CHAPTER 172: Did It Not Reach?**
That world was, in its own way, a perfect world.

The light from the sky shone warmly upon the land, and the creatures of the earth lived among the flowers in beautiful fields.

However, even in that world where everyone seemed happy, there were the marginalized. The diseased, the criminals, those discriminated against by species, and even those who were too exceptional to be accepted by the common folk.

They avoided the sunlight, dug burrows, and hid, living alongside the rats. Soon, a world came where everyone avoided them, calling them the "country mice."

Yuberis was the king of the country mice who ruled that place.

It was an old, forgotten fairytale.

Even though he was called a king, he wasn't a truly legitimate ruler. He was merely the strongest and most bizarre being there.

In his eyes, the country mice of the underground were worthless creatures. Perhaps the discrimination that occurred within the underground was far more severe than the discrimination the surface dwellers had for them.

Any country mice who displeased him were captured and became his test subjects, and even knowing this, no one could resist. There was no one in this underground who could defy Yuberis, and no one came to save them.

Their last hope was the god of the surface, who was said to tend to the entire world, but naturally, the god never answered the prayers of the underground.

This fact only solidified Yuberis’s thoughts.

—That being has abandoned us. This place is a trash can for the abandoned.

No one will save us. The only ones who can save us are ourselves.

And so, he sought to save himself. He used and devoured everything he could get his hands on, climbing from the bottom to the top, from the underground to the surface.

When he finally emerged, he came face to face with the being they called the god of the surface.

In one of his hands was a blood-stained dagger, and in the other, a cursed grimoire. He stood ready to chant an incantation at any moment, but the god before him was utterly serene.

Yuberis remembered feeling a surge of anger, as if the god was telling him that no amount of his malice could ever reach him.

“Your world is not perfect.”

—I agree.

Even at Yuberis’s sharp words, his opponent showed no signs of being flustered. No anger, no hostility.

He simply nodded quietly.

That made Yuberis even more agitated.

“Then why do you merely watch?”

—Because a world that isn't perfect is what a world is.

With those words, he was certain. The man had no intention of looking after the world.

With unfocused eyes, the man was merely stroking a single tree. If he had poured even a tenth of the affection in his eyes into the underground, everything there would have been saved.

Of course, whether the trash of the underground was saved or not didn’t matter to Yuberis. The only thing that was unfair was the fact that he himself had been abandoned in that underground trash can.

“—So you too live only for the things you cherish. Just because you created the world doesn't mean you love all of it.”

—I merely watch. I watch as all life lives on its own.

“You’re just dressing up the fact that you do nothing.”

In the end, it was a parallel line. It would not connect. It would not intersect. Their thoughts were like two lines running endlessly, never to meet.

If so, there was only one thing for Yuberis to do.

According to his research, there was only one thing in this world that was bestowed upon all without discrimination. And that was death.

Then die.

Death to all. Let us bestow indiscriminate equality upon everyone. I can do it. Not a slothful being like this man, but I, who crawled up from the bottom, can do it.

Yuberis wanted to become a greater being. The one whom the trash looked up to and muttered about even as they died. A being like the god before his eyes.

That was the reason he decided to kill the man.

Jinwoo’s sword scraped across the labyrinth wall. It was a narrow passage that seemed difficult to swing a sword in, but his blade met no resistance.

Yuberis melted into the wall to evade. His body rippled like rotten stew and seeped into the stone. Without stopping his sword, Jinwoo plunged it into the wall where he had vanished, shattering it completely.

KRA-KA-KOOM! Shards and dust of stone flew, creating a thick fog in the narrow space. Jinwoo briefly held his breath and checked the result.

‘No feedback.’

He missed. He had broken the wall, but his foe had already moved beyond it.

Then, from the ceiling above, spears resembling thorns rained down. Jinwoo quickly scanned his surroundings, but it was a narrow passage to begin with; there was nowhere to dodge.

“Tch.”

If there’s no place to dodge, you make one. Jinwoo clicked his tongue and cut down the spears to create space. At the same time, greatswords flew at him from both sides of the passage. Living Swords. Dozens of these undead were launched to completely mince Jinwoo.

‘Below.’

He already knew his enemy’s location. The attacks from above and the sides were meant to distract him, but his real position was below. Carving out a circle in the floor, Jinwoo dropped through the passage and chased after Yuberis.

Grrrr…

—Kuaaargh!

The area below where Yuberis had fled was filled with undead. They were different from the ones that attacked the Tower, and different from the ones that invaded Earth. Each and every one was an elite among elites, containing the very essence of the Black Flame.

“Come forth.”

Jinwoo, too, extended his shadow and raised the Apostles of Rain. Soldiers whose souls were bound to Jinwoo, their bodies regenerating with his power.

They threw themselves at the enemy without a care for their own bodies, smashing the undead and, in turn, tearing into them.

Some were struck down, but they didn’t go down easy. Every drop of blood they spilled became a magic-infused bomb that exploded next to the heads of the undead.

