Chapter 116 …
There’s a term called eomgeunjin.
It’s made by combining the first syllables of the words “strict,” “stern,” and “serious.”
At this moment, no face suited that word better than Charlie’s.
“…Pardon?”
Even Gildeti, faced with that solemn presence, let out a blank, bewildered sound.
What is he talking about right now?
Blinking with a question mark practically floating over his head, Gildeti silently conveyed exactly that.
“……”
Perhaps thinking the explanation was lacking, he glanced this way—but Dohyun didn’t have anything more to add.
Because what had been said was technically true.
From Charlie’s perspective, he had merely manifested through the system, so it wasn’t incorrect.
Still, Dohyun didn’t feel confident enough to explain all that in detail, so when he simply shrugged, the briefly flustered Gildeti soon nodded.
“…I have many questions, but that is not what’s important right now.”
In truth, it wasn’t important.
Just one of many curiosities—where and how they had appeared hardly mattered.
“Once again, I sincerely thank you, Sir Charlie, and you as well, Hero. Thanks to you, countless casualties were prevented.”
To Gildeti, what mattered was that they were heroes who had saved Brion.
The other high priests felt the same.
“That’s right. Thanks to you, Hero, we were able to return to our families. We are truly grateful. Because of you, we won’t have to relive that nightmare.”
“I never imagined you would truly succeed… I don’t know how we can repay this debt…”
“Sir Lebed will be shocked when he hears this! Who could have imagined it!”
“Ah, I’m curious to see Sir Lebed’s surprised face. I wonder how that stiff expression of his will change—haha.”
Their gratitude was sincere.
Most of them weren’t thanking him for saving their own lives, but for protecting the citizens.
Though they weren’t combatants, they were still high-ranking priests.
As senior officials of Brion—the so-called Holy Empire—they carried a heavy sense of responsibility.
“We of Brion will never forget this kindness. If you ever require our help, please tell us. If it concerns Lord Kaiser, we will treat it as our highest priority.”
Finally, High Priest Gildeti bowed deeply.
A man who stood at the head of the largest grand temple in Brion was showing the utmost respect with complete sincerity.
[High Priest of the Lyre Grand Temple, ‘Gildeti,’ greatly increases his favor toward you.]
[Gildeti’s favor has reached maximum.]
[Gildeti regards you as both benefactor and honored savior.]
If ordinary players had seen this, they would have been stunned.
High Priest Gildeti was known to be gentle and courteous—but also famous for never bowing to anyone.
He stood shoulder to shoulder even with kings of foreign nations, so it was only natural.
Shhk. Shhk.
But the astonishing sight didn’t end there.
One by one, others began to bow, until more than a hundred people were offering Dohyun their respects.
Surrounded on all sides by their reverence, Dohyun smiled.
‘Master… this feels amazing.’
Yet oddly enough, Jihad looked even more thrilled than Dohyun.
Attention seeker through and through.
Seeing Jihad’s lips stretch so wide they looked ready to tear, Dohyun couldn’t help but smirk mischievously.
‘Why are you so happy? Maybe if it were Charlie—but you just stood there staring blankly.’
‘Kghm… N-no, that’s not it. Right, Eliza?’
‘Riza? Ri…za!’
‘E-Eliza? Even you…’
When the wounded Jihad reached out, Eliza quietly turned her head away.
She looked utterly firm—but Dohyun saw it.
Eliza was secretly holding back laughter.
‘Wow, now even Eliza knows how to tease people.’
They say even a dog that studies at a village school for three years learns to recite poetry—this was tremendous growth. Just as Dohyun was chuckling at the sudden skit amid the touching atmosphere—
Bzzzz—
A communication orb vibrated somewhere.
“……”
“……”
Perhaps because everyone had been so formal.
The vibration that broke the silence sounded absurdly loud.
As the grand atmosphere collapsed anticlimactically, one high priest awkwardly straightened.
“Ahem. It’s mine.”
“…You should answer it, High Priest Berzid.”
“Of all times to have no sense of timing…”
“Ahem. My apologies. Then…”
The other priests, their mood already broken, also straightened up.
