NOVPUBAn ominous energy emanated from the Celestial Balance.
The largest and strongest of the foreign invaders climbed onto the Celestial Balance.
Kugugugu......!
As the invader poured his strength into the Celestial Balance, a sinister light emitted from it.
The invader pointed a finger at the still-praying god’s vessel.
The prayer of the god’s vessel was not yet complete.
After several failed attempts to finish the prayer due to previous invasions, failure was not an option this time.
‘The god’s vessel is trusting us and praying without stopping!’
If it had just been the initial four, it might have been uncertain, but with Baekho here, there was something to believe in.
Cheongho felt troubled, but did not urge the god’s vessel to stop praying and escape.
It seemed both the god’s vessel and Cheongho thought that Eunho had sent Baekho to ensure the prayer would be completed.
Baekho also appeared to agree, acting without hesitation and deciding on a course of action.
Before diving into the enemy’s ranks, Baekho spoke to Cheongho.
“Cheongho, stay by the god’s vessel’s side.”
“I will.”
Baekho raised his large sword towards the Celestial Balance.
It seemed he intended to break the Celestial Balance first.
As Baekho charged towards the Celestial Balance, the invader arrogantly laughed and began chanting a spell toward the god’s vessel.
A sinister light shot out to engulf the god’s vessel.
Cheongho blocked the path of the god’s vessel, but the light of the Celestial Balance flexibly curved, moving toward the target.
Whoosh!
It appeared Cheongho was caught off guard, but he immediately responded.
Cheongho gathered his energy into his legs and swiftly used his footwork.
In an instant, Cheongho caught up with the movement of the light and pierced through the space between the god’s vessel and the light from the Celestial Balance.
Fwoosh!
The light from the Celestial Balance engulfed Cheongho.
Cheongho had braced himself for the impact, but nothing happened.
The invaders were startled to see Cheongho standing still in his place.
However, their surprise didn’t last long.
“It seems useless, but it’s annoying, so we should destroy it first.”
Baekho’s voice sounded close to the ears of the invaders.
The invaders blocking Baekho’s path fell silent.
The invader who had been on the Celestial Balance stood in shock and now pointed at Baekho.
This time, the light from the Celestial Balance rushed towards Baekho, but again, nothing happened.
Baekho, who had wrapped his body in white energy for precaution, spoke while watching the disappearing light of the Celestial Balance.
“That won’t be enough to deal with me and Cheongho. It seems this weapon is too much for you to handle.”
The invader shouted angrily in response to Baekho’s provocation, but as he said, they were unable to do anything to Baekho and Cheongho.
They had no strength to place anyone, let alone Cheongho or Baekho, onto the Celestial Balance.
It was impossible to hang the god’s vessel, a being with even greater presence, on one side of the Celestial Balance.
The invader, who had seemed to possess considerable strength, was barely able to target Cheongho and Baekho. He staggered and fell from the Celestial Balance.
The invaders showed no interest in the fallen figure.
As they looked at the one lying on the ground, Wonsa thought to himself.
‘They don’t have enough power to move the Celestial Balance. They’ve created a powerful weapon, but they don’t have anyone capable of wielding it.’
No matter how good a weapon was, if one lacked the strength to wield it, it was useless.
Fungbaek and Wusa had crafted incredible weapons, but it seemed there was still no one who could handle them.
Whoosh! Kaang!
Baekho swung his large sword with all his might towards the Celestial Balance.
Baekho’s sword strike was so powerful it seemed to summon a white storm.
Some invaders, mimicking Cheongho’s protection of the god’s vessel, tried to intervene, but they were either sliced by the pressure of the sword or sent flying.
A portion of the sword’s force touched the Celestial Balance, but it left no mark.
“Quite sturdy. It might be better to wield it directly.”
Baekho gripped his large sword again, preparing to swing it, but before he did, his eyes caught a shift in the battlefield.
Several times more invaders than the ones currently facing them had been detected.
It wasn’t just about overwhelming them with numbers; they were cleverly positioning themselves at a distance, slowly closing in to block any retreat.
