Chapter 170: Before He Knew It**
He was sinking.

The man's body was sinking, bit by bit. Not into water, but into the earth filled with stone and rock, without any resistance.

A blindfold covered the man's eyes. It was woven from threads of mana, but that didn't mean he could see. The underground, where not a single ray of sunlight reached, was as dark as the empty void of space.

"Sigh…"

The man breathed. With a gaunt frame closer to a skeleton, he inhaled and exhaled. But what he was breathing was not air. As proof, his lungs did not move at all.

'What a turbid world.'

Mana was spread throughout the world. Tracing it back to its source, it was the essence of the star. The life force of the planet.

It was a turbid world. The star's essence had already been ravaged once by Jerakson. What little remained was tainted by the muddy currents of Erosion, rendering it dysfunctional.

Amidst it all, he found something pure. Like a single flower blooming in a cesspool, it alone was bright and noble. A perfect thing for the man to covet.

'So this is the essence purified by the World Tree.'

Kekeke, the man laughed. Excellent. Using old souls as nutrients, it tilled the field of the world and made new souls blossom.

The World Tree was faithfully fulfilling its original role. To clear away the sticky Erosion, it must be using Prycia's power.

'Foolish Jerakson. That beast couldn't see the bigger picture, only capable of coveting what was right in front of him. If he had been smarter, he could have feasted on this essence indefinitely.'

Jerakson was a symbol of arrogance. By his very nature, he could not tolerate anyone above him. Nor could he tolerate anyone escaping his domain.

That was why he destroyed every star that caught his eye, swallowing them into his belly without a thought for the consequences. How many stars had been destroyed by him? It was all due to his arrogance.

'I am different.'

He was different. He did not engage in such senseless destruction. Of course, that didn't mean he didn't kill. Since his power was to control the dead, the original form had to be maintained to a degree where it was at least worth controlling.

'A dead star.'

What he wanted was the death of the star. But unlike Jerakson, he desired a more peaceful death. Only then could he handle the dead star according to his will.

Rumble-rumble-rumble!

A vibration reached him from afar. It was so powerful that it resonated loudly even from this distance.

It was only natural. On the surface right now, a giant sword was tearing a city apart.

'As expected, Rondar's sword is magnificent.'

The skill of that sword-forging fiend was acknowledged by everyone in the Spirit Realm. Even Jerakson himself never doubted Rondar's blades.

Moreover, the sword Yuberis had brought was no ordinary sword. It contained everything that was Rondar.

'Rondar's Seed, his life force, and even his very essence.'

Rondar had separated the Seed from his own body. But that required a price.

Just as Belkarim had split her existence in half, and Terham had abandoned his body—the pride of a giant. Only by paying such a price could the Seed be cleanly separated.

Rondar offered up the blade he considered his greatest masterpiece. That sword itself was his everything. To forge it, his soul had been ground down to the very dregs, and only a single grain of life force remained.

His very essence, what could be called his origin, was left in a minimal state. Just like this star.

That was the blade he forged by carving away at himself. Only after paying such a price could Rondar be freed from the Seed.

Therefore, the sword's power was absolute. It was Rondar's final work. He wasn't dead yet, but with his body on the verge of death and unable to forge any more swords, it wasn't much different from calling it his last.

'Die.'

With this sword, he would strike that man's neck. That was the path for him to become the master of the world. To become the new master, it was common sense to strike down the previous one.

'Die, die…!'

Following Yuberis's will, Rondar's final masterpiece sliced through Seoul.
Aiming for the man at its center, Jinwoo.

Jinwoo dodged the sword. This wasn't his first time facing a giant blade. It was the same on the 3rd Floor. Back then, too, he had fought against Rondar's sword and found a breakthrough.

'Rondar.'

This sword was his as well. There was no name written on it, but Jinwoo could tell. He knew at a glance that it shared the same parent as the Nebula Sword he possessed.

KRA-BOOM!

'Tch.'

As he dodged, Seoul was being torn apart. The sword, unable to cut Jinwoo, ravaged the city, toppling buildings and overturning the ground.

To stop it, Jinwoo tried to raise his own sword to block it, but the moment the blades met, he felt it.

'No, I can't.'

The feeling hit him in an instant. If he met it head-on, he would be obliterated without a trace.

CLANG!

Parrying the sword he had met for only a brief moment, Jinwoo rolled to the side. The palm of his hand holding the sword was still tingling. His forearm creaked, feeling as if a muscle had been dislocated.

'A Seed.'

He could feel it from the sword. It wasn't a mistake; it was a real Seed. Most likely the one Rondar had possessed.

And Yuberis was wielding it. Although no one was physically holding the sword, a flow of mana was wrapped around the hilt. Yuberis's mana had become his hands, swinging Rondar's sword.

This was something even Jerakson had failed to do. To handle two Seeds.

Despite having his own Seed, Yuberis was also handling Rondar's. Although Rondar's Seed was contained within the sword, it didn't change the fact that he was under the influence of two.

