Arena Chapter 194-199

Laman City was in the heat of war.
Soldiers from both sides were clashing everywhere in the city and blood was spilling. The civilians of Laman City locked up their houses and shuddered in fear.
The Aman Empire was very well aware of the structure of the city.
They were also at an advantage in terms of numbers, so it would make sense to have driven them out in a short time, but there was a big problem right now.
There were examinees, like Odin, on Arend Kingdom's side.
The assassin-style examinees like Marie and Shuhei were also going around killing high-ranking officials, so their command was falling apart.
With their help in hand, the Arend Kingdom was almost at a point where they took over the city.
However, just at the right time, an anomaly appeared.

"Our aim is the examinees!"
"We just have to take them out!"

It was the corrupt examinees.
They mostly belonged to Lee Chang-wee's faction in China.
Lee Chang-wee had already escaped the grasp of the communist government and took all of the Arena business profits for his own. The communist government did not touch him out of fear. As long as Heising stayed dead, there would be no one to stop him.
The ones following Lee Chang-wee decided to follow him until the very end. Although he was a greedy and vicious man, he had the wisdom to share his profits with his underlings.
Those followers of his already turned their backs against the Chinese government by following him. If they lost their skills as examinees, there was no way the government would let them go.
It wasn't just the Chinese examinees. There were many other examinees from the world who were poached by Lee Chang-wee who were in similar situations.
Not only that, but there were also examinees that took their side even though they were not corrupt examinees.
They feared going back to being an ordinary human after losing all their powers as examinees.
They believed that, once Arena and Earth fused into one, the examinees that had supernatural powers would become special.
In any case, both of these groups' targets were the examinees trying to clear the last exam.

"Find the examinees!"
"I don't give a shit about the war. The important thing is to find and eliminate the examinees!"

They didn't give the soldiers of the Arend Kingdom a second glance.
They were looking for the examinees trying to clear the exam as though they were hungry predators.

Lee Chang-wee was somewhere far from Laman City.
The two dark magicians with him were using Eyes of the Abyss to watch the area.

"Is it fine to stay here? Our allies in Laman City aren't looking too good."

One of the dark magicians asked.
Lee Chang-wee answered his question.

"As I said just now it would be a real pain if Kim Hyunho joins them. It will be even more difficult to defend from his sniping in a chaotic battle. It will be better to stop him here."

Indeed.
Lee Chang-wee was spending all of his time obstructing Kim Hyunho.
If a powerhouse like Lee Chang-wee joined the war, then it would be a great help in defending Laman City, but Kim Hyunho would also join the war and that would make matters worse.
Kim Hyunho would be able to discover the examinees amidst the chaotic battle and snipe them all.
His sniping power was beyond imagination and wasn't something that someone could put countermeasures up against.
It would be better to take the penalty of losing Lee Chang-wee's battle prowess to obstruct Kim Hyunho from joining the war.
The two dark magicians controlled their Eyes of the Abyss to fly in the direction of Kim Hyunho's position found through Lee Chang-wee's pathfinder skill and stood guard.
The plan was for Lee Chang-wee to go and strike Kim Hyunho as soon as he came into range. This was also the reason why Kim Hyunho wasn't approaching them carelessly.
Even though they had fought numerous times attacking and protecting the procession, they had never seen each others' faces until now.

"Let's see. First up, I can guarantee that his pathfinder skill is only beginner lv 1."
"I agree. Our opponent is only aware of the direction we're in."
"He's with 2 other dark magicians, and considering that they can use the Eyes of the Abyss, they should be pretty powerful. If a battle breaks out, they should be able to support Lee Chang-wee in multiple ways."
"The most problematic of them all is the defensive item that Lee Chang-wee is wearing."

I was discussing a plan with Cha Jihye.
I didn't know that things would turn out like this.
Lee Chang-wee was obstructing my path to Laman City with his two dark magicians. This was only possible as he was aware of my direction through the pathfinder skill.
I thought about passing right above them at high altitudes, but they had two dark magicians, so I thought that they should have methods to make Lee Chang-wee fly, so I gave up on that.

Meanwhile, I had one advantage against them.
It was that they weren't aware of the existence of Cha Jihye.
They weren't aware that she was here, nor did they know that she had high Lv1 aura control, which made her a master-level expert.
Wouldn't it be a winning battle if I utilized the fact that they aren't fully aware of our prowess?

I couldn't just go to them blindly with that in mind. We also weren't aware of the extent of defense that Lee Chang-wee's magic item had.
Well, Laman City had all the high-ranking examinees, including Odin, on their side.
If Lee Chang-wee, the most dangerous of them all, didn't fight, then they would still be able to win this battle.

But at that time, the communication device in my chest pocket started vibrating.
When I took out to check, it was Dana who called me.

"Hello?"
-It's about to begin.
"Huh? What do you mean?"
-Kajad Pun Aman will be moving soon.
"What!?"

Dana continued as I stayed shocked.

-I checked myself through the Marble of the Abyss. He seemed no longer able to control his desire anymore. He'll move to fulfill the lacking souls.

And his destination should be the Brown Mountain Range as we expected.
Not only were there three Trees of Life, but there was also the smaller Tree of Life that only came into existence recently. It was home to elves as well.
Kajad should appear in the Brown Mountain Range as though a thirsty man discovering an oasis.

-We should enact the plan now. How's the situation on your side?
"Lee Chang-wee is obstructing us from getting to Laman City. There are two dark magicians with him as well."
-We cannot delay this any longer. Just break through them. Don't try to fight back and defeat them, just think of it as rushing right past them.
"Okay."
-And also, there is a limit to magic items, no matter how excellent they are. In my opinion, Lee Chang-wee's magic item should be activated if there is a force that can harm the body.
"And so?"
-I think attacks that aren't strikes will do the trick.
"Attacks that aren't strikes?"
-The magic shouldn't activate when you're trying to pat his shoulder, for example, right?
"Oh!"

Only then did I realize what Dana was trying to say.
It might work if he was grabbed and had his joint broken, or just plainly thrown into the ground.
Of course, it would be really dangerous to fight him head on, but I didn't need to do that.
I could just use Sylph to do it.
I can create several hands made of wind with Sylph's help to throw him into the air, or something.
It wasn't like Lee Chang-wee would stay still, so it would become a hard battle, but I could use this method to make him stay away from me.
In the meanwhile, I can just run away on the back of the rake eagle.

"Let's go!"

After the communication, Jihye and I got on the back of the rake eagle."

"Screech-!"

The rake eagle flew into the air with a strong cry.

"Sylph."
-Nyan?

Sylph was summoned.
I was saving up on summoning time as I only had 14 hours to summon a day.

"From now, tell me if you see any Eyes of the Abyss."
-Nyan!

I flew up high into the air and armed myself with the Neilson R3.
A moment later, Sylph warned me and I immediately pulled the trigger.
Just before I fired, Sylph adjusted the direction of the muzzle.

Boom!
-Nyaan!

And another one.
I shot another round.

Boom!

The two Eyes of the Abyss should all be broken now.
Meaning, that Lee Chang-wee was aware that we were moving.

'It starts now.'

I transferred my thoughts to Sylph. Having understood what I was asking, Sylph created five hands made of air. After a few minutes of flying, I was able to meet the enemy.

"Here you come, Kim Hyunho!"

Lee Chang-wee welcomed me with a smirk.
On his back was a pair of wings, presumably made from dark magic.
Now, he was no longer disguised as a soldier and was wearing black armor.

Boom- Clang!

The bullet I just shot was blocked by the shield that appeared momentarily.
Lee Chang-wee's smirk got thicker.

"Good armor you got there."
"I paid a lot for it. More than half the reason I got this was for you, so you can be proud of it."

His eyes then turned to Cha Jihye who was behind me.

"Oho, so you two couple were together all this time?"
"You getting jealous?"
"Hahaha, of course, I am. I just know what kind of a hot girl she is!"

Then, Lee Chang-wee flapped his black wings and flew straight towards me.

"Go!"

