Chapter 244: Unsealing 6

Rummblee.

As the conversation ended.

The leader of the spirits, Akun, nodded after hearing Hansoo's words.

<good. i'll agree to your terms.>

His terms weren't quite satisfactory but he couldn't do anything else.

Since he didn't know how long he would be stuck in here if he didn't seize this chance.

Hansoo spoke to Akun.

"Let's hurry with the test."

Though he was trapped in here, an uneasy feeling kept bothering him.

Probably meaning that the outside situation wasn't going that well.

He needed to handle things here quickly and get out.

Akun nodded to Hansoo's words.

<the test itself isn't that complicated. we only need one thing.>

There was no need for the test to be complex.

It just needed to be hard.

And the test of the soul was extremely hard even in comparison to the test of the physical body.

Akun pointed towards the tens of thousands of souls behind him and spoke.

<endure us all.>

The 3 godly treasures of the empires.

Rangkal's stake dispersed.

Arhal's Wall destroyed.

And God's Flail... Absorbed and saved.

All sorts of powers.

So the flail itself, which existed as the core of the seal, had a tremendous amount of energy and hatred stored inside it.

But in order to break the seal and use the flail properly, a procedure of absorbing all the strength was needed.

Absorbing the 66,666 souls within the flail.

Including the energy of the mana node contained within all these souls.

Controlling all the energy and hatred within the souls.

That was the basic requirements of controlling the God's Flail.

One needed to handle all those souls being inside them and to be able to control them.

If they failed one of two things would happen.

Either their entire body would blow apart.

Or they would go crazy.

The leader, Akun, continued to speak.

<if you're afraid then you can just give up now.>

Hansoo cracked his neck and stepped forward.

"Begin."

The moment those words came out.

Akun nodded and signaled behind him.

Then.

Tens of thousands of red souls charged towards Hansoo.

<it'll be extremely hard. pray that you won't get distracted until this ends.>

It was something one would need to focus their entire minds on.

If people disturbed them from outside, it would become even harder.

...........

Everyone stopped fighting.

And suspicion grew from their eyes.

Of course they all knew how much their leader, Kamiyou, had cared for them up until now.

It couldn't be all lies.

Well, if they were indeed lies in the first place, he wouldn't have fought with his life on the line like that.

But it was indeed suspicious.

How they were found.

And how such a thing was hiding inside their leader's leg.

It would be impossible to put such a thing inside Kamiyou's leg without knowing him.

A sentence appeared inside their minds.

'...Should we really follow that guy's commands? Is he going to just give us up at the end?'

All sorts of ideas appeared inside their minds.

He might be just pretending to be fighting with all he had and instead he might be trying to tie them down instead.

Or there might be something else.

They didn't know everything about this world either.

Kamiyou and Einchel grinded their teeth while looking at the scene.

'...Fuck.'

They could almost hear it.

Sounds of things falling.

Being united itself was not enough but if they are suspicious of each other, the result was clear.

Their opponents were no joke.

Then.

Boooom!

"Kuuhuuk!"

"Fucking hell!"

The Scarlet and Gold demons saw an opening and started to shred everything apart.

Through the cracks that appeared between their relations.

"Fuck. No!"

Kamiyou balanced himself on his one leg and tried to hurriedly rush in to fight but was blocked by someone.

By Sharon Stiller who he was against.

"Hahahaha! Where are you trying to go?"

Booooooom!

Soon a loud noise exploded out from between Sharon Stiller and Kamiyou.

Kamiyou moved away from Sharon Stiller and shouted.

"12th group move this..."

But the moment he saw the expressions of the adventurers.

Kamiyou realized that he had lost to Sharon Stiller.

Kamiyou realized he had made a mistake as he saw the eyes of his comrades which were filled with suspicion and uneasiness.

'I should've strongly denied that claim.'

Whether it made sense or not, he should've denied it first.

The evidence was too clear.

And the guilt that was inside his mind.

These two things made Kamiyou hesitate and as a result confirmed it.

The fact that their leader might've really betrayed them.

Then.

Booooom!

A flame dragon exploded out from Sharon Stiller's body and smashed into Kamiyou.

"Kuhuk!"

"Hahahaha! This is the end!"

Sharon Stiller laughed as she looked at Kamiyou who was surrounded by a tremendous amount of flames.

'Ahhh. Stress relief.'

Sharon Stiller's lips slowly crawled up a smile as she saw the expressions made by countless bug players right before their deaths.

She had hidden it from others because of her image at first but she had a very bad habit.

A very bad habit that made her into a bug killer.

'Well. I wasn't a bug killer from the start.'

Sharon Stiller thought of her first days in this game.

Because she had some ability, she had advanced quite fast.

But there was something she had overlooked.

That the game she had started because she liked, had become tremendously stressful to her.

The moment her hobby became her work, the hobby was no longer a hobby and both the reality and the game were the same.

But she couldn't give up her wants and needs so Sharon Stiller faked a smile on the outside and lived in stress.

Then.

Sharon Stiller coincidentally saw a bug killer killing a bug player.

And their expressions of being hunted.

The ones being logged out in rage.

Those who had received a large amount of strength but only had one life in exchange, the expressions of such people dying.

Then.

Sharon Stiller realized which path she had to take.

'How nice.'

Sharon Stiller made a content expression while looking at Kamiyou who was lost in despair.

