Chapter 292

Release of stage two seal.

This meant that Chi-Woo would get back everything that had originally been his. And as all the abilities that had been sealed with La Bella’s authority came back to him, Chi-Woo got a strange feeling. There was a famous idiom from an old book called Shui Heng Ji, ‘to draw the pupils of a dragon’. According to the book, there was a well-known artist who drew two dragons on the wall except for their pupils. When asked why only the pupils were missing, the artist replied that it was because the dragons would fly away if he drew them. People laughed at the artist, asking what sort of nonsense he was saying; and thus, the artist quietly drew the dragons’ pupils. As soon as he did this, there was a loud cry, and the dragons flew out of the walls and soared into the sky. That was how Chi-Woo felt.

He felt considerable power after unleas.h.i.+ng the first stage, but the feeling of something missing persisted. It was as if he had completed a complicated puzzle while missing a couple of key pieces. When he unleashed the second stage, however, any sense that something had been missing completely evaporated. Instead, he felt like everything fit perfectly inside him, and he was complete. This feeling deepened and expanded to the point that it astounded Chi-Woo. Then Chi-Woo felt a pa.s.sionate and powerful energy flowing from the bottom of his feet.

No matter how much one tried to fill their cup with the ocean’s water, there was a limit to how much they could take. Even a wide desert couldn’t handle the vast ocean. That was how it had been with Chi-Woo when he used to be an ordinary person; but in his current state, the amount of energy that Chi-Woo could take in was on a completely different level—wider than the gap between heaven and earth.

“Not…!” Chi-Woo felt the energy fluctuate inside his body. His heart thumped like mad, and blood flowed through his veins and exploded. His body had never run wildly to this level no matter how vigorous his training had been. All the while, the expedition team and the queen remained quiet. And they weren’t the only ones acting like this; the bugs’ chirping died down, and one couldn’t even hear the sound of pa.s.sing wind. A sudden silence circled around them.

In an instant, the Hala Forest had become an eerily silent s.p.a.ce where one couldn’t hear a single sound. It was a suffocating silence, and there was a fearsome energy so strong that it made all bystanders’ bodies vibrate. The energy and power were so strong that it seemed like it could stomp down on any creature. And among this energy, Chi-Woo stood in the center. For the first time since the battle started, the queen moved.

“…Ah?” She hesitated after moving and stepped backward unconsciously. Her eyes shook when she looked down at her feet.

“I am…afraid…?” There was fear and panic in her eyes. It was an emotion she had never felt before. The queen raised her head in confusion and saw a lady suddenly float behind Chi-Woo’s back. The lady’s whole body was wrapped in fabric, and she had one hand raised. There was a balance scale in her hand, and the balance that had been leaning overwhelmingly in the direction of the queen very slowly began to tilt the other way toward Chi-Woo. The more it tilted, the higher Chi-Woo raised his head, and his lips parted bit by bit. When the balance scale was finally in perfect balance, Chi-Woo raised his head fully.

His body poured out light, and bright white light shot out from his eyes. Simultaneously, Chi-Woo’s mouth opened wide.

“━━━━━━━━━━━━━━!”

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It was a scream that called for obedience from all creatures between heaven and earth. The queen instinctively covered her ears and dropped to one knee, but soon realized what she was doing and straightened her back. Then she saw a fist coming toward her.

“?” When she caught sight of her surroundings, she realized that she was flying mid-air backward. It seemed she had lost her senses temporarily, and when she looked up, she saw half of a rocky cliff collapsing upon her. She also felt a dull thud in her back for the second time. It seemed the force that had sent her flying even made the cliff behind her crumble; she penetrated through the cliff and finally stopped flying when she hit the third wall, leaving a deep dent in the rock.

“Kyaaah!”

Then, before she could collect her breath, her waist was bent 90 degrees. Chi-Woo’s knees had struck her abdomen as soon as her back collided with the cliff. And as the wall behind her crumpled, and she fell, she felt her body lifted again.

“Kkurgh…! Kkurgh!” She heaved for breath as she felt rough, constricting pressure around her neck. She tried to protect herself and resist with all she had by forming sharp thorns all over her body. Her efforts were effective, and she was able to breathe momentarily—though it seemed more accurate to say that Chi-Woo had let go of her on purpose after finding her response interesting. Once she fell to the ground, she quickly backed away, creating distance between herself and Chi-Woo and while planting several vines on the ground. Soon, the ground rose and formed into the shape of the queen. Then numerous clones formed everywhere. As a brilliant light shone from his eyes, Chi-Woo smirked.

The next moment, barely visible waves gathered around Chi-Woo. Wing! It abruptly drew a circle and spread out. And it didn’t end with just one ringing. As if water drops were falling onto a calm surface and forming ripples, the waves continued to spread out. The queen’s neck stiffened as she created clones and felt herself grow more and more nervous. Her face turned pale, then ashy white, and then returned back to normal.

Wing, wing, wing, wing! More ripples spread, and they saw the world’s lights continue to change. That wasn’t all. Shaaaa! The moonlight s.h.i.+ning from the sky took the shape of a book and spread open. Following that, Chi-Woo opened his mouth.

“—”

There was a heavy ringing sound, followed by explosive screams. The numerous clones the queen had made with great effort screamed in pain as soon as they formed. It was a meaningless attempt. It didn’t take long for her clones to turn back into dirt while clutching their temples in pain. They were crumbling like houses built on sand, and seeing this sight, she couldn’t hold back her shock.