I shouted to Sylph.
The five wind hands all flew towards Lee Chang-wee at the same time.
At the same time, I aimed the rifle at Lee Chang-wee's black wings and fired.

Boom!

Lee Chang-wee was shaken for a moment after one of his black wings dissipated, but another one grew up in its place.
It seemed that the dark magicians on the ground were capable of maintaining it.

Lee Chang-wee then took out his sword and swung it like lightning.
As his sword contained the aura blade, he destroyed all the wind hands with a swing.
With Lee Chang-wee approaching, I handed the Neilson R3 over to Sylph and took out the two Neilson H2s.
Cha Jihye also took out her dual blades and got ready to fight.

It was just at that moment.
The black wings behind Lee Chang-wee's back suddenly disappeared.

"What the!?"

Lee Chang-wee became surprised, and without his wings, he fell down to the ground.
Though, I didn't expect him to fall to his death just because he fell from this height.
When Lee Chang-wee fell far enough that we didn't see him anymore, I tilted my head in confusion and asked Cha Jihye.

"What was that?"
"From how his wings disappeared, I believe that a problem occurred with the dark magicians on the ground."

Did some of the examinees help us?
I thought about all 31 examinees that participated in the final plan.
I checked with the pathfinder skill and they were all in Laman City's direction.

'Then who?'

Well, in any case, it was good that he got an easy way out.
We took our mind off Lee Chang-wee and flew towards Laman City.

The moment he was about to collide with the ground, Lee Chang-wee protected his body with aura.

BOOM!

With a very loud sound, the ground he smashed was paved in.
Climbing out of the dirt, Lee Chang-wee had a very serious look around.

"Who the hell is it?"

After the dust settled, he could see what was around him.
The two dark magicians were laying on the ground, dead.
While there was a pair of a man and woman that was thought to be the culprits…….

"What!?"

Lee Chang-wee's face turned into that of shock.
Shockingly, it was Heising and his close female aide.
The two that were thought to be dead, and should be dead, was glaring at him in animosity.

'I definitely saw his corpse on Earth!'

Lee Chang-wee was confused as he looked at Heising and the woman.
Even if people died in Arena and their corpses disappeared, the examinee's dead body would still remain on Earth.
Lee Chang-wee eradicated Heising's faction as soon as he found that he was dead.
He also confirmed their deaths on Earth.

'Wait, this feels a little off.'

Both Heising and the woman weren't speaking a word. They only glared at him with hostility.

"It's been a while, eh?"

Lee Chang-wee spoke.
Heising did not retort, instead, he clenched his fists and got ready to battle.
His aide also cast support magic to Heising and got ready to battle.
Only then did Lee Chang-wee understand what was happening.

"Dammit, so one of the high priests revived you through the soul marbles."

Only then did he remember that Kim Hyunho killed a high priest in the pirate islands.
That high priest should have revived these two.

'Did they get a lot of soul marbles for them? They don't have any ego but they have their rationale.'

The one that Heising and the woman were most wary against wasn't Kim Hyunho, but Lee Chang-wee.
The fact that they didn't attack and waited for this opportunity showed that they had enough judgment to wait for the perfect opportunity.
They took out the dark magicians while he was busy attacking Kim Hyunho.

"But what a pity, none of your attacks will work against me."

Lee Chang-wee made a cold smile.
The black armor he was wearing was named the Dragonscale Armor.
It was made from dragon scales that contained immense mana.
After gaining an immense amount of karma from killing Heising's faction, he had bought this armor with the points he gained.
Heising's attacks focused around striking the enemy with his fist, and all of his attacks would be blocked by the Dragonscale Armor.

'It's annoying that they're obstructing me at a time like this, but I guess that it's good that I got to confront them now. Otherwise, I may have just set free to potential danger.'

It would've been worse if he was attacked at a critical moment.
Lee Chang-wee decided to erase these two from the world for good and head to Laman City afterward.
Paah!
Heising finally jumped in.
Lee Chang-wee also didn't hesitate and went straight for him.
The figures of the two clashed mid way. Heising's fist punched out with great aura.
At the last moment, Lee Chang-wee slowed down his sword a little.
He was planning to deflect Heising's attack once with the Dragonscale Armor, and use that opportunity to attack.

Crack!

Heising's aura fist destroyed the magic shield activated by the Dragonscale Armor. It wasn't enough to defend against a full blow from an aura master.
However, the magic shield gained enough time by receiving that attack.
That time gap was very long in the realm of masters.
Evading Heising's punch with ease, Lee Chang-wee swung his sword.

Slash!

Aura blade ripped apart the air.
Although he had no time to defend himself as though he had just attacked, Heising still managed to evade by ejecting aura out of his feet to jump into the air.
Spinning half a turn in the air, Heising kicked Lee Chang-wee with the ankle of his right foot.

Crack!

The shield magic from the Dragonscale Armor again blocked his attack.
Using this opportunity, Lee Chang-wee took a step back.

"It won't work, idiot."

Lee Chang-wee made a cold smile and got into a stabbing stance. As their distances became longer, it was more advantageous for him as he was holding a weapon.

Swoosh!

Piercing attacks happened at the speed that couldn't be seen with the naked eye.
Heising was also dodging at high speed and his figure looked as though there were multiples of him.
Sword attacks carrying razor-sharp aura scattered in all directions.
Their attacks and defense continued.
Lee Chang-wee gained the advantage thanks to the functionality of the Dragonscale Armor, but he failed to deal a final strike every time as the woman supporting Heising from the back interfered every time.
It was when Lee Chang-wee was feeling unpleasant from dragging the fight out.
Heising's speed-oriented punches suddenly changed.
He distracted Lee Chang-wee's gaze with his lightning-fast strikes and used that opportunity to close in on him.
Surprised, Lee Chang-wee hurriedly took a step back.
At that moment, Heising's right hand moved.
Surprisingly, his right hand did not get blocked by the shield magic and came into contact with the shoulder surface of the Dragonscale Armor.
Lee Chang-wee was yet again surprised that the shield didn't activate.
Then,

Pow!

A strong force was transferred to his right shoulder.

"Urgh!"

Lee Chang-wee's figure suddenly flew into the air.
Even amidst the shoulder-tearing pain, he managed to gain his balance and land on his feet, but his expression was very ugly.

"Penetrative strikes?"

It was a form of martial arts that transferred the shock internally.
The reason that the Dragonscale Armor's magic didn't activate was simple.
It was completely harmless until the hand touched the surface of the armor.
However, the moment he made contact, he used the penetrative force to strike Lee Chang-wee.
This man wasn't alive anymore.
He had no ego of his own, but he did not lose his martial prowess from when he was alive.

"You damn bastard!"

Lee Chang-wee's face turned red in anger.
Regardless, Heising had a look at his right hand for a moment.
That feeling of striking something.
As well as Lee Chang-wee's face of pain at that moment.
Heising's eyes turned vicious. He had the expression of realization.

"Odin, have you heard from Litalin?"

I called Odin as I flew to Laman City.

-I haven't had the chance to. We know that the corrupt examinees are here though!
"No, not that, Kajad is on the move!"
-WHAT!?

Odin's voice was shocked.

"Don't fight the corrupt examinees and immediately leave Laman City with the examinees. Leave them to the examinees that aren't participating in the final plan!"
-Got it.

After that call, I controlled Firstborn to fly faster.
I could see the entirety of Laman City wrapped in chaos.

"Sylph, look for the members of the final plan among the examinees fighting!"
-Nyaan!

Given orders, Sylph flew down towards the city.
The 31 people participating in the final battle should be retreating on Odin's orders right now.
If any of them were still fighting, then it meant that they were unable to shake off the corrupt examinees they were fighting with.
Or, a really strong man amongst the Aman Imperial Army.

-Nyan!

