Chapter 276

The Strongest Equipped with both Light and Dark (1)

"Shin-hyuk!"

"Junior!" Shin Eunah and Claire broke through the window and jumped inside as strange tranquility begun to settle over the hall. Kang Shin-hyuk and Vita had made it to the top from the basement, though it was impossible to know what they had been through. Now, the Gaia system and this building... No, maybe all the magic of this world was being absorbed into the sword and handed over to Kang Shin-hyuk. Which meant that the building's defense had become zero, and thanks to that...

-Kooong!

"Uh, huh? Tilting?"

"It'll collapse right away; let's get out!"

Kang Shin-hyuk put the sword in his inventory and turned to the party. Vita was quickly packing only the belongings of her friends.

"Uh?! Is it collapsing? Wait, we need to analyze the Gaia system..."

"Onyx!"

-Myu!

-Wait, Anvil...!

The contaminated Gaia system tried to convey a message to Kang Shin-hyuk, but he already knew everything he wanted to know, thanks to Onyx. The mistake of the Gaia system was that it brought down the system that originally encompassed the whole world into the physical realm. Onyx swallowed up all the facilities in its providence, and now this was the last of its power. It was a far cry from dominating the world.

"Okay, now, if you ask Onyx, he'll give you the details."

"What the hell is he?!"

"Let's get out first!"

Then, the building's collapse began to accelerate, and Kang Shin-hyuk pulled along the wordless Shin Eunah and Claire to escape together. By the time they safely landed on the ground with the power of the wind, the building had already collapsed.

"Ah, that too... You have to take that too."

In the place where Shin Eunah and Claire faced the giant Metal Death Knight, only a portion of its armor remained. As the sword absorbed all the magic, all the unclean energy that formed the bodies vanished, and only pure power remained.

"Junior, a gift."

"Huh?"

Kang Shin-hyuk tilted his head and accepted the iron plate from Shin Eunah. It was a slab of pure metal, perhaps because all the magic had disappeared, that was slightly larger than his fist. Kang Shin-hyuk naturally stretched out his spiritual power to look at the metal, and at the same time, sparks of gold splashed out of it.

"Wait a minute, this..."

"The world."

"Wow, ah..."

However, as he tried to continue to look into the metal, the world titled. His senses were broken, and the earth and sky cracked. The rules of the world were beginning to break down one by one. Things were emerging, going extinct, randomly duplicating, and fusing. All his thoughts went away like smoke at the sight before him.

-With the absence of the Gaia system, the world will soon disappear. It would be better to go right away.

Meanwhile, the calm voice of the administrator resonated through everyone's ears. Shin Eunah, realizing the situation, immediately took Kang Shin-hyuk's hand. He activated his space coordination skill with her help, moving them to his My Room.

"Is everyone okay?"

"Yes."

"Somehow..."

"Yes!"

-Myu!

Everyone couldn't feel sane after such a series of shocking events. At the same time, only Onyx, who evolved after eating plenty of metal, seemed to be full of energy. How many people have observed the moment when a world perished? If the administrator didn't tell them to set coordinates in advance, there was a chance they wouldn't have made it.

"Something... I think I got stronger."

Then, suddenly, Shin Eunah spoke up.

"What?"

"I feel like I got to know space and time better as I watched the world fall."

"Claire, this one is talking ridiculous, what do you think?"

"Let's ignore it."

She's not the main character of a novel, yet she gained strength from that? However, there was a positive change in her magic, so she wasn't lying.

"Hmm... Ah?"

Putting aside Eunah's embarrassing words, he could see that a small change was taking place in his My Room. There was a tool hanger next to the furnace, with tongs and the like hung up.

"...This."

Kang Shin-hyuk approached it silently and hefted the handle of the hammer. Traces of time could be seen on the torn and newly-applied pieces of cloth on the handle. He wondered if it was a copy of the stuff from his memories, but putting his spiritual power in it, he confirmed that wasn't the case. It was the same thing.

"..."

"Junior?"

"Shh, let it go."

He stood there and chatted with the hammer. Perhaps it was more meaningful for him to obtain this hammer as a reward than to obtain Dark Mastery. It contained all the memories and experiences of his time forging as Anvil in his previous life, so it would be helpful for Kang Shin-hyuk to engrave that into his body...But more than that, he just wanted to know more about Anvil's life.

'...I came at the right time. I hate to admit the administrator's sense.'

If he had acquired that when he first entered My Room, he might've been swept away by Anvil's memories and abilities. However, he gradually formed himself by increasing his synchronization rate until now and training his spiritual power. Thanks to that, even if he received a hammer with such an enormous source, he could accept everything in it naturally. Rather, it was helpful to him now, as it helped harmonize the memories and information the sword had mixed up.

-Synchronization has accelerated at an incredible speed- current rate of 92.9%.

How much time had passed like that before he hung the hammer back up and turned around to notice Shin Eunah and Claire watching him?

"What?"

"Look at you questioning us. You've been there for thirty minutes."

"Well, I'm sorry. I got too much information."

From his look at that moment, Claire knew that he had changed a lot in a short moment. His face hadn't changed, but now she felt a strangely calm atmosphere. From the start, he was a mature person for his age, but now she felt something more exciting.

