novelraw Chapter 147 : The Realm of the 5th Circle (2)
Chapter 147 : The Realm of the 5th Circle (2)
Yinglong, a demonic beast from the legends, said to have been a divine beast in the past that became corrupted after killing the god of war, Chiyou.
Swaaaa-
As the creature appeared, fog settled in the area, and it began to rain.
‘What an incredible cold.’
The ground freezes around the Yinglong. A momentum so strong that it would be difficult for anyone below the peak level to even approach.
“Kwaaaaaa!”
The creature lost its reason and began to freeze or swallow the martial artists in the area.
‘It’s moving on instinct.’
Seeing it attack both the unorthodox and orthodox factions without distinction, it seemed it was just slaughtering humans in a fit of madness rather than listening to specific commands.
That meant that Zhuge Ryu-hun was not controlling the creature right now.
As if to prove that thought, a ring that looked like an artifact was fitted around the demonic beast’s neck.
The patterns tattooed all over its scales must also be contributing to the Yinglong’s madness.
“That ring and the patterns are its weak points! So, Baek Hasin, you break them. I’ll chase after Zhuge Ryu-hun!”
“By yourself?”
“It’s hard to catch him unless you’re also a formation master. You do what you have to do, I’ll take care of myself.”
If my prediction about the secret of Zhuge Ryu-hun’s mysterious mobility was correct, Baek Hasin would be of no help anyway.
In that case, it was better to leave Baek Hasin on the battlefield and let him be active.
Above all, it was better to have as few people as possible for the questions I was about to ask Zhuge Ryu-hun.
I ran in the direction the Yinglong had flown from.
Considering the altitude from which the demonic beast had appeared and the point at which it had suddenly appeared, it was certain that it had been hiding in the hill of that basin terrain and had suddenly appeared.
No matter how much he had let it loose without control, to bring a demonic beast this far, he must have given a specific flight command.
He probably gave the command to fly this way and at the same time triggered its madness, so he should still be on that hill.
‘To control a demonic beast of that size and even trigger its madness, it must have consumed a considerable amount of mental energy.’
There was a high probability that he was resting for the time being.
I immediately ran quickly in the direction the Yinglong had flown from.
The moment I climbed the rocky mountain with few human traces and crossed the hill, I could feel something heterogeneous beyond.
‘A concealment formation.’
For a hastily made one, a concealment formation of a considerable level was in that place.
If it weren't for my super-senses, I would have just passed by.
But in the end, I found it, and now I was cautiously aiming the First Blade, wrapped in shadow.
And the moment I secretly approached and fired the First Blade.
“You’re quick-witted.”
With Zhuge Ryu-hun’s cracked voice, the First Blade, which had bent in mid-air, pierced a tree behind.
‘As expected.’
I cut down, aiming for the two legs of Zhuge Ryu-hun, who had come out after undoing the concealment formation.
Swish!
But the sword only cut through the empty air. Zhuge Ryu-hun was already on a tree.
“How about we talk for a moment?”
“Then try talking while dodging.”
As soon as I finished speaking, I flew a powerful qi at the tree and then immediately ran towards the place where I felt a presence.
This time, it was further away, on the mountainside.
When I flew a spear of flame lightning, the opponent extended a palm with a bracelet and deflected the spear of flame lightning like a ray of light hitting a convex lens.
Objects and light bending in the air. Now it was certain.
“I’ve never seen a sorcery that deals with space before.”
He was a space-ability user.
“I knew you’d notice. This is my point of arrival.”
Zhuge Ryu-hun replied with a dry cough. I asked, flying an additional spear of flame lightning.
“Is that what you gained by turning your back on your family and entering the Blood Cult?”
“That’s right.”
Kwaang!
Again, the bracelet bent the space, and a flame exploded behind Zhuge Ryu-hun.
‘There must be a limit to dealing with space. I’ll wear him down like this.’
I asked further.
“Why did you go to such lengths? You could have researched enough in your family.”
“To defy the Heavenly Wheel.”
“What?”
“What if, I say, you could turn a demonic beast into a divine beast?”
I thought of the Yinglong. The brilliant being that had become corrupted because it had harmed a divine being.
