The Return of the Legendary All-Master

[Translator - Kiteretsu]

[Proofreader - Kyros]

Chapter 273

"What... what is that...?"

James Marcus let out a dazed voice.

Despite repeating regressions, he had never seen such an ability from the creature before.

"It’s mutual destruction."

At that moment, Jeong-hoon provided the answer.

"Mutual destruction? You mean it’s going to self-destruct?"

"That’s right. At this rate, it’s going to die."

"Die? What do you mean...?"

"There’s no time to explain. If you have any last words, say them now."

"Last words...?"

James Marcus bit his lip.

That damned bastard. It won’t let things end easily, even at the very last moment.

"There’s no stopping that..."

Alessandro muttered blankly.

The amount of energy gathering in its chest was nothing short of alarming.

Darkhan was preparing to obliterate not only them but the entire area along with himself.

"Damn it! Is there no way to escape?"

Both the entrance and exit were blocked—Darkhan was still alive and holding them captive.

Of course, Jeong-hoon had no intention of letting things end like this.

"Michael, start."

"Yes!"

At Jeong-hoon’s command, Michael summoned all the spirits, including Siegfried.

He then ordered the spirits to attack Darkhan, who was gathering energy. Everyone moved at once.

"Seven Deadly Sins, can you consume it now?"

"Of course!"

"Then go consume it."

"Got it!"

The Seven Deadly Sins began to move.

The spirits, including Siegfried, launched attacks on Darkhan. However, all the attacks were absorbed, only increasing the amount of energy Darkhan was gathering.

"Kuhaha! You all will die here! Come with me to the end!"

Darkhan sneered as he looked down at Jeong-hoon.

"Really?"

Jeong-hoon tilted his head and pointed his finger at something.

It was Darkhan’s tail.

Naturally, as Darkhan continued gathering energy, his gaze shifted to his tail.

At the end of his tail, the Seven Deadly Sins had climbed up and perched.

"Wha-what?!"

Darkhan was startled.

How did it get there?

He hadn’t noticed it at all.

The spirits were too focused on being absorbed by Darkhan to notice anything else.

Could it be that those attacks were merely a diversion?

[Absorbing stats.]

The Seven Deadly Sins began absorbing Darkhan's stats.

[All energy is absorbed according to Gluttony.]

The Seven Deadly Sins possessed three traits: Sloth, Gluttony, and Wrath.

Among them, Gluttony activated and rapidly started absorbing the energy Darkhan had been accumulating.

"No! No!"

Darkhan screamed in despair.

He needed that energy to complete his self-destruction, but it was being drained at an alarming rate.

To make matters worse, only 30 seconds remained until the enhanced Judgment of Death would activate.

30 seconds.

29 seconds.

28 seconds.

The countdown was ticking away rapidly.

"Goodbye," Jeong-hoon said with a sly smile, waving his hand.

"You cursed bastard!" Darkhan roared in fury.

3 seconds.

2 seconds.

1 second.

At last, the countdown reached zero.

[‘Death’ activates on Transcendent Dragon Darkhan.]

As the enhanced Judgment of Death triggered, blood poured from every orifice—his eyes, nose, mouth, and ears. Darkhan collapsed.

Boom!

The ground quaked as Darkhan's body hit it with a thunderous crash.

[Absorbing stats.]

The Seven Deadly Sins, undisturbed, continued absorbing Darkhan's stats.

James Marcus stared at the scene in disbelief.

"I-is it over?"

"Yes," Jeong-hoon replied calmly.

"No way. That monster... was taken down this easily..."

Watching them, Jeong-hoon fiddled with Leviathan in his inventory.

If anyone dared to get greedy for the rewards, he was prepared to draw the sword without hesitation.

However, it didn’t come to that.

"Jeong-hoon, we’ll just be on our way..."

"The rewards here are all yours."

Perhaps out of some faint sense of conscience, they offered to leave the rewards to him and stepped back.

Even so, Jeong-hoon deliberated for a moment.

Should he let them leave alive? Or should he end it here and settle the score once and for all?

"Whatever happens, I’ll return soon. And those people... whether they live or die, they’ll eventually face the third cataclysm."

The third cataclysm would also boast an extreme level of difficulty—perhaps even incomparable to the second.

In the first cataclysm, Jeong-hoon had defeated two transcendent apostles equivalent to demon kings.

In the second, he had slain the transcendent dragon Darkhan, a being at the level of a sovereign.

The sheer escalation in difficulty was evident just from these battles.

Thus, it was highly likely that the third cataclysm would bring forth an even greater foe.

“Whatever the case, their fate is sealed. There’s no reason for me to intervene.”

Having resolved his internal conflict, Jeong-hoon decided not to draw Leviathan.

With the death of a sovereign-level transcendent, it was now time to claim the reward.

The process for receiving the reward was straightforward:

As proof of having prevented the second cataclysm, two portals appeared—one leading to the exit and the other to the reward.

To claim the reward, one simply had to use the latter portal.

“Of course, you must prove your qualifications to obtain the reward.”

Jeong-hoon recalled the mysterious power he had acquired in a parallel world.

That power had also been earned in a similar manner.

After defeating two apostle-level transcendent beings nearly equivalent to demon kings, Jeong-hoon had entered a reward portal alone.

On the other side of that portal, another apostle-level transcendent awaited. Jeong-hoon had to struggle immensely to hunt it down and claim the power.

“It was in a temple.”

The mysterious power had come from a temple unlike any he had seen before.

It resembled the Temple of Fate he had visited earlier, but it was far older and in ruins.

Deep within the crumbling remains of that temple, he had discovered the power.

What reward would he obtain for stopping the second cataclysm?

Jeong-hoon stepped through the portal.

