Hero’s Path (1)
“Damn bastard…”
Agon lowered his gaze.
On the purple-dead ground, a man was lying collapsed.
More precisely, Vinus Karon was lying dead after being brutally slaughtered.
“To commit suicide in that situation…”
At the last moment.
Vinus Karon had stabbed a knife into his own body to commit suicide.
It was to damage his own body as much as possible.
Because this way, he would not be resurrected as an undead.
Of course, Agon could still resurrect Karon’s mutilated corpse as an undead.
However, the extent of damage was so severe that creating a proper undead would be impossible.
‘The spine is completely broken. Completely unusable.’
Agon extended his arm.
‘Then I’ll devour it myself.’
Agon’s bones grotesquely grew massive and spread wide, swallowing Karon’s corpse.
-Gulp, gulp!
He consumed Karon’s body without leaving anything behind.
Agon looked at his own body.
‘Nothing particularly different. As expected, though.’
He had thought that since Vinus Karon’s swordsmanship had reached a transcendent level, perhaps it might help him.
But even after eating his corpse, nothing changed.
It was just like eating a human corpse with considerable magical power.
‘How did he generate such power with this body?’
An extremely trained body.
Vast magical power.
Karon’s body was certainly remarkable.
At least for a ‘human’.
Compared to himself, who had lived for thousands of years, Karon’s flesh was just average.
A well-trained human.
Nothing more, nothing less.
He never thought he would struggle this much against Vinus Karon.
‘Even if I was in a weakened state… This is impossible.’
What if he had possessed Karon’s body?
Bones enhanced through magic and modifications.
Magical power like an endless sea.
If these were in his hands…
Then he would definitely have been defeated.
‘What is true transcendence…’
Since accidentally learning about the existence of transcendents.
Agon had ceaselessly worked to become a transcendent.
He was an immortal.
Free from the limits of physical strength and time, he believed he would definitely reach that realm.
He had felt he was almost close.
Efforts continuing for over a thousand years.
The human Vinus Karon had achieved this level in less than fifty years.
“Grrrr…!”
Agon clenched his teeth.
“I have my own method. In the end, I am the victor… And I will also be the one to reach transcendence.”
When Agon was muttering to himself.
“Lord Agon.”
A group of undead appeared before Agon.
“We apologize for being late.”
They prostrated themselves and apologized.
They were all Asas and Kulsa who served Agon nearby.
“None of that matters.”
“Pardon…?”
The undead were bewildered by Agon’s sudden statement.
“I think I need to replenish my strength to go to Earth.”
Agon stretched out both arms.
“Lord Agon…?”
The undead sensed something was wrong, but
It was already too late to escape.
Agon’s arms, suddenly massive, opened wide.
-Crack!
Agon’s meal continued for a while.
It took time to digest several high-powered undead at once.
***
Ippotranslation
***
The colleagues of the Absolute Being Agon.
‘Adraz’, existing only as three within the immortal legion, was like a god of the dead.
One of them, Mosha Adraz, had died fighting Kang Hyeon.
The remaining Adraz, Gusa Adraz, had come to find Agon.
“How gluttonous.”
Gusa Adraz spoke, watching Agon devour his subordinates.
“Gusa…”
“Agon. What are you planning?”
It was a question about those who had escaped to Earth by cutting off dimensional connections.
“Of course, I’m going to Earth.”
“The connection is already severed. Traveling between dimensions will be several times more difficult now.”
Connecting dimensions is incomparable, but dimensional travel is also extremely challenging.
Especially for someone with strong magical power like Agon, there were more constraints on dimensional movement.
“I’ll summon the entire legion and use them as sacrifices.”
“Do we really need to go that far? Harken is now stable. If you slowly take time to train, you can safely reach transcendence…”
“Shut up!”
Gusa Adraz fell silent at Agon’s mad cry.
“How many more years do we need to work to reach transcendence? A hundred years? A thousand? And then what? What if you can’t become a transcendent?”
“…”
“We have destroyed this world. Nothing remains here. Do you think you can reach transcendence in this already dead world?”
Agon raised his staff.
-Whoosh…
As he concentrated and channeled his magic, a portal to his palace opened.
“By any means, I will go to Earth… I will kill all humans there and become a true transcendent…”
With those words, Agon disappeared.
“He’s completely mad.”
Gusa Adraz shook his head seeing Agon vanish.
“Were thousands of years too much to endure?”
Immortals were originally human.
Even if granted eternal life, their soul and essence remain human.
Agon’s mental state, which had been precariously balanced through living hundreds of times longer than typical humans, seemed to have completely collapsed.
“Losing power from the dimensional connection disruption, and even getting wounded by a human… The end of the one called the Absolute Being doesn’t seem good.”
Gusa Adraz scratched his skull after muttering to himself.
“I should prepare too. Last time, Mosha took the opportunity, but this time I really must cross over.”
He also intended to go to Earth with Agon this time.
But not for Agon’s sake.
“A new world… How exciting.”
He simply wanted to explore another world for his own pleasure.
***
Ippotranslation
***
People from the Heigran Kingdom who came to Earth settled in North Korea.
Anyway, the land was abundant, so there was no problem.
The important thing was food.
In a situation where Korea was already short on food, there was no way they could handle the sudden increase of hundreds of thousands of people.
-Don’t worry about that! We can eat monster meat!
-What? Is that possible?
-Yes. If we process it with magic, there’s no problem.
