Chapter 717: Are you sure that you're a god? (4)

At that moment…

“Pwa, hahahaha!”

The sealed god suddenly burst into laughter. He looked extremely frivolous as it came with an exaggerated gesture.

However, Choi Han and Toonka were already running toward the sealed god as if they had nothing to lose.

Choi Han's Black Yong was at the god’s back while Toonka's fist was to the god’s right side.

“Ah.”

The god suddenly stopped laughing and mumbled to himself while looking at the sky.

“I wanted to have some fun, as if I was playing a game.”

“You can have fun while getting pummeled!”

As Toonka shouted with excitement… The sealed god kicked off the ground.

Tap.

Even though it was just a simple tap… Whirlwinds gathered at his feet and his body shot up and he looked like the crescent moon as he flipped in the air.

“Mm!”

Choi Han frowned.

“You’re like a damn rat!”

Toonka changed directions and grabbed Cale, who was standing there holding the cintamani, and quickly retreated.

Baaaaaaaaaang-!

The Black Yong flew past where the sealed god had been standing and destroyed some trees in the forest.

Tap.

The sealed god elegantly landed on the ground as if he had never moved.

“Pffft.”

The god scoffed. A black mana arrow flew toward his foot that just touched the ground.

The black Dragon was glaring at him. Numerous black mana arrows were already aiming for the god’s openings.

Baaaaang—!

The mana arrows crashed into the silver shield and generated loud explosions.

The impact filled the area with dust, making the sealed god and the shield no longer visible.

They heard the sealed god’s voice through the dust clouds at that moment.

"Did you know?”

His voice was too calm for this situation.

"The God of Death is extremely meddlesome.”

Chhhhhh. Chhhhhh.

The cintamani had turned completely black at some point and was only making sounds like a broken machine.

“That god always brings single-lifers over to handle things whenever chaos arrives in one of the worlds.”

Choi Han jumped into the dust clouds.

The sealed god continued to speak.

“But you see. What sin did the single-lifer commit to get dragged here?”

Choi Han’s face showed no changes at all. Instead, Choi Han made eye contact with Cale.

Nod.

Cale nodded his head and Choi Han charged toward the sealed god without any hesitation.

Baaaaang!

The shield and sword clashed once again and Choi Han could see the god smiling on the other side of the shield. The god continued to whisper.

“What about the family of the single-lifer who suddenly lost a precious member of their family? What about their friends? What did they ever do wrong?”

Choi Han’s eyes slightly shook for a moment.

Shaaaaaaaaaaaa-

The shield disappeared. It was replaced by a rose-gold thunderbolt in one hand and a water spear in the other.

He clenched those two powers together.

Crackle-.

The water, fire, and thunderbolt raged as they swirled together. Choi Han instantly figured out that the destructive nature of this attack was even stronger than the White Star’s Sword of Disasters.

“…Something that even Cale-nim cannot do-”

"Did you really think that I would be like a mere human? You can’t think that we are the same because we look the same on the outside.”

Even if he was using Cale's powers, the plate that was holding the ancient powers was not Cale’s.

“I am the God of Despair.”

He slowly added on.

“I may be seen as evil.”

He sounded calm.

“Humans wish to avoid me.”

The emotions on his face slowly disappeared.

“I also test the people who come to my temple. However, I do not change people’s lives.”

His calm voice now became monotone.

“Did I goad the White Star? I simply wait in my temple. You all came to me. Despair does not come to find you. Your lives create the despair. So, am I evil?”

The fire, thunderbolt, and water had intertwined into the shape of a spear. Choi Han bit down on his lower lip.

“Despair may seem evil, but, looking at it in a different way, it is just a part of life.”

The sealed god charged in after saying that. Choi Han twisted his body.

“Raon!”

He subconsciously called out that name. The sealed god was charging toward the black Dragon.

“I will not lose!”

The black Dragon didn’t think much about Choi Han’s shout as he glared at the sealed god running toward him. Black mana fluctuated around the Dragon. Intense rumbling showed the strength of this attack.

It was at that moment.

“Black Dragon! Stop focusing on the magic circle and cast shields!”

The black Dragon heard a stern voice.

He couldn’t help but look in that direction. Cale was looking at him. The black Dragon looked at this person, whom he had not been able to see until now, that Choi Han and the others seemed to listen to.

“Don’t look at me! Do it now!”

The black Dragon could not go against his word for some reason.

