Chapter 272: The End of the Disaster
I was flying through the gusty night sky, feeling the chill above me and all around me…
“Wow, I’m going to die…”
“Let’s all attack from the left!”
“Lead them here, lead them here!”
All the heroes of the Korean Association and all the villains of Egostream were fighting against the monster.
[Gahhhhhhhhhhh!]
The last enemy to end this catastrophe, the Moonlight Monster. A dragon-like creature that was taller than any building, as thick as a mountain, and could block out the entire sky.
Everyone was fighting with all their might.
-Howl.
-Kaaaahhhhhhhhhh.
Explosions happened here and there, accompanied by flashes of light, under a jet-black sky with a white moon hanging alone.
“Hmph. It’s been a while since I’ve moved.”
“More than that… Hmph… He is stronger than I thought…!”
Icicle shooting light blue ice…Shadow Walker roaming the night sky, attacking with his shadows and in the midst of it all, our Egostream allies continue the battle with flashes of light.
“This is the power of modern science…!”
Seo-Eun, on a giant white robot mecha about the size of a monster’s head, kicked the air.
“Hahahahahaha!”
Electra, Choi Se-hee, flying around with lightning bolts shooting out of her body, laughing maniacally, as if she’s the most excited of the two.
[Grrrrrrrr!]
“No…! She’s kind of scary…?”
Mist, Seo Jae-young, is firing purple sparks while frantically dodging the attacks of the giant monster while wearing a hood.
[Kraaaaaaaaah!-]
Shinryong, who has transformed into a white dragon, is flying around the beast, attacking it with breath and blizzards. It turns out she’s the one with the most aggro.
[Kahahaha! I’ve never faced such a huge enemy in my life!]
And Death Knight, who, thanks to his immortality, is fearlessly standing on the beast’s shoulder, sawing away with his sword.
“Mist, give me a hand!”
“Hahahaha!”
“Ugh… Buff!”
And then there are our PMC members, who are harassing him by attacking hard at his legs.
It was a heartening sight to see all of them, who had nothing to do with each other, working together against a single enemy.
Yeah…This is what I wanted to see, which is why I’ve been working so hard to get everyone together.
[Gahhhhhh!]
To reach the end of this world, after all, we had to cross the mountain called the Moonlight Gate.
And I, with our healer, Ha-yul, was there to help them, firing silver bullets, light guns, and everything in between.
In between, I’d teleport to everyone’s side, healing and buffing them through Ha-yul.
“Da-in, aren’t you pushing yourself too hard?”
“It’s okay, it’s okay. Ha, ha, it’s okay.”
Behind me, I could hear Ha-yul’s concern, but I smiled and said it was fine.
‘Okay. I’ve been saving my powers for today….even though I feel like I’ve already run out.’
I muttered to myself as I floated up into the sky and looked down, holding onto the hat on my head.
A giant beast was standing tall in the center of the city and dozens of my companions fighting around it, glowing in various colors of light blue, yellow, black, and purple, were taking it on.
In fact, I know that their attacks won’t do much damage to him.
He’s basically immune to their abilities, so even with all of our efforts, it’s not enough to take him down. He’s not the final boss of this scourge for nothing.
But
It’s enough to get his attention and distract him.
And the time I’ve bought…
I smiled silently, watching the yellow light cut through the dark sky as I flew toward the beast.
…Yes.
This way, Stardus can attack purely, without any distractions.
-Kaaaahhhhhhhhh!
A flash of yellow light, bright enough to illuminate the dark sky, erupts from the creature’s center, followed by its screams.
[Kaaaaaaaaaahhhhhh!]
Yeah. This is it.
That giant beast in the original is one of the so-called “Beasts of the Moonlight,” aka the gods’ creations.
It has a serious problem: it’s immune to all powers, which the Moonlight Lord somehow manages to control around this time.
In the original story, almost every surviving S-class hero in the world, starting with the United States, was unable to defeat it.
