856

 [Chapter 214]

[Beyond the Door (2)]

11 days until the final battle with Armageddon.

Eun-ha got up from his sickbed.

Clan members were worried seeing him forcibly get up without drinking an elixir.

"We're currently inquiring everywhere if anyone has an elixir. Why don't you just wait until then?"

"With only 11 days left, how long do you want me to wait?"

Yu Do-jun, chairman of Hana Group.

He came to visit after a long time while the world was hiding its anxiety.

Yu Do-jun sighed seeing Eun-ha wearing the clan uniform over his bandages.

"It's useless. He's stubborn as a mule."

"Who fell for that stubborn mule?"

"Me. That's why I'm not stopping him."

Han Seo-hyeon patted Noh Yu-seong.

They weren't the only ones who came out to see off Eun-ha about to enter closed-door training.

There were also people on standby preparing for any possible danger without entering closed-door training yet.

Kim Min-ji was an example.

"I want to be of help to you, but I'm sorry I can't be of strength to you."

"What do you mean you can't be of strength... I'll leave guarding the clan to you while we're gone, Min-ji. I'm counting on you."

Kim Min-ji had an apologetic face.

Eun-ha smiled faintly and comforted her.

She was being helpful.

Meanwhile, Eun-ha walked to Lee Yu-jung who was anxious, mixed among people.

Ha Baek-ryeon was also beside her.

"I'll be back."

"...Yeah, you must succeed."

Lee Yu-jung grabbed Eun-ha's collar.

If she had her way, she wanted to let Eun-ha rest.

But the situation didn't allow it.

Noh Eun-ha was this country's hero as well as her husband.

She couldn't hold him back with personal feelings.

Eun-ha read her emotions.

He hugged her with one arm.

"I hope the child in your womb and the child in Ha-yang's womb are born into a happy world."

"..."

"I'll succeed for that too."

"Yeah..."

The clan members here knew what Eun-ha was about to do now, and knew the dangers of it.

A gamble with an impossibly low chance of success.

But Eun-ha had not the slightest thought of failing that gamble.

At that moment, Ha Baek-ryeon caught his eye.

"You come here too."

"Come, Baek-ryeon. You were worried too, weren't you?"

"Uh..."

Eun-ha held out his other arm.

Ha Ji-eun pushed Ha Baek-ryeon's back.

Ha Baek-ryeon walked out as if watching for a reaction, then hugged Eun-ha with a 'whatever' face.

"You must, win."

"Yes, I'll win and come back."

Ha Baek-ryeon murmured softly while burying her face in his uniform.

Eun-ha heard that sound.

He put strength in his hand embracing her.

Ha Baek-ryeon and Lee Yu-jung.

And all other people.

He was trying to change the future for these people.

Not a future for the world.

Such a selfish future.

☆

Sadang Station Pandora Clan Hall.

Eun-ha who came down to the 4th basement floor immediately looked around.

There were quite a few personal training rooms with closed doors and blackout curtains drawn.

Clan members were training.

Eun-ha passed by those training rooms.

Soon he found an empty training room.

"I'll go in alone from here. So you guys protect the kids too."

"Beep beep beep baba baba bubu bubu!"

"Kang!"

Eun-ha spoke to the familiars.

The familiars responded.

Emotions conveying 'come back safely' were transmitted, making him smile involuntarily.

Eun-ha greeted them and opened the personal training room door.

"Hah..."

Eun-ha who entered the training room took out a box from his bosom.

He opened the box and took out something that looked like a pill.

A blue pill brimming with mana.

It's Belphegor's inner pill.

I'll become a Mine if I eat this, huh.

I tried not to eat it if possible...

Eun-ha gave a bitter smile.

He didn't eat it even when subjugating Magoo.

At that time, he couldn't be certain he would succeed in the gamble.

It was the same now.

He couldn't be certain.

But he had to be certain.

I don't know why but...

Armageddon has become stronger than before the regression.

So I have to become stronger too.

