Chapter 261

-BANG!!

-BOOM!!

The battle between Kaneff and Gastra continued at a speed that was hard to chase with normal eyes.

From the perspective of the onlookers, only a slight flash and blurred afterimage were visible.

If the battle between Lia and Kaneff before was about exploding each other’s firepower as much as possible, this fight was about aiming at each other’s weaknesses with the most restrained attacks.

At the end of a long-drawn battle with superiority and inferiority that cannot be easily determined, finally Gastra started showing the slightest upper hand.

“After all that talk, is this what you are capable of, Black Hawk? Now you don’t seem to be that threatening at all, I doubt if you are the arrogant Black Hawk from the past!”

“Is this some kind of strategy you learned while running away, using your mouth more than your hands? Don’t talk as if you knocked me down already?”

“Even if you say so, don’t you know better? The fact that you never had the upper hand in this fight……!”

“It’s because I haven’t even used half of my original power yet, di*khead. Don’t worry about unnecessary things.”

“Hahaha! Then you better use those strengths quickly. Otherwise, you’ll be relaxing in the other world, not on the farm.”

Kaneff was pretending to be okay and bluffing. But despite his confident words and actions, he knew that things were not good.

Before coming here, he helped Sihyeon bring Yakums back to normal, and fought a fierce battle to overpower Lia.

In the process, Kanefff consumed quite a bit of his power.

On top of that, he was continuously using his strength to overpower Lia, and he continued the fight while protecting the defenseless Sihyeon.

The quick-witted Gastra already knew that. So, he cleverly sent threatening attacks toward Sihyeon and put pressure on Kaneff.

The opponent was one of the few strong men who could fight Kaneff on an equal footing.

No matter how much Kaneff was called the strongest, it was not easy to guarantee victory under these unfavorable conditions.

‘This damn Dragon demon…… He has gained a lot of energy.’

Contrary to the easily overwhelmed memories of the past, Gastra had grown greatly. Even if the conditions were the same, it felt like he would not be able to subdue him as easily as he did before.

In the front, Gastra was increasingly raising his energy, and behind him, Lia was emitting terrible madness.

A faint energy was felt amidst the whirlwind of madness. Like a flower struggling in a storm, Sihyeon’s weak presence was felt.

‘I’m crazy…….’

Kaneff felt ridiculous as he was risking his life betting on that faint presence.

If it was him of the past he would have laughed at this behavior and said he was stupid.

But strangely, he didn’t feel angry or regretful. Rather, he reassured his unstable mind by firmly believing in Sihyeon.

Kaneff had no choice but to admit that he had more faith in that ordinary, foolish,  pushover man than he thought…….

‘If I go back to the farm, I’ll be many times lazier than how hard I worked today.’

Kaneff smiled faintly, imagining himself fooling around on the farm and Sihyeon nagging next to him.

-BAANG!!

Entering Lia’s inner world, I was unable to maintain my sanity under the enormous pressure of madness.

The madness inside Lia was on a completely different level than the one that controlled the Yakums.

I did not know what to do with the madness that filled her inside along with the intricately intertwined red chains.

As if facing an incomprehensible math problem, my heart felt tight.

‘What the hell am I supposed to do with this…….’

Her madness was getting worse every second I hesitated like this.

The more I delay, the more the opportunity that Kaneff gave will be ruined.

‘Calm down! Let’s think calmly.’

I don’t know what it was, but I’m sure that there should be a way to free Lia from this curse.

I calmed myself and began to look at her inner world. I slowly spread my consciousness to find out the structure of madness and red chains.

– Ugh?!

It was not an easy task.

The terrible pressure from the terrible madness sought an opportunity to invade my consciousness.

In a situation where it was difficult to maintain my consciousness, I forced my way through her inner world, pushing the effects of Madness.

After looking around for a long time, deep in the inner world, I finally found a soul with a completely different energy.

I sensed a familiar comfort as soon as you saw it. I quickly realized that it was Lia’s soul.

– Lia! Lia!

I shouted her name desperately. I expected for a moment that she would answer my call, but the other side did not reply.

The discovery of her soul in front of me made me more impatient.

Thinking that I had to save her somehow, I recklessly pushed the madness and red chains surrounding the soul.

However… … .

-Aaaaaaaa!!

Contrary to what was intended, a painful scream flowed from Lia’s soul.

I paused in a hurry and backed away. Naturally, the scream also decreased.

– What the hell is this…….

I looked at her soul with a blank expression.

Once again, I carefully tried to push down the madness and red chain, but the same response came out.

Then I realized.

This madness and red chain are inseparable from Lia.

The fact that it’s part of her.

-Kuk-Kuku… … Did you realize it now?

-……?!

Suddenly, a shady voice came from everywhere.

I quickly looked around with a panicked look.

– She can’t get out of Chaos and madness. The only way to free her soul is for her to die!

-Who the hell are you? What is your identity?

– You’re a fool. I’m in front of you from the beginning.

– What do you mean? Don’t tell me!

I looked at the inner world with my eyes wide open.