Amid the awkward cluster, High Priest Berzid answered the call.
“…Sir Baric? I’m not sure what this is about, but the timing is a bit—hm? Is that true?”
Berzid’s grumbling voice suddenly brightened.
As the other priests glanced over curiously, Berzid confirmed once more and shouted:
“Everyone! I’ve just heard from Sir Baric—Sir Lebed is almost here. He should arrive in about five minu—”
“Oh! Sir Lebed is finally coming!”
“This is perfect timing. Hero, if you have the time, perhaps you could meet Sir Lebed before—”
The priests grew excited, their speech speeding up—but Dohyun couldn’t properly hear them.
It wasn’t that their words were slurred.
Ding—
[The Master of Immortality has detected the death of its contractor.]
[By the Covenant of the Species, your location has been revealed.]
[A dreadful presence is watching this place. They detect the foreign energy.]
[Danger! You may lose your life.]
The alerts ringing in his ears and the messages filling his vision threw his mind into chaos.
‘…?’
The moment he froze at the sudden warning—
Saaa—
For a brief instant, every sound in the world vanished.
Even the white noise that always exists in life disappeared.
Nothing could be heard.
As if one of his five senses had been erased.
Just as chills ran down his spine at the eerie sensation—
The surroundings violently changed.
“What is this—!?”
“Th-the floor is collapsing!”
Darkness devoured the ground.
That endless, vile darkness writhed like crawling insects.
Soon it climbed the walls and swallowed the auditorium—
And then it opened.
[The Eye of the Abyss has opened.]
It was an eye.
The only light—and darkness—within this consumed space.
“Ahh…”
It was so grotesque it bordered on cosmic horror, filling all who saw it with helplessness.
An overwhelming presence that erased any thought of resistance.
The unprecedented entity simply stared at them.
And the gaze was not singular.
[The Abyssal Gate has opened.]
[Abyssal powerhouse, the Master of Immortality, is watching this place.]
[Abyssal powerhouse, the Master of Wrath, is watching this place.]
…
[An Abyssal Dark Knight is watching this place.]
[An Abyssal Warden is watching this place.]
Beyond that bizarre eye, unknown beings were observing this place.
Their forms weren’t visible yet—but they could be clearly felt.
An overwhelming pressure tightening around his entire body from all directions.
Worse still—it was getting closer.
They were crossing over.
“Ugh…”
“Cough—!”
Seeing dozens of shadows approaching beyond the massive eye, the priests groaned in terror.
Dohyun felt the same.
[You are crushed by an overwhelming presence.]
[All stats reduced by 30%.]
[All speeds reduced by 20%.]
[All detailed abilities reduced by 20%.]
[Trait ‘Hero’ resists mental corruption.]
[Trait ‘Hero’ has failed to resist mental corruption.]
‘What the hell is this? It ignores the Hero trait?!’
This was the first time since playing God of All Seasons that Dohyun had experienced something like this.
No—this wasn’t even climbing one mountain after another.
He had just finished cleaning everything up, and now this bolt from the blue?
He couldn’t help feeling dumbfounded at the absurd scale unfolding before him.
And apparently he wasn’t the only one.
—M-master… what is this now? A surprise gift, right?
—R-Riza…!? Rizarriza!
—Kgh… such overwhelming power… At least two abyssal powerhouses. How can this be…? Just for one contractor, they’re risking manifestation?
The peaceful mood shattered in an instant. Charlie, who had been content, and Jihad and Eliza, who had been in high spirits, all jumped in shock.
What—because the contractor died, they tracked the location through the Covenant?
And they didn’t even come alone—bringing friends too?
Just as Charlie said, this was utterly absurd.
‘Seriously… how are monsters like this showing up at level 35? Is this even normal?’
And putting everything else aside, what was happening now was something even rankers would rarely witness.
Even the Destroyer Gaiman had already been balance-breaking—but this was…
‘This is basically telling me to die!’
It genuinely felt like punishment for defeating a boss he was never meant to beat.
‘If the developer were in front of me, I’d want to crack his skull open.’
