novelraw Chapter 216 : Chapter 216
Chapter 216 : Chapter 216
Chapter 216: Transcendence
The reason it had been difficult to track the Society until now was that their headquarters, much like Ji-an's, was not in a normal space.
If it were just a Gate like hers, it would have been better, but they were said to be living in a separate space they created themselves.
That was harder to track than a Gate…… no, it was impossible.
The reason Ho-cheol had been active as a villain and growing his forces was also to change that impossible into possible.
Operation Roller.
Search every nook and cranny of every city and even the countryside, where people's eyes don't reach, with overwhelming numbers.
For places that couldn't be found that way, the Sage's Clairvoyance Trait would be mobilized.
Even if their space couldn't be specified, they couldn't live there forever, so if they could find even just the minimal entrance/exit, that alone would be a success.
And this was the moment that nearly a month of hard work was paying off.
“We finally caught their tail.”
A dark smile hung on Ho-cheol's lips.
Normally, the typical flow of events was that Ho-cheol would always take on even the trivial chores by himself, go through all sorts of hardships, and in the end, some worthless punks would run wild, trusting only in their numbers.
However, this time was different.
The situation of being overwhelmed by the enemy's numbers and struggling was completely reversed; instead, they were now crushing them, who operated secretly in small numbers, with overwhelming numbers.
As expected, ganging up is the way to go.
While they were heading to the coordinates received from the Sage.
Wolf Fang, with a sudden question, turned his head to the side.
“But couldn't even this, having their tail caught, be part of their plan? It doesn't seem like the probability of it being a trap to lure us is zero.”
Ho-cheol answered nonchalantly.
“Fifty-fifty.”
A whole fifty, a mere fifty.
Whichever way you interpreted it, it wasn't particularly wrong.
He had only faced the guy called the leader of the Society a couple of times, but he knew for sure what kind of person he was.
He was a meticulous and cautious fellow.
The reason he was suddenly spotted like this was probably due to some unavoidable circumstances.
I just hoped that variable would work as a plus for our side.
“Which side is the fifty?”
Everyone's gaze instantly turned to Ha-rin.
She waved her hand with an awkward laugh.
“Ah, just kidding. The mood got too stiff.”
They don't get humor, like a bunch of old folks.
Leaving her grumbling behind, the car soon arrived at the destination.
“It's a Gate.”
“It's a Gate.”
It was the last place the leader of the Society was spotted.
Even the Sage's Clairvoyance Trait couldn't see inside a Gate, so beyond this point was a completely unknown territory.
Just before entering the Gate, Ho-cheol looked back, just in case.
“Well, if any of you are scared, you can wait outside.”
Of course, no one raised their hand at that question, which was closer to mockery than consideration.
Even Ha-rin, who had the lowest combat power here, could easily handle an A-rank.
There was no reason at all to be afraid.
And above all, sticking next to Ho-cheol seemed to have a higher survival rate than being left alone.
All of them knew Ho-cheol's strength well.
“Then, I'm going in.”
Ho-cheol stepped beyond the Gate first.
And inside the Gate, a hazy, white fog was so thick that he couldn't see even an inch ahead.
Ho-cheol instinctively covered his mouth area with his hand.
Breathing in and out very slowly, he narrowed his brows.
“Doesn't seem to be poison.”
It seemed to be just a simple fog.
“Still, this is a bit much.”
It wasn't just obscuring vision, it was completely blocking it. If it were just pitch dark, he could rely on other senses, but this fog was quite thick and interfered with other senses as well.
And after about 10 more seconds, two people.
And then two more after them, everyone joined inside the Gate.
Even though they were at a distance where he could reach out and touch them, only their silhouettes were faintly visible.
“Well, it doesn't seem dangerous. But still, it's best to come with the distance narrowed as much as possible."
As he said that and was about to move forward again, Ho-cheol whipped his head back.
The companions, who were faintly visible just moments ago, had disappeared.
It had only been a few steps since he entered this Gate.
The guys who followed him were only that far behind.