Sylph cutely shouted as soon as it flew back. It had found one.
I summoned the anti-material sniper rifle, the Neilson R3 and aimed.
Sylph adjusted the muzzle with its tail and aimed for me.
I could see two people fighting through the scope.
One man was a burly south-east Asian. From the fact that I didn't know this guy's face, he was probably a corrupt examinee from the region.
His opponent, coincidentally, was Marie Johanna.
Although the burly man was bleeding from his waist, he was still desperately fighting.
Marie seemed to have failed in taking his life on her first strike, as she seemed really desperate evading his attacks.

The crosshair on my scope was locked onto the burly man's head.
Although he was moving around a lot while fighting, Sylph was also changing aim accordingly.

Boom!

Along with a loud gunshot sound, the burly man's head exploded to pieces.
It didn't stop at his head, and his entire body was mutilated.
Marie was at first surprised but seemed to have realized that it was my help and gave a kiss into the sky.
I chuckled before going around helping other members of the team in killing corrupt examinees and five other strong knights of the Aman Empire.
The corrupt examinees stopped attacking due to my shots. They noticed my existence and busied themselves with hiding from my sight. Actually, that was my intention as I didn't muffle my gunshots.
A while later, I got a call from Odin.

-Everyone's out. Let's meet up 1km east of Laman City!
"Yes, is there anyone missing?"
-No, all 31 of us are here.

That was good.
There were no setbacks to the plan.
The corrupt examinees were also hiding from my attacks, so we should take this opportunity to head to the Brown Mountain Range.
I could see the members of the team around 1km away from Laman City.
The members included Odin, Marie, and even Dana, who should be busy controlling the satellite.
They also found us descending the ground.

"Hang on tight!"

It's gonna get real rough!

"Don't worry."

Cha Jihye grasped my waist tighter.
I then descended straight towards the ground.
Then, Odin made his move.
He jumped straight towards me. His jumping power as a master was sufficient enough to make him reach me through the air.
Shooting across the air, Odin reached out his hand towards me.
We had a hi-five.
Clap and Odin disappeared into thin-air.
He entered my virtual space.

After that, the other examinees also jumped towards me and gave me a hi-five. Each time, they were put inside my virtual space.
Magic specialist examinees who didn't have as much jumping power flew using magic and entered my virtual space the same away.

"Hi, Hyunho!"

While doing that, Marie acted mischievously and hugged me for a while.
The last was Dana.
Flying towards me with magic, I reached out my hand towards him but he shook his head.

"Please take out one more eagle. I shall be flying with you."
"Why?"
"Kajad may discover us first. The only one that can put up countermeasures against his preemptive attack is me."
"Oh, I guess that's true. Okay, then."

I took out Secondborn.
Secondborn took Dana to its back according to my orders.
Before, my rake eagles seemed to reject Dana, but they didn't act like that right now.
Thinking about it now, their rejection seemed to have stemmed from black magic.

"It will be quite a journey."

I warned as we had to fly to the Brown Mountain Range without rest.

"Do not worry about that."

Dana didn't seem to care.
Well, who am I to worry about him? He's ranked 1st in the world.

"We're quitting this war, so what happens to the war now?"
"I've given all the information regarding the number of forces, their scale, and their supply routes over to the Arend Kingdom. If they still cannot win, then that's their fate."
"That's true. Well, then. Let's go."
We then started flying towards the Brown Mountain Range.
The blood-filled Laman City distanced itself from our vision.

The air of war was already present in the Brown Mountain Range.
This was because Derek, the strongest and the oldest warrior elf among them all, had declared martial law.
Although the elven society was centered around the decisions of the mother elves usually, they could only follow once Derek declared martial law, as it would be directly related to their survival if it was him who was saying it.
The elderly and the young were restricted from going outside the village, while men from all four villages gathered together to form a defensive line.
They designed a high-intensity scouting system and watched over every nook and cranny of the mountains, and like that, the Brown Mountain Range was wrapped in breathtaking nervousness.

"Derek, don't you think you declared martial law a little too early? Maintaining martial law for such a long time will loosen their tension."

Elven warriors around the same age as Derek objected to him.
Derek shook his head.

"He will come. Soon, it will be very soon."
"It's not like the humans saw Kajad Pun Aman coming, did they?"
"They know it without seeing."
"What do you……."
"Trust me. I have that exact same feeling."

Derek thought back to the Eye of the Abyss he saw a while back, as well as the eerie voice that emanated from it.
That voice, as well as the energy behind it, was very ominous and evil.
Derek realized that he had just met the greatest enemy of his life.

"Right now, the young ones should be at a loss, since martial law is in place, but there is no enemy. However, things will change once Kim and the others arrive, so don't worry."
"Well, if you say so. I'm following orders."
"We'll trust your decision like we always did."

Derek smiled while looking at the veteran warriors that were with him for a long time.
But at that time,

"Someone's coming."

Derek spoke as he looked at the front.
Just as he had said, a few minutes later, a young elf hurriedly ran up to him and stood in front of him.

"Orga from Maple Village. The enemy has appeared!"
"Is it Kajad Pun Aman?"

Orga, the young warrior elf from Maple village, shook his head.

"No, it's an army of undead. Their numbers are huge!"
"What?"

The warriors all took out their weapons.
Derek nodded his head.

"I guess this is the start. Well, he practically declared that he's coming so I'm thankful instead. Where are they?"
"30 kilometers north-west from Maple village, sir!"
"Okay, we'll head that way."
"Yes, sir!"

After Orga left, Derek spoke to his friends.

"There may be an attack somewhere else, so we'll leave some men to guard the village and the rest of us will head there."
"Okay, then."

The other veteran warriors called out their elementals in order to call for the warriors of their village.
Soon, elves started gathering where Derek was.
After all of them gathered, there were around a few hundred.
The elves had flourished and the number of warriors had risen over the past years.
Derek took out both of his swords and shouted.

"Let's go!"
"Yes!"

Derek ran at the front.
The other elves followed suit.
They were incredibly fast.

"Look at this."

Dana, who was looking at his laptop on top of a rake eagle, suddenly spoke.

"What is it? Show me."

Dana threw the laptop at me, and Sylph agilely caught it before giving it to me.
I could see an army of undead crawling up a mountain like ants.
However, that undead army was different from the low-tier zombies.
They were only made of bones, meaning, they were skeletons.
However, they were armed with armors, helmets, and spears and had the look of a soldier.
Their steps were identical and their procession was very neat.

"They are skeletons. It's a type of necromancy that revives the dead from a very long time ago, and as such, they only have bones left."
"Is such a thing possible?"
"They have no nervous system, no brain, nor any functioning organs, so the controlling necromancer must input all of their actions directly with black magic. It's nearly impossible to make them march forward in such a neat formation. Hm, for comparison, you can just think about how hard it is to make a bipedal robot."
"But the fact that there's so many of them……."
"There's only one person in this world who's capable of doing such a thing."

I gulped.

"We should leave the undead army to the elves and wait for Kajad to appear."
"Okay then."

We arrived at Zelkova village in the Brown Mountain Range.
This was the central elven village where the Eldermother was residing.
The skyscraping huge Tree of Life welcomed us with sweet fragrances.

"Kim!"

The mothers of the village welcomed us as we had told them that we would be arriving beforehand with the communication device.

"Have you been well?"
"Of course, we have been well."
"Yes, it's all thanks to you, Kim."

The mothers started to talk among themselves.
I started taking out examinees from my Virtual Space.

"Huh?"
"Is this the Brown Mountain Range?"
"Already?"
"We just did a hi-five, and we're here already. How curious."

The examinees that exited my Virtual Space looked around in wonder. Well, in their perspective, we have just arrived as soon as we did a hi-five, so it was no wonder.
The elves were also surprised by the appearance of the examinees.
The young elves all had a look of curiosity in their eyes, and if it were not for their mothers, they would have come here asking how I did it.

"So we've arrived."

Odin approached me.

"Yes. Right now, The elves are fighting an undead army that Kajad has summoned."
"Is Kajad not here yet?"
"Yes. So we decided to stay here until Kajad himself appears. What do you think?"
"That's for the better. If we get attacked while we fight the undead, things will be disadvantageous for us."

At that time, the Eldermother asked me in concern.