Cheongho realized this just a moment too late, his expression darkening.
“The prayer is complete. Let’s go.”
The god’s vessel, who had been praying, rose to his feet.
Behind the god’s vessel, a halo appeared as proof that the prayer had reached the divine being and spread across the land.
Cheongho squinted his eyes as the dazzling light from the halo blinded him, then lowered his head.
Wonsa, too, felt his eyes and chest warm upon seeing the halo, but now was not the time to lose focus.
‘But retreating now will be difficult. So many invaders are approaching from the direction Baekho is watching...!’
The path leading to the Ho Tribe’s formation was still clear, but if they were ambushed even once along the way, they would quickly be caught by the invaders.
That wasn’t all.
Fungbaek and Wusa might make a move during their travel.
They had targeted the god’s vessel with the Celestial Balance, and exposing the retreat route to the enemy and possibly attacking the god’s vessel directly seemed like something they would do.
‘The invaders couldn’t move the Celestial Balance, but Baekho couldn’t break it in one strike either. Fungbaek and Wusa will not change their minds.’
Fungbaek and Wusa kept their expressions neutral.
Though they had been using rain and wind to bind the invaders’ steps, it seemed they hadn’t changed their minds about following the god’s vessel.
“I will stay here. So...”
“Fungbaek, Wusa! Stay here with me.”
Before Baekho finished speaking, Wonsa interrupted him.
He couldn’t allow the god’s vessel to go with the betrayers with their best forces still intact.
Wonsa took responsibility and decided to bind the steps of his close friends.
“We three are not as fast as you, nor are we as skilled in battle. But when it comes to binding feet, no one does it better than us. So, if anyone stays behind, it must be us three.”
Wonsa’s words were undeniably true.
The three were not gods skilled in battle, and they had sacrificed much power when they descended to this world.
They couldn’t match Baekho and Cheongho, who were among the best in the Ho Tribe.
However, they were experts in binding many steps, as they could control rain, wind, and clouds.
The Ho Tribe knew this well because they had faced their abilities and struggled with them before.
“Wonsa... you...”
“Fungbaek, Wusa. If we stay here...”
Before Fungbaek and Wusa could say anything, Wonsa gently continued.
“Do you remember our conversation from yesterday? I’ve been thinking about it since then.”
When Wonsa mentioned their conversation from the day before, Fungbaek and Wusa fell silent.
They thought Wonsa might reveal their betrayal.
Baekho would immediately slit their throats, and if the god’s vessel ordered it, Cheongho would follow without a word.
In the end, Fungbaek and Wusa looked at Wonsa and nodded once.
Their appearance seemed to show they intended to follow Wonsa’s decision.
They had no time to waste and had to make a decision right away.
The god’s vessel’s words ultimately decided their fate.
“Fungbaek, Wusa, Wonsa. I will send reinforcements.”
“God’s vessel, please think only of your safety.”
“...”
Wonsa answered, but Fungbaek and Wusa said nothing.
They silently agreed with Wonsa’s words, and in the end, they had no doubts until the very end.
As they quickly moved away, Wonsa gave a final farewell.
“...Goodbye, god’s vessel. My friends.”
The dark clouds Wonsa controlled were keeping the invaders at bay, but the wind and rain were not.
The invaders calmly walked through the storm.
This was evidence that Fungbaek and Wusa had allowed them to pass.
The invaders looked at the dark clouds with irritation and spoke.
“Aha, they boasted about having the strength to move the Celestial Balance. In the end, this is what happened.”
“They shouldn’t have left it to the invaders. They should have entrusted it to the Bears instead.”
“The Bears aren’t much... When did the Bear Maiden start participating in research? Wasn’t it the wind keeping her from coming?”
Fungbaek and Wusa grumbled childishly, despite their appearances. 𝓷ℴ𝓿𝓹𝓾𝒷.𝓬𝓸𝓂
They hadn’t done anything to Wonsa yet, but an eerie chill ran down their spines.
Fungbaek pointed at one of the invaders and asked.
“Hey, ask him what that person’s intentions are.”
The invader answered shortly thereafter.
