To Hell With Being a Hero!

“Yes, I didn’t expect him to be such a coward. What he has done is simply unbelievable. ”

—Yes, it really doesn’t make any sense. He went so far that we are able to meet again like this.

A different glint flashed through Evelyn’s eyes. The Abyss Queen seemed to be saying that the two were only meeting each other because of the Abyss King and wouldn’t have otherwise. That could only mean one thing.

“He really is crazy.” Evelyn immediately understood what the Abyss Queen meant and looked baffled. “How could he go so far to break the rules of causality…what exactly was he so afraid of…?” Breaking the laws of causality was no light matter. In some ways, Future Yoo-Joo had also broken these laws. Nothing happened at the time because she had shouldered all the setbacks with her own body. However, the Abyss King couldn’t be said to have done the same. In the first place, it wasn’t something one could do just because they wanted to.

—Rather than a mistake, we should consider his intentions. After he absorbed me, he used me as a sacrifice to go to the future repeatedly. I’m sure he learned something then.

Knowing she didn’t have much more time, the Queen quickly continued.

—Nobody knows what it was except for him, but it seems definite that an opening had formed no matter if it was to his advantage or not.

“By an opening, do you mean…”

—He used each of the chasms as a medium to summon the Abyss.

Evelyn’s eyes widened.

“Then…if one extinguishes a chasm…”

—Yes, that world also disappears.

Evelyn gnawed on her lip. She thought by destroying a chasm or the medium through which they had been summoned into this world, they would be able to find their way out. However, the Abyss King wasn’t an easy opponent, and there was a reason he went so far as to break the laws of causality. When visitors came to the Abyss World, they had to fight the Abyss’ army. Yet when they extinguished a chasm, the respective world would disappear along with them. It was clear what would happen to the Shalyh’s expeditionary members who were trapped in each of the worlds after that. Falling into an Astral World was akin to falling into a trap that they could never escape from.

Evelyn came to a realization with her sharp mind. She could guess what the opening the Queen had mentioned was.

“No way.” It wasn’t only the Abyss King who had the authority to mediate who could enter and exit the Astral World. The Queen also possessed this authority. Though she no longer had the strength to exert a similar level of influence and control, she still had the authority. And although she didn’t have much time left, she could pass it on to somebody else.

—Do you understand what you should do from now on?

The Queen asked, and Evelyn nodded wordlessly.

—Go across the divided worlds, open trails, and connect passageways. You can do that much on your end.

Seeing that Evelyn seemed to have fully understood everything, the Queen spent a moment catching her breath. A short silence followed, and the Queen stared intently at Evelyn and spoke in a low voice.

—Is this what you looked like when you were alive?

“Yes. Pretty, wasn’t I?”

—Yes, you were truly beautiful.

“That’s what I’ve always been telling you. I told you I was beautiful when I was human too.”

—Yes, you did. I was so enchanted by your beauty that I reached out to you when you were just wandering about.

The Abyss Queen chuckled at the memory, and Evelyn smiled quietly. After that, the Queen and Evelyn talked about all sorts of things, while Hawa and Eshnunna watched them from a distance. They didn’t know what Evelyn was doing, but they had a feeling that they shouldn’t bother her, and thus they quietly waited. Then, suddenly, the mostly white figure in front of Evelyn seemed to have disappeared. Perhaps they had imagined it because Evelyn didn’t budge from her spot after that.

They waited for quite some time. Then Hawa looked around and saw something that made her wonder if her eyes were playing tricks on her. The world that had been shrouded in thick fog was suddenly melting away like ice melting under the blazing sun.

‘What…?’ Hawa instinctively turned around and saw Evelyn finally rising.

“Let’s return. We have to hurry.”

“What? Where to…”

“To a different Astral World.”

Dazed, Eshnunna and Hawa quickly followed her.

***

Ru Amuh looked calm on the outside, but on the inside, he was in a state of great shock. Everything was fine up to the point he defeated Gotaya. He thought there would be some kind of change after that and hoped that he could return to his original world. However, nothing of the sort happened. After defeating Gotaya, the sky, earth, and even space began to gradually crumble. It was as if the world had reached the end of its life and was disappearing. Even Ru Amuh couldn’t do anything in such a situation.

He worried that he would disappear along with this world just like this. Bit by bit, these worries seemed to cement into reality, and all he could do was to continuously move to places that hadn’t crumbled yet and hope to find a door to escape this world. It was then he heard a voice from the center of a spacious area. Ru Amuh hastily dashed toward the noise, and his eyes widened, seeing a space that hadn’t crumbled yet split into two and revealed an entirely different landscape.

***

Yeriel’s situation was similar to the others. When she opened her eyes, she found herself in a strange new world; after confirming her situation, she called out to those who had come with her and gathered them. Having checked on each of her allies, Yeriel decided on fortifying her surroundings. There was no other choice. Not only did her number of allies shrink considerably, but there wasn’t a single hero she could trust and leave the battle to like Chi-Hyun or Chi-Woo. Including her, there was no extraordinary fighting force among them.

