To Hell With Being a Hero!

Chapter 467 – Finally (4)

The next day, Chi-Woo went to his office after eating breakfast and found someone waiting for him. It was Evelyn. Her face looked worn-out like she had trouble sleeping the night before.

“What happened? Are you okay?” Chi-Woo asked.

“…I had a dream,” Evelyn replied wearily. “A dream about the Abyss Queen…”

Chi-Woo fixed his posture then and asked, “Was it a prophetic dream?”

“I don’t know…” Evelyn clenched her eyes shut. “Her Highness came into my dream…and gave me a warning of sorts…? Anyway, I remember it being a very important message…but I can’t remember…ah…” Evelyn’s face filled with annoyance unlike her usual self while she told this story, and she grumbled frustratedly as she struggled to recall the dream. That was how dreams tended to be. No matter how vivid one was, many forgot most of it when they woke up.

“Anyway, I don’t have a good feeling about this. It seems that the Abyss is preparing something,” Evelyn said after inhaling deeply. “I’m not certain. Of course, it would be nice if I’m worrying over nothing…but I thought I should tell you beforehand.”

Chi-Woo could’ve told her that everything would be all right, and that news of the war might have affected her mind so that she shouldn’t worry too much. However, Chi-Woo didn’t simply dismiss Evelyn’s words and instead considered them carefully. It was because what Evelyn said aligned with what Chi-Hyun had mentioned in the last assembly when he announced their decision to exterminate the Abyss. He said that the Sernitas and the Abyss were making suspicious moves. They were too quiet.

Chi-Woo also thought it was strange. They had blasted off one of the chasms—Balim’s secret base. He thought the Abyss would respond in some way after that, but surprisingly, they made absolutely no move. No explanation seemed applicable other than that they were secretly plotting something. And with Evelyn's warning, there seemed to clearly be something going on. The intuition that had remained silent about Hawa was now ringing loud alarms. It was saying that things would be too late if he waited until the war to act. He needed to alter things before that… Hm?

‘Alter?’ The word suddenly popped into his head and confused him. What was he supposed to ‘alter’ exactly? Chi-Woo contemplated this for some time.

***

Meanwhile, the atmosphere in the Abyss was quite dreary these days. It was because of a rumor surrounding the Abyss King. After the great war, the Abyss King suddenly hid his presence. It was clear that he was somewhere in the Abyss's main territory since each of the Seven Chasms had gathered after being summoned by him. But after the meeting, the chasms also disappeared without a trace. There was evidence of them entering Abyss’ territory, but no sign of them leaving. The same thing happened again and again until there was only one chasm remaining, and even that one responded to the king’s summon and was never seen coming out of the place.

All sorts of rumors arose about the situation, but nobody knew what was happening except the individuals involved. An example was one of the chasms, Gotaya. Gotaya was on one knee with his head bowed.

— Gotaya, my faithful chasm.

The voice seemed to be flowing out of the darkness.

—Do you know the reason I called you?

Gotaya raised his head slightly at the Abyss King’s question. It was then he saw the debris and rubbles around him. There were six piles in total, and Gotaya said calmly.

—Yes, I’m aware of it.

—Good. Then…

The Abyss King smiled faintly.

—It is time for you to die for me.

An insidious shadow cast over Gotaya’s head and opened its mouth wide.

—Yes, I understand.

Gotaya accepted death without hesitation, and the shadow swallowed Gotaya from the head. There was a chilling sound of bones breaking and crunching. Gulp, gulp. After some time, there was a gulping sound like the shadow was drinking something. There was no recognizable trace of Gotaya remaining, and another pile of rubble was added to the six. After absorbing Gotaya, the Abyss King let out a long sigh. He leaned against the chair and closed his eyes.

The Abyss surrounding the King became deeper and thicker as if time was flowing on its own around him. And a spark burst out as the Abyss King’s energy fluctuated and increased abnormally. Flash! That was only the start. Soon afterward, the Abyss King’s whole body began to warp crazily. It melted, crumbled, and broke apart as if he was getting one-sidedly beaten up. And when he reached a terrible state that looked as if he was just moments away from disappearing, the Abyss King’s time stopped flowing. Parts of his body recovered as if time was rewinding until he returned to the moment right after he consumed Gotaya. He let out a lamenting sigh.

—Even with this, it doesn’t change…

As Evelyn said, the Abyss King had gained the ability to manipulate time with certain limits after consuming the Abyss Queen. Using the ability, the Abyss King was able to learn a piece of important information: he would be extinguished in the forthcoming future, as shown by what happened when he turned the time of his mind ahead to a certain point. Naturally, he couldn’t sit by and let this happen after learning this truth.

To escape the future where he was extinguished, the Abyss King resorted to all possible efforts, but the future remained the same. Thus, in the end, he decided to call the Seven Chasms one by one. Gotaya was the last, and with him, the King had absorbed all the chasms and was stronger than ever. Yet the future didn’t change.

The Abyss King let out a humorless laugh. How could things not change after he went so far? Perhaps if he had more time, things would’ve been different; whoever it was, someone had a sure-fire plan to kill him at just the right time. The Abyss King let out a long sigh. With this, he did everything he possibly could. He couldn’t do more than this, and even if he did, it would be meaningless.

