Chapter 243
Han Si-hyuk’s dark energy had burned every blade of grass near the Odryse Mountains.
Once a lush forest, this place had become a desolate plain.
A land that was now more fittingly called the Land of Death.
The entrance to NGC.
Standing in front of it, Lee Han glared at Abaddon.
He knew this was where Han Si-hyuk and Han Siha’s battle had taken place.
It was where Abaddon had come after killing Han Siha, intending to complete the heart of the machine.
Lee Han sneered coldly as he spoke.
“What will you do now that the person you were looking for isn’t here?”
“…Like a rat, he slipped away again.”
Abaddon looked around at Adela, Solia, and Won as they slowly closed in, surrounding him.
Four people, including Lee Han.
Basilus, too, let out a low growl as he welcomed Abaddon.
They would keep him trapped here, even if only to protect Han Siha, who was probably after the Cube by now.
Abaddon knew their role.
They were bait, meant to keep him occupied.
Even they didn’t believe they could defeat Abaddon.
Abaddon smirked, his voice dripping with scorn.
“Isn’t it a waste to throw your lives away like this?”
The moment the control was severed, Abaddon knew that Han Si-hyuk had chosen to kill himself.
Someone as capable as him wouldn’t have died at Han Siha’s hands.
Especially when Han Siha had been half-dead, tortured for half a day.
Pathetic.
He couldn’t understand why they would sacrifice their lives for something as trivial as friendship, love, or camaraderie.
Abaddon sneered as he spoke.
“I can’t understand your kind.”
“We don’t expect you to.”
Lee Han cut off Abaddon’s words with irritation.
A figure stepped up beside him.
Perhaps the worst matchup for Abaddon: a Light Mage.
Solia of Arkenent nodded at Lee Han’s words.
“I don’t understand someone like you, either.”
Or more precisely,
“Just looking at you makes me sick.”
“Grr!”
Basilus growled, as if to agree with Solia.
As she spoke, Solia drew a line on the magic circle.
A magic circle designed, built, and waiting for Abaddon long before he even arrived.
The moment that single stroke was completed.
“…!”
Abaddon’s eyes widened.
Fwoosh.
A brilliant white light burned in the air.
The Flames of Purification.
Boom—
Boom—
Explosions of light erupted in the sky, and a white veil descended to the ground.
In the wake of the light, a solid barrier was erected.
A barrier that could not be breached unless attacked at the speed of light or beyond.
No one,
Not even Abaddon, or even Solia herself, could escape from this impenetrable barrier.
Solia taunted him as she spoke.
“You’re not getting out of here.”
A barrier that wouldn’t break even if she died—one of the most powerful forms of magic.
The pinnacle of protection magic, wielded by a Light Mage.
It could hold Abaddon back for up to an hour.
Grind.
Abaddon gritted his teeth, glaring at Solia.
She simply smiled and set her staff down.
“Because no one’s getting out.”
* * *
Crash—
The ground split from Abaddon’s strike.
Adela raised a wall of stone to block his attack.
Solia maintained the barrier while bombarding Abaddon with spheres of Purifying Light.
It was like rain falling from the sky, a cascade of light.
The pure white light blazed fiercely, relentlessly pursuing Abaddon.
Fwoosh—
Each time he touched the light, it should have felt like his bones were melting in searing pain.
Yet Abaddon, as if accustomed to pain, weathered the barrage and launched his counterattacks.
Boom—
Solia was sent flying by just one of his magical blasts, crashing into the barrier.
She staggered back to her feet, only for Abaddon to aim another strike at her.
Basilus leapt into the fray.
Even though Han Siha wasn’t here, Basilus was no longer just a puppet hatchling.
He had fought countless battles.
And so, even in Han Siha’s absence, he could make his own judgments.
Whether to summon a pillar of fire at a certain angle,
Or to strike Abaddon’s head with a bolt of lightning.
He calculated the timing and trajectory as he flew low.
Fwoosh—
Flames ignited where Abaddon stepped,
And in the moment Abaddon showed an opening to dodge,
Lee Han charged in for close combat.
A flawless coordinated attack.
It was their twelfth attempt.
Abaddon never allowed his throat to be taken.
“Aaaargh!”
But he was not an easy opponent by any means.
Even as flesh was sliced, torn, and blood poured from his wounds in Abaddon’s dark energy,
Lee Han never backed down.
His tenacity was unmatched.
