Chapter 275: Kahar (9)

"That crazy bastard!"

Hazen shouted as he gritted his teeth. The powered suit he was wearing vibrated quietly, and he was in front of Ellos in the next moment. He held up his fist.

"You dare trick me!?"

"It's too late, Hazen."

Ellos laughed. His sword was already deep inside the crystal. The violet colored crystal pulsed red like a glass heart. At the same time, the surrounding mana began to detonate. Hazen punched Ellos and sent him flying, but as Ellos said, it was too late. There was no way to recover the crystal.

"Kang Shin, you'll die too! Help me stop it!"

"Didn't you hear? It's too late."

Amidst the thundering explosion of mana, I roused Peruta Circuit and retorted calmly. I looked behind me. Neither Licorice nor Lotte was there. Mm, they properly escaped when I whispered them to.

"Hu...!"

Ellos staggered up and looked at me. His body was also shining periodically. I was certain that he was perfectly connected to the crystal.

When Ellos got up completely, one of his arm exploded. At the same time, a part of the crystal also exploded with a thundering roar, dyeing the surroundings red. This was probably what it was like to witness a bomb go off up close.

"Your friends aren't here... Did you see through my plan that much, friend?"

"Yep. Though, I didn't think you'd detonate the crystal. Also..."

I held up my spear. The superdense mana around us shot towards the reddened crystal and exploded. It was a truly catastrophic amount of mana.

"You're no longer my friend."

When Ellos died, the crystal would detonate completely. In other words, the entire space around us would explode. Perhaps, the entire Peruta Mountain Range would explode and even continue out to the rest of the continent. That was how overwhelming the amount of mana gathered here was. Kahar. As Peruta said, he was a god that destroyed everything, even the things he wanted to protect. Thinking about it now, Peruta hadn't mentioned him randomly. He had undoubtedly felt an ill omen and had advised me to be wary of him.

"Damn it, Kang Shin! Don't kill him now!"

Hazen seemed to have realized that Ellos was connected to the crystal. Regardless of what they were saying, I rolled my eyes, looking for the last thing I needed to obtain. This was the only thing I couldn't prepare for. I could only depend on my luck.

"What are you looking for? That crater's the only place you can run, Shin."

Ellos pointed to the sky and spoke. I followed his finger and looked up at the sky. Beyond the giant hole in the faraway ceiling was a night sky. It was so far that even Divine Speed couldn't help me escape. There were only few seconds left until the explosion.

"Da... Damn it! Etos! O God of Destruction!"

Hazen had a god's true name, one belonging to a Destruction God. As I thought, he was incredible. Considering his power, I felt he rather suited the Destruction God.

Shiva's power boiled inside me. It wanted to break out. Did it want to determine who was superior as a Destruction God? However, it seemed Hazen's power wasn't enough. He probably wanted to destroy Ellos' energy covering the crystal, but as they were both gods' true names, that was difficult to do.

Mana exploded. It broke through the whirlpool surrounding my mana and injured me. Most of the crystal shattered and my explorer power was restored, but that wasn't enough. Even Hazen, who had used his god's true name, was being injured. There was no way I could be safe without doing anything.

Still, I was smiling.

"Thanks, Ellos. I found out thanks to you."

"Shin...!?"

Ellos retorted in a flustered tone. In the next moment, I used Divine Speed. I approached him, and kicked him.

"So I'll let you find your own death."

"Kak!"

Ellos flew straight across the sky and smashed against the crystal. Red mana shot out from the crystal and grabbed Ellos. Before Ellos could say anything, he froze. The crystal had begun assimilating with Ellos.

"What are you doing!?"

"That'll increase the destructive power."

"And you still did it...!? Wasn't he once your friend!?"

"Friend?"

I found it absurd.

"Someone who used my life to get his revenge? That's not a friend. He only used me as a chess piece."

"You... Didn't you say you trusted him!?"'

"Me? How could I? I could see his scheme from miles away."

I smirked and shook my head.

"But I knew he wanted to kill you. No matter what sacrifice he had to make."

To be honest, I wasn't confident I could win against Hazen. The magical tool suppressing explorers' power was too strong. Hazen had also reigned supreme in almost two dimensional world wars. It was impossible to fight such a world's enemy without using the dungeon's power.

"So I also used him as a chess piece."

"Kang Shin, you... You!"

I didn't think Ellos could kill him, but I expected him to weaken the world's enemy. Ellos responded to my expectation outstandingly. In fact, he even went beyond my expectation. The mana gathered in the crystal wasn't just enough to kill Hazen, it was enough to ruin the entire continent. The only downside was that it might kill me too.

"Hah! In the end, you're also a Hero! Someone who stands on the peak of such dirty worlds can't possibly be clean!"

"Shouldn't you worry about your subordinates than me?"

Almost in response to my words, mana once again exploded. This time, it was far bigger. Most of Hazen's subordinates were swept away by the explosion. Hazen realized what happened and screamed in despair.

"Kuaaaaa! Kasinaaaaaaa! Someone like you, someone like you!!"

