Chapter 320: Goddess's Rage (1)

"Thank you for becoming my child." Gaia smiled faintly. She then continued solemnly, "From now on, I, Gaia, swear on my Divinity that I will spare no support and love for Protector Oh Kang-Woo."

The blinding light that entered Oh Kang-Woo burst out, and a golden light enveloped him.

"I will dedicate my life to you, Lady Gaia," Kang-Woo answered.

Gaia stroked Kang-Woo's hair with a smile filled with parental love.

"You do not have to speak so formally. You are now... nothing short of my child."

"Lady Gaia..."

For the first time since the primeval chaos, the Protector of Light was born in a way that would never have been imagined by any transcendental being.

'Huehuehuehuehue!!'

Kang-Woo suppressed his laughter with all his might. He had become a hero that was vouched for by Gaia, a goddess of the top rank! He had never expected to gain such an insane asset.

"Congratulations, hyung-nim." Kim Si-Hun grabbed his hand with a bright smile.

Seeing that, Uriel grabbed Kang-Woo's other hand and let out a snort.

"Rather, it's more of a surprise that you weren't a Protector until now. You should've become a Protector way earlier than this," he grumbled.

Si-Hun's eyebrows twitched. "It could not have been helped since Lady Gaia was unwell."

He then pulled on Kang-Woo's hand that he was holding. It was like having flowers (stamens) in each hand. Kang-Woo frowned.

'Stop it, you sons of bitches.'

He aggressively shook them off.

Gaia covered a hand over her mouth and let out a hushed giggle. "Since the Protector selection is complete, I will get to the main topic at hand."

"Yes, Lady Gaia." Kang-Woo nodded.

He was highly interested in what Gaia had to say, and just as worried.

"Protector Kim Si-Hun and Oh Kang-Woo, my lovely children. I would like to entrust... a very special mission to you two."

"Special..."

"Mission?"

Kang-Woo and Si-Hun expressed confusion from the sudden proposition.

Gaia nodded. "My powers have been partially restored, but... As you all know, it is not permanent. In the end... At this rate, I will go back to being unable to move an inch like before."

"... Yes, we know."

"There is a way to delay that process. This does not resolve the fundamental issue either, but... It will buy much more time than the previous operation."

"Will we be destroying a Rift like last time?" Kang-Woo asked.

Gaia slowly shook her head. "It is different. No... I guess it is not completely different." She then continued with a low tone, "I want you two to go to the continent of Aernor to find and destroy the sealed corpse of the Demon God."

Heavy silence fell. Both Kang-Woo and Si-Hun naturally turned agape.

'What?'

What Gaia had just said was absolutely insane.

'It's not like we can just go to Aernor whenever we want.'

Kang-Woo had gotten so used to the word Aernor that it no longer sounded like the name of another world. Based on what he had heard from Echidna, it was a classic fantasy world with dragons, fairies, knights and mages.

'The only different thing is...'

The civilization of Aernor was highly advanced. They still had a monarchy, but general civilization was fairly advanced due to the advancements in magic tools.

'No, that's not what's important right now.'

Kang-Woo quickly raised his head back up. The important point was that Aernor was not on Earth, but was another world entirely.

"What... Do you mean?"

"I knew you would be confused. It is only natural, since I told you to go to another world out of nowhere." Gaia nodded with a bitter smile. She then pointed at Uriel and continued, "However, I am not sending you to a land that you can never return from. You could say that it is similar to how the Wings of Seraph over there is on Earth right now."

Kang-Woo and Si-Hun's faces relaxed slightly.

'I guess it's something along the lines of going to a foreign country that you can't just come and go however you wish.'

Although Aernor was another world, many beings from that world had come to Earth, such as Reynald, Lucis and Lucifer, and Uriel; they were all residents of Aernor.

'But even so, another world?'

It was definitely not someplace that one could go with light feelings.

"... Is there a reason why we absolutely have to go?"

"If there wasn't, I would not be sending my lovely children to another world." Gaia nodded with a heavy expression. "You all may not know this, but... Earth's protection is not confined just to the star known as Earth. It is deeply intertwined with the protection of the respective stars Aernor and Huan."

Kang-Woo narrowed his eyes. His hypothesis when he had first heard that Seraph's seal was weakening had been confirmed.

"The protection of Aernor and Huan have also become unstable due to the impaired protection of Earth," Gaia mentioned.

"Is that connected to destroying the corpse of the Demon God?"

Gaia nodded. "Aernor's protection is not as specialized as Earth's protection in blocking otherworldly interference; it is more specialized toward stopping the Demon God's revival. If the Demon God's corpse is completely destroyed... Aernor's protection can be used to block otherworldly interference."

Kang-Woo narrowed his eyes again. He more or less understood what Gaia was trying to say.

'But...'

He had two questions.

"First, are the protections of each star not being managed by the respective ruling god of each world? Do you have the authority to modify Aernor's protection, Lady Gaia?"

"... Good question." Gaia stared at Kang-Woo in slight surprise. She nodded soon after and answered, "Long story short, I do. When Seraph sealed the darkness by sacrificing her Divinity, she passed her authority over to me."

