Ranker Who Lives Twice

Fortunately, Yeon-woo was correct.

「This is…! I see. Did the dragons walk the same path as we did?」 The soul of the Great Warrior's eyes widened as he nodded in understanding. 「The dragons also wished to climb to the higher floors, even though it was for a different reason. Before we went extinct, the dragons were already an endangered race as well.」

Unlike the Great Warrior's soul, the ancient dragon Kalatus didn't budge even as Yeon-woo's party approached him. Anyone watching would have assumed he was already dead.

However, Yeon-woo could see that Kalatus was deep in hibernation. He was probably conserving energy or had probably given in to sleep, not wishing to suffer any longer. Yeon-woo didn't think the Crawling Chaos would have allowed Kalatus to sleep like this, but Kalatus had probably found a way since he was well-versed in magic. 'I should wake him later.'

Yeon-woo thought he needed to get Kalatus away from here first. Kalatus had helped bring him here and told him that Jeong-woo's soul was in darkness. It was likely he knew quite a bit about the Crawling Chaos and darkness.

『From the last king of the giants to the king of the dragons…haha! Looks like it's not the Crawling Chaos doing the collecting, but you. What are you trying to do with these beings who disappeared long ago? I guess you won't be bored since you have so many to talk to.』 The Monkey King's exuviae chuckled, happy to see that their companions were growing in number.

Yeon-woo nodded and opened Hades' Spirit Eating Sword to separate Kalatus from the Crawling Chaos, just as he had done with the Great Warrior's soul. His Draconic Factors increased dramatically. "Monkey King."

『Yes. Are you ready now?』

"Yes. What do I have to do to obtain the revelations?" Yeon-woo had no idea how to find the revelations in this place of trapped ghosts that brimmed with too many memories and vestiges. It seemed like he would have to use a lot of effort to find the revelations.

However, the Monkey King's exuviae had a deep understanding of the unconscious from all the time he spent in Yeon-woo's unconscious. Furthermore, he was one of the faces of the Heavenly Demon, who managed the Changgong Library, so it was possible he knew something. 『There's not much to it. Just do what you do best.』

Yeon-woo cocked his head in confusion, not understanding what the Monkey King's exuviae was saying at first. Then, when he understood, he laughed. "All right, then." Yeon-woo closed his eyes, building a plan inside of his head. He spoke in a low voice. "Nemesis. Nike."

Whoosh! Instantly, the Sin Stone vibrated wildly. Emptiness opened to reveal Nemesis. A flame blazed on Nemesis' head and slowly dispersed to reveal Nike. Nemesis had grown colossal after Yeon-woo had consumed Akasha's Snake and he'd gone through metamorphosis. It felt as if the vast world of the Crawling Chaos' unconscious had become smaller even though Nemesis wasn't even showing his full form. He had only brought a part of him out of the emptiness while the rest was still coiled up inside.

『Did you call for us, Master?』

『Wow! Where's this? It's super hard to breathe!』

As Yeon-woo nodded in response to Nemesis' question, Nike flapped his wings to fly into Yeon-woo's arms. Nike was almost half of Yeon-woo's size now.

『Oh, what's this? A bit bigger and he's gonna catch up to my dragon. What'd you feed him?』 The Monkey King's exuviae exclaimed in astonishment as he looked Nemesis over. Then, he turned to Nike, who left a trail of fire as he moved. 『And this one's good-looking. Nice and round, too. Ah, I want some fried chicken. Mm. It was good back when I had it once.』

『Master. This old man is strange. He's scary.』

The Monkey King's exuviae was smacking his lips. Yeon-woo looked at him in bewilderment. How did he know about fried chicken? Although Nike didn't know what fried chicken was, he burrowed deeper into Yeon-woo's arms, sensing a threat. Yeon-woo stroked Nike's head, telling him it was all right. Even though Nike was fully grown, he was still childlike, and he rubbed his head on Yeon-woo's chest.

Feeling safe again, Nike flapped his wings and looked up. 『You want me to burn this all, right?』

The thing that Yeon-woo did best was his ability to wreak havoc. "Yes. I'll leave it to you."

