Knal's Battle
He awoke from a long dream.
Woojin blinked silently. Everything he had just seen, heard, and experienced vanished like a mirage. As his senses cleared, he found himself back in reality.
It had felt like a lengthy dream, yet in reality not much time had passed. The proof was wrapped around his left wrist.
Crk, crrrk—
The Fused Abomination's core was coiling around his arm, attempting to erode his body. Compared to the last moment he had seen, the extent of its encroachment had hardly changed.
"A mutant grotesque that carries the scent of an ancient being."
When the Nol Queen, Krnartash, had spoken of the grotesques, that was how she had described them.
At the time, it had sounded vague. But now, reflecting on it, the phrase fit perfectly. These grotesques had originated from the breath of an ancient being.
The Dark-Side Priests had struggled to revive a dead ancient being—and in the end, they had become no different from the Outer God they worshiped.
'This has turned into a mess.'
Woojin let out a faint sigh. Mad fanatics had created yet another headache. How should he deal with it?
Crk—
For now, he needed to handle the problem right in front of him. Even at this moment, the grotesque flesh was creeping up his wrist.
The pressure was considerable—like a massive snake swallowing his arm.
Woojin grabbed the core wrapped around his arm and tore at it, but the sticky mass clung stubbornly to his wrist.
'…Annoying.'
Let's just deal with it quickly.
Crackle!!
He summoned crimson lightning into his hand. The grotesque, scorched black by the red thunder, lost its vitality and dropped limply to the floor.
The smell of burnt squid stung his nose. With a sweeping motion of his foot, Woojin pushed the charred flesh out of his quarters.
With the immediate issue resolved, he returned to his bed and pressed a hand to his forehead.
'I must have overused the Mind's Eye… The headache's worse than before.'
Honestly, he had seen far more than he had expected—so much that it startled him. His Mind's Eye was still immature in many ways.
'Peering into Vikram's memories helped.'
Along with the Mind's Eye, he had inherited the memories of the fallen ascetic. Before dying, Vikram had attempted to observe Woojin's essence using the Mind's Eye.
Though Vikram had failed… when Woojin examined the core just now, he used Vikram's memory to attempt contact with the mental image—and succeeded, gaining more information than anticipated.
'The Dragon of Heavenly Punishment.'
The Dark-Side Priests had revered the massive dragon as an Outer God. It wasn't particularly strange. The Dragon of Heavenly Punishment had possessed overwhelming power.
Woojin knew that fact better than anyone.
'…Because I killed it.'
Things had taken a rather peculiar turn.
He retraced those old memories.
Looking back…
Fighting the dragon back then had honestly not been part of his calculations. The prey he had been targeting wasn't the dragon at all.
'The Spider Queen.'
Also known as the Capricious Nine Roses.
Woojin had held a personal grudge against that creature.
'That damned spider caused countless deaths…'
Whenever he survived long enough in the depths of the Demonic Realm and grew stronger, he would inevitably clash with the spider faction. The place where he revived after death was near her domain.
After dying repeatedly, stubbornness took root in him. Over a long span of time, he carefully built up his strength and, whenever he had the opportunity, struck at the spiders' forces.
Like a guerrilla fighter, he would strike and retreat, circling the outer edges of their territory and steadily whittling down her subordinates.
Enraged, the Spider Queen herself had eventually descended to kill him.
That was how the battle began.
In sheer scale, the Spider Queen was overwhelming. But Woojin held the advantage in information. Through multiple deaths, he had learned her abilities thoroughly.
'The plan was fairly successful.'
Though his body had been heavily damaged fighting an ancient being, he had inflicted significant injuries on the Spider Queen.
Just a little more pressure, and he could finish her.
Just as he moved to press the attack—
…an uninvited guest appeared.
The Dragon of Heavenly Punishment.
When Woojin and the Nine Roses had both sustained heavy injuries, the dragon appeared as if it had been waiting for that moment.
The dragon attacked the Spider Queen. Normally, the two were evenly matched, but with the Queen weakened by injury, the battle quickly became one-sided.
Seeing that, Woojin was furious.
'This bastard… trying to steal the last hit?'
After all his effort to wear her down, that damned lizard intended to reap the reward.
He could not let his prey be taken.
With that thought, Woojin charged the dragon. Approaching stealthily from behind, he swung his machete with all his strength at its ankle.
Claaang—!
The blade bounced back. The dragon's scales were even harder than expected.
But Woojin did not stop. Like a patient woodsman, he continued swinging his machete relentlessly.
After repeating the action multiple times—
Slash!
The blade cut through the dragon's scales, severing the tendon buried within its muscle.
"KRRRRAAAAGH!!"
The dragon roared in pain. Its gaze snapped toward him. It seemed to decide that this nuisance had to be dealt with first.
Boom—
A crimson thunderbolt fell.
Woojin hurled himself sideways, barely avoiding a direct hit. But he could not escape the aftermath.
KRAAAANG!!
The lightning struck the ground, exploding with a deafening roar. Shockwaves and electricity surged outward, sweeping through the surroundings. Struck by it, Woojin's body stiffened.
