The Return of Apocalypses Tyrant

Episode 211

“Do you want to fight the strong? Well, I thought so at first. Because you guys are so weird. But the more I thought about it, the more strange it seemed.”

[…What do you mean?]

“Did I do such a thing because I knew how strong I could become after eating Apophis’ inner altar? As you said, at most we can only open the 7th door of the carnival.”

It was a monster that could not be killed even after many more doors had been opened and many years had passed.

As time has advanced, Hydra has also not been completed, so how much has the gap narrowed?

When the three incarnations were summoned with Soul Reign, Namgung instinctively knew.

The fact is that they can’t beat him.

“That was your mistake. “If other guys had said that, I might have overlooked it, but you shouldn’t have said that.”

“why?”

“It was too strong.”

At Namgung’s answer, Hydra smiled bitterly without realizing it.

“I realized this when I saw you overpowering the three incarnations summoned through Soul Reign. “It’s not like we can do anything to Apophis.”

[If you say that, it’s bitter. Aren’t you the one who came to kill me? Are you going to give up the test of Avatar?]

“That can’t be possible. This side also made its own preparations. “I couldn’t use it because I suddenly got a gift.”

Sigh-

Namgung took out an object from the belt he was wearing around his waist and threw it in front of him.

[Osiris’s whip.]

Hydra looked with interest at the weapon he took out.

[I remember it was probably a weapon that allowed one to avoid death… Are you planning on giving up your flesh and taking the bones? Well, it seems like he was preparing for gambling in some way.]

“If this was a carnival item, then yes.”

[Hmm?]

At Namgung’s words, Hydra looked at the whip once again.

[There is no numbering… Could it have been obtained from the black route?]

“That’s right.”

[Who opened this?]

“My father.”

Hydra burst into laughter.

[Humans opened the black route? You’re crazy. The black route is a privilege of the original status. But do you know what it means for a human to open it?]

“It means that you must experience complete death.”

[okay. That’s it. As the deaths pile up, the lifespan of that person is diminished. How many black routes did your father open?]

“Well. “I don’t know, but three or four times.”

After Jinwei and Eira Michel’s training was over, they finally attacked the dungeon for the test of Avatar.

Even though I knew that opening the black route was an act that wasted my lifespan, I had no choice.

This was because Nam Ki-cheol had already opened the black route before Namgung could say anything.

[Not once, but three or four times? Is he even a demigod? In terms of a human lifespan, opening the black route once would be a great thing, right?]

“Once?”

[okay. How great did you expect that humans could do with their limited resources? It must have been a huge deal. Could it be that this was obtained by threatening him?]

“….”

When Namgung went to visit Nam Ki-cheol, he handed him various weapons as if he already knew about Hwa-shin’s test.

“No way. Do you think it makes sense to threaten someone who can open the black route?”

Tung –

The dagger that Namgung threw stuck in the side of the Hydra.

[Chojang’s dagger? Was it a sword with an unquenchable flame on its blade… Are you trying to kill me by cutting off my head? Haha, that’s a fun idea. okay. It was quite a bit of a headache. But why did you show it to me instead of using it?].

“I tried to guess if you had multiple heads like in the legend, but… I think that’s wrong too.”

Leaving Hydra’s laughter behind, Namgung thought as he looked at the dagger and whip prepared by Nam Gi-cheol.

“I’m curious about something more than the test.”

Although I didn’t want to admit it, it was the best weapon available to deal with Hydra.

And weapons that you can’t get yourself.

‘Because both of those weapons were obtained from the black route.’

[What is that?]

“Everything you know about the Black Root.”

[Haha, what a fun guy. Then what do I gain?]

“Let’s find a way to release the soul sealed in the window together.”

[Together?]

The corners of Hydra’s mouth rose.

[You’re talking as if you’re trying to help me. You already have an idea of how to unseal the window, right? Apophis’ inner altar was to confirm your power. And you proved that power by sensing the spirit in the window.]

He said.

[Yor’s necromancy is needed to unseal the spear. However, the power is at a higher level than now.]

“Then you should not give up even more. “Because in the end, you need my strength to achieve what you want.”

[In that case, we will have to change the terms of the transaction. Not as a way to break the seal, but as a promise to release the seal.]

Namgung nodded at his words.

“It doesn’t matter what. “The only thing that is certain is that the sealed entity does not have a negative impact on our world.”

