Ranker Who Lives Twice

Chapter 782 - Brotherhood (1)

Kiaaaak!

I-Impossible!

To a mere human! A mere human!

I can’t be defeated so easily! I’m ###! I…!

The Black King’s alternate ego let out a shrill scream and was sucked into Yeon-woo at a rapid pace. The ego was furious. The human he thought would naturally be crushed with just a flick of his finger was overtaking him.

Of course, compared to the ego, Yeon-woo was still a tiny dot. No matter how many beings he swallowed, he couldn’t surpass the cosmic being the ego was.

However, the ego felt threatened in his gut. His confidence was now gone, and he began to act recklessly in front of Yeon-woo.

Let go! Let…!

The ego hysterically tried to force Yeon-woo off, but the sharp canines only dug in harder.

[‘Hades’ Spirit Eating Sword’ never lets go of its prey!]

And soon, all darkness was bound to Yeon-woo.

[You have retrieved the legend of the ‘Alternative Ego of the Black King.’]

[You have retrieved the vanquished legend ‘Supreme God of Olympus.’]

[You have retrieved the vanquished legend ‘Giant Demonic Divine Dragon!’]

[You have successfully retrieved all legends.]

[All your missing egos are restored.]

Swish! Yeon-woo felt his soul and body return to their original state. His power was coming back to him.

‘No. It’s more than that.’ To be exact, Yeon-woo’s power was being reassembled. The other legends were neatly organized under the victorious identity of human Yeon-woo, and they became a sturdy foundation that would never be broken. The caves the legends had run rampant in disappeared, and a gigantic precipice appeared in front of him. What lay at the bottom couldn’t be seen because of all the clouds surrounding it.

However, the golden light within Yeon-woo shot up to the sky and slowly settled back down, revealing the stairs that were hidden in the sea of clouds.

[‘Li’s Light’ illuminates your path!]

The stairs sparkled as if telling Yeon-woo to come their way.

Another message popped up. Ding!

[You have passed the ninety-ninth floor, the gate of ‘Li’s Tomb.’]

[Would you like to be transported to the one-hundredth floor?]

“…What?” For a moment, Yeon-woo thought he was seeing things. Messages like these were ones he frequently came across in the Tower when he was moving between floors. But he had made the Tower come crumbling down, so why was this…? And the ninety-ninth floor?

Questions consecutively arose in Yeon-woo’s head. However, with all things considered, it didn’t seem impossible. The ninety-eighth floor, the heavenly world the gods and demons lived in, was a world ordinary players were familiar with, but nothing was known about the ninety-ninth or hundredth-floor. The gods and demons had attempted to ascend to them, but it was blocked due to an unknown reason.

However, a few great divine beings had hypothesized this could be the Heavenly Demon’s territory. It was well-known the Heavenly Demon was recovering after losing much of his power from trapping them all in the Tower, but no one knew where he was. The divine beings thought it was possible he was on the ninety-ninth floor where no one had stepped in.

Yeon-woo had only taken into thought preventing the Black King’s rule after taking down the Tower and defeating Allforone. He had no idea what was on the Tower’s top. If it really was the Heavenly Demon’s territory, like the great divine beings said…it would still be remaining in some form after the Tower was destroyed.

And these floors were ones the heavenly world hadn’t been able to access, so that meant the Bureau wouldn’t have been able to touch it either. Yeon-woo understood why Yvlke could be trying to go to the Heavenly Demon’s territory.

‘The hundredth floor.’ Yeon-woo looked to where the stairs led. No matter how much he spread his field of recognition, he couldn’t read what was at the end of the stairs. He only saw fog like it was really covered by clouds.

[Would you like to be transported to the one-hundredth floor?]

Yeon-woo gazed at the message for a while, then turned around in the opposite direction and plopped down. “…” He could move on to the hundredth floor, but there was something he needed to do before that.

I told you, gods are lonely. You seek your friends and family, so you’re human. The words continued to loop in Yeon-woo’s ears. Yeon-woo intended on waiting until his brother and family, who were following him, arrived here.

[The Heavenly Demon chuckles at the Black King’s alternate ego.]

How cute.

Yeon-woo felt like he heard laughter.

* * *

[The Heavenly Demon closely observes his visitors.]

“That annoying bastard is doing his stalker shit again. Hey! Get down here, now!” Sun Wukong was guiding Jeong-woo and the others when his face crumpled at the message that popped up in front of him. Then, he shouted at the sky, cursing with a shake of his finger.

[The Heavenly Demon uninterestedly says he doesn’t want to go down.]

“What, you idiot? That mannerless bastard.”

[The Heavenly Demon says he’s so jealous Sun Wukong is such an old boomer while scratching his butt.]

“Argh! You couldn’t even take a single punch from me in the past. Son Ji-ho, you grew up a bit, huh?”

[The Heavenly Demon aggravates Sun Wukong to attack if he’s mad.]

Cha Jeong-woo, Kronos, and Rhea looked bewildered as they wondered if the sight happening in front of them was really happening.

