Chapter 380: Live Broadcast
Jjeojeojeojeojeok—!!!
The sky of the Heavenly City split into two.
From the brilliant skyscrapers of District 1 to the gutter-like slums of District 9.
The residents living with their feet planted in the Heavenly City simultaneously raised their heads and looked up at the sky.
"Wh-what is that?!"
"The sky is splitting……!"
The crack in the sky split open as if a giant glass window had shattered. And beyond that massive rift, an otherworldly battlefield where a blood-red atmosphere and pitch-black land of death were entangled began to be projected perfectly.
"L-look over there! There are people!"
"That black coat…… Could it be the Death Lord?!"
"It's Heavenly Demon Yoo Honbi! Why on earth are the two missing Seven Lords over there?!"
Cries filled with astonishment burst out from the old taverns of District 9 and the massive plazas of District 1 alike.
Just a few days ago.
The rumor that the Death Lord Kim Minwoo, who had struck up from the bottom with overwhelming military power, and the Heavenly Demon Yoo Honbi, the reigning powerhouse of District 1, had engaged in a life-or-death struggle in the middle of Heavenly City District 5 had already swept through the entire Heavenly City.
However, the terrible clash between the two Seven Lords met a bizarre conclusion where both transcendents evaporated without a trace, along with an unknown sudden dimensional collapse.
Due to that shocking incident, the Heavenly City was turned upside down for a while.
All sorts of ominous speculations were running rampant over where they had disappeared to and whether they were dead or alive.
But those two missing monsters suddenly revealed their appearances beyond the split dimensional rift, on an unknown battlefield no one could have ever imagined.
"Wh-where on earth is that?"
"That sticky energy……! Isn't that a destroyed planet perfectly devoured by the Outer God's energy? Why on earth did those two fall into a hell like that?"
The sight of two of the Seven Lords standing on the same battlefield, fighting a bloody battle.
The residents of the Heavenly City could not close their mouths.
The state of the battlefield seen beyond the rift was bizarre beyond measure.
A knight draped in blood-red dragon scales, a Balrog spewing black flame, and a witch pouring out disaster-like magic.
The Death Lord's infamous Legion Commanders were fully mobilized, pouring out a fierce offensive, and Yoo Honbi's Heavenly Demon's Reigning Sword was endlessly tearing through the empty air.
However, an orc barely 3 meters tall was deflecting all those ultimate techniques far too lightly, like swatting away flies, with just a single massive greatsword.
"Just what in the world is going on……. How could a mere paltry orc possess such power against two of the Seven Lords……!"
"Nonsense! The Heavenly Demon and the Death Lord are joining forces to attack, but they're being pushed back by that single orc?!"
It was then.
Chaenggeurang—!
An old refugee who was looking up at the screen in a corner of the District 6 plaza dropped the alcohol glass he was holding onto the floor. Even at the sound of glass shards flying, he didn't even budge. His bloodshot pupils were trembling like aspen trees.
"That is…… That is……."
His voice cracked with a terrible fear that went beyond astonishment.
"That…… Could it be Mutakta……?"
"Old man? What do you mean Mutakta?"
"That brutal greatsword! There's no mistake! The harbinger of destruction that trampled my home planet in a single breath decades ago…… The apostle of the Outer God, Mutakta!"
"……!"
The apostle of the Outer God.
The moment the old man's scream crossed the plaza, riding on people's lips and spreading throughout the entire Heavenly City, a chilling silence settled over the world.
The Heavenly City.
Among those gathered here, there wasn't a single person who didn't know the terrible disaster of the Outer Gods.
The terrible nightmare where families were torn apart, entire planets were swallowed whole, and humans were slaughtered while being treated worse than mere livestock.
And the epitomes of disaster, standing at the very forefront of that nightmare and trampling the stars, were exactly the monsters called apostles.
"Oh my god…… An apostle of an Outer God?"
The Seven Lords were strong, but compared to the apostles of the Outer Gods, there was an infinitely massive gap. After all, wasn't it merely a word designating the strongest seven among the refugees who had flocked from destroyed planets?
On the other hand, the Outer Gods' apostles were a collective of monsters that trampled numerous planets single-handedly.
The terrible energy spewed by the apostle transmitted even beyond the dimensional rift, choking the breaths of the Heavenly City's residents.
Kwaaaaaaang—!
From beyond the rift, an unbelievable roar erupted. The man who had taken the apostle Mutakta's brutal greatsword head-on. The pitch-black divinity exploded like the sun from Kim Minwoo's Mythical-rank demonic sword, Hell Rhapsody.
The trajectory of the Mind Sword, which twisted the causality of the material realm, cracked open the apostle's compressed breastplate.
The sight of the apostle's bright red blood surging into the sky like a fountain was broadcast live across the entire region through the illusion of the Heavenly City's rift.
"……Uh?"
"He c-cut him……? He pierced the apostle's body?!"
