To Hell With Being a Hero!

‘Fuck. Fucking fuck, fuck. Really fuck,’ she cursed inside her mind. A sense of despair that she couldn’t put into words came to her. What in the world was that? How could she beat something like that? As the saying went, ‘There was a heaven above heaven.’ Bael was an existence who could reach the sky, but what if there was an existence whom even that sky looked up at? What would she call such a being? Bael had a difficult time wrapping her head around what was happening before her. Thus, she watched blankly as Chi-Woo charged at her with a kick.

It seemed accurate to say that there was nothing she could possibly do. Just like how an ant couldn’t escape an elephant’s foot no matter how fast it ran, she couldn’t escape. This was an existence she couldn’t dare or even attempt to comprehend, and such a being soon struck her abdomen with his fist.

“….!” Bael gasped, and she ran out of breath. It felt as if all her internal organs were threatening to come out of her mouth, only to be stopped by the constriction of her throat. When she regained her senses, her surroundings were quickly flowing past her. The pain came a beat later, and she felt like her whole body was shredding and disintegrating to pieces. As she screamed belatedly, Bael saw Chi-Woo approach her and raise one foot high.

Bael felt like she was getting ripped from her head to her bottom, and her body stopped flying straight ahead and instead shot upwards. Now, she was put in a strange state where she wasn’t even sure if she was alive or dead. She looked sideways and was rendered speechless. She was in the sky above the clouds. When she blankly looked down, she saw that she was far from the surface of the planet, and because she was too focused on what she was seeing, she didn’t notice the heel rising above her and striking her down hard from the top of her head. What was more shocking was that all this happened in just three seconds.

A dark figure dropped from the sky and landed hard, leaving a giant crater on the ground and shaking the surroundings. Chi-Woo landed near her and looked down. As he stared at the center of the crater, his eyes flashed at the being wiggling like a bug.

“…You didn’t die,” Chi-Woo calmly murmured. “I attacked you seriously three times to finish you.” He sounded like he was almost congratulating her.

While she had probably heard him, Bael didn’t say anything. She was in no condition to respond, much less speak. Her body was in taters, her limbs were falling apart, and it felt as if she was a wrung-out rag ripped into pieces. But despite all this, Bael staggered and pushed herself up. She felt many things fall or flow off her as she got up, but she didn’t pay attention to them. Perhaps she had already known what would happen. No, she realized it the moment the sanctuary was revived and she felt that Chi-Woo had grown larger. The foreboding feeling had become reality.

Yet Bael still pushed herself up. It was because of the resolution she had made when she first decided to walk the path that betrayed Liber. Thus, she couldn’t fall like this. With a face covered thickly in blood, she looked up. Chi-Woo jumped with ease after watching her from the side the whole time. An intense cluster of light shot out from his hand, so bright that it seemed to blind her.

“…” She recalled a memory, and at that moment, Bael closed her eyes halfway. There was a hint of reminiscence to her expression, and she looked almost pitiful, but only momentarily. It had looked like she would close her eyes and peacefully enter an eternal slumber, but then her eyes widened again.

“------!” Her face distorted like that of an evil spirit, and she reached out with her fist while screeching. With a loud bang, Bael wavered widely. Her body seemed to fluctuate like waves, and the arm she had extended twisted downward, seemingly endlessly.

Chi-Woo moved past her, and almost at the same time, her headless body slowly crumpled while spewing a fountain of dark red blood. Boom, Bael’s body hit the ground and didn’t move again.

***

Rumble! Boom!

The ground rang and shook with tremendous roars and noises. A part of the island-like structure had broken off, triggering what looked like a giant landslide. Seeing the Sky Castle lose a part, the Abyss King turned solemn and contemplative. The fate of the Sky Castle gave him a general idea how the situation in Shalyh had panned out. They would only be certain of it by checking the scene in person, but they didn’t have the luxury to wait until then. They needed to make the decision now—just like the Last Dragon had done when she decided to leave him alone in favor of attacking the Sky Castle. Should he try to overturn the disadvantageous situation somehow, or…?

