1321——————==

Soul of the Evil God (Four Gods Soul)

I couldn’t help but be taken aback by the unexpected situation. Who would’ve thought I’d end up in the outer universe where Colonel Lee Hwan-woong lived? I immediately shouted at Nailatop.

“Hey! Is it true that the World Tree is here…?”

At that moment, Nailatop grinned and shouted even louder than me.

“Should we take a little operation time!”

“……?”

“Come over here.”

Nailatop walked briskly into a dim corner of the commander’s room, and I followed him in a daze. As I closed the door behind me, Nailatop snapped his fingers, and suddenly, the plain army room transformed into what looked like the captain’s quarters of Gaia.

Nailatop stroked his chin and spoke.

“Seo Mun-gbaek may not know what the World Tree is, but why would you carelessly spill such precious information anywhere? There’s a slim chance that some transcendent being or alien has sent an agent here to spy for information.”

In that moment, I realized what Nailatop was doing. He quickly covered my mouth so that word about the World Tree wouldn’t get out.

“Ah…!! Sorry. I was caught off guard.”

“Well, to answer your question, the probability of the World Tree existing in this world is about 72.57 percent.”

“Is that high?”

“Extremely high. In cases with lower probabilities, it usually hovers around 0.5 percent.”

“Oh….”

“My reason for visiting this world is that with a probability like that, it’s practically guaranteed to exist.”

Nailatop continued.

“Originally, I planned to leisurely search for the World Tree, but now I’ll quickly scout for it to fit your schedule. If we mobilize all of Gaia’s functions, three days should be plenty. Once we find the World Tree, I’ll extract its core and hand you a chaos potion before returning it. That should be good, right?”

“Hmmm!”

I thought it was a decent plan. But something felt off, so I asked Nailatop.

“…But why did you bring me to the command office of the human army fighting aliens, of all places?”

“Isn’t it obvious? I hope you’ll help humanity fight through the Northeast Asian Liberation Army.”

“Why should I!!”

“Oh? Didn’t you say you were a reborn person fighting for humanity? Are you just going to leave the humans of the outer universe to fend for themselves?”

“No, for crying out loud….”

I hesitated at Nailatop’s retort and scratched my head.

“That’s not what I meant. I’m leaving in a month anyway, and there’s no way I could defeat the aliens and save the world in that time. I don’t even know what kind of impact that would have on the Law of Cause and Effect, and if I mess with things recklessly, what if a bigger issue arises?”

I had too many experiences where I impulsively got involved with other matters and it blew up in my face. Getting involved in things that weren’t from my world felt even more burdensome. Besides, I really didn’t like the idea of moving according to Nailatop’s sneaky plans.

“Oh… You’ve given this more thought about the Law of Cause and Effect than I expected. It seems you possess quite a perspective, indeed, being a 30th cycle reborn person.”

“Compliments won’t get you anywhere. I’m also reluctant to act because I’m worried you want to use me, you bastard.”

Upon hearing me growl, Nailatop shrugged his shoulders.

“You can relax about that. Because if you don’t act, the Law of Cause and Effect will skew even more, which is exactly why I’m asking. The destruction you think might happen has already occurred.”

“What?”

“Lee Hwan-woong is missing. That’s the problem.”

“……?”

What’s wrong with Lee Hwan-woong being gone?

As I looked confused, Nailatop slowly explained.

“This battleship Gaia is the ultimate scientific vessel where the essence of my scientific prowess is condensed. Therefore, using Gaia allows me to interfere with the outer universe to a certain degree, manipulating the Law of Cause and Effect. Gaia’s computing power can modify the trajectory of the Law of Cause and Effect. I chose Lee Hwan-woong as a supporter to seek out the World Tree in this universe because he has been growing as a hero of humanity.”

“……?!”

“That means a void has formed in the Law of Cause and Effect in this world due to the absence of a hero.”

I stood there dumbfounded, finally shouting.

