SFRW-Chapter 262

Ch. 262 Sword God From The Ruined World

“Why are you here?”  

A gaze filled with contempt.  

The red-haired man was staring at Koroka like that.  

“I, I…”  

Crunch.  

Before he knew it, the red-haired man was stepping on the back of Koroka’s head, pressing him flat against the ground.  

“I don’t want to waste time talking with a filthy half-breed like you. Answer me briefly and simply.”  

How was he supposed to answer briefly and simply?  

Koroka could confidently say that in his entire life, he had never been in a more desperate or difficult situation than this.  

“I met them in Moteor, a world on the verge of destruction, and traveled with them to get here!”  

From Koroka’s perspective, that was as short and simple an answer as he could give.  

“Moteor?”  

The red-haired man seemed to think for a moment before nodding as if he understood.  

“The thirty-eighth Guardian Planet of Barhaut, wasn’t it?”  

“Y-yes, that’s right!”  

“Moteor was destroyed?”  

“Most likely, yes!”  

“Most likely?”  

The red-haired man vaguely remembered that Moteor was one of Barhaut’s Guardian Planets, but he didn’t know the current state of the planet, so he didn’t doubt Koroka’s words.  

Even if it was a lie, it didn’t matter.  

He had already decided to kill Koroka here anyway.  

“Are they humans from Earth?”  

The red-haired man pointed precisely at Kusak, Veronica, and Rakun.  

Despite having his head stepped on, Koroka managed to turn his head slightly.  

“N-no, they’re not!”  

“No? But they’re humans from a ruined world!”  

“A ruined world?”  

Koroka answered with complete honesty, not mixing in even a shred of falsehood about what he knew.  

“…Keh-keh-keh! This is insane.”  

Watching this, Kusak burst into laughter, his heavily wounded shoulders shaking.  

It was obvious why Koroka, a Half-Dragon, was trembling so desperately while answering only the truth.  

The fact that the red-haired man was an existence Koroka could never defy—and Kusak had a rough idea of who he was.  

Once he realized the man’s identity, he could fully accept why they had been so helplessly overpowered.  

No, he had to accept it.  

Because the red-haired man was, as Koroka had said, a great existence.  

“Liberating Barhaut’s Guardian Planets? Mere humans like you?”  

For the first time, the red-haired man showed emotion.  

Curiosity.  

A simple curiosity, but it was anything but trivial.  

It was the first curiosity he had felt in hundreds of years.  

And it was only natural, given that the subject was Barhaut.  

The fact that someone was doing something so significant against an opponent even he couldn’t deny was astonishing.  

“You.”  

The red-haired man pointed at Kusak, who was laughing with a keh-keh sound. Kusak’s body floated into the air before being yanked forward.  

Thud.  

Grabbing Kusak by the throat, the red-haired man asked:  

“Tell me about a human named Seo Do-jun.”  

“…Keh-keh.”  

Seeing Kusak laugh at him, the red-haired man flicked his wrist lightly.  

KWA-GA-GA-GA-GA—!  

Half of France’s Mars Plaza was obliterated, leaving no trace behind.  

“Next time, it’ll be her.”  

The red-haired man pointed at Veronica.  

Only then did Kusak’s laughter cut off, his expression hardening like never before.  

“Answer me.”  

As Kusak glared silently, the red-haired man raised his hand. Just as he was about to swing it—  

“Damn it! Sword God!”  

“Sword God?”  

The red-haired man’s expression made it clear that he wouldn’t tolerate another vague answer. Gritting his teeth, Kusak hurriedly spoke the words the man wanted to hear.  

“He was the last human to resist Barhaut in our ruined world… and the Sword God of our world.”  

“He survived opposing Barhaut?”  

Had such a thing ever happened?  

The red-haired man knew Barhaut well—Barhaut was not the type to spare those who defied him.  

He uprooted them.  

To ensure not even the smallest flaw remained, Barhaut annihilated every being that had ever opposed him.  

“I don’t know the details. All I know is… right before death, his soul moved into the body of a human on Earth.”  

“Soul transference?”  

Had such a thing ever occurred before?  

In the thousands of years the red-haired man had lived, he had never heard of such a case.  

Was Kusak lying?  

But as he stared into Kusak’s eyes, he sensed not a single trace of deceit.  

“Hmph. So? To avenge his ruined world, he’s challenging Barhaut again… No, more like flinging mud at him?”  

It was a foolish endeavor. Exactly what he’d expect from a human.  

But according to Koroka, this human had already liberated a significant number of Barhaut’s Guardian Planets. That much, at least, was commendable.  

Of course, that didn’t mean he believed this human could actually succeed in revenge.  

“Whether it’s long or short, you’ll only know once you see it for yourself.”  

Because Seo Do-jun had become a Transcendent, Kusak honestly believed there was some chance of victory.  

Whether that chance was slim or not.  

“Humans are always obsessed with clinging to hopeless causes.”  

The red-haired man dismissed it outright.  

“Oh? Humans have occasionally accomplished things you never thought possible.”  

Human potential.  

That potential alone was the only thing that had ever closed the gap between humans and beings born superior.  

“I won’t deny there have been cases before. But Barhaut isn’t as easy as you think.”  

It was utterly meaningless.  

Even the red-haired man himself believed surpassing Barhaut was nearly impossible.  

And yet, a human thought he could do it?  

Calling himself a Sword God might sound grand, but it was a meaningless title that only held weight in human society.  

“Has any human ever humiliated Barhaut like this before? Are you making assumptions? Keh-keh! If you ever meet Kassal, you’ll realize just how stupid that judgment was!”  

