Chapter 384: I’m Back |
A large, crowded shopping mall.
It’s a weekend, and the number of people entering and leaving is three times more than usual.
“Huh?”
A security guard noticed an old man.
“Look at that.”
“What the hell? Is that crazy old man?”
An old man, completely naked, was walking toward the mall. Clearly, he wasn’t in his right mind.
The citizens who accidentally saw him screamed and scattered.
“Hey! Sir! How can you walk around without clothes?”
Despite the shouts from the two security guards, the old man paid no attention. He didn’t even glance at them. They thought he was just crazy, but it seemed he was also deaf.
One guard sighed and told his partner:
“Call the police.”
“Understood.”
He was about to take off his jacket to cover the old man when suddenly, Slash!
“Huh?”
In the blink of an eye, a long, black stinger pierced through his chest.
A wave of exhaustion overtook him.
Thud!
In an instant, the guard collapsed like a mummy.
“Oh my god! What...?”
“Aaaah!”
The screams of the witnesses drew the crowd’s attention.
The religious leader, oblivious to everything, savored the guard’s life energy.
“It wasn’t enough.”
“What...?”
The other guard was also pierced in the chest by the stinger.
Sucking like a straw, his skin withered, and the guard instantly died.
“Oh my god!”
“A monster!”
In ordinary circumstances, no one would have paid attention to that word.
But this generation had experienced the impossible: angels who abducted 1.8 billion people and players with superhuman Skills.
So, the word “monster” wasn’t so foreign to them.
Although accepting the existence of a monster was something else entirely.
“Aaaah!”
“It’s a monster!”
“Everyone, run!”
As the people scattered, the religious leader smiled.
“They’re quick, but I can’t let them escape.”
The religious leader swelled up, preparing to fire the black droplets that had dissolved thousands of people.
But then.
“What are you doing?”
“...!”
A third voice made the religious leader pause.
He sharply turned his head and saw a man observing him with arms crossed.
‘Where did he come from?’
The religious leader was sure he had kept everyone within his reach.
He had been monitoring all movements of those who fled.
Yet this man appeared as if he had fallen from the sky.
“What are you doing naked? Are you some kind of pervert?”
“Who are you?”
“I asked first, monster.”
‘Monster?’
That word was clearly an insult in this world.
‘Is this human fearlessly insulting me?’
The religious leader let out a sarcastic laugh.
“Are you crazy? Or do you have a death wish...?”
“Hey, could you put something on? It’s uncomfortable seeing you like that.”
He might not have liked being naked, but that didn’t matter to the religious leader.
After all, he planned to kill him.
“Die.”
The black droplets began to sprout from the religious leader’s palm.
Slash, slash, slash!
Fired like bullets, they were enough to dissolve any human.
However.
“Hmm...?”
Ting, ting, ting, ting!
The man created a black barrier and easily blocked the attack.
The droplets bounced back, dissolving the ground where they fell.
“A corrosive liquid... I can’t imagine how many people you’ve killed.”
“Who are you...?”
“Do you think I’d tell you?”
Suddenly, a massive scythe appeared in the man’s hand.
“You’re about to die anyway.”
It was a black scythe.
———————-
Ryu Min, using a barrier of dark runes to block the attack, stared at the enemy.
‘This is it. The seed Deorante planted in the worlds.’
It was obvious.
After the Survival Game, where else could this creature have come from?
‘It looks human, but I know it’s a monster created by an external force.’
It wasn’t hard to realize it was parasitizing a human body, controlling its mind, and reading its memories.
Ryu Min possessed the Rune of True Feelings to read thoughts.
‘It’s here solely to wipe out humans.’
Fortunately, he had arrived quickly thanks to the Rune of Speed.
Otherwise, the people in the mall would have been massacred.
‘According to its thoughts, it has already killed thousands before arriving here.’
He couldn’t allow it to wreak more havoc.
Ryu Min summoned the Scythe of Thanatos.
As he took his stance, he heard screams behind him.
“Look at that man!”
“Is he going to fight the monster?”
“Wait a minute! That scythe...!”
“It’s Black Scythe!”
“Black Scythe is back!”
Ryu Min, who had survived until the end of the Survival Game, was famous everywhere.
His scythe was his trademark, recognized by all.
However, no one could imagine that he had come from another world.
‘This is a problem...’
He didn’t care about being recognized.
The issue was that people didn’t understand the danger of the situation.
‘This is real. There’s no time to just watch.’
While Ryu Min knew this, the people didn’t understand and continued to watch without fleeing.
“Hehe.”
As the people approached, the religious leader grinned and his body began to swell.
Soon, a rain of black liquid scattered.
Papapapac!
“Aaaaaah!”
Sizzle!
“My face!”
The people who couldn’t avoid the liquid screamed and collapsed.
Fortunately, this wasn’t happening at that moment.
It was a vision of what would happen 7 seconds into the future, seen through the Rune of Future Sight.