"Kim, is my husband doing okay? Can you have a look for me?"

She seemed to be worried about Derek's safety as he was one of the elves fighting the undead army.
This was very unusual since the Eldermother had complete faith in Derek most of the time.

"Okay. Litalin?"
"Yes, I'm watching the turn of events."

Dana showed them the status of the battle in the Brown Mountain Range that the satellite showed him.
Although it wasn't completely clear due to the height of the trees, they were able to tell that the army of undead was unable to progress further after a certain point.
Other than that, explosions and storms could be seen everywhere. This was the power of the elementals that the elves were using.

"Is it me or is the undead army decreasing at a slower rate than usual?"

I asked.
Considering Derek's prowess of having annihilated a horde of zombies before, this was very slow.

"This is the undead army controlled by none other than Kajad. They should be in a completely different league from the undead until now."
"D, does that mean that we're losing?"

The Eldermother asked.
The other mothers also whispered.
I spoke after thinking about it for a while.

"We'll be in trouble if the elven warriors are defeated. We should participate too."
"Hmmm……. I guess it comes down to that. Once the defense line of elves is broken through, the undead will attack all the villages. At that time, we will have to split up in order to protect the villages……."

Odin spoke while groaning.
Like that, we decided to participate in the battle against the undead army.
First, I took out all of the rake eagles from my Virtual Space.

There were 12 of them in total.
They all had claw reinforcement and rake wind skill maxed out.
They could spam rake wind while flying in the air, so it would help out a lot in a large-scale battle like this.
I knew it was the right thing to do to invest my points in them.
I sent off the eagles first then we started to move as well.
While moving, Dana spoke.

"I'll apologize beforehand. I need to save my power as much as possible until Kajad appears."
"Well, I guess the only magician that can confront someone of Kajad's level is you."
"No, it's not just about level. I've talked to you about my special skill, right?"
"Yes, dual circle was it? You can wield two different energies in your body or something……."
"Yes, among the two, I rooted out my black magic and instead gained soul energy. Combining soul energy with mana, I gained something that is the opposite of black magic."

According to Dana's explanation, the stone coffin that contained Kajad's dead body had several defensive mechanisms in layers, and those mechanisms reacted violently to his dual circle.
After seeing that, Dana judged that his dual circle was the only weapon that could take Kajad down.
I nodded my head.

"Okay. Don't use your energy until Kajad appears, I'll guard you."
"Thank you."

We then arrived at the battlefield.

Rumble!
Boom! Bang!

Violent sounds created by elementals could be heard everywhere.
The elves were fighting against the undead army with their elementals.
Although we all had seen the battlefield through the satellite footage, this still freaked us out.

"Let's go! The important thing is not to defeat them, but to maintain the defensive line!"

Odin ordered with a shout.
The examinees all started to help the elves fighting off the undead.
While from the sky,

"Screech-!"
"Screeeech!"

Twelve rake eagles bombarded their attacks from the air.

Boom!
Crunch! Crack!

Every time they slashed with their claws, sharp winds shot across towards the undead and defeated them.
12 of them working in tandem was a great strike to the undead.
They acted like bombers from modern warfare and caused chaos among the undead army.
As all of their skills were maxed out, the eagles spammed rake wind infinitely.
Meanwhile, I took out my twin pistols to protect Dana.
I shot my pistols wildly at the skeletons approaching me.
Every time I fired, the skeletons fell down with their skull shattered. Thanks to the bullet adjustment skill, my bullets were stronger than normal pistols and were able to take down two skeletons with one ammo.
However, the number of skeletons approaching me was more than I could take down.
Cha Jihye also swung around her dual curved swords to support me.
After an unknown period of time, we managed to save up on our stamina as much as possible, but the repetitive battle was grazing away at our minds.
The line of defense formed by elven warriors was finally able to gain stability thanks to our help.
At that time.

"1.5 kilometers north-west!"

Dana suddenly shouted.

"What?"
"I have experience using black magic, so I was able to trace the flow of black magic back."
"Oh!"
This flow of black magic came from 1.5 kilometers to the north-west."

Dana was sweating, which was unusual for him.

"He has also noticed that I traced back his black magic. What a freak."

He felt fear.

"He's coming this way."

Kajad Pun Aman was coming.
The final battle was here.

Kajad appeared without a sound.

"Above us!"

Only after Dana warned us with a shout did we notice his arrival.
A skinny, tall old man was floating in the sky.
The magic formation-like tattoo drawn on his skinny arms and neck were very peculiar, to say the least.
Other than that, he was just an ordinary old man, but somehow, the word 'power' could be associated with him.

He had a cold gaze.
His eyes emotionlessly looked down upon us as though a God looking down on his creations.

"How bothersome."

The old man extended his hand out towards us.
Black magic, the size of a fist, gathered in his palm.
It didn't seem like the quantity was much from the outside, but Dana seemed to have judged otherwise.

"Urgh!"

Dana also started forming hand seals.
Blue and white light started intermixing. That seemed to be the dual circle of mana and soul energy.
The ball of black magic in Kajad's hand started swelling.
Eventually, space started being distorted due to the ball of black magic and a tunnel appeared in the void like the gates to the exams.

'I saw that before when I fought that high priest in the pirate islands!'

I remembered that that high priest had opened up such a passage and poured out monsters from it.
Kajad seemed to be about to take something out from it as well.
It would probably be unthinkable to compare what was about to come out to the puny undead that the high priest took out before.
And it was just as I expected.
Something crawled out from that black passage.
The head came out first, and it seemed to be a man.
It was a knight clad in thick silver armor from top to bottom. Even the silky red cape didn't look ordinary.

'That must be really strong, right? It's something Kajad took out after all…….'

I gulped and aimed my pistols at Kajad, on guard.
The silver knight had just come out half way.

"Don't kid me. Do you think I'll stay still!"

It was from Derek.
As expected of an elf warrior, he had armed himself and attacked while everyone stood there in shock.

"Kasa!"

Flicker!

Derek finally showed his real power.
Derek, fused with Kasa, flames started flowing from his two swords like an inferno.

Flicker! Boom!

The flames assaulted both the silver knight and Kajad at once. I was surprised by Derek's courage in attacking Kajad without being overwhelmed by his presence.
Kajad extended his other hand out.

Flicker!

Black flames appeared from his hand and that flame collided with Kasa's flame.
However, the silver knight couldn't defend against Kasa's flames and was wrapped in flames.

-Gaaah!

The silver knight unsheathed the sword at his waist and swung it in a fit of agony.
Kasa's flames were shattered to pieces by the aura blades coming out of the sword. Oh my word, that was an aura master!
Seeing an aura blade, Derek first took a step back in surprise.
However, he didn't seem afraid at all and gripped on his two swords in preparation to attack.
Just as I was deeply impressed by Derek's courage, Dana shouted.

"Out of the way!"

Dana was flying towards Kajad and the silver knight. Derek halted his steps.
The silver knight had a leg out of the passage as well.
Dana threw the fusion energy of mana and soul energy to the silver knight.

Flash-!

Blinding light enveloped the surroundings.

-Graaaah!

The scream of agony was incomparable to before.
Eerie black smoke started coming off the silver knight.
Seeing that, Kajad quickly shook his left hand that was controlling the black passage.

Pah!

The silver knight disappeared into the passage, and the passage disappeared as well.
Dana continued to utilize his dual circles to attack at Kajad with his fusion energy.
Kajad was unable to regain his calm this time and gathered black magic with both of his hands.

Booom!

Blinding white light clashed with pitch-black magic energy.
It was a strange sight of seeing light and dark intertwining together.
Dana's blinding white light instantly vaporized the skeletons that were around.
Black smoke started coming off the skeletons whenever the white light touched them and they soon became pieces of scrap bone and fell down.
After the clash of blinding light and eerie dark, Dana landed back onto the ground.
Kajad also stood in the air, undamaged.

"To think you'd defeat Sir Lapirin that I was quite fond of. As expected of someone I caught notice."
"You said Lapirin?"

