Chapter 200
Chapter 200. At the End of the Land (6)
Even after 10 minutes, 15 minutes passed.
The captain who had left for the dimensional boundary did not return.
“Rius! Something feels off!”
“Something has gone wrong…!”
As time passed, it wasn’t the heroes who showed signs of instability, but the people from another world.
“Just wait patiently!”
“But the captain!”
With the captain’s continued absence, a woman trembled her lips.
She vividly remembered Yoo Ji-han’s appearances across various regions, including Yeosu.
It was a minuscule possibility, but if the captain had… faced defeat against Yoo Ji-han.
Then everything would surely spiral out of control.
‘Captain, when are you coming back!?’
The torturous minutes felt like an eternity.
As the companions around her began to stir, Rius started to lose his composure as well.
‘There’s no way that guy could defeat the captain.’
The number of monsters sacrificed to ensure the captain’s quick recovery could fill up a large stadium.
It was a significant gamble with considerable losses.
The outcome leading to the captain’s defeat was simply unacceptable.
“…I think I need to check personally.”
“I’ll go with you.”
“Alright. Just the two of us will move.”
The dimensional boundary becomes unstable with an increasing number of entrants.
More effort and magic control were needed for dimensional teleportation.
Even though Rius had been absent to avoid disturbing the captain, he couldn’t remain calm any longer when the timeframe for the captain’s return had long passed.
Swish! Whoosh!
Thus, they entered the cubic space.
Rius and his companion searched for the captain by turning their heads.
“Yoo, Yoo Ji-han?!”
“……!”
What they found upon arrival was not the captain but Yoo Ji-han himself.
He stood in the corner of the angular space, looking back at Rius.
“You’re finally here.”
“Why is Yoo Ji-han still here…?!”
“N-no way, is that what’s in front of you?!”
Rius’ eyes widened as he discovered a figure crumpled in the corner.
It was none other than the captain.
“Captain!!”
“It’s too late now.”
His face was swollen beyond recognition, and his body lay limp on the ground.
The lifeless gaze in his eyes was no longer that of a living human.
A clear fist mark remained over his bruised left chest, near the heart.
The size of that mark matched perfectly with Yoo Ji-han’s hand.
‘The captain is dead!’
The tattered red beret was crumpled beyond recognition.
The leader of the people from another world, who had even overwhelmed a Rank 1 Hero, had now been reduced to a husk of humanity.
Thud!
Unable to bear the shock of his captain’s death, Rius’ companion knelt on the floor.
His face was devoid of spirit.
“How could you have done this to the captain…?”
“Should’ve lived a good life, shouldn’t you?”
“Damn it!”
Whoosh!
Leaving his stunned companion behind, Rius hurriedly exited the space.
It was evidence that a pathway had opened between the dimensional boundary and Earth.
Yoo Ji-han ran to the kneeling man and grabbed his shoulder.
“Eek!”
“You know how to get out of here, right?”
“I-I don’t know?”
“Even if you don’t, you need to figure it out.”
Screech!
Yoo Ji-han’s grip on the shoulder tightened.
The expression on the captured man’s face turned ashen.
*
Whoosh!
“Rius!”
“What happened?!”
“……”
Returning to Haenam, Rius kept his mouth shut in a straight line.
Everyone was anxious about the news of the captain.
If it had been someone else who moved to the dimensional boundary…
Rius would have reacted the same way.
‘I’m feeling dizzy.’
The dizziness flooding his mind was no figment of his imagination.
However, Rius did his best to act normal and glared at the heroes.
Rius, the mental pillar of the party and leader of all people from another world.
The man who had given up his original name and risen to lead the Ajesia Reconstruction Project had died at the hands of Yoo Ji-han.
He needed to face the reality that the captain was dead.
‘Should I announce that the captain is dead?’
Accepting the captain’s death here would mean acknowledging a complete victory for the heroes.
The colossal plan to reconstruct Ajesia using Earth would be rendered worthless if it couldn’t conquer even such a small country as Korea.
‘How absurd.’
Rius struggled to suppress the laugh that threatened to escape.
Then he spoke to the only standing hero, Lee Mi-a.
“Yoo Ji-han is dead.”
“……!!”
Lee Mi-a’s eyes widened at the news of Yoo Ji-han’s death.
Even her tightly sealed lips were slightly parted.
She looked as if she had received a massive shock.
“Of course, it’s the captain!”
“See? I told you to just wait!”
As the people from another world cheered, suddenly the Sylph burst into hearty laughter.
—Heehee! Heeheehee!!
“……Spirit, why are you laughing?”
—You fool! Do you think I wouldn’t know the state of my contractor?
The Sylph and Yoo Ji-han, bound by an absolute contract, could sense each other’s life and death, even from great distances.
When the current contractor dies, the contract with the spirit is automatically terminated.
“That’s a lie.”
—A blatant red lie!
“Thank goodness.”
Lee Mi-a sighed in relief at the Sylph’s bold reply.
Then she shot a furious glare at Rius.
“You won’t get away with this.”
“……”
In an instant, the lie had been exposed.
The people from another world around Rius glanced at him nervously.
They couldn’t tell who was telling the truth.
Flinch! Flinch!
The bodies of the heroes, including Kim Hyun-tae, who were still under the illusion, began to twitch.
No matter how powerful the magic, it cannot be maintained without a user.
The absence of the captain was causing the magic’s effects to wane.
“Rius!”
“Rius! What should we do now?!”
“Stay here and wait!”
Rius threw himself into the air, entering the entrance to the space distortion.
But just as he vanished, something fell from the high sky.
—Here it comes!
[Wind Bomb]
Whoosh!
Before crashing to the ground, the magic was used for a safe landing.
It was Yoo Ji-han, who Rius had said was dead, along with the person from another world he had captured.