“But it was impossible. That fate was set from the beginning. I wanted to break through that. I wanted to go against the natural order.”
“So you joined hands with the Heretic Alliance right after the Blood Cult fell?”
“That’s right. To create the existence called the Blood Fiend, which goes against reason, and to prove it by changing a demonic beast into a divine beast. I tried to change fate!”
Zhuge Ryu-hun answered with a serious face. But to me, he was just a mad formation master.
“Fate… isn’t it just a matter of how you frame it?”
“No, it definitely exists. An unavoidable destiny that binds us. You should know too, right? The realm you reach when you rise to a special-grade formation master.”
For a moment, the infinite darkness that Zhuge Hohyeon had shown me in the past came to mind.
“I also faced it. Do you know what is beyond that space?”
Before I knew it, Zhuge Ryu-hun had a look of madness in his eyes. It was the appearance of an old man who had become a wreck in the face of a too-great shock.
“What I faced at the end of transcending the realm that a human can reach was, countless threads and eyes! Something that observes, records, and connects us!!”
Before I knew it, the space around him was shaking.
“Isn’t it funny? In the infinite connection, we were just puppets!”
In that shout, I could know the cause of the error that Zhuge Ryu-hun had caused.
It wasn't simply because of the bug-like ability to deal with space. The reason he could truly break the original story was because he had recognized it.
The existence of the original story, and even an existence like me.
The so-called leaking of heavenly secrets must be the voice of people like him.
“So we must break free! To cut the reason of this world and not be bound!”
Zhuge Ryu-hun’s bracelet vibrates like a musical instrument and emits light.
And in an instant, my and his figures disappeared from the mountainside.
‘Where is this?’
When I opened my eyes, what was there was a world overflowing with an infinitely stretched halo of light and Zhuge Ryu-hun.
- It’s the gap between space and space. With this, I was able to travel a long distance in an instant.
A sorcery that folds space like paper and jumps over it in an instant. It was the art of shrinking the earth.
- The formations we know also reveal a little of the hidden space in such a space.
The reason those small stones could exert an amazing effect, and the space inside the formation could become so wide, was all because of this.
I was about to raise my mana but instinctively felt a sense of foreboding and stopped.
I tried to move, but for some reason, I couldn't move my body at all.
- This space is infinitely wide and unstable. It would be better not to act rashly. Though you can’t anyway.
‘Was the opponent also buying time? I shouldn’t have given him time.’
As I was listening to the story, my curiosity grew, and I gave him too much leeway. I should have at least done a pressure point strike.
‘Is it because the space is distorted? It’s hard to interfere with mana.’
It was not easy to control my mana. However, I could send something like a telepathic message, or should I say, a thought.
- So what’s your plan now? The Blood Cult has fallen, and you’re also accused of dealing with a demonic beast, so the people of the Central Plains will chase you.
- I will use you.
- What?
- I feel a great destiny. What if I corrupt you? Like a divine beast becoming a demonic beast. Then you could contribute to achieving the defiance of the heavens.
- You mad bastard. That won’t bring your family back!
This was a fact I had found out while investigating Zhuge Goya during the vacation.
Zhuge Ryu-hun’s family had lost their lives in an accident.
One day, after having an ominous dream, he had called his family, who had gone on a vacation to a different region. It was said that they were swept away by a landslide while returning to the family.
Seeing his actions now, it seemed that was around the time Zhuge Ryu-hun had gained his space ability and was trying to deny the existence of fate.
- They can come back. If I achieve the defiance of the heavens. I can go against the set fate!
He was sincerely saying crazy things. However, there was one point that was hard to admit.
- You say fate is set?
If everything was set, if it was proceeding according to the original story, there was no way I would have suffered so much until now.
To say that even this was set is just a result-oriented story.
That cannot be a basis for saying that the struggles until now, the efforts of everyone, were meaningless.
- Who decided that?
- The heavens! So I will break the heavens! To be truly free!!
- The one who is not truly free is you.
I thought so, looking at the old man who was shouting, saying he knew everything.
Looking at Zhuge Ryu-hun, a fortune teller came to mind.
A fortune teller cannot tell his own fortune.
Even after seeing the fate of a loved one, he cannot change it. He despairs at that.