Lee Han’s relentless assault could exhaust even his allies, let alone Abaddon.
His relentless charge, even as blood poured from his head, made him look almost more monstrous than Han Siha.
Abaddon’s power clearly outmatched the three of them, excluding Basilus.
Even now, as the three of them attacked simultaneously, Abaddon was handling them with ease.
And yet, they did not falter.
They refused to retreat.
The same went for Won.
“Hah… Hah….”
He staggered but never let go of his staff.
While the other three barely managed to fend off Abaddon’s attacks, Won could barely withstand even a glancing blow, often left near death.
Even a missed attack left him teetering on the edge of collapse.
With trembling hands, Won aimed his staff at Abaddon.
Even if it wouldn’t be of much help, he could at least inflict minor wounds.
He could keep Abaddon from targeting his friends and try to bind his movements.
He didn’t show it, but he was just as terrified.
Won panted heavily and muttered a single name.
“Damn it, Han Siha….”
While they were holding Abaddon back, Han Siha was likely descending into the underground chamber by now.
Without him, Won wouldn’t have even been assigned to Castica.
He wouldn’t have followed him here to save him.
He had been trying to catch Abaddon, forming some unknown group, the Decisive Corps or whatever.
But truthfully, Won didn’t even know all of that.
Cubes and whatnot—it was all too complicated for Won.
He just shared a room with him.
And considered him a friend, at least.
He just wanted him to live.
If it meant saving him, he wanted to help.
And as a result of that choice, he was now witnessing this scene.
Suddenly, he remembered something his mother had once told him.
“This is why I told you to choose your friends wisely….”
Among the continent’s most brilliant geniuses,
In comparison to them, he felt utterly insignificant.
It was ridiculous that someone as ordinary as him was standing among them….
The fact that their opponent was none other than Abaddon, the Empire’s scourge, made it all the more daunting.
Won grumbled in a playful tone.
Ah.
“…Should’ve listened to Mom.”
It was far too late for regrets now.
“Aaaaargh!”
Won let out a roar as he pushed off the ground, charging forward.
* * *
At the same time, on the 5th underground level of NGC.
Piles of wild dog and kobold corpses stacked like mountains.
The ground was stained with traces of a brutal massacre as they set foot in this place once more.
“…This is horrific.”
Yoon Haul pinched her nose, disgusted by the overwhelming stench of blood.
Meanwhile, Han Siha silently endured the smell.
Though these creatures were monsters, entities he’d killed countless times before, the emotions this time were different, piercing him deeply.
They were the ones I called.
They had attacked Abaddon on his command and sacrificed their lives to rescue him.
A pang of guilt welled up inside.
Not that feeling guilt over dead monsters would change anything now.
Unable to look at the bodies any longer, Han Siha turned away.
Step, step.
As they walked further in, a familiar underground chamber came into view.
“This is the place…?”
“It should be.”
Han Siha slowly scanned his surroundings.
This was where he had been imprisoned and tortured, where the heart of the machine was located.
Though they hadn’t found this underground chamber until now, he was certain from the original story that this was the right spot.
The only question was how to extract the machine.
In reality, it wasn’t that difficult.
Han Siha turned to Yoon Haul and asked.
“Can you feel it?”
Han Siha had been trapped in a barrier created by Abaddon that suppressed magic.
Even after Adela rescued him, he hadn’t had the chance to focus on it.
But now that the barrier was broken—
Han Siha could clearly feel the flow of magic.
“No?”
“Sorry.”
Ah, it’s because of the Cube of Sensation.
Han Siha scratched his head with an awkward smile, though he didn’t even realize he was doing it.
He had lost his sense of touch completely, but in return, his senses had been elevated far beyond human capability.
Han Siha could feel even the faintest traces of magic throughout his entire body.
The center of the underground chamber.
Han Siha pointed at the ground beneath his feet.
“It’s down here. If we break it open, it should come up. Abaddon knows how to activate it… but as you know, we don’t have the luxury of taking it out gently.”
“Yeah, let’s just break it.”
Yoon Haul was of the same mind.
If you didn’t understand how something worked, smashing it was always the first step.
Just as she was about to release her magic—
Bam!
Bam!
Before Han Siha could even speak, Yoon Haul infused her fist with magic and slammed it into the ground.
Boom!
The ground, which looked as tough as steel—if it wasn’t already made of it—looked solid.
