Chapter 388 – Episode 388 – Academy (35)

Episode 388 – Academy (35)

He grabbed the hooded man’s neck and examined him closely. At first glance, he looked like an ordinary human being, but my intuition told me that he was an apostle.

Still, I had to check. He didn’t want to feel relieved after killing a non-Apostle and then get stabbed in the back.

“I’m asking just in case. “You’re an apostle, right?”
“···.”

The guy who was hanging down as if he had given up resistance only moved his eyes. Glass-like eyes resembling reptiles were turned towards me.

His neck is grabbed and I stare at him, unable to breathe properly. It looked like a doll clumsily imitating a human being.

Pop!

The moment my grip grew stronger.

“Um, I have a little question. Can I ask you something?”

As I narrowed my eyes, a calm voice that did not suit the situation continued.

“How did you come to a conclusion so quickly? “If I were a famous king, I would have persistently forced a war of attrition.”

“Are you curious about this soon-to-be-dead guy?”

“Ah. Stop it. “If you kill me, you will definitely regret it.”

I was using false detection earlier, but the results were strange. Unlike usual, I didn’t feel anything.

My body’s reaction was as calm as a doll, so I couldn’t tell if it was true or not.

“···Why me?”
“Could you please relax your neck first? “It’s hard to breathe.”

I ignored him and he slowly raised his hand. He showed me his empty palm as if to tell me to calm down, and then stroked my solar plexus.

Sigh!

There is a fishy smell of blood. The sharp blade split the skin and exposed the internal organs.

‘Her?’

I narrowed my eyebrows without realizing it. It wasn’t because of self-harm that occurred out of nowhere.

Something strange can be seen between the cracked flesh. There was a pitch black sphere in my stomach, but I couldn’t feel anything even when I saw it with my eyes. Even my senses couldn’t grasp it.

“···What is that?”
“It is a void given by Him.”

The name Void was definitely fitting. It was something strange, reminiscent of the black hole I had only heard about, where I felt like I would be sucked in if I looked at it.

“Do you by any chance know about Buddhism, the religion of humans?”
“Don’t go round and round, just get to the point. “Why do I regret it?”

“You have an impatient personality. I will explain as briefly as possible. I am not an ordinary human being. “It is not exactly the same, but it is quite similar to the Buddhist ghost.”

“Crotch?”

As far as I know, in Buddhism, hungry ghosts were eternally starving sinners. No matter how much I ate, I was punished because my hunger would not go away.

“The void in my stomach turned me into a ghost. I was so hungry that no matter how much I ate, I ate a lot. There is one thing in particular that I ate a lot of. Would you like to take a look?”

The light disappeared from the apostle’s eyes. The emptiness it carries within its stomach. It split apart and hell was revealed.

-AA AA AA!!

A scream is heard. There are countless pale illusions. Tens of millions of souls were seen mingling and screaming. It felt like I was looking at a pit full of ants.

“Do you know how many sub-humans, including humans, die every day on Earth?”
“···.”

“Hmm. You are quieter than I thought. Conservatively, the number is over 300,000. “Just 300,000 people dying a day is enough to create a crack this size in the Earth.”

For some reason, I felt like I knew what he wanted to say.

“Then how many souls have become one with me in my stomach?”

The apostle, who was watching my reaction carefully, spoke slowly.

“I didn’t count them all. At least 30 million people. “There are quite a few humans who were placed in the stomachs of the African continent 200 years ago when it was destroyed.”

“···What you said.”

“Yes. If I die, it will be the same as more than 30 million people dying in one day. The cracks will explode. “Can we really stop the cracks, which are a hundred times more numerous than usual?”

I felt like I knew why King Myeon said that the Earth was already doomed.

100 times more cracks. What would happen if something that could be expressed simply in one sentence actually happened?

It wasn’t difficult to imagine.

Countries that lack military power will begin to fall like dominoes. Increasing sacrifices would literally lead to further rifts, which was a disaster.

“Now do you see why you can’t kill me?”

A whispering voice continued.

“I am a weak being compared to you. Since they don’t have the strength to resist, it’s not difficult to manage. “If you just lock me up and prevent me from dying, you can postpone the disaster to the next generation.”

“You have a long tongue.”

“···Yes?”

He looked at the apostle who paused and narrowed his eyes. It seemed like a plausible story at first glance, but there were a few things that bothered me.

‘But why did you run away?’

Just committing suicide is the same as winning. You came all this way to run away from me.

Just because you don’t want to die? When you look at its actions, you can see its purpose. The apostle consistently moved for countless deaths.

“If everything you say is true, if you just commit suicide, the world will end. “Why do you have to beg for my life?”

“…I am different from others, but I am also human. “Isn’t it natural to want to live?”

The annoyance got bigger. Are you begging for your life because you just don’t want to die? Sometimes there are moments when being alive is hell.

What would happen if I decided to keep the apostle alive?

Of course, it won’t be done well. They will try to extract information through various tortures, but how will they endure the pain…

‘For a moment.’

Suddenly, an old memory came to mind.

Information obtained by killing vampires. It was clearly said that the more resentment one holds at the moment of death, the greater the extent to which the rift expands.