But they scattered this easily?
They weren't just any idiots; the ones who followed were also quite skilled villains.
There was no chance they would get lost in a mere fog and become missing children.
“Is it shuffling the space?”
Ho-cheol waited for a moment, then finally started walking.
Nothing would change just by standing still here.
The best thing was for him, the strongest among them, to proactively break through the situation.
The only thing to hope for was that the others were at least sticking together in pairs.
I planned to gang up on them with numbers, but it's getting twisted from the start.
Fortunately, no monsters were felt inside the Gate.
Is this fog simply the harsh environment of this Gate?
The difficulty isn't that high.
How long had he walked thinking that.
Whoosh— The wind blew, and the fog cleared.
Looking back, the fog was still thick, so this must be a new area.
“……This place is.”
Ho-cheol let out a small exclamation of wonder.
He had been to countless Gates, but this place was different from all the Gates he had seen so far.
A canyon where an ocher wind swirled, this was a completely dry land where not a single blade of grass was permitted.
In between the clearly cracked ground, immense lengths of time were engraved.
There was no sun in the sky, but all the clouds were dried up, and a scorching heat boiled up from beneath his feet.
And far away, at the end of the canyon, someone was standing.
A person's shadow was cast long against the backdrop of a cliff.
A man with skin so white it was transparent, unfitting of this ocher color.
It was the leader of the Society.
Ho-cheol drew the sword from his waist.
Geugeugeuk—
He approached him, dragging the tip of his sword.
Although he couldn't gang up on him, the leader of the Society also had no other subordinates or traps visible around him.
Of course, he wouldn't be able to run away inside the Gate either.
If it was a complete one-on-one setup, this side could unilaterally beat him to a pulp.
Even though Ho-cheol approached, openly revealing his presence and making noise, the leader was still looking at the opposite canyon.
Ho-cheol finally called out to him first.
“Hey.”
“……Ah.”
Only then did the leader of the Society turn his head back.
Spotting Ho-cheol, his eyes widened as if momentarily flustered.
Ho-cheol was quite satisfied to see the guy who always leisurely messed with him make such an expression.
“How did you get here……. Ah, no. That's right. You must have sufficient ‘qualification’.”
Ho-cheol found a particularly grating expression in that meaningful sentence.
“Qualification? Don't tell me you're about to spout the nonsense that the guys who came with me couldn't make it here because they don't have that qualification……”
Ho-cheol, who had come right up next to the leader, momentarily stopped talking.
He had no choice but to stop.
The massive canyon visible in the distance.
There was something in between it.
Ho-cheol muttered in genuine shock.
“What in the world is that.”
Although it had a human form, that was not a person.
Because a person could not be that big.
An overwhelming size that ignored even the sense of perspective.
The depth of the canyon alone had to be at least hundreds of meters, but the height of it, leaning its back against the canyon, was not much different from the canyon's depth.
No, it was in a state with its knees slightly bent, so if it straightened up, it would probably be taller than even the deepest part of the canyon.
The largest monster in human history was a flying whale with a body length of 300m, and this was not at all lacking in comparison.
Looking at the giant of the Gate, Ho-cheol muttered.
“I've never seen such a huge monster.”
“Monster. A monster. Well, in the academic category, a monster is an unidentified creature within a Gate, unprecedented in human history. ―Since it's attached to that expression, it's not an entirely wrong term.”
Ho-cheol marveled again at its size, and the intense power he felt even though it was a corpse.
Even the power left like mere dregs far surpassed S-rank.
“Such a giant corpse. No, if it's a carcass, I wonder how much it would cost.”
“Ah, that's not it.”
The leader of the Society shook his head.
“It's not a carcass. It's still alive.”
“What?”
Ho-cheol, momentarily flustered, looked at the giant again.
No matter how he looked, he couldn't feel any pulse of life.
Seeing Ho-cheol like that, the leader added an explanation.
“To be precise, it's dead right now, but it's reviving.”
“Heh. It even resurrects.”
