Chapter 41 (Continued)

 

Woo-jin’s body was already a wreck.

 

Blood was all over, and he was covered in stab and cut wounds.

 

His blood-soaked body seemed likely to collapse at any moment.

 

His movements had slowed down.

 

He was undoubtedly exhausted.

 

Yet, why?

 

As the battle continued, Woo-jin’s movements were becoming more refined.

 

It was as if he had entered a state of selflessness.

 

With single-minded determination.

 

Woo-jin, with unchanging determination in his eyes, continued to defeat the enemies without a change in his expression.

 

In this desperate fight, Woo-jin was constantly growing.

 

Seo-jin shook her head.

 

She didn’t want to be impressed any longer.

 

22 seconds left until the Requiem ended.

 

Boom…

 

The loud explosion from the clash of magic finally burst Woo-jin’s eardrums.
An unpleasant ringing sound resonated.

 

However, Woo-jin paid no mind and didn’t take his eyes off the enemies’ movements.

 

The electric current flowing through the Iron Dragon Staff significantly weakened. Even the basic three-section staff only had a faint lingering of lightning magic.

 

Woo-jin, dripping blood, looked down at his Iron Dragon Staff. His magic was nearly at its limit. Even squeezing out the remaining magic would only produce one or two more shockwaves.

 

But there were still many of Seo-jin’s minions left.

 

20 seconds left until the Requiem ended.

 

The song, which had been flowing with a serene melody, was nearing its epilogue.

 

The battle continued.

 

Woo-jin could no longer unleash powerful attacks to conserve magic. Slowly, he was being pushed back.

 

“……”

 

Amidst the relentless swinging of the three-section staff, hoping for the enemies’ destruction, Woo-jin suddenly felt as if he was climbing a steep staircase.

 

As if he might lose his balance and fall, he cautiously took one step at a time, continuing his arduous climb.

 

At the end of the stairs, someone seemed to be calling him.

 

18 seconds left until the Requiem ended.

 

Thud.

 

He lost his balance.

 

Momentarily struck unconscious by the beasts’ attacks.

 

However, just before falling, like grabbing the edge of a cliff.

 

Barely catching his slipping consciousness, the darkening vision cleared again.

 

His strength was nearly depleted.

 

He felt the flame of life weakening.

 

It was because the Requiem was gnawing at his life force like a rat.

 

It didn’t matter.

 

The persistent will, lingering like an afterimage, still drove Woo-jin forward.

 

With all his might, Woo-jin pressed on.

 

16 seconds left until the Requiem ended.

 

“It’s… over now.”

 

Seo-jin removed her skull mask and looked at Woo-jin with her bare face.

 

It wasn’t expressionless.

 

Her eyes were sunken.

 

A complex expression filled her face.

 

14 seconds left until the Requiem ended.

 

“Thank you for caring for me. And, I’m sorry. Goodbye.”

 

Seeing that smile filled Woo-jin with annoyance.

 

It was unbearably irritating.

 

That attitude of pushing people to death while immersed in her own story and sentiment.
And still expressing gratitude and apology properly.

 

Woo-jin found it intolerably detestable.

 

11 seconds left until the Requiem ended.

 

“…I’m not going anywhere.”

 

Woo-jin, with anger-filled eyes wide open, wore a smile on his lips.

 

“I need to catch you.”

 

8 seconds left until the Requiem ended.

 

“…That won’t happen.”

 

“It will.”

 

6 seconds left until the Requiem ended.

 

Thump.

 

Thump.

 

Suddenly, as if watching a video in slow motion, the scenery in Woo-jin’s vision flowed slowly.

 

Thump!

 

Thump!

 

His heart pounded more wildly.

 

It wasn’t because of excitement.

 

His heartbeat was following the intense pulsation of something deeply seated within his body.

 

A strange sensation surged up his spine like a geyser, spreading chills throughout his body.
Something was about to explode.

 

With each step, as Woo-jin ascended the mental staircase, the pulsation grew more vivid.

 

Finally, Woo-jin realized what the sensation of climbing stairs was.

 

Repeating the magic training countless times, enduring hellish training under his master, constantly fighting to protect students as the Disciplinary Committee Leader.

 

It was the arduous journey he had walked to overcome the towering wall of the next stage.

 

“Because I’m the Disciplinary Committee Leader.”

 

His turquoise eyes, leaking magic, were tinged with red.

 

So much blood was flowing down his forehead that it seeped through his eyelashes, staining his eyeballs.

 

Seo-jin’s summons were still rushing towards him.

 

Woo-jin, staring at Seo-jin beyond them, closed his eyes.

 

He lifted his head.

 

He savored the breeze stirred by the magic waves, the cold air imbued with necromantic magic.

 

Finally.

 

Woo-jin’s fingertips touched the end of the stairs.

 

***

 

“…Huh?”

 

For a moment, Seo-jin lost her sense of reality.

 

The Requiem abruptly stopped.

 

Silence fell.

 

As if time had frozen.

 

It felt like floating in the sky.

 

No, like drifting in the middle of the universe.

