Chapter 189
A special effect triggered the moment the mortal’s heart stopped.
Transcender Lil knew, to some extent, what the Sealed Demon God’s Grail was.
…And just how ominous and vile that thing could be.
-How did you get that cursed object…?!
The moment she recognized it, Lil frowned and took a step back.
Her tone was the same as someone who had just seen something repulsive.
She stared at the mortal with something close to horror.
The Sealed Demon God’s Grail was the strongest curse of the Abyss.
‘A cup that devours its owner in the most terrible way.’
What was certain was simple: the Grail devoured its owner.
A dreadful cup of greed that sacrificed everyone around its bearer until they vanished—and eventually swallowed the bearer as well.
Lil didn’t know exactly what the Sealed Demon God’s Grail truly was.
Its origin was unknown. When it first appeared was unknown.
No one knew who it had been made for, or why.
Lil only knew the people who had been ruined—killed tragically—after being intoxicated by its power.
-Were you the owner of the Grail? Then…
If he possessed the Sealed Demon God’s Grail, everything made sense.
Because it was something no one could truly “own.”
The Grail chose only one master: the noblest talent in the Abyss.
Then it addicted that master to its power, fed them despair, corrupted them.
And in the end, it forced them into self-sacrifice.
The Heavenly Demon had. The previous owners had.
That explained how this mortal had broken the ancient book’s seal and solved the two problems she posed.
Because his talent for magic was outstanding.
And more than that—
A relentless urge to challenge, a hunger to grow stronger.
That was the common thread among those who carried the Sealed Demon God’s Grail.
-The curse of the Grail cannot be overcome or severed.
Lil’s gaze filled with pity.
The moment his heart stopped, the Grail began to move.
One of its most terrible curses was this.
Another commonality of its owners—one they could never avoid.
…The Grail induced those who cherished its owner to become sacrifices.
It took everything, without exception.
That was how it gave its master endless despair—and made them rely on the Grail even more.
-You too are beginning to be eaten by the curse.
Once the curse began, there was no stopping it.
Lil had stopped his heart, but the instant she did, the Grail’s curse activated and began dragging surrounding beings into the role of “sacrifices.”
She could feel them.
The Mana Cores of ego-bearing golems.
The lives of humans and witches.
Life itself, being seized and pulled in—fed into the Grail to make the mortal’s heart beat again.
‘He won’t be able to bear it.’
When he opened his eyes and realized the people most precious to him had been sacrificed and erased, the pain would be beyond words.
At first, he would hate the Grail.
Then he would blame himself.
He would isolate himself, and in the end, destroy himself.
That was what happened to every owner she knew.
If Lil had known from the beginning that this mortal was the new owner of the Grail, she would never have recommended the final test.
Those intoxicated by the Grail’s power could not complete the ancient book’s magic anyway.
Therefore—
-The test… is a failure.
The mortal’s final test ended in failure.
Even if his heart began beating again, it would be by the Grail’s power.
It would be difficult to say he overcame it with his own Mana.
It was then.
-…Hmm?
Lil tilted her head.
Another change had begun inside the mortal’s body.
—
Park Chanwoo did not lose consciousness.
‘If this were my first time, I would’ve died.’
Even so, it was dangerous.
The instant his heart stopped, he nearly blacked out.
If he hadn’t already experienced death once, the odds of losing consciousness would have been overwhelming.
But Park Chanwoo held on, and the moment he came to, he understood where he was.
‘Time… has stopped.’
He couldn’t see anything.
He couldn’t feel anything.
It was like being dead.
He desperately gathered Mana to make his heart beat again.
But the frozen Mana was cooling with his blood.
‘I can’t solve this with ordinary Mana alone.’
He needed something purer.
He needed to draw out Innate True Qi—the source of life, something all living beings possessed from birth.
The problem was that no human could freely control Innate True Qi.
People knew it existed, but no one truly understood what it was.
It had once been a hot topic among magicians, then faded away—because no one could touch it.
‘Then I have to go deeper. Down into the depths of consciousness.’
Something he could only do now.
It was only possible now, when he could feel that consciousness still existed.
People said that when you die, your life flashes before your eyes.
A phenomenon that occurred as consciousness sank.