‘I have to stop him right now. If I don’t, people will be hit by the liquid just as I saw in the future.’
In situations like this, there’s only one solution.
‘Send him to the Interdimensional Gap.’
Ryu Min immediately opened the space-time gap and pulled the religious leader in with him.
Separating him completely from reality was the best way to protect the people.
“Hmmm...?!”
As his body swelled, the religious leader suddenly found himself in a space like an abyss and was shocked.
“Where are we...? The Interdimensional Gap?”
In an instant, he was trapped in a four-dimensional space where time didn’t flow.
Until Ryu Min released him, he couldn’t escape.
“What happened...? Did you bring me here?”
“Who else could it be?”
“How can a mere human have such power...?”
“Do you still see me as a mere human?”
As Ryu Min approached, wielding his scythe with fierce intent, the religious leader showed an unprecedented tension on his face.
“You... Who are you really...?”
“Would you understand if I told you?”
Ryu Min responded by swinging his scythe.
Clang!
The religious leader hardened the black liquid into a shield to block it.
Clang! Clang! Crack!
Although he managed to block it several times, it was only temporary.
A smile appeared on Ryu Min’s face.
“I’ve gauged your defense... now let’s test your reaction speed.”
“What?”
In an instant, a flash of light struck, and the religious leader was decapitated.
Thud!
It seemed to be over, but his body kept moving, proving he wouldn’t die just from that.
“If you can’t react at a certain speed and don’t die from decapitation, your tenacity is impressive. Then...”
Electric sparks burst from Ryu Min’s hand.
“How about I electrocute you?”
“Wait... No!”
Zap!
The magical damage, based on absurdly high stats, unleashed through the Rune of Lightning, charred the religious leader’s body as if it had been roasted, and he stopped moving.
‘Is he dead?’
With no movement and no thoughts being emitted, it seemed he had been completely annihilated.
With safety ensured, Ryu Min unraveled the space-time barrier.
“Oh! He appeared!”
“Black Scythe appeared!”
“What happened to the monster?”
“It looks like he defeated it.”
As the people murmured, Ryu Min watched the system message that appeared in his view.
[Stacks of the Rune of the Hero: 100/100]
[The effect of the Rune of the Hero increases all stats by 100.]
[You can consume 100 stats to use ‘Hero’s Protection’.]
‘The stacks of the Rune of the Hero are full.’
The Rune of the Hero accumulates stacks every time you save a person.
By killing the religious leader and saving more than 100 citizens, the rune was completely filled.
‘Perfect. I was worried about leaving Ryu Won alone.’
If I grant him Hero’s Protection, which activates invulnerability in dangerous moments, I can focus better on eliminating the seeds.
‘The police have arrived. There’s no reason to stay longer.’
Seeing the police in the distance, Ryu Min spread the wings of darkness on his back.
Flutter!
“Oh, oh!”
“Black Scythe! Where is he going?”
Ignoring the citizens’ shouts, Ryu Min flew high into the sky.
——————-
Inside the quiet house.
The sudden appearance of his brother left Ryu Won bewildered.
‘My brother... is alive.’
He was sure he had placed his brother’s body in the coffin at the funeral.
He had even scattered his brother’s ashes into the sea after cremation.
‘Then how...?’
If the body had been buried, he might have believed in a miraculous return, but it was incinerated.
There was absolutely no chance of a return.
‘Could I be hallucinating...?’
It’s said that when you’re on the verge of death, your life’s memories flash before your eyes like a lantern.
Maybe the intense longing for his brother was causing him to see things.
‘Yes, how could my brother come back if he was cremated?’
Ryu Won sighed deeply, still feeling the ache in his neck.
He then shook his head and threw away the rope into the trash.
‘I won’t commit suicide.’
His perspective had completely changed.
And all thanks to the vision of his brother.
No matter how tough things get, those who are alive must keep living.
Ryu Won found courage in his brother’s words, that he’d never forgive him if he died.
Courage to face the world without his brother.
“I was thinking of something stupid, brother. Wanting to give up just because you’re not here...”
He was only 16 years old.
Far too young to be giving up on life.
His brother, in heaven, would never allow it.
“My brother fought to survive, crossing countless dangers and lines between life and death... And I, just because he’s gone, was thinking of bad things and acting childishly...”
A deep sigh escaped from Ryu Won.
“I’m such an idiot.”
“Now you get it?”
“...!!!”
He quickly turned at the sound of a voice behind him.
It was a voice he could never forget, a voice he longed to hear.
“Bro-brother...?”
“Ryu Won.”
As Ryu Min approached, Ryu Won displayed an odd behavior.
He shook his head vigorously and blinked several times.
It seemed like he was trying to confirm whether he was really seeing his brother.
“Why isn’t it disappearing? Is this not a hallucination?”
“It’s not a hallucination.”
Ryu Min smiled reassuringly.
“I’m really back.”