Chapter 89

The Black Dragon, Ataraxia.

He was blocking the center of the Path of Light.

‘No one shall disturb Lord Sephiro.’

Dragon God Sephiro!

The greatest among the Twelve Progenitors, the only god to surpass even the realm of absolution and reach the ultimate.

All dragons were beneath Sephiro’s feet.

Ataraxia was no different.

A mission from the god to guard the Path of Light.

It was worth staking his life on.

Ataraxia was doing his utmost to block Ahheta’s interference.

Countless doppelgängers and even Han Shin could not surpass him.

However—

Ataraxia looked down at his abdomen.

“…Astounding.”

A pierced wound stretched deep across his side.

The diagonally sliced flesh and gash refused to heal.

He attempted to clot it using threads of mana, but the wound continuously leaked mana.

The threads kept snapping.

‘Mana interference phenomenon.’

Some unknown force was dispersing his mana.

Mana is a point.

You gather it into lines, then into surfaces, and finally construct a form—thus creating magic.

But shaping forms required high-level mana control.

Verbal incantation was used when one failed to construct forms silently.

Verbal casting was essentially weaving the mana thread in your head into shape through speech.

Yet now, even the process of forming “mana lines” was being disrupted.

Han Shin.

The wound he inflicted on Ataraxia’s abdomen—

He had injected something into it.

Most likely… it was Han Shin’s “inherent mana.”

‘Once his magic was nullified, he attacked.’

Ataraxia recalled how the battle unfolded.

A high-level spell that fused all elemental attributes.

Han Shin, faced with a spell he couldn’t dispel, abandoned defense.

Instead, he went all in on offense, pouring everything into a final, life-or-death strike.

‘He poured in even his inherent mana—all just to kill me.’

The problem was that it was far from ordinary.

It wasn’t just a matter of dumping all his remaining mana into the blow.

Han Shin sacrificed everything that composed his being.

Even his innate, natural mana.

Inherent mana.

Also known as “innate mana,” it was the life force a creature was born with.

It’s like air—essential for breathing and for basic bodily functions.

When the heart beats, when muscles move, innate mana is in sync with the body.

Han Shin poured all of that into the attack.

If he couldn’t block the spell, then he’d at least take the enemy down with him.

‘A tenacious bastard.’

It had been a long time since Ataraxia encountered someone this relentless.

He had no choice but to cancel his own spell.

If he hadn’t, he would have died.

To suffer death at the hands of a human would’ve been an utter humiliation.

If it were revealed that he was a dragon, he’d bring disgrace to Sephiro’s name.

That must never happen.

Though he barely dodged Han Shin’s strike, he suffered a grave wound.

Han Shin’s inherent mana lingered in the wound, preventing it from healing.

Mana continued to leak.

It was difficult to even maintain a mana circuit.

A truly dire state.

However—

If he was in this state, then that human… Han Shin…

‘He can’t survive.’

A being who exhausts their inherent mana cannot live.

It is the root of life, the bare minimum required to sustain existence.

Even if Ataraxia had missed him for a moment, he would die soon enough.

As Ataraxia watched the blood drip down, he looked skyward.

And at that moment—

…He locked eyes with “Ahheta’s Eye” in the sky.

‘Your vessel is about to die, Ahheta.’

Han Shin was the vessel contracted to the Moon Lord Ahheta.

Judging by his equipment and talent, it made sense Ahheta would favor him.

But how would Ahheta save a human who had burned through all his inherent mana?

Still, letting him die like this would deal a massive blow to Ahheta.

Ataraxia was curious what choice Ahheta would make.

But saving Han Shin wasn’t Ahheta’s only problem.

He also had to locate the intruder—and the one who triggered the Legendary Quest.

Managing the Second Night alone was more than enough work already.

He couldn’t handle everything.

Either lose everything or salvage something.

But—

‘This round is your loss, Ahheta.’

There was no chance Ahheta would claim everything.

As long as Lord Sephiro was here, it was a fixed law.

—

The sky of the Second Night.

Ahheta’s crimson eye scanned the entire land.

The “Second Night” was his domain.

There was no being who could escape Ahheta’s gaze here.

Though it might take time, Ahheta never let go of prey once marked.

And finally—

—I’ve found it.

The intruder.

Someone wielding powerful magic and sweeping away doppelgängers.

Ahheta checked the participant list and instantly recognized that this man had not registered for the “Second Night.”

However…

—How strange.

It was odd.

Too weak to be an intruder, too strong to be a challenger.

He used magic efficiently within human limits.

Yet his magical prowess far surpassed that of normal humans.

