The Second Coming of Gluttony - Chapter 180

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Episode 180. Even If This Life Should End (2)

In that final moment, Seol Jihoo heard nothing at all.
Not the deafening roar that shattered the earth, nor even the death cry that accompanied it. He could only see the cleanly bisected cross-section opening wider, splitting left and right.
Through a vision that shuddered violently, he watched the massive form pitch sideways in slow motion, like frames dragging past at a crawl.
Three seconds that felt like thirty passed, and at last Undying Diligence collapsed to the ground.
No. Fell.
The reason he thought for an instant that the enemy had simply lain down was because both of its eyes were stretched wide open with terrible force.
The eyes were vivid and alert—as though at any moment the creature would press its palms against the earth and spring back to its feet.
The instant Seol Jihoo became aware of the sensation still lingering in his grip, Undying Diligence’s body began to shine.
The flesh consumed by the light converted into ash, scattered and dispersed by the wind that swept through the valley.
He stared in disbelief at what his own hands had wrought—but only for a moment.
It was then that Seol Jihoo realized his ears had gone deaf.
He stood at the enemy’s center, and yet—even as something of this magnitude unfolded before his eyes—he heard nothing. The absurdity of it struck him almost as funny.
“…….”
…In truth, Seol Jihoo had known it would come to this.
Like the sky briefly brightening just before sunset.
The moment he witnessed Undying Diligence’s death, the inferno that had burned in his chest with searing intensity flared up one last time in a tremendous surge—then extinguished in a single breath.
And in that same instant, before he could do anything to stop it, something within his body began to crack, a shattering sensation like breaking glass, splintering into pieces.
After his hearing went, his sight followed.
His vision, which had been fragmenting into dozens of pieces and overlapping, suddenly went dark.
Then came the tearing agony of his armpit muscles, the organs wrenched raw from their places, and waves of explosive pain radiating from his calves to his thighs, arriving one after another.
Like a river breaking through a dam, vitality poured from his shattered frame in geometric progression—a sensation so hollow and empty that it defied all language.
And soon even the sensation of pain began to fade.
This was not a warning signal of danger.
It was notification that the end had come, a unilateral declaration that the forced execution would now be carried out.
The truth was, it should have happened long ago.
Seol Jihoo had drawn forth an immense tide of strength through a single, fierce will, but even that had reached its limit.
Because it was the Golden Law.
If one caused an effect, one must accept its consequence.
The moment the notification arrived, the light vanished from his eyes where the blue spectral energy had swirled, and his weakened legs buckled and folded beneath him.
Seol Jihoo’s face—eyes half-closed, head drooping—was stonelike in its numbness.
He had anticipated this from the start.
Life necessitates death.
If he had fought with hesitation, leaving room for the possibility of his own survival, then it would be himself lying on the ground now, not Undying Diligence.
He had fought prepared to die and achieved beyond his goal. Therefore, he had no regrets.
Only the thought that he might collapse here without dignity troubled him.
He still stood upon a battlefield.
…Then. If he would die in any case.
His hand, sliding down the haft of the spear, barely managed to seize it. He used the spear, driven deep into the earth, as a prop to support his collapsing frame.
His instinct spoke to him thus.
Not yet. He had to stand.
The remaining two army commanders would surely come here.
A cool light flickered once more in his eyes, blurred as they had become.
He put strength into his hands.
And forced his legs to rise, even as they tried to collapse toward the earth.
Blood burst from his mouth as he opened it to shout, but Seol Jihoo, unaware, swung both arms with every ounce of strength remaining.
In the next moment, something extraordinary occurred.
Golden light blazed forth from the spearhead once more, brilliant and radiant, and as it was swung, a terrifying windpressure swept across the surroundings.
Bang, bang, bang, bang…!
With a deafening series of explosions, torrents of golden blade-force crashed across the area.
After Undying Diligence fell, the dozens of Nosferatu that rushed forward with bloodshot eyes were all caught in the maelstrom, splitting and bursting apart in a sickening cascade.
“Damn it…!”
Foul Humility cursed as he watched the swarm be scattered and sent flying, frantically yanking on the reins of his Phantom Horse.
“That cursed bastard…!”
Depraved Purity shuddered as well.
Undying Diligence was gone. Something impossible had come to pass, but they could not afford to stand dumbfounded.