It was then the Abyss King wondered, ‘But for whom?’ If he acted now, what would the Abyss gain? Basically nothing. Maybe it would be different if the Sernitas could miraculously restore the Sky Castle, but that didn’t seem possible now. If the current situation kept on unfolding, he had no confidence in winning this war. Of course, the Abyss could inflict great damage on humanity and the League if they went all in now at the risk of total annihilation, but who would benefit the most from that? The answer was simple: the Sernitas.

Going over the situation again, he realized that all factions except for one had amassed all their forces. The Sernitas only sent one Sky Castle. They had a good excuse for it, which was that they had to keep their main forces on guard against the legend. The legend was formidable enough for the Sernitas to act in this manner, but even with the justification, the Abyss King couldn’t help but suspect foul play.

If humanity, the Cassiubia League, the Demon Empire, and the Abyss all fought each other to the deaths, it would be the Sernitas who would have a heyday. This was just a projection, but what if—and he did mean if—the Sernitas were…

The Abyss King felt as if someone had the back of his head with a hammer. He stiffened for a moment before bursting into loud laughter. To think that could be the case…

“…Yes, that was it.” The Abyss King eventually stopped laughing and shook his head. “That was his plan from the beginning. The man called the legend sure is one crazy bastard.”

When the Abyss King heard that the legend had broken into the Sernitas’ territory alone, he had thought the man had gone mad. But now that they reached this situation, he understood what had happened. In short, it could be said that the legend and the Sernitas had made a secret alliance of sorts. Naturally, the two wouldn’t have met one-on-one for a negotiation. By entering their territory alone, the legend had sent a kind of message to the Sernitas, and the Sernitas had interpreted this message on their side and accepted the deal.

In other words, just like how the Sernitas had sought collaboration with the Abyss and the Demon Empire, the legend had also extended his hand toward the Sernitas. The legend made an offer that the Sernitas had no reason to refuse. At the price of only the Sky Castle, they were given the choice to either use a portion of the power or go all-out depending on how things played out. In short, the legend had given them a good excuse to reap great benefits with less work.

Of course, the Abyss King couldn’t be completely certain that this was the whole picture, or if the Sernitas had really tried their best. But one thing was for certain: while victory was always nice, it didn’t really matter to the Sernitas whether they won this war or not. They would be able to go back home with great rewards regardless of the result. They sure had it good.

It was at this point that the Abyss King realized that the legend had also extended a hand to the Abyss to some extent. The Last Dragon was the one passing on the message, as evidenced by the way she left him to only crush the Sky Castle. They were telling him to either give up on gaining more here and minimize the losses, or they could continue to strangle each other to their deaths and allow the Sernitas to be the only one laughing. Considering how sprawling this whole event turned out to be, the coalition army wouldn’t be able to leave completely intact. At least one of their main leads would have to die, and the one to suffer the fate had already been decided: Bael, who was defeated by Chi-Woo.

“…There’s no reason for me to play into their hands.” The Abyss King organized his thoughts and made his decision. It wasn’t something he had to agonize over in the first place. Rather than holding onto loyalty to someone who was already gone and exacerbating losses to both of their armies, they needed to get out and escape when their enemies’ attention wasn’t on them.

“I will admit defeat this time,” the Abyss King said indifferently, but couldn’t hide his regret. If the Demon Empire had done their job properly, perhaps the Sernitas wouldn’t be at such an advantage. But it couldn’t be helped now. Rather than being a fool who lost everything, it was better to admit defeat and retreat now. Thus, the Abyss King was about to turn around when something suddenly caught his eye.

Perhaps the Last Dragon had sensed what was happening, and in the midst of attacking the Sky Castle, she stopped to look in his direction.

“I like how fast you are in admitting defeat, but wanting to retreat without suffering losses after coming all this way… Don’t you think you’re expecting too much?” The Last Dragon smirked. “You should leave at least half of your army behind.”