***

James Marcus couldn’t take his eyes off Darkhan.

The transcendent dragon who had always crushed him in the endless loops of regression.

No matter how much strength he gathered to oppose Darkhan, he would always meet his end at the dragon’s hands.

But now, Darkhan lay before him as a cold, lifeless corpse.

"James, I think I understand why you sent Jeong-hoon."

Those words snapped James out of his daze.

He turned his head to see Louis Verdant tapping him on the shoulder.

"Louis, I’m not dreaming, am I?"

"Not a chance."

"Haha… To think we finally stopped the second cataclysm…"

"All thanks to Jeong-hoon. Or more precisely, his summons did most of the work."

The Korean they had once called an ally.

James recalled how Yoo Chan, another Korean, had taught Jeong-hoon the taming skill.

To think Jeong-hoon had even mastered that skill.

"Louis, was my choice the right one?"

When Jeong-hoon had regressed to their parallel world, James felt more guilt than joy.

He had resorted to actions he shouldn’t have taken, all to push Jeong-hoon to grow stronger.

"I believe it was the right choice."

"Why?"

"Jeong-hoon is righteous. Far more so than we could ever hope to be."

"..."

"But he’s also incredibly vindictive. Anyone who’s ever crossed him never had a happy ending."

"That’s true."

"Right? If we had just explained everything to him and let him go, he wouldn’t have grown this strong with such a fierce resolve."

"Are you sure about that?"

Just then, a voice unfamiliar and cold interrupted their conversation.

James and Louis turned to see the necromancer Michael glaring at them, his presence radiating hostility.

"And you are?"

"One of Jeong-hoon’s summons?"

Michael nodded.

"That’s right. I am Michael, the right hand of my master."

"I see. And what is it you want to say?"

"I’m telling you to stop rationalizing your actions. I’ve heard everything. I know you betrayed my master."

"..."

"You killed the version of him from this world, and you call that the right choice? You lunatics. If I were my master, I’d have killed you a hundred, no, a thousand times over."

"..."

"I don’t know why my master let you off so easily, but scum like you deserves nothing less than eternal damnation. And I’ll be praying that’s exactly where you end up."

Michael’s venomous words left James and Louis speechless, the weight of his disdain suffocating them.

***

“A temple?”

Beyond the portal stretched the same temple he had seen when he stopped the first cataclysm.

"Could this hold answers about the mysterious power?"

The force that had allowed him to regress to a parallel world.

Normally, someone should be guarding the reward, preventing access, but the temple stood eerily empty.

Jeong-hoon moved cautiously.

At the center of the temple was a staircase leading down into the depths below.

The mysterious power he had once claimed was hidden at the bottom of similar stairs.

“Nothing here.”

But the underground chamber was empty.

Jeong-hoon frowned.

He had assumed there would be a reward equivalent to the monumental effort of preventing the second cataclysm.

"This is bad."

To challenge ultimate power, he needed to grow stronger.

Going forward as he was now would be a gamble.

The Seven Deadly Sins were formidable allies, so it wasn’t an impossible task, but to ensure success, he needed more strength.

So why was there no reward in sight?

Could it be hidden somewhere?

Jeong-hoon began searching every corner of the underground chamber.

And that was when he found another staircase.

"There's another staircase here?"

Jeong-hoon tilted his head.

Before his regression, when he stopped the first cataclysm and claimed his reward, there hadn't been any stairs.

This meant that while the structure of the temple was very similar, it was a different temple altogether.

"There must be a reward here."

Although he couldn't uncover the secret, he was genuinely relieved.

Jeong-hoon quickly descended the stairs.

At the bottom of the stairs stood a statue of a goddess.

Above the goddess’s head, a question mark was flashing.

It was a rainbow-colored question mark, indicating a secret quest.

"Bingo."

The corners of Jeong-hoon's mouth lifted.

[Secret Quest: Savior]

- Requirement: One who has stopped the second cataclysm

- Reward: ???

- Description: A trial will be given to those who have stopped the second cataclysm. If the trial is completed, a tremendous reward can be gained.

Ah, so this is how the rewards are acquired.

When he stopped the first cataclysm, he had fought alone against two arch-demon-level transcendent beings and earned the unknown power.

However, during this second cataclysm, there was no one guarding the temple.

The method of acquiring the reward was different this time.

Jeong-hoon immediately accepted the quest.

No matter what trial he was given, he would succeed and claim the great reward.

‘Then, I’ll twist this damn fate.’

[The trial begins.]

With that message, the goddess statue vibrated and slowly began to move.

<Human, I never thought you’d defeat Darkan and make it this far.>

A voice echoed in Jeong-hoon’s head.

It was a clear and melodious voice.

"Who are you?"

<Why? Are you curious now?>

"I just wanted to know your name since you're giving me a trial."

<Heh, too bad. I can only answer one question. Can I give you my name as your answer?>

"No. I’ll change my question."

It was merely a formal question.

Who the voice belonged to wasn’t his main concern.

<Is that so? Then, speak your desired question.>

"Reward. If I endure this trial, what kind of reward will I receive?"

<Hmm, you're already thinking about the reward? You don’t even know what the trial is yet.>

Typically, people would ask about the nature of the trial at times like this.

But Jeong-hoon, on the other hand, asked about the reward first.

"Will the reward be better if the difficulty of the trial is higher?"

<...Hoh, you're certainly an interesting human, having defeated Darkan to come here. You’re quite arrogant.>

The corners of Jeong-hoon’s mouth lifted.

"So you’re saying it's possible."n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

<Indeed. Arrogant human, what kind of reward do you desire?>

A desired reward.

If there were options to choose from, there was one thing he wanted.

[Translator - Kiteretsu]

[Proofreader - Kyros]