Chapter 142: 142

It took quite a while for the seizures to subside, leaving Kang Yoon-Soo staring up at the endless white ceiling while lying down in the white space. He thought in annoyance, ‘Why did I suddenly have spasms and seizures?’

He could not really pinpoint the reason why. His body had suddenly gone through severe shock the moment he realized he had encountered someone just like him. It was as if he had found out about something he should not have known.

‘What a joke,’ he thought.

At one point, he had cut down a doppelganger that looked exactly like him, and he had been fine then. Why had he suffered from seizures this time?

‘A person exactly like me…’ he muttered inwardly.

He had suddenly had a seizure the moment he thought of that. He was fine now, but his spasms then had been so severe that he could not control his own body.

Kang Yoon-Soo got up and sat down on the floor, thinking, ‘There must be a reason why. A reason I can’t figure out right now.’

There had been times when he had sensed something that he could not really put his finger on. It was the same feeling he had gotten when he was told that he would soon be meeting ‘the one who should not exist on the continent’. He was certain that his violent reaction to seeing someone just like him was no mere coincidence.

‘A person just like me…’ he thought again, sifting through his memories.

If there really were a person just like him, who would it be? It would not be easy to find a person who was identical to him, someone who had lived for more than 20,000 years.

‘The King of All Things, Sirian…?’ he pondered.

Kang Yoon-Soo shook his head. Sirian was an immortal and he knew about Kang Yoon-Soo regressing, but it would be difficult to say that they were identical. He was somewhat similar in some ways, but they were too different to be considered identical.

‘If not, then…’ he thought, suddenly remembering a certain individual.

The reason he had regressed, the one whose identity was unknown, and the one who also had 20,000 years of memories...

‘There’s no way that’s possible…’ Kang Yoon-Soo thought, gritting his teeth.

Was he identical to the Demon Lord? He felt sick just thinking about it.

‘I should think about this problem another time,’ he thought.

He would not get any answers even if he pondered the issue for a long time, and his energy would be better served focusing on the upcoming trial. Instead, Kang Yoon-Soo checked the items in his possession.

‘Purple Stone…’ he thought as he checked the reward he had gained from the previous trial. The loot he had gained from killing the monsters was nowhere to be found.

‘You normally can’t bring any items from the trials back into reality,’ he thought.

However, Kang Yoon-Soo had obtained the additional reward, and he now had the right to choose and bring back one item from the trial back into reality. Additionally, he was still able to use the items he had in reality during the trials.

‘But the items I use in a trial will disappear after I clear it,’ he thought.

That meant his Vampire Lord’s Magic Sword would have disappeared forever from his possession if he used it during the first trial; that was why he had not dared to use any of his real items in the trials.

‘The next trial is the problem…’ he mused, deep in thought.

He had been an escaped convict in the first trial, and he had been the continent’s strongest Archmage in the second one. The second trial was especially easy because he had had the overwhelmingly powerful magic of an Archmage, which had made every combat encounter extremely easy.

However, the third trial was so difficult that it could only be called cruel.

‘I can only do my best,’ he thought.

The white space around him slowly dissipated, and the third trial finally started.

***

It was midnight, and moonlight shone down through the window.

Shaneth was deeply engrossed in the book she was reading. It contained a detailed record of the times when dragons had appeared on the continent.

‘So Ignus-nim was really an amazing being,’ she thought in awe.

The ruler of the Desert of Death, the Ignus Dragon, had already been active even in the time when the ancient dragons used to roam the continent. The power of that same great being now lay within her.

‘I have to grow stronger and make this my own. Then I’ll be able to contribute even more to our journey,’ Shaneth thought, steeling her resolve. She was well aware that the power Ignus had bestowed upon her was no ordinary strength, and that made her ever so grateful to the dragon for it.

She flipped through the pages, and one particular word caught her eye.

