Reincarnator

The original creator of the Pandemic Blade.

The transcendent, who could be anywhere in the Abyss or even somewhere other than the Abyss, shook his head towards Hansoo.

"Though I'm not my true self...I'm still far from your level."

The man who had been sitting in a lotus position slowly raised his finger that had been resting on his right knee.

Then.

From the end of the man's finger.

Kiiiiiiiiiiiing.

A much more brilliant and thicker light than Hansoo's red powder exploded out from the man's finger.

[Final Thoughts]

A skill that had been created through the entire lifetime's worth of the creator's memories, pain, tests, experiences and regrets.

This being was not a living thing but rather a wisp of consciousness within the skill of Annihilation.

'Much stronger than me for sure.'

Boooooooom!

Along with a huge noise, the seven colored powder within the tip of the man's finger exploded out.

Chiiiiiiiiik!

Soon the skill, Final Thoughts, started to devour and gnaw away at the Hansoo inside this space.

............…..

Huuududuuk.

"Haaa…"

'I guess I'm still a bit far from breaching the 2 star boundary.'

Hansoo made a bitter smile as he sensed the result of what had happened inside his mind while slicing a Echiton-Filer into two.

Though he had conquered a single fragment of the Demonic Dragon Reinforcement and was continuously trying, it seems that he was still a bit far from it.

'But I can't give up.'

Although that 2-star transcendent shouldn't be remaining in this 4th zone, many of the transcendents were insane which meant it was still possible.

This was why he had to defeat the fragment of the Pandemic Blade in case he met a 2-star transcendent.

But since he had lost, he wouldn't be able to try again for a while.

Hansoo felt one of his two split souls being destroyed as he focused again on the outside situation.

Uuudududuk.

"Kuhuuk…."

"Haa...Ugh."

Taesang and the others had dealt with the Echiton-Filers and were gasping for breath.

Lauren's legs were on the brink of giving out as she seemed like she wanted to sit.

'No can do.'

Whoosh.

The Dark Cloud fixed her stature.

"If you can't block a sneak attack from your side then your friend Misun's head will be cut off. Don't let your guard down."

Then.

Lauren, who had been barely standing, frowned.

"Fuck...Then when can we rest! Do you only have thoughts of killing and fighting in your head?"

And Hansoo replied in a simple manner.

"Of course."

There was only one moment in this world that allowed you to stop thinking about fighting.

Only a single moment.

'Death'

If you have not reached the state of eternal rest then you have to keep fighting.

Because you were alive.

This was the price of staying alive.

Then.

Whooosh.

A golden ball of light came out from Hansoo's fingers and flew towards Lauren.

Well, past her body to be exact.

The golden energy exploded out behind Lauren.

Along with a scream.

Kyaaaaaak!

"....Kang Kion."

Misun and Taesung were at a loss for words when they saw the parts of the creature flying out from the explosion.

It had sneaked past Lauren and had approached herself who had an injury to the ankle.

If that damned bastard hadn't found it and destroyed it first then it would've succeeded in taking her life.

Hansoo shrugged her shoulders.

"If you don't want to worry then not doing so is also a good choice, those things will help you stop thinking about such things. Forever that is."

"...Damn."

Misun then spoke towards Hansoo quietly.

"...I'll repay you. Tell me if you need anything at the main base. I'll get it or you."

Misun then kept up her guard while treating her injuries and headed towards her comrades.

And Hansoo smiled at this scene.

'At least I won't have to tell her about one thing.'

There was another reason to reduce the amount worry one had about fights.

That is finding comrades to worry about it together.

And it seemed like they were doing this well anyway.

'I wonder how they're all doing.'

Hansoo thought back to the comrades from 2 years ago but then shook his head.

If they were doing well then he would meet them while climbing up the tower.

'Anyways, the Echiton-Filers are only 3rd grade monsters. Were the monsters that were released only at this level?'

Hansoo mumbled.

Echiton-Filers

A hierarchy type race, though they were dangerous they didn't have outstanding skills and had limited strength so they were rated as 3rd grade.

Dark-Ramas.

Self ruled race type, they were far beyond 5th grade if one wasn't prepared but if one was sufficiently prepared then they were even lower than Echiton-Filers at 2nd grade.

