Gi-Gyu recognized the voice.

‘Baal?’ 

-That’s right. No one else can communicate with you right now, so I am contacting you. Thanks to you, I could deactivate the barrier.

Gi-Gyu sighed in relief. Based on Baal’s tone, he concluded that the worst hadn't happened inside Eden yet.

But…

‘So everybody is busy?’ Gi-Gyu asked.

-Yes, Ha Song-Su is here.

Gi-Gyu’s eyes widened so much that it looked like they would pop out of his head. Ha Song-Su joining the fight had always been an anticipated possibility, but it was still a shock. He knew Paimon had tried to trap him to buy time so they could take over Eden.

This was exactly why Gi-Gyu had hurried here.

‘Tell me right now where Ha Song-Su is…’ 

Gi-Gyu was about to demand when Baal explained.

-Please don’t worry. The barrier is about to disappear, so you can see everything soon.

Just as Baal said, the barrier was disappearing. It looked like someone was slowly unwrapping a gift. Another barrier appeared underneath, and it also slowly opened.

Kaboom!

“Kwerrrrk!”

Gi-Gyu could now hear loud explosions and Eden monsters’ screams. He closed his eyes in impatience.

-It will open fully very soon. You will see a large wooden wall in the middle—

Gi-Gyu leaped into Eden without letting Baal complete his sentence. The barrier wasn’t fully opened, but he managed to pass through. Baal didn’t have to explain anything because Gi-Gyu could feel Ha Song-Su’s presence. He could also tell where everyone else was.

Fwoosh.

Gi-Gyu’s shoes began glowing.

“Grr?” Fenrir, the giant watchdog of hell’s throne, was busy killing its enemies when it tilted its head. It had heard something, so it turned toward the sound.

“Grrr!” Fenrir growled happily because he heard Gi-Gyu’s voice. Suddenly, it opened its mouth wide, which flooded the ground below with drool, and burst into flames.

“Ackkk!” The enemies screamed as the surrounding area also began burning. At the start of the battle, the enemy had created hellfire to harm Eden; now, the tables had turned.

“Grrrrrr!” The burning wolf now began destroying its enemies even more viciously.

With that, every creature of Eden heard a short message.

-I’m back.

It was Gi-Gyu's voice.

“Grandmaster is backkkkkk!” Hal raised his halberd to the sky and screamed. The morale and the magic of Eden soared.

Hal continued, “Kill everyone who dares to invade Grandmaster’s territory! Rip them to pieces!”

Something changed in Hal’s steed too. Its glowing eyes suddenly began burning with blue and black flames. These flames quickly covered its entire body. And now, Hal and his steed both were on fire.

“Kyaaaaaa!” Hal screamed not from pain but satisfaction. Soon, the fire calmed down; underneath, a new Hal appeared.

[Hal has evolved into a death drake knight.]

Hal’s evolution was complete. And simultaneously, all the skeletons also began to burn.

***

Gi-Gyu watched the changes in Hal, Fenrir, and Eden. He was furious at how Eden had been trampled on, but he was also impressed.

‘They fought so well.’ 

While he was away and unable to help, all his creatures fought by themselves.

‘They are doing their best.’ 

Everyone fought to protect this place. Through the sync, which had returned strong, Gi-Gyu could feel their emotions.

-We can’t let our enemies take Grandmaster’s land.

-We must bring victory to our Grandmaster.

Everyone was fighting for him. They fought to protect him, not themselves.

Yet, just a moment ago, Gi-Gyu had believed he had accomplished nothing. He had thought nothing had changed since the days when he was weak and alone.

‘Lou.’ Gi-Gyu would have still been dwelling in self-pity if it weren't for him.

How could he have been so stupid with so many being by his side?

[Hal has evolved into a death drake knight.]

“Huh?” Gi-Gyu turned toward Hal.

Hal’s eyes burned as he sat on a bone drake. Gi-Gyu could feel overwhelming power from his newly evolved creature.

And this was only the beginning. The undead army was also changing.

‘Is it the effect of the sorcerous energy?’

Gi-Gyu guessed that the sorcerous energy in his body, which was trying to make him explode, was responsible for the changes. As the sorcerous energy helped his creatures evolve, it began to stabilize. The excess was being transferred to his creatures through the sync.

‘What a relief.’ If his undead army hadn’t evolved, Gi-Gyu would have been forced to help them. Currently, he was focused on what was happening behind the giant wall. He was impatient to get inside.

-Master!

‘Brun.’

-What took you so long?!

Brunheart’s sharp voice made Gi-Gyu grin. He shook his head to clear his mind and ordered, ‘Open the door.’

It was time for him to enter the giant wall and face Ha Song-Su. But the wall refused to open.