[Dragon of Destruction]

She suddenly remembered Kang Yoon-Soo’s statement that they would be visiting the Dragon of Destruction’s lair at some point, so she decided to read the following section closely

[The Dragon of Destruction is a dragon that has been active since ancient times, and it is considered to be the oldest among the dragons currently alive. It not only almost wiped out the ancient civilization Sharshyanon from the face of the continent, but also has a history of bringing the entire continent to the verge of extinction numerous times.

The Dragon of Destruction is considered to be the most violent and ill-tempered among the dragons, and that is a fact no scholars deny. The theory that it is the most powerful of all the dragons has gained credibility among scholars due to the fact that the Dragon of Destruction has also lived the longest.

This violent and ill-tempered, yet immensely powerful being currently resides in its lair somewhere on the continent, but the continent still exists and has not met its demise yet. How is that so?

That is because the Dragon of Destruction hibernates for a long period of time.

The average length of a dragon’s hibernation period is around six months, but the Dragon of Destruction is an exception, and the reason why the continent has managed to thrive despite the presence of such a threat is precisely due to the length of its hibernation period.

Not much is known regarding the precise length of the Dragon of Destruction’s hibernation period. There have been cases in which it hibernated for a few decades, and others in which it hibernated for several millennia. Scholars consider the current era to be within the Dragon of Destruction’s hibernation period.

However, no one knows when the Dragon of Destruction will awaken from its slumber and place the entire continent on the path of extinction once again.]

Shaneth closed the book, her face ghastly pale. She had only read the brief synopsis regarding the dragon, but she already felt chills down her back. Were they really going to the lair of such a powerful and violent dragon?

‘I don’t think he really plans to pick a fight against the Dragon of Destruction… right?’ Shaneth thought nervously.

She suddenly remembered the Undead Legion while thinking of the Dragon of Destruction. The Undead Legion was made up of the Death General Kalriven and the seven thousand undead that had been trapped in the Castle of the Dead, but were freed by Kang Yoon-Soo. She wondered what the Undead Legion, who had mentioned that their main goal was to resurrect the corpse of the strongest dragon on the continent as an undead being, were currently doing.

‘This is tiring…’ she thought, stretching her arms.

However, she could not bring herself to sleep like Henrick, who was sleeping on numerous chairs put together, no matter how sleepy she was. She walked over to Iris, who was on the other side of the hall. Iris was fast asleep, hunched over a table; Shaneth was about to cover her with a blanket when she suddenly saw the book Iris was reading.

‘I wonder what she’s been reading,’ she thought as she looked at the title of the book.

[200 Days of Sweet Love]

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Shaneth could not help but smile at Iris’ innocence and curiosity toward love. She was about to put the book down when a second book with a red cover fell out from within the first one.

[Our Maid’s Cherry Scent]

“…” Shaneth wordlessly went over to Henrick and pulled out the chair in the middle.

Henrick started to groan in his sleep when the chair supporting his back was pulled out. “Euuuuh…”

Shaneth sighed and thought, ‘Unni just ended up learning strange things from this ahjussi.’

The mental state of the two men they were traveling with could not be trusted; that was why Shaneth felt that she, the only sane one in the party, had a duty to guide Iris down the right path.

Right as she was about to steel her resolve, however…

Kigriii… Euuuk…

Shaneth heard a strange sound from somewhere. She looked around in search of the source of the sound, which resembled a scream and gave her an eerie feeling, but there was nobody around them.

‘That’s strange… There’s no way. I must be hearing things,’ she thought.

That was the end of that. Shaneth was someone who had stabbed a water ghost in the head with her scythe. She would have been scared if she were still her old self, from when she worked as a soldier in Kerlin, but the current Shaneth would not be scared at all no matter what came.

She was about to turn around after covering Iris with a blanket, when…

‘Hmm?’ Shaneth thought. A small notebook was peeking out from Iris’ shirt, near her collarbone. Shaneth pulled the notebook out and opened it. Her brows rose in surprise as she thought, ‘A diary?’

