Chapter 59
The dragons had said it.
[Wish] was their ideal—
Their hope and their dream.
Even they, beings called the Lords or Masters of Magic—those who could wield high-level magic simply by being born—could barely touch the realm of [Wish].
Because simply reaching the 11th Order and attaining the status of a [Transcendent] did not mean one could wield [Wish].
Park Chan-woo had seen a [Wish] user only once—just before his final battle against the Dragon God Sephiro.
―I’ll hold it off. Park Chan-woo, you go to the Dragon God’s Hall.
The monster that blocked the path to the Dragon God’s Hall.
Humanity’s last resistance force had encountered a Mad Dragon, and warriors like the Sword King Lee Hyuk-soo laid down their lives to buy Park Chan-woo time to reach the Hall.
The rampage of that insane dragon defied terror—it inspired awe.
[Wish] activated as naturally as breathing, linking together countless spells simultaneously.
But that wasn’t all.
[Wish] read the thoughts of every member of the resistance and countered them perfectly.
There was no hope.
Even before reaching the Dragon God, humanity’s defeat was certain.
However—
―That lunatic dragon’s [Wish] still can’t read your thoughts. That’s why you have to go. You’re the only one who can face the Dragon God Sephiro, Park Chan-woo.
It was then that Lee Hyuk-soo retracted his judgment of Park Chan-woo.
He had been disappointed the first time they crossed swords, and later thought him simply insane.
But upon witnessing the Mad Dragon’s [Wish], he realized:
Humans cannot fight miracles.
If a Mad Dragon could wield [Wish] like that—how terrifying must the Dragon God Sephiro be?
And yet—Park Chan-woo was the exception.
Strangely, [Wish] could not read Park Chan-woo’s thoughts or even his existence.
Because his magic operated on a fundamentally different framework than that of the dragons.
Not high-level magic, but basic magic honed to its limits.
Its foundational values were so low that even the Mad Dragon’s [Wish] couldn’t detect him.
Lee Hyuk-soo couldn’t have known that—but he sensed it instinctively.
Only Park Chan-woo could withstand a [Wish] user.
That’s how different [Wish] was.
A power so overwhelming that the Sword King gave up without a proper fight—so deadly it wiped out the entire resistance force.
‘Lee Hyuk-soo… It wasn’t that [Wish] couldn’t read me. It was that the arrogance of the dragon race excluded me.’
But Park Chan-woo understood the truth.
Why [Wish] had failed to perceive him.
The pride and arrogance of those who called themselves Lords of Magic.
To them, someone who only practiced basic spells like Park Chan-woo didn’t even register.
Even the Dragon God Sephiro had underestimated him.
He hadn’t even bothered to acknowledge his presence.
From a dragon’s perspective, Park Chan-woo was less than a worm crawling on the ground.
He was less than nothing.
So even [Wish] had excluded him.
‘I want to reach it.’
That’s why.
Park Chan-woo wanted to reach it.
Their ideal.
He wanted to become the Archmage who would crush the arrogance of the dragons and stand above them.
To stand at the very peak of magic—that was Park Chan-woo’s dream.
The reason he had stared in awe as Adora wielded [Wish] was simply his hunger, his desire for magic.
Of course, longing for something he didn’t and couldn’t have was only natural.
Especially when it was something more precious than any legendary item, any priceless treasure.
How great must that desire be?
‘I want it. Enough to die for it!’
He could speak of death without hesitation.
If he could obtain it by dying, then he would gladly die.
Park Chan-woo’s thirst for magic was on another level.
[Wish], [Absolute Magic]—
He would become the Archmage who could freely command spells of the highest order.
…But was that realistically possible?
He was dying.
Standing at the threshold of death, facing an end he could not avoid.
【Do you want it?】
Someone spoke from beyond the threshold.
“I want it.”
Park Chan-woo answered without hesitation.
【Do you want to reach it?】
“I want to reach it.”
Then laughter, strangely familiar, echoed from beyond the veil.
【Very well. Take it all. Reach it all. But first, you must overcome—】
Overcome what?
The voice beyond death whispered quietly.
【Me.】
—
Something incomprehensible began happening to Park Chan-woo’s body.
“‘Death’…!”
The [Domain of Death] that Adora had unleashed—
A force far more intense, more powerful than hers was now flowing from Park Chan-woo’s body.
It was incomprehensible.
How could a human warrior radiate a death aura denser than that of the Witch of Death?
“……”
Even Adora was shaken.
She had offered [Wish] as a sacrifice to bring Park Chan-woo back from the brink of death.
[Wish] had judged it possible, and thus entered Park Chan-woo’s body.
But at that moment—
…it began to leak.
The “Death” hidden deep inside Park Chan-woo, buried in the depths of his soul.
If it were this immense, she should have sensed it long ago.
But she hadn’t.
Which meant—
‘It was sealed.’
Something had been sealed—tightly and silently.
[Wish] had merely caused a small fraction of it to leak.
Something beyond Adora’s range of perception.
Something immeasurable.
