Devil’s Blessing (4)
Zhang Luxin was dreaming.
‘Um…’
It was set in Shanghai, just before he was sent to that world.
He was on his way home after work as usual.
He walked across the street without thinking. A bus ran him over, killing him.
It was a ridiculous death.
When he opened his eyes again, he stood in the glare of light, facing a beautiful girl.
“Earthling.”
The girl called out to him.
“Your life has ended.”
Zhang Luxin casually nodded his head, thinking it was true.
“But your soul is special. You have the right qualities to express the will of the Lord Omphalos.”
She said he was the only God of Latna, and she was an angel of the Lord Omphalos.
Her mission was to resurrect the Earthlings, who had blessed souls but died in vain, as warriors of the great God.
It was hard for most 21st century Earthlings to accept such a notion at the get-go, but Zhang Luxin didn’t dare doubt it.
Just standing there made him certain that the girl was sacred and transcendent.
The angel smiled softly.
“Dear chosen one, please decide your destiny.”
Will you choose to die this way?
Or will you accept a second chance in life as a warrior of the Lord Omphalos?
“… I will become a warrior of God.”
Zhang Luxin accepted.
He would die if he refused regardless.
With the ability of Guideline, he fell into a new world.
[This is the parallel world, Jerren Latna. You have reached this world as a ‘selected one.’]
[You have been selected as a ‘qualified one.’ Your goal is to survive and grow in this world. I wish you good luck.]
The parallel world of Jerren Latna was harsh.
He couldn’t find time to relax, and different dangers always threatened his life.
However, Zhang Luxin didn’t have any complaints.
God’s training ground was set up for those who had qualified, and if they couldn’t survive there, they would’ve met the same result in the Latna continent anyway.
And for him, escaping to the other world was a dream.
He often had similar delusions, cursing the life of reality.
So he could bear it.
He even enjoyed it sometimes.
He met another qualified person who became his colleague. He saved a beautiful girl by cutting down villains.
He met a powerful monster and ran away with all his might. He cried before his colleague’s death.
Those were difficult but worthwhile days.
Zhang Luxin smiled joyfully in his dream.
‘Ha, haha…’
At that moment, the darkness boiled, and the dream was broken.
Another truth was unfolded beyond it.
As usual, he could see himself going home after a part-time job.
But there was no bus. There was no death.
He simply stopped moving and started falling into a dark pit.
He burst out into a wretched scream as he entered a state of limbo.
“Ahhhhhh!”
Zhang Luxin felt embarrassed.
‘I wasn’t dead, was I? Did I really get a second chance?’
After a while, the original dream returned.
His embarrassment vanished with the nightmare.
Zhang Luxin’s expression also returned to normal.
Recalling his memory that he had never doubted, he laughed again.
‘That’s right. I’m dead. And I got a new life…’
* * *
Effir wasn’t present when he woke up. She had told the other two that she’s going to be getting some water.
“Uh, Ugh…”
The fainted Earthling trembled and groaned.
Ryu Han-bin and Artis looked at him nervously.
“Are you awake?”
“Be careful, Han-bin. He might run away again.”
“What are you worried about, Artis? If he runs wild, we can subdue him again.”
“I’m not worried about you or him. Be careful not to break the house.”
Contrary to their expectations, Zhang Luxin didn’t wake up.
Something else had woken up in his stead.
Grrrr…
The darkness escaped from Zhang Luxin’s body.
A Unique item, the incomplete Blessing of Omphalos, converged in the air and slowly materialized.
It took the form of a man and made a strange sound.
“Ahhhhh…”
Ryu Han-bin’s expression became cautious.
It was a sight they had seen before.
“Huh? Wasn’t this the guy from back then?”
Artis, too, muttered in bewilderment.
“Why is this coming out of here?”
It was reminiscent of the black spirit they fought against in the province of Gyuzac.
* * *
His dream continued.
In it, it had been five months since he fell in Jerren Latna.
Zhang Luxin became an inspector of level 20 safely.
He also qualified to leave a similar world.
Swirled by light, he moved to the Latna continent, a real world.
Looking around, Zhang Luxin looked excited.
“Now I can live a new life here?”
The Guideline popped all sorts of messages in the air.
[You have reached this world as a ‘qualified person.’ The goal is to adapt, survive, and continue to grow in this world, and achieve the final mission by raising the level.]
[Final Mission: Remove one of the six Goddesses of Latna.]
[Latna’s Six Goddesses: Althia the Goddess of light, Kibriel the Goddess of darkness, Yessen the Goddess of fire, Rhamniana the Goddess of water, Sorondi the Goddess of land, and Preleu the Goddess of wind.]
[The person who performs the final mission will be rewarded.]
[Final Mission reward: Eternal youth and immortality. Returning to Earth while maintaining the ability when carrying out missions. Obtaining the right to fulfill three wishes.]
“Well, I can’t just relax.”
Looking at the Guideline, Zhang Luxin was nervous.
This world, Latna, was dying.
The six Goddesses had banished Omphalos, the one God, and replaced him.
If he didn’t get rid of those evil demons that drove Latna to destruction, the new life and the world itself would disappear.
“But the stupid people of this world worship those Goddesses as benevolent beings. Hmm.”
Clicking his tongue, Zhang Luxin strapped a scimitar around his waist.