Odin reacted violently to that. What was up with him? Was that someone famous?
Immediately noticing my curious look, Cha Jihye explained from the side.

"He's a legendary expert that was at the front lines in conquering the continent. He's considered as the model vassal for all, with wisdom, courage, and loyalty."
"He made his own vassal an undead? That's insane!"

When I insulted him, Kajad shrugged it off.

"I gained his approval in using just his body. It was his will to serve me, even if it was just the dead body, even after his death."

Phew, looks like he revived him with the fake Marbles of the Soul like the case with Heising.
Kajad glanced at Dana.

"Two different energies in one body. To think you'd realize a contradiction like that. How interesting. That is as impossible as a dead man coming back to life."
"I am an examinee, after all."
"Yes. I have gone against the law of this world, while you were permitted to do so by the law."

Kajad's eyes started shining eerily.

"Possessing two energies in one, huh……."
"…….."

Even though he may be pressured by the freakish Kajad's insane amount of attention, Dana still maintained his calm.

"Yes, there was that method."
"What do you mean?"
"I have thought of a way to solve all the problems."
"Are you aware of the origin of the problems though?"

Dana asked and Kajad nodded his head.

"Sure I do. Just look at me! Look at this failure of a freakish monster that I've become! My idiotic descendants didn't understand a word I told them and ruined my great plans like this. Do I still need to tell you what the problem is?"

How surprising.
Kajad was aware that he himself was not right, and was furious about it.

"I wished to become the eternal, righteous ruler of this world, and become the very unending law of this world. I wanted to save mankind from pain and agony, and it was something only I could do."
"It's something that no one can do."
"No, not yet. One person still has the qualification."
"Didn't you call yourself a failed product just now?"
"It is not me I'm talking about."
"Then…….."

Saying that Dana suddenly stopped speaking.
His expressions stiffened.
Seeing his reaction, Kajad smirked.

"How smart. How about it? Won't you become my successor?"
'WHAT?!'

I was scared out of my wits.
Everyone here was the same.
Kajad continued regardless.

"I shall inherit to you all of my power, wisdom, knowledge, experience and even my throne. I have failed, but you, who possess two energies in your body, should be able to succeed."
"You want me to become the undying, eternal king of this world?"
"Indeed."
"Don't kid me!"

The one that shouted at the end was Odin.

"That's right!"
"What a schemer!"

The other examinees also raised their weapons in hostility.
That dude was trying to poach Dana right in front of them!
However, something unexpected happened.

"Inherit everything that I am, and then kill me. Then, you should be able to finish your mission, and I will be able to accomplish my will through you, and through you, this world will meet peace."

The examinees that were gearing up to attack Kajad all suddenly flinched.
Did he choose death in order to achieve his wish?
If that was true, then indeed, all the problems would be solved.
That freakish Kajad looked more rational and reasonable then we thought.

"…….Do you mean that?"
"Yes. How about it? It won't be easy, but thanks to you, everyone will have a happy ending."

Undying, eternal ruler.
If someone asked me to do that, then I would refuse.
That kind of life didn't seem happy at all.
I chose to become an examinee because of my fear of death, but that ironically made me not want an infinite life without end in sight.
Naturally, Dana shouldn't want that either.
Despite that, though, he still couldn't refuse it so easily.
If he sacrificed himself and accepted that proposal, then indeed, everyone else, except for him, would become happy.

"How is it? Now choose."
"I……"

Blurring his words, Dana nodded his head and spoke in resolution.

"Accept your proposal."
"A wise decision."

Kajad raised his hand with a satisfied smile.

Paah!

Insane amounts of black magic started gathering in his hand. The quantity was incomparable to last time.

"Now then. Come here. This contains everything that constitutes to me. You can possess two energies at once, so you will have to give up one of them to accept this."
"It might be a trap!

I warned.
Only then did Odin and the other examinees started getting prepared for battle.
Dana nodded his head.

"Do not worry."

Leaving my warning behind, he flew towards Kajad.
A large amount of blue energy started gathering in Dana's right hand. That energy was mana.

"Giving up mana? How wise of you. It will be better to retain soul energy and give up magic. With my inheritance of black magic, you should be able to complete your immortality much more easily."
"Yes."
"Now then. Accept it."
"I shall."

Kajad has black magic in his hand, while Dana had mana in his hand as they approached each other.
The two started getting closer.
I aimed my pistols at Kajad in nervousness.
I was suffocating due to the turnout of events.
When they got closer, the two finally met eyes.
Then,

Flicker!
Black flames started appearing from Kajad's other hand like a tsunami.

"Gahahahaha!"

Black flames engulfed Dana.
However, at the same time, Dana also utilized soul energy to fuse the two energies.

"I knew it!"

Flash!

The black flames and the combined energy clashed with each other.

"Living again is such a precious experience! How can I so easily give it up! Hahahahaha!"

Kajad retook the black magic in his hand and fueled power into the black flames.

Boom!

Dana's light started being pushed back. The sweat on his face was proof of this.

"Attack now!"

I shouted and started firing my guns.

"Attack!"

Odin also swung his aura blade towards Kajad. Other examinees started attacking as well.
Derek also joined with Kasa's flames.
This was a full-out attack.

"Kraaaa! Don't bother me!"

Kajad lost his reason and randomly swung his other hand with a loud shout.
A black curtain enveloped him.
All of our attacks were unable to break that curtain and were stopped.

"Urgh!"

Dana's mouth uttered a groan.

'This is dangerous!'

Intuitively feeling danger, I shouted to Sylph.

"Sylph, fusion!"
-Nyan!

Like how Derek fused with Kasa, I did the same with Sylph. Not only that,

"Guardian of Wind!"

I amplified Sylph's power several times with my special skill, Guardian of Wind.
I then started dashing towards Dana.
HIs light started to lose its brightness.
The black flames seemed as though they would engulf him at any moment.
Cladding myself in vortices, I broke through the black flames.

Boom!

Breaking through the flames and expanding my vortex to have Dana in its range as well. I then carried him and escaped to the ground.
Black flames chased behind me but I was able to protect myself with Sylph's enhanced vortices.

"Urgh!"

I swallowed a groan. The pressure was immense.
Eventually, the black flames died down.
Derek and the other examinees also stopped their attacks and regained their breathing.
It didn't seem as though it was easy for Kajad either, as he looked exhausted.

"You noticed that quickly."
"If you still had such a will to be reasonable with yourself, you would have taken your own life a long time ago."

Hearing Dana's reply, Kajad nodded powerlessly.

"Yes, that's right……. However, I was not able to, and this is the state I am in right now……. I was engulfed by an endless desire to devour other souls."
"…….."
"My reason returned momentarily after seeing your potential, but…… I want to end all of this now."

His tired expression probably showed his psychological state right now.
However, Dana's expression wasn't good either.

"What is it?"

I asked and Dana spoke.

"How embarrassing."

He made a bitter smile.

"I've used up most of my soul energy just now. That was an attack containing my full power, but I guess I ended up failing."

After that deadlock, another fierce battle began.
All examinees were focusing their attacks on Kajad, and whenever Kajad utilized black magic to do something, Derek summoned huge waves of flames to counter it.
I held Dana up and asked.

"What do we do now?"
"I can attack once more if I squeeze out the remaining bits of my soul energy."

However, he wasn't able to do proper damage even through that crazy attack just now.
Even if he did squeeze out whatever he had left, I didn't feel as though it would deal a critical blow on Kajad.
I was thinking about that when Dana spoke to me.

"Elementalism also contains the energy of mother nature and is plenty dangerous to Kajad who has gone against the law to revive. I will create a gap, and you should kill him."
"Yes, I guess that's our only method now."

Fortunately, I was saving up on my elemental power.
I could also amplify the powers of my elementals through the protection skills of each element. With all my power, I should be able to defeat Kajad.

"I'll give you the signal."
"Yes."

