Chapter 399:
Chapter 399:
Cough.
Magni spat out blood from his throat with a rough cough.
The flowing blood soaked his filthy beard and then turned into text and scattered.
Magni’s gaze turned to Kwon Jia, who was looking down at him.
He smiled, showing his bloodstained teeth.
“Heh heh. I didn’t expect you to hide such power. You have the power of Fenrir and the beast as well. And you’re just a human?”
Magni’s body was very miserable.
He couldn’t find a single spot that was intact.
His arms and legs were torn apart so badly that it was hard to find any traces, and his body was full of bite marks from the beast.
It was a wound that would kill him instantly, but he was still alive because he was a great warrior god.But that was the end of it.
His wounds were fatal, even for Magni, a second-generation Divine Spirit.
His life force and story were draining out at a fast pace.
He couldn’t help but laugh, even though he was dying.
“Haha. I really got screwed. Who would have expected you to have such a terrible power, two of them at that. One would have been enough, more than enough, but you were greedy and took two. Aren’t you afraid of the consequences?”
Kwon Jia would have been enough to be Asgard’s enemy just by having Fenrir’s power.
Not just Asgard?
Fenrir was a beast that killed gods in mythology.
And such Fenrir was classified as a bookworm in the mixed world.
Kwon Jia had the power of Fenrir.
A forbidden power.
The repercussions of that were huge.
But Kwon Jia didn’t stop at Fenrir.
The beast of Revelation.
The symbol of the number 666, this terrible monster’s power, she also possessed it.
“That power will be your curse.”
“I’ve already suffered enough curses.”
To Kwon Jia, this life that repeated even after death was the real curse.
Compared to that, the power of the beast or Fenrir was nothing.
Even if she had to pay the price for gaining such power someday. She was prepared for that.
“If I can end this cycle of life, I’ll accept any monster’s power.”
“Ha! You’re crazy. You’re completely crazy. How can you deny that you’re a monster?”
Magni repeated that she was crazy several times. His eyes became blurry.
“It’s a pity. I won’t be able to see with my own eyes how much pain and despair await you on your path, and what choice you’ll make when you face them.”
“Even if you saw it, it wouldn’t be what you expected.”
Kwon Jia was sure that even if Magni had lived, what he wanted wouldn’t have happened.
Magni couldn’t understand Kwon Jia’s confidence.
She must have known better than anyone how dangerous the power she wielded was, as she used Fenrir’s and the beast’s power.
There is nothing more dangerous than using a power that is not granted.
That power will eventually devour its owner.
And there will be those who will not tolerate her using such power and will target her life.
After Asgard, Eden’s paradise will also draw their swords against her.
There is no way an individual can withstand two great armies.
She will spend her life running away and perish.
“Aren’t you scared?”
“If I was scared, I wouldn’t have thought of using this power.”
“Your end will be nothing but ruin.”
“Then I’ll see beyond that ruin.”
“Just a human?”
“Because I’m human.”
Maybe if she had been her old self, she would never have said such words.
But she met a man in this life and saw many things.
How he overcame despair in his nightmare, and what decision he made when he killed his precious person with his own hands.
That determination.
She accepted it more deeply than anyone else in her heart.
“You are a real monster.”
“You can call me a monster as much as you want. It won’t change my resolve.”
“Hahaha! Well, how could you deny it when you’re a monster yourself?”
Cough.
Magni coughed up blood again and felt his life hanging by a thread.
He called Kwon Jia a monster. But in the end, the only word that came to his mind when he looked at her was one.
“So this is human.”
“…”
“They can’t do anything and just tremble with fear like inferior beings. But sometimes they can do anything more fiercely than anyone else. They overcome their limits and even resist their fate. That’s human.”
Kwon Jia nodded her head and agreed with Magni’s words.
She was the one who fit the most with the human that Magni described.
If doing nothing is human,
Then doing anything is also human.
She gained the power of monsters, prepared to pay any price, and eventually brought down the arrogant gods.
“Then try to struggle until the end. Human.”
Magni muttered that and closed his eyes.
Soon, his flesh turned into countless pieces of text and flew away with the wind.
A giant star of Asgard fell.
***
Yu-Hyun reached out his hand and pulled out the stories that Hercules had.
The book that floated above Hercules’ head, emitting a brilliant light.
He forcibly opened it and tore out the pages one by one.
The torn page soon turned into countless letters and seeped into Yu-hyun’s body.
However, even this immense power was only a fraction of what Hercules possessed.
That’s why he had to maintain this situation.
‘My eyes feel like they’re going to pop out.’
He had the Monkey King’s Fire Eyes added to his original vision.
A strange sight where everything in the world looked like letters.
He didn’t feel this much when he first used Laplace’s Eye, but his head felt like it was going to explode from the massive amount of information that came through his eyes.
And, the process of touching and moving those things that he saw with his eyes felt like awakening a new sense that didn’t exist, making him feel alienated.
But he had to adapt to this feeling.
This new sense that he awakened was the true power that encompassed this mixed world.