That was the reason Eun-ha was trying to eat the inner pill now after not eating it all this time.

He looked down at the inner pill.

Then he finished his resolve and put the inner pill in his mouth.

Thump thump thump

The effect appeared immediately.

The moment the inner pill touched his tongue and went down, his heart beat violently.

Hiss

Mana leaks profusely from his body.

Mana circuits filled with impurities scream as vast mana passes through.

It was pain he had never felt before in his life.

A feeling like something was about to tear out.

"Ugh..."

Eun-ha lay down on the floor.

He curled up trying to minimize the pain.

Before he knew it, mana leaking from his body was enveloping him.

Pssht

Mana blocks his vision.

It blocks his breathing.

Eun-ha tried to control the mana.

But the mana escaped control and tried to kill him.

Eventually, Eun-ha lost consciousness.

☆

"Where is this..."

He didn't know how much time had passed.

Eun-ha opened his eyes.

The world was pitch black all around.

"..."

There was no one.

Eun-ha was standing in darkness.

In that state, he thought about why he was here.

He soon remembered.

He had lost consciousness after absorbing Belphegor's inner pill.

Where is this?

Darkness where nothing can be seen.

Eun-ha took a step without feeling fear of the darkness.

Strangely, the darkness felt familiar.

He wasn't scared at all.

"Blood?"

Soon Eun-ha discovered something flowing down from far away.

Something clearly visible even in the darkness.

It was dark red blood.

Huh?

When he realized that.

Forms appeared in the pitch black world.

What was flowing down wasn't just one stream of blood.

Tens, hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands of streams.

Before he knew it, Eun-ha was standing on ground covered in dark red blood.

It was an eerie sight.

But strangely, it felt familiar.

Could this be...

He had some idea.

Eun-ha moved his steps further.

"..."

Something else was visible in the distance.

It's corpses of people.

The corpses of people who seemed to have died fighting monsters were just miserable.

At that moment, the world changed again.

Before he knew it, corpses were piled up like mountains around Eun-ha.

I know those faces.

The faces of the corpses were pale.

But there were corpses whose faces were particularly clear.

They were faces Eun-ha knew well.

To be precise, they were faces of people who had some kind of connection with him before the regression.

"..."

<Witch of Slaughter> Bae Su-bin.

She was collapsed leaning against a mountain of corpses.

There was a wound on her chest as if stabbed by a sword.

It was the wound Eun-ha made when he killed her in his previous life.

Eun-ha moved his steps further.

Son Ga-yeon...

<Mute > Son Ga-yeon.

She was on a pool of blood.

She was dead with her eyes open looking up at the pitch black sky.

She wasn't wearing clothes.

Pa-rang hyung...

<Mad Dog> Jin Pa-rang.

His whole body was torn apart.

<Loser > Seon Gi-jun.

He was the same.

The two had been bitten to death by monsters.

Ship-o...

<Blabbermouth > or <Trigger >.

He was dead kneeling on the ground.

There were holes all over his body.

He had been pierced by monster tentacles after sending the attack party first in the <Abyss Dungeon>, unable to escape in time.

Hahaha hahaha

Soon a sound was heard.

Eun-ha turned his head.

Something fell from the mountain of corpses.

"..."

It was the twins' heads.

They had smiling faces.

Eun-ha stopped walking and looked around the world once more.

"This is a world based on my memories, huh."

This must be the mental landscape.

A world where things remaining in his unconscious have changed into some kind of symbol.

It's a place where the soul forms the foundation.

Only then did he look down at himself.

Is this <Undead >'s outfit?

I didn't notice because I couldn't feel the weight.

He was wearing armor that looked like it would only appear in medieval times.

It was armor that Lee Yu-jung and Seon Gi-jun had forcibly put on him after much deliberation, since he was always getting injured.

All kinds of protection magic were built into the armor, helping him charge in without taking care of his body even more.

What did Yu-jung scold me back then?

She said I was using the armor they gave me to protect my body for suicide attacks.