Dana started gathering both of his energies into his hands.
This was a very fierce and chaotic fight.
Elf warriors were fighting the undead army, while rake eagles were bombarding their rake winds from the sky.
With Derek, fused with Kasa, as the center, the examinees attacked Kajad without rest.
However, Kajad's defense, meaning, that black curtain of his, did not break.
Instead, Kajad was putting the examinees in danger with the black flames he summoned with his other hand.
The magician examinees supported the others with shield magic, but they seemed to be under immense pressure. Dana was really something to go against Kajad, even for a brief moment.

"Now!"

Dana shouted as he flew into the sky.
I also leaped up into the sky and brought out all of Sylph's power.
I put away my dual pistols and created a 10-meter large sword of wind and grabbed it with my right hand. I was planning to attack it with this.
Dana's dual-energy attack struck the black curtain.

Flash!

Blinding light once again engulfed the surroundings.
Skeletons that came into contact with the light were broken to pieces, and Kajad's black curtain was also dissolved.
His defense was down.
This was the final opportunity that Dana had created with the remainder of his power.

"Die!"

I swung my sword of wind at Kajad.
Kajad controlled the black flames. The flames gathered into one and shielded Kajad against the sword of wind.

Boom!

A massive clash occurred.
Fragments of black flames and wind sword shards scattered everywhere.

'Sylph, you can do better!'

I put more strength into the sword of wind.

Crrrrack!

My sword of wind started to chip away at the black flames.
Eventually, the shield made of black flames was split in half by my sword. However, just in time, Kajad once again put up his black curtain with his other hand.

Crack!

Despite the sound, the black curtain didn't even flinch at my attack.

'Oh shit!'

Dana's final attempt to create an opportunity to kill Kajad had gone to waste.
However, I couldn't stop here. I decided to utilize all of the skills I have learned until now.
I canceled the fusion with Sylph and summoned Kasa instead.

"Kasa, fusion!"
-woof!

Kasa ran into my body.

Flicker!

Flames poured out from my body.

"Guardian of Fire!"

Flicker!

The flames from my body became stronger. This was Kasa's power amplified several times thanks to the Guardian of Fire.
I didn't stop at that.
I summoned the anti-material rifle, the Neilson R3 and threw it over to Sylph.

"Sylph, shoot at Kajad without rest! Put all your power into the ammo!"
-Nyan!

Sylph aimed the large rifle, several times bigger than its own body, at Kajad.
With the enhanced power from the mastered bullet adjustment skill as well as Sylph's own addition to the rotation power, the penetrative power was maximized.
I really utilized all I could in my attacks.

"Let's go!"
-Nyan!

Sylph was in charge of the cover fire.
Clang! Clang Clang!

The heavy 20mm armor-piercing incendiary bullet struck Kajad's black curtain continuously.
At the same time, I attacked the black curtain from another angle.

Boom! Bang!

Every time I threw out a punch, an explosion occurred from Kasa's flames.
I imitated the likes of Kang Chunsung and Lee Chang-wee's Fanzi Quan fist techniques to punch at rapid speeds.
My right first attacked several times as though trees branching out from one stem.

Booooom!

The other examinees also attacked with their aura techniques and magic.
I was certain that it wasn't completely ineffective.
As proof, Kajad was only focusing on maintaining the black curtain and was unable to fight back. I presumed that he was focusing all his mind on defense.
However, we also couldn't maintain our attacks for long.
We were also running out of power, and the elf warriors were also being driven back by the endless number of skeletons.
Even though twelve rake eagles were helping out by attacking the skeletons with their claws directly, the undead army was practically infinite.
Dana also supported us with a few magic attacks here and there, but it wasn't effective without his dual-energy attacks.

Were we going to lose just like this?

That thought crossed my mind.

'Not yet!'

I still hadn't utilized everything I had. There must be something else I could use.
At that moment, something flashed my mind.

-Fire of Life (Fusion skill): Imbues the Fire of Life to bestow vitality. Only usable twice a day.
*Mid Lv 4: Recovers vitality, reduces aging, effective treatment against illnesses and curses.

The life force of mother nature was very similar to the power of elementals.
There was also the additional option of treating curses.

'With this!'

I created a Fire of Life with one of my hands. A blue orb of flame was created.

"Litalin!"

I then threw that ball towards Dana.
Dana caught the ball I threw.
He was at a loss at first but then smiled as he understood my intentions.
He then absorbed the Fire of Life.
Then,

Pop! Pop!

He created a blue-colored mana ball in one hand, and in the other was the blue flames containing the Fire of Life.

Dual circle!

He had managed to replace the soul energy with the energy contained in the Fire of Life.
Dana combined his hands to fuse the energies into one.

Crackle!

When the Fire of Life combined with mana, it started emitting a strange kind of light.
Dana then flew straight towards Kajad.
Then he fired the energy in his hand towards the black curtain that protected Kajad like an iron fortress.

Flash!

"Urgh!"

Kajad finally groaned in pain.
The black curtain had a little crack in it.
A very small gap!

'Sylph!'

And Sylph didn't disappoint me.
It had fired into that small crack.

Boom!
Plod!

"Arrgh!"

Kajad's abdomen burst open and blood sprayed out like a fountain.

'That freakish monster!'

Usually, being shot with a 20mm bullet, not to mention an armor-piercing incendiary one, wouldn't end with a wound in the stomach. Usually, one would just explode into pieces on the spot.
And this was with the bullet enhanced to the max with bullet adjustments and Sylph's power!

"Grrrr, YOU!"

Kajad extended his hand out towards me. Hundreds of black flames formed into arrows were generated. He seemed to be planning to shoot them all at me.

'Come on!'

I wasn't afraid.

Swoosh swoosh swoosh!

Those black flame arrows then poured onto me.
At that moment, I used another skill.

"Permeate!"

-Permeate(fusion skill): Able to let small objects pass through the body without harming the body.
*Mastered: 200 seconds per day.

The black flame arrows went straight through my body.
I ignored the arrows and attacked Kajad with my flaming punches.

Boom! Bang! Rumble!

The crack in the black curtain started to get bigger. However, Kajad's serious gun wound was instead healing.

'An undying eternal ruler actually meant immortal?'

I felt eerie.
This was a very hard-earned opportunity. I felt that we would never be able to win against him if it wasn't now.

"Hyunho!"

Dana shouted. I understood what he meant without having him explain.
I created another Fire of Life and threw it over to Dana. Twice per day, that was it. I didn't have any more of that.

Pop!

Dana absorbed it before combining it with mana.
Then he shot light towards Kajad.

"Arrrrgh!"

Kajad's painful groans were getting bigger.

"Now!"
"Fuck, just die already!"

The other examinees also attacked with their full power all at once.
Crack! Crrrack!

The cracks on the black curtain became thicker. And eventually,

BOOM!

"Urgh!"

The black curtain shattered with a bullet from Sylph.

"Kajad!"

I shouted loudly and charged at Kajad.
Kajad's eyes stiffened.
I hugged Kajad and locked my hands so that he couldn't escape.

"…It's finally over."

Kajad's voice that regained reason momentarily could be heard.
I clenched my teeth.

Flicker!

With Kasa's power combined with mine, I poured out as many flames as possible. I poured all of my remaining summon time into that attack.
The flames engulfed both me and Kajad.
The pillar of fire rose into the skies like a Tree of Life. We were endlessly burned together like that.
The flames burned for about what seemed like an eternity.

"Damn, you sure are tenacious!"

A few kilometers away from Laman City.
The tattered Lee Chang-wee glared at the man and woman in front of him with fear.
Heising and his aide still had hostility in their eyes.
Heising was very much like Lee Chang-wee in the aspect that he was in a ragged state.
Lee Chang-wee gained several internal injuries where his organs were starting to shift positions, thanks to being hit by Heising's penetrative strikes, while Heising was missing his left arm.

However, the difference was clear.
Lee Chang-wee was afraid of pain and death.
Heising had no such thing.

Heising imbued all of his remaining aura into his right fist.
That insane concentration of aura freaked Lee Chang-wee out.

'That lunatic, I'm gonna die at this rate.'