The black Dragon was currently maintaining the magic circle to hinder teleportation while using the rest of its mana to find an opening to attack the god.

It was the same in this current situation.

He thought that it was enough.

However, both Cale and Choi Han knew the truth.

Raon was great and mighty from the first time they met him, but his greatness was the result of his desire to learn, his will to improve himself, and his efforts.

This Raon, who had yet to learn a lot of things, would not be able to handle something that was even stronger than the White Star's Sword of Disasters.

“Hurry!”

The moment he heard the stern yet concerned voice again…

Raon subconsciously stopped focusing on the magic circle and cast shields with all his strength.

One layer. Two layers, three layers.

Shields continued to quickly get cast without stopping.

“Hmph.”

The Dragon could see the sealed god sneer at him before striking down on the shields with the spear.

Choi Han charged toward the god’s back while Toonka stood in front of Cale to block any potential aftershock from this collision.

At that moment…

“Your highness!”

Alberu Crossman, who had been watching all of this, turned his head after hearing a stern voice. Cale Henituse was looking at him.

‘It's obvious why the god attacked Raon.’

He was planning on interrupting the magic circle that was preventing teleportation to use the opening to escape.

There were still many things in this world that this god could use.

He could pretend to be the White Star even if he had to stop pretending to be Cale.

‘We will tie him down here at minimum.’

Eruhaben and Mary were out to handle the issue in the Mogoru Empire. Rosalyn and Clopeh were in the Eastern continent.

That was why Cale was addressing Alberu.

“Are you going to just stand there, your highness?”

The crown prince's expression instantly changed. The Dark Elves guarding Alberu noticed this and immediately followed behind Choi Han.

At that moment… Time did not wait for them any longer.

The young black Dragon’s layers of shields and the fire, water, and thunderbolt spear collided.

Baaaaaaaaaang—–!

Their ears were ringing and all they could see was white.

Craaaaaaack.

Only the black Dragon could see his shields starting to break at this violent power that attacked him.

One layer, two layers, three layers…

The shields continued to break and the black Dragon thought that he made the right choice to listen to that human named Cale as he channeled his mana to cast more shields.

He then made eye contact with the god looking at him.

Smirk.

The god smirked and then shot up with a whirlwind.

‘He’s going to escape! He’s getting away!’

The black Dragon had those thoughts on his mind.

However, the god was reaching his hand toward someone. While everybody's sights were still covered by the explosion… The god chose to do something else rather than running away.

While that was going on…

Cale, whose ears were ringing from the explosion, heard a quiet noise.

– Chhhhhh. Chhhhhh-

The cintamani had turned black again and he heard a voice. The God of Death's voice could be heard through the static.

– The sealed god, chhh, is someone, chhh, who lives by eating, chhhh, despair.

The sealed god is someone who lives by eating despair.

– Ah, Ahn Roh, chhhh-, Man's in, fo, was, not, wrong.

Ahn Roh Man's information was not wrong.

‘Hmm?’

At the spot where Raon and the sealed god had collided… Cale's expression changed while somewhat listening to the cintamani as he focused on the center of the explosion where Choi Han and the Dark Elves had charged into.

Ahn Roh Man.

He was one of the former owners of the Unbreakable Spear, Taerang, and someone who lived in a different world.

Their world had the Lion Dragon appear as the Temple Guardian, and they managed to take it down and clear the temple as well.

He had informed crown prince Alberu about how they managed to clear the sealed god's temple and Alberu had used that information to decide the first team to go in.

However, they had experienced a completely different test than the illusion test involving sadness, sloth, and other emotions as Ahn Roh Man had described.

This was the reason Cale had thought for a while that the test might be different in every world or that there was an explanation for what had happened.

– What he t, told you is the o, o, original, chhhh, t, test.

The God of Death was saying that what Ahn Roh Man had told them was the original temple test.

In that case, why had it changed for Cale and the others?

‘…I have a bad feeling about this.’

Cale started walking after feeling an unexplainable ominous sensation.

Toonka got shocked and tried to stop him but Cale ran into an area where it was hard to see anything because of the dust and everything that had blasted from the collision.

The God of Death was still speaking.

– However, the sealed god was a, able to, chhhh, eat the despairs of a lot of test challengers, chhh, in Ahn, chhh, Roh Man’s world.

The sealed god is someone who lives by eating despair.

An unfathomable number of people were said to have taken the test in Ahn Roh Man's world for a year.

The sealed god must have consumed quite a lot of despair.

