the favor.”

『That’s right. You’re definitely my son.』

“You’re saying that you created the magic region on Earth because you were simply requested to do so? Even though you knew it would make Olympus and me your enemies? Did your head malfunction?

“B-Besides the requester, there were several other places that said they’d back us and give support… they stated that they would help out if help was needed!

“Who were they?”

“Gods, demons…from everywhere! They said they needed to mobilize while Day was still fighting against Night…! So, in exchange for ensuring my safety, they asked that I share the information regarding the fragments of darkness! I’ve told you everything! Please, please let me die!

“I asked you about who they are.”

“Deva, Memphis…!”

Although Yeon-woo had guessed the heavenly world’s involvement while he was gathering up the fragments of darkness, Yeon-woo did not want to make the issue larger and deal with them directly, so he had given them a warning. However, now that he found out that they were coveting R’lyeh and absorbing the life force of Earth…

Yeon-woo’s patience had a firm boundary. Thus…

“Olympus.” Yeon-woo raised his head and stared into the air.

[The members of the godly society, [Olympus], get into formation.]

[The godly society, [Olympus], prepares for war.]

[The godly society, [Olympus], awaits its leader’s command.]

Olympus had already prepared and was waiting for Yeon-woo to give his orders.

“All of them and whatever seems relevant, hit everything.”

[[Olympus] has declared war on the godly society [Memphis]!]

[[Olympus] has declared war on the godly society [Avesta]!]

[[Olympus] has declared war on the godly society [Tuatha De Danann]!]

…

[[Olympus] has declared war on the demonic society [Jie Sect]!]

…

[Many godly societies are astonished by Olympus’ sudden declaration of war!]

[Some of the demonic societies that have received a declaration of war are asking Olympus to resolve the situation through dialogue!]