And Kang-Kion were rated 4th grades as they were hard to deal with even if you knew how to deal with them.

All the abyssal races he had seen up to this point were quite weak.

Though Taesang the 3 others didn't speak for everyone in the 4th zone, he was still shocked at their lack of sense.

But if all the abyssal races were around this level, then it wouldn't be weird.

While Hansoo had been lost in thought.

A voice was heard.

"We're almost there. Right past that hill."

Hansoo looked towards the location where Taesan had been pointing towards.

And Hansoo made a shocked expression.

'...That is.'

The place these guys decided to hide was not far from War Fortress.

It was a similar distance away from the Great Maze as the War Fortress of the Keil Kingdom was.

The Korin Kingdom's Fortress.

Though it was still dozens of kilometers away from the War Fortress, it was not a long distance for that Dark King.

And as if Taesang had read Hansoo's mind, he replied.

"Even if we want to go far, there are just too many abyssal creatures so we cannot go far. And...This is the only way to recruit even a small amount of people who come up."

"And for some reason, the abyssal creatures don't come to that place. It's the safest spot."

If you ignore that crazy bastard, then the most dangerous thing were the abyssal creatures.

Since the crazy bastard is holed up in the War Fortress for some reason, the safest spot was anywhere where the abyssal creatures didn't come to.

Like this fortress.

And Hansoo frowned.

'They don't approach it.'

Of course the abyssal creatures weren't everywhere.

But they would go anywhere the humans went.

There weren't many exceptions to this and far less of them were beneficial to humans.

Hansoo clenched the golden spear in his hand.

.........…..

Rummble.

As Hansoo approached.

He could feel the auras within the Fortress.

Thousands of well-organized auras.

But Hansoo frowned.

'It's too loose.'

The aura of a person didn't only tell how strong one was.

It also showed their current condition as well as their emotions.

And it became even more apparent if the opposing side was weaker.

Though they were well organized, they were also very relaxed.

And Misun spoke in an embarrassed manner after seeing Hansoo's expression.

"Don't be like that. It's because we almost gathered enough of the Abyssal Crystals."

Abysstal Crystals.

In the beginning, this crystal which dropped from the abyssal creatures, brought huge battles in the beginning because of its mysteriousness.

Since there was nothing that didn't have a meaning after a fight in this world.

They thought that it could make them stronger as they madly chased after it.

Until they found out that it didn't have any effects of making them stronger.

But despite that, it was still one of the most important resources of this world.

Since this was the only thing that allowed the elevators to activate.

Only when they had a sufficient amount per person could they go up.

This was why they had to continue fighting against the Abyssal Creatures.

Since if not, they would have to remain in this world.

And the four leaders who had escaped with their respective groups made a decision.

To go up.

Though there were higher chances of danger, they had hopes in another factor.

The people who went before.

There were over 10 million people who had went up in the past two years.

<there's no way that many people all died. let's join up with them.>

And everybody agreed to this.

Since that Dark King was too much for them to continue staying here.

A natural disaster should be dodged.

Misun turned around and glanced at the man.

'...I hope things go well.'

They weren't monkeys.

It was 99% clear that this man was a transcendent as well.

They could feel the traces of transcendent aura from time to time.

The issue was the people inside the fortress.

The people inside were deathly afraid of transcendents.

None of them wanted to befriend a transcendent.

Misun carefully spoke towards hansoo.

"Could you just stay here?"

"Stay?"

Misun nodded.

"...There's no need to create issues right? Your objective was the box anyway. We'll get it for you after we go in."

They had been dragged here because of fear and relief at the fact that the man didn't treat them half badly.

But she woke up after seeing the fortress.

There was a high chance of issues occurring if they took this man inside the War Fortress.

They just needed to give back the box.

According to her thoughts, this man had nothing to do with them as long as they gave back the box.

Then.

Whoooosh.

Something cut through the air and headed towards them rapidly.

'What the...No way!'

Misun looked up to see if it was an attack.

But it wasn't a weapon that she saw.

Boooom!

The object which had been thrown made a huge noise as it landed on the ground.

Hansoo picked up the object as he chuckled.

"It seems I've gotten it back a bit too easily."

'Too easily.'

Hansoo picked up the box and looked towards the man who was looking at him with a stern expression.