『Heehee. You can trust me! I didn't want to look at this stuff any longer anyway. Hiya!』 Nike transformed back into fire, and blue flames instantly spread to the walls of this world, forming a huge tsunami of fire. Everything began to burn. Nike was a phoenix holding the fire of life, which meant that he had a great affinity for purification. There wasn't a better countermeasure for the chaos and disorderly energy of the Crawling Chaos.

Kiaaa. Kiiii! Kiii! The ghosts all screamed as their souls burned. However, joy followed at the heels of the pain, and relief filled their faces as they disappeared.

Rumble! The world of the Crawling Chaos' unconscious began to shake turbulently. Space began to tremble as though there were an earthquake, and strange objects began to rain down—clumps of vestiges. The achievements that the Crawling Chaos had accumulated through the ages had cracked and were falling down.

Nemesis wordlessly watched the scene and quietly scattered into darkness. Then, dream energy began to wave around them, and the gruesome pieces of vestiges began to turn into letters. Yeon-woo temporarily established his territory in the Crawling Chaos' world. Nemesis' technique allowed Yeon-woo to easily differentiate between all the pieces and pick out the ones he needed.

Suddenly, Yeon-woo pulled out a thick black book. It was the item he'd created after exploring the sites of the giants: the Book of the Black King. Malach called it the "Book of Enoch" and L'Infernal called it "Lemegeton". It was a collection of prophecies—in short, the revelations.

Flutter. The book emitted a black light, and the pages quickly flipped. The first sections were information Yeon-woo had obtained from the Changgong Library and from the stones of the giants, but it wasn't enough. The book was thicker than the width of his hand, and he'd only filled ten percent of it.

The pieces of vestiges clicked together and took on various forms.

[The 'Book of the Black King (Incomplete) searches for the letters it needs.]

[There are ??? letters and ??? pages in this place.]

[Creation is being attempted.]

[The letters have been assembled.]

A few of the letters spun into the black book. 'Hup!' In the meantime, Yeon-woo focused on supplying the book with the immense amount of magic power required to complete it. Was it because it was a collection of all the prophecies in the universe? Or was it because the Crawling Chaos possessed so many of them? Although he had become one with the Demonism and possessed nearly infinite magic power with the Giant Demonic Divine Dragon trait, he had to give everything.

He felt like he risked losing the strength of his Philosopher's Stone, Dragon Heart, and even his own body, so he concentrated on controlling his magic power. Urrrng. The three Casts of the Black King vibrated violently. His body shook in the storm of magic power.

Chhh. As letters attached themselves to the pages of the book one by one, the world of the Crawling Chaos' unconscious quaked turbulently.

Boom. A shiver-inducing cry rang out.

『Has he finally caught on?』 The eyebrows of the Monkey King's exuviae twitched. The Crawling Chaos had finally realized what was happening. Although the Crawling Chaos had been unaware for some time, the Monkey King's exuviae thought it would take him a little longer to realize it.

Stepping foot in Yeon-woo's abyss was already dangerous enough. The Monkey King was amazed that the Crawling Chaos could move here even as he was focused on his task in Yeon-woo's unconscious.

『Get ready and stand on your guard!』 The Great Warrior's soul materialized the weapon he'd used when he was alive and gripped its hilt.

Yeon-woo didn't have the attention to be concerned with anything else. It was already difficult enough controlling the explosive storm of magic power. Nike had to purify while Nemesis focused on changing the vestiges to letters. It was up to the Monkey King's exuviae and the Great Warrior to block the Crawling Chaos.

『Now!』 As soon as the Monkey King's exuviae shouted, a countless number of incarnations fell from above, more than they'd ever dealt with before. To make matters worse, each of them had the strength of superior divine beings.

Since the Crawling Chaos was the creator of this place, his defense mechanisms were as strong as he was.

『Enlarge, Ruyi Bang!』 The Ruyi Bang in the Monkey King's hand lengthened endlessly as he brandished it. At its tip, Flame Wheel and Lightning Strike activated, causing eruptions of fire and lightning.

The soul of the Great Warrior stuck close to Yeon-woo to protect him. When the incarnations that the Monkey King failed to block attempted to approach Yeon-woo, he stepped up.