“Huh! I misconfigured the coordinates.”
“Eek!”
“Yoo Ji-han is alive!”
“If so, then what happened to the captain…?”
As soon as Yoo Ji-han returned, he gathered his sword and scanned the surroundings.
Not seeing Rius anywhere, he frowned.
“Lee Mi-a! Where did he go?!”
“He went in that direction.”
“Okay. I’ll leave this to you!”
“Leave it to me.”
Whoosh!
Yoo Ji-han chased after Rius into the entrance of the space distortion.
The Sylph soared into the sky alongside him.
—Ji-han! What are you doing leaving me behind!
“You were going to follow along anyway, right?”
—That’s true. Heehee!
“When did Lee Mi-a get out of the illusion?”
—I helped!
“Oh! That was an excellent choice.”
Waking Lee Mi-a, who was left alone with the Sylph, was indeed a wise decision.
There were few heroes who could be as cooperative and powerful on their own as she was.
Eventually, the place where Yoo Ji-han and the Sylph arrived was a hideout located at the end of the land.
It matched exactly the structure Yoo Ji-han had seen in the memories of others.
‘I seem to have a rough idea of where that guy went.’
Yoo Ji-han walked toward a suspicious location.
Though the internal structure was rather complex like a maze.
‘Turn left there, then go straight, and take a right.’
He never stopped for even a moment.
*
Rius stood in front of a massive wall.
Countless intricate magic circles were etched across the entire surface of the wall.
“Ugh! I used to treat this like a joke back then.”
The bookshelves were tightly packed with scrolls.
All of them were magic scrolls designed to activate the magic inscribed on the wall.
Bang!
Rius toppled the bookshelf, scattering the scrolls across the floor.
“Is there about 1013 of them?”
The magic circles on the wall were connected to dimensional magic.
However, rather than crossing from Earth to another world,
These were the spells designed to bridge from another world back to Earth.
They opened pathways to summon the species referred to as invaders from Earth.
——If I can’t possess Earth, let’s destroy it like Ajesia!
In the past, a certain person from another world, whose mind had been clouded in madness, had prepared these spaces.
Rius could never have imagined he would end up using them himself after the man who had made all these preparations had absurdly died of illness.
Just a few minutes ago.
“Let it all, let it all break…!”
Rius reached out toward the bound scrolls.
But at that moment.
Whoosh!
A long and sharp object pierced into his back.
“Gah!”
The blade tore through him from his back to his abdomen.
With his body punctured, Rius turned his creaking head to look back.
“Yoo Ji-han…?”
Yoo Ji-han revealed himself from a state of invisibility.
“I had a feeling you’d show up here.”
“Why you! I will… Aghhh!”
The aura contained within the blade was shredding apart everything Rius had.
Rius spat out the blood that had reached his throat towards Yoo Ji-han.
—Hooey!
But a small droplet of blood was intercepted by the Sylph.
As Rius’ consciousness began to fade, he felt the pain in his abdomen start to lessen.
Amidst laughing as if he had gone mad, he said,
“Cough! Cough! Do you think you’ll keep it together indefinitely?”
“……?”
“One day, this Earth will meet the same demise as our Ajesia! No, this world, filled entirely with selfishness, will undoubtedly suffer a far worse destruction than ours!”
“At least not today.”
“Yoo Ji-han, if you weren’t in Korea, this wouldn’t have happened!”
“What can I do if I exist?”
“You rotten bastard…”
Slash!
The bloodied blade was pulled from Rius’ body.
Lying on the ground, he reached out to the scrolls, but they were just out of his reach.
“A-Ajesia…”
Rius closed his eyes, unable to speak any further.
His breath, filled with cries for his lost world, soon ceased.
Clank!
Dropping the sword to the ground, Yoo Ji-han sat down on the floor.
A sigh escaped him, having exhausted all his energy.
‘Am I almost done?’
The Rank 1 Heroes sent to another world had not returned but had gained much and lost much, and now the end of their expedition was in sight.
*
Clink! Clink!
“I’ve done it.”
Ha Seong-tae closed his tired eyes and sunk deep into the chair.
The hero movie documenting Yoo Ji-han’s party’s recent expedition had been completed.
The trailer for the film, planned as a two-part series, was ready.
The first part, already registered for sale, was eagerly awaiting online release.
“Hehe… This will be my masterpiece, regardless of box office performance.”
Although the film had yet to be released to the public, Ha Seong-tae knew.
This hero movie would serve as his turning point.
This work, capturing vivid live action without any CG work, had turned out unbelievably spectacular considering the short production time.
“Let’s see how it’s doing.”
Ha Seong-tae uploaded the approximately one-minute film trailer to his viewtube channel.
Immediately, the eager fans waiting for his sequel reacted, posting in the community.
[TiTi: HST’s new work is out!]
[Seong-tae is the best: Even in these times, you release a new one! Hallelujah!]
[Cocoa: Looks like it’s with Yoo Ji-han’s party again.]
[Porikos: Huh? Is this about this expedition?]
And as news spread that the film covered this expedition,
The trailer’s views skyrocketed within a matter of minutes.
“What, what the?!”
Returning to his computer after a brief meal, Ha Seong-tae was truly shocked by the level of attention the film had received.
Comments written in English and Japanese, alongside Korean, indicated that many were watching the situation keenly from overseas.
It was the highest level of attention since Ha Seong-tae entered the hero film market.
“……I should release this today.”
Ha Seong-tae rushed to move the scheduled movie release date forward.
With such high attention, there was no reason to delay it any further.
Clack!
As he manipulated the mouse and clicked the button,
The movie he had produced was released to the world.
“Soon, a new star will be born.”
The world would have no choice but to remember Yoo Ji-han’s party.
Ha Seong-tae hoped the director would be remembered too.
