1009 Episode 61 Prisoner of the Golden Headband (9)

At that moment, the Great Sage Equal to Heaven wore an expression I had never seen before. I could see emotions swirling within his one remaining fiery golden eye. Just as he was about to open his mouth to say something, the intensity of the swirling mist around him shifted.

"Great Sage Equal to Heaven."

There is no time. I must escape from here quickly. I tried to say that. But the words would not come out.

Cold sweat ran down my spine. A massive shadow engulfed the area. I realized what had arrived behind me.

I had once faced 'The Nameless Mist' before. However, at that time, it was in the form of a fragment, and Master Jaehwan was with me. But Jaehwan was not here. I could not expect his absurd thrusts.

All my stories were fiercely warning me.

Nevertheless, I resisted the Void with all my might. Reaching out my hand toward the staggering Great Sage Equal to Heaven, I unleashed the stories of my entire body.

I am the Great King of Fear. The one who reads all abandoned stories from the highest throne of all fears. Even if it is a 'Fear of the Apocalypse', one cannot help but bow their head before this story.

Kugugugu.

But the fog crushing me did not thin out in the slightest. I realized it anew. This disaster is not a concept measured simply by a fear rating.

This disaster is a catastrophe that even subjugated the 'Final Dragon of the Apocalypse'.

It was arrogance to try to fight back with a mere level like mine.

But what if it is arrogance?

I felt a slight sense of relief. I pulled the Great Sage Equal to Heaven's wrist with all my might.

"Let's go."

I forced out a voice, overcoming my fear. Holding onto the Great Sage's wrist, I pushed forward through the fog that was gnawing at my entire body. I felt suffocated, as if my lungs were about to shrivel, and my ears were filled with the groans of dying stars.

Tsutsutsutsutsu.

The bones and muscles of the whole body seemed to be twisted. But it moved. I'm determined not to make the Great Sage Equal to Heaven die here. That determination dominated my body.

The Great Sage Equal to Heaven, who was being dragged to me, said.

That is true. I am not the 'Kim Dokja' that the Great Sage Equal to Heaven remembered. Nor was I the 'youngest' who had lived with him for eight years.

I am merely a reader who has read their story.

"It is something I can do even if I am not Kim Dokja."

And as that reader, I was acting as I pleased.

The desire not to lose a character I love. The desire to defy a predetermined fate.

"I do not want you to die."

In that instant, the Great Sage Equal to Heaven's steps stopped. I tried to turn around. That there was no time to stop. That I had to go even one more step. I wanted to say that this fog was still gnawing away at us in real time.

But the Great Sage Equal to Heaven was not looking at me. He raised his head and stared into the Void.

As the star shone upon the Void, the Void, too, stared back at the Great Sage Equal to Heaven.

Receiving that gaze, the Great Sage Equal to Heaven let out a mighty lion's roar.

The moment he spoke that name directly in front of me, stories streamed down from the corners of the Great Sage's mouth. I could feel the void surging. The oppressive force of the 'Indescribable Vastness' pressing around me was intensifying. A faint dizziness arose. I could not tell what the Great Sage was trying to do.

The stories that fell from the corners of his mouth sparkled and transformed into sentences.

I urgently shouted toward the Great Sage.

"Stop!"

At this rate, the Great Sage will become the target of the 'Indescribable Vastness'. That disaster will try to swallow the Great Sage Equal to Heaven first before absorbing me.

Nevertheless, the Great Sage Equal to Heaven spoke once more.

And he spoke that name once more.

The next moment, the fog in the area writhed violently.

Kugugugugu.

A reaction that seemed to respond to the Great Sage Equal to Heaven's lion's roar. The Outer God, which was clearly nothing more than a disaster devoid of will, was answering the call of the starlight.

The Great Sage Equal to Heaven took something out of his bosom. It was a small gourd.

Toward the disaster staring at him, the Great Sage Equal to Heaven declared, imbuing it with his dignity.

As the stopper of the gourd floated gently in the air, it opened, and along with sparks, a fog of 'indescribable vastness' swirled.

Tsutsutsutsutsu.

The fog of the surrounding area began to be sucked into the gourd.

Only then did I realize what kind of holy relic the gourd was.

If my memory serves me correctly, that relic was once used by the Golden Horn and Silver Horn King, the arch-nemesis of the Great Sage Equal to Heaven.

The Great Sage Equal to Heaven had called out the name of that dangerous Outer God three times to perform that ritual.

The Great Sage Equal to Heaven smiled bitterly and said.

A cracking sound came in real-time from the 'Golden Red Gourd' as it sucked in 'The Nameless Mist'. Cracks were forming in the relic, unable to withstand the disaster.

Indeed, my breathing felt slightly better than before. The feeling that the fog was blocking my movement had lessened, and above all, the swirling portal in the distance began to appear again.

I gathered my breath and activated my skill. However, the skills were simply not obeying. Neither [Way of the Wind] nor [Jeon Inhwa] activated.

My incarnation body was corroded in many places. My joints wouldn't move well, and even though the [Fourth Wall] was activated, my skin felt hot as if I had been burned.

The Great Sage Equal to Heaven was probably in the same situation. No, perhaps he was in an even more serious condition than I was.

Nevertheless, we supported each other and moved forward little by little. Stepping on the bottomless void and pushing through the thick fog, we walked slowly toward the exit.

The Great Sage Equal to Heaven muttered softly.