“What kind of nonsense is that! You expect me to fill in for Lee Hwan-woong?!”

“Exactly. Because the mechanism of the Law of Cause and Effect manipulation I can perform using Gaia is based on a plus-minus zero system. If I insert the variable [Lee Hwan-woong] and don’t get the expected result, it’ll backfire on me.”

“Damn!! I don’t care if it backfires on you!”

“Really? If something goes wrong for me, I might not be able to send you back to your original world in a month.”

“…….”

“It’s not that complicated.”

Nailatop continued as he perched on a chair.

“As long as you accomplish the level of merit that Lee Hwan-woong achieved against the aliens in this world, that’s all you need. Isn’t that simple?”

“Make merit? You mean beat up aliens?”

“Exactly. It’s not hard. Just unleash all the powers you have as a reborn person and fight the aliens. Honestly, that alone would be greatly appreciated by the humans of this world.”

“…….”

“You don’t really have to worry about whether you can save the humans of this world or not. After all, in a month, my disciple Lee Hwan-woong will return to this world, and then you can leave the rest to him. I don’t see any downside in that, do you?”

“Hmm.”

I pondered for a moment and then said.

“I still don’t get it. Can’t you just move the ship Gaia and take out the aliens yourself? You’ve already brought down the King of the Life Sea, for crying out loud.”

“That spot was near the [Gate] of the outer universe, where the distortion of the Law of Cause and Effect was the worst. Even a cosmic wanderer like me could use my powers freely there. But in a normal world like this one, I can’t just blatantly interfere.”

“Why not?”

“Backlash.”

“…….”

“I already told you, didn’t I? Unless it’s a special location, I’m also bound by the Law of Cause and Effect. Unless I summon avatars or apostles, I can’t easily interfere with this world like other divine beings.”

“So you’re saying you’re bound by the Law of Cause and Effect… Do you think you’re a god or something?”

Nailatop chuckled.

“I may not be, but my battleship Gaia belongs to the pinnacle of sciences, existing in the realm of the divine. It is a being subject to the constraints of the Law of Cause and Effect.”

“Hmm.”

“So it’s fine for me to casually share advice or teach some scientific knowledge but I can’t move Gaia.”

That sounded reasonable.

But I still couldn’t shake the feeling that he was deceiving me, so I kept my guard up and said.

“If you try to trap me or pull something funny, I swear I won’t let it slide. Even if it means wasting cycles, I’ll find you again and give you a good thrashing.”

Nailatop’s eyes widened in surprise.

“Oh my, how scary. The threats of a reborn person are truly on a different level~”

“You’re not looking scared at all, damn it!”

“Hmm. Slurp…. Even so, I’m still pretty scared.”

“…….”

How can you sip your tea so calmly while saying that!?

I eventually gave up and sighed.

“Okay. I’ll do what I have to do. Just don’t push me for anything more.”

Well then, I guess I’ll have to fight the aliens a little.

“Of course, that’s how it should be. Shall we get going?”

“Sure.”

Hu Woong

Soon, Nailatop and I stepped outside, and I formally greeted Seo Mun-gbaek once again. Seo Mun-gbaek looked rather apologetic and asked to shake my hand.

“It’s an honor to meet a Peerless Master. I am Seo Mun-gbaek, the commander of the Northeast Asian Liberation Army.”

“Uh, nice to meet you. I’m Baek Woong.”

As I shook his hand, I suddenly got curious and asked.

“Mr. Seo Mun, do you happen to know Sword Demon Seo Mun-dae-ryong?”

“……?”

Commander Seo Mun-gbaek looked very perplexed, and after a moment of thought, he awkwardly smiled.

“I’m sorry… but I’m a modern person, not a martial artist from your hidden world. I wouldn’t know if there were martial artists in my clan.”

“…….”

That was a strange way of speaking….

I thought he might be a descendant of the Sword Demon because of the same last name, but I must have been off.

Seo Mun-gbaek isn’t a descendant of the Sword Demon?