"Jinwoo! Are you okay!?"
"I'm fine! Chartia, please protect the city!"
"Y-Yes!"

The sword was only targeting Jinwoo, but the city was being completely destroyed in the aftermath.

Damaged facilities could be repaired later, but the people were the problem. Jinwoo was being as careful as possible while dodging, but the nearby shelters were still in danger.

'Danger!'

A slash from the sword headed toward an elementary school. Its auditorium was being used as a shelter, and countless people were gathered there now.

Jinwoo somehow managed to swing his sword and deflect the slash. But the flow of such immense power couldn't be changed in an instant. All he could do was slightly alter its trajectory.

In that gap, Chartia raised plants around the auditorium. Thick tree trunks shot up, creating a fortress wall to protect the building.

—Kyaaaaaahk!
—Aaaaaahk!

With a BOOM! KRA-CRASH!, the auditorium shook. Hearing the screams leaking out, Chartia checked inside.

'No one's dead…!'

Fortunately, there was no major damage. Some people had bumped into each other and fallen, but no one was seriously injured or dead.

After a quick check, Chartia left the area. The sword was still targeting Jinwoo.

Jinwoo dodged the sword, somehow making his way toward an open area with no shelters. It was more of a commercial district with plenty of buildings, but at least he couldn't feel any Blue Flames.

'I have to find the user.'

Jinwoo's gaze quickly scanned the ground. The mana holding the sword's hilt was rising from the earth. Proof that Yuberis was underground.

'Where is he?'

He expanded his senses to their maximum. Not just his ability to sense souls, but all five of his senses were fully mobilized.

But he couldn't feel any flame from underground, and since it was deep in the earth, his other senses were of little use.

'He's farther than I thought. Or deeper.'

It meant he was hiding in a place farther or deeper than Jinwoo's soul-sensing range.

For now, he had no choice but to search somehow. As long as Yuberis was swinging the sword with mana, he couldn't be too far from its hilt. The problem was if he was deep underground…

"Chartia!"

Jinwoo urgently called Chartia through a spirit. She was currently protecting a nearby shelter and was a little distance away from him.

—Jinwoo!? Are you in danger?
"Not exactly, but I'd like to borrow your strength."

Jinwoo had no ability to dig through the earth. Of course, with his physical abilities, he could dig down like an excavator with just a shovel, but overturning a city was beyond him.

If Terham were here, he could have done something with the giants' secret arts, but Terham was in the tower in the Spirit Realm.

The only one left he could rely on was Chartia.

"The enemy is presumed to be underground. Can you overturn the ground with your ability?"

Plants extend their roots deep into the earth. Depending on the species, some have larger and more complex root systems underground than what is visible on the surface.

With Chartia's ability to control those plants, overturning the ground should be possible. Probably.

—…Of course! Give the order!

Fortunately, an enthusiastic reply came back from her.

"Hmm…"

He was nimble, dodging around like a flea. The man, Yuberis, pulled at the threads of mana with a slight frown.

His movements as he touched the threads were minuscule, but their impact was not. The movement transmitted through the thin threads gradually increased in wavelength, growing large enough to move the giant sword on the surface.

The sword swung in response, aiming for Jinwoo. It was a technique that anyone watching from the side might mistake for sword ki manipulation. For someone controlling it from such a distance without even looking, his swordsmanship was considerable.

But even with that impressive swordsmanship, he couldn't catch that man.

"Tsk!"

He had expected things wouldn't be easy. The man might have fallen from grace, but he was once the master of the world. He never thought he could be caught easily.

But it was also true that he hadn't expected it to be this difficult.

'Have his memories… returned more than I thought?'

No matter how great he was in his past life, he was now nothing more than a mere human. The most common and weakest of mortals. For him to dodge Rondar's sword this much in a human body?

'…Whatever. It's only a matter of time.'

He reined in his mind, which was starting to feel a bit anxious. When one is rushed, even things that should work out, don't.

In any case, the opponent couldn't figure out his location. And he could attack his opponent as much as he wanted, and he was a being who could also destroy the city his opponent was trying to protect in an instant.

From any angle, he had the overwhelming advantage. There was no reason to be anxious.

—THUD!

At that moment, a strange sensation brushed his spine. An ominous feeling for which he knew no reason.

—THUD! THUD!

It was getting closer. No, it wasn't that the strange feeling was growing. Something was actually approaching!

KRA-KRA-KRA-KOOM!

A solid bedrock nearby was shattered. What broke it was the root of an unknown plant. That wasn't surprising. It was common to see plant roots breaking rocks.

What horrified Yuberis was something else.

"Found you."

Jinwoo's hand burst through the dust cloud, grabbed Yuberis by the neck, and slammed him into the earth.

"K-Kang Jinwoo! Before I knew it!"

Yuberis's distorted scream echoed several times in the cave-like underground space.