‘Now I understand why that monster is so strong.’
Yu-hyun poured out all his abilities against Hercules, but he ultimately lost.
Yu-hyun thought he lost because he was weak. But he was wrong.
He wasn’t weak. Nor was Hercules’ power overwhelmingly strong.
Objectively speaking, the total amount of power they had was similar.
The only difference was that Yu-hyun couldn’t properly handle the real power that encompassed this world, unlike Hercules.
Swoosh.
Around Hercules’ body, something invisible kept moving.
Sometimes it flowed with the wind, sometimes it reacted to his will and wriggled, sometimes it clumped together and became harder than anything else, and more than anything else, it moved freely.
Semi-transparent letters.
That was the mysterious power that blocked his attacks and absorbed most of the damage from outside.
“You bastard.”
Hercules widened his eyes as he looked at Yu-hyun’s pupils.
“Don’t tell me, you mastered Storytelling in such a short time?”
Storytelling, in other words, the way of handling stories.
The real power that only those who surpassed a certain level could learn.
Only a few of the first generation Divine Spirits of each alliance could use this Storytelling.
Hercules got to this position because he had an exceptional ability to see and handle stories unlike other heroes.
No matter how much others praised them as transcendents or lords, their power was nothing more than simply influencing the world from their own perspective.
But this Storytelling was literally accepting the world and becoming the world itself.
No matter how hard an individual tried, they couldn’t encompass the whole world. The gap between those who mastered Storytelling and those who didn’t was huge.
To face someone who learned Storytelling, one had to learn Storytelling as well.
“I can’t believe it. How can a human have such a power…”
How much effort did he put into realizing this power?
He endured Hera’s trials and defeated all kinds of monsters, and eventually overcame the wall.
He saw and felt what was beyond the wall and made it his own through blood and sweat.
How long did it take him to become a hero, a monster, and then a god?
He barely grasped the clue and held on to it desperately to get here.
But.
With just a little hint given to him, Yu-hyun reached the same level as him.
[He’s not ordinary even if he looks like that.]
Looking at Hercules like that, Sun Wukong sneered. But even though he said that, Sun Wukong was also surprised by Yu-hyun’s achievement.
‘I gave him a hint thinking it would be faster, but I didn’t expect him to realize it right away.’
He thought it would take at least a few years even after giving him the Fire Eyes. But Yu-hyun mastered Storytelling in less than 10 minutes.
Innate talent?
No, mastering Storytelling wasn’t something that could be attributed to talent alone.
Maybe… It was meant to be like this from the beginning.
The Fire Eyes just brought forward what would have happened anyway.
It didn’t make something impossible happen.
More importantly, that wasn’t what mattered right now.
“…!”
Hercules quickly raised his club and took a defensive stance.
Immediately after, Hercules’ body flew back after being hit by the Ruyi Jingu Bang (Compliant Golden-Hooped Rod).
The balance between the two who were fighting equally collapsed due to Yu-hyun’s intervention.
“How dare you!”
Hercules clenched his teeth and shouted, but Sun Wukong didn’t intend to let go of the opportunity he had seized.
Countless clones rushed toward Hercules, and Hercules desperately fought against them.
Wounds appeared on Hercules’ body. Divine blood flowed along those wounds.
It was dangerous.
Hercules sensed that he would lose if this went on. Defeat meant death, and it also meant tarnishing Olympus’ name.
Click.
Hercules gritted his teeth. He had to make a choice.
His footsteps slowly moved backward. Sun Wukong, who noticed the sign first, mocked him.
[Are you running away? The great Hercules?]
“It’s a strategic retreat.”
He hated saying these words more than dying, but it was still better than dying.
He rationalized to himself and glared at Yu-hyun.
“Next time we meet, I’ll kill you for sure.”
He left those words and ran away. Sun Wukong tried to chase him, but he had to stop because Yu-hyun suddenly collapsed like a puppet with its strings cut.
He clicked his tongue and gave up on pursuing.
[Tsk. Lucky bastard.]
It was ambiguous whether that was a word for Yu-hyun or Hercules.
Sun Wukong deactivated his magic and returned to his original size with the Ruyi Jingu Bang.
He put the Ruyi Jingu Bang on his shoulder.
[Well, what should we do now?]
He didn’t think Yu-hyun would wake up right away. Sun Wukong looked around. The survivors of the alliance began to show up one by one.
[Well, I think I’ve done enough service for them, so I don’t need to do anything more for them.]
They were supposed to be dead by now. He stepped in and stopped Hercules, saving them from annihilation.
He was practically their benefactor.
Besides, he gave him the Fire Eyes and made him realize how to handle Storytelling, so he did everything he could for him.
[I look forward to seeing you again.]
And surely, it wouldn’t take long.
The heavenly instruments in the sky had been covered with an unlucky color since a while ago.
He remembered only one case in his memory when it was like this.
Right before a huge war broke out.
The great war that shook all the stars, including gods and demons.
What the hell was this world trying to do?
Sun Wukong grumbled and disappeared with the light.