“Hmmm…. Is it because it’s the outer universe that history differs from our world?”

It feels a bit different from the world where Dharma was.

While I tilted my head in confusion, Seo Mun-gbaek spoke up.

“I apologize for asking you for help right after you’ve arrived, but could you fight against the alien attacks? I know that Peerless Masters among martial artists have abilities that transcend humanity.”

“Sure. What kind of aliens are we talking about?”

“Vice Commander!”

Beeep

At Commander Seo Mun-baeck’s command, a guy called the Vice Commander pulled up a large screen in front of us, revealing a horde of aliens with tentacles advancing while firing strange energy weapons. The humans’ tanks and guns were utterly helpless against that energy weapon, and the soldiers that had been fighting were burning continuously at the front lines.

With a grim expression, Seo Mun-baeck spoke while watching the screen.

“They are the Partelquians, tier 4 aggressive aliens. They’ve swallowed the entirety of Guangdong Province and Hainan Province and taken over all the factories…. We’ve mobilized troops to obliterate the Partelquians, but we’re being overwhelmed in direct combat.”

“……?”

I asked back, feeling puzzled.

“Tier 4? What does that mean?”

“It’s a classification of alien threats we established with the help of Professor Nailatop from the Human Alliance. There are up to 5 tiers.”

“Oh, so that’s how it is. So those guys are tier 4, just below the most dangerous tier 5?”

“Not at all. The weakest is tier 5, and the Partelquians are slightly more dangerous at tier 4.”

“…Hmmm.”

From looking at the screen, a massive spaceship looms like a mountain in the sky, with an army of machines and alien soldiers pouring out to fill the horizon. They looked extremely imposing, so I thought they were formidable aliens, but they seemed to have a low rank.

‘They seem stronger than I expected….’

I began gauging how strong the enemies in this world were in my mind. After contemplating for a while, I turned to Nailatop, who was standing next to me.

“Hey. What about the tier 1 aliens?”

“We’re talking about the [Old Ruler] here.”

“Oh….”

“Tier 2 is about the level of the demon kings that serve them. You could say they are like the Eight Parts of the Divine. That should give you a rough idea of the power level of this world.”

“Got it.”

Maybe it was from the experiences I had so far, but it was pretty easy to understand!

I nodded and said.

“Send me straight to that battlefield.”

At my words, Commander Seo Mun-baeck looked astonished.

“Wait, what? You want to go alone? Just hold on a second. I need to arrange some troops to escort you….”

“I don’t need any of that.”

I casually retorted while looking at Nailatop, and he grinned widely.

“Hmm, if it were Lee Hwan-woong, he would’ve struggled for about 50 days in that battlefield, leveling up before taking down the Partelquian general. I wonder how you’ll hold up.”

“Just hurry and send me!”

“Alright then.”

Bam!!

A moment later, I found myself at the exact spot of the intense clashes between humanity and aliens I just saw on the screen. In a vast battlefield where shells and flames raged, thousands of tentacled aliens and mechanical forces were charging from beyond the horizon.

Kugugugu

I fixed my gaze on the aliens and activated the Fire Eye Golden Spirit.

“Fire Eye Golden Spirit! Show me the most extraordinary powers among the aliens!”

Wiying!

In the next moment, the Fire Eye Golden Spirit allowed me to see all the spirits and magic energies of the aliens in different colors. The different colors indicated that they possessed variating levels of magical power. I kept using the Fire Eye Golden Spirit until I spotted the alien mothership far away, and I recognized there was a massive, meat-like entity fused with eyes inside.

Thud! Thud!

It felt almost like a heartbeat, covered with a crimson spirit and magical power!

As soon as I sensed the level of that magic, I immediately knew.

‘That’s the general.’

I swiftly drew my sword and assumed a combat stance. With one eye half-closed, I focused both my mind and intent, seeking the fastest and most precise path of the Formless Way. The trajectory of the Formless Way was filled with countless enemies and terrain features, alongside the alien mothership, but I didn’t care.