[If that’s the case, there’s no problem.]

Changrang-

Hydra threw his spear at Namgung’s feet.

[The soul sealed inside is that of a human.]

“…What?”

Namgung’s expression hardened at his unexpected words.

“Human soul? “Why do you have it?”

[After that, you will know when you really have the ability to unseal the window.]

“….”

[Instead, I will tell you what I know about the Black Root.]

He sat down on the steps of the altar.

“A conversation with someone who will risk their life to fight… The story flows in a funny way.”

[Well, it’s not bad, right? Life can be taken at any time, and since I have been here for over hundreds of years, it is good to have a little companionship.]

Hydra seemed to have been waiting for this moment.

[Black Root. You know because you’ve been through it too. That is the ability to open the other side of the dungeon.]

Unlike him who collapsed, Namgung still looked down at him with caution.

[Carnival can be seen as something that races that exist in various dimensions are summoned through doors and dungeons. And the power of the races is reset according to the capabilities of the participants.]

“But if you go through the black route, you can see their true power.”

[that’s right. The black route is the same as connecting different dimensions. Just as the races on the other side pass through the carnival, the participants of the carnival can cross over to other races through the black route.]

“And the condition is to experience death. “Why don’t you stop talking about everything you know?”

[Death is not fake. Death piles up and eats away at the caster. I don’t know, but your father has already sent you a returned letter.]

“Well, you were too cool to say that.”

[Humans cannot reverse death. Humans are allowed to die only once. No matter how fake it is, there is only one opportunity for the black route given to humans.]

“But I also experienced the black route?”

[You simply experienced the Black Root test and did not pay any price. Rather, your father paid double the price because of you.]

“I don’t understand. “Why can my father open so many black routes?”

[I don’t know about that. Is your father a god?]

“…That can’t be possible.”

[Or Demigod?]

“He’s just an ordinary human. No, it’s a bit too ordinary to call it normal, but…”

[It’s a strange thing. The only way to avoid death is to become a status or an equivalent demigod. Even if you are a representative clan, it is impossible to open the black route without borrowing the power of the phase.]

“So does that mean that we cannot know in the end?”

[Well, I need to check, but there is one more way for humans to avoid death.]

“What is that?”

[you.]

“…?”

[Going back in time. It’s like a kind of resurrection. Aren’t you like that too? I ran away to the present of the past, leaving behind the future of death in my past life.]

“But that’s different. Because I returned through the Carnival quest. “But my father is neither a revealer of status nor a contractor of the proxy clan.”

[Isn’t that the same for you too? What were you in your past life when you succeeded in the legendary quest?]

Hydra looked at Namgung and laughed.

[It was nothing.]

Namgung couldn’t refute his words.

[Carnivals have occurred countless times, and the monsters that come out of dungeons and doors are from another dimension. They were kind of invited. As a monster, not a participant.]

Hydra said.

[Then isn’t the opposite also possible? There’s no law that says you have to be the only participants.]

For some reason, Namgung didn’t want to listen to his backstory.

This was because an unknown anxiety seemed to be hidden at the end of the voice.

[Like a monster from a carnival that comes to visit you. You, too, could become monsters in a carnival in another dimension.]

“Could it be… Are you saying that your father experienced a carnival in another dimension?”

[Well, it’s your job to check that. However, if your father experienced the carnival in another dimension other than as a participant, it is not strange to open the black route.]

“Why?”

[Because the original black route can be said to be the path of monsters. What would you be if not a participant? He must have been conscripted into the carnival as a monster.]

Hydra spoke to Namgung.

[Maybe he is no longer human.]

“…·Bullshit.”

[I can’t really say it’s nonsense. Didn’t you say that you opened the black route not once, but several times? No matter how you think about it, it’s impossible with a human lifespan.]

‘If that’s true… it would mean that my father already went through a carnival in another dimension and gained his abilities before the carnival opened.’

Why didn’t they inform themselves of that fact?

“If I had already known what Carnival was like… at least I wouldn’t have had to experience such a terrible tragedy in my past life.”

[Is that really the case? Rather, don’t you think that you were able to complete the quest because you experienced a tragedy in your past life?]

“What?”

[The reason your father didn’t look for you… Not being human also means that he cannot stand in the position of a human at the end of the carnival.]

Hydra said.

[He is like us. A being that does not belong to this world. Someday… I am someone who will become the boss of the door.]