An old memory came back to life.

A memory that's now just faint.

But Eun-ha who stepped into the mental landscape could recall memories from before the regression as if they happened just yesterday.

"No One Cried is still the same too."

It was a sword he hadn't seen in a long time.

The masterpiece of <Unfortunate Maestro>.

Eun-ha drew the sword he was wearing at his waist.

The sword with no magic built in was emitting a blue light.

It was clean enough to see his face reflected.

When Eun-ha manifested mana, blue energy swirled on the sword blade.

Even without Eun-ha refining mana, the sword refined mana on its own and gifted supreme mana.

Thanks to this sword...

I was able to barely hold out even when I lacked mana in my previous life.

It was <Undead >'s beloved sword.

By using this sword, Eun-ha could use mana dissolved in the atmosphere almost as if it was his own.

But now it was a sword he didn't really need anymore.

Because now he could refine supreme mana on his own.

Of course, it takes so much control that he can't use it in urgent battles.

"Anyway..."

Eun-ha put the sword back in its scabbard.

He muttered blankly.

He fell into thought.

If this is my mental landscape...

Does it mean I'm still bound by the past?

Though I thought I had changed a lot.

It seems my unconscious remained unchanged.

He wasn't sure if he should be happy about it or not.

Eun-ha had complicated feelings.

"Ah..."

Eun-ha moved his steps further.

Then he discovered corpses collapsed leaning their backs in the distance.

Lee Yu-jung and Ha Baek-ryeon.

It was the two of them.

"..."

The two had their eyes closed peacefully.

Unlike the corpses around, blood was flowing in their skin.

It's unclear whether they're alive or dead.

It seems like they could open their eyes at any moment.

To that extent, the two were extremely out of place in this world.

"I see..."

Eun-ha could instinctively understand.

The two were beings precious enough to occupy the center of his unconscious.

In other words, they were indispensable beings to define himself.

Eun-ha realized again.

The reason I was able to live in my previous life was because you were there.

In this desolate world.

Only the two of them were pillars of support.

Eun-ha felt grateful to the two.

He was thankful to them for being the driving force that allowed him to live in his previous life.

On the other hand, he had doubts.

Then...

What about now?

Is it really just the two of them?

Eun-ha couldn't answer.

He felt like he had forgotten something important.

"..."

From the moment he stepped into this world.

Eun-ha's memories became jumbled.

Memories from before the regression revealed their presence intensely, overwhelming memories from after the regression as time passed.

The more he searched through his memories, memories from before the regression kept coming up.

It was inevitable.

Everything existing in this mental landscape has symbols and memories.

Is this...

Really my mental landscape?

But everything in this world was pointing to before the regression.

Symbols that could define Eun-ha after the regression didn't exist.

So it's strange to recall after the regression.

And at that moment─

"─Take your hands off those two."

"..."

Eun-ha heard a voice for the first time.

It's a voice he knows.

No, it was his own voice.

Eun-ha turned his head.

"Somehow, I thought it would be like this."

Someone was walking between the mountains of corpses.

It's himself.

No, it's <Undead > Noh Eun-ha.

Eun-ha gave a bitter smile.

If this world symbolizes before the regression, he could expect that he would be somewhere too.

He just didn't expect that he would be perfectly alive.

"You can't touch those kids either."

"So that's how it is."

<Undead > growls.

Eun-ha stepped back from the two and realized why he exists in this world.

"To absorb the power of the inner pill... It means I have to defeat you."

Mental landscape reflecting the unconscious.

Surely he must be accepting the power of the inner pill in reality.

That has been reflected in the unconscious.

In short, the <Undead > before his eyes is the power of the inner pill he's trying to accept in reality.

Eun-ha understood at once.

"It's nice that it's simple. You're saying I just have to defeat you, right?"

Eun-ha drew No One Cried.

He also drew the nameless Maengoseu.

Then <Undead > drew the same swords.

Gift <Berserk >

At that moment, <Undead > activated his gift.