The problem was that even just cleaning up afterward was urgent, and as that formidable power continued to surge forth and strike indiscriminately, they dared not approach.
There was no help for it.
Sword Force Ascendance was an essence distilled from the highest pinnacle—a realm that even the Parasite Queen could not dismiss.
With Soma’s power woven through it, even a legion commander would face oblivion the moment it struck true.
“Damn it. No choice now.”
Foul Humility spat out a curse, and light erupted from his body.
In an instant, his entire frame was wrapped sleekly in jet-black armor, and Depraved Purity squeezed her eyes shut at the sight.
Undying Diligence had already vanished—and now another had released their divine power.
The plan to return to Tigol Fortress had long since fallen through, and with this, Foul Humility could not take the field for some time yet.
What they’d thought would be as easy as eating cold rice—the cost of taking just one fortress, Aden Gorge—had proven catastrophic.
But there was nothing to be done about it.
Seol Jihoo was on the brink of collapse, tottering but not falling, making a final desperate stand. If they dragged this out any longer, reinforcements would arrive.
When that happened, the consequences truly would be irreversible.
“Hraaagh!”
As Foul Humility poured his full strength into the attack, a golden storm that tore through the valley shuddered violently in recoil and began to crack.
Then, the moment he drove his longsword powerfully through the widening gap, Foul Humility froze in shock.
Though he had spent considerable strength battling three of The Leader’s servants and Sung Hou besides, he had not taken dozens of mortal wounds as Undying Diligence had, and so could wield his divine power in relatively sound condition.
Thus he had thrust with considerable divine power pooled for an instant kill—yet through the blade’s tip came a pressure unlike anything he had ever known.
‘That’s why…!’
Setting aside that it was the strength of a mere human, Foul Humility immediately grasped the reason Undying Diligence had been annihilated.
Not luck. Skill.
The only small mercy was that Seol Jihoo had lost reason and was rampaging.
If he had fought with clear mind? If this had been actual combat?
The mere thought sent ice down Foul Humility’s spine, and he gnashed his teeth.
“Krrrrgh!”
With a crack, the blade shattered.
Yet refusing to yield, he poured in more divine power and heaved his arm forward with all his might, and at last the broken longsword succeeded in piercing inward, gouging into Seol Jihoo’s abdomen.
Thud. Seol Jihoo slammed hard against the cliff face and crumpled, and like a lie, the storm of force stilled.
Seizing the moment, Depraved Purity moved swiftly.
“Hah… Hard to believe a man nearly at death’s door…?”
The instant Foul Humility barely caught his breath and reached out his arm in alarm, retrieving his blade—
He seized Depraved Purity by the nape of her neck as she bent low toward Undying Diligence’s remains.
In that same moment, before she could even ask what he meant, Depraved Purity saw it clearly.
A golden spear blade, soundless and sudden, descended with barely a paper’s thickness between it and her face.
Her mouth hung open in shock.
“What….”
A single thread of blood seeped from the fine line on her forehead, tracing down her nose and falling into her gaping mouth.
She had looked moments from collapse.
Yet Seol Jihoo rose again and hurled his spear.
That final assault, poured from the depths of his being, struck the ground with such force that the Ice Spear shattered into countless shards.
“Ah… ah….”
Fragments of spear scattered in all directions, grazing her body. Depraved Purity, who had fallen backward, flailed in panic.
Had she made one wrong move, she would have been finished—and her mind swam with dizziness.
“Ha….”
Foul Humility, too, looked utterly finished with this.
Seol Jihoo’s face was drenched in blood from his sudden spear thrust.
From crown to toe, he bore the aspect of one who had plunged into a sea of blood and crawled out—like gazing upon a blood-man.
With his wide eyes blazing cold and terrible light as he glared, he was no mere spearmanthere stood a ghost wielding a spear, a malevolent spirit of the battlefield itself.
“How in the nine hells….”
Foul Humility ran a hand across his skull.
A moment later, confirming that Seol Jihoo did not move again, he hurried through the aftermath.
Then he gave Depraved Purity, whose face was blank with shock, a sharp jab.
“Go. Now.”
“Huh? Ah… that guy… him?”
Seol Jihoo stood motionless, his arm extended, but Depraved Purity hesitated to even meet his eyes, letting her gaze drift away instead.
“Undying Diligence saw one clearly. That man’s already done for. He’s just moving by reflex—responding to stimuli from his surroundings.”