Stardus, however, is different.
Stardus stands alone from the rest of the heroes because the origin of her powers is different from the others. It was given to her by a god, specifically for her. A power of starlight that was inherently different from other powers.
Her attack struck home with him.
That’s why I’ve been on such a rampage to develop her as much as possible before this point.
And now
-Kaaaahhhh.
-Kaaaaaah.
“Hmmm…”
I muttered to myself as I watched the glowing yellow flash.
Oh, yes. Stardus is doing so well now.
Everything I’ve done so far hasn’t been in vain.
‘…The viewership is still insane.’
I don’t have the strength to carry the camera anymore, so I’ve pinned it to the railing of a nearby building, but the number of viewers continues to climb.
I turned on the chat window out of curiosity, and was surprised to see chats in all sorts of languages. Virtually the entire world is watching…
Yeah. Anyway, let’s give it our all until the end.
To defeat that Moonlight Beast, to bring back the Moonlight Lord, and to end this whole Gate thing.
With that in mind, I jumped off the rooftop with Ha-yul again and teleported back to the beast that was swinging its fleshy body.
…Yeah. I guess I’ll just die today. What a life.
“Hey, are you okay?”
“I’m fine. Go get yourself healed while you’re at it.”
“I…”
Choi Se-hee flew over to me with such a worried look on her face, and I ordered Ha-yul to heal her while I wrapped my arm around Behemoth again, ready to help them.
“Everyone, drive this thing this way!”
“Hey Stardus, his back is clear, attack this way!”
And so on.
“Hey Desik, I need some help over here!”
“Hey Egostic, I’m firing missiles that way, can you dodge?”
And so on.
“Heh heh heh!”
[Gahhhhhhhhhhh!]
The end of the battle against a seemingly insurmountable enemy was in sight.
…Of course, I’m also starting to see the end of me, which is about to fall.
Save me.
****
“Ha, ha…”
-Flash. Flash.
[kaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!]
“Everybody watch out!”
-Purr. Purrrrrrr.
“Ugh…”
Flying in the dark skies, Stardus gritted her teeth.
The battle had been going on for quite some time now as the manipulated black sky made it impossible to tell how much time had passed, but it seemed like an eternity.
The ruins of the city center that had been destroyed in the battle with the beast were already enormous but that didn’t mean there was no positive.
Finally, the beast looked like it was about to fall.
[Off, off, off, off!]
The mountainous, dragon-like beast with glowing purple eyes, roared until the sky was torn apart.
One of its wings was now completely torn off, and much of its body had collapsed, though it looked exhausted but that only made it more ferocious.
[Ehhhhhhhhhh!]
“Hey there, Mr. Hero, are you okay?”
…And it was targeting her intensely now.
Stardus breathed heavily as she flew acrobatically through the air, dodging the attacks of the magic circles and the lunge of the beast as it flew toward her.
“Hey, this way!”
“Aaah, stop looking at her and look my way…!”
And in the meantime, her fellow heroes and fellow villains of the Egostream were concentrating their attacks on the monster.
…In fact, if it weren’t for them, she would have fallen under its attacks long ago. They distracted it from her, allowing her to conserve as much stamina as possible but that was no longer enough.
The beast now fully realizes who the greatest threat to him is and as a result, only Stardus herself was attacked relentlessly.
The others were now exhausted, and like her, their movements were slower than before.
“Hmph, hmph, hmph…”
Off in the distance, flying through the air, Egostic was all but dead.
…He didn’t listen to me when I told him to rest when I met him halfway and kept going. It looks like he could be in real trouble at this rate.
‘Yeah…’
I think I’m going to have to end this.
No. It must be done. If I wait any longer, there could be great danger to everyone here.
‘…The beast’s condition, it seems, is almost at its limit…’
Of course, I was also at my limit.
With one last, final burst of strength, I should be able to deliver a powerful blow.
“Ha, ha, ha….”
