Chapter 236 – The Death Alchemist 1 (1/2)
“The wound has been healed, but the trauma will still remain.”
Woohyuk cured Arhen, a member of Etheria Rodinus, with the Power of Resuscitation.
After that, he searched the top floor and found three materials for the Seven Color Rainbow Ring and the Nag Hammadi Chronicles.
As a bonus, he also obtained three Dragon Tokens.
“These guys also seemed to be pretty urgent. They enthusiastically gathered the things I need to find.”
“Well, they had to. The Creator will descend soon, so the Second Catastrophe will soon become a reality.”
The Second Catastrophe was brought upon by mass flooding caused by the sea level rising.
Unlike the advent of the First Catastrophe, which was brought upon by the descending Fallen Angel Cruella, the Second Catastrophe was brought upon by a natural phenomenon.
To prevent the upcoming disaster, it was necessary to restore the Sangreal Chronicles.
“So, is the restoration work done?” asked Woohyuk.
“Yes. Also, everyone has gathered in Inotia,” replied Helena.
For the Etheria Rodinus followers, who had many hostile forces, the Erendia Kingdom was a great place to work.
There were high-tech security devices and nine dragons present in Erendia, so their enemies would never think of stepping foot inside the kingdom.
Woohyuk nodded his head and climbed onto Pegasus.
“Then, let’s go to the Krobaichen Isthmus. We’ll return to Inotia after completing the quest at the isthmus.”
“Do we have to fly? How many times do I need to remind you that I have a fear of heights?” Helena asked in annoyance.
“Where we’re going is a conflict zone, so it’s dangerous to travel by land or sea. You know that too, right?” replied Woohyuk.
In fact, he possessed a teleport scroll from the tutorial area, but it was a single-use item. He felt it would be a waste to use it for this purpose.
When Woohyuk emphasized their current situation, Altair understood what was going on and tried to make himself useful,
“I’m heading that way anyway, so you guys can ride on my back. Of course, I’ll have to change to my true form.”
“Thank you for that. An ancient dragon’s back is quite wide, so it’ll be less fearful,” Helena said with a reassured expression.
Helena thought that, unlike Pegasus that Woohyuk could order around and further torment her, the dragon would be more stable.
When the group prepared to depart, Arhen asked Woohyuk,
“Are you going to leave the prisoners trapped here? It might be better to deal with the brutalist prisoners now in case they escape later on.”
“I don’t have time to judge their sins. But if I come back later, I’ll talk to the Frost Giants about it.”
There were still many things left for Woohyuk to do.
“Hey, thank you. Without you, Arhen would have died in the prison fortress.”
“If you feel that you’re in debt, make sure to pay it off later,” Woohyuk said as he maintained his aloof yet somewhat spiteful attitude.
Helena stuck her lips out and argued,
“I’m very seriously right now. What’s with the spiteful reaction? Is it so fun to bother me?”
“To be honest, I feel like it’s what I live for,” Woohyuk snapped back.
Was it a form of love or hate?
While maintaining an ambiguous relationship with Helena, which was neither as an enemy nor an ally, his jokes became like a tug of war between man and woman.
To be sure, for Woohyuk, it had nothing to do with love.
While Woohyuk was quarreling with Helena, Arhen spoke up,
“But Helena, what do you think about the quest that was given publicly this time? I haven’t heard what’s going on or why there was a sudden message because I was under the influence of the Witches Cult.”
“It’s a very serious issue. The content of the Prophecies is no longer clear.”
From now on, Maria, the Saintess of Prophecy, would probably provide the greatest help.
This was because she had previously prevented the First Catastrophe through her prophetic vision.
Arhen nodded his head in agreement and followed up,
“This is just the beginning. Other types of interventions will continue to occur sooner or later. Maybe the entire Eeth Continent will be turned into a single survival game.”
Like the tutorial that summoned people from other worlds to compete with each other, there could be a situation in this world where they had to kill each other to survive.
The creation of such a desperate, chaotic environment would give the Creator the opportunity to reshape the future.
The Creator’s ultimate purpose was to subordinate the many players of this world into his system through competition and attrition. He would make the great angels who betrayed him and then fallen contend with Solomon’s line of followers, who always wanted more, and the gods and demons, who wanted to rule the world.
At Arhen’s words, Woohyuk expressed agreement,
“It would be better for him to do that for sure. Focusing less on quests may increase the odds of success for the Odyssey Plan.”
If one thought about it, all the ancient demons who came out as the bosses in the quests were Woohyuk’s colleagues in his previous life.
However, Woohyuk understood that he needed to meet them at least once anyway.
If they had truly fallen and lost all sense of purpose, he would consider them an enemy, and in the opposite case, there was no reason to go against them.
‘I don’t know what kind of person Lucifer is until I meet him in person.’
In the Bible, Lucifer betrayed the Creator and then corrupted the world.
However, based on this world, he betrayed the Creator for his own reasons, and it was difficult to say whether his reasoning was necessarily wrong.
Good or evil is always relative.
It may be because of the influence of the demonic energy, but Woohyuk felt closer to the fallen ancient demons who were trying to change an absurd structure than the hypocritical gods.
“As you already know, everything is now up to you. The stage has been prepared by the Creator, and it’s centered around you,” commented Arhen.
Thus, Woohyuk had to be careful whenever he made critical decisions.
Hearing Arhen’s advice, Woohyuk looked down on the vast land below with an anxious expression.
‘What decision should I make at the last fork in the road?’
He had pledged to protect Leifina no matter what.
Was there a way he could save both her and the world?
The memories of his previous life, from Cruella’s imaginary world, weighed heavily on Woohyuk’s heart.
‘If we’re separated again this time, will there be a next time?’
He really hated to think about this, but someday, he’d have to face the reality.
As Woohyuk was pondering his next move and the final decision, Altair flew towards the western sky.
***
They entered a conflict zone where wars never ceased throughout the year, as this isthmus was the only point of connection between the East and the West.
Thus, the isthmus was not anyone’s realm, and even the 72 Demon Kings showed no interest in entering the chaotic war zone.