Murim Login - Chapter 426

*Fwoooosh!*

The moment the Arch Lich faced the massive fire dragon that surged from the spear’s blade, he realized:

‘It’s too late.’

An unavoidable attack.

The spell he had not yet unleashed and the almost-completed magic dissipated into the approaching flames.

Without even feeling the pain, the Arch Lich froze as the fire dragon, blazing with destructive flames, opened its maw wide.

*Roar!*

With a thunderous roar like that of a dragon, the blue flames swept in all directions. The space warped, and the intense heat evaporated everything in its path.

The Arch Lich felt the magic and the barrier surrounding him melt away. Even the sensations he had long forgotten returned.

‘Hot…’

*Fwoosh!*

The blue flames filled his vision. The fire dragon engulfed the Arch Lich entirely and continued forward without stopping.

Its next target was the massive, black Gate that stood tall in the center of the ruined city.

‘No!’

The Arch Lich’s red eyes flared as he reached out a hand, but no voice came out. The fire dragon, massive enough to match the size of the Gate, swallowed it whole.

In that moment, when the immense power, gathered from the life force of tens of thousands of humans, collided with the flames, a brilliant flash exploded.

*Boom!*

It was a pillar of light so bright it could be seen from hundreds, maybe thousands, of kilometers away.

The darkness and the blue flames clashed, merging into one another. The city’s tall buildings bent under the force, and a shockwave burst outward in a circular ring.

*Rumble—*

A deafening noise, impossible to describe in words, shook the world.

The ashen sky split open, and the dense, gray mist that had cloaked the city for so long dispersed like a mirage.

And as if all of it had been nothing but a dream, a profound stillness descended.

‘Ah.’

The Arch Lich gazed blankly at the world.

The scene was no different from what it had been a moment ago, but he knew. He knew that everything, including himself, had changed. That it had all collapsed like a sandcastle.

The Arch Lich slowly turned his head. His trembling red eyes settled on a figure standing like an iron tower.

– I should have killed you.

The silence was broken by a single sentence.

Jin Taekyung, his face drained of all color, opened his mouth. His body looked like it would collapse at any moment from the accumulated damage and mental exhaustion, but his voice remained strong.

“Yeah. You should’ve done it sooner.”

The Arch Lich fell silent. It was true. He had missed the chance to kill Jin Taekyung, and that was his mistake.

A moment of carelessness had turned everything to dust.

‘My king, please forgive this unworthy servant.’

The Arch Lich begged for forgiveness from his king, who was somewhere out there.

If he had not hesitated, if he had killed Jin Taekyung when he had the chance, if the monster on the human’s side had not transformed and driven a cursed sword through his chest… everything would have gone according to plan.

He would have survived, completed the Gate, and led an army of countless monsters to burn the city and slaughter the pathetic humans.

He would have awaited the return of the great king.

But the plan he thought was perfect had fallen apart.

All because of a single human: Jin Taekyung.

The Arch Lich’s fading red eyes flared with their final burst of strength.

It was a vow to himself, a promise of revenge, spoken toward Jin Taekyung.

– Remember me. Someday, I will crush your soul under my feet.

Jin Taekyung spat on the ground.

“Don’t talk nonsense, you soon-to-die bastard. Try saying ‘Asmodeus is a bastard.’”

The Skeleton King hesitantly opened his mouth.

– Asmodeus is a bastard…

“…Not you.”

– Ah, I know. I just wanted to try. But saying such blasphemous things doesn’t feel good.

“What’s the big deal? You’re a king now too.”

– Huh, that’s true.

The Arch Lich extended his bony hands toward Jin Taekyung and the Skeleton King.

His skeletal hands reached out as if to crush them from afar, but nothing happened.

Instead, a breeze blew past his entire body.

*Whoosh.*

It was the beginning of his collapse. Starting with his hands turning to ash and scattering, every part of him began to disintegrate.

Arms, legs, chest, and finally, the skull where the red glow had resided.

– Survive… until we meet again…

His final, vengeful words were carried away by the wind.

The stronger gusts of wind carried away the ashes of what had once been the Arch Lich.

As the wind passed, everything within the range of the One Strike (Ilsseom) began to settle and collapse. The fallen skyscrapers, the concrete rubble, overturned cars, and lifeless bodies.

Even the massive Gate, which had yet to be completed, and would have been the beginning of a far greater war.

*Pshhhhh.*

Jin Taekyung stood silently, watching the scene unfold, when a clear chime that only he could hear rang in his ears.

*Ding. Ding. Ding.*

A flurry of system messages filled his vision. They were a celebration, announcing that everything had finally come to an end.

But Jin Taekyung’s body, having exhausted all its strength, was already falling toward the ground.

‘I did it.’

With that one thought, a deep, peaceful sleep washed over him.

The Skeleton King carefully caught Jin Taekyung as he collapsed and saw it.

A gentle smile playing across his lips.

– …Good job.

You’re cunning, but you’re still a pretty decent human after all.

The Skeleton King muttered to himself quietly.

