The Main Characters That Only I Know

Everything had a flow.

Even in this seemingly chaotic war, there existed a certain flow.

Like Kang Hye-rim facing Zeus, Kwon Jia facing Odin, Yoo Young-min facing Ahura Mazda, and Seo Sumin facing Mara Papias.

It was as if fate itself was guiding each of them to a confrontation with an equally matched opponent.

Yet, the only one who deviated from that flow was Kang Yu-hyun.

“I need to break through.”

The enemy lines were dense, but they weren’t impenetrable.

With all the stories he had received from other Divine Spirits and the immense power that Baekryun had absorbed from the divine weapons of the ancient era.

Even with just a fraction of that power unleashed, the enemies blocking Yu-hyun's path burst into pieces, turning into letters.

However, Yu-hyun himself only felt despair.

“There’s no end to them.”

No matter how many he killed, the enemies blocking his path seemed endless.

It felt like swimming in a stormy sea, struggling to stay afloat.

Or sinking into a bottomless swamp, desperately flailing his arms to escape.

He had faced many trials and despair in the past.

But he was certain that this moment was the most challenging obstacle he’d ever faced.

“No, that’s only natural.”

Dismissing his momentary weakness, he scoffed at himself with cold rationality.

This was the final battle, one where every being in the universe was staking their fate.

If this battle were less challenging than his past trials, Yu-hyun would have been disappointed.

“At least, right now, I have many who are willing to help me.”

The relationships he had built.

And the comrades he had made in this chaotic world.

All of them were pushing him forward.

He couldn’t stop, not with their expectations on his back.

“There’s Kang Yu-hyun!”

“Kill him!”

At some point, perhaps due to orders from higher-ups, the number of Divine Spirits recognizing and charging at Yu-hyun increased.

Initially, the battle had been a large-scale clash between two sides, but the enemies soon realized that this side had a clear objective.

A lone unit piercing through the enemy line like a wedge, led by Yu-hyun, was trying to reach the Shrine at any cost.

Now, the enemies focused their attacks on Yu-hyun.

“Out of my way.”

He reached out with his right hand, slashing through the air.

The space in front of him wavered, then tore open, leaving a massive scar. Divine Spirits caught in the tear were shredded without a chance to scream.

Among them were even second-generation Divine Spirits belonging to the Great Army. The sight left enemy soldiers pale.

“Stand aside! You’re no match for me!”

Pulling back the demoralized soldiers, the true elites stepped forward.

Warriors, heroes, and demigods from each Great Army.

Though their pride was immense, for once they acknowledged each other, forming a tense alliance.

“Don’t underestimate him just because he’s human! He’s already killed over a hundred Divine Spirits!”

“We can’t face him head-on! Surround him and stall as much as possible!”

They quickly realized how dangerous Yu-hyun’s strength was.

A single gesture had torn apart more than ten Divine Spirits.

How could a human possess such power? But for now, those doubts were set aside.

Human or not, Kang Yu-hyun was strong. Much stronger than most first-generation Divine Spirits, as much as they hated to admit it.

“Well, then.”

Yu-hyun clicked his tongue as he observed the heroes now openly wary of him.

If they’d continued underestimating him as just a human, it would’ve been better, but now that was no longer the case.

The heroes of Olympus, the Einherjar and Valkyries of Asgard, the Gandharvas and warriors of the Bharata tribe from Rigveda.

They were pooling their strength for a combined assault.

“I’ve barely broken through the first wall of their formation, and I already have to use this.”

Until now, Yu-hyun had refrained from using his weapon as he broke through the enemy lines.

He had intended to save Baekryun for a much more critical moment.

To use Baekryun against such opponents felt wasteful.

“It was a miscalculation. If they’re going to take this so seriously, I can’t afford to hold back either.”

Decision made.

If he was going to reveal his hand, he’d do it clearly for all to see.

The heroes’ and demigods’ combined attack surged toward him like a tidal wave.

Baekryun, hanging at his waist, began to shine.

Gripping the handle, he took a deep breath and unsheathed it.

What followed was the pure white, beautiful arc of his sword.

“What?!”

Someone uttered a foolish exclamation.