[Chi-Woo’s Original Prayer C]

[La Bella’s Bible C]

[La Bella’s Sanctuary D]

After taking control of the area by summoning a sanctuary, Chi-Woo changed the properties of his surroundings to his desire. He had reversed the queen’s plan to grasp control of the area around her, and in this zone, Chi-Woo was like a G.o.d. If he wished for it, he could expel everything that he deemed to be a violation of ‘perfect neutrality’, and in the blink of an eye, the clones the queen created disappeared in great numbers. Even the few remaining ones began to fade away.

She had to do something. The queen regrew the wing that had melted in her fight against the expedition team. She stretched her wings out beyond their original size and bent the edges, reaching for Chi-Woo. Then she blasted them off with the sound of a landmine exploding, shooting thorn missiles with enough force to bring about instant death. The projectiles drew dizzying pathways in the air as they headed for Chi-Woo.

Uncaring of the incoming attacks, Chi-Woo smirked with his arms crossed. Ma.s.ses of light quickly gathered around him, and as the queen had done, he launched them without warning. The results came as soon as these attacks clashed. All the light ma.s.ses pierced through the thorns and scattered everywhere. The queen fell to the ground hard with a groan. Then she ran in a zigzag and rushed forward to escape the light. When she was backed into a corner with no escape, she jumped into the air without hesitation.

However, what waited for her were other streams of lights. As if Chi-Woo had already predicted her reaction, he expanded the light without limitations. Seeing that there was no way for her to escape, the queen shot vines from both her hands. The vines wrapped around a nearby tree, twisting the queen’s body and quickly changing her direction. With the vines extending out of her hands, she flung across the air like Spiderman and escaped death by a hair’s breadth. The streams of light clashed against each other and exploded behind her, and she managed to successfully move to somewhere above Chi-Woo.

Like that, she descended and shook both her arms with all her might. Sharp things that looked like boomerangs spun his way, but Chi-Woo easily avoided them with a slight jerk of his head. Boom! In the meantime, the queen managed to land right in front of Chi-Woo and swung her now lengthened arms widely. Chi-Woo uncrossed his arms and jumped forward after bending his back backward. He soon turned to stand behind her, grabbed her head, and smashed her face into the ground. Then, with her back arched in that state, he kicked her in the b.u.t.t.

The queen rolled like a whirlwind and crushed every gra.s.s and plant in her way. All this happened in a very short period of time. Soon, the rolling stopped, and after the queen recovered her posture, she turned around and flicked her vine whip while looking enraged. Though her swing was strong enough to crack the ground, Chi-Woo easily clutched the vine and pulled her in.

Unable to put up a proper resistance, she was dragged, and Chi-Woo threw another punch at her. The queen tried to block the attack, but couldn’t. She did manage to stop it for a moment, but the immense pressure knocked her off balance. And the hit was followed by Chi-Woo’s head-b.u.t.t. The queen fell to the ground while spewing liquid substances from her head. She looked completely stunned.

‘Why?’ On techniques alone, she was superior. But it was meaningless. No matter how many techniques she employed and changes she threw in, she couldn’t do anything against overwhelming destructive power. And as she staggered backward in this state of shock, the queen stared at Chi-Woo. The emotion she felt when she first saw him in this form became clear.

‘Death—’ Yes, she would die, unable to fulfill her goal. “Ah…” Her mouth gaped open. “Ah…Ah…” She made intangible noises before she suddenly shrieked, “Ah…Ahhhhhhh!” And sudden changes began to rip through the queen’s body. Green stems popped out of her skin like blood vessels and intertwined deep into the earth. Her body grew, and her branches continued to extend like a mind map. Eventually, leaves hung down from these branches, and she became a large tree. It was the giant tree that had existed in the Hala Forest for thousands of years; this was probably closest to her original form, and the appearance she had achieved with evolution disappeared. The only thing remaining was the rough shape of her upper torso popping out of the old tree.

The old tree continued to grow and extend without limits. When the now countless branches reached other trees, they clung to them like tentacles. Then those trees stretched out to their surroundings rapidly like the old tree as well. It wasn’t only the trees; everything that they touched such as vines and gra.s.ses rose and shook the ground threateningly.

Soon afterward, the Hala Forest fell into the queen’s palms, and everything inside it turned menacing. Simultaneously, they leaned toward the sole-standing person, Chi-Woo. They plunged back and forth like a tsunami. The entire Hala Forest moved like a wall and blanketed the night sky. It was a magnificent sight.

Baam!

After pouring everything into her last attack, the queen was left looking stunned. It had been an attack composed of countless strikes.

“…”

Yet Chi-Woo managed to deflect all of them without a single exception. The combined attack crumbled, and between the raining debris, she saw Chi-Woo place his arm back down. He had managed to offset her final attack with a light flick of his arm. The queen was at a loss for words. She quietly watched Chi-Woo running toward her from far away, and they met eyes right before Chi-Woo kicked off the ground. When all conditions were equal or similar, there was only one factor that determined victory or defeat: weight cla.s.s.

The queen realized that her opponent was different from her. They had been different since birth, and her opponent was an existence so unbelievable that he didn’t even need to evolve. When she realized this, the queen’s eyes half-closed. She predicted the soon-to-come future and was about to close her eyes before she abruptly opened them again. She raised her head with the full intention to watch everything until the end.

“!” It was then the queen felt her body jerk. The eyes she had met were close enough to almost touch her nose. She slowly looked down and saw a pale elbow pierce into her chest. Her head fell, and jade-colored liquid flowed down from her mouth.