Watching her smash through it would make any ordinary person recoil in shock.
It’s breaking… too easily.
Bam!
“It’s done!”
“Oh… oh….”
She’s gotten stronger, hasn’t she?
My girl doesn’t just bite, she smashes….
Han Siha trailed off as he watched Yoon Haul.
“I was thinking of using magic….”
“Oh.”
We’re not fighters; we’re mages, after all.
Yoon Haul blinked as if only just realizing this, but it didn’t matter.
Through the cracked ground, the heart of the machine was revealed.
It looked like a massive hunk of scrap metal, about the size of a large computer, but when you consider it could destroy the world, it seemed far too small.
Han Siha pulled it up to the surface without much trouble.
Abaddon would be trapped for at most an hour.
Though their friends were buying them time, there was always a chance the worst could happen, and Abaddon could return sooner.
Time was of the essence.
Han Siha had never seen the heart of the machine in person, but using his memory from the original story, he quickly scanned it.
The button is here.
There are five recessed holes, centered around the main core.
The Cube of Sun and Moon, the Cube of Emotion. Two Cubes were already installed in the machine.
Wait a minute.
“Why are there only two…?”
Han Siha’s face twisted with confusion as he stared at the Cubes.
Suddenly, Abaddon’s words came back to him.
‘Seeing you hide one of the Cubes, it’s clear you never intended to cooperate with me from the start.’
Those angry words Abaddon had spat while glaring at him…
So it was true?
“The Cube of Souls is missing.”
“What?”
“We have two Cubes. Abaddon has two. That makes four, so one is missing.”
Yoon Haul’s eyes widened.
Without Abaddon’s previous comment, they would have assumed he had hidden the last one. But given that conversation, it didn’t seem like that was the case.
Han Siha’s expression turned grave as he asked Yoon Haul.
“If the Cubes aren’t all in place, does it mean the machine can’t function at all?”
“That’s not it. It just means it’ll operate in an incomplete state.”
Once activated, the system would likely become uncontrollable.
“Abaddon wants a completed machine, so he won’t activate it before then.”
“…Are you sure?”
“The circuits of this machine are incredibly unstable.”
If all five Cubes were installed properly, the magic circuits would balance and create immense power.
With it, Abaddon could conquer the entire continent.
However, if the incomplete machine were activated—
“It would explode, unable to handle the magic.”
Depending on how many Cubes were inserted, the consequences would vary.
Yoon Haul speculated.
“Anyone nearby would die instantly, and it could take out a part of this mountain range. One thing’s for sure: the machine and the Cubes would be so damaged that they’d be beyond repair.”
If Yoon Haul could figure this out by scanning the machine, Abaddon would know it too.
Han Siha nodded in agreement.
“You’re right. He won’t activate it until it’s complete.”
“That’s lucky for us.”
They might not know where the missing Cube was, but their goal was clear: disable the heart of the machine before Abaddon returned.
“Let’s take it apart.”
Grr—
Once again, Yoon Haul tried to forcefully remove the Cubes, but it didn’t work.
“Yeah, as expected, it’s not coming out.”
She grimaced, shaking her sore hand.
Just as Han Siha’s Cube was bound to his abilities, Abaddon had clearly taken precautions.
“Hmm….”
Yoon Haul squatted on the ground, visually analyzing the machine’s circuits.
“We have two options. First, we can release the binding on each Cube and take them out. Second, we can tamper with the machine’s magic circuit itself….”
“To disable it entirely?”
“Yeah, the problem is that it’s not something you can just break. It wasn’t built that way. But disrupting the circuits is possible, making it nonfunctional.”
“…Sounds difficult.”
Yoon Haul nodded at Han Siha’s comment.
“Removing each Cube would definitely be faster, considering the limited time we have.”
After securing the two Cubes, they would then follow Yoon Haul’s plan to completely disable the machine.
Even if the heart of the machine remained, without all the Cubes in existence, Abaddon wouldn’t be able to use it.
They had one hour.
Yoon Haul looked down at the Cubes with a serious expression, more focused than ever.
“It’s going to be tight.”
She quickly assessed the situation and added grimly.
“When Abaddon comes, you’ll have to hold him off.”
The one silver lining was that Abaddon couldn’t activate the incomplete machine until all five Cubes were in place.
If they could just buy time, they had a fighting chance.
Han Siha chuckled, trying to reassure her.
“I’ll hold out until I die.”