Chapter 179: It’s Not Yet Time to Die

Everyone thought.

That they had won against the dimensional rift.

That they had blocked this powerful calamity.

But that was a hasty judgment.

It couldn’t be helped because this dimensional rift was a massive rift formed by five rifts merging.

CRAAAAAASH!

The sky was torn apart.

The golden barrier shattered into pieces, and through the gaps, a colossal figure revealed itself.

“…I have finally arrived.”

His voice was low but clear.

It carried a weight as if being imprinted on the world itself.

In an instant, all the Awakeners present trembled.

“What is this…”

“That’s impossible…”

That form.

It was on a completely different level from when the Goblin Lord had come through the dimensional gap.

If the Goblin Lord was a ruler leading the goblin race, this being was the ruler leading the entire species.

Red King Valion

A towering body 7 meters tall.

A mane of blazing flames and a cloak flowing like blood.

At his feet, hundreds of Flame Soul Soldiers knelt in submission.

He was a being that dominated the abyssal flames sealing the soul of an ancient god of destruction.

A being capable of burning an entire city with a single strike…truly worthy of being called a calamity.

BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM CRAAAAAASH!

As he swung his hand, the sky split open red,

and the entire defensive line in the city center collapsed.

“Full retreat! Full retreat!”

Leon’s desperate cry scattered into the air.

But…no one could move.

“…M-my legs…won’t move…”

The Red King.

The authority of that being transcended the concept of pressure.

The fear of having one’s very existence collapse just by standing before him.

At that moment.

“We must…retreat.”

The owner of the low voice was Leon.

He sensed it.

The power of the Red King.

The fact that they could not withstand that being.

But.

“No. We cannot abandon the front line.”

Lee Seo-jun’s choice.

It was not the arrogance of one who had reached the realm of transcendence.

There were countless people here.

There were Awakeners, of course, but also ordinary citizens without power.

Right now, Seo-jun had a duty to protect them.

‘With great power comes great responsibility.’

That was a phrase his master, Kim Si-won, always said.

And here, Seo-jun had to bear that great responsibility.

“But…”

Leon tried to speak again.

SHOOM!

Seo-jun’s body was already charging far away, toward the Red King Valion.

SWISH.

As he spread his hand,

a blue blade began to form slowly in the air.

“I will definitely surpass at least you.”

He walked forward.

Toward the blazing flames, the red calamity.

“What is your name?”

The Red King Valion’s eyes, for the first time, turned toward Lee Seo-jun.

“…Lee Seo-jun.”

As he answered, the Red King drew his sword.

A flame sword blazing like the sun.

The mere heat radiating from that blade melted the last walls of the fortress.

“The price of rebellion is only death.”

BOOM BOOM BOOM CRASH!

Collision.

The Red King’s sword strike split the battlefield in two.

But at that moment.

Mind Intent Release: True Illusion Blade

Seo-jun touched the realm of transcendence.

The gleaming blade generated in his hand met the Red King’s blow head-on.

CRAAAASH!

“Kugh!”

One blow.

His arm was torn, flesh melted away.

But…he endured.

Even if blood flowed, he did not collapse.

Even if the roar of despair poured down, he did not kneel.

Step.

Step by step.

Another step.

“I will not fall here!”

That cry pierced through the screams and echoed across the battlefield.

And at that resonance, the other Awakeners who had been cowering opened their eyes.

“He endured that?!”

“Is that even human?!”

They could realize.

Lee Seo-jun was withstanding this trial in the name of a human.

Mind Intent: Single Extremity

One strike.

A Mind Intent that cuts the world with a single sword.

SLICE!

A deep wound was carved into the Red King’s shoulder.

“Your flames too…will one day be extinguished.”

Seo-jun raised his sword again, bleeding.

But what he witnessed was…

SSSSSSSS!

The Red King’s wound healing once more, blazing up.

He had thought it was a fatal blow.

But the Red King was born from flames.

The flames did not die out.

As long as the flames existed, he would not be annihilated.

“I will not retreat!”

But he did not retreat.

If he retreated, everyone here would die.

Unable to accept their deaths, he aimed his sword strike at Valion’s chest.

THUD!

The Red King’s flame spear pierced his abdomen.

Blood burst, and Lee Seo-jun’s body was flung into the air.

CRACK!

He was blown hundreds of meters back, barely breathing.

His arm was broken, his ribs shattered.

His eyes, burning with smoke, could not see.

“…Ah…no…!”

His fingertips trembled.

His will was certainly stronger than anyone’s.

But his power was insufficient.

“You are not enough, human.”

The Red King approached him, spewing a long stream of fire.

“Now, this land will become ash and disappear.”

Just then.

“Now…it’s done.”

Behind the Red King.

A quiet but firm voice.

“…Leon?”

WHOOOOSH.

Wind rose.

Within that wind, a figure slowly walked out.

A man with a blood-red coat and eyes as hard as steel.

He was Seo-jun’s senior brother and a comrade who had fought the longest by Kim Si-won’s side.

“Let me carry that heavy burden together.”

“Ah, no!”

The next moment, Seo-jun screamed.

Because he knew.

Leon’s life force was fading away.

“Master always said.”