“That… that doesn’t make sense.”
“I’ve seen it before—once or twice in my long years. Rare as it is. In any case, no need to poke the hornet’s nest.”
Before he’d even finished speaking, Depraved Purity’s wings snapped open.
The moment she began nodding frantically, she shot skyward and disappeared over the valley, fluttering away.
Like a full retreat.
Foul Humility did the same. He wheeled his mount around and kicked the Phantom Horse’s belly hard.
As he slipped out of Aden Gorge, his mood had turned decidedly bitter.
He’d sent a considerable force as the vanguard.
More than that, he’d launched an invasion leading three of the Seven Armies himself.
Yet the troops withdrawing now looked pathetically meager compared to those who’d entered.
A complete rout. Even in the battle memories the Queen had personally transmitted—memories of conflict with the Empire—such a devastating defeat was hard to find.
‘Still.’
Just before leaving the valley, Foul Humility glanced back.
Seol Jihoo still stood rooted in place, both feet planted firm on the ground.
His shattered spear still driven into the earth, his gaze still fixed on Foul Humility with murderous intent.
Looking at that figure, it seemed as though he’d come charging after them with stubborn ferocity—so Foul Humility forced his eyes forward.
Fearing that grip would find his neck, that another spear might take flight, he kicked the innocent Phantom Horse again and again.
“Hah….”
Only when he’d escaped Aden Gorge did he release a long breath.
Whether it was the breaking of held tension or a sigh of relief, even he couldn’t say.
He simply felt, for the first time in an age, the sensation of having survived.

The clash of weapons and the thunder of hooves that had echoed through the gorge, along with the desperate screams, faded rapidly into silence.
Then, after a brief stillness, the void was filled with the groans of the wounded and the shouts of priests.
Descending from Dawn Peak, Seo Yoo-hee’s complexion had drained of all color—her face looked deathly pale, stripped entirely of blood.
That was no wonder. Her contributions in this war had been nothing short of extraordinary.
She’d held an entire army at bay simultaneously while binding dozens of Nosferatu for extended periods. Beyond that, she’d unleashed wide-area techniques in succession, relentlessly harried Depraved Purity, and shielded Seol Jihoo throughout.
The old Seo Yoo-hee would never have dared attempt such things—but after rising to Level 8 and wielding the two Sacred Relics Seol Jihoo had given her to their absolute limits, she’d made it possible.
Of course, even she could not escape the backlash.
She yearned to collapse and rest immediately, but that luxury wasn’t hers.
A priest works hard during war, but hardest of all in the hours after—it is the nature of the class.
Above all, she needed to confirm one person’s fate.
‘Where…!’
Seo Yoo-hee turned her head this way and that, desperately searching for that one person.
Those who spotted her rushed over in a crowd.
“Seo Yoo-hee!”
“Start with this one…!”
Dozens shouted at once, their words blurring into an unintelligible din.
Surrounded abruptly by the throng, Seo Yoo-hee swallowed hard.
One man with both thighs severed. Another with a twisted neck and rigid body. And more.
The severity of the injuries—wounds so grievous that survival seemed miraculous—arrived in relentless succession.
“Even Cure Colossal won’t touch this! We need a critical-tier spell…!”
Rahin Maery called out as she laid down a woman bleeding profusely, now in the grip of severe hypothermia.
Her words rang true—these were casualties so dire that merely sealing flesh would offer no hope of recovery.
There was no choice but to press forward to Seo Yoo-hee, the only one capable of casting such powerful restoration magic.
Seo Yoo-hee looked around uncertainly, then suddenly clasped both hands together tightly.
She closed her eyes as if in prayer, chanting the sacred words.
Among the critically wounded were faces she knew well, and no matter how urgent the pressure, she couldn’t turn away from those who suffered.
The Proof of Purity in her hands and the Proof of Devotion on her finger began to glow with radiant light.
“…Look upon us in mercy….”
At that moment, two magnificent wings blazed forth from her back, their radiance holy and pure.
Level 8 Atera’s Saintess—Wide Area Primo Auxilium.
Wings of Salvation.
Flap, flap….
With each gentle beat of the unfurled wings, luminous feathers—dazzling as starlight—scattered free.
They billowed skyward, then descended softly onto the wounds of the suffering, dissolving into them like water into soil.