The owner of the voice that was speaking to me was the terrible Madness, the curse that enveloped Lia’s soul.

– Just give it up. This is her true self.

– NO! That’s not Lia’s real self!

Lia is not someone who would enjoy destruction.

– Even if she is not good at many things, she is someone who does everything sincerely, cares for the farm family sincerely, and thinks of everyone’s happiness as her happiness…… That kind of warm side is Lia’s real self!

– Sincerity? Care? Hahaha

An unpleasant laugh filled the space like a roar.

– She’s a Red Dragon that destroys everything. She’s the one who inherited that blood. Even if she tries to hide it, even if she tries to deny it! Chaos and madness are her only destiny.

As soon as the words were over, the tumultuous madness and red chains began to wind around my consciousness. I was overpowered in an instant.

– Ugh?!

– She can never escape my domination. You must also accept Madness and Chaos!

A terrible madness began to penetrate my consciousness. I did my best to push them away in a hurry. But despite my desperate efforts, I couldn’t stop my consciousness from eroding.

‘Is this the end?’

As my consciousness got blurry, I felt frustrated at my inability to do anything.

I felt frustrated for being saved by everyone all the time.

I felt frustrated for not being able to protect someone precious to me.

I felt frustrated that I couldn’t save someone who believed in me.

I felt frustrated….

-CLING… -CLANG~.

When my consciousness was about to fade away completely, suddenly a red chain appeared from my body.

It looked around and started to embrace Madness.

Contrary to the fear I felt looking at the Madness, the red chain seemed to be delighted, like a child eating delicious candy after a long time.

As I gasped looking at the red chain, a smile formed on my face, as if the emotions of the red chain got transferred to me!

-CLING! -CLANG!

-CLING! -CLANG!

I summoned all the red chains within me with the mindset of wanting to just fu*k up destiny, fu*k up everything.

I pulled out everything, even what I had absorbed from Yakum earlier without leaving anything behind.

The summoned red chains found the Madness that was filling the space and began absorbing them excitedly. Once again, the shady voice rang throughout the space.

-Hey, what the hell are you doing?

My smile deepened hearing the voice filled with confusion.

– You told me to embrace Madness and Chaos, Shouldn’t I do it properly?

– How can a normal human being have so many Chaos chains?!

– I don’t know. I thought it was a bad thing, so I kept them hidden. They seem to be very hungry. So, I’m going to use this opportunity to make sure that they eat properly.

The red chains ate away the madness that filled the inner world without hesitation. The pressure that I felt painful had disappeared before I knew it.

– Stop! Do you think a normal human being would be safe after absorbing all this?!

The shady voice began to make lame threats like a third-rate villain on the verge of defeat in a children’s anime.

But still, as it said, I was also feeling a huge backlash from the indiscriminate absorption of Madness.

I felt as if someone had put a bomb in my body, and my consciousness felt like it was about to explode.

However, I did not care about those trivial things.

Rather, I felt more exhilarated by the pathetic appearance of the opponent.

– I’ll take care of that. Instead, how about you giving it all, my cute chains are still very hungry.

-Stop! You Madman…….

As if escaping helplessly, the empty cry of a shady voice gradually lost its power.

When the presence completely disappeared, I muttered a short word.

– Looks good.

At the end of the sentence, feeling unbearable pain, I lost the last bit of consciousness I had.

However, even after I lost consciousness, the red chains absorbed the madness. Instead of stopping there, it approached the red chain surrounding Lia’s soul.

My red chain and Lia’s red chain.

The two chains intertwined in an instant. And they started to connect naturally as if they were a single chain from the beginning.

The connection between the chains continued to grow constantly.

When there was no longer a red chain around Lia’s soul, a calm peace came to the inner world.

-BUM!

Sihyeon, who was next to Lia, completely lost consciousness and collapsed on the floor.

Feeling strange, Kaneff turned around and shouted.

“SIHYEON!”

“Hahaha! I guess things didn’t go well. I know. Why waste your energy on useless things? The fate is decided anyway.”

And soon…

– CREEE… … KACHIK!!

Lia broke the chains that bound her and rose from the place from where she stood.

A deep glow emanated from her whole body.

‘Did he fail……?’

Kaneff’s face hardened.

Lia, who rose from the ground, rushed to the place where Kaneff was while raising the energy around her.

Even in the hopeless atmosphere, Kaneff looked at the situation calmly. He tried to come up with a way to get Sihyeon out of this place, even if it was just Sihyeon, and at that time.

-BAAANG!!

“… … ?!”

“Ugh!”

A groan broke out followed by a tremendous attack.

It was none other than Gastra who groaned and staggered backward.

Lia proudly stepped forward in front of Kaneff, who had a dazed expression.

“What is this….”

“What do you mean? Of course, it’s the start of the second round bi*ch.”

“How did you get out of the control of madness?” How the hell?!”

Lia replied with a cool smile.

“Madness? I’m sorry, but now I found a better master. I guess Destiny has chosen someone to fu*k the plans of guys like you.”