The resurrection of a monster wasn't such a surprising thing to him.
Just recently, the monster from Black Oskopf kept resurrecting, so they ended up changing venues and fighting in its mind.
That was really dangerous back then.
And the moment he recalled that battle, an ominous possibility flashed through Ho-cheol's mind.
That monster back then, it definitely said before it died that it wasn't in a complete state.
At the time, I just thought it was spouting nonsense because it was bitter about losing.
“No way. The main body that bastard mentioned is……”
“Yes. That's right. That is its true body.”
The leader also knew to some extent about the mastermind hiding in Black Oskopf.
The existence of that monster.
Although they were in an adversarial relationship, he had no intention of having a war of nerves in front of such an absurd monster.
Ho-cheol immediately asked the most important thing.
“So, the resurrection?”
“According to our calculations, it's about 3 years from now.”
“3 years, you say.”
The leader looked at Ho-cheol with a strange gaze.
At that gaze, Ho-cheol narrowed his brows, openly showing his displeasure.
“What is it.”
“How well can you see that giant?”
“What do you mean, how well. I can just see it perfectly fine?”
“As expected.”
Hearing Ho-cheol's answer, he smiled as if he knew it.
“According to records, the giant possesses numerous Traits. One of them is Unknowable, Untouchable, and Incomprehensible.. That's what we call it, anyway.”
Beings below a certain level couldn't even perceive that giant form.
“Being able to see its form completely, being able to interfere with it, and just grasping its identity means you have all the qualifications for transcendence.”
“You crazy transcendence parrot. It's just that strong guys are strong.”
“That strength is also a part of transcendence, though.”
“Well, whatever. If that thing resurrects in 3 years, then there's no problem at all in beating you to a pulp right now.”
He was momentarily flustered at the words that a hunk that big would resurrect like the monster he met at Black Oskopf, but if the time frame was this generous, there was no reason to worry.
Anyway, if he brought an army soon and unleashed everything, that super-giant monster or whatever would just be a pile of meat.
Ho-cheol gripped his sword again.
“Left and right. Arm and leg. I'll leave you one, so choose.”
“Haha. I'd prefer if all my limbs remained intact.”
“Then I'll just pull them all out.”
“Aren't you curious about our goal?”
“At best, you want to kill that giant, but to do that, you need transcendence or whatever. The picture is clear. You think I've only seen one or two villains like you?”
Just as Ho-cheol was about to swing his sword, as if he didn't want to hear any more.
Kugugugung—
The ground suddenly shook.
In the intense earthquake that made it hard to even stand, Ho-cheol stabbed his sword into the ground to maintain balance.
He wondered if it was the leader's trick.
But he was already completely fallen on the ground.
Rather, he was looking around, even more flustered than Ho-cheol.
The two soon realized the cause of the earthquake.
The giant monster, which had been still until just moments ago, was slowly moving its body.
It was a simple movement of pulling its body, which was leaning against the canyon, away, but with its overwhelming size, the earth was crying out from that alone.
“Wha, why!”
The leader of the Society shouted in shock.
For him, too, it was a completely unexpected variable.
No, it was a variable that shouldn't have existed.
The giant monster stood up completely.
As it straightened its knees, its height surpassed the depth of the canyon, and its head soared to a place even higher than Ho-cheol.
The eyelids, which had been closed until moments ago, rose, and it completely opened its eyes.
The pupils, larger than a person, rolled—and turned toward Ho-cheol.
Its lips were still firmly closed, but its voice echoed directly in his head.
[The scent of my blood. It comes from you.]
It was a giant that shouldn't have been able to get up yet, but it forced its eyes open at the faint scent of itself wafting over.
Although it was such a tiny part that it couldn't even be called a clone or a fragment, it hadn't thought a being existed that could kill it.
This emotion was clearly curiosity.
The giant looked at Ho-cheol.
Ho-cheol also raised his head and looked at it.
A short silence flowed.
Ho-cheol asked.
“What are you staring at.”
Wanna die.