“Whooo….”

I steadied my breath. Then, I began to envelop my entire body with the killing intent of my sword.

I was ready for combat.

‘Let’s go.’

The distance to the enemy was still many miles away, but my intent could already sense them.

When caught in the ring of intent, the enemy is nothing more than a dead man walking.

That indicates they become foes of the Absolute Realm!

Heavenly Destruction Step

Kuwakwang!!

In the next moment, I closed a distance of more than twenty miles in a single breath, my whole being wrapped in Protective Energy Technique as I crashed into the alien mothership. It seemed there was a barrier on the alien mothership, as I couldn’t directly penetrate it with just one impact, but I felt a hole open in the barrier, and as soon as I sensed it, I unleashed Thunder Sword to further widen the breach in the barrier before shoving my body through.

Fwoosh

I felt like my body had become a bolt of lightning. Even though I hadn’t used Thunder Spirit, when wrapped in the lightning of Nine Chambers of Thunder Technique, my Divine Technique speed surged several fold. I continued to pierce through the partitions of the alien mothership and shredded every tentacled alien in sight with my sword.

Schwaaaak!

As I spun like a tornado, using the Wind Spirit Slash to dismantle around one hundred and fifty of them, I finally managed to arrive right in front of the gruesome-looking alien general I had spotted earlier. As soon as the alien general noticed me, it screamed with its mental strength.

[How can a mere bug of a human…?]

Infinite Slash!

Zzeock!

In complete silence, I cleaved through the alien general’s countless parts at once in a straight line, and simultaneously, a long line of cleaving marked a significant divide in the alien mothership. Realizing that the alien mothership would soon explode, I covered my body in Protective Energy Technique and leaped into the air, gliding far away into the void.

‘Nice.’

Who cares about 100 days? This can end so easily!

Kuwakwang!

Moments later, as the mothership erupted with a grand explosion and destructive clamor, the entire alien army on the ground plunged into chaos. I then jumped in with just my sword, mindlessly slashing through anything that came into view.

Shukak!

Shukakak!

“Die!!”

Kwah!

For the next several moments, I hacked away without rest, killing without a care. Eventually, I observed that the surrounding alien forces had retreated altogether.

Looks like I successfully took down the first alien I encountered in this world.

“Whooo.”

I bet even the Great Bear Empire five hundred years from now would have been harder.

‘They’re not even close to being Reptilians.’

As I sat down to take a break, amazed voices filled the air.

“Such incredible martial arts…!! You’re on a whole other level compared to the martial artists I’ve seen!! Just who are you?!”

Huh?

That voice sounds familiar!

‘What’s going on?’

I turned my gaze toward the direction of the aura and was startled to see a familiar face emerging from the battlefield, shaking off dirt from his pants.

How could it be!

What are you doing here?!

Why?!

“Huh. You, a Peerless Master, actually know me?”

“…….”

This doesn’t make any sense…

The person I was staring at looked confused, then smiled.

“Um… I think you might have come from the Northeast Asian Liberation Army, but let’s introduce ourselves. I’ve never seen such a master before in my life. It’s an honor.”

“Ah, no… are you joking?”

He wore a ragged white shirt and jeans, with what looked like a hastily-assembled firearm slung over his back. The face was disheveled yet unmistakably familiar.

The outfit is different, but I can’t possibly not recognize that face.

This has to be a prank!

“What kind of prank are you pulling?”

“Why would I be joking?”

“I’ve seen you before, haven’t I?”

“……?”

“…….”

The one wearing a flabbergasted expression grinned.

“Beautiful Young Master. I greet you.”

Then, uttering a Martial Authority, he introduced himself as, “I am Zhuge Hyun from the Sixth Division of the Guangdong Branch of the Northeast Asian Liberation Army. I attend Guangdong University!”

Mangnyang was standing right before my eyes.