Upon hearing the answer, Fungbaek and Wusa grinned.
“Wonsa, thanks to your choice, the three of us will die.”
Wonsa’s words stopped for a moment.
It was unclear whether it was due to exhaustion or overwhelming emotion.
While Wonsa’s condition was being observed, Hwang Jiho spoke up.
“I’ll explain what happened afterward on his behalf.”
While Wonsa paused, Hwang Jiho began explaining the situation he knew.
It was a story from long ago, but Hwang Jiho described it vividly as though it had happened recently.
Perhaps he had been thinking about that day ever since?
“As the three of them bound the invaders’ steps, Baekho and Cheongho escorted the god’s vessel and retreated. However, they bypassed the ambush, and as their return was delayed, Eunho sent additional reinforcements.”
The Ho Tribe members who had taken on the role of decoys for the god’s vessel that day were all safe.
Upon hearing this, something came to mind.
‘The fact that the other Ho Tribe members disguised as the god’s vessel were safe means they targeted the god’s vessel’s position and poured all their forces into it. Fungbaek, Wusa, and the Celestial Balance were brought in at the right time, and they couldn’t have missed it.’
However, the sudden appearance of Baekho’s forces, the absence of someone who could handle the Celestial Balance, and Wonsa’s decision had blocked their plans.
Hwang Jiho continued explaining the situation.
Eunho immediately sent reinforcements to the location where the real god’s vessel was after they had returned.
Due to this, the god’s vessel’s group and the reinforcements crossed paths while bypassing the ambush, and the reinforcements immediately arrived at the location where the god’s vessel had been praying.
“The reinforcements sent by Eunho witnessed the deaths of the three. At first, they tried to save them. But with so many invaders, and with Wonsa repeatedly shouting that the god’s vessel was not here and to flee, they eventually retreated after seeing their limbs being torn apart from afar. Later, they were able to recover the bodies. After checking multiple times, they confirmed they were the bodies of the three.”
“...But they didn’t listen to me.”
“I know. After watching your limbs being torn from a distance, they finally retreated. Later, they recovered your bodies. After checking multiple times, it was certain they belonged to the three of you.”
Hwang Jiho asked next.
“Did you cut off parts of your body to pretend to be dead? Was it a farce?”
“...Yes, it was.”
Hwang Jiho and Jeokho’s energy became noticeably more intense.
Baekho’s group also had colder eyes than usual, but it seemed they were holding back their emotions.
Fortunately, the tigers did not explode, as they had known of the descendants’ existence in the past.
They were barely holding back because they were standing in front of a nearly dying Wonsa.
“Afterward, it took time to regenerate the severed limbs, and I met with Fungbaek and Wusa... But they appeared younger, and they had become stronger.”
When Wonsa met Fungbaek and Wusa again, they had taken on a younger appearance compared to their previous forms when they had been in charge of managing things.
They likely no longer needed to hide their betrayal, so they probably decided there was no need to appear as adults anymore.
Fungbaek and Wusa once again urged Wonsa to betray them, and when he refused, they pushed him into the furnace.
Wonsa had gone through countless furnaces, and with each one, the heat had increased.
“I understand that he was trying to extract your power. Was he just accumulating energy?”
“...I was simply fuel, so I don’t know what he was burning it for.”
Wonsa continued explaining.
Before he was transferred to the garden and became a medium for power, Wonsa had burned like fuel for thousands of years, his power slowly drained.
“But I do know one thing. A very great power was used at that moment, and afterward, I was transferred to the garden as a medium of power.”
“That moment?”
“About a hundred years ago, he used the power he had accumulated for thousands of years on the Korean Peninsula.”
Anyone who knew about the event that took place a hundred years ago would know.
It was the Interdimensional Collision.
However, it didn’t seem likely that the extraction of the true clan’s power could have caused the Interdimensional Collision.
Most likely, he had manipulated part of the process that would one day lead to the collision.
‘He must have set things in motion so the Interdimensional Collision would occur first on the Korean Peninsula.’
As Hwang Jiho pondered the state of the world, a hypothesis formed in his mind.
