Chapter 124 :

Chapter 124. Hatching

The disappearance of Jeju Island in Korea.

Now, fifteen days later, no one denied that it was gone.

Not only in Korea; countless “eyes” overseas thought the same.

Especially the Master, who publicly declared, “There is no hope for Jeju Island.”

“… Master. It has been 30 days since Jeju Island vanished. And yesterday, Master, you officially posted on SNS telling everyone to give up on Jeju Island. Why did you do that?”

And today, the Master appeared publicly on a famous American TV show.

After nearly two months of disappearance, he finally moved.

People who heard the news rushed to their TVs.

The Master faced the host with his usual relaxed expression.

“That place is called the ‘Abyss.’”

“The ‘Abyss’? What is that?”

“A dead land. A sunken land. The moment you step into it, you can never come back alive.”

“… Wow. That sounds terrifying just hearing it. But I’d like a clearer definition. It’s clearly not the dictionary meaning, is it?”

At the host’s sharp point, the Master nodded.

“That’s right. In the otherworld, the abyss means hell.”

“Hell…?”

“To put it simply, it’s a place filled with countless demons and hell kings. No matter how great a warrior you are, if you spend over twenty days in the abyss, you die. Without exception.”

There were no exceptions.

Not even the faintest possibility.

Jeju Island had been consumed, and everyone who was on Jeju Island had died.

He could speak so confidently because the Master had tested it himself.

‘And it wasn’t just once or twice.’

The abyss of Pangaenia was a place of the unknown.

Sometimes unimaginable treasures lay hidden, other times unbeatable monsters lurked.

But if one could freely explore the abyss, they could build a force so powerful that even an empire would fear it.

So the Master explored the abyss.

Dozens, hundreds of times.

And failed every single time.

‘But even failure gives data.’

It was not meaningless.

He obtained information no one else could.

For example—

‘First, if you enter the abyss, your name disappears from the Hall of Fame.’

When a ranker sinks into the abyss, the Hall of Fame immediately marks the person as “dead.”

Their name vanishes from the rankings entirely.

This allowed him to roughly determine which rankers had sunk into the abyss.

‘The high-rankers who hid their names around that period are Phantom Randolph, Sword of Stars Gracia, Hermit Mintchocoisdelicious, and Dragonslayer Barmush.’

The four whose names still had not returned to the rankings.

All of them were threats ranked “risk level 9” or higher.

‘After four days in the abyss, your mind collapses.’

There was another reason he described the abyss as hell.

That was why any attempt to攻略 the abyss had to be carried out as a “short operation.”

If it only destroyed the mind, that might be bearable, but—

‘After ten days, bruises spread across the whole body, and physical distortion begins.’

Like exposure to radiation, bruises spread and blood leaked out.

Yet the person did not notice it.

They viewed their dying body as if it belonged to someone else.

And they gradually ceased being human.

‘After twenty days, you either die or become a monster serving the abyss’s master.’

There were no exceptions.

No one had endured past twenty days.

Of course, the four listed earlier might have lasted longer.

He had never experimented on people that strong.

But even then, at best they might last a few extra days.

He was certain—after a month, they were done.

They had either forgotten themselves and become monsters, or they had died.

If even they couldn’t survive, what chance did an Earth human have in the abyss?

None.

‘That’s also why I came here today.’

Randolph, Gracia, the other two who bothered him—they were all dead.

This world had no alternatives left.

“… Jeju Island has become the abyss. A hell where neither entry nor exit is possible. But do not despair. I will protect you all from Baal so he cannot begin the next invasion.”

Because only he could.

***

The Glutton devoured Baal, and the whole body revolted.

Of course it did.

Baal was a monster of a grade incomparable to the corpse crow.

To absorb him and treat him like a subservient trait—such a thing was absurd.

The corpse crow understood human structure, imitated them, lured them, devoured them.

It had at least partially acquired human characteristics.

Baal, on the other hand, had been a monstrous entity from the beginning.

A mass of “evil intent” created by Ruin to destroy the world.

Most importantly… the “Fragment of Ruin” hidden inside Baal possessed an absolute nature that not even a hidden trait could decompose.

The Glutton devoured “Baal,” but could not digest the “Fragment of Ruin.”

The Fragment of Ruin was pure “evil”—the power that had driven Baal for ages.

-This body is excellent. I shall take it.

Thus, the Fragment of Ruin sought to claim this body for itself.

Baal had bowed to this human’s traits, but the Fragment of Ruin was different.

It was something capable of warping the world’s balance and rules.

A living bug in the system—that was the Fragment of Ruin.

-A human with all “thirteen keys.” But a key unused cannot open any “door,” thus it is useless.

Had he used a key, it might be another story—yet not a single one had been properly consumed.

Naturally, a human would not know the location of a “door.”

The Fragment of Ruin slowly seized control of the body.

The more it stole, the more satisfied it became with the potential of this vessel.

A body with greater potential than Baal, whom Ruin had created.

But things did not go according to the Fragment’s expectations.

《Secret Option activated.》

《All conditions met. ‘Transcendent Baal Set’ is fusing with your body.》

《Beginning ‘Complete Control of Baal’.》

《The ‘Fragment of Ruin’ is resisting inside Baal!》

《Initiating control.》

《Resistance weakening.》

… Just when it was about to seize total control—

The Transcendent Baal Set fused with the body.

That was the hidden option.

The final trump card for “complete control of Baal.”