"In that case, I have one more question." This one was what Kang-Woo actually did not understand. "If there was a way to destroy the Demon God's corpse, why have you not done it until now?"

Even if they were Protectors, they were still only human. Although that was no longer the case now that Kang-Woo had also become a Protector, Gaia did not know that. Asking Kang-Woo and Si-Hun to destroy the Demon God's corpse that even the gods had no choice but to seal was absurd.

Gaia also answered this question without hesitation, "After the Demon God's corpse on Earth disappeared, Bauli's Divinity has become unstable. Now... We should be able to annihilate his corpse."

Kang-Woo's eyes sharpened.

'So that's why he tried to take over my body.'

Bauli had tried to get his hands on Kang-Woo's body as soon as Kang-Woo absorbed the Demon God's corpse. If that had been to get his hands on the other portions of his corpse, it made sense for him to have acted so hastily.

'In that case...'

Kang-Woo smirked.

'This could be a good opportunity.'

Eliminating the Demon God's corpse was necessary in the sense that he would be eliminating future risk factors in advance.

'There's also the option for me to eat it instead of destroying it, but...'

Kang-Woo shook his head.

'It's far too dangerous.'

It was not that he didn't want the enormous demonic energy contained within the Demon God's corpse, but it was way too risky.

'As long as Bauli is within me, I can't eat his corpse.'

If he did, Bauli's influence would grow bigger and could give him the chance to take over Kang-Woo's body. He could obtain immense power by eating the corpse, but at the risk of his body being taken over; it was not even worth considering whether to take that chance or not.

'No matter how strong I become...'

It was meaningless if he would lose control over his body.

"I understand. I will go to Aernor with Si-Hun."

"H-Hyung-nim." Si-Hun looked at Kang-Woo in bewilderment.

Kang-Woo calmly continued, "However, it is far too dangerous for just us two to go by ourselves. We need more help."

"I will leave it entirely to you two to choose who to take with you. My incarnation will also join you. It will be difficult for me to manifest through her like I am now, but... I will be able to assist you through revelations."

Kang-Woo nodded. "When will we be departing...?"

"For you to cross through Aernor's protection without receiving any form of restrictions, it will take about half a year. I would like you to train to grow stronger until then."

"Understood."

Half a year... It was a long yet short amount of time.

'It's a bit later than I'd expected.'

Kang-Woo wanted to eliminate the risk factor that was Bauli as soon as possible, but it could not be helped.

"Hyung-nim..." Si-Hun called out to him anxiously.

"Sorry for deciding without consulting you, Si-Hun."

"Not at all. I was planning on following whatever you decided on. But..." Si-Hun asked in worry, "What will happen to Earth while we're gone?"

"I will take care of that," Gaia declared strongly. "Now that Earth's protection has been restored, I will not let otherworldly beings do as they wish on Earth."

Fwoooom.

Great power flowed out from Gaia.

"Although my incarnation will be with you all... I am not as powerless as I have been before."

There was nothing more reassuring than the declaration of a goddess with top-rank Divinity.

"Oh Kang-Woo... No, my lovely child. Thank you for accepting my unreasonable request." Gaia approached Kang-Woo while smiling gently. "May your path be filled with the blessing of li—"

As she was expressing her best wishes to Kang-Woo while caressing his cheek, her expression slightly crumpled.

She mumbled with a hint of hesitancy in her words, "What...? Why?"

Her voice was filled with confusion. Kang-Woo stared at her in wonder of what was going on, but flinched after hearing her mumbles.

"Why... are there traces of demonic energy..."

"...!"

Kang-Woo's eyes widened.

'Fuck.'

He was fucked. He clenched his chest without hesitation and collapsed on the spot.

"Kurgh! Cough, cough!"

"H-Hyung-nim?!"

Si-Hun quickly ran up to him.

"Kang-Woo, could you be..."

Uriel's eyes shook. His expression stiffened after approaching to see Kang-Woo collapsed on the ground. He was used to seeing such a scene.

"Shit, shit!! It still... hasn't disappeared yet?!" Uriel shed tears while shouting.

He put his hands on Kang-Woo's chest and poured sacred power into him. Kang-Woo, who had been seizing up, gradually relaxed.

"Wh-What is going on, Wings of Seraph?" Gaia asked with a trembling voice.

Uriel answered sorrowfully with his head lowered, "This is... Rakiel's doing."

"What?" Gaia's eyes widened.

Kang-Woo hurriedly extended his arm as if to shut Uriel up.

"L-Lord Uriel... Don't..."

"... I'm sorry, Kang-Woo. I can't hide it any longer."

Uriel revealed the secret that only he and Kang-Woo knew, about what Rakiel had done to Kang-Woo's body in the two weeks that Kang-Woo had been captured by him.

"A-Aaaahh," Gaia shook.

Crack. The ground she was standing on split.

"How... How dare he..."

Rumble—!!

The entire Hall of Protection shook.

Crackle!

The power of the enraged goddess distorted space itself.

"How dare the mere Constellation of Corruption lay a hand on my child?!"

The rage of Gaia, the goddess in charge of one of the worlds of the Triad, pointed toward the Constellation of Corruption.