[Translator - Kiteretsu]

[Proofreader - Kyros]

Chapter 386

It’s coming.

As soon as he crossed over to the Divine Realm and revealed his presence, the Named ones appeared in front of Jeong-hoon in an instant.

‘Are those the Named?’

There were three in front of him now.

From the left: Beelzebub, Harmageddon, and Logos.

‘Including you, that makes four.’

Who showed you all of them?

‘Uriel.’

Heh… That guy.

‘Still, he was an Archangel. Is it alright to treat him lightly?’

So what? It’s not like I held a low rank either.

‘Really?’

That meant he was at least on a similar level.

Jeong-hoon looked ahead.

He had encountered Beelzebub and Logos before as puppets.

Especially Beelzebub’s puppet — he had destroyed it himself.

Maybe that’s why they looked familiar.

But the one in the center, Harmageddon, was someone he had never seen before.

And he looked far more dangerous than Beelzebub or Logos.

Even Jeong-hoon, who had undergone immense growth, felt his entire body freeze under the sheer, unrelenting pressure the being exuded.

‘He’s overwhelming.’

If not for the regression engraved in his soul, he would’ve deeply regretted facing them.

Jeong-hoon summoned the Power of Creation to confront that pressure.

“Oh? You’re definitely an interesting human.”

Harmageddon smirked.

“Did you come here relying on nothing but Psyche, not knowing your place?”

Logos harbored clear resentment toward Jeong-hoon.

It bordered on hatred — likely because Jeong-hoon had trampled on his pride as a Named.

The deletion of the Great Rift must’ve hit him especially hard.

So Jeong-hoon decided to press on that sore spot a bit more.

“Have you recovered from the humiliation of being beaten by a human who didn’t know his place?”

“…You bastard!”

The effect was immediate.

Logos’s face turned crimson with fury.

Don’t provoke him too much. He might snap.

I know.

But the preparations were already complete, so no matter what that guy tried, the regression would succeed.

“Seems like you’re relying on something.”

Harmageddon gave a sinister smile as he examined Jeong-hoon from head to toe.

He must’ve been trying to figure out what Jeong-hoon was plotting.

Jeong-hoon pulled out the divine relic he had taken from Escanon.

‘That relic hears everything.’

If he hadn’t heard that from Psyche, he probably would’ve continued saving it.

Jeong-hoon forcefully severed his connection with the sacred artifact and threw it to Armageddon.

“A hidden trump card, huh… I just came to take a look at your ugly faces.”

“Human, don’t act so carefree. Do you really think it all ends when you die?”

Beelzebub burst into laughter.

From the moment Jeong-hoon set foot in the Divine Realm, he could no longer return of his own will.

Because he had entered their domain.

“It’s not the end?”

Jeong-hoon feigned ignorance, his voice trembling on purpose.

“I’ll make sure you suffer for eternity.”

“If you can.”

Jeong-hoon simultaneously drew power from the Creation Engine and his magic, conjuring a magic missile.

It had been a long time since he had used magic.

What is this? I’ve never seen anything like it before.

A remarkably pure magic missile.

Annihilation.

This magic missile wasn’t just a basic 1st-circle spell.

It was concentrated with destruction and erasure through the Creation Engine.

Jeong-hoon designated those named ones as the targets and launched the missile.

The missile split into multiple streaks, fiercely firing as if to devour them.

“Tsk, to think we’re playing along with a child’s little trick.”

“Ha… how annoying.”

Of course, they didn’t feel threatened in the slightest and continued walking slowly toward Jeong-hoon, not even bothering to defend themselves.

Boom!

The magic missile struck them furiously, but they didn’t even flinch, keeping their gaze locked on Jeong-hoon.

They were slowly closing in, intending to suffocate him and break his will to fight.

What a shame. If I could just see what kind of abilities they used, it would’ve been useful later.

Unfortunately, they had no intention of using their powers.

Just then—

The three who were approaching stopped in their tracks and looked upward.

“Psyche.”

Logos muttered as he glared at Psyche, who was slowly descending from the sky.

She had just cast the boundary of death along with a binding.

As a result, the three of them couldn’t move easily.

“Why did you come to the Divine Realm?”

Psyche frowned as she scolded Jeong-hoon.

“Well, I figured hiding on Earth wouldn’t make much of a difference.”

“So you just walked into a trap on your own? Do you realize how foolish you are?”

“Yeah. But it’s a shame. I really wanted to see what kind of abilities those guys would use.”

Jeong-hoon smacked his lips in disappointment.

She had no idea that he had gained the power of regression through Uriel—it drove her mad.

Setting aside the issue of entering the Divine Realm, how could he just show up without even discussing it first?

“Psyche, you do realize this is a complete betrayal of us, don’t you?”

Logos shouted at her in fury.

"Why are you asking again when you already know everything? No wonder humans always end up getting betrayed."

"Hey!"

Following Jeong-hoon, Psyche also struck at his pride.

"Psyche, do you want me to give you a chance? If we clash like this, you won't come out of it unscathed either."

Harmageddon's face was unreadable—his expression gave nothing away.

At his warning, Psyche quietly spoke to Jeong-hoon.

"Please start now."

She restrained the three of them and opened a brief gap so that Jeong-hoon could escape.

"So you already knew?"

"Did you think I wouldn’t?"

"That's a shame. I was hoping to stay a bit longer."

"No. If Harmageddon captures your soul, you won’t be able to use regression."

"He captures the soul?"

"Yes. If that happens, the power engraved on your soul will fall into his hands."

"That's a shame."

Jeong-hoon had set it up so that if something happened to his soul, the power would automatically activate.

But if what she said was true, regression might become impossible.

"I understand how you feel, but now isn't the time to take that gamble."