KRA-KA-KOOM!

The sight of the Apostles of Rain throwing themselves into the fray was even more gruesome than the undead controlled by Yuberis.

Leading them, Jinwoo’s eyes showed not a flicker of hesitation. Seeing those unwavering eyes, Yuberis couldn't help but recall the man from the past.

‘Those unfocused, hazy eyes. The eyes that wouldn’t even look this way.’

The man he had seen in the past showed no interest in anything other than the single tree he tended to. Let it be. It will flow on its own without my intervention. That was the thought one could glimpse.

Some sang of the god’s benevolence, but others considered him cruel. Mere creations could not defy the great current he had made, and those who tried, died.

Yuberis, born in the underground trash can and having crawled his way up with his own power, saw the god’s coldness all too well, and for that reason, he wanted to drag him down.

The world does not simply flow on its own without intervention. The more it is neglected, the more trash becomes trash, and the more precious things are treated as even more precious. That was Yuberis's thought, but the man was apparently different.

The cold man from that time and the Jinwoo of now, who casually threw away his Apostles of Rain, overlapped in his vision.

“Kang Jinwoo!”

He was just a human. Not the man from the past. Just a human who inherited that man’s memories. If you cut his neck, he dies. If you pierce his heart, he dies. If he loses too much blood, he dies.

Yuberis could name hundreds of ways to kill a human. If limited to ways to kill Kang Jinwoo, the number would shrink considerably, but it wasn't zero. It was possible.

‘I can kill him. Right now!’

He had failed in the past. A wish he could never achieve no matter how many times he tried.

But now, it seemed within his grasp. The moment to fulfill his long-held desire had come. Right now. If he just cut the throat of this one human, everything would end.

A single sword descended into his hand. The final masterpiece Rondar had created by pouring his everything into it. A longsword in which even his Seed was embedded.

Unlike when it was used on Earth, it was now a manageable size for one-handed wielding. He swung that sword towards Jinwoo’s exposed neck.

KWA-AAAAANG!

The impact of the swords clashing caused the underground labyrinth to collapse. The shockwave that erupted between them alone shook Yuberis’s domain. Its very foundation began to crack.

Yet Yuberis did not stop. What was a mere domain like this? If he could take his enemy’s head, he didn't care if his domain collapsed a hundred times over.

Within the crumbling labyrinth, their sword strikes continued. Despite the risk of being buried alive, neither paid it any mind, focusing only on each other’s swords.

The overall situation was overwhelmingly disadvantageous for Yuberis. No matter how long he had lived, no matter how outstanding his abilities were, they were the abilities of a necromancer.

His swordsmanship was not that exceptional, so he was bound to be pushed back by Jinwoo.

The only reason they could fight on equal terms was solely due to Rondar’s sword. His sword was supporting Yuberis, receiving Jinwoo’s blows.

“You too! Didn’t you also feel weary of your position and choose to descend?! Then die quietly and hand that place over to me!”

Jinwoo simply let Yuberis’s screaming words wash over him. He didn’t know why he—his past self—had lost his memories and body to be reincarnated as a human.

All he knew was that he himself had let go of that thread. He was the one who had sealed his memories and undergone reincarnation. And he was the one who had split the Seed into twelve pieces and scattered them.

‘Why?’

What was the reason? Was there no way to solve the Erosion? Was it because he couldn't keep it contained alone forever?

He didn’t know. He couldn’t remember that far yet. There wasn’t even a hint of it surfacing. Perhaps he had deliberately shredded the memories related to this part.

If so, then he just had to act as his heart dictated. If his past self had wanted something specific, he wouldn't have gone to such lengths to seal his memories. He would have left some kind of clue.

The fact that he didn't meant he was entrusting it. Entrusting it to his reincarnated self to walk the right path. Therefore, wherever his will now led was what his past self had desired.

“I don’t know what my past self did.”

Jinwoo’s sword deflected Rondar’s. Rondar’s sword sensed something and moved urgently. It had detected danger.

Yuberis, on the other hand, did not. This momentary, fleeting opening. Rondar’s sword sensed it, but Yuberis did not, and that difference created an even larger gap.

“But at the very least, the world you desire is wrong.”

A world where everything is dead may be peaceful, but nothing new will ever be born.

His past self had cherished the World Tree. The World Tree is a tree that accepts dead souls and gives birth to new ones. That was the very image of the complete world he envisioned.

Yuberis’s face was still contorted. As expected, their thoughts did not align. The two lines were still parallel.

Jinwoo raised his sword and plunged it into his enemy’s chest. If their thoughts could not align, this was the only way they could connect. One had to drive a blade into the other’s heart.

Rondar’s sword attacked Jinwoo until the very end to protect its master. But even if it meant being wounded, Jinwoo did not let go of the sword buried in his enemy’s heart. That sword split Yuberis’s soul and pierced into its very core.

‘Ah…'

Yuberis sighed in resignation.

Did it not reach?

He realized that this was his end.