The old empire had known about the “evil” lurking inside Baal.

For their descendants, they had completed this final safeguard.

Thus this “complete control” existed solely to bind the Fragment of Ruin.

-At best, it is 5:5. As long as I maintain half, you will never fully awaken.

Sleep forever, slowly being devoured.

It was only a matter of time.

Though annoyed, time was on its side.

But the Fragment of Ruin overlooked one thing.

As the Transcendent Baal Set melted in, pulling against the Fragment—

《Experience accumulated. You have leveled up!》

… Vast, unimaginable experience erupted, and a level was gained.

Fwoooosh!

-…….

The Fragment of Ruin was dumbfounded.

A level-up?

When you level up, “all abnormalities” are healed.

All your stored experience is consumed to raise your tier, healing everything at that instant.

But it didn’t matter.

The “abnormalities” the Fragment had imposed could not be undone by a mere level-up.

However, this body required colossal amounts of experience just to rise a single level.

And it had leveled up.

The massive experience burst like an erupting volcano—

FWAAAAAAASH!

A flood of blessings hotter than flames surged, not just climbing one step but transcending the very space of tiers.

-What kind of absurd ‘required experience’…!

Yet the Fragment of Ruin could not understand.

-Only the eighth shackle has been undone, and yet this ‘required experience’? There are ten shackles. Only the eighth has opened.

Even with the thirteen keys increasing the required experience, this amount was too absurd.

To need this much experience just for level seven?

It was vast as the universe.

There was something else.

Something else had increased the required experience.

-Is he releasing some kind of seal? It feels like each shackle is being erased.

What will happen when the tenth shackle opens?

But if there truly was a seal, how could it, the Fragment of Ruin, fail to notice?

Then what explains that monstrous amount of experience?

Everything was inexplicable.

Impossible to comprehend.

Next, due to leveling up, all “abnormalities” were erased instantly.

And then—

“You amusing bastard.”

… I opened my eyes.

***

I can’t endure anymore.

I don’t want to endure.

The long wandering in the abyss.

Gracia was finally reaching her limit.

Not only Gracia—every one of the 600,000 people here.

“… Gracia. The phenomenon of the barrier collapsing has stopped.”

“I know.”

The barrier. As the end of the abyss collapsed, everyone dreamed of escape.

But even that ended today.

Faces and bodies gaunt from starvation.

Warriors could still endure somehow, but the humans from Earth were the real problem.

If they learned that the collapsing barrier—and their hope—had stopped completely…

“What will happen to us? Are we all going to die like this?”

The players. They too were at their limit.

Gracia had ordered them to keep the truth hidden, but that wouldn’t last long.

The only relief was that no “mental abnormalities” had appeared yet.

“… We will not die.”

She said that, but she had no confidence.

Nothing grew in the abyss.

Players had shared their water and food, surviving only because of their inventories.

But even that had run out long ago.

No player carried enough food for 600,000 people.

‘Nothing can grow in this land.’

They planted “seeds,” tried countless methods to force them to grow quickly—but they withered before even sprouting.

“Our last bit of food is gone. At this rate, it’s only a matter of time before people start eating each other.”

“I will not allow it.”

“… Isn’t it fine to eat those who are already dead?”

One player said it.

That it should be fine to use dead bodies as food.

The problem was—this wasn’t just one person’s opinion.

“He’s right. How long do we have to keep carrying them?”

“We have strength. If we reduce the mouths, we can survive longer.”

“At this rate, we’ll be the ones who die!”

“What’s the point of being noble when everyone ends up dead?”

Everyone had gone mad.

Gracia silently shook her head.

“As long as I am alive, I will not allow it.”

“Are you sure you’re not secretly eating ‘food’ on your own?”

“… You speak nonsense.”

“Well, we can confirm that! We are not as noble as you. It’s getting harder and harder to follow your orders.”

Srrrk!

They raised their weapons.

Gracia let out a deep sigh.

Kwa-rreureung!

Lightning struck in an instant.

Among the thousand swords drifting through the sky, one struck the ground like a bolt of lightning.

Anyone who saw the corpse split clean in half would surely recoil in fear.

“Th-That smell! Meat!”

“M-Maybe… maybe we can eat that one?”

…… Ah.

They’ve gone mad. Truly insane. The abyss had shattered their minds.

Just like Gracia. Like what had happened to him.

Even if he killed them all like this, would any of it end?

But right now, absolute leadership was needed in this place.

The fact that they attacked him meant his Leadership had begun to crack.

‘I need to set an example.’

—Either die like insects, or do the work that must be done.

That was the task he had to fulfill.

To avoid dying like an insect.

To at least die as a human being.

He could not allow this place to descend into a Pandemonium where everyone tore each other apart and devoured one another.

Gracia raised one hand.

So everyone could see—as he prepared to slaughter them all.

“Ah, the egg is cracking!”

That was when—

A man came running toward Gracia and reported.

“Egg?”

“Yes! The black egg!”

Gracia frowned sharply and moved quickly.

The black egg that came from Baal’s body.

If it had cracked, that meant it was about to hatch.

Reaching the abyss’s center, Gracia couldn’t help but hold his breath.

Jjeojeok!

……The black egg was truly cracking.

‘What in the world is going to hatch from that?’

A completed Baal? Or something else entirely?

No one knew.

No one could even guess.

But one thing was certain: it would not be anything ordinary.

With Gracia and everyone around him tense to the limit, they began to watch the egg’s hatching.