One feather sufficed for some; others needed two, and still others three….
As feathers settled, Agnes’s labored breathing—so shallow it seemed ready to cease—became clear and steady.
Cho Hong’s complexion regained visible color, her natural hue slowly returning.
The priests who’d been fidgeting in place began to brighten as well.
They could see that wounds were not merely closing—pain was easing, minds and bodies stabilizing, circulation strengthening.
The cold limbs of the wounded had begun to warm gradually, bearing proof of the effect.
While not yet fully healed, the wounded had stabilized enough that Cure Massive Wounds would suffice for complete recovery.
After casting the wide-area restoration spell once more, Seo Yoo-hee swayed badly.
The priests nearby gasped in alarm and rushed to steady her, but she waved them off and pressed through the crowd.
It happened then.
Seo Yoo-hee, running in the direction Seol Jihoo had vanished, suddenly caught sight of a woman with rose-gold hair rushing across the sky in the distance, moving frantically through the air.
Or rather—to be more precise—she appeared limp and unconscious, being carried along by someone.
[Hurry! Hurry!]
The Black Smoke arrived and immediately hurled Teresa aside, then wrapped Seo Yoo-hee’s arms tightly in an embrace.
[Just now, you did that, right!?]
“Uh, yes?”
[Help me! Please!]
Floné pulled her upward without even waiting for a response.
Seo Yoo-hee yielded her body without resistance, despite her bewilderment.
The fact that she’d brought along an injured person suggested she wasn’t an enemy, and more importantly, she seemed desperately urgent.
As though someone was about to breathe their last at any moment.
Looking at the direction they’d come from, a thought flashed through her mind—could it be?
The premonition she’d been dismissing soon became reality.
Seo Yoo-hee’s eyes found a young man sitting cradled in Sung Hou’s arms.
It was Seol Jihoo.
Floné dropped altitude sharply before reaching the destination, and Seo Yoo-hee leaped down before her feet could even touch the ground.
Then she ran toward Seol Jihoo with all her strength.
“Jihoo!”
The moment she cried out with a voice that seemed to tear her throat, Seo Yoo-hee’s chest plummeted.
Seol Jihoo was staring at her with eyes wide open, as if facing an enemy.
In his right hand, he gripped a fractured spear, the gesture resembling one confronting a foe.
Seo Yoo-hee caught her breath in shock and relief.
If he was still conscious, there might be a chance to save him—
The moment that thought brought her comfort, she felt an indescribable wrongness wash over her.
She kept moving, observing Seol Jihoo carefully.
Now that she looked closer…
His eyes held no focus. They were vacant.
A strange, hollow atmosphere seemed to surround him.
“Jihoo?”
She called his name again, cautiously this time.
But no answer came from Seol Jihoo.
By the time Seo Yoo-hee stood before him, she could say nothing more.
Suddenly, her strength drained away.
Splash.
As the Proof of Purity fell to the blood-soaked earth, Seo Yoo-hee gently pressed a trembling hand to Seol Jihoo’s cheek.
His body heat was not merely warm but burning.
The blood hadn’t cooled, but even so—
“…Jihoo.”
He was not breathing.
He was not moving.
Save for the faintest tremor transmitted through his body, he showed no other sign of life.
Even that pulse seemed as though it might cease at any moment.
“This can’t… be…”
Standing in a daze, Seo Yoo-hee soon began pouring recovery spells over him while her hands moved of their own accord.
She pried the spear from his grip with force, undid the tattered armor, and stripped away the clothes saturated with blood-red moisture.
“!”
Seo Yoo-hee’s eyes widened in horror.
Without thinking, she lifted her hand to her mouth as it fell open in shock.
It was appalling.
Seol Jihoo’s body was in such devastated ruin that a single word could scarcely do it justice.
Like paper folded neatly into a square, then slashed indiscriminately with scissors before being unfolded again.
So severe that even Sung Hou had squeezed his eyes shut.
Within the limits of his strength, he had poured forth sacred spells without reserve to aid him.
Yet even with all that care and healing—
Just how many times had he been slashed, cut, pierced, and stabbed?
Only now could Seo Yoo-hee begin to grasp how violent and fierce a blood-soaked battle Seol Jihoo had fought on the front line.
And everyone around stood in their places, holding their silence, their lips sealed.

(To be continued in the next part)

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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