“Okay, let’s do it!”
In high spirits, he stepped forward.
A beautiful voice came out of the Guideline.
“Please, warrior of God.”
She sounded sweet yet also mournful.
“Please save Latna!”
* * *
The Black Devil suddenly pulled out an onyx mace and attacked Ryu Han-bin.
“Caaah!”
Han-bin quickly raised his arms to defend himself.
The weapon went through his forearms and struck his stomach.
Thud!
‘It’s the same as before.’
He immediately switched positions and delivered a middle kick.
Whiip!
The kick just passed through it.
‘There’s really no difference.’
As a test, Artis also tried magic.
“Magic Arrow!”
In order to avoid destroying the house, he used the most basic magic. However, as expected, the spell just passed through the evil spirit, causing it to hit the wall instead.
Artis tilted his head.
“Is that him then?”
“Well…”
Han-bin looked at it intently.
The Guideline’s response was different.
[Blessings of the Incomplete Omphalos (Unique Item)]
The evil spirit of Gyuzac wasn’t a unique item, and their levels and identities were displayed, though the Guideline labeled both as unknown.
“I don’t know what happened, but…”
With both arms hanging down, Ryu Han-bin approached the evil spirit.
“First, I have to take care of it.”
He had already done it before.
There was nothing he couldn’t do twice.
He intercepted the mace with his face.
Bam!
The iron mace was smashed, causing its fragments to fall.
Artis stared at the scene in amazement.
“I know the theory, but I still don’t understand how it could work.”
Han-bin took another step forward to ensure that the monster would die when it attacked again.
The evil spirit suddenly backed away.
It quickly seeped into Zhang Luxin, who remained unconscious.
A terrible scream reverberated from him.
“Argh!”
The blade of darkness began to orbit the whole body of Zhang Luxin.
His wound continued to open, and blood splashed everywhere.
“Ahhhhhh!”
Embarrassed, Artis glared at Ryu Han-bin.
“What have you done, Han-bin?”
“I don’t know!”
* * *
Zhang Luxin opened his eyes.
A terrible ache was spreading across his body.
“……!”
The pain lifted him out of his dream and made him realize the truth.
He was dying.
‘Dying? Me?’
In a place like that? In vain? He hadn’t even done anything yet.
He felt like that was impossible.
When he fell into that world, he was the protagonist of a dramatic epic.
It had to be.
He who got a second chance that was not given to others could never be just an extra!
And he was going to die just like that?
‘That’s ridiculous!’
He didn’t want to die that easily.
He refused to let his story be so lame!
* * *
Ryu Han-bin and Artis didn’t have time to react.
Zhang Luxin writhed in the throes of death as he bled immensely.
“Argh!”
His eyes began to lose their light.
Han Bin gnashed his teeth.
“Damn it!”
It was a sight he had seen several times already.
It was human death.
Soon the body of the Earthling disappeared.
The darkness also disappeared.
“He’s dead…”
Desperate, Artis’s shoulders drooped. Ryu Han-bin vented his anger.
“What’s wrong with you? I did my best to control my strength so that you wouldn’t die!”
Effir, coming back from her errand with a bucket of water, felt embarrassed.
“What’s going on? What about the Alien? What’s that black thing?”
“Black thing?”
Doubtful, Artis looked towards the direction she pointed.
On the floor, some of the pieces of darkness that had been smashed earlier were shaking.
The darkness slowly agglomerated and turned into a small piece.
It was a piece of black jewel shaped like a square.
When Han-bin focused on it, the Guideline popped the identity of the black jewel.
[Fragment of Complete Omphalos’s Blessing(unique item)]
That was all.
There was no further explanation.
“What the hell is this?”
* * *
A cellar in an abandoned castle heavily darkened.
A man and a woman stood there, where the faded magic crew gave a faint glow.
The blond man, Richard, shuddered with joy.
“It’s finally finished!”
Darkness rose before his eyes.
The darkness, which filled the last piece of the puzzle with the Alien’s spirit as a sacrifice, returned to the place where it was created.
Leslie was also excited.
How much time did they invest in completing the darkness?
They were finally reaping their reward.
She smiled joyfully at Richard.
“Now we can go back to the center.”
Although they had lost Shin Ha-Joon and Alejandro, the reward made up for it.
They were the only ones who succeeded in the experiment.
That contribution would also be highly appreciated at the top.
Boom boom!
With a strange noise, the darkness clung together and began to materialize.
It gradually converged and gathered in one spot, becoming a black crystal the size of a fist, spinning around in the air.
The two Earthlings watched the scene in ecstasy as a message from the Guideline appeared before them.
[Blessing of Near-Completion Omphalos (Unique Item)]
At that moment, Richard and Leslie felt lost.
“…?”
“What?”
If it were complete, then it would’ve stated it in the name of the item. What was ‘almost complete’?
Frustrated, Leslie looked back at Richard.
“What should we do, Richard?”
With a wry face, she frowned.
They didn’t really know the detailed theory behind the experiment.
They just did what their superiors told them to do.
Even if something seemed wrong, they had no way to correct it.
“We can’t do anything else but to submit it as it is.”
Collecting the black crystal, Richard gritted his teeth.
“Damn it! What the hell is going on?”
Comments