At Kusak’s shout, the red-haired man’s pupils twisted.  

At the same time, a deafening noise filled the air as dozens of helicopters appeared.  

The French government, mistaking the red-haired man for a human, had deployed modern weaponry.  

The red-haired man watched the helicopters with mild interest before flicking his wrist.  

A storm of invisible magic swept through them, causing a chain reaction of explosions.  

“Pathetic.”  

Watching the fragile machines burst apart, the red-haired man’s curiosity about Earth’s civilization vanished entirely.  

“Thanks to you, it seems Barhaut hasn’t conquered this place yet. I suppose I’ll lend a small hand before leaving.”  

As killing intent flickered in the red-haired man’s eyes—  

“You’ll regret this.”  

Kusak whispered those words.  

“Regret?”  

The red-haired man frowned as if he’d heard something absurd.  

Has he ever felt regret in his long life?  

In thousands of years?  

What nonsense.  

Even if he did regret something, he had lived long enough to forget it.  

“Trying to save your life with empty words? Then you’re—”  

“I’ve already died once. I have no attachments left, even if I die again. But you… you will regret this.”  

The red-haired man paused. There was no attachment to life in Kusak’s eyes, no fear of death.  

For a moment, he delayed the execution.  

“What exactly will I regret?”  

“Once our deaths reach Kassal’s ears… he’ll kill you. And everything connected to you.”  

“A mere human—”  

“Just as you said, that human is flinging mud at Barhaut. No—soon, rumors will spread that Barhaut was killed by a human.”  

Certainty.  

The red-haired man saw it in Kusak’s eyes, heard it in his voice. His curiosity deepened.  

“Oh? Then I really want to see how that turns out. And I’ll make sure you see just how worthless the human you believe in truly is.”  

With that, the red-haired man threw Kusak next to Koroka and levitated into the air.  

A colossal magic storm began swirling around him.  

The sheer force of it made Kusak—and everyone else on the ground—tremble violently.  

Even a slight graze would tear their bodies apart.  

The red-haired man condensed the magic storm into his palm.  

With a flick of his wrist, the compressed storm vanished without a trace.  

As if nothing had happened, the red-haired man descended back to the ground.  

“You’ll live long enough to see the human you trust crushed before me. But I can’t leave things like this—so I’ll leave him a small gift.”  

“A gift?”  

Kusak frowned in confusion, but the red-haired man waved his hand dismissively, as if he had no obligation to explain.  

BZZZT! BZZZT! BZZZT!  

The air distorted, space itself tearing apart.  

‘A dimensional rift?’  

Kusak recognized it immediately.  

The red-haired man exhaled, as if the effort had been taxing.  

Then, one by one, he dragged Hyun Joo-yeon, Gloria, and Veronica toward the rift and threw them in.  

“What the hell are you—?”  

Ignoring Kusak, the red-haired man tossed him into the rift as well.  

Finally, he looked at Koroka and whispered:  

“…That’s why I’m sparing you.”  

With those words, the red-haired man stepped into the rift, and it closed behind him.  

As if nothing had happened.  

One minute passed.  

Then two…  

Five minutes later, Park Seung-ho was the first to regain his senses.  

“…What the hell… just happened…?”  

A mysterious man.  

Hyun Joo-yeon and the others vanished.  

Stunned by the incomprehensible events, Park Seung-ho staggered toward Koroka.  

“Hey… what did that bastard say? And who was he?”  

Koroka slowly stood up, his face drained as if he had just survived a life-or-death battle.  

“He told me to inform Seo Do-jun about what happened today. And he was…”  

How was he supposed to explain this?  

Would calling him a great existence make sense?  

Or…  

Would calling him the strongest of all races—a Dragon be easier to understand?  

Koroka needed time to think. Earth’s common sense couldn’t comprehend such a being.  

And that evening…  

The world map changed.  

80% of China’s territory vanished from the Earth.  

A gift from the red-haired man.  

***

While the unexpected disaster struck Earth, Seo Do-jun and his group were busy collecting souls to heal Grichuk.  

Unfortunately, the first planet they visited didn’t yield as many souls as they had hoped.  

At best, it was only enough to maintain Grichuk’s condition.  

The planet had been thoroughly overrun by monsters, with only a handful of humans—traitors who had sided with the monsters—remaining.  

After swiftly clearing the monsters and liberating the planet, they moved to the second one.  

But there, too, they couldn’t gather enough souls to improve Grichuk’s state.  

The planet had already been turned into an undead wasteland by dark mages.  

At first, they thought the dark mages’ presence would provide plenty of souls, but too much time had passed.  

The only souls they could collect were from the dark mages themselves. Once they were gone, the planet would slowly meet its end.  

Still, Seo Do-jun made sure to completely strip it of its role as a Guardian Planet.  

“This time, we have to find a proper planet…”  

Rahf grew increasingly anxious as he watched Grichuk weaken.  

At first, they had planned to only take souls from humans who deserved it.  

But after two failed attempts, he was now tempted to take any soul he could find.  

However, Seo Do-jun and Choi Kang-soo firmly opposed that idea, leaving him frustrated as time passed.  

“Stop talking and open the damn rift already!”  

Choi Kang-soo, equally impatient, snapped at Rahf’s muttering.  

“I’m working on it!”  

Rahf shot back.  

Choi Kang-soo clenched his fists, barely holding back the urge to punch him.  

When the rift finally opened, Seo Do-jun entered first, followed by Shinjo supporting Grichuk, then Rahf and Choi Kang-soo.  

The third planet they arrived at…  

“This place… might actually work?”  

Not just Rahf, but the others’ eyes also lit up with hope.