The Greatest Warrior of All Time Returns

Chapter 483

[Translator - Night]

[Proofreader - Gun]

Chapter 483

“G-Grandpa, li….”

Thud.

The beginning of the horrific nightmare was that.

He had once been called the greatest under heaven in the Eastern Continent, had once earned the title of the Star of the Continent, and had once belonged to the prestigious ‘Anhyun Clan,’ a family counted among the greatest powers of the Eastern Continent.

But those outward achievements were of no help whatsoever within the nightmare.

It began when he went flower-viewing alone with his beloved granddaughter.

As he watched the beautiful blooming flowers of Mount Hua, the little granddaughter laughing brightly beside him was a precious treasure more valuable to him than anything else in the world.

How could he not be happy after finally granting the child’s wish, the child who had sung for so long about Mount Hua, Mount Hua like the songbird of Hua?

Due to an old acquaintance, he had planned to stay several days in a hut there with the help of a friend living in seclusion on Mount Hua.

At first, there was no problem.

But the incident occurred one day.

The child clung to him and began whining that she kept hearing strange sounds.

At first, he assumed she had simply had a nightmare.

So he merely soothed her and left it at that.

At that time… he should have noticed and left Mount Hua.

Since they had promised to spend about a month there, he had taken leave from the Alliance as well, and he too had wanted to rest comfortably.

However, the child’s nightmares lasted strangely long.

At first, the child’s smile, which had been bright with fascination, gradually began to fade.

Then at some point, she stopped talking much and no longer wished to go outside.

Only then did he realize something was wrong, and he tried to take the child and leave the forest.

But.

Why can’t I descend the mountain?

A formation?

No, a formation cannot leave absolutely no trace like this.

There were no dangerous wild animals, no bandits, nor was there any dangerous formation array set up.

There was only the magnificent scenery of Mount Hua, beautiful and filled with fresh air.

Normally, a mountain like this would take him no time at all to traverse.

Yet he, even after running until he was exhausted and gasping for breath, could not find the road leading downward.

The condition of the granddaughter in his arms worsened by the moment.

In barely an hour or two, dark circles had begun forming beneath the child’s eyes, and the color drained from her skin until she became pale white.

It was neither illness nor a problem caused by internal energy.

It was as though she had been possessed by a ghost.

Three days passed.

The child’s condition became increasingly severe.

A powerhouse called the greatest under heaven, one capable of cutting down hundreds of enemies with a single sword strike.

A martial artist called the Heaven-Shattering True Man, respected by all.

That kind of thing was utterly useless here.

Something was definitely there.

Yet with his abilities, he could see absolutely no way to escape this.

To him, this unidentified space was a living hell.

“G-Grandpa… m-my head hurts so much….”

There was no strength in the young granddaughter’s voice.

She could barely eat properly, and every bit of water she drank she vomited back up.

He screamed in despair and tried somehow to flee with the child.

But the child’s condition worsened further, and that bizarre phenomenon, unaffected by any law of the mortal world, slowly devoured his granddaughter.

And then.

On the fourth day.

The child, breathing weakly as though dead, opened her mouth.

“Grandpa… my head hurts.”

The moment she finished speaking, the child bit his shoulder.

It was not a simple tantrum.

She bit his shoulder fiercely, as though an undead creature were tearing into the flesh of the living.

Caught off guard by the sudden situation, Yoo Sowon felt pain, yet still tightly embraced the child.

I’m sorry.

I’m sorry.

This old fool is too useless… I cannot protect you.

If I had known this would happen, I should have taken greater interest in the technologies of the Central and Western Continents, which I had looked down on in the Eastern Continent.

Would things have been different then?

No one extended a helping hand to him as he knelt screaming in despair, holding the child who gnawed fiercely at him.

Afterward, the child regained her senses.

Seeing the blood around her mouth and the wound on her beloved grandfather’s shoulder, the child screamed in anguish.

She convulsed in agony over the fact that she herself had bitten her grandfather.

The only thing Heaven-Shattering True Man Yoo Sowon could do was abandon all dignity, scream desperately, hold the child tightly, and repeatedly tell her it was alright.

The child had lost her adoptive father to illness at a young age and must have grown up lonely.