Cale started to think.

‘If the God of Despair eats despair?’

He quickly came up with an answer.

‘He’ll get stronger!’

Even if he was sealed, he ate despair, which was the foundation of his power.

‘…Because of that!’

The God of Death said the next part before Cale could think it.

– T, that is the reason that the test has c, changed.

The reason that the sealed god was able to create a new test was because he had gotten stronger, despite being sealed, by consuming a lot of despair in Ahn Roh Man's world.

– F, furthermore, he is t, trying to make the t, temples appear in numerous worlds, chhhh-

Cale couldn’t hear the rest of what the God of Death had to say because of the static, but he understood the point.

‘The unranked monsters appeared in the world where I used to live as Kim Rok Soo as well.’

Those monsters eventually lead to the Lion Dragon and forcibly open the temple. The people trying to protect that world would have no choice but to take down the Lion Dragon, so they would be forced to open the door of the temple that appears once the guardian disappears.

Then the people trying to protect that world would have to take the test of despair and the God of Despair would benefit from every challenger.

‘Now that I think about it, what Ahn Roh Man explained about the end of the test seems odd as well.’

The way to clear the temple in Ahn Roh Man's world that Alberu had shared with Cale was a bit absurd.

‘Once you overcome all illusions related to the emotions…’

They would arrive at the end of the temple.

There would be a white key to close the temple door and the temple would disappear right away if they made it back to the entrance and closed the temple door.

Thinking about it in a different way…

‘That means that the sealed god would consume the despair and leave that world without any harm at the end.’

He figured out why numerous worlds were dealing with incidents and monsters related to the sealed god.

But it also made him come up with a question.

‘Can the sealed god do this on his own? He’s supposed to be sealed.’

It must mean that there was an accomplice helping the sealed god.

It was not a stupid bastard like the White Star. It was someone who could traverse through dimensions and create traps in the different worlds. This individual would not be an easy enemy to defeat.

“Ha!”

Cale scoffed and started moving faster.

His eyes were focused on the sealed god who was slowly becoming visible as the dust subsided.

He realized where the sealed god was moving toward and what he was reaching for as soon as he noticed that the sealed god was not running away.

Someone who lives by eating despair.

Someone who was originally a Hunter.

He should only have one target.

“Cale-nim! Please don't come! I will stop him!”

Choi Han was shouting with urgency toward Cale.

Choi Han’s attribute was despair. Of course, there was something else in there, the hope from his heart overcoming that despair.

However, it started from despair.

Furthermore, he was a single-lifer.

Choi Han looked away from Cale and quickly charged toward the sealed god with his sword in his hand.

Smirk.

The moment the sealed god smiled…

– Y, you must s, stop, chhhh- chhhhh-

Cale knew as well.

He knew that he needed to protect Choi Han from the sealed god.

The static disappeared and he was able to hear the God of Death's voice properly.

– The you of this time. This is the end.

He did not hear the God of Death's voice in the cintamani any longer.

Craaaaaaack.

The cintamani then cracked in half.

Choi Han and Cale were still far from each other.

The sealed god and Choi Han were pretty close, with their respective hand and sword reaching toward each other.

Ooooooooong-

Cale then saw it.

He saw and eerie and frightening red aura around the sealed god’s hand.

The corners of Cale’s lips curled up.

“At least the God of Death did a lot of things for us.”

Choi Han and the sealed god would collide in an instant.

However, that instant was enough for Cale.

Not the present Cale, but the Cale of the time frame of this illusion…

The power that Cale had at that time… The God of Death had removed the restrictions on those powers.

– Are you okay? What is going on?

– Hmm? Why did I get removed from noona?

The glutton priestess of the Indestructible Shield and the old man of the Vitality of the Heart.

The moment Cale heard the two of their voices… His hand stretched out toward the sealed god and Choi Han.

The dust had completely settled at that point.

Paaaat.

“What's going on?”

“…It’s Cale-nim!”

Eruhaben and Mary showed up surrounded by gold mana, and…

“…Choi Han, no!”

“Stop him!”

The black Dragon, Alberu, and the Dark Elves were able to see again.

That was why they could see it properly.

The moment Choi Han and the sealed god were about to collide…

“This is the original.”

They heard a low voice as a holy silver shield was cast.

They saw two radiant wings warmly embracing the black haired swordsman.

They saw it all.

This was the perfect and flawless shield, the shield that was created to protect someone.