129.
It was better to say that Ko Byeong-gap had spatial abilities as he had his subspace, which was Ashvilam. Of course, the abilities he possessed were fundamentally different. Still, it was clear that he had some pretty good skills. However, compared to Seo Si-hee, he was inevitably shabby. It was no wonder, as Seo Si-hee was by far the strongest among those with space-related talents.
Not only did she have her subspace, but she could also attack or defend by directly manipulating the space around her. It was also possible for her to create a high-dimensional passage known as a portal.
“Have a safe trip.”
“Yes. Both of you have to return safely.”
The hunters saw off Ko Byeong-gap and Seo Si-hee. Beside them were the Goblins. Ko Byeong-gap bid his subordinates farewell one by one, and then he turned to Dorma.
“Dorma, you’re the temporary Lord while I’m away. Take good care of Ashvilam.”
“Yes, I understand. I will do my best not to cause any trouble, Lord.”
“Yeah, I’ll be back no later than tomorrow evening, so don’t worry too much.”
“Have a safe trip.”
“Lord, come back safely!”
The two left Ashvilam. Even though the evening had just passed, Seoul was pitch black. Civilization without a human touch was bleak.
“We need to travel to a portal to get there.”
“Where is it?”
“It’s not that far away. It’s in a mountain near Hanam.”
“…It’ll take about two hours to run there.”
“It’ll be quicker if we fly.”
Seo Si-hee’s body was surrounded by light as she transformed into a giant dragon.
‘I get goosebumps every time I see it.’
She lowered her neck, and Ko Byeong-gap clambered atop her back. Once mounted, Seo Si-hee flew away without hesitation.
“But what if the portal is damaged?”
“Then there’s nothing we can do.”
“Can’t you break through again?”
“It’s not something you snap your fingers for, and it’s done. I’m not going to talk from now on. Byeong-gap, try to hide your presence as much as you can.”
“Okay.”
Seo Si-hee rose above the clouds. The sky, which looked ready to snow, became pure black. She stopped for a while, measured their direction, and resumed flying. As she said, they arrived in Hanam in no time. The two landed on a silent mountain, and after about fifteen minutes of walking, they arrived at their destination.
“Fortunately, the portal isn’t damaged.”
“Here?”
Ko Byeong-gap looked around. It was the same hill as before.
Seo Si-hee stretched her hands above her head, and then the two trees began to glow.
“Let’s move on.”
“Right.”
They crossed the portal. Unlike in Korea, where it was evening, it was morning, not long after sunrise. Ko Byeong-gap took off his coat due to the heat.
“Whoa, it’s hot. By the way, you must be comfortable traveling abroad. It doesn’t even cost you money.”
Ko Byeong-gap said it as a joke, but Seo Si-hee was busy looking around.
“It seems to have gone well. This is the southernmost point of Brazil, on the border with Uruguay, and we will fly to Argentina. We should go right away.”
“Don’t you need to take a break?”
“What good would resting do? It’s just a waste of time.”
She transformed into a dragon again. The two rose through the distant sky so that they wouldn’t be seen from the ground. No matter how good any watching eyes were, they were at a height where they would look like a dot.
A series of boring flights followed. Ko Byeong-gap tried to observe the ground, but he couldn’t see anything from their vantage. However, one thing seemed clear: those blue pillars that started from the ground and touched the sky.
“As expected…”
A few days ago, when he and Seo Si-hee were chatting, she recounted the details of when she chased Go Geon-ryong in Moscow. At that time, the blue pillar was mentioned as a buzzword.
The blue pillar was something that Ko Byeong-gap also witnessed. He fought against the Holy Army in a place where one of those pillars stood. That was why he couldn’t forget it. The story naturally moved on to the blue pillars’ identity, what they were, and their role, so the two of them put their heads together.
However, they couldn’t find an answer. It was Landriol who helped them at that time.
‘Did you say Madmut was trying to establish a heavenly realm here?’
Landriol suddenly spoke to him. Ko Byeong-gap told him every piece of information he had gathered so far. Landriol remained silent for a full day and didn’t give his opinion until noon the next day.
‘I see. Now the twisted line is loosened.’
What he said next was quite shocking.
‘I heard that since the Devil broke out in Ashvilam, Madmut ran away with his tail tucked between his legs. He led all the Ains to the Earth and crossed dimensions. It’s strange. Why did he take the Ains instead of just saving himself? Because he loves other creatures? Hmph! That’s not worth even half a penny. So, why did he leave the Spirits alone?’
‘I’ve been agonizing over this problem. I haven’t come to any good conclusions, but when I heard that the heavenly realm is being reconstructed, I got a sense of it.’
‘There are four layers in the world. Underworld, Earth, Spirit Realm, and Heaven. They aren’t simple structures like the first and second floors of a building. It requires a lot of energy to go back and forth between different layers. The energy required is doubled if you’re a being with divine power like Madmut.’
‘Why would Madmut descend only after losing his seven Holy Warriors? He was extremely reluctant to lose his power. In short, he’s a coward.’
‘He lost a huge amount of energy when he traveled between the stairs of the world, so what would happen if he crossed dimensions? It would be inevitable that he would lose half of his power. So, he needed a bowl to put his strength in. The vessel was the people on Earth! If so, the reason for excluding Spirits is also explainable. The Spirits are spirits, and therefore, they cannot become vessels.’