Hmph... Harmageddon. What on earth happened for him to acquire such powers?

Tenebris, who had been listening nearby, muttered in confusion.

"Tenebris doesn’t seem to know about his powers."

"Of course not. Harmageddon awakened them while absorbing Tenebris's strength."

"Awakened?"

"There's no time for a long explanation now."

"...Understood."

As much as Jeong-hoon wanted to throw a few more jabs at them, he had no choice.

He quickly twisted the flow of mana within his body.

In that moment, his blood surged backward and he vomited violently.

His vision started to blur, and his balance collapsed. He fell over.

"What are you doing?! Stop him!"

Only then did the Named realize that something was wrong. They forcefully broke free from the restraints and lunged toward Jeong-hoon and Psyche.

That was the last memory Jeong-hoon had.

* * *

"Son, are you okay?"

When he came to, he heard his mother's voice.

Jeong-hoon slowly turned his head.

"Mother?"

"Shouldn’t you get a bit more sleep?"

It was a familiar scene.

Jeong-hoon looked out the window at the sky.

[01:11:58]

Right.

He had returned to one hour before the materialization began.

That meant his mother had also returned to the state before she leveled up.

"It's okay..."

"Really? You don't look so good. Do you think the world is going to end too?"

Back then, his mother didn't believe in all the loud chatter about the end of the world.

More precisely, she just didn’t want to believe it.

"No."

In the past, Jeong-hoon had agreed with the doomsday theories, but not anymore.

The whole reason he returned was to prevent that damn apocalypse from becoming reality.

Ding-dong—

Right then, the doorbell rang.

This, too, had already happened once before.

Jeong-hoon immediately went to the front door and opened it.

"Hey, Hoon!"

"Hey, hyung!"

Standing outside were Hajin and Bong-Goo.

Both of them were still undeveloped, far from reaching their full potential.

Hajin had already changed his class to the hidden class Dark Lord, but Bong-Goo was still far behind.

No one would expect him to make it all the way to the 6th Awakening.

As Jeong-hoon stared at Bong-Goo, Bong-Goo grew a little self-conscious, then suddenly broke into a goofy performance.

"Vroom vroom! This minivan came rushing at your call, sir!"

"Right. Sorry about that."

"Huh?"

Bong-Goo blinked in confusion at the sudden apology.

"I called you over for something urgent, but I just took care of it."

"Wait, you call us here for something urgent and then just send us back like that?"

Hajin interrupted with an incredulous look on his face.

"Really, I'm sorry. I’ll make it up to you next time—twice over."

As Jeong-hoon apologized, Hajin scratched his head and said,

"I mean, it’s not something you have to apologize for that seriously..."

He had meant to joke around a bit, but with Jeong-hoon being so sincere, he lost the mood to tease.

"Anyway, I’ll call you next time. I’m a bit busy right now."

"Wait, what…? Hey!"

Before Hajin could say anything more, the front door closed.

"Weren’t those your friends, Hoon?"

As Jeong-hoon came back in, his mother turned from the window and tilted her head.

"Yeah. It wasn’t anything important."

"Really? You could’ve invited them in for a bit. I could’ve peeled some fruit for them."

"It’s fine. More importantly, I’m going to hop into the capsule for a bit."

"You're gaming even in a time like this?"

"Ahaha..."

Jeong-hoon gave an awkward laugh as he headed to his room.

"I’ve returned, but I don’t feel any power."

That must mean the items and abilities he had before returning still existed within the game.

Since synchronization hadn’t happened yet, the Jeong-hoon outside the capsule was just an ordinary human.

He quickly got into the capsule and logged into the game—familiar faces appeared before him.

‘Master! You’re finally here?’

‘I can’t believe I’m back inside the game...’

Mukho and Anima.

Just as Uriel said, the ranks of Mukho and Anima remained at Ultimate.

And from the area around his heart, he could feel a powerful energy surging.

‘So this is what it means for it to be converted into divine energy.’

[You have acquired 0.1% of Divine Energy.]

[You have acquired 0.1% of Divine Energy.]

[You have acquired 0.2% of Divine Energy.]

...

Divine Energy would accumulate over time.

And it wasn’t just about conversion.

Jeong-hoon, fusing with that energy, pushed his Creation Engine to its maximum limit.

‘Everything is becoming clear in my mind.’

As expected of a planned system, the method to open the Gate to the Divine Realm surfaced in his thoughts automatically.

He entered the coordinates of the Divine Realm and released energy to create the gate.

Once that gate was fully opened, it would connect New World and the Divine Realm.

---

At that moment.

Escanon sat on his throne, observing the state of Earth and New World.

Soon, the process of materialization would be complete, and destruction would begin, one step at a time.

But then, a single user began using a forbidden power and started connecting to another realm.

“That bastard!”

Escanon sprang up from the throne in alarm.

Something was off.

He had been monitoring the user closely due to their outstanding performance—yet where had he gained that power?

Then, the gate opened—and out stepped a noble, exalted being.

Flinch.

That being met Escanon’s gaze directly, as if fully aware it was being watched.

Escanon’s body shuddered involuntarily, his legs giving out as he slumped back onto the throne.

“I-I have to report this...”

Just as Escanon hurried to report to Logos,

his vision blurred, and he lost consciousness.

“O corrupted human, you shall spend eternity in suffering.”

Before he knew it, the being stood above the collapsed Escanon, looking down at him.

[Synchronization failed!]

Synchronization failure.

At that moment, the timer hanging over Earth—which had shown just over an hour left—vanished without a trace.

At the same time, Escanon’s authority over New World was stripped away, and he was no longer able to interfere with Earth.

[Translator - Kiteretsu]

[Proofreader - Kyros]