Still, something did come to his mind. He had used the queen’s ability with the intent to escape the future where he was extinguished. He quickly turned time with hope and expectations. But what would happen if he turned time after learning that everything was useless? What choice would his future self make? Would he accept death like this, or continue to struggle using another method? There weren’t too many chances to find out now. The queen’s ability wasn’t something that he could use limitlessly.

He was able to use it however he wanted so far because it wasn’t him who was activating the power. Instead, the queen was still alive inside him and had been bearing the weight of the use of her power. But that was also reaching the limit now. He felt that the queen was becoming worn-out and weak after enduring numerous uses of the time-shifting ability, and she could disappear any moment now. If the result was the same this time too, the Abyss King had planned to quietly accept death—but then he shook his head. No, he couldn’t lose hope now. He couldn’t give up; only then would another path to the future open.

After clearing his mind, the Abyss King used the queen’s ability. Sometime later, he sensed some kind of change and looked down at his body.

—…Hm?

—Ha…Haha…

It was hard to tell whether he was happy or shocked. But soon afterward…

—In the end…finally…! Hahahahaha…!

The cavity echoed with what sounded like the laughter of a madman.

***

Chi-Woo had been busy these days since Chi-Hyun wasn’t the only one preparing for the upcoming war. Chi-Hyun had emphasized many times that in case they had to battle the Sernitas, they had to win an overwhelming victory against the Abyss. This was difficult to do with Shalyh’s forces alone without those from the Cassiubia Mountain Range. But it wasn’t impossible.

To quickly break apart an enemy, the best method was to strike the head of the enemy’s army at the beginning of the war. If they could deal with the Abyss King from the start, they would be able to win the war without suffering great casualties. Thus, the most elite and strongest forces in Shalyh decided to go after the Abyss King—not just one, but two people. While the rest dealt with the Seven Chasms, Chi-Woo and Chi-Hyun would go after the Abyss King. With this, the framework of the plan was established.

Chi-Woo wanted to practice working with his brother in preparation for the fight, but Chi-Hyun said that would be unnecessary. Chi-Hyun said Chi-Woo could fight however he wished and he would give his support; he was confident in matching Chi-Woo's pace whichever way Chi-Woo fought. Like that, the preparation for the war progressed smoothly, but the worry that had lodged itself in a corner of Chi-Woo’s heart grew. He was still concerned about Evelyn’s warning and didn’t like the flow of everything that was happening.

Before it was too late, he needed to alter the flow right now. But in order to do that, he needed to find a tiny gap to alter. Chi-Woo went inside the Image Representation space whenever he had the time, but it didn’t fully satisfy him or give him peace of mind. And as this went on, Byeok finally sought out Chi-Woo while bringing Flora with her.

Every single member of the Seven Stars was busy preparing for the war except for two people. Chi-Woo had given Byeok and Flora the leeway so that they could wholly focus on their training. And because Byeok was also aware of the current situation, she trained Flora harder; she was so harsh that even the emotionless Flora showed resistance for the first time.

“With this, you could say that she gained everything she possibly could with training alone. Of course, she isn’t in a perfect state yet, but we did everything we could given the circumstances. The rest needs to be made up with the growth system.” Training wasn’t the only way to become stronger, and one could say that utilizing the growth system was the main method of growing one’s power. Flora’s current tier was Iron, and if she accumulated a bit of merit and raised her tier, she could receive special privileges. And just at the right time, a very special event that could help her gain experience—the war with the Abyss—was happening. And many anticipated that Flora would grow explosively through this war.

But before that, Chi-Woo thought he should take what he could. He hadn’t poured so much of their resources and time into Flora simply out of goodwill. It was actually for his own benefit in the end, and now, it was time for him to check how much the person he cared for had grown.

<User Information>

1. Name & Rank: Flora (★☆☆☆☆)

2. Sex & Age: Female & 16

3. Height & Weight: 160.5 cm & 47.5kg

4. Denomination: ‘The Goddess of Scales’ and ‘Guardian of Balance’, La Bella

5. Tier: Iron IV

6. Class: Swordfighter

5. Heavenly Title: The Late Blooming God of War

6. Disposition: -

<Physical Attributes>

[Strength B]

[Durability B]

[Agility B]

[Stamina B]

[Mental Fortitude E]

[Mana B]

Chi-Woo’s mouth gaped slightly open after he checked her user information. Her physical attributes all reached B rank in the short time he hadn’t seen her. Her growth rate was astonishing even considering that he had shared Golden Ratio with her. Perhaps it was made possible because of the different passage of time in the Image Representation space.

‘At the least, she would’ve only trained for several years,’ Chi-Woo thought and nodded. Then, he said, “Flora, do you remember the promise you made with me?”

“…”

“I will take back the ability I gave and retrieve your power. In return, I will give you a new power,” Chi-Woo said. He was going to take back Golden Ratio and receive one of Flora’s abilities through Sharing. And he would use the Power to Rule the World on her—that would come first considering its activation mechanism. It was better to use the Power to Rule the World when the other party was in their best state.

There was no need for him to hesitate. Chi-Woo raised his chain and used the Power to Rule the World. Then, he checked its activation conditions.

“?” Chi-Woo frowned.