Boom! Boom! Krakrakra. As if he were demonstrating how he'd become the mighty king of the giants, the Great Warrior's soul bellowed as he swung his weapon. With each swing, space split, and multiple incarnations were swept away. With each stamp of his foot, the ground turned over, turning into high walls to prevent the incarnations' approach.

The Crawling Chaos changed his methods when the incarnations found themselves unable to approach Yeon-woo. Cracks suddenly appeared on the incarnations, they self-destructed, releasing the energy inside them. Rumble. Boom!

『This damned…bastard』 The Monkey King's exuviae had to focus on neutralizing the attacks when the Bian he'd sent out ricocheted back as explosions. Any impact could break Yeon-woo's concentration, and if he failed to control his magic power, it would be the end for them.

「Crawling Chaos…you're sadistic until the end!」 The Great Warrior's soul barely managed to defeat an attacking incarnation. His body was already covered with injuries, and his left hand had been cut off. He didn't have the time to heal himself as the number of incarnations kept increasing. He felt like he'd already slashed a thousand of them, but more rained down.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

『Kiddo! How much longer?』 The Monkey King's exuviae shouted in frustration.

"Just a little more! Please hold on just a little more!" Yeon-woo gritted his teeth, eyes focused on the Book of the Black King. Veins popped out on his forehead, and his eyes had gone red. Letters were still assembling on the pages. The book shook violently with a force strong enough to rip out his arms, but he held on. 'Just…a little more!'

[The letters required to complete the book are being combined.]

[You have currently combined 79.1% of the letters. You have created 11 pages. There are 3 pages left.]

[There are approximately 5 minutes left before completion.]

[The countdown is beginning.]

[00:05:00]

[00:04:59_99]

[00:04:59_98]

…

Five minutes could be short or long, depending on one's perspective. Yeon-woo felt his magic power nearing its end, but he turned to soul power to make up for whatever he lacked. The level of his soul, which he'd only just attained, began to shake dangerously.

[00:02:43_06]

[00:02:43_05]

…

When half the time required had passed, a worrisome sound rang out. Crack! Expecting the worst, Yeon-woo, the Monkey King's exuviae, and the Great Warrior's soul all looked up. Their suspicions were confirmed by the sight.

Whoosh! Crack! Crack! Cracks were appearing in the ceiling. The area where the incarnations were emerging from widened as cracks spread along the ceiling, accompanied by fog and heat.

『Shit!』 Realizing what it was, the Monkey King's exuviae shouted.

The Crawling Chaos was going to destroy his own world of unconscious—he was going to self-destruct! It would destroy all the achievements he'd gathered, but he didn't seem to care. Was this how urgently he wanted to protect the revelations, or did he have something else up his sleeve?

It was impossible to know what he was thinking. However, one thing was for certain: if they were caught up in the explosion, their identities and consciousness would be erased entirely!

[00:01:32 68]

[00:01:32_67]

…

『Move, you wretches!』 The Monkey King's exuviae swept away the incarnations blocking his way with Ruyi Bang and used Shukuchi to somehow stop the cracks from spreading. His target was the faraway core hanging above.

However, the heat was too much, and his Shukuchi didn't work. At that moment, 10,000 incarnations attached themselves to the Monkey King's arms and legs. Regardless of his efforts to remove them, three appeared to replace each one he kicked away. Soon, he couldn't move.

[00:00:58_46]

[00:00:58_45]

…

Fwoosh. The heat grew more intense, and cracks covered the entire world of the Crawling Chaos' unconscious. It was on the verge of exploding.

『No…!』 The screams of the Monkey King's exuviae were buried under a pile of incarnations. He only needed to move a little farther. He could already see the bright, sunlike core, but he was on the verge of disappearing. He was about to shout from frustration, thinking it was the end, when a hot puff of air blew away the incarnations stuck to him.

Swoosh! The Monkey King's exuviae looked behind him in surprise.

「Don't worry about anything else, and get yourself over there. I'll guard you from behind.」 A familiar, 150-meter-long dragon looked at him. The dragon's wings spread wide, and an even more intense breath was steaming in his mouth.

The ancient dragon Kalatus had opened his eyes.