The World After the Fall

Chunghuh's understanding of Awakening wasn't that deep. All Awakeners of [Rupture] had acquired [Disassemble] as the keyword and gained [Assemble] as the 2nd keyword and reached Awakening in the end. Disassembly did not ask questions and assembly did not think. It didn't require much thinking at all. But the path that Jaehwan walked was full of thought. It constantly continued to question even after acquiring the unique world.

They stopped running after an hour. It was a rest area with an oasis. There were some merchants resting, glancing at Jaehwan and Chunghuh.

"Let's take a break here."

Jaehwan sat down by the oasis, took something out from his pocket, and threw it to Chunghuh.

"What is this?"

"Food."

Jaehwan answered and ripped the jerky apart. It was the dried meat of a horned monster.

"Doesn't eating make you feel 'alive'?"

Chunghuh flinched. Jaehwan didn't seem to notice and chewed on the jerky and drank water from the oasis. Chunghuh then began eating too. After he finished all the jerky, Jaehwan was now looking outwards. Chunghuh watched him silently.

After he reached the 3rd step, he was now able to see Jaehwan from a different perspective. He thought he would be able to see how strong Jaehwan was now, but it wasn't true. He couldn't see the limit of his power.

'What about compared to her?'

He thought of Surha, the 2nd Captain of [Rupture]. Chunghuh was now able to guess her power. She was probably at the 4th or 5th step in Awakening. But he wasn't too sure about Jaehwan.

'I can't guess how strong he is.'

Chunghuh had trained about 200 years in the tower. It was a long time that made Chunghuh feel a little strange, but Jaehwan was not with him all those times.

"Kid, let me ask you."

"What."

"How old are you now?"

"…Age again?"

Chunghuh did not answer and continued, "I heard from Meikal."

"What."

"That the 3rd floor was finished." Chunghuh went on. "I know that you were gone from the 2nd floor for tens of years. It was 2 day of time in Chaos."

"…"

"I heard that time on the 3rd floor is 100 times faster in time than the 2nd floor."

Jaehwan was gone for two days from the 2nd floor when the 3rd floor was finished. Where was Jaehwan then? It was so obvious.

"…How many years did you train?"

Jaehwan answered, "Two thousand."

Chunghuh opened his eyes wide in shock.

"A-are you serious?"

"What, will you respect me as an elder now?"

Chunghuh frowned. It was a lie.

"Don't joke around. How long have you been…"

"Not as long as you think."

Jaehwan spoke, but he seemed tired from saying that. Chunghuh did not ask any further. No matter how many years he trained, it was definitely not an easy time. Chunghuh had now known Jaehwan for hundreds of years.

"Ha, you're still a kid even if you lived for two thousand years. I was still born first."

"…You don't change even after two hundred years," Jaehwan answered.

"Let's move."

They both stood up and began to run again. The destination was close. Chunghuh felt the need to reconfirm the reason for coming here.

"Are you really going to the Palace of Reincarnation?"

"Yeah."

"Alone?"

"Not alone. It's the two of us."

Chunghuh still couldn't understand where his confidence was coming from.

"They are not an easy enemy. You don't know the Lord's power yet."

"…"

"It's not too late to gain more power. We can wait until we get more Awakeners."

Jaehwan had not met any 10th stage Adapters yet, but Chunghuh had. He knew how strong they were. Even if Jaehwan was strong, both of them weren't…

"We have no time."

"Time?"

"You think those Lords in the Palace will wait for us?"

If they found out that Awakeners were increasing in number, the Lords would make a move.

"They will think that we will wait until we get enough Awakeners. We should strike when they are not expecting us, when they are not yet ready."

Jaehwan was right. The current Palace should not have readied their defense. There should be some waiting to be revived, but they were probably only at the Lesser General level. Greater Generals rarely died and even if they did, they were revived instantly.

However, if things dragged on, they would change. There was a chance that the Palace of Reincarnation would bring 'living' Generals into [Chaos] to fight. The [Narrow Door] would allow them to travel into [Chaos] without dying, and the Palace was where the door was located. Jaehwan continued, "I'm not trying to fight all of them. I'll just destroy what's most important to them."

The most important things to the Palace. Chunghuh understood immediately.

"You are going to steal the [Fruits]."

Chunghuh was dumbfounded. Steal those [Fruits] again? Was it possible?

"Yeah. And there's one more thing."

One more? Chunghuh became pale.

"…Are you thinking of destroying the [Narrow Door]?"

Jaehwan nodded. "Yeah. If I destroy that, they won't be able to come into [Chaos] anymore."

"…Yeah, if we can destroy it, that is."

Taking all the [Fruits] and destroying the [Narrow Door] would surely block access to all the Lords of the [Great Lands].

"They can come by dying but… I doubt they will do that."

The [Great Lands] was at war. They needed to save the lives of their Generals so they could always fight. No Lords would send their Generals to [Chaos] if there was no way to come back.

However, this was only true if Jaehwan and Chunghuh succeeded in destroying both.

"It's the best method if we can do it. But it's not easy. The Palace is at the far east end of the desert. To go there-"

"We have to go through Manticore Fortress," Jaehwan answered. "That's why we're here."

Manticore was now in front of them. There were tall walls with lion sculptures on top looking down. There were many of them.

Manticore Fortress was much bigger than Gorgon. Chunghuh's expression turned grim. They had become strong, but they were only two against a fortress. They were trying to fight an entire fortress now.

"The Golden Sky Leader won't let us go easily. What are you going to do?"

Then, they noticed guards running towards them. Jaehwan smiled. "As always."

Chunghuh laughed. "Yeah, I thought so."

And Jaehwan's stab struck out against the wall. Chunghuh's slash also struck soon after.

The guards fled as the wall was destroyed.

It was the beginning of the [War of Revival].