Under normal circumstances, he could have endured that level of shock. But his body had already been battered in his struggle with the Spider Queen.
The dragon's foreclaw swung down.
He tried to dodge—but his stiffened legs would not respond.
'Damn it… if I were in better condition—'
At the moment he sensed death—
BOOM!!
With a thunderous crash, the dragon's massive body lurched sideways. The Spider Queen had charged and slammed into it.
The dragon's claws missed Woojin by a hair's breadth.
She, too, had no intention of letting her prey be stolen.
…The Nine Roses had reached the same conclusion.
At this rate, the irritating lizard would claim everything.
'Kill this one first.'
Woojin and the Nine Roses' thoughts aligned.
Two heavily injured, incomplete beings joined forces to confront one whole opponent.
Thus began a seemingly endless battle between three entities—one that raged on for nearly four days.
"Grrr…!"
The dragon panted heavily. It had grown exhausted fighting two enemies alone. Its body was riddled with large and small wounds.
It needed to retreat.
The dragon turned—
And at that moment, the Nine Roses began to hum softly.
"La, la la la—"
The song of the Outer God stirred strange phenomena.
Rose petals scattered across the ground began to rise into the air. Countless petals swirled like a storm, wrapping around the dragon's entire body.
The intense rose fragrance muddled the senses. The dragon shook its head repeatedly and spread its wings, preparing to take flight.
But before it could—
Woojin leapt high into the sky.
The machete in his hand gleamed with a cold, lethal light.
Whirr— whirl—
Spinning as if performing an acrobatic feat, he plummeted downward. Each twist of his body drew ever-changing trajectories in the air, the blade accelerating continuously.
The tip of that blade descended upon the dragon's neck.
Slaaash!!
With a satisfying sound, blue blood burst forth like a fountain. Writhing in agony, the dragon thrashed wildly. The vitality in its eyes began to fade.
Soon, its massive body tilted.
BOOOOM!!
With a thunderous crash, the forest trembled as if struck by an earthquake.
Then—silence fell, as if by a lie.
The dragon was dead.
…But there was no joy to be had.
'I've reached my limit too.'
Woojin tried to remain standing, but collapsed onto the dirt.
His body was half-ruined from battling the dragon.
Death would come soon. Having experienced countless deaths before, he knew it with certainty.
'…That one's in relatively better shape.'
Lying on the ground, he turned his head toward the Spider Queen. She too bore numerous injuries, but none seemed fatal.
The Spider Queen approached the dragon's corpse. Rose petals lay heaped upon it. She tore open its flank and pulled out a massive inner core.
The dragon's core.
Then she moved to claim the rest of her spoils.
The Capricious Nine Roses walked leisurely toward Woojin.
'In the end, she's the only one who profits.'
Woojin clicked his tongue inwardly.
He disliked the outcome—her survival.
But it didn't matter much. The moment his breath ceased, he would return to the starting point of the past.
'Then I'll begin again from the start.'
It was regrettable that all his effort would be lost, but next time he would do better.
The experience of fighting both the dragon and the spider would be invaluable.
As he thought that—
Swoosh.
The Nine Roses picked him up.
Her touch was careful, as though handling something fragile. Nine heads gazed down at him.
A large finger tapped lightly against his head, as if checking whether he was alive.
'…Even at the end, she's annoying.'
Smack!
Woojin irritably swatted her finger away.
Seeing his reaction, the Nine Roses smiled in satisfaction.
Then she brought the dragon's core close to him. The boulder-sized core cast a deep shadow over his body.
'…What is she planning?'
He had only a moment to wonder.
CRRRAAACK—!
The Nine Roses squeezed the dragon's core with immense force. Blood poured out like a waterfall, cascading over Woojin's body.
The dragon's blood rushed into his mouth and nostrils. With no time to breathe, he gasped like a drowning man, swallowing it as it flooded in.
…And then the change began.
Crack, crunch—
Joints throughout his body groaned and shifted.
Gray scales began to spread across his skin.
His eyes flared crimson, lightning flickering within them.
Uncontrollable power and vitality surged through him.
The dragon's blood made him stronger.
After granting most of the power and essence contained within the core to Woojin, the Spider Queen casually chewed the nearly empty core like dried jerky.
From Woojin's perspective, the situation was utterly perplexing.
"…Why give this to me?"
There was no reason to believe she would answer, but he couldn't help asking.
As always, the Spider Queen responded only with a meaningful smile.
She set Woojin back down upon the ground and turned away, walking leisurely.
The Capricious Nine Roses departed.
Left alone, Woojin stood there silently for a moment.
Then he picked up his fallen machete and walked into the forest.
'So this is how my revenge ends.'
He had died countless times at the hands of the spiders. He had dedicated himself to vengeance.
And yet, somehow, it felt as though he had made peace with the Spider Queen instead.
With that thought…
There was no longer any reason to remain in this barren land.
His revenge was over.
And he had gained sufficient power.
What should he do now?
After a long moment of contemplation, he turned his gaze southward.
Toward a place where the shadows thinned.
He had always wondered what lay beyond that distant horizon.
'…Let's go.'
And so he began walking aimlessly toward the far south.
That was how Kim Woojin came to this place.
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