Chapter 398: The Origin of Kang Geom-Ma (2)

The sky-blue hair spread out like a fan over the field.

A light breeze stirred the short grass.

Feeling the tickle on the nose, a groan escaped through the lips.

“Ugh, uuuugh…”

Saki Ryozo clenched her fists tightly on the grass. A foreboding headache loomed among the folds of her brain.

“Hey.”

“……?”

A woman’s voice suddenly rang out. Saki Ryozo, propping herself up on the grass, lifted the upper part of her body.

“You are…”

A girl, with a crown of woven flowers on her head, was crouching in front of Ryozo. She brushed back the strands of hair that had fallen near her ears.

“Are you more conscious now?”

“…Is this a dream?”

Ryozo looked around. The place she was in was a hill that resembled Daegwallyeong, in Gangwon Province.

Although she clearly remembered that until just moments ago she had been on the island of Avalon.

At her question, the girl gave a slight smile.

“Of course it’s a dream.”

“I see.”

What a strange dream.

“How do you feel?”

“I’m not completely well, but… I guess I’m fine.”

Saki Ryozo pressed hard against her throbbing temples. It was a slight dizziness, the kind that would ease with a painkiller tablet.

“Then, would you like to come with me for a moment?”

“…Uh, ah?”

“If it’s difficult, you can lean on me to stand up.”

The girl extended her hand as if to push her, and then set off with a determined stride. Ryozo followed.

After what felt like about ten minutes of walking, the girl stopped abruptly.

Moving aside slightly, she revealed a small wash ditch.

Beneath the girl’s navel grew a small tree sprout that barely held itself up, with leaves of a peculiar color.

“Gold…”

In a world where blessing and magic ruled everything, only one tree existed with that color.

“Yggdrasil.”

“Ah, so in future generations you call our Yid that.”

The girl scattered a bit more dirt over the tree’s roots, as if building a toad’s nest.

“Future generations?”

Dream.

Yggdrasil.

Ryozo quickly connected the context and the girl’s words.

Even though she had only just awakened and was suffering a headache, she deduced the meaning immediately.

“You are…”

Her way of addressing the girl changed.

“An ancient wisdom.”

“Wisdom?”

“Gaia.”

That’s what she is called in the modern era.

“Hmm. I don’t really like that name, it doesn’t sound pretty…”

The girl pursed her lips in annoyance.

In that instant, when Ryozo blinked, the girl’s image transformed into that of an adult woman.

A very familiar appearance.

She seemed like a sage, or perhaps a colossal force, or maybe both and neither at the same time.

Either way, both faces clearly coexisted.

“So that’s the type of Mr. Geom-Ma.”

The woman suddenly approached, scanning Ryozo up and down. Or rather, she completely scanned her.

“Either way, I’m sure I’m prettier.”

Her bright green hair gave off a gentle scent of grass. From her eyes emanated a particular vibration as she took a step back.

“My name is Mesther.”

The woman with the flower crown spoke.

“Mister, that is… I was Geom-Ma’s first love.”

***

A deafening boom shook the entire forest.

Boom!

Leon turned hastily. Metatron had been hurled through the air. The forest he had passed through looked as though a hole had been bored straight through it.

“Father!”

It was a single slash. Metatron was flung from the forest all the way to the sea by one strike from Kang Geom-Ma. The tips of Metatron’s feet barely skimmed the sea’s surface, leaving behind a long, white trail of water.

“Hhhup…!”

Holding his breath, Metatron struck the air to propel himself vertically. He launched back at Kang Geom-Ma at a speed faster than sound.

Leon and Valerion synchronized their advance. The three approached almost simultaneously.

For now, those three were the vanguard. The plan was for them to confront Kang Geom-Ma’s power head-on to evaluate it, and then the other heroes would join the battle.

Given the situation, there was no time for verbal discussion. A glance was enough. That was sufficient.

Abel, Rachel, Shail, and the other heroes lowered their stances to reduce air resistance. Their hands trembled as they gripped their weapons.

Abel raised a hand to shield herself from the gale. Between her fingers, she caught sight of Kang Geom-Ma, with his hair as white as snow.

“Geom-Ma…”

He had always been on their side.

And that was why she had forgotten a truth,

What it meant to face Kang Geom-Ma not as a companion, but as an opponent.

Abel and Rachel suddenly remembered. Back in their student days, when the special Celestial class was formed and they trained in subspace with Kang Geom-Ma.

There they had truly faced Kang Geom-Ma.

But now it was even worse. They felt it in their very skin. Not even the universe could contain him. His existence was an aberration, a phenomenon outside all logic.

Boom! Boom!

The world screamed as if it could not endure.

Zzzzt!

Speedweapon unleashed the “speed buff” before his lips split apart.

He drew a spiral in a new shape and charged toward Kang Geom-Ma. A single mistake, and his body wouldn’t even leave behind a scrap of flesh.

‘Only because this is the opponent…’

Kang Geom-Ma watched with impassive eyes. His slow movements contrasted with the speed of Metatron, Valerion, and Leon. His gaze left one doubting if he was truly conscious.