“…Father, is there another god who uses the moniker ‘Heavenly Demon’ that I don’t know about?”

『There isn’t to my knowledge…』

“But there could be, right?”

『It could be divine being who was born at I fell to Earth… But wouldn’t the Heavenly Demon have crushed any who dared to use the same name as him?』

“R-Right?”

『Of course…』

“Then what is that?”

『I’ve been asking myself the same thing for some time now.』

They knew the Heavenly Demon had a mischievous personality, contrary to his infamy and ill repute, but it was surprising that he could argue back and forth with someone like that. They wondered if this was truly the Heavenly Demon. In particular, Rhea, who had seen her son Zeus lose to the Heavenly Demon and watched Olympus being trapped in the heavenly world, felt strange.

However, Cha Jeong-woo felt more sure now that past this location called ‘Li’s Tomb’ was where the Heavenly Demon was. Nocturne, who was thinking the same, pressed his lips together and was silent for some time.

Just then, Sun Wukong stopped irritatedly in his steps. “If you go straight from here, you’ll see Cha Yeon-woo.”

Cha Jeong-woo tilted his head. “You’re not coming with us?”

“I am. I’m just gonna be separated from you for a while.”

Cha Jeong-woo’s eyes brightened. “Is there a mission or quest of some sort?”

Sun Wukong nodded in annoyance and pointed at the ceiling. “The guy there is quite picky. He won’t open the door otherwise.”

Cha Jeong-woo nodded in understanding. Like in the Tower, they probably had to pass the given missions. “Can you tell us what the mission is?”

Sun Wukong shook his head. “All of us will be chased out if I do that.”

“Hm, this is hard. All right.” Cha Jeong-woo moved past Sun Wukong with a nervous expression and entered the dark cave. Kronos and Rhea hastened their steps, wanting to see their son as soon as possible.

[A quest has been created!]

…

“What’s this?”

“What’s this?”

“Who’s this good-looking guy?”

“Whoa. So good-looking. Nice proportions too. Wanna be a model?”

Cha Jeong-woo faced multiple beings that had been divided from him. Student Cha Jeong-woo, Heaven Wing, the Tower’s common enemy, ghost of the small wheel, successor of Quirinale, master of Day (Eros)... The legends that made up Cha Jeong-woo all had separate identities and thoughts, but while they stood wary of each other, Sky Wings prepared for action, they didn’t clash against one another.

It wasn’t as if they were given a battle of some sort, and Cha Jeong-woo’s thought process was always ruled by reason. It was a habit formed from his younger days because he didn’t like fighting.

“Name.”

“Cha Jeong-woo.”

“Height?”

“181 centimeters.”

“Whoa! I’m gonna be over 180 centimeters?! So I’m still growing from here! Hurrah!”

“…That noisy bastard, someone push him off to the side.”

“What about everyone’s legends?”

“I’m a student!”

“Since I have memories of unfurling Sky Wings, I’m probably ‘Heaven Wing.’”

“I’m…”

“I’m…!”

Each of them began to speak of their memories. While they stood tense at the fact anyone could stab each other in the back, they worked hard to fill what each other was missing.

“What was our final goal?”

“Beating up King Temper?”

“What are you talking about? It was stabbing King Temper in the back!”

“I want to cage that stupid temperamental bastard in somewhere.”

“I want to slap our God Temper on the mouth. His words are always so insufferable.”

Everyone let out the words they’d been hesitant to say when the youngest-looking student Cha Jeong-woo carefully raised his hand. They all turned to him, who said, “I don’t care if I only get a single chance to do it, but I want to fight my brother and win.”

“…”

“…”

“…”

Everyone nodded in agreement. Now that it seemed like they had a common goal, one of them stepped up with a clap. “Even if our memories are pieced apart, it seems our thinking is the same. Does anyone have any objections to our current decision?”

“No.”

“No.”

“Let’s hurry since we’re short on time.”

Cha Jeong-woo’s legends quickly finished their discussion and turned around to make their own exit from the stage. Light flashed, then it soon settled.

[You have retrieved the legend of ‘Heaven Wing!’]

[You have retrieved the legend of ‘Tower’s Common Enemy!’]

…

The particles of light were absorbed into student Cha Jeong-woo. They all had their own differentiable identities, having gone through many obstacles and herculean tasks, but they had decided their “true” identity was the young Jeong-woo who entered the Tower for his family.

With that, student Cha Jeong-woo became the real Cha Jeong-woo and successfully finished the ninety-ninth floor’s mission. The caves disappeared, and he saw Yeon-woo standing at the edge of a vast precipice.

“Hyung…!” Cha Jeong-woo had come all the way here to catch Yeon-woo, so he was about to scold his brother for making them so worried.

Whoosh! But for some reason, Yeon-woo was running at Jeong-woo scarily with an expressionless face. “You wanted to fight? Come at me.”

“W-W-Wait! That’s not it! Stop—” Cha Jeong-woo shouted frantically, but Yeon-woo’s fist was already headed for his face.

Crash!