He had worked so hard to bring smiles to that child’s face, so how could the world be so cruel?

Two more days passed after that.

Needless to say, the child’s condition had deteriorated further, and after being bitten by the child, abnormalities began appearing in his body as well.

It was not yet a major threat, but he instinctively knew it.

That this was the same symptom his granddaughter had suffered from.

Even though he had surpassed the realm of Transcendent Mastery and reached the realm of Martial Immortal—Mind Master—this thing invading him was absolutely not something ordinary.

Carrying his granddaughter in one arm while clenching his remaining fist tightly as he moved forward, he soon discovered what he presumed to be the root cause of this disaster.

It was a grotesque rift.

Beyond the torn-open void was thick crimson fog, from which flowed an unidentified current.

“Cough… cough cough… Grandpa… my head hurts… I don’t want to go there….”

“Ah… my child. I’m sorry. Your grandfather was too careless. Don’t worry. I’ll destroy that thing somehow and get you out of here.”

“Grandpa. No… I don’t want to fall….”

She whimpered, but he could not simply obey her wishes.

His granddaughter suffered whenever she approached that thing.

Thus, he gently set his granddaughter down far away before clenching his fist.

Endless hatred wrapped around him.

He had believed himself to have transcended the Seven Emotions and Six Desires, yet the fury boiling within him devoured everything.

As though resonating with his rage, his internal energy raged wildly and crushed the surroundings.

His attacks distorted the air itself and pulverized all nearby terrain.

The spatial rift resisted against his storm-like assault.

The more attacks he unleashed, the more the grotesque and alien power accumulating within Yoo Sowon’s body gnawed at him.

Even so, he succeeded.

Because he was a grandfather trying to protect his grandchild, and because he was the greatest under heaven in the Eastern Continent.

Though he somehow managed to completely destroy the torn space, his body became filled with grotesque contamination.

It was something he had never heard of in his life.

Moreover, he had clearly felt an unknowable terror and malice from within that rift.

That thing belonged to a living being.

Staggering, he approached his collapsed granddaughter.

He tried to move his lips and tell her everything was alright now, but no voice came out.

Seeing him like that, the collapsed child smiled weakly.

“G-Grandpa, li….”

Smiling with a hollow face, pretending she herself was alright.

Those words drove a nail straight into his heart.

What use was being the greatest under heaven?

He could not even save his own granddaughter.

“Grandpa… you have to live. Promise.”

The tiny child’s lips moved faintly, then her head fell limply.

Unlike him, the child could not endure.

His granddaughter became a star in the heavens like that, and he burst into despairing sobs.

Even then, he could not descend the mountain with his granddaughter.

Because the unidentified energy remaining within both their bodies had begun spreading to the surroundings as well.

Thus, holding his granddaughter carefully in his arms, he entered a hidden gorge of Mount Hua and secluded himself within a cave.

Then, after personally holding a funeral for the child, he remained there in seclusion.

The fact that he emerged again later was perhaps a miracle—or obsession.

The unidentified energy had contaminated him severely, yet he had not been completely consumed.

That did not mean he had fully freed himself either.

He forcibly suppressed the contamination remaining within his body and branded it into himself like a scar.

It was not merely his talent.

Perhaps by luck, his body underwent changes and mutated.

He was certain of it.

It had truly been an accidental occurrence, and had it not happened, he too would never have remained whole.

Until he took revenge upon the unidentified being that had stolen the life of the granddaughter who had been, for all intents and purposes, his entire world—

He could not die.

Afterward, he stepped down from his position and wandered madly in search of information regarding it.

Yet not once until now had he discovered a similar case.

But this time, he felt an eerily similar energy in Pascallia.

Outwardly, he pretended to remain calm.

But in truth, his eyes had already gone mad with rage.

* * *

The Heaven-Shattering True Man slowly opened his eyes.

At a glance, his appearance looked utterly haggard.

“This place is….”

“Have you regained your senses a bit, elder? Drink this.”

I held out a potion I had prepared beforehand, enchanted with a resistance-increasing buff.

“You are… why are you here… guh!”

“That can wait. Just drink it first.”

I abruptly poured the potion directly into his mouth.

After resisting for a moment, he finally calmed down once he had swallowed all the medicine.

“Guhk… what happened?”