As it sank, it scanned the memories engraved within.
So Park Chanwoo dropped his consciousness—deeper than the deep sea.
Continuously. Endlessly.
And his memories surfaced one by one.
-Safety first, self-preservation.
-Park Chanwoo. You cannot reach the extreme.
-Your sword is terrible.
-I’m disappointed.
-Are you afraid of Han Shin?
-What? Dual Class? You stupid bastard!
-What’s the point of being Level 99? It’s not helpful to the suicide squad.
-Haha! I heard you can barely use basic magic?
-The sword is mediocre, and the magic is even more mediocre.
Since the Abyss appeared, Park Chanwoo had never truly felt happy.
He leveled up quickly, challenged constantly, climbed desperately—yet all he met was disappointment in his own limits.
Even when people pointed at him with pity, he never stopped.
He only kept turning through the Abyss, over and over.
Someday, he believed, he would reach the ultimate.
If he kept trying, he would succeed.
But Park Chanwoo didn’t linger on those memories.
The past couldn’t make him despair now.
And he wasn’t here for that.
Deeper.
Toward the end of consciousness.
How far did he sink?
Whoooooo!
A cold wind tore through the darkness.
It felt like his soul itself was trembling.
…The depths of consciousness.
A boundary between life and death.
Or perhaps he was already dead.
He no longer felt alive.
It felt like he had become nothing at all.
Thud!
Two doors appeared—one on each side.
He understood instinctively.
‘The right door governs life. The left door governs death.’
He was being made to choose.
Live, or die.
Of course, no one wanted to die.
If he could live, he should go to the right door.
His consciousness drifted toward it.
It was sinking, fading.
Only instinct remained.
If he went there, he would live.
If he crossed that threshold—
‘My heart will beat again.’
His stopped heart would start, and he would survive.
Just like he always had.
Every time he died—or nearly died—he lived again.
The reason was simple.
He had the Sealed Demon God’s Grail.
Somehow, the Grail always carved out a path for his survival.
It even rewound time after his death.
Even when he was Level -99 and drowning in terrible status conditions, it still dragged him back.
And look at what that power had done.
It was changing a future drenched in despair.
On the third night alone, he had crushed Master of the Moon Ahheta.
He was growing stronger and stronger, and he was already looking toward the Species Wars.
A future with hope.
For humanity’s salvation… no, for his own happiness—he had to live.
He had to prove it this time.
To people, to the demons of the Abyss, and to all the creators.
This time—
Drip!
His consciousness stopped.
Right in front of the right door—the Door of Life.
‘What is my happiness?’
To overcome.
To overcome his powerless past self.
To overcome despair.
The salvation of humanity?
That was just part of the process of overcoming.
More than anything—
…Wasn’t it strange?
He hadn’t come this deep merely to live.
Lil’s final test—the one he faced with the resolve to die.
That resolve was stronger than the instinct screaming at him to survive.
‘Become an Archmage.’
To do that, there was something he had to do.
‘…Learn the Magic of the Transcendent.’
What, exactly, was the magic Transcender Lil was trying to complete?
If he died without learning it, he would regret it even in death.
His desire to become an Archmage wasn’t something death could suppress.
So—
“Don’t interfere, God of Sacrifice.”
Park Chanwoo spoke in the depths of consciousness.
He was certain this phenomenon was tied to the God of Sacrifice.
This Door of Life had been created by that god.
And the moment he crossed it, he would never know what would be taken as a “sacrifice.”
He might lose everything he’d achieved.
Equipment. Tools. Or something more precious than that.
This time, he might lose himself.
If survival demanded that price, he would have paid it.
…But dying was fine.
If he could overcome the test and learn the Magic of the Transcendent.
His desire for magic was that absolute.
“I’ll do it alone. I don’t need your help.”
He made his will clear.
In this test—in his life and death—he needed no one’s assistance.
Swoosh.
The Door of Life began to fade, then disappeared.
Park Chanwoo turned his back on it.
Then he walked to the other side.
Toward the Door of Death.
A door lined with countless sharp teeth.
It radiated brutality.
No sane person would choose it.
But Park Chanwoo stepped into it without hesitation.
At the same time—
-…I’ve never seen someone cross this door by his own will.
‘Death’ appeared.