As he prepared to move Jin Taekyung to a safe, comfortable spot, something he had forgotten came to mind.

– Ah, right. That sword.

The Hero’s Soul, was it? Whoever named it, it definitely had mysterious power.

It had awakened him from the brink of annihilation and delivered a severe blow to the terrifying Arch Lich.

– I almost forgot. I definitely have to keep this.

It didn’t take long for the Skeleton King to find it.

The sword that had been lodged in the Arch Lich’s chest until the very end was now quietly lying where the Arch Lich had once stood.

However, when the Skeleton King picked up the Hero’s Soul, he tilted his head in confusion.

– Huh, something’s off.

It was a strange feeling, hard to describe.

He couldn’t quite put his finger on it, but it felt like the sword, though still a fine weapon, no longer held the same mystical aura it once did.

– Did I pick up the wrong sword?

But no matter how much he inspected the sword or looked around, nothing changed.

After scratching his golden skull in thought for a while, the Skeleton King finally came to a conclusion.

– Hmm. It’s probably fine.

He dismissed it as a fleeting feeling. After all, the sword’s appearance was the same, and he had seen it fall from the Arch Lich’s chest with his own eyes.

‘So why does it feel so unsettling?’

He couldn’t quite figure it out. Shaking his head, the Skeleton King sheathed the sword by slotting it between his pelvic bones.

Unaware of what had happened.

He didn’t know that as Jin Taekyung lost consciousness, the moment his strength was fully spent, a mist-like black energy had slipped into the wind, mingling with it.

Nor did he know that the golden light that had once shrouded the Hero’s Soul had vanished after being chased away by that black energy.

But one being did know.

The black energy, scattered by the wind…

The Arch Lich, now reduced to a small, powerless fragment of a soul, watched as the brilliant golden light blocked his path.

‘This is absurd.’

Before he lost his form, the words he had spoken to Jin Taekyung and the Skeleton King had been no lie.

He would return someday, and with even more power and an even larger army of monsters, he would drown this land in blood.

The Life Force Vessel.

The highest form of dark magic usable only by the undead, capable of preserving fragments of one’s soul. With that, he would avoid eternal destruction.

At least, that was what he had believed—until the golden light blocked his way.

– What… what are you?

The current Arch Lich was nothing more than a fragment of a soul, and he was no match for the power emanating from the light.

Rage, confusion, and fear caused the black energy to quiver violently.

But even as the Arch Lich’s thoughts echoed through the air, the golden light did not respond. It simply shone brighter, growing larger.

And in the next moment, the Arch Lich realized what the light was.

It wasn’t magic; it was a soul. A piece of a soul, from someone he had once shattered and trampled upon. A soul that, despite losing its form, had remained bound to the sword through sheer willpower.

Suddenly, a long-buried memory surfaced in the Arch Lich’s mind.

‘How noble… but what does beauty matter?’

On that day, when blood flowed like rivers and corpses piled high, one human had stood until the very end amidst the ruin and death.

– Lei Fei.

The Arch Lich—or rather, the black energy—froze.

The blinding golden light burst forth like a tidal wave, engulfing him.

*Fwoooosh—*

‘…Damn it.’

And that was the Arch Lich’s final thought.

—

The battlefront where the main force had gathered was intense.

While the S-rank hunters and some troops had moved to the rear to open the way for the special forces, tens of thousands of monsters seized the opportunity to attack.

“Fire Rain!”

*Boom! Boom! Boom!*

As the mages in the rear unleashed their area spells, a rain of fire poured down.

Hundreds of monsters turned to charred ashes. The mages clenched their fists in triumph when—

*Whoosh!*

*Splatter!*

“…Huh?”

One of the mages, confused, wiped the blood from his face.

The face of the comrade who had been smiling at him just moments before was now gone. No, it had exploded.

A black spear had pierced through them from a distance like a streak of light.

*Whoosh! Boom!*

Another spear flew, skewering seven mages like kebabs, and the delayed screams finally erupted.

“Arghhh!”

“Death Knights! Death Knights are here!”

“What the hell are you talking about? Weren’t they all dealt with?”

“No, I think some of the elites were hidden among them!”

What someone said quickly became reality.

The elite monsters, having noticed the absence of the S-rank hunters, revealed themselves, and an unstoppable massacre began.

*Slash!*

*Boom!*

Death Knights, Liches, and dozens of unseen Wyverns launched a fierce attack.

People fell endlessly, and monsters continued to surge.

With even the S-rank hunters absent, the faces of those who fought for their lives were soon filled with despair.

‘It’s all over.’

And just when everyone began to accept death—

*Swish!*

The sword of a Death Knight, poised to strike someone down, stopped in mid-air.

No, it disintegrated into ashes.

“What the…?”

A hunter, barely saved, looked around in disbelief.

It was an unbelievable sight.

First, hundreds of monsters fell. Then, thousands collapsed.

Before long, tens of thousands of monsters turned to ash and disappeared.

*Whooosh.*

At last, the war had ended.

(TL Note: Damn you Skelly! You got me for a second there! Nice clutch!)