“You don’t remember anything at all?”

“I remember arriving at the island and crossing a strange barrier.”

So his memories vanished after entering the boundary of the Outer Dimension….

“That is only natural, my friend. Even for one with a unique constitution possessing an immune response, enduring in a place with such concentrated density in that body is nearly impossible.”

The others had not been contaminated, so they were fine, but the Heaven-Shattering True Man’s situation was different.

He had been exposed to this Outer-Dimensional Energy before.

I explained what he had been doing until now.

At that, he let out a dry sigh before speaking.

“So I still… have not overcome it…. To think I became a puppet instead of achieving revenge.”

“It’s not your fault, elder. There aren’t any humans who can survive after being contaminated in the first place.”

He had endured only because he was strong enough to earn the title of Star.

Otherwise, perhaps he would have become the most dangerous among the consumed beings.

“For now, let’s save the people first.”

“Indeed. There were those who were dragged away. However… that being….”

“A pleasure to meet you, human. I am Sullivan, the dead of a fallen kingdom.”

At Sullivan’s introduction, the elder narrowed his eyes.

Naturally so, since Sullivan clearly differed from humans in appearance.

His tall stature exceeded the human average, and his skin carried a bluish hue.

“He’s someone I know personally.”

“I see… so there were… living beings within this space….”

“There’s not enough time for lengthy explanations, so let’s move.”

At my words, he slowly rose to his feet.

At that moment, Sullivan staggered and dropped to one knee.

“Hey. You alright?”

“My apologies, friend…. It seems I’ve reached my limit.”

“Tch. Can’t be helped. Hide somewhere for now. I’ll handle the rest. And whatever happens, I’ll bring back good news, so focus on recovering.”

At my words, his glowing eyes turned toward me.

Quietly, he extended his large hand.

“Wipe them all out, my friend.”

“You’ve done enough. Rest. Once I kill that monster bastard, someday let’s meet again with both of us looking normal.”

[Translator - Night]

[Proofreader - Gun]

He silently nodded, then scattered apart like particles of light.

I didn’t know what method he had used, but I thought it might at least be some special power unique to his race.

Thus, Sullivan disappeared, leaving only Yoo Sowon and myself behind.

“The abducted people apparently went that way. Let’s go.”

“Very well.”

Along the path toward our destination were numerous monsters hiding within the crimson fog, waiting for an opportunity.

But before I even stepped in, Yoo Sowon’s heavy attacks crushed them all.

The degree of rage he displayed exceeded expectations.

“Elder.”

“They are the creatures that took my granddaughter from me. Whatever their intentions may have been, that truth does not change.”

“Pull yourself together. If you recklessly exhaust your strength like that, you won’t be able to use it when it really matters.”

At my words, he closed his mouth.

Then he slowly nodded.

“You are right. I became impatient in a manner unlike myself.”

“I understand you have a tragic story, but let’s save the people we still can first. Revenge can come afterward.”

Though I said that, instinctively I already knew.

If Yog—or something on the same level—appeared, his eyes would go mad again.

Outwardly, he looked like a calm elder, but the rage condensed within him was not something I could casually evaluate.

The anger of someone who had lost precious family was not difficult to understand.

Because until recently, I too had been the same.

The place we arrived at was a gigantic cave hidden beyond the crimson fog.

However, it took the form of a fleshy mucous cave, resembling the blood vessels of some living organism.

“So this is the place.”

“If my guess is correct, the inside should be it.”

Whether that was fortunate or something to be wary of, no threatening enemies appeared as we entered deeper inside.

However, the deeper we went, the worse Yoo Sowon’s condition became.

“Are you alright, elder?”

“I-I am… fine. However… you….”

“As I said before, I have a somewhat unusual constitution. I’m immune to this sort of contamination.”

How much Outer-Dimensional Energy did I possess already?

To begin with, the problem was not the Outer-Dimensional Energy itself, but Yog’s power permeating it.

After stepping across the pulsating, writhing floor, we fortunately managed to locate the survivors.

Crunch….

However, assuming they would still be alive had been far too naive.

The thirty or so people hanging limply like corpses beneath the gigantic slime had almost no life force remaining.

Most of them were dead.

But.

Only one person remained alive.

A young girl.