‘…I wondered why I felt Madmut’s energy from you guys. You call Madmut’s power Karma, right?’
‘Anyway, Madmut’s final purpose is to form a heavenly realm on Earth. It will consume billions of human life energy to create. But making the heavenly realm and climbing to it is a completely different matter. I guarantee that the current Madmut will never be able to climb to the heavenly realm with his power. That’s why they’re attempting this kind of ugly thing.’
‘Did you say that blue pillars are created in places where monsters are concentrated? And that the Holy Army came from those blue pillars? Of course, because in the first place, he must’ve brought the Ains for that purpose.’
‘The blue pillar is a ladder, and the Holy Warriors that support Madmut would raise him to heaven. The Ains that you call monsters are the sacrifice to call them out.’
‘If you want to stop Madmut, you have to kill the Holy Warriors first. Remember, there are six remaining Holy Warriors.’
Landriol fell into a deep sleep after that. Ko Byeong-gap struggled to wake him up, but Landriol wouldn’t budge. He was still sleeping to this day. These days, the frequency and duration of his slumber had increased significantly.
Well, whatever it was, Landriol’s guess was very plausible, and the extreme summary of his words was as follows:
“We have to knock down six more Holy Warriors. Those guys who are in perfect condition…”
Ko Byeong-gap honestly doubted whether he could. Didn’t he suffer tremendous damage in killing Al-Sharon, who was nothing more than a zombie? In this situation, how could they defeat the other perfect Holy Warriors?
‘Don’t be discouraged. God-killing blood flows through my men.’
Ko Byeong-gap clenched his fists and solidified his resolve. Stomping his feet like a kid would only increase his irritation.
At that moment, Seo Si-hee’s voice echoed in his head.
‘I think it’s over there.’
While he was distracted, they had reached the pillar ahead. It was morning when they first arrived in Brazil, but it was already late afternoon. Ko Byeong-gap stood up and looked at the pillar.
‘It’s big.’
To describe the pillars… three teams could play soccer across a single side.
“I want to hit it. Hold on tight.”
“Okay.”
Seo Si-hee soared straight-up. From Ko Byeong-gap’s point of view, the world seemed to have turned 90 degrees. Heat gathered in her open mouth, and a second later, flames stretched out.
Boom!
The flames and the pillar collided. Blue debris scattered randomly.
“It’s real!”
“I see. That’s a relief.”
The blue pillar had substance. In addition, it was possible to damage it. In other words, it meant that they could neutralize it without having to fight the Holy Army. Ko Byeong-gap and Seo Si-hee went a long way to confirm this.
“Turn back. I want to know if my aura works.”
“I got it.”
Seo Si-hee turned around. Standing, Ko Byeong-gap drew his sword and concentrated his aura. A tremendous amount of power gathered across his blade.
“Ha!”
He swung his sword, a crescent flying from his blade to collide with the pillar.
Crash!
“Right!”
The result was satisfactory. The pillar splintered and shed debris all over. It was equivalent to using an ax against a five-hundred-year-old giant tree, but it was okay. Whether they stayed for five hundred or even a thousand years, they would eventually be defeated if they stood in the same spot.
“Since we’re here, we’re going to have to smash these pillars… hmm? Hey… hey!”
Ko Byeong-gap panicked as he looked down. None of the ground was visible through the lush clouds below them. However, his senses other than sight were sending frantic danger signals. Something huge and repulsive was approaching!
“We have to run away right now! Something is—”
“I feel it too! Hold tight!”
“Ugh!”
Seo Si-hee rose like a rocket. At that moment, a huge body appeared as they moved through the thick clouds. It was five times bigger than the dragon: a Holy Warrior.
“This is crazy! That big?”
Even though it was far away, they had to stay wary of its size. The Holy Warrior had no wings, but he flew free in the sky and chased Ko Byeong-gap and Seo Si-hee.
“Kooooooooooo!”
The Holy Warrior screamed. He drew a Karma arrow across his bow and fired it at them. The single huge arrow quickly split into hundreds, thousands, and finally tens of thousands of arrows seeking them.
“Crrrrrrr!”
Seo Si-hee swung her tail to distort space around them, twisting away from the arrows. It provided a brief respite. Ko Byeong-gap aimed his blade at the Holy Warrior, feeling a chill run down his spine as their foe nocked another arrow.
“Crrr!”
Black arrows that threatened to steal the universe away. Ko Byeong-gap felt the instinctive threat of death from them.
“Damn it!”
Ko Byeong-gap quickly took his stance.
“Ahhhh!”
He pulled out all the strength in his body, gathering it into his blade.
Shoot!
At that very moment, the black arrows fired. Ko Byeong-gap swung his sword to meet them.
“Ha!”
The secret of the Mandara Knights, the fourth form of the eight martial arts, Explosion. The crescent containing the energy of a bomb touched the arrows.
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
“Agh!”
“Crrrrrrrrrrrr!”
The whole world turned white as the explosion swept away Seo Si-hee and the Holy Warrior. She didn’t miss her opportunity.
‘I’ll fold space and fly! You won’t be able to breathe, so hold your breath!’
“Oh, I see. Kkk—!”
She sped through the sky, folding the space around them. Thanks to this, they could travel thousands of kilometers in about five minutes and hide in a canyon.
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