Perhaps it was because he was already dead, but Heising attacked without care for defense. Without support from the woman at the back, he would have long since collapsed from Lee Chang-wee's calm strikes.
However, precisely because of that, Heising was able to come to a decision to bring Lee Chang-wee down even if he had to die with him.
Lee Chang-wee felt fear.

'I don't want to die again!'

Lee Chang-wee honed his martial arts starting from a young age and used his talents for a gangster community.
Due to his poverty, he would sell his soul if he could earn money.
However, he earned his money so desperately like that but ended up being killed with a gunshot. This was his tragic past life.

Because of that, Lee Chang-wee accepted the angel's proposition to become an examinee. He did not want to feel the despair and nihility that laughed at his efforts.

"I will not die again! Unlike you two who have already died twice!"

With that shout as the signal, Heising charged at him. He was practically using his body to attack at this point.
Lee Chang-wee clenched his teeth.

'I will stay alive. Definitely! No matter what!'

Then a miracle happened.

Pop!

A gate appeared right beside him.
This was the exam gate.

The sudden appearance of the exam gate made Lee Chang-wee dumbfounded for a moment, but Heising's piercing killing intent woke him up and he jumped into the gate.
The exam gate disappeared, and Heising's punch hit nothing but air.

I woke up to a blank space.

'What happened?'

I didn't realize what was going on and looked around dumbfounded. Fortunately, a familiar face was very close to me.

"Have you awoken?"

Cha Jihye was indeed really close to me. I was on her lap.

"Jihye?"
"It's all over now."

Cha Jihye stroked my hair kindly as she said that. Her hand magically made me calm down.
Along with that, I remembered what was happening before I fainted.

'That's it, Kajad!'

Yes.
I locked Kajad in my arms and burned myself up with Kasa's power.
It was not easy to burn Kajad's near-immortal and infinitely regenerating body.
In order to defeat Kajad who was resisting with black magic, I unsummoned Sylph and concentrated all my power in burning him.
It was a long period of time. I burned him until Kasa was unsummoned after all.
However, I didn't remember the end.

"What happened to the fight?"
"We won. Kajad is dead."
"Then why did I lose consciousness?"
"When Kajad's soul left his body it influenced you and your soul was in an unstable state as well."
"Hah?"

What the hell does that mean?

"Kajad possessed too much soul energy and his soul was able to influence other life forms around him, or so I heard."
"Then I……."
"I brought you into the exam gate as soon as it appeared."

So I recovered to my peak state by crossing the gate.
Wait, that means…….!

"Did, did we clear the exam?"
"Yes of course."
"Then we don't have to go through this anymore?"
"Yes."
"Then we don't have to go to Arena ever ag…,"

I suddenly thought of something when I spoke up to that point.
I abruptly sat up.

"Huh?"
"What is it?"
"Th, then I didn't say goodbye to anyone! The elves, the people of my fief, the eagles… and now I will never meet them again!"

Then, Cha Jihye pulled me back down and made me lay on her lap. Then she spoke calmly.

"That's fine."

She stroked my hair again and my heart magically calmed down again.

"It's a place we'll never set foot to every again. You just need to forget everything, leave behind everything, and forget it as though it was just a dream."
"But… that's so sad."

Everything that happened in Arena flashed through in my mind.

Lee Hyesoo, Lee Joonho, Kang Chunsung…….
The forest where they died, I would never be able to go again.

"Can I forget them?"

I felt like crying.

"You can. After a while, you may remember them again once in a while, but it will all feel like a dream."
"A dream…."

I ended up chuckling as that felt so empty.

"Then that was one vivid dream."
"I agree."

At that time, another familiar voice could be heard.

"Heeey, looks like you miss it a lot?"

Flap flap flap.

The baby angel approached while flapping his wings like a chicken.
I stopped him from getting closer to my face.

"Stop. It feels awkward so don't come close to me."
"Sure, sure."

How dare you put that tiny little silkworm against my face? Thanks to that, all the regrets that made my heart flutter all washed away. Sheesh, this dude really didn't read the atmosphere.

"You really did it! Here I thought you were going to die just like that."
"Of course. Did you think I'll just die after I've gone through all that?"
"Anyway, I really have to congratulate you."

For some reason, the baby angel smiled at me. It wasn't that evil smirk that he usually made.

"Anyway, what happens to us now?"
"I was waiting for you to wake up precisely to tell you about that. Well, I could have woken you up with a thunderbolt, but I restrained myself. I thought you may get a bad impression about angels."
"I already have a bad impression about angels thanks to you."
"I'll take that as a compliment. Well then. I'll do the announcement so please gather round! This is not the marketplace so everyone should just shut up!"

What the hell is this guy saying? There's only Cha Jihye and me right….

'What?!'

I was surprised.
Examinees were all around us. There were at least a thousand.

"Huh?"
"When did this…"

The examinees were all surprised as well.
There were numerous angels flying around as well.

"Ah-ah! Noisy! Chat again and I'll bring down thunderbolts on you people!"

The baby angel threatened everyone with a bland tone.
The examinees were dissatisfied as well…

"What the hell is that dude saying?"
"Did that thing just threaten us?"
"For who do you think I fought until now!"

The baby angel just shrugged his shoulders.

"My work here is done and I'll never see you people again so I can act as I want. You are all getting lightning strikes to be prepared, okay?"
"D, damn that thing."
"I really hate that thing."
"His honesty is as lacking as his crotch."

The baby angel listened to the insults from the examinees like music to his ears.
Anyway, his threats seemed to have worked and the examinees became quiet.

"Well, then! I hereby announce the end of the exams. You will never have to take these exams, nor will you ever go back to Arena."

Everyone's faces became joyful.
The baby angel continued speaking.

"There's one thing that all of you here are curious about, right? What happens to your skills and items? There may be some of you asking if it is going to all disappear now that the exams are over."

The examinees waited for his words in nervousness.
The baby angel spoke.

"They will all disappear."
"Aaah!"
"Dammit!"
"All of it!?"

The examinees exclaimed.
However, the baby angel continued to speak.

"Now, then. Please quieten down. You should listen to your angel until the end, puny humans."
"What the hell did that just say?"
"Now he's acting so high and mighty that we're never going to see again."
"Damn that thing!"
"How the hell is that an angel?"

Rumble! Boom! Boom!

"Arrgh!"
"Dammit!"
"He really threw down thunderbolts."
"That dude is even worse than Kajad!"

The baby angel really did summon several thunderbolts to subjugate the examinees.
After it finally became quiet, the baby angel spoke again.

"It will be very sad if you don't get any rewards after clearing the last exam, right?"
"……."
"That's why we came prepared. Check your tablets."

The examinees summoned their tablets.
I also summoned my tablets and checked the contents.

-Name: Kim Hyunho
-Class: –
-Karma: +81,000
-Mission: Receive the final karma rewards.
-Time limit: 10 days.
-After the time limit, the tablet and remaining karma will disappear forever.

'Over 80 thousand.'

It was thanks to sniping a lot of the corrupt examinees. The one who finished Kajad off was also me as well.

'But the skills and items are all going to disappear. What good is this?'

Everyone had similar thoughts.
The baby angel spoke.

"Once you are no longer an examinee, you will lose all your skills and items. However, if you regain your skills and items with those remaining points, it will not disappear and will be yours until you die."
"What!?"
"So we can only own karma that we've earned in this round, huh?"
"Dammit! I didn't do much in this last exam!"
"Oh shit! I only got 3,000 points in this exam!"
"If I knew this was going to happen, I wouldn't have stayed in hiding."

The examinees all exclaimed.
But at that time.

"Then what happens to me!"

One man suddenly shouted out loud. Everyone's gazes, including that of the baby angel's directed to him.

'Whoa.'

I was surprised.
It was none other than Lee Chang-wee! How tenacious, that dude.

"There will be separate rewards for examinees with negative karma as well."
"Rewards?"
"Oh, I should say consequences."

The baby angel smirked. Lee Chang-wee became very nervous. This was the first time I saw him so scared.

"In your remaining lifetime, you will experience penalties as large as your negative karma."
"Wh, what does that mean?"