‘If I torture the apostle… Will it affect the tens of millions of souls in my stomach?’

I couldn’t tell at the moment.

It was nonsense to say that just because it was weak it wasn’t dangerous. I couldn’t feel the emptiness in my stomach with any of my senses.

Just being unobservable is not a good sign. Because it meant that he had a different strength than me.

‘I don’t know what tricks they might pull.’

When to kill and when to save. I nodded while considering each risk. I made up my mind what to do with him.

The apostle who had been watching my reaction earlier narrowed his brows.

“Don’t make hasty decisions and think wisely. “As time passes, magic engineering may develop and a way to resolve the rift may emerge.”

As I listened to what he had to say, my resolve became more and more firm. Not acting the way the enemy wanted was a basic tactic.

“I still can’t believe it. “I just want to kill you and think about it.”

“Yes···? “What!”

Grumble!

The apostle who was about to say something was shocked. I broke into a cold sweat when I saw the fireworks I had lit.

“Calm down! “Everything I say is true!”

“Well. Let’s see what happens.”

“Are you crazy! Think of the impact your actions will have on the entire planet! “If you kill me… Argh!”

“As expected, your tongue is too long.”

Pow!

I gathered the energy of four days into my fingertips and pierced the solar plexus.

“Off…! Huh, I’ll regret it… Wow!”

Chi-ik! Even my heart was burned by the intense heat. The moment when the energy of the four days spread in an instant and touched the void.

-Grrr!

I heard something huge roaring. Sado, who was screaming and coughing up blood, began to inflate like a balloon.

Pow!

The skin reached its limit, bursting, and bright red, writhing flesh came out. It turned into a monster, as if it was going on a rampage.

“Tsk.”

Is this what the gutter smells like? I frowned at the rotten insides that felt like they were stinging my nose. He immediately drew his sword and delivered a slash.

Sigh!

I cut the swollen lump of flesh into pieces and examined it closely.

Clap! The flesh that fell on the dirt floor mixes with the ground. Just looking at the flesh mixed with minerals was disgusting.

“Whoa.”

I felt like I couldn’t leave it alone, so I gathered my strength to do so. I brushed away all the things that had not yet been recovered.

He lifted the lump of flesh using an object from the void and trapped it with a wall created by distorting reality.

Chi-i-ik…!

How long has it been? Sail’s firepower began to become stronger than the speed at which the flesh expanded.

-Geouuuuu!

The moment when bright yellow flames covered the bright red flesh and even burned the void.

‘Ah.’

I reflexively looked up at the sky. Something just changed. The chill gave me goosebumps. The air flowing in the atmosphere felt unfamiliar.

Support!

At that time. The air right next to me became distorted. A distorted portal that looks like a broken window. It was a crack.

‘···No way.’

One was not the end. Three cracks have already appeared around where I am.

Taaat!

I immediately kicked the ground. I ran at full speed with my spirits high. I headed to the place where I could feel the presence of people.

I don’t know exactly where, but right when I arrived in the city.

-Weeeeenn!

A loud siren was heard. The alarm was so loud that it hurt my eardrums.

[This is a real situation. Citizens, please evacuate to the nearest shelter right now. Remind me again and again. This is a real situation…]

The streets were crowded with people. Everyone hurriedly ran somewhere with a frightened expression on their faces.

Ji-ing!

[Helena]: Siwoo! Where are you now!

Dozens of texts poured in, starting with Helena. Most of them were texts sent by lovers.

However, that also stopped at some point. The communication network was paralyzed.

‘···Phew. Let’s calm down.’

If you are impatient, you will not be able to make sound decisions. While wondering what to do, I started by looking at the news. I needed information now.

[Breaking News] A second large-scale crack incident breaks out!
[Breaking News] The amount of cracks increases 30 times!

‘Thirty times?’

Fortunately or unfortunately, it was far from the 100 times that the apostle was talking about. As I thought about the reason, something suddenly occurred to me.

‘···There are not only humans on Earth. Animals and plants are also living things, so they will have an effect on the cracks.’

In any case, it was a good thing that the scale of the disaster was reduced. I calmed down and asked the most important questions first.

‘Can we stop it?’

Thirty times the usual amount. I think I can barely hold on. There was no way to know how big the sacrifice would actually be.

‘Should I go to another Earth right now?’

If it’s an enemy you can see, it’s okay to fight, but the crack was no different from a natural disaster. Moreover, since it was a global phenomenon, there were limits no matter how busy I was.

“···Hmm?”

That time when I was pressing my eyebrows and thinking.

The top battle heated up by the battle and the intuition that had reached the level of foresight whispered something.

Suddenly, I felt a strong attraction and checked her past life list.

[Past Life List]
– Previous life connected: [Academy Earth]
– Accessible past lives: [Martial Arts Earth], [Hunter Earth], [Ruined World]
– Karma: 7,160,819

Her eyes narrowed as she looked at the hologram. There was something about her that particularly caught my eye.

‘···A destroyed world?’

I recalled memories from a long time ago. The place I named the destroyed world is the world where third-rate hunter Park Jin-su lived.

A monster is a world that has collapsed due to a disaster.

It probably wasn’t normal, but seeing how the place had changed might reveal something.