‘Even the Black Witch… wouldn’t match this…!’
It surpassed even the might of the strongest being she had ever seen—the “Black Witch.”
What was it?
What could possibly carry this level of pressure?
And it wasn’t even the whole—
Only the tiniest fragment of what was sealed within had emerged.
And yet, that fragment alone had already surpassed the Black Witch.
It was, in every sense, incomprehensible.
If such a thing truly existed…
“One who is death…”
Such a being far surpassed those who merely bring death or consume it.
A being who could only be called ‘death itself.’
The problem was that the death aura now leaking out was binding Park Chan-woo.
What Adora had sacrificed—[Wish]—wasn’t enough.
…And only then did she realize it.
Why Park Chan-woo had been immune to her “death.”
‘It wasn’t because of that divine beast. I could never have killed him with my death to begin with.’
That boundless aura of death had already been inside him—how could her petty magic ever suffice?
To him, it must have seemed laughable.
Like a child’s prank.
But thanks to that, one thing became certain.
‘That thing… shouldn’t be coming out now.’
If it continued to emerge—Park Chan-woo would die.
He wasn’t ready to control that death.
There was only one way.
A sacrifice.
If she offered something greater than [Wish], there might be a chance.
But there was only one thing greater in value than [Wish].
Adora herself.
“Did the warrior give you emotions, Witch?”
It was then—
Kankun opened his mouth and asked.
“……”
She didn’t reply, but her silence was a quiet affirmation.
And Kankun couldn’t help but be awed.
“…I see. I’d heard the Witch was a soulless monster.”
This man had not only given him enlightenment.
He had stirred emotion in the Witch. Taught her the value of life.
He wasn’t merely a warrior.
He was something more—beyond greatness—
A Prophet.
Ahh.
Park Chan-woo was undeniably a prophet.
In that moment—
Sssssss.
The [Heart Sword] emerged from Park Chan-woo’s chest alongside the death aura.
The sword Kankun had driven into his heart—his own heart’s sword.
Kankun reached out and grasped it again.
Then—
‘The memories are flowing in.’
Memories poured into Kankun’s mind like a flood.
Adora’s memories. Park Chan-woo’s memories.
Their hearts.
All of them passed through his consciousness.
‘…So that’s how it was.’
He realized it all at once.
The annihilation of his tribe hadn’t been Adora’s doing.
She had been confused. Unsure of what to do.
What happened to the orcs was no different than a natural disaster.
Moreover—
If she’d truly wanted to, she could have killed him long ago.
But the cause of all this… wasn’t Adora.
“Witch. Can you kill the ‘Black Witch’ for me?”
“……”
“She’s the one who dropped you into my homeland. She’s the one who made this Tower.”
“……”
“The ‘Black Witch’ is trying to create a new Lord of Arrogance to oppose the Abyss. I see it now. My true enemy is not you—it’s her.”
As he accepted the [Heart Sword], it all came back to him.
He saw who had set this entire stage.
Adora and Kankun had been puppets dancing on the Black Witch’s board.
Thud!
Suddenly—
Kankun raised his hand and stabbed it into his own chest.
Then—
Thump. Thump.
He pulled out his own heart.
And handed it to Adora.
“You were just a little girl then. You’ve grown well.”
“……!”
Adora’s eyes trembled.
Kankun had even recalled the image of the young Adora he once saved.
But it was too late.
Too late for joyful reunion.
Kankun turned to look at Park Chan-woo.
“Offer my heart as a sacrifice for this warrior. And kill the Black Witch. I entrust the vengeance of my tribe to you both.”
“……Why?”
Why would he sacrifice himself?
Kankun smiled faintly.
“A defeated warrior must die, Witch.”
Thump.
Kankun’s heart was placed in Adora’s hands.
An indescribable whirlwind of emotions surged in her eyes.
But there was no time to hesitate.
This was the only moment to save Park Chan-woo.
Biting her lip, Adora placed Kankun’s heart atop Park Chan-woo’s chest.
—
《You have died.》
《Awakener Park Chan-woo’s “death” has been confirmed.》
《THE END.》
Death. The end. The final curtain.
An ending to everything.
He had experienced it once before, yet it never became familiar.
But this was distinctly different from his first death.
There was no Sealing Blade, no Holy Grail of the Sealing Demon, no Sephiro’s flesh to offer as sacrifice.
‘Is this the afterlife beyond the threshold?’
He stood at the edge of death.
If he crossed it, it would likely be the true end.
Park Chan-woo blankly stared at the message—‘THE END.’
…Until it happened.
《THE EN》
The message window before him—
One letter was erased.
At first, he thought he was mistaken.
《THE E》
《THE》
······That was the beginning.
All the letters vanished.
And in that empty space, new text began to fill in.
《You have offered “The Heart of the Great Warrior Kankun” to the God of Sacrifice.》
《You have offered “Wish” to the God of Sacrifice.》
《The God of Sacrifice responds for the first time.》
《You have acquired the hidden trait: “Eternal Sword, Annihilating Magic.”》
《Your class evolves!》