Was his granddaughter around that age when Yoo Sowon had spoken of her earlier on the way here?

The expression on Yoo Sowon’s face as he looked at her trembled violently, as though PTSD had struck him.

The memories of his granddaughter’s death must have resurfaced.

Without a word, I reached out and firmly grabbed his arm.

“Elder, pull yourself together. She’s still alive.”

“…….”

“This situation is different from what happened to your granddaughter. The contamination has progressed, but it can still be reversed.”

His granddaughter had remained exposed for over a week, but this little girl had been here for only a few days at most.

There was still a chance.

He immediately gathered the girl carefully into his arms.

Then, with a trembling voice, he spoke.

“My child. Do not worry. I shall protect you no matter what….”

From the looks of it, the parents who resembled the child were already dead.

Since the consciousness did not appear fully completed yet, if we extracted only this child, we should be able to escape safely—

BOOOOM!!!!

A massive sound shook the surroundings.

Reflexively shielding the child protectively, Yoo Sowon ignited Qi around his fist, while I infused aura into the sword in one hand.

At the same time, the surrounding space began twisting entirely out of shape.

The walls distorted and split apart, from within them unknown tentacles wriggling outward to reveal their presence.

“Kuheok?!”

Yoo Sowon reacted first.

As though crushed beneath something incomprehensible, his posture collapsed as he struggled desperately to endure.

But under the overwhelming pressure, he could not rise easily.

That pressure applied to me as well.

Evaluating it calmly—even moving was difficult under such oppressive force.

The power enveloping the surroundings did more than simply crush us; it violently disrupted the energy within my body into extreme disorder.

A being capable of casually doing something like this?

At least among those I knew, there was only one.

[Give up.]

[There is no salvation here.]

[The ritual has already been completed. Saving that insignificant creature changes nothing.]

Outer God Yog.

That bastard had personally begun moving to kill us himself.

There was no need to ask why the creature that had settled in the Pinas Archipelago had appeared here.

To begin with, this entire space was not an island but the manifested boundary of the Outer Dimension upon the island.

Even so, the fact that the power was strong enough to suppress even a Grandmaster—a being capable of imposing their own world upon reality—with mere pressure alone was quite shocking.

The power directly exerted by Outer God Yog.

The presence of that existence with over half its seal released.

The fact that his power was stronger than expected was enough to send chills down my spine.

Heaven-Shattering True Man Yoo Sowon desperately released his internal energy so the child would not be affected by Yog’s presence, but it was hopelessly insufficient.

To a human, it would feel as though the energy of an entire planet were being forced upon them.

“Guhk… guuuugh!!”

And in that situation, it affected me even more severely than him.

If the opponent was essentially the final boss I knew, then naturally I could not afford to remain relaxed either.

Outer God Yog was unquestionably a being on the same level as a Chief God.

Were not the Archangels and Ancient Gods I had met thus far incomparable to such an existence?

Blood vessels bulged within Heaven-Shattering True Man Yoo Sowon’s eyes.

Despite being struck directly by Yog’s presence, the reason he retained his sanity was likely because he possessed a unique constitution—but more precisely because Yog’s presence was focused on me.

With difficulty, he spoke.

“Guhk…. I searched for so long. Clinging to this wretched life solely to achieve revenge. And I believed I had reached the utmost limit I could attain…. Yet even so, I cannot even resist?”

He had already come into contact with Outer-Dimensional Energy before.

Was that why?

He clearly understood the terror held within the power of the being called Yog.

Even so, he did not collapse.

All for the sake of avenging the monster that had stolen his granddaughter.

But reality was not something humans could overcome merely through effort.

Within this pressure capable of suppressing even a Grandmaster, it was only natural that a Mind Master-ranked martial artist one step below could not possibly endure.

With the ritual completed, Yog’s power was being directly projected into this region.

Humans were endlessly weak.

Even mighty experts could not survive without sunlight or solid ground beneath their feet.

But that creature needed none of those things.

A being that devoured stars and swallowed suns whole.

A monster born with an unfairness no one could resist.

That was Outer God Yog.

[Insignificant insect. This is the difference between your power and mine. Cease your futile resistance and submit.]

Its voice echoed within my head.

The power within me, its balance completely shattered, rampaged wildly and destroyed my body.