-Please wait a moment! I’ll restrain Ha Song-Su! We can’t have him escape when the wall opens…

Brunheart stopped after reading Gi-Gyu's thoughts.

-All right. I’ll open it right now!

The wall cracked open a little. Gi-Gyu had told Brunheart that he didn’t care if Ha Song-Su tried to escape. He wanted to enter immediately to cut all escape points for Ha Song-Su.

Fshhh.

A small hole appeared in the wall. Through it, Gi-Gyu could feel tempestuous heat and many energies. Also, he could feel the sync was tight as a drum now.

Gi-Gyu took a step forward, entered the wall, and the hole closed behind him. He looked around but didn’t hear explosions anymore. Instead, he heard his allies call out to him.

“Why didn’t you get here sooner?” Soo-Jung looked exhausted.

“Master…” El looked like she wanted to cry.

“Oppa!” Yoo-Bin yelled.

Lim Hye-Sook looked relieved.

“You took your time,” Tao Chen muttered.

Gi-Gyu replied, “I’m sorry.”

He looked up at someone. It appeared that the battle had stopped because of his sudden appearance.

“There you are,” Ha Song-Su whispered.

“Ha Song-Su…” Gi-Gyu called out.

Ha Song-Su smiled. His wounds were healing quickly. On the other hand…

Gi-Gyu turned to look at his allies, who weren’t looking as good. They hadn’t suffered any major injuries, but he still frowned unhappily.

“El…” When he saw El’s ripped clothes, Gi-Gyu became furious. Ripped clothes were a given in a fight, but it still annoyed him.

“How dare you hurt El!” Gi-Gyu said under his breath.

Soo-Jung raised her eyebrows and asked, “Umm, what about the rest of us?!”

Gi-Gyu looked up again at Ha Song-Su, who was no longer smiling leisurely.

“Don’t look at me,” Gi-Gyu muttered. “You’re upsetting me.”

Suddenly, Ha Song-Su began falling. It was as if an invisible hand was pushing him down to the ground. Unable to resist, he fell and crashed to the ground.

Kaboom!

Soo-Jung couldn’t hide her shock. None of them could even scratch him until then, but Gi-Gyu had made him crash without using his hand.

“This doesn’t make any sense!” Soo-Jung exclaimed in disbelief.

But Ha Song-Su’s yell proved to her that it was really happening.

“H-how dare you…!” Ha Song-Su’s voice was filled with fury.

“Gi-Gyu…” Soo-Jung whispered. Just how powerful was Gi-Gyu now? He looked down at Ha Song-Su with an almost-bored look.

‘Huh?’ Soo-Jung noticed that Gi-Gyu looked unstable. He was frowning and twitching.

‘His condition isn’t normal—’ Soo-Jung didn’t get the chance to finish her thoughts.

Ha Song-Su freed himself and headed toward Gi-Gyu, enveloped in a magic storm. He unleashed his full power, which included thick black sorcerous energy. It was so dark that the whole place looked dim now.

But Gi-Gyu didn’t seem surprised.

“I ate plenty of sorcerous energy recently, so let’s see what happens.” Gi-Gyu ran toward Ha Song-Su as well. Sorcerous energy darker than Ha Song-Su’s materialized from him.

“W-what?!” Soo-Jung shouted in shock.

Two dark energies were about to crash into each other.

“El!” Soo-Jung screamed, but there was no need. El was already forming a barrier to protect the rest of them.

The aftermath had to be contained.

“Ugh.” The pain from absorbing the crash’s brunt to protect others made El groan. Sometime later, the darkened world slowly regained its light.

Ha Song-Su glared at Gi-Gyu from afar. He had found safety after the crash and was panting heavily. Gi-Gyu frowned a little, but it didn’t look like he had suffered any major damage.

Gi-Gyu opened his lips. “El, please protect our allies as best as you can.”

El nodded, realizing that Gi-Gyu didn’t plan on using her as his sword.

“Brunheart,” Gi-Gyu called out.

-Master!

A bright flash rushed toward him from somewhere. Brunheart could now appear anywhere inside Eden freely. The light turned into a sphere, and Gi-Gyu’s solar plexus absorbed it.

Gi-Gyu began to change dramatically. As the dragon hunter, his Egos interlocked to create a single form. Like a power jenga, his Egos’ powers stacked up.

“Are you ready now?” Ha Song-Su glared.

“Nope, not yet.” Gi-Gyu looked completely different now. Black metal-like scales covered his entire body, with two long horns on his headpiece. Gi-Gyu took a step forward and grabbed Lou, stuck in the ground in his giant sword form. When Gi-Gyu pulled it out with both hands, he became ablaze with black flames. It was as if the hellfire was burning him alive.

[You have activated the dragon hunter berserk mode.]

Gi-Gyu became the burning black flame itself and made the first move.