Yu-hyun’s single strike had split the combined attack of nearly 300 heroes and demigods right down the middle.

Someone screamed in disbelief, but their voice didn’t reach the others.

“Idiots.”

Yu-hyun sneered at the heroes and demigods.

Holding back their pride and launching a combined attack on a single human, thinking it would work, was naive.

Though powerful, their energy was poorly coordinated and too widespread, lacking density.

As such, it was easily cut by the finely honed blade of his story.

Fighting like a hastily assembled coalition, those who sided with Logos failed to coordinate properly, even in the face of war.

“If they had attacked one by one, it would have been harder.”

Despite his words, Yu-hyun was grateful for their foolishness.

Though unintentional, their combined attack had given him an easier opening.

After a vertical slash, he swung Baekryun horizontally.

He drew out the maximum of Baekryun’s story.

“Everyone, get back!”

“We can’t block…!”

Baekryun, shining a brilliant white, emitted a second wave of light. A fan-shaped path of white story spread wide.

It swept through one side of the enemy line like a gale, faster than they could comprehend.

For a brief moment, the world seemed to freeze.

By the time Yu-hyun returned to his original stance after the slash.

Everything before him had dissolved into white characters, scattering into the air.

“As expected of our savior!”

“To wipe out all those enemies in one strike!”

The comrades following behind him cheered with renewed vigor.

Ignoring their reactions, Yu-hyun charged forward again.

“That last attack consumed 30% of Baekryun’s story.”

The two slashes had relied solely on the story embedded in Baekryun.

It had been filled with the stories of mythical weapons from the Great Armies.

Excalibur, Ruyi Jingu Bang, Gae Bolg, the Four Treasures, Gan Jiang and Mo Ye, Ascalon, and more.

Their stories had been ground down and fused, focusing all their power into Baekryun’s singular output.

“It’s a technique I can use twice more if I have to.”

Thinking of the battle with Logos, he hoped he wouldn’t need to use it again.

The one relief was that the attack had greatly disrupted the enemy formation and sapped their morale.

With this, they could definitely break through.

At that moment.

A warning echoed from behind me.

“Look up! The Shrine is moving!”

“What?”

As someone pointed out, the Shrine, which had been hovering motionlessly, now showed signs of change.

A strange grinding sound reverberated from the outer part of the Shrine, which had been releasing Elohim like white clouds.

Something was happening. As I grasped this, I saw a massive projection emerging from the Shrine, aimed in our direction.

In that moment, I realized once again the true purpose of the Shrine.

‘The Shrine’s main form is a fortress traversing dimensions.’

What advantages does a fortress have?

Until now, everyone feared the Shrine because of the seemingly endless Elohim and the power of the Twelve Governors that they supported.

However, the real power of the Shrine was not in the Elohim or the Governors.

It was the innate destructive force of the Shrine itself.

And now, that power bared its fangs on the battlefield.

Flash—!!!

The energy gathered at the projection condensed to its limit and then shot toward me and the assault team.

“Maxwell!”

[Master! The power level is immense!]

Instinctively, I called out to Maxwell, hoping to divert the Shrine’s bombardment through probability manipulation, but even Maxwell’s powers couldn’t fully deflect it.

In an instant, my field of vision was filled with a red beam. I tried to use the story within Baekryun for defense.

“Stop! We’ll block it here!”

“Save your weapon!”

At that moment, Oello and Praytion emerged on either side of me.

They unleashed the full force of their stories, confronting the Shrine’s attack.

The energies collided, scattering the Shrine’s bombardment in every direction.

Even small streams breaking off from the massive flow emitted force beyond that of nuclear weapons.

Massive explosions erupted, engulfing areas in dome-like blasts.

Soldiers caught in the aftermath were reduced to ashes.

“Oello! Praytion! Are you both alright?”

“Stop fussing. We’re fine.”

“Sigh. It seems Logos is serious. I never expected it to reveal such a function of the Shrine.”

Oello and Praytion glanced at their slightly singed hands, shaking their heads.

Though the Shrine was shrouded in secrecy, they hadn’t anticipated that it would have a function unknown even to themselves, the Kings of Story.