She thought as she watched the sun-like power burning brightly around her clenched hands.
And with that, she looked at all of them-especially the exhausted-looking Egostic and steeled herself.
Finally,
“Hhhhhhhhhhh-!”
She lunged at him with all her might, teeth clenched and fists outstretched.
-Kaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!
Her fist made contact with the creature’s body as a bright light, blindingly yellow, momentarily illuminated the entire city.
[Aggghhhhhhhhhhh!]
The giant beast’s agonizing screams echo through the city, tearing everyone’s ears.
At last, this long, long battle is over.
***
“Wow…”
[grrrrrrrrrr]
In the sky, after a burst of light bright enough to light up an entire country I muttered to myself as I watched the beast disintegrate back into dust with a final, desperate roar.
That’s it.
This horribly long battle is finally over.
“Haha… Thank God.”
“Da-in? Da-in, wake up!”
“It’s okay, I’m not falling down yet.”
I said, looking at Ha-yul, who was urgently calling out to me from beside me.
…I’m fine, except for a little blood from my head and a bit of blood from my mouth from where I was hit while dodging but Ha-yul fixed that, so it’s okay.
Now I have to hold on since it’s not completely over.
With that, I left Ha-yul in a safe place and headed back downstairs.
“…Egostic. Hello.”
“Stardus.”
I could see her again.
Her clothes were torn, and she looked exhausted but she was still standing, smiling slightly at me, and I could see her….
“Hey, are you feeling better?”
“Uh, I’m fine.”
After giving her a light hug as she rushed around me, I looked away again.
There was only one reason we came down here.
“Kuluk…”
A crater dug deep in the center of where the beast stood. That’s where the Moonlight Church Lord was.
Good.
Now, if I can just take care of this guy, this will all be over. The sky will be bright again.
With that thought, I approached Stardus.
She stared at me, her expression stony, then locked eyes with me and nodded.
‘Okay. It’s time to end this damned long relationship.’
There’s nothing he can do now that he’s exhausted himself. He’ll just have to die.
With that thought, I casually walked over to where he lay with Stardus.
He’s on one knee, clutching his staff, his legs shaking, and he’s bleeding.
“Yeah…You…”
I smirked as he, still lucid, looked up and saw us approaching.
“There you go. Now that you’re done with your bullshit, what else do you have? I’m guessing you’ve used up your final weapon.”
“You… God, my God, will have his revenge!”
“Yes, yes, I’m afraid so.”
I said, casually pulling the gun from my hip.
Seeing me like that, Stardus doesn’t say anything.
That’s right. He must die here, to stop this scourge. This is the only way.
…It’s finally over, this two-phase Moonlight Gate event.
How long and how hard I’ve tried to stop this.
Yes. Finally, I stopped it as well as I could, with minimal damage.
Now, even if I kill the cultist, the gates will reappear, one by one.
I thought, and I was hopeful.
…Maybe, I just didn’t realize it.
I didn’t realize he had one last trick up his sleeve.
“Kghhh… Kahahaha!”
As I loaded my gun, he suddenly laughed, despite the fact that he must have lost all his strength.
His staff suddenly glowed, and he began to do something.
“You think I’m going to die alone!”
And in that moment, before I could react, the ground beneath me began to glow brightly so I quickly teleported out of the way.
“….?”
Instead of me, a white portal appeared in Stardus place beside me. At the same time, Stardus bewildered expression ended.
-Huh.
She disappeared through it.
“Kahahaha! A one-way gate to any other anomalous dimension. Now she’s gone. She’ll never return to this world, hahahaha!”
As he muttered that my head went white for a moment.
‘Wait a minute. Don’t do that. It’s over, why is he doing this at the end? It never happened in the original.’
But there was no time to think about it.
Okay. I have to save her. She’s my hero.
“Da-in!”
“Hey, Egostic, where are you going!?”
And just like that, without a moment’s hesitation, I jumped in there too.
Boom-
The gate slammed shut behind me.