Similarly, even if he can see and predict something beyond time and space, he cannot see his own appearance.
Because as long as the eyes, the boundary that separates others and me, are a part of me, it is impossible to face myself completely.
I remembered the time I came to this world. The original story I knew was a world that excluded me.
A world that excludes oneself does not exist.
That's why a world seen without seeing oneself is forever just a world of possibilities.
Like this world I have possessed now.
My feet fall, and I step onto the space where the halo of light is shimmering.
- Y-you’re moving?
In astonishment, I approached Zhuge Ryu-hun step by step.
I hadn't been playing around during the conversation. I had been preparing to move my body by controlling it with psychokinesis, interfering with the space.
I had remembered that psychokinesis, at least, had blocked Zhuge Ryu-hun’s spatial movement.
- This is… impossible!
- You just want to believe that.
I slowly approached Zhuge Ryu-hun. In the infinitely stretching space, only the distance between us was gradually getting closer.
- Possible, impossible. From whose perspective is that decided?
In the end, all of this changes depending on whose eyes you look at it with.
Just as this moment, which is hope for me, becomes a scene of tragedy for Zhuge Ryu-hun.
In the end, it's not that fate was set, but that he was just mistaken after seeing a residual image.
He just believed that the future was set, that this life was fixed, unable to bear his own choices.
That he could not escape the daily life that repeated as if in an eternal regression.
- D-don’t come!
Zhuge Ryu-hun raised his hand as if to cover his two eyes. His bracelet shines, and a constant vibrating sound flows in the area.
It was music, a tranquil tone like a lullaby.
That bracelet is the last of the Three Evils.
Zhuge Goya liked music. The reason was probably nothing special.
Just because he could be immersed in appreciation for a brief moment with a tone he liked.
However, at this moment, the hobby of the great formation master felt a little different.
Someone said that music and life are similar. Like that, the beginning and end of a song are set. Like life and death.
But everyone accepted it differently.
It was the same.
Zhuge Ryu-hun had faced the end of the song through the artifact left by Zhuge Goya and despaired, but I was not.
Even if the beginning and end of the music are set, the appreciation of the moment of listening is entirely mine.
“Above all, I’m the type to hum when I listen to music.”
Before I knew it, I, who had escaped the constraints of space, thrust out the First Blade with a low voice.
In the infinitely stretching space, only the First Blade flies.
And finally, it reached the end.
The First Blade pierces the metal groove, and the bracelet shatters.
- Uwaaaaaaaah!!!
The space began to distort around Zhuge Ryu-hun, who was still letting out a monstrous roar in his thoughts.
Wooooong-
The space, which began to collapse with a vibration. The passage made of time and space was distorting.
‘It’s happening like this, as expected.’
Zhuge Ryu-hun had already lost control. Killing him would not make this phenomenon disappear.
If I had my way, I would have wanted to learn how to deal with space and escape, but that was impossible.
At least for now.
‘Then I have no choice but to rely on what I’ve built up until now.’
I resonated the mana of the 4th circle. And then I unfolded my full-power psychokinesis and maintained the passage of time and space.
Leaving Zhuge Ryu-hun, who was being swept away by the distorting space with a still-unbelieving expression, I moved forward.
While the surrounding space was repeating contraction and expansion and being crushed, a hole was visible in the distance. The end of this passage, the exit.
I mobilized all my mana and fixed the gap in the shrinking space.
Just for that, a chunk of my mana was drained.
My brain and circle felt like they were burning from maintaining the coordinate values of the endlessly changing dimensions.
An intense pain and dizziness as if my heart would stop at any moment.
Nevertheless, I did not stop my steps.
As I had done until now. I just moved forward silently.
And so, I moved forward to the dimensional gate, which was the size of a person.
The moment my two visions were finally dyed white and the scene of the forest unfolded before my eyes.
I let out a breath, feeling the clear sensation that was running through my whole body.
The five rings that had settled in my body.
I had finally achieved the 5th circle.
The sense of omnipotence that had awakened my whole body was also brief, and I closed my two eyes, looking at the passage that had disappeared before I knew it.
While thinking of an old man who was trapped in the infinite space he had summoned.
(End of Chapter)