But considering that it was the Abyss who brought them to this place, it seemed evident that their enemy would be on the offensive against them. Since they didn’t have a hero who could lead and fight for them, the only thing they could do was to endure and hope for reinforcements. Yeriel planned to hold on as long as possible until those outside came to their aid. The one fortunate thing for Yeriel was that the buhguhbu tribe had fallen to this world with her. Yeriel immediately took charge and focused on building and constructing fortifications around their campsite.

Soon, everything fell into place exactly as she had expected. One of the chasms named Gorgo led his army to ambush them. It was very fortunate that Shalyh’s force had prepared fortifications beforehand, but that had only bought them some time. A war was won not with mere numbers, but people too. Yeriel soon felt the truth of the words to her core. They were able to hold out somehow, but it didn’t take long for them to reach their limits. The fight might’ve been more viable if one of the Seven Stars was with them, but that wasn’t the case. And though Yeriel had been using all the weapons she prepared without thinking about the aftermath, the defense line began to break.

“…Damn it.” In the end, Yeriel spotted her enemies break through the last defense line and cursed. She sensed that she was screwed when Gorgo screeched and crushed the fences they built.

It wouldn’t be long before Gorgo reached the center of their campsite. Yeriel could only accept it; she was going to die. But of course, she had no intention to go down easily. Yeriel calmly prepared to bomb herself when she heard murmurings from all around her. It was then a spatial fissure opened up in the world, and a group of figures stumbled in. She glanced sideways, her eyes widening. Gorgo had just licked his lips while looking in their direction a moment ago, but was now dangling in the air with a spear of light pierced through him. Gorgo floundered about to free himself. Unfortunately for him, the light seemed to have no intention of releasing him and instead wrapped around his entire body. Then from on top of him, a brilliant array of light poured out.

At contact, Gorgo’s whole body melted as if he had been splashed with acid. A pained scream burst out, but it was cut short as a blonde young man rushed forward like a ray of light and sliced Gorgo’s head with one swing. This was the hero Yeriel had been wishing for, and he wasn’t alone. Seeing Ru Amuh and Evelyn quickly rush toward her, Yeriel let out a sigh of relief and laughed humorlessly. Everything was so shocking and incomprehensible to her.

“What’s that dark lump on your back…what, isn’t that Emmanuel? What happened to him?” Seeing that Emmanuel was unconscious, it seemed that they had also gone through their share of hardships. But that wasn’t all. Starting from where Gorgo had disappeared, the world began to crumble into nothingness.

“We don’t have time to explain.” Ru Amuh stomped toward her and reached out to pick Yeriel up. “Since the situation is urgent, let’s go to the next world first.”

***

Meanwhile, the original world was shrouded in silence. After giving Chi-Woo the right to decide, Chi-Hyun simply waited. Of course, he didn’t plan on waiting forever. In a situation like this, every second counted. They needed to act as fast as possible before things were irreversible. Chi-Woo was also aware of this, but he still couldn’t make up his mind.

He knew that it wasn’t right for him to just stand around like this, but he also couldn’t act rashly while not knowing what would happen to his companions. He was put in a great dilemma where he couldn’t do anything. It was then Chi-Hyun noticed a change in the flow of the nine worlds while keeping watch—on the other side, Evelyn had picked up Ru Amuh and Emmanuel in order and brought them to the Astral World where Yeriel was.

‘…Hm? Isn’t this flow…?’ The worlds that had been so complicatedly intertwined that he didn’t dare to disturb them gradually settled down.

‘One, two, three…’ This was a great turn of events. A huge change. If this flow continued, they would have a chance to sort the situation out without going overboard. Chi-Hyun thought if he overexerted himself a bit, he could get it done, but even that had become unnecessary. The flow that was leading the Astral Worlds to stability was strengthening. It was like a little stream in the beginning, but now, it was like a river. At this rate, it seemed like it would morph into a strong torrent any time soon. Anyway, he didn’t know who was behind this change, but this person was certainly making big waves and leading them to the ideal scenario.

With this, all Chi-Woo and Chi-Hyun needed to do on their end was to wait until things became more certain. Chi-Hyun glanced at Chi-Woo, who was contemplating deeply with his eyes closed. Though Chi-Hyun had been dubious when he first heard about the Seven Stars, it appeared that his brother had gathered some trustworthy individuals. After organizing his thoughts, Chi-Hyun spoke up.

“Chi-Woo, get ready.”

Chi-Woo flinched. He thought Chi-Hyun had finally decided that they couldn’t waste any more time. Considering Chi-Hyun’s personality, he probably thought Chi-Woo’s team members were inevitable sacrifices.

“Chi-Hyun, wait.” Thus, Chi-Woo planned to change his brother’s heart.

“Prepare yourself. Give me a moment, and I’ll create a passageway at the right time. Go in then.”

Chi-Woo blinked fast in surprise. What did his brother just say?

“They are working faster than I thought. At this rate…” While speaking, Chi-Hyun sensed another signal. Another world was destroyed. This was already the fourth one. Chi-Hyun nodded. He could finally be certain.

“I think we can put our trust in them.”

Operation ‘Time Attack’ thus commenced.