He uttered the phrase Kim Si-won always repeated.

“Who will go to hell if I don’t.”

After regaining human emotions and personality, their master Kim Si-won actively stepped forward for the sake of humanity.

One of the things he said most often was that he would enter hell himself to save humanity—that very phrase.

WHOOSH!

Flames began to blaze from Leon’s body.

But it was not a simple explosion of power.

It was a last glimmer of life from burning his life force.

At this moment, he was drawing out the power to face the Red King, using his life as fuel.

“That means…you’ll really die…!”

Seo-jun’s scream.

He didn’t even realize he was speaking informally.

That was how urgent this moment was.

And at those words.

“That’s all the more reason…you have to live.”

Leon smiled.

A smile that was clearly bright but sad, one that made one sense the end.

And.

THUMP!

He drove his fist directly into the Red King’s face.

FWOOSSSSSSH!

A massive wave of flames ricocheted, and the Red King’s face mask began to crack.

“Magnificent! This power is enough to even damage me!”

“You’re right. Because this is power created by human emotions.”

Mind Intent: Unyielding Tempering

One punch.

Two.

Three.

He kept striking the Red King’s chest.

FWOOSH!!

Leon was burning more and more.

His body, his bones, his heart were burning away.

But he did not stop moving.

He burned his own life to burn the life of the Red King Valion.

That was a realm only Leon could reach.

A supreme realm and domain that could only be completed through the divinity of the primordial god.

There were no limits.

Because he was burning his life, he could use that power without restraint.

Now, Leon was no longer Leon; he was a transcendent being wielding the divine power of the god who existed at the beginning.

And so.

BOOM!

Leon’s fist pierced the Red King’s core.

SLICE!

The Red King’s heart ruptured, and his empire of flames collapsed in an instant.

A gale and flames.

And within them stood one charred figure.

Leon had lost nearly all his life.

He thought that was victory.

But the next moment.

“Hahahahaha!”

A burst of wild laughter.

It carried the arrogance of one who rules the world.

BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM CRASH!

The Red King Valion spread his arms and created a crucible of flames enveloping the earth, shouting.

“All become flames!”

Leon’s body was burning.

His skin was charred black, his flesh was melting, and his organs were on the verge of stopping.

But he did not retreat.

“Everyone…run…”

He sensed it.

This was…Leon’s defeat.

Realizing that, Lee Seo-jun cried out toward his crumbling brother.

“No! Stop now!”

But everyone sensed it.

Leon would die.

With his death, Lee Seo-jun would too.

And everyone here.

The Red King Valion had enough power to make everyone’s death inevitable.

Despair came.

Helplessness.

No one’s sacrifice could break free from that frustration and despair.

But just then.

GOOOOOOOONG!

The sky opened.

A sound like thunder from between the crimson clouds.

CRASH!

At that sound, the Red King flinched.

An alien wave that even that being had not detected.

Then…light descended.

SHOOM!

A golden flash split the air, and a man descended within the light.

He stood atop the flames.

“…I’m late.”

Kim Si-won.

The moment he arrived, the Red King’s flames died out like a wind over a calm field.

“Master!”

Lee Seo-jun’s cry was heard, but Kim Si-won only briefly glanced at Leon.

“Leon. For now…rest.”

At those words, the flames burning on Leon calmed.

As Kim Si-won’s fingertips touched Leon’s chest, instead of the red heat of destruction, holy light spread.

Mind Intent: Release of True Name

Time stopped.

Thus, he fixed Leon’s vital threshold.

“From now on, I’ll handle it.”

He raised his head.

Black hair fluttered in the wind, and in his eyes lay a cold stillness, a calmness ill-suited for the battlefield.

“Are you the Executor of the Rift?”

Executor of the Rift.

A term for beings that rule dimensional rifts, like the Goblin Lord.

The Red King’s eyes twisted.

“…You…you are an exception that should not exist.”

“And you are a being that will fall here.”

As Kim Si-won’s toes struck the ground,

ZAP!

Lightning surged from the earth.

And from behind him, a golden greatsword revealed itself.

The blade pierced the sky, and from its tip, power that tore even fate extended.

“Is this…is this a human…?!”

The Red King showed fear for the first time.

“There’s something you overlooked.”

Kim Si-won’s voice rang like thunder.

“Humans are weak, but…”

He raised his sword.

“…they grow. And sometimes, that growth becomes the power to cut even gods.”

BOOM!

The golden greatsword swung, shattering the hell of flames.

“KYAAAAAAH!”

The Red King Valion screamed in agony.

His body was torn, his flame heart split in half.

Absolute Mind Intent: Golden Seal that Splits Fate

A massive golden terminal split the sky.

Like a line of judgment drawn across the heavens.

And the Red King’s body was split in half.

The Flame Emperor that emitted heat of thousands, tens of thousands of degrees.

SLOWLY.

It collapsed beneath that single sword.

” “

” “

Silence dominated the area.

Only black smoke remained, swirling around the spot where the Red King had existed.

Leon’s life was stopped, and Lee Seo-jun viewed the miracle before him through tears.

And.

“Now is the time to live, Leon.”

A single sentence left by Kim Si-won.

It was a declaration for life and the vow of a warrior for humanity.