I glanced to the side and saw that he had his eyes closed. Perhaps even opening his eyes was becoming difficult for him now.

"If you wish, I will walk with you anytime."

"So please don't die."

The Great Sage Equal to Heaven laughed at my words. Fragments of the story of the Great Sage Equal to Heaven scattered through that laughter.

What were the odds that a great star would observe an incarnation from a foreign land with which it had no connection whatsoever? And what were the odds that it would patiently watch that story unfold?

Perhaps those words were not directed at me. They were directed at the one and only 'Kim Dokja'.

With his eyes closed, the Great Sage Equal to Heaven was likely imagining Kim Dokja. He was conveying his words to the most complete form of Kim Dokja he could remember.

"Do you still want to see that story? It would be a boring story for you."

In that instant, I recalled what kind of story he was the protagonist of.

He was the protagonist of 『Journey to the West』. A figure who walked a very long way to reach a world that was so far away that it could be arrived in an instant.

"Just like now."

The swirling portal in the distance seemed as far away as Tianzhu. But just like Sun Wukong who eventually arrived in Tianzhu, we too will surely arrive at that portal.

"What would you like to do if you went back?"

After thinking for a moment, the Great Sage Equal to Heaven answered.

"Like kids?"

"Is there anything else?"

"A big house?"

I suddenly burst into laughter at the Great Sage Equal to Heaven's extremely realistic answer.

"What would you do in the room?"

"That sounds like something Uriel would say. Is there anything else?"

"A study? Why?"

The Great Sage Equal to Heaven continued speaking.

"Is there anything else?"

After thinking for a moment, the Great Sage Equal to Heaven shook his head.

The Great Sage Equal to Heaven looked back with his eyes closed.

Home. Suddenly, I realized what that world meant to the Great Sage Equal to Heaven.

"We just need to walk a little further."

Supporting the Great Sage Equal to Heaven, whose strength was draining away, I struggled to take a step.

"We will be able to return home."

The swirling exit was now quite close. We can go. Just a little further, and we can escape this hell together.

It was then that a spark struck from the void.

Watching the message appear before my eyes, I thought about the stars.

Stars that do not hesitate to burn themselves out to ultimately see through the story they desire.

I heard the sound of massive probability moving.

The decision of myth-grade constellations.

The power of the Round Table was descending from the sky.

Gooooo.

Someone's palm falling from the heavens. I immediately recognized what it was.

The hand of the Tathāgata, which had once crushed and sealed Sun Wukong, the 'Monkey King', was falling toward the exit we would be escaping through. The palm soon transformed into a massive mountain. Its mass and size were too great to fathom.

A colossal mountain of immeasurable size. Pushing away even the fog, the mountain plummeted toward the exit.

The intention of the 'Round Table' was clear. Even if they offered the stories of the mythical constellations, they intended to imprison us here.

…

They had determined that the Great Sage Equal to Heaven, who had become the 'Oldest Liberator', was a hindrance to their game of dice.

The landscape rippled as 'Stage Transformation' was activated. The very thing that had once imprisoned the Great Sage Equal to Heaven was falling right over our heads. The Great Sage tried to slow the mountain's descent by growing his Ruyi Jingu Bang, but the mountain crushed even the staff and fell toward us.

The Great Sage Equal to Heaven's spell was activated. Transformed into a giant, he supported the base of the falling colossal mountain. Bearing the weight with muscles swollen to the point of bursting, the Great Sage Equal to Heaven spoke.

I shook my head. The exit was now right before my eyes. Having come this far, I could not leave him here.

I know. This seal cannot completely imprison the Great Sage Equal to Heaven. Now that the 'Wu Daihua' has occurred, the Great Sage Equal to Heaven will eventually escape from 'Mount Wuxing'. Just as his history has.

"But isn't that a story for 500 years from now?"

Exactly 500 years from now.

With a cracking sound, the 'Zizhen Hong Gu Lu' shattered. The mist escaping from the gourd began to thickly fill the surroundings.

"It is too long for me. In 500 years, no one you remember will be alive!"

I couldn't understand what he was saying.

"The house is already destroyed. That world cannot be protected."

The stories of the Great Sage Equal to Heaven scattered into the air. I felt uneasy. Perhaps the Great Sage Equal to Heaven had lost so many stories that he had gone insane.

He had opened his eyes before I knew it and was looking at me with his fiery golden eyes. Before I could even answer, the Great Sage Equal to Heaven spoke.

I hesitated, then nodded and replied.

"Yes."

The Great Sage Equal to Heaven spoke once more.

"Yes."

Like someone trying to confirm something just by calling a name, or like someone who was missing something—the Great Sage Equal to Heaven looked at me silently.

And once again, his lips moved.

A sudden feeling of fear washed over me. Why? I felt like I shouldn't answer his words. Yet, meeting the eyes of the Great Sage Equal to Heaven, in that instant, I had no choice but to answer.

"Yes."

Because his eyes looked so incredibly sad.

"Why are you calling me?"

At my answer, the Great Sage Equal to Heaven smiled quietly.

Just as I was about to ask what such a trivial reason was, a gourd sprang from the Great Sage Equal to Heaven's bosom. A gourd that looked similar to the Golden Red Gourd I had seen earlier. The moment I saw the gourd floating up, I realized what it was.

It was the Great Sage Equal to Heaven's Holy Relic, possessing the same abilities as the 'Golden Red Gourd'.

Those were the last words I had heard from the Great Sage Equal to Heaven.