Chapter 679: Side Story Chapter 159 - Primordial Knowledge (1)

Side Story Chapter 159 - Primordial Knowledge (1)

“Ah.”

Oh Kang-Woo’s vision gradually cleared up.

‘Where am I...?’

He looked around and saw a forest full of greens. He could hear the chirping of birds and rustling made by insects.

‘Oh, I’m in that place.’

He easily figured out where he was.

‘The inside of the Gate where we went relic hunting.’

It was the place where the invitation letter to the Tower of Creation was found as well as the place that had mixed with the thirty-eighth floor.

“Haaa.”

Kang-Woo’s heightened anxiety died down once he figured out where he was.

“Urpp!” Nausea suddenly hit him like a truck; he put his hand on a nearby tree and emptied his stomach. “BLEEEEEEEEEEEEEGHHHH!!!”

Nothing but gastric juice came out, likely because he had not eaten anything since arriving at the tower.

“Haaa, haaa, haaa,” he panted heavily and lowered his head.

‘That was dangerous.’

Kang-Woo’s true self at that moment might have been exposed to Akart if he had stayed there for a little longer— his pathetic and weak self, stricken with fear. Cracks had been forming in his jester persona, cold sweats seeping from them.

“Akart...”

Kang-Woo felt chills and goosebumps formed just by mentioning his name. He could barely breathe and fear spread throughout him like a poison.

‘So that... was a Titan.’

It was completely different from the time he was face-to-face with Bauli. The pressure Kang-Woo felt whenever Akart’s white eyes gazed at him could have crushed him at any second. He felt his thoughts and reason blowing away.

“Fuck... how did I even manage to pull off that shitshow?”

Kang-Woo frantically maintained leisure by mocking Akart to hide his immense sense of fear because everything would have been over if he showed weakness even for a moment.

“Haaa.”

Kang-Woo sat down next to a nearby tree and raised his head. The cool wind helped him get back to his senses.

“Could I have won... if I unleashed the Abyss?”

He had no idea. Kang-Woo had not shown his full power but neither had Akart. Kang-Woo couldn’t imagine how powerful Akart would be in his true form.

‘He was that strong in human form.’

Kang-Woo couldn’t think of any other word but phenomenal to describe Akart. He had strength, speed, technique, and battle sense— the man lacked nothing. He was far too powerful.

‘Leaving aside technique and battle sense...’

Kang-Woo could match Akart in those aspects.

‘But there are two huge problems.’

Akart far outclassed him in the two most fundamental aspects: strength and speed.

“Goddammit.”

It was like a match between lightweight and heavyweight kickboxers. There was a difference in pure class— technique and battle sense had little play. Kang-Woo couldn’t put up a decent fight when getting hit by Akart’s normal swing sent him flying several kilometers away.

‘Normally...’

Kang-Woo would try to shorten the gap between him and his opponent by relying on his immortality but that would not work against Akart, whose powers negated his immortality. Of course, the darkness of the Demonic Sea could also deal critical damage to Akart, but that was it. Kang-Woo was no match against Akart under similar conditions.

‘But thankfully, Akart doesn’t seem to know I can unleash the Abyss.’

Kang-Woo had only one card to play at the moment— unleashing the Abyss at full power. It was similar to his battle against Bael.

‘But the difference is that I don’t know if I can win even if I unleash the Abyss this time.’

During Kang-Woo’s battle against Bael, he was sure he would win if he opened all three Doors of the Ten Thousand Demon Core. However, it was different for Akart. Kang-Woo’s victory was not set in stone even if he went all out.

“Dammit,” Kang-Woo cursed as he swept up his hair. “I’ll just go home...”

Nothing would change even if he complained. Akart would come to destroy Earth as he had declared and Kang-Woo had to face that phenomenally powerful Titan.

Step, step.

Each of Kang-Woo’s steps felt like his shoulders were being weighed down. He felt nauseous again and felt like he was about to puke.

“There has to be a way... Yeah, like always,” Kang-Woo aimlessly talked to himself anxiously as if trying to hypnotize himself. “I will... win again.”

He knew it was pathetic but he had no choice. He felt like he would go insane if he didn’t do at least this.

“Forward... Forward.”

Looking back on his life, it had always been like this. Whenever he overcame a wall, a new one was already waiting for him. He frantically struggled to overcome each wall he was forced to face.

‘How long...?’

For how long did he have to repeat this endless cycle? For how long did he have to struggle for it to all be over?

“Ah...”

Kang-Woo stopped in his tracks. The dark thoughts and negative emotions clouded him.

Wriggle.

Black mucus flowed out from all of his orifices. The Abyss of the Demonic Sea was baring its fangs at him as soon as his mind was weakening.

‘This is bad.’

Kang-Woo quickly shook his head. The mind was like a sand castle— once it collapsed, it could never be the same.

Wriggle.

The black mucus flowing from him grew thicker. His instincts were blaring alarm bells at him that he would be in danger at this rate.

‘I have to... control myself...’

Kang-Woo held firmly to what little connection to his sanity he had left and walked forward. This was very bad; most people would just momentarily lose their minds but for Kang-Woo, one slip-up could lead to the Demonic Sea’s collapse.