Blood flowed from my lips and my eyes became bloodshot, yet I endured the pressure in silence.

To think this much from mere presence alone.

This is pretty severe.

I didn’t think he had become this strong.

No, not stronger.

This must be his true power.

Because the Chief God’s seal had weakened him.

Naturally, the more the seal was undone, the stronger he became.

Even if revealing part of himself upon the Lazarus Continent imposed an enormous burden upon him.

How the hell are we supposed to kill a monster like this?

An indescribable sense of helplessness.

To the point I briefly felt weak enough to wonder whether even breaking through to the Ultimate Realm would let me win.

What would Luna think if she saw me now?

Would she chuckle and ask if I was scared?

Would she silently comfort me?

Or would she be disappointed seeing me crushed beneath the true presence of that creature?

It wasn’t strange for such thoughts to arise.

Slowly, I turned my head and looked toward Yoo Sowon.

Even as blood erupted from his pores through forced circulation, he still struggled desperately to rise.

“Pull yourself together!! It is merely a monster!!”

At that moment—

Yoo Sowon shouted at me.

“You…!! Have you not battled that monster for countless years already?! Why do you hesitate so?!”

At his shout, I closed my eyes.

The realm I had reached in Labyrinthos was the Ultimate Realm.

Essentially the realm I currently sought to attain.

Yet even by the standards of the Ultimate Realm, this monster was utterly hopeless.

That must be why across countless regressions, I had never once managed to kill this creature.

An opponent impossible to defeat from the start.

However.

BOOOOM!!!!

From the beginning, I was never someone who should think about things like that.

An utterly talentless human had picked up the sword merely to survive.

Because I did not want to die, I cut down my enemies.

I reached the level of Aura User, attained Expert, broke through Sword Master, and climbed to realms beyond even that.

Powerhouses I could never have dared even look toward—I subdued them hundreds, thousands, billions of times through attempts beyond counting.

“Hah. It’s been a while since I came out of Labyrinthos, so my instincts must’ve dulled quite a bit.”

Did I ever move while aiming directly for the end point called the Ultimate Realm from the very beginning?

What a joke.

Whenever the opponent was stronger, hadn’t I burned away my own life trying to become even stronger than them?

This time would ultimately be no different.

The instant that thought crossed my mind, another enormous tremor spread outward.

Then, centered around me, the surroundings became overlaid with an entirely new landscape.

Pasaasaasaak.

There were no lush blue meadows or pleasantly blowing winds.

What appeared before me was a desolated world, a crimson sky, and a red moon resembling an eye.

The world most familiar to me.

The world into which all my essence had been melted.

Labyrinthos.

[The world Labyrinthos has been completely completed.]

[All energies regain balance.]

[Congratulations on breaking through the Ultimate Realm.]

[The powers of all halls manifest synergy.]

An incomparable power spread outward, completely neutralizing the pressure crushing us.

The Ultimate Realm created by multiple powers simultaneously granted a tremendous synergy beyond anything I had known, far surpassing what was produced by mastery in a single field.

The highest realm I knew.

And the place I had mistakenly believed to be the end of the martial path I had built within Labyrinthos.

My body slowly transformed while wrapped in light.

The form of the five-year-old brat returned to normal as the powers within me regained balance.

Returning to my familiar original height and physique, I slowly stood up.

The oppressive pressure crushing the surroundings no longer existed.

“You…. Just what is that?”

“Remember this, elder. Someday, when you aim to reach this place yourself, it will help you greatly.”

I casually dropped the Demon Sword in my hand into subspace, then clenched my fist.

And I directly challenged Yog’s immense power head-on in a clash of force.

[Malevolent Star Ultimate Art]

[Star Breaker]

“Get lost. Who gave you permission to set up a relay tower here?”

[You foolish insect!!]

The pressure trying to crush me intensified, yet instinctively I could feel it.

Even Yog was flustered.

The fist I unleashed went beyond controlling a mere point and seized an entire plane, soon affecting everything existing within this world.

The desolate Labyrinthos world I had created bloomed completely.

Yoo Sowon, who had been barely supporting himself moments ago, stared at me without missing even a single movement, as though entranced.

[Translator - Night]

[Proofreader - Gun]