Had Iris been keeping a journal all this time? Shaneth hesitated for a moment before sitting down with Iris’ diary in hand. She could not resist the temptation to read it due to her curiosity. She thought, ‘I’ll just read a few lines.’

The diary started with Iris’ usual warm and innocent way of speaking, and Shaneth found it quite interesting to read. At some points, she had to bite her lips just to prevent herself from laughing out loud.

‘It’s quite well written,’ she thought. Unexpectedly, Iris had quite accurately recorded their journey, and Shaneth had begun flipping rapidly through the pages of the diary. ‘This is really fun. I should read just a little bit more…’

“Shaneth…?”

Shaneth quickly looked up and saw Iris, who had just woken up, staring at her with eyes wide open in surprise. Iris asked, “Oh my, why in the world are you holding my diary?”

“Ah… This is… I-I’m sorry,” Shaneth stuttered.

Iris hurriedly snatched her diary away from Shaneth while blushing bright red. She then looked at Shaneth and asked, “Did you read it?”

“Yes, just the first few parts…” Shaneth replied.

“Ahhhhhh…” Iris groaned, covering her face with both of her hands. She then started crying and wailed, “This is so, so, so embarrassing… I want to hide in a hole somewhere…!”

“I-I didn’t read it on purpose…” Shaneth trailed off, unable to justify what she had done. She then eventually decided to apologize. “I’m sorry! I’ll do anything to make up for it!”

Iris looked at her with tears welling up in her eyes and said, “Then bake me a meat pie and an apple pie.”

Was there anyone in the world who would be able to refuse Iris’ request while she was crying? Shaneth did not have the right to refuse, and she was forced to quickly nod in agreement.

Iris then looked at her and added in a small voice, “Write me a promissory note, then.”

“…” Speechless, Shaneth was eventually forced to sign the promissory note Iris wrote up.

[Shaneth promises to bake Iris delicious apple pies and meat pies.

Signed by: Shaneth Elogran]

“Hum~ Hum Hum~ Life is good~” Iris hummed a tune while folding the promissory note.

However, it was now time for Shaneth to go on the offensive. She said, raising a brow, “By the way, unni. Why were you reading the red book?”

Iris blushed bright red in response to the sudden question. Now, she was the one who did not know how to respond.

Just as Shaneth crossed her arms and was about to go on a lecture, however, Iris timidly handed her the red book and offered, “Do you want to read it as well? It is quite fun…”

“I’ll just read the first few pages…” Shaneth replied.

She then read the first few pages of the book, and was quickly thrown into a whole new world that she had never experienced before.

***

Kang Yoon-Soo felt his body disappear, his limbs and head slowly fading. He became a small ember floating in midair.

‘But I can still easily move around,’ he thought as he levitated around like a wisp.

He did not have any physical eyes, but he could see that it was night and that the street he was in was quite peaceful. However, people walked past him as if they could not see him at all. He floated a short distance away, and found a few embers similar to him floating around.

‘I’m currently a ghost,’ he thought.

The third trial had made him a vengeful spirit that had recently died and could not even manifest a proper form of its own. Instead, he was stuck in the form of a tiny wisp.

It was then…

“Grrrr…”

A large black figure ran up the walls of the nearby buildings on all fours. Its body was pitch-black, and it had pearly white fangs that resembled razorblades.

Kang Yoon-Soo hurriedly hid in an alley, thinking, ‘It’s an evil spirit.’

The large evil spirit approached quickly and devoured one of the embers that were floating in midair. Evil spirits were predators that feasted on new vengeful spirits that still lacked their own forms, and Kang Yoon-Soo would be nothing more than prey for it.

‘I have no way to fight against that right now,’ he thought.

Kang Yoon-Soo had become a spirit that did not even have any form of its own. In fact, he could not even speak. In his current state, he was even worse off than a Level 1 creature. He was at the bottom of the food chain in the spiritual world, and he was weaker than anything else present.

However, he had to stop his train of thought right then and there.

“Grrrrr…” 

The large evil spirit stuck its head into the alley and looked at him face to face.

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