Though they were in despair, she was not.

She could just revive.

Their expressions allowed her to confirm how safe and stable her position was.

Watching their expressions from a safe location was extremely enjoyable and Sharon Stiller finally realized how she could relieve her stress.

From that day onwards she searched for these bug players and even studied about them.

She then purposely annoyed them and then killed them.

And as this continued, she became the leader of the Scarlet Demons.

Sharon Stiller laughed.

'Now...I need to finish things off. I'm done playing around.'

This incident was something that wasn't quite common even in her life.

Enjoying her time leisurely would be good but that bright red glowing object kept making her feel uneasy.

Sharon Stiller pushed the power of the spirit stone to the limits after deciding to end this quickly.

Whoooosh!

The flame from the Scarlet Flower burnt at an intense rate that no flame up until now could even be compared to.

To the point of making Kamiyou in front of her feel pain.

'Ugh...'

The injuries caused by Sharon Stiller's blades cracked open from by the heat and caused intense amounts of pain.

Kamiyou clenched his teeth and made an expression of despair.

Not from the pain but from the people dying away in his surroundings.

They were trying their best to stay alive but they were nowhere close enough.

Only he, who could use the power of the trait and control them, could command them to their fullest potential.

"Please! At this rate...!"

Kamiyou shouted urgently but only was only met with suspicion.

Kamiyou sighed.

There were no leaders who could gloss over the gap created by loss of credit.

Since he couldn't control a human's emotions with the contract.

They were now even being wary of those who they were usually friendly with while fighting.

Their full battle potential would not come out like this.

Kamiyou clenched his teeth and touched his wrist as he saw the people from the Ant Tunnel and even Einchel fighting while being on guard.

Well, the symbol on his wrist.

'Could I win... With this?'

But Kamiyou shook his head.

He couldn't use this just because he wanted to.

The person who had given this to him had told him so.

And the situation right now wasn't that good.

Kamiyou gave up and instead clenched his sword.

'Let's try to hold on. Just a bit more...I just need to hold on a bit more!'

Thump. Thump.

The beating sound from the object in the distance could be heard from everyone.

As if something was about to happen.

The problem was that Kamiyou wasn't the only person that was watching this.

Sharon Stiller frowned.

That thing.

That thing that was beating over there was the one thing that kept people from falling into their respective holes of despair.

As if it was the final strand of hope they had.

'It's getting on my nerves. That thing breaking...Will I finally be able to see the expression I need?'

It bothered her.

They were dispersed so victory was already within her grasp.

'Well. This guy isn't a nuisance anymore either.'

Kamiyou, who was dealing with her, was already half a mess and the vice-captain Olsen was quite relaxed.

Sharon contemplated up to this point and then sent a signal to Olsen.

One spirit stone was strong enough but using two properly would cause an even stronger destructive force.

Like how she had broken Kamiyou's artificial leg just before.

By freezing and heating it up.

Heat it and freeze it.

Expand, contract, expand and so on.

According to her experience so far, there was nothing that could withstand this combo.

'Full power. Me first.'

Then.

Boooooom!

The flame that was burning Kamiyou's skin just from the heat alone flew out.

Towards the ball of veins in the distance.

The tremendous amount of heat pushed past Kamiyou and cleared a path towards the ball of veins in the distance.

Kamiyou clenched his fist while he looked at the powerful attack that made hundreds of people stop in their tracks and scurry away from it.

'...No.'

He couldn't be disturbed.

The thing Hansoo was doing was the last bit of hope they had remaining.

If that hope got crushed, it was the end for all of them.

But there was no other way.

'Fucking hell...They were playing around.'

Kamiyou fell into a daze from the firepower that was dimensions apart from what he had seen up until now.

The conversation he had with the prophet in the past was playing back in his head.

<just a prophecy is a bit too cheap for the price of saving our children. i'll bless you guys. but remember. if you want to use this blessing properly then you have to go into the spirit lands. there's something you need to do in there.>

The prophet then added two other words of advice.

First.

There was somebody who had received this blessing in the past and they might've gone into the Spirit Lands already so if he met them, he was to ask them for assistance.

<well... it'll be amazing. hehehe. it's a tremendous amount of power. make sure you visit when you get the time. we can't go out but you can.>

Kamiyou smiled bitterly as he thought of the Prophet's words.

Him being tied down in the maze, he was in the same situation as them.

If he had left for the Spirit Lands back then, he might've gained that strength but all the other people in the Ant Tunnel would've died.

By the hands of Himura who would have assumed his betrayal.

The prophet then gave the second piece of advice.

Well, it was more of a warning.

<if you can't go to the spirit lands then... just forget about it. even if you could use it to a certain extent...you will definitely die.>

Kamiyou smiled as he thought of the Prophet's words.

'What a perfect timing.'

He didn't believe that there was a good time for someone to die.

But the current timing was perfect.

The condition was created by the opponent, he only needed the resolve.

'Since I caused this...I need to deal with it.'

Kamiyou laughed sadly and then raised his sleeves.

Then.

Whoooosh!

Kamiyou gazed at the flame that was rushing off while melting the maze down.

He then jumped in.

Towards the flame.

Then.

Booooooooom!

Kamiyou and the flame collided with each other and screamed out.

Kiiiiiiing!

The symbol started to shine brightly while he was being covered in the intense heat of the spirit stone.