Colorful curses toward the developer—and the AI that approved this—rose to his throat, but Dohyun forced himself to calm down.
Panicking wouldn’t help.
As always, he had to find a way through.
“Hero… are you alright?”
“Kh… when did they say Sir Lebed would arrive? Five minutes?”
“Th-that is the Abyssal Gate spoken of only in legend…”
“Everyone, be careful. If you are killed by them, you will be assimilated into the Abyss and cease to be human.”
As he focused, the priests’ panicked voices sounded unusually loud.
Among them, one phrase stood out most.
Five minutes.
‘Five minutes? I have to hold out for five minutes?’
It was insane.
Dohyun’s remaining HP was barely 4%.
He had only recovered this much thanks to decent regen. His mana was even worse.
[Guardian Jihad Black lacks mana.]
[Cannot summon undead.]
Same for Jihad.
At this point, Jihad being out of mana was so routine Dohyun hadn’t even expected anything.
—Riza…
Eliza realistically couldn’t help in this situation either…
‘That leaves Charlie…’
But Charlie wasn’t at full condition after the fight with Gaiman.
His ultimate—Sword of Light—was definitely still on cooldown.
And even if it weren’t… what difference would it make now?
—…They’re getting closer, my lord.
—Master… what do we do now?
—Rizariza…
Watching Charlie swallow nervously, Dohyun clenched the broken hourglass in his fist.
He could see them too.
The shadows had drawn close enough to distinguish shapes.
Grotesque beasts over five meters tall.
A massive serpent that looked capable of swallowing the entire hall.
A three-headed wolf…
‘This is insane…’
Even their silhouettes sent chills down his spine.
It felt like watching a monster war—but the most overwhelming presence was the comparatively smaller silhouettes slowly approaching from the very back.
“Ahh…”
“…Good heavens.”
How could he even describe it?
Something without a definite form.
Something that could only be called darkness.
The moment his eyes met one of them—
[You have encountered the Master of Immortality.]
[You face an overwhelming presence.]
[All stats reduced by 70%.]
[Trait Hero resists mental corruption.]
[Resistance failed.]
[Danger! You may lose your life.]
—So it was you… I wondered why I sensed a familiar presence when the one I’d forgotten died… You… the vessel of those creatures…
The chilling voice echoed through the entire hall along with the blaring alerts.
As gravity seemed to increase, priests began collapsing to their knees one after another.
They had yielded to the unbearable pressure.
‘No, seriously—can Lebed even break this when he arrives?’
Just as Dohyun was about to voice his disbelief—
[The Broken Hourglass of Faith reacts to abnormal malicious energy.]
[The Broken Hourglass of Faith regains its original form.]
“…Huh?”
The unexpected alert snapped the suffocating tension.
At that moment, an unfamiliar sensation came from his hand.
When he loosened his grip, the hourglass floated up into the air.
And then—
Flaaash—!
A brilliant light erupted.
It shot to the center of the hall, then surged upward to the ceiling, illuminating the darkness in an instant—
And formed the figure of a woman.
A colossal woman clad in divine robes.
Her presence radiated boundless compassion, as if she could embrace all existence.
“Ah…”
“Ahh… O Goddess…”
The priests, freed from the Abyss’s pressure by her benevolence, rose one by one.
And they weren’t the only ones reacting.
[The Abyssal energy weakens.]
Grrrr—
The approaching abyssal entities began to recede, as if time itself were rewinding.
The massive holy power radiating from the woman was closing the gate.
From the retreating void came the grinding of teeth from the Master of Immortality.
—Why… are you here now…!
Over a hundred priests stared upward.
Countless abyssal beings retreated.
Darkness melted into light.
“What the hell is happening now?!”
Unable to hold back anymore, Dohyun finally burst out in disbelief.
As if answering him, a message appeared.
[The second Fragment of Destiny, ‘Hourglass of Faith,’ reacts.]
[The will of the slumbering Holy King awakens.]
[The will of Seras, the Holy King of ancient humanity, manifests.]
At that moment—
The will of the second Fragment of Destiny,
The Holy King Seras,
had awakened.