Thick tears streamed down the eyes of an old refugee who had been blankly looking up at the sky at that unrealistic sight.
That terrible helplessness and anger of having to flee without being able to do anything when his home planet was destroyed decades ago.
All those unresolved feelings overlapped with the image of Kim Minwoo, who was risking his life to thrust his sword into the apostle of the Outer God beyond that rift.
"……Kill him."
Someone's trembling voice broke the silence.
"Kill him! Kill himmmm!"
"Death Lord! Heavenly Demon! Strike that bastard's neck!"
It burst out.
From District 1 to District 9. Neither the high or low of the districts, nor the differences in status or species mattered.
Tens of millions of refugees with their feet planted in the Heavenly City began to roar with bulging veins.
It was a blind prayer toward the two heroes fighting the disaster on their behalf.
---
At the same time. The highest floor of Heavenly City District 1, the round table conference room.
All five remaining members of the Seven Lords, who would normally be acting arrogantly in their respective territories, gathered in one place and held their breaths. It was because the Steel Emperor Balder had issued an emergency summons.
"Beyond that rift is the Outer God's domain, where the system's jurisdiction does not reach."
Balder opened his mouth with a heavy, sunken voice.
"Two of our combat forces, the Seven Lords, are isolated there. Losing two rulers who form the foundation of the Heavenly City all at once signifies a massive loss of military power for this entire city. We must never just sit back and watch."
Balder's ash-colored pupils heavily scanned the remaining Seven Lords.
"An order has come down from the system. In the worst-case scenario, we might have to be directly deployed into that dimensional rift ourselves. The Outer God won't just sit and watch their apostle die, either. Perhaps this could be the prelude signaling a full-scale great war with the Outer Gods. Everyone, remain on standby fully armed so you can be deployed at any moment."
This was the reason Balder had convened these monsters in one place.
However, the complexions of the Seven Lords, who were gauging the deployment timing while watching the live broadcast beyond the rift, were hardening bizarrely as time passed.
Jjaenggeurang!
The highest-grade wine glass held in the hand of the Blood Witch Medea, who had been ordered to stand by for deployment, dropped to the floor and shattered to pieces. Her crimson pupils were twitching as they looked at the rift floating in the sky.
Medea's alluring smile had vanished long ago without a trace.
When she had seen Kim Minwoo at the last banquet, she merely considered him to be a fairly sharp toy with high growth potential.
Even when she heard the news that he had swept the lower districts, a slight surprise was all she felt.
But the energy Kim Minwoo was spewing from beyond that rift right now was…….
'To think his divinity would surpass the mid-tier! How is such a thing possible?'
She inwardly gasped in astonishment at that bizarrely fast growth speed.
The Succubus Queen Lilith was also trembling the wings on her back with a pale face.
She was the one who had staked the fate of the Shadow Guild by deciding to fully invest in Kim Minwoo.
She prided herself on having a great eye for talent, but she didn't know it would be to this extent.
'……Haa. I really, truly picked a damn good side.'
Lilith moistened her dry lips and let out a hollow laugh of relief.
Kuung!
The massive body of the Steel Emperor Balder, who had been sitting at the head of the round table, rose. His ash-colored pupils, which were about to order deployment beyond the dimension at any moment, expanded as if they would tear as they fixed on the other side of the rift.
'The apostle Mutakta. A terrible monster that belongs to the strongest class even among the Outer God's subordinates. Against that disaster, where victory couldn't be guaranteed even if all the Seven Lords gathered here were deployed and attacked together…….'
The ruler of time and observation, Chronos's hourglass came to a complete halt.
In his empty pupils, countless branches of the future were being calculated as if exploding, but before Kim Minwoo's nonsensical descent, all causality became tangled, and no future could be predicted.
Even the wavering shadow of Nasrak the Rifter fluctuated wildly as if filled with astonishment.
The Heavenly City.
The final sanctuary for vagrants and refugees who had fled after losing their homes to the Outer Gods.
Even though they were the Seven Lords ruling like gods at the top of District 1, their essence was ultimately nothing more than survivors who had turned their backs on their destroyed homelands and fled, saving their lives by the grace bestowed by this city's system.
Because they owed their survival to its grace, if the Heavenly City's system were to set its mind and issue a forced deployment order, they would have to jump into the deadly land beyond the dimension without a word of complaint.
Because that was the absolute duty of those who entrusted their bodies to this city.
That was why they had finished arming themselves so they could be deployed at any time, nervously and anxiously waiting only for the system's notification.
However, upon actually witnessing the battle beyond the live broadcast screen, thick beads of cold sweat began to form on the foreheads of the Seven Lords.
'Even if the order drops…… what could we possibly do by intervening in that life-or-death struggle between out-of-standard monsters?'
Kwaaaaaaang—!
Once again, a terrible roar erupted from beyond the rift, shaking the entire Heavenly City.