No matter what happened, no matter what anyone said, I didn't care. I looked up at the sky. From the giant hole to the holes in the surface of walls leading down to the floor I was standing on. I looked at the spiral helix radiating out.

How long did his vestige stay here? It was engraved so clearly and had withstood countless years. I could only admire his divinity.

"Hu..."

'Peruta.' I murmured to myself.

He was amazing. It was a power and vestige befitting a god. I was somewhat doubtful, but it really was here. If it wasn't for Ellos, I wouldn't have noticed until this entire space was destroyed.

"Overlord, Trishula."

I quietly recited two powers and held up my spear. Peruta Circuit's extreme spin made it difficult for me to carry myself, but I endured it. I could do it. I should be able to.

"No, it can't end like this! Our hope! I swear I will not—"

Finally, the crystal exploded along with the entire surrounding space. Ellos was the first one to explode, and Hazen, who was resisting with the Destruction God's power, couldn't withstand the current of mana and transformed into a stream of blood. A world's enemy, who successfully conquered a world and bared the ambition to devour the dungeon, died in vain.

However, I didn't have the time to pay attention to anything else.

"Let's do this, Peruta...!"

In the middle of the overwhelming blood-red mana, I accelerated Peruta Circuit. I tuned my breathing and whirlpool to the helix Peruta drew. I didn't need to two whirlpools to cover my body and spear. I only need one whirlpool centered around the Peruta Circuit in my body. Just one was enough.

"Huoooooop!"

An enormous amount of mana rushed into my body. It attacked Ellos and Hazen whimsically, but as soon as I pulled it towards me, it happily shot towards me as if it found the master it had been waiting for. At the same time, Peruta Circuit continued to vibrate, absorbing and spinning everything.

The mana filling up the surrounding space perfectly suited me. Still, there was just too much. A current of mana I had never wielded before creaked to escape my control. As it reeled to destroy me, I desperately straightened my breathing. If I missed this moment, there was nothing else I could do.

To top it off, another type of mana rushed towards me. It was the storm caused by the shattered blood-red crystal that swallowed Hazen and Ellos. Tens of thousands of crystals, imbued with the giant crystal's power and Kahar's power, didn't follow my command and swept towards me like a wild beast.

My armor became tattered, my hair was cut, and blood spurted out from my body. My vitality fell to a miserable level, and it felt like my soul was being yanked out. Still, the spin continued. I had long forgotten about any pain. This was also a type of mana. I should be capable of controlling it. Mana followed an even larger mana!

I couldn't even tell where I was. Volcano? Would it still look like one? I didn't know. I didn't even care what condition my body was in. I only focused on one thing. This giant whirlpool I had to create.

"I can... do it...!"

At that moment, a piece of the blood-red crystal was sucked into the whirlpool surrounding my body and began to spin. Next, more and more crystals became incapable of withstanding the current of mana and was absorbed by my whirlpool.

The mana, which detonated the entire space, didn't spread and continued to be collected. The whirlpool roiling around me slowly compressed itself. In the process, the tens of thousands of scattered crystals were beginning to become one again.

I breathed. A terrifying amount of mana had come inside me and was accelerating Peruta Circuit's spin. The surrounding space crumbled and the hole connecting the sky to the ground became larger. The whirlpool Peruta drew was completely gone. However, I was now displaying that whirlpool with my own body.

Peruta's mana covering this place, no, this whole continent, was rushing towards me and forming a whirlpool. Almost as if it had been waiting for this moment.

I body floated up automatically. I was in the center of the whirlpool. Now, nothing could injure me. Mana circulated around me calmly, and the pieces of the blood-red crystal compressed themselves as they fused together. At that moment, I realized.

That I had become one with Peruta Circuit.

"Ah, aaaaah!"

Unable to withstand the sense of ecstasy, I shouted. The mana filling up my body was beginning to change me from the inside. The bracelet Lin gave me, Radiance, then scattered. It didn't disappear. Everything forming the bracelet had melted down and was flowing into me along with mana.

The current sensation was incomparable to when I first equipped Radiance. An overwhelming mana shattered my body and reforged it from the very beginning. I disappeared entirely, leaving only Peruta Circuit behind, then reappeared around Peruta Circuit from head to toe. It was a body formed from only Peruta Circuit's mana, one that other trivial mana couldn't dare to approach.

Still, it wasn't enough. Peruta Circuit, in the end, belonged to Peruta. I needed something that belonged to me. Only then would I take a 'step' forward. I could only realize this now that I had gotten this strong. No one needed to tell me, I was enlightened naturally.

With my hair being reconstituted, the current of mana began to subside.

"Huu..."

I slowly opened my eyes. Neither the superdense mana nor the blood-red crystal was here. I was floating in empty air. Volcano? It had long since disappeared. Only magma was boiling from the deep depths.

"Dear Husband!"

A voice rang out from far away. Lotte and Licorice was flying up towards me. I smiled and waved my hands.

"Are you two safe?"

"Dear Husband!"

Licorice called me yearningly. They looked fine on the outside, but were they hurt!? I rushed towards them anxiously but stopped in place when I heard Licorice's shouting.

"Wear something! You're too lewd!"