CHAPTER 167
167- At Last**

A bombardment of light rained down from the sky. The indiscriminate light swept over even the undead, blanketing the surroundings.

The deafening roar threw his sense of balance into disarray and made his head go numb. The light struck the tower as well, incinerating all the World Tree stems wrapped around it and turning them to dust.

“Tch.”

Jinwoo took out Cain’s Seed. An eye for an eye, light for light. Its power, specialized in protection, enveloped the tower and guarded the stems. Sunlight had particularly good synergy with the World Tree, giving it enough strength to withstand or even repel Prycia’s beams of light.

“I’ll take care of this. I’m counting on you here.”

“Sir Jinwoo!”

Leaving Terham’s shout behind him, Jinwoo dropped from the tower. The area below was teeming with undead, but they were all on the verge of annihilation after being struck by Prycia’s light several times. They were in no state to hold Jinwoo back.

As he charged forward, Prycia became aware of him. The light that had been falling over a wide area now focused, aiming for Jinwoo. Cain’s Seed momentarily concentrated sunlight to block it, but…

'Kgh.'

That alone wasn't enough to block it completely. Jinwoo raised his sword. The tip of the blade grazed the sunlight, cloaking the sword in the Seed’s power.

Chwaaak!

His sword sliced through Prycia’s light. No matter how much she condensed and compressed her light, she couldn't make it denser than the golden energy contained within his blade. The light with a higher density pushed aside the one with lower density, turning it faint.

'As I thought.'

She was weak. Far weaker than before.

The light of the Prycia he had fought on Earth was nothing like this. Of course, Jinwoo himself had grown much stronger since then, but even setting that aside, Prycia’s power was several times weaker.

It was only natural. Jinwoo had recovered Prycia’s Seed, and her soul had been sundered by his sword. All that was left was her physical body, which was being recycled somehow, but that alone couldn't produce the same power as before.

'Still, it's the body of a Lord, so it's formidable, but this won't be a major threat.'

Of course, that didn't mean she was an easy opponent. It was the body left behind by a being who had once reached the pinnacle.

Even so, she posed no particular threat to the current Jinwoo. In fact, Terham’s body, which he had fought recently, had been stronger. That one still had its Seed, after all.

The light tried to obstruct Jinwoo several more times. It shot out and twisted, trying desperately to halt his advance, striking dozens of times at his vital points—his neck, eyes, heart, and groin. But none of it could penetrate the golden energy to reach him.

And so, Jinwoo’s sword reached Prycia. Or more accurately, the empty shell that was left of her.

He pierced her heart. It was a heart that no longer beat, but it was the nucleus of a spell. The nucleus of the spell cast by the Lord of Eternity, who had raised this corpse.

Struck by the blow, Prycia returned to being a corpse. At the last moment, as her turquoise hair scattered, her eyes met Jinwoo’s. Those eyes seemed to want to say something.

Resentment? Anger? Regret?

Her subtly distorted expression did not convey a positive emotion. He couldn’t tell if it was the dregs of emotion left in her body when she died, or an emotion implanted by the Lord of Eternity when he wove his spell.

In any case, the one who survived was Jinwoo. Then, and now.

'The undead are…!'

When Prycia died, the undead began to retreat. Despite being creatures devoid of reason or ego, their withdrawal was remarkably orderly. It meant they were well-commanded.

—Where do you think you're going!
—Wait! I wasn't done eating yet.

Terham and Larna pursued the retreating forces, continuing their fierce assault. The moment of retreat was the best opportunity to inflict maximum damage on the enemy, so their actions were correct. They just didn't know how much of an impact destroying more of the undead horde would have on the Lord of Eternity.

'Prycia.'

This time, he disposed of the corpse meticulously. The energy Jinwoo injected covered Prycia’s body and turned it to dust. No, if he left it at that, they might gather the dust and raise her again. He exposed it to sunlight, evaporating it without a trace.

'He went to Earth.'

The Lord of Eternity had been to Earth at least once. He went there and collected Prycia’s corpse. Perhaps he hadn't just been there; he might still be there now.

The current Jinwoo recognized Earth as his home. Even though a significant portion of his past life’s memories had returned, that perception hadn't changed. That was why he was in the Spirit Realm searching for the World Tree—to purify Earth.

Therefore, the fact that the Lord of Eternity had set foot on Earth was deeply unpleasant to him. As was the fact that he might not only have set foot there but could still be there, wreaking some kind of havoc.

“I have to go back.”

Jinwoo called out to Larna, who was far in the distance. Despite the considerable distance, Larna came running at his call.

“Why? What’s wrong?”

Compared to when they first fought—no, compared to how she had kept her distance and remained wary for a long time after—her current proximity was quite close. Feeling a strange sense of how much things had changed, Jinwoo made a request.

“I’m going back to Earth for a bit. Please take care of the tower and the tree. Look after them with Terham.”

“You’re going? Going back?”

“I’ll return once things are sorted out.”

Only then did Larna let out a breath, as if relieved. Jinwoo ruffled her thick bangs and said:

“Don’t eat it this time.”

“Okay! Huh?”

She nodded enthusiastically before the word “this time” made her tilt her head, sensing something was off. Jinwoo let out a small laugh, gave a similar request to Terham, and then departed for Earth.

He hadn't been in the Spirit Realm for an incredibly long time, but it felt like he was returning after quite a while. So much had happened, it couldn't be helped.

Jinwoo leaped into the blue portal he had spotted earlier, and his body and soul headed for the land of his birth.

And the place he arrived at: the front yard of his house, where the World Tree was growing.

“...”

“What a mess.”

His house was completely destroyed. Along with the World Tree.

—Kch. Kchchkchk.