Then he began to move. His thermal image flickered faintly and faded to the sides. He disappeared.

“……”

“……”

“……”

From Metatron’s perspective, the thick forest suddenly began to stretch sideways.

While he was charging forward, he was suddenly displaced laterally. When he tried to change the trajectory of his strike, Kang Geom-Ma was already at his side and pushed him with one hand. His head jolted so violently that his entire body was paralyzed.

Leon and Valerion fared no better. Kang Geom-Ma multiplied. Using teleportation and creating clones, he expelled all three from the combat line at once.

‘Damn.’

Leon was dazed.

Wham! Wham! Wham!

His body slammed repeatedly against trees as he was thrown back. The scenery shifted as if it were a lie. An overwhelming sense of unreality.

He had to endure. He could not label it as unreal. Biting his tongue, he reminded himself it was real.

‘This isn’t tree felling.’

It’s a rescue.

To save a friend trapped in the swamp, one must be ruthless. Abandon all sentimentality!

‘He’s not someone you can contain, Leon!’

Leon uttered his technique in desperation. Black and white energies enveloped his sword. Carrying all the essence of good and evil, he stabbed one of Kang Geom-Ma’s clones.

The clone disintegrated down to the level of particles. Leon barely managed to regain his balance. He coiled like a spring and pushed a gigantic tree. He didn’t just push it—everything behind the tree toppled like a fan. Even the distant sea stirred with cone-shaped waves.

At the same time…

While being repelled, Valerion’s eyes flew wide open. His skin cracked like an eggshell, and his inner essence emerged.

“—!”

From the Dragon Lord’s throat, a blaze ignited.

A breath.

□□□□□□□—!

The trajectory of the ray pierced through Yggdrasil. Kang Geom-Ma deflected the breath’s path using his sashimi. The twisted breath painted the entire island in flames. The intensity of the light illuminated the west.

Then, the members of the dragon race, to aid the Dragon Lord, shattered their human forms and transformed fully into dragons.

Twisting their necks like windmills, they expelled fire. There was no longer any forest to shield them. Regrettable, yes, but necessary to increase the odds of victory. The trees were felled, burned. And Yggdrasil, the World Tree, watched the scene with solemn sorrow.

The villain in the rabbit mask barely lifted his eyes. It was hell itself on earth. The flames dyed the sky red.

Countless rays of light rained down on Kang Geom-Ma. The mere sight caused stabbing pain in the corneas.

***

Meanwhile, Kang Geom-Ma was moving even faster.

He pushed with his sashimi, charged with his body.

He had not yet fully lost consciousness, for he did not kill—he only left cuts.

That made him even more terrifying.

Sometimes, holding back is harder than killing.

Kang Geom-Ma blocked every confrontation, no matter from whom it came.

Every faint trace of an attack was destroyed with ease.

His power was indescribable, and the speed of his strikes, monstrous.

The heroes swung their swords so fast it was as if they were at the edge of space-time.

Metatron hurled punches from above, but his skin trembled from fear.

Around him and Valerion appeared magical formations with geometric figures—the highest-level magic circles.

But they could not reach him. The first slash, the second, the third… all failed.

“W-what kind of monster are we facing…?”

It was a late lament. Kang Geom-Ma, flying, spotted her.

The mere crossing of gazes caused an emotional heart attack.

The villainess tried to crawl away, but the sashimi unleashed a discharge of light upon her back.

Zap zap zap zap zap!

“Kyaaaaah!”

Her piercing scream resounded. Her trembling fingers fell to the ground.

As she died, she thought surely I’ll revive in a few years—this life with resets is truly cruel.

Fwoooooosh!

All the attacks converged on a single point.

The offensive was massive, and its consequences, brutal.

Flames devoured the island. The waves could not contain the scale of the tragedy.

Crackle, crackle!

The clouds collided with one another.

The sky tore open.

Immediately, lightning contained within the sashimi rained upon the earth like bombardments.

Even the sea erupted into mushroom clouds.

A single strike equaled a small nuclear bomb.

Fwaaaash!

From afar, a sea wall approached.

A tsunami. A true tsunami. From all directions, with no blind spot. The sea had a single purpose—to devour Avalon Island.

Rumble, rumble rumble!

Seismic tremors accompanied the tsunami.

The sky was completely red, like a painting over a yin-yang canvas.

It was like witnessing, in real time, the fall of the mystical kingdom of Avalon.

Abel could endure no more.

She gripped her weapon and shouted to Rachel.

“Rachel!”

“Yes!”

Abel landed on the blade of her spear like a cat.

If humans have no wings, they must find their own method.

Vwoooom—!

Her spear spun in a whirlwind. She maximized the centrifugal force and hurled it.

Before the weapon could fall, Abel shot herself like a missile.

Kang Geom-Ma’s face drew near, as if to etch itself into her retina.

Abel squared her shoulders.

“I…”

The shaft cut through the wind.

“Won’t let you be alone.”

And finally, upon colliding with the sashimi, a shattering explosion erupted.

BOOOM!