“I won’t say that you are being too greedy, but don’t disappoint me, Last Dragon,” the Abyss King said calmly. “Who knows what will happen in the future? We might find ourselves allies with the same goal. You are a dragon for goodness sake; I don’t want to think that your brain has already turned into one of a lizard.”

“?”

“I’m saying that joining hands with a stupid ally once is more than enough.”

“I was wondering what you were suddenly going on about…but you don’t have to worry about that.” The Last Dragon looked a bit baffled by the Abyss King’s claims. “There’s no way we’ll join hands with you.”

“Well….I’ll respect your opinions. I understand how you feel, but you will have no choice but to let us go in peace.”

The next moment, the Last Dragon almost doubted her eyes. Mid-conversation, the Abyss King noticeably became fainter as if he had transported his body to another dimension. She quickly swung her claws, but the sharp winds she made simply passed through the Abyss King and sliced the ground.

“…You.” The Last Dragon’s eyes narrowed. She had considered the possibility, but it was still surprising. “Ate the queen.”

“I don’t like the expression that I ‘ate’ her, but there was no reason for me not to.” The Abyss King bared his teeth, and the Last Dragon’s face hardened. In other words, the Abyss had reorganized their ranks just like the Demon Empire had. From a Two Monarchs Three-Six Alliance, they now had one monarch with Seven Chasms serving him. The change had happened so secretively that no other faction could confirm this news.

Perhaps it was to be expected as soon as the Abyss’ Witch went missing in their war against the Demon Empire. Nevertheless, it was surprising what had happened to the Abyss Queen.

“This is advice coming from a victor, but you should put your focus on the Demon Empire if you don’t want to pass over the little information you have left.”

“What?” the Last Dragon asked, but didn’t hear a reply. The Abyss King had concealed his presence by now and disappeared without a trace.

The Last Dragon stared ahead in a daze. Then, she soon turned around to see Abyss troops hurrying to retreat after realizing that their leader had left. The Last Dragon didn’t know what the Abyss King’s last words meant exactly, but in the end, she flapped her wings widely and flew upwards. Though the result of the battle was almost decided, it wasn’t over yet. After losing all they had, humanity and the Cassiubia League needed to salvage as much as they could.

***

While the conversation took place and humanity and the Cassiubia were launching a fierce counterattack at their enemies at the last gate, Shalyh was quiet. The invader had been stopped, and though there were still some surviving Cassiubia League members, none of them said anything. They were all quiet as a mouse.

They had witnessed a battle so unbelievable and insane that they were stunned speechless. Seeing all the ruins and destruction left in the aftermath of the battle, it seemed like two gods had clashed rather than two mortals. And at the center of the giant crater, two people were lying across from each other. One of them soon disintegrated into dark ash and scattered into the sky, while the other didn’t disappear, but nor did he move. He simply lay still on the ground as if he was fast asleep. The crater was still warm from the fiery clash earlier, and it seemed like a nice bed.

Several beings gathered around to look at the figure lying in the center of the crater. The greatest among them looked sentimental. Her gaze was happy, admiring, and even expectant. Then, she suddenly furrowed her eyebrows, because suddenly, some small thing walked up to Chi-Woo and stuck close to his side. Like all great beings, she didn’t like others touching what she already designated as hers. Irked by the sight of that small thing rubbing her cheeks against what was hers, she smacked the girl away like a fly. Smack!

The girl rolled on the ground and looked up at the great being. Surprised by what happened, the goddess holding a scale quickly blinked, while the general holding the guandao clicked his tongue.

—…Your temper is the same as ever. How could you get jealous of such a young thing…

But the general stopped and fake-coughed when the great being glared piercingly at him. Looking far off into the distance, the general swung his guandao meaninglessly in the air. After a while, the great being crossed her arms and flicked her head to the side. Then, the girl who had been warily looking at her carefully moved again. She approached the center of the crater and looked below her. There Chi-Woo lay. The man had kept his promise to her. He had a faint smile on his face as bright sunlight shone on him.