Now, not even the radio worked. The TV had gone dark long ago, and even the radio, which had sporadically delivered news, had fallen silent. The broadcast station had probably been overrun by zombies.

It had already been over a month since Seoul—no, the entire world—was covered in zombies and undead. In the beginning, they had managed to hold on with the power of the military and Hunters, but now even that was impossible. Earth had already been a mess due to Erosion, so it didn't take long for a zombie horde to break out.

“Hunter Chartia! We’ve found a survivor!”

“Where?! Please bring them here quickly!”

At least the situation at the municipal library shelter was good. As the largest shelter in Seoul, it housed thousands of people and still had room for more.

Chartia was in charge here, responsible for reinforcing the shelter's outer walls with her ability while managing the lives and safety of the citizens inside.

For nearly a month, she had barely slept, evacuating citizens and managing the shelter. Despite that, survivors were still being found from time to time. Seoul was such a large city that many people were still stranded in dangerous areas.

“We’re alive! We’re alive!”

“Dad! Mom is…!”

The survivors found this time were a father and daughter, just the two of them. The daughter clung to her father and cried, while the father hugged her and shed tears of his own. His tears held not the joy of survival, but a deeper sorrow.

While sympathizing with their plight, Chartia had to do her job. She had to guide them to the facility, provide them with appropriate supplies, and simultaneously deal with the horde of undead pushing against the library.

Each task wasn't difficult on its own, but with so much work piling up, her elf-like beauty had faded considerably.

“Haa… What do I do about the World Tree.”

She took out a single tree branch from her pocket. When the zombie horde suddenly appeared in Seoul—no, across the world—the first place she went was Jinwoo’s house. After confirming he hadn't returned, she had secured a branch of the World Tree.

“Jinwoo…”

The main body of the World Tree had already been ravaged by zombies and was in shambles. A mere zombie shouldn't have been able to do that to the World Tree. No, in the first place, if they were ordinary zombies, they couldn't have brought a city with S-class Hunters to its knees like this.

They weren't just zombies; they were zombies born from Erosion. Eternal zombies that would rise again endlessly as long as the Erosion remained, no matter how many times they were destroyed and annihilated.

The World Tree had been planted to remove and purify that Erosion, but as if they knew this, the zombie horde had targeted the tree planted at Jinwoo’s house first.

It had all happened overnight, so neither Chartia nor Ma Doo-sik could stop it. By the time they found out, the World Tree was already contaminated and ruined.

'Jinwoo asked me to take good care of it…'

He had asked her to raise it well while he was away. To cherish it, give it affection, and provide it with plenty of care and attention.

But in a single night, while she had looked away, it had been completely ruined. All she had managed to do was save one branch. At least with this, they could plan for the future, but that too was impossible without Jinwoo.

After all, the World Tree wouldn't extend its roots just because she planted it.

“We need Jinwoo, Mr. Mayor. Only he can make this World Tree take root in this land.”

—But he hasn't returned from the Gate yet.

As the person responsible for thousands of citizens in the library shelter, she was in close contact with Ma Doo-sik.

Ma Doo-sik must have been overwhelmed as well. This wasn't the only shelter, and the others were being barely held by A-class Hunters and the military.

Only this place, protected by Chartia, and the shelter in the middle school building, managed by Shin Do-woong, were functioning properly. The others were short on supplies, weapons, and everything else.

Amid a war of attrition that was wearing everyone down, the only hope was to grow the World Tree again.

And for that, they needed Jinwoo’s power—no, his very presence.

—Is it absolutely impossible with your abilities, Hunter Chartia?

“Yes. I’ve tried several times, but it doesn’t respond to me. To plant the mother World Tree, we need the one chosen by it.”

Chartia retained a fair amount of her past life's memories, and in those memories, she knew that caring for the World Tree was the role of a chosen priestess. The World Tree’s priestess had traditionally been a chosen elf, but in this era, in this world, it was different. Here, the one chosen by the World Tree was Jinwoo.

But Hunter Kang Jinwoo might not return for who knows how long…

“...All we can do is wait. For now, the Lord himself hasn't appeared, so we'll try to hold out somehow.”

They knew about the existence of the Lords. And the fact that a disaster of this scale couldn't have occurred naturally.

They surmised it was the work of some Lord who commanded the undead and were preparing for the Lord’s appearance.

Just then, a Lord truly did appear. Countless wings covered the sky. The figure with scattering turquoise hair was the same one that had appeared in Hong Kong in the past.

“The Lord of Light!”

A Lord who had been subjugated once before had appeared. For a moment, her mind went blank, but she soon understood the cause and effect. The Lord invading Earth now had the ability to command dead bodies, so he had gathered the fragments of that corpse left in Hong Kong and revived it!

Seoul was naturally put on high alert. Chartia, of course, as well as Ma Doo-sik and Shin Do-woong, rushed over in an instant. The zombies attacking the shelters were dangerous, but the corpse of Prycia that appeared over Seoul was hundreds of times more so.

As they watched Prycia’s every move with tense focus, the situation took a strange turn.

Prycia had simply appeared there and didn't move. No, there was movement, but her light was falling somewhere other than Earth. They couldn't even guess where Prycia was looking or what she was attacking.

And then.

Slice—

Prycia’s neck was severed, and her corpse was disposed of. An intense sunlight incinerated the body, cleaning it away without a trace.

“Wh-what was that?”

“What happened?”

Neither Ma Doo-sik, Chartia, nor Shin Do-woong knew what was going on. Could this all be a trap from another Lord? It might be part of some ritual. They couldn't let their guard down.

Just then, Chartia’s phone rang. On the small, vibrating screen was the name she most wanted to see.

“Jinwoo!”

A single word, like a short scream. With that, Ma Doo-sik could guess who had cut Prycia’s neck. Kang Jinwoo had finally returned.