So—

A human not on the list.

He considered the possibility that the man belonged to one of the other Twelve Species, but he was human.

Could the list have missed him?

It wasn’t impossible.

Sometimes, special entry conditions into a Created Abyss caused participants to be left off the list.

Even being the owner of a Created Abyss didn’t mean knowing everything.

…Still, it was odd.

If he wasn’t an intruder, how had he defeated Han Shin?

There was no human on Earth capable of standing against Han Shin.

Ahheta had personally selected him for his exceptional potential.

And this guy overcame that with magic?

When he had no magical talent?

—If he’s not an intruder…

If that’s possible…

There was only one person who came to mind.

Someone who constantly interfered with him.

The one who led humanity to victory in the First Night, stole Han Shin’s allocation, and conquered the Tower of Arrogance.

Ahheta was convinced all three incidents involved the same mage.

But he had never found him.

The mage moved like an invisible ghost, always interfering.

This time was no different.

—It’s you, mage.

Ahheta thought.

That man might just be the mage.

Finding the intruder was urgent, but finding and executing the mage was just as critical.

Ordinary doppelgängers wouldn’t be enough.

Han Shin was incapacitated.

In fact, if left alone, he’d die.

Ahheta was conflicted.

The tasks piling on him were massive.

Managing the Second Night, maintaining balance between prey and pursuers, fixing and updating broken quests…

It was truly a moment for focus and prioritization.

Among all of that, only one thing mattered most.

—The Legendary Quest cannot be cleared anyway.

Legendary Quest!

Most important, yet least important.

Because all it did was add 24 hours.

Half that time was already gone.

Less than half a day remained.

Could anyone unseal Khan completely in that time?

Of course not.

Even breaking the shelters to unlock Khan’s first seal was impressive.

But the second seal required power at the Ten Realms tier… Level 91 and above.

No matter how gifted a human was, reaching Level 91 now was nonsense.

An impossible dream.

Even if someone had that level, they couldn’t break through in half a day.

Therefore, the Legendary Quest could not be cleared.

Ahheta had interfered a few times, but with Han Shin defeated, there was no need to waste more energy.

He shelved the Legendary Quest.

And once again, he scanned the “Second Night.”

—First… let’s deal with that.

—

[You have cleared the ‘Fifth Trial’ of ‘Khan’s Palace!’]

[This method of resolution did not previously exist.]

[Bonus contribution points have been awarded.]

[You have acquired 20,000,000 contribution points.]

Ding!

[You have cleared the ‘Sixth Trial’ of ‘Khan’s Palace!’]

[This method of resolution did not previously exist.]

[Bonus contribution points have been awarded.]

[You have acquired 20,000,000 contribution points.]

Gatekeeper Ajos.

With a level 99 elite warrior accompanying him, each trial took less than an hour.

‘Not even thirty minutes, really.’

In just over three hours, he had passed the sixth trial and reached the seventh.

Honestly, he hadn’t expected “Khan’s Palace” trials to go so easily.

He had to clear it before the Second Night ended, but Legendary Quests were known for extreme difficulty.

Ajos was like a bugged character or a cheat key in a game.

“Gatekeeper! What are you doing here?!”

Every warrior in charge of the next trial reacted the same.

They freaked out at the sight of Gatekeeper Ajos.

“Don’t tell me… you’re following that challenger? That pitiful human?”

“……”

“You disgrace all warriors! I’ll fix that rotten—gugh!”

The seventh trial ended in under a minute.

Ajos defeated the warrior and clicked his tongue.

“You talk too much, Suera. I told you—your enemy won’t wait for you to finish talking.”

Ajos knew every warrior’s traits and weaknesses.

He was the sole gatekeeper of the palace.

One of its greatest warriors.

“…Let’s go.”

With a heavy voice, Ajos led the way forward.

As they crossed into the next trial chamber—

[You have cleared the ‘Seventh Trial’ of ‘Khan’s Palace!’]

[This method of resolution did not previously exist.]

[Bonus contribution points have been awarded.]

[You have acquired 20,000,000 contribution points.]

Ten trials in total within Khan’s Palace.

Seven cleared already.

‘Smooth sailing.’

It couldn’t be going more smoothly.

Not a bus ride—a jet engine.

And it was comfortable, too.

Like lying on a luxury sofa, floating through the sky.

Ajos knew every trial.

Even the assigned warriors were familiar to him.

Solving trials naturally, like flowing water, was expected.

“Hm?”

Just then—

Upon crossing the next door—

“Y-You…!”

Ajos’s face turned pale.