It wasn't just Lee Chang-wee. There were numerous other corrupt examinees as well.
The baby angel shrugged.

"What? You'll be as misfortunate as your negative karma will get you. If you do not experience enough misfortune than your negative karma states, then the misfortune will carry over to your next life, and the life after that as well. Until all of it is paid back."
"Th, that's…."

Lee Chang-wee's expression became pale.

"We angels did not advise you to do good things, nor did we advise you to do evil things. We are not the ones to decide what's good and what's evil."
"Then what happens to me?"
"However, we always said, didn't we? You will receive comparable consequences for your acts. Why didn't you live more kindly?"

The baby angel clicked his tongue.

"Aaah, aaaaaack! NO!"

Lee Chang-wee despaired.
There were many other examinees who acted the same away. They should be corrupt examinees like Lee Chang-wee.
He really did some unexcusable stuff, but now that I saw him like that, I felt a little pity. I was scared thinking about what he would experience in his future life.

Pop!

The exam gates appeared in the surroundings.
The baby angel smiled.

"Well done for your hard work until now. Please, be on your way."

The examinees started to return to reality through the gates.
There were quite a lot of gates so the large gathering of examinees disappeared quickly.
Cha Jihye and I waited calmly without hurrying out.
However, seeing that, the baby angel approached us.

"Examinee Kim Hyunho, what are you doing? Go home already."
"Don't you still get it? I'm waiting for my turn."
"It's not that you will miss me?"
"Urgh, this little prick."

I punched the angel, and he lightly evaded it.
The baby angel chuckled. As this was the last time, I didn't find his personality that bad for some reason.

"Perhaps we'll meet again once you die and come to the underworld. Don't come too early just because you want to see me."
"I'm never going to die. I'll live a long life."
"Well, as long as you don't become undead, we won't really restrain you. Live a long life."
"…… Bye."

I grabbed Jihye's hand and walked towards the gate.
But at that time the baby angel spoke.

"Are you satisfied with the reward?"

Am I satisfied?
I stopped walking.
Then I smiled.

"Yeah, that was the best reward."

I hugged Jihye and gave her a kiss. Although it as a sudden kiss, she didn't get startled and accepted it.
Once we go back, it will be our wedding.
We're finally getting married!

Epilogue

After we returned to Earth, numerous things happened in just a few days.
First, the world changed.
Magic essence crystals and its technology were revealed to the public.
The core members of the political world and the financial world were already aware of it, but to the civilians, it was a huge shock.
It was announced as a special energy source found in a few mutated animals, and it soon became a hot topic.
The biggest problem was procuring the 'animals' that contained magic essence crystals, and in Korea, there was the farm that I, the Korean government, and Jinsung group worked on to create, so our future economy looked safe and sound.
However, precisely due to that problem, I had experienced some difficulties. My wedding, which I planned to hold on a small scale due to the fact that we didn't have anyone to invite, ended up meeting a huge crowd!
Odin, Marie, and their Nordic crew.
Dana Litalin and the members of the final battle.
Oh, and the 33 members of the final battle gained the most karma points so they remained as the highest ranking people of the world. This ranking was now set in stone and wouldn't ever change again.

Anyway, the examinees were fine.
But it wasn't just them. Not only Chairman Park Jinsung, the Presidential Secretary, and even some big guys of the economic and political world from all over the globe attended my wedding, and I didn't even invite them!

Though, I could understand their feelings.
I am the examinee that received the most karma points in the last exam, even more than Dana.
Not only that, but there were also my darling cows that produced magic essence crystals at the farm that were like new oil sources.
There were numerous countries that would ask for a pair of male and female cows once my darling cows produced offspring.

Thanks to that, my small scale wedding became a large party that spanned over several days.
The hotel that we booked for the wedding turned out to be run by Chairman Park Jinsung's daughter so we were easily able to expand our wedding to fit the larger crowd.
I wished I could just leave for our honeymoon, but the government people kept nagging me about 'international relations' and I ended up staying for longer.
In this wedding that had many international big shots, our dear little ex-chicken shop owner, that is, my mother, was scared stiff.
Instead, my big sister was able to confront those big shots well with her ice cold face, and my little sister who knew absolutely nothing, started hitting on young handsome foreigners that attended.

In any case, I suddenly received attention from all over the world and became a mystery figure behind all magic essence business.
The government protected my personal information, so the mass media only considered me as some rich kid with rich grandparents.
Well, who cares.
Everything is going well now.
Whatever happens, I am going to enjoy my life with my woman, in peace.

We went on our honeymoon on a private jet.
This private jet was obviously 'borrowed' from the big shot grandpa, Chairman Park Jinsung.

"Have you still not decided on your karma rewards?"

Cha Jihye, who was next to me, asked.
I nodded my head with a sigh.

"Yeah."

By the way, she put her points into aura control mid lv 1 and mastered health adjustment and officially became the strongest wife in the world.
The amount of karma I gained in the last exam was 81,000.
I first put points into elementalism and spent 36,500 points to get it to high lv 1.
Although the exams were over, Earth still wasn't at complete peace. As I became an important person in the magic essence crystal industry, I needed power to protect myself.
Actually, I just didn't want to part ways with my cute little Sylph and Kasa.
I also spent 5,500 points on both animal training and growth boost because of my new business.
I was left with 33,500 points.

"Hmm, what should I do with it?"
"You should choose something that contributes to your happiness in life."

Cha Jihye said to me.

"Happiness, you say."
"Living healthily means living happily, is it not?"
"I guess that's true."

I thought about it for a moment before selecting skills to acquire.

"First, this is for the health of me and my family."

-Fire of Life (Fusion skill): Imbues the Fire of Life to bestow vitality. Only usable twice a day.
*Mid Lv 1: Recovers vitality, reduces aging, effective treatment against illnesses and curses.

"And this is for my own health."

-Health adjustment (Sub skill): Enhances health and stamina exponentially.
*Mid Lv 5: Gains health at a level of the strongest elves.

"That should be fine, but let's get something for everyday use."

-Virtual Space (Fusion skill): Creates a virtual space to store items. Able to store items using the command 'put in' and 'take out.
*Master: 1,000 * 1,000 * 1,000cm. Able to store electronic items and life forms.

-Athleticism (Fusion skill): methods of moving the body is enhanced.
*Master: Allows the body to become a master of all movement.

Now, I had exactly 10,000 karma points left. I thought about what to do with it before thinking up of a good skill to invest in.
"I will acquire pathfinder to master level!"

-Pathfinder (Sub skill): Gains a sixth sense to learn the position of a specific place, person or item.
*Master: Allows learning the position of items, locations and people without having to see it personally.
-Consumes 5,500 karma to master it.

-Remaining karma: +4,500

"You raised pathfinder?"

Cha Jihye asked in wonder.

"Yes, I want to chase my wife once she runs away later on in life."
"I don't think such a thing would happen, but that looks like it will be helpful in finding our future child when he or she leaves home."
"……Let's not go there right now."
"You started it first."
"You simply won't lose to me. And you still speak like a soldier too."
"I, I apologize."

When I acted mad, Cha Jihye looked very startled. Hm, it was still worth it to tease her.
I invested the remaining karma to master the fire of life which was at mid lv 1.
That made me spend another 3,600 points and I now had 900 points left.
Since there wasn't a lot left, I just decided to buy 9 item bags worth 100 points each. This was an item that we would not have again on Earth.
I spent all of my karma like that.
The tablet appeared in front of me.

-Name: Kim Hyunho
-Class: –
-Karma: –
-Mission: Receive the final karma rewards. (Success)
-Time limit: 4 days 12 hours 12 minutes.

"It said I succeeded."

The tablet's words wriggled around and changed to something else.

-You have spent all of your karma. You may end the exams.
-The tablet cannot be summoned again once the exams end, and there will no longer be any karma rewards. It is also impossible to refund items into karma again.
-End the exam?

I smiled.
"Yes."

-Ending the exams
-Thank you for your work. Until the day we see each other again.

Chapter end