'Am I just fitting Shin-hyuk to my taste...? No, he's definitely more attractive, but I can't explain what changed or how...!'

If so, her love was clearly severe. Claire shook her head and continued.

"Are you okay?"

"No problem. Right, Onyx? Show Claire what you got."

-Myu!

Onyx, who was on his shoulder, walked to Claire and held out his back. Then, some of the thorns stretched out like electric wires. Claire watched it with a tilted head, then touched her phone with an expression of lingering sorrow. In no time, an enormous amount of data was downloaded to her phone.

"...When did he become a computer?"

"Perhaps today?"

-Myu!

Onyx's message was delivered to her in the form of a text message. Claire looked up at Kang Shin-hyuk.

"Give him to me."

"Take him."

"Really?"

-Myu?!

Onyx, who had been sold in no time, opened his eyes wide, but Claire smiled and hugged him.

"It's a joke, but I'll borrow you occasionally. I think you'll work well with me."

"You can take him."

-Myuuuuuuuuu!

"He has a surprisingly strong loyalty."

That was probably because his loyalty had reached 100 in the process of eating.

"Dad, is this earth?"

Vita spoke up this time. This was the first time she had left her world, and the atmosphere of My Room was so unique.

"This is a space attached to the Hero Universe. Strictly speaking, it isn't."

"I see..."

"Want to head there?"

"Ah, no..."

Vita smiled awkwardly, then lowered her head.

"Today, there are so many sad things...I want to calm down a little, so I'll stay here for a minute."

"Okay..."

Claire carefully approached Vita and hugged her. Vita cried quietly in her arms. Shin Eunah watched the scene in disbelief, then turned to Kang Shin-hyuk and checked in with the admin.

"What time is it on Earth now, sir?"

-It's still Thursday night. You don't even need to miss school tomorrow."

"Ah."

For a moment, he had forgotten about the ratio with Cy Xenon. He told Baek that he would be absent and ran out... Before, he might've been scared or embarrassed by it, but Kang Shin-hyuk, having grown mentally by accepting those memories, no longer was concerned about it.

"Are you really going to stay here?"

"Here, in dad's room? Then I'll only be here for tonight. Um, can I do that?"

Vita motioned in the air as she looked at Kang Shin-hyuk, asking for permission. After a second, she nodded to herself."

"Thank you, administrator, sister."

"Sister..."

"Sister..."

"Sister..."

The voices of Kang Shin-hyuk, Claire, and Shin Eunah overlapped in harmony. The administrator replied right away.

-If you have anything to say, please do it yourself.

"No, it's nothing."

Attacking the administrator here would lead to a difficult situation, so he decided not to. There was something he accused the administrator about earlier, so he decided to leave it there today. The three left Vita in his My Room and returned to Kang Shin-hyuk's dorm room. It was only 1 A.M. Kang Shin-hyuk first decided to message Baek In-ha.

[I don't think I'll be gone tomorrow.]

[Baek In-ha: Premature ejaculation?]

[You serious?]

[Baek In-ha: No, it's over very quickly, but you also took two of them.]

[Don't think about that. See you tomorrow, anyway.]

Looking up, he found the two sitting on his bed. Kang Shin-hyuk began to grow embarrassed by the strange atmosphere circulating around them.

"Huh? Why are you both... Wait a minute. What are you doing?"

"We're sitting?"

"Wait."

Claire was holding onto Shin Eunah.

"Senior, no."

"No, I can."

"No way."

"Claire..."

Shin Eunah looked at Claire, her eyes asking for help.

"I was thinking of telling you later..."

"I know roughly what you're thinking, but I can't."

"Do you hate me?"

"This is another matter. Even if it is possible to love two people at the same time, no."

"Ugh, huh..."

He didn't know what kind of conversation they had, but it was clear that Claire decided to accept Shin Eunah. But even so, Kang Shin-hyuk couldn't accept it. Even more so now, that Anvil's memories and experiences were almost completely present.

"I have so many things I want to say to my junior..."

"Eunah senior, let's talk next time. I think I need to punish Claire a little today, so next time, not today."

Shin Eunah also realized that he had changed as his resolute attitude, his will, had no way of breaking. While Claire blinked blankly, she vanished, using her space movement to leave. As soon as Shin Eunah disappeared, Claire quickly turned on Kang Shin-hyuk.

"No, how are you rejecting this? Are you crazy?"

"Claire, I think you seem crazy..."

What was she thinking, to bring another woman to him? That was like the way Bridget thought!

"Thank you so much for thinking of me, but I have my own thoughts..."

"Then, can you tell me?"

"Huh?"

"Your thoughts."

Kang Shin-hyuk sat down on the bed and motioned for Claire to join him before speaking up quietly.

"Tell me; I'll listen to everything. Then let's talk. I want to know what kind of thoughts came to this conclusion."

"Ah, uh..."

Claire anguished for a moment before meeting his unshaken eyes; then, she quickly sat down beside him.

"Aren't you laughing?"

"I'm not smiling."

"Will you kick me off?"

"I won't."

"Then...?"

"Okay."

Claire wriggled for nothing and leaned into him.

Then, they started talking...