“My king...?”

Kang-Woo suddenly heard a woman’s alluring voice as he was struggling to walk. The voice he was all too familiar with since his time in Hell cleared his mind.

“Lilith...?”

“My, you expected it to take a month but you’re back already? Have you already conquered the Tower of Creation?”

“Why... are you here?”

“I was looking for other invitation letters to the Tower of Creation.”

Come to think of it, the invitation letter Kang-Woo used had also been discovered here.

“My king...?” Lilith, noticing something was off about Kang-Woo, narrowed her eyes as she approached Kang-Woo. She supported the staggering Kang-Woo and asked, “What... happened in the tower?”

“...”

Kang-Woo remained silent. He had no intention to hide his meeting with Akart but didn’t want to think about Akart at the moment.

‘No, I still need to tell her.’

He couldn’t remain silent for a pathetic reason like fear. He needed to tell Lilith about the pure-white man he had met at the top of the tower— about the slaughterer purer and more noble than anyone else.

“At the top of the tower... there was—”

“No.” Lilith shook her head and hugged Kang-Woo. She gently patted his head and smiled. “You don’t have to tell me right now if you don’t think you can.”

“...”

“Fufu. It’s been a while since I’ve seen you like this, my king. It reminds me of old times. I love it ❤”

Kang-Woo couldn’t help but chuckle as Lilith giggled as if it were nothing.

‘Yeah. How could I have forgotten? This isn’t the first time.’

He was not omnipotent nor omniscient. He had only come this far through countless failures and defeats. Despite that, he had almost lost his mind just because he wasn’t sure he could win; it was unlike him.

“I’m fine now,” Kang-Woo remarked.

“My, already?”

Lilith pouted in disappointment. She embraced Kang-Woo’s head toward her chest and smiled gently unlike a demon.

“You can act a little more spoiled. I’m more than willing to accept it all, you know?”

“Spoiled? What do you mean?”

“You know, the thing you did in the past. It’s heavy... I feel like I’m getting crushed to—”

“GYEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEHHHHH!!!” Kang-Woo screeched as he sprang up and jumped back as he did eight consecutive backflips in midair. “S-STOP!! STOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOP!!!”n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

It was more than enough to restore Kang-Woo’s breaking mind. Saying to someone trying to commit suicide shit like how valuable their life is or how sad their parents would be was unneeded.

‘Just go with how you’ll upload the notes they wrote in middle school for the whole world to see if they die.’

Someone who jumped into the Han River would frantically swim back to shore after such a threat.

‘Holy fuck. That sure woke me up.’

“Fufu. Have you calmed down?”

“No, I can’t calm down in a different way now.”

“Hohoho. There’s no need to feel embarrassed. I love even that side of you, Master Kang-Woo.”

Lilith smoothly walked toward Kang-Woo and seductively caressed his cheek.

“...”

Kang-Woo felt his mind calming down as he felt her touch. He suddenly gripped her caressing hand tightly.

“O-Oh?”

‘Yeah.’

Kang-Woo had made the declaration to Akart so he wouldn’t lose this warmth. He would protect Earth even if he needed to destroy all outer worlds or Earth would inevitably meet its end.

“Hehe,” Kang-Woo chuckled.

He couldn’t understand why he had been on the verge of losing his mind earlier. He had already been determined since long ago that he would fight Akart.

“I love you too.”

“Mmph!”

Kang-Woo yanked Lilith toward him and kissed her. Lilith jolted in surprise but soon relaxed and kissed Kang-Woo back.

“So, what happened?” she asked after the short kiss.

“I met Akart.”

“Pardon?” Lilith’s eyes widened after hearing something completely unexpected. “You... met Akart?”

“Yeah.”

Kang-Woo slowly explained to Lilith everything that had occurred in the tower.

“This is... quite hard to believe.” Lilith nervously played with the ends of her hair. “I wonder what Akart has in mind when he refers to Earth’s demise?”

“Who knows?” Kang-Woo did not have the time to ask Akart because he was spouting so much bullshit to taunt him. “But one thing’s for sure.”

Akart would soon come to destroy Earth.

“It seems... we should make preparations,” Lilith remarked.

“Preparations, huh?”

Nothing would change even if they did. Their opponent was a Titan; no one else but Kang-Woo could face him. Not only that but even he was no match for a Titan unless he were to unleash the Abyss. Kim Si-Hun, Balrog, and Han Seol-Ah were powerful enough to easily overpower a god, but they were nothing compared to a Titan.

‘In that case.’

If no one but him was capable of facing Akart and ending Earth’s demise—

“I suppose I have no choice.”

“Do you have a plan?” Lilith asked.

“Yup.”

Kang-Woo nodded in all seriousness. Lilith stared at him as she tilted her head in confusion.

“Huuu,” Kang-Woo exhaled. He then raised his arms high and screeched, “WRYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!”

“Wh-What’s wrong?” Lilith asked as she stared at him in confusion.

“Gacha.”

“Pardon?”

“The answer is— [Gacha].”

‘Mom, just one more pull and I’ll be a responsible son.’

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