Originally, monster meat was known to be inedible.
However, in the Harken dimension, magic related to this had developed, and it seemed they were using monsters as food.
With Harken’s matters settled for now.
Kang Hyeon immediately headed to Seoul.
Near Cheonggyesan, which had been completely reduced to ruins during the past A-grade dungeon and battle with Gattu Asas.
A newly created guild house had been completed there.
On the wide site, they had remodeled existing buildings, and they did not hesitate to construct new ones if necessary.
The completed Badass Guild House looked like a small village.
“Is everyone here?”
In the largest building.
In the massive conference room inside, Kang Hyeon and key figures had gathered.
It was a large-scale meeting attended not only by Badass Guild members, but also government ministers and even the president.
“Ahem!”
After confirming everyone had gathered, Kang Hyeon stepped forward and cleared his throat lightly.
“I dislike long talks. I’ll get straight to the point.”
“…”
From the beginning, some ministers were uncomfortable with Kang Hyeon’s approach that was heading toward chaos.
To begin with, they themselves were not pleased to have been called to such a place.
In such a situation, the proceedings without courtesy or formality.
No matter that they came by order of President Han Seung-hoon, there was a limit to their patience.
“Hmm! Do you know who the people gathered here are?”
“I tried to endure being called here without understanding the context, but I can’t overlook that.”
“Anyway, they say these ability users have lost their power. Is there a need to listen to such a person’s words?”
As government high-ranking officials threw comments one by one, the meeting quickly fell into disarray.
“Do you know what situation we’re in now? With ability users like yourself weakening, a huge hole has opened in public safety! Monsters are running wild all over the world, I tell you!”
“Now is the time to revise laws and bring all ability users under government-controlled organizations!”
This was a familiar scene for President Han Seung-hoon.
Because he had no proper political support base, he had been subjected to such attacks throughout his term.
Ultimately, as South Korea became the only surviving nation, it proved that the president’s judgment was correct.
However, other high-ranking officials and politicians seemed to have no intention of acknowledging his merits.
“Haaa… Damn.”
Suddenly, Kang Hyeon, who had been expressionless, slammed the table.
-Kwaaang!
With that impact, the massive wooden table over 5m long was split in half in an instant.
“It seems like everyone is misunderstanding something. Listen carefully.”
“…”
As he glared with his reddened eyes, everyone was startled and shut their mouths.
“We’re screwed. Me, you, this Republic of Korea. No, the world is screwed.”
“What do you mean…”
“Agon will definitely come over. And if we can’t stop him when he comes, it’s all over.”
Kang Hyeon was certain.
Agon will definitely come to Earth.
He doesn’t know the reason.
He doesn’t know how he’ll come over.
But he was sure it would happen.
Though he couldn’t understand it himself, Kang Hyeon was truly convinced.
-I agree. I think it won’t take long.
Ahn Yu-seong also raised his hand to Kang Hyeon’s thoughts.
Like Kang Hyeon, he could no longer use his sixth sense as the status window had disappeared.
-It’s not like the certainty of the past, but somehow the sixth sense still works to some extent.
Something seemed to have been etched into his body from using his abilities.
“Mr. Kang Hyeon. What do you mean Agon is coming?”
President Han Seung-hoon looked at Kang Hyeon.
“Literally. Do you know who Agon is?”
The government high-ranking officials already knew to some extent about the events that had occurred and related information.
Naturally, they could not be unaware of the name Agon.
“Although the connection between Earth and Harken is cut off, he will somehow come over. Definitely. If we can’t stop him when he does, this country and everything else is finished.”
“Is there a reason for thinking that? What is the basis for believing this Agon will come to Earth?”
To President Han Seung-hoon’s question, Kang Hyeon shook his head.
“There isn’t one.”
“Then…”
“I just have a feeling.”
With Kang Hyeon’s words, silence descended on the conference room.
That pre-storm stillness was instantly shattered.
“Are you joking right now!?”
“Spouting such nonsense in such an important meeting!”
As high-ranking officials tried to rage again, Kang Hyeon raised his hand.
-Srrring…
Instantly, Badass Guild members simultaneously drew their weapons.
“A-are you threatening us now!? Have you gone mad!?”
“Military! Where are the bodyguards!?”
Watching those in confusion, Kang Hyeon shouted savagely.
“Shut up all of you! Before I kill you!”
At Kang Hyeon’s cry, the officials closed their mouths like mute bees and rolled their eyes.
“Until now, I’ve accommodated you all as much as I could.”
Most seemed to want to refute his words, but no one stepped forward to argue.
“But not this time.”
“…”
“You don’t know what kind of sacrifice this precious time was obtained with.”
Kang Hyeon slowly walked forward.
“You won’t know what price this peace was gained at. If you just sit and spout bullshit, it would have been solved on its own.”
The Minister of National Defense, who had been most vocally shouting until just moments ago.
Kang Hyeon stood before him and brought his face close.
“This is truly the last time. Everything will be decided here.”
“What on earth are you saying…”
“Whether you all will die or not. The moment that determines whether the sacrifices of those who have died until now will be in vain or be noble dedication has come.”
The red light burning in Kang Hyeon’s eyes.
The Minister of National Defense trembled facing that gaze.
“I absolutely do not intend to make their deaths be in vain. So this time, follow my instructions. Got it?”
“…”
“Prepare everything you can before Agon comes.”