 

Seo-jin felt an inexplicable sense of buoyancy and emptiness.

 

“!”

 

At that moment, Seo-jin felt a gaze upon her. As she looked up, an enigmatic entity etched itself into her vision. A colossal demon with goat horns and golden fleece.

 

This supreme being was the first to descend into this world when “The Hole” appeared in the Pacific and was also the one to close The Hole and ascend to the heavens.

 

Seo-jin knew this entity’s name.

 

Golden Sheep.

 

The apex of all living beings.

 

A being evaluated at Tier 9 and worshipped as a god.

 

From a very distant place, its many pairs of eyes were focused on her.

 

An overwhelming fear, etched into her very being, engulfed Seo-jin. It was the pressure of an entity of a fundamentally different tier.

 

“Gah! Hah!”

 

Seo-jin clutched her chest, gasping for breath. Before she knew it, she was back in reality.

 

‘What was that…?’

 

It was too vivid to be a hallucination. Yet, if it wasn’t a hallucination, there was no way to explain the phenomenon she had just experienced.

 

Why had the image of the Golden Sheep emanated from Woo-jin, vividly entering her vision? Seo-jin couldn’t understand.

 

At that moment.

 

“……!”

 

A massive magical power descended, as heavy as gravity. The pressure, as if it had physical force, crushed Seo-jin.

 

Goosebumps rose all over her body. It was a threatening magic that triggered a primal fear. Anyone outside the barrier would have surely felt it as well.

 

Upon realizing it, Woo-jin was nowhere to be seen.

 

Crack!!

 

A strange loud noise suddenly echoed.

 

It came from above. Seo-jin quickly looked up.

 

The air was splitting. Something that shouldn’t be split was cracking apart.

 

It was like a glass window shattering.

 

2 seconds left until the Requiem ended.

 

“What is…?”

 

An otherworldly light glimmered through the cracks, like a gate connecting to another world.

 

“That’s impossible…!”

 

Seo-jin’s face contorted with shock.

 

Immediately.

 

A flash of light burst through the cracks.

 

“……!”

 

Rumble!!!

 

A turquoise lightning bolt, tinged with black light, poured down vertically like a waterfall.

 

Spatial Lightning Strike.

 

The brilliant lightning engulfed Carmen destructively. Its power was incomprehensible. The density of the magic was beyond imagination.

 

Carmen’s song, her screams, everything was devoured by the thunderous roar. Unable to utter her final verse, Carmen ultimately vanished.

 

“Gah!”

 

Boom!!

 

The shockwave from the lightning sent Seo-jin flying.

 

The highest unique ability.

 

Controlling a universal law.

 

Among them, ‘space’. At this moment, the ability to control space was bestowed upon a man.

 

Continuous manipulation of lightning magic.

 

This was not the level of someone who had just awakened a unique ability. The immense potential suppressed by the high wall of Tier 5 was now explosively unleashed.

 

Even so, hadn’t Woo-jin’s magic power almost been depleted?

 

How could he unleash such powerful lightning magic?

 

It must be that as Woo-jin reached a new stage, some of the blocked magic circuits burst open, showing dramatic recovery. Like water pouring out fiercely after a dam collapses.

 

‘…He’s a monster. Different from someone like me.’ Seo-jin thought involuntarily as she flew through the air. There was no chance of victory against such a being.

 

Just as she was about to give up, memories flashed through Seo-jin’s mind.

 

Friends disappearing one by one under the Head Principal’s management.

 

The beautiful sea she had seen in the movie.

 

“I can’t…!”

 

Seo-jin couldn’t give up.

 

She gritted her teeth, steeled her resolve, and forcibly drew up her magic.

 

Crack!!

 

Another shattering sound.

 

“!”

 

The source of the sound was from behind Seo-jin, where her body was flying.

 

Seo-jin quickly looked back.

 

Boom!

 

From the gate that appeared in the air, a man shot out with turquoise lightning, tinged with black light. His two vicious turquoise eyes bore into Seo-jin.

 

Suddenly, Seo-jin had a fresh realization. When she saw the sea in the movie. The reason she decided to live even in this city was simply because she wanted to live.

 

Even if she became a person deserving of the world’s criticism, a piece of trash.

 

To avoid being discarded by the Head Principal and just survive, Seo-jin chose to sacrifice others to live.

 

The sea was just a trigger.

 

Anything would have sufficed.

 

If there was a reason to survive… she could justify trampling others.

 

Perhaps the man before her was the price she had to pay.

 

Crackle!!!

 

“Gah!!!”

 

The Iron Dragon Staff, charged with lightning, struck Seo-jin’s body. The power was so overwhelming that even her magic-enhanced body couldn’t withstand it.

 

Seo-jin’s ribs shattered, and the fierce lightning burned parts of her body.

 

Countless strands of turquoise electricity intertwined like chains, tearing through the air. It was Woo-jin’s final, most powerful strike.

 

Boom!!!

 

With a thunderous roar, Seo-jin’s body cut through the air at tremendous speed.

 

Crash!!!

 

With a resounding explosion, Seo-jin’s body created a crater on the ground and lost consciousness.