They had barely managed to stop the attack just now, but they wouldn’t be able to block the next one.

Before that, they needed to get Yu-hyun inside the exposed core of the Shrine.

Oello clenched and opened his aching hand, frowning.

“Since it fired once, it should need time to recharge. We’ll have to push through during that interval, but the others won’t just stand by and watch.”

By now, Elohim hovered above, surrounding us and gazing down.

They held the red spears granted by the Governors.

Each one was a formidable weapon with the destructive power of a strategic weapon.

“And there’s no hope for reinforcements.”

The previous bombardment had wiped out over ninety percent of the assault team.

The elite troops recruited from the Great Armies hadn’t survived, almost entirely wiped out.

Even with the desperate defense by the two Kings of Story, only three of us—Yu-hyun included—remained unscathed.

“Still… what choice do we have? We press on. Hey, Kang Yu-hyun, get ready.”

“Are you… really going to do this? I may survive, but Oello, you’ll die for sure.”

“You fool. Do you think I don’t know that? I know full well… this situation is utterly hopeless.”

“Then why…”

“That’s just how life is.”

Despite the situation, Oello laughed as though he was enjoying himself.

“You can’t live doing only what you want. Sometimes, even knowing you’ll die, you still have to throw your life away if needed. Isn’t that right, brother?”

“As for me, I’ve already accepted that I might have to give my life to bring down Logos.”

“In the end, that’s what it comes down to, Yu-hyun. If we fail here, we all die anyway. So isn’t it worth it if our lives buy an opportunity?”

Oello, unlike the other Kings of Story, did not carry a kingly title.

He always wandered across the worlds. Nominally, he was searching for Praytion, the betrayer, yet he had undoubtedly enjoyed the journey itself.

He had found joy in it.

In this world filled with countless stories.

The freedom to observe and enjoy them.

If Lotfiout pursued the ‘value’ of stories, if Damcheon sought their ‘enjoyment,’ and if Catharsis embodied their ‘sorrow.’

Then Oello sought the ‘freedom’ of stories.

Or perhaps, he had loved it.

“Every story in this world has its own freedom.”

“Oello…”

“No transcendent being should ever meddle with or manipulate that freedom at their whim.”

His resolve, his determination.

Yu-hyun knew there were no words that could change it.

“I understand.”n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om

“Yes, I knew you would.”

“But still, given your big talk, you were the one who used to flood the early Tellers’ libraries with troll comments. Isn’t it a bit rich coming from you?”

“Ugh! That… that was just an old man’s mischief. A way to relieve stress. And did you really have to bring that up at a critical moment like this?”

Oello chuckled, exasperated. Yu-hyun laughed back at him.

“Let’s go. We only get one chance to clear the path.”

“Yes.”

Beyond the Elohim, even the Governors appeared, watching us from above.

Their single red eyes gleamed with a sinister light, as if ready to fire at any moment.

Breaking through before the next bombardment hit…

Meant that the two Kings of Story were offering their lives to make that happen.

Yu-hyun accepted this harsh reality.

“On the count of three.”

Just as Oello was about to give the signal.

The protrusion of the Shrine, which had fired earlier, began to gather energy again.

Too fast.

How could it be ready for another shot so soon after the last one?

The speed at which it accumulated energy was beyond comprehension.

“Damn it. Are they planning to concentrate their firepower on us instead of spreading it wide like before?”

Oello quickly deduced the intention behind the Shrine’s attack.

It hadn’t fully charged. It didn’t need to. The target was now limited to the three of us.

The Elohim split to the sides, clearing a path.

And down through that open path, a red beam of destruction descended.

No.

Yu-hyun cried inwardly. This time, there was no chance to evade or block it.

‘If only I could unleash the rest of Baekryun’s power here…’

At the moment he was about to release it.

[Bend.]

A deep, resonant voice echoed, stirring even his soul.

A black point appeared in the air where the beam of destruction was aimed.

It was like a miniature black hole. The beam, powerless against the warped space, veered off course, striking the ground far away instead of Yu-hyun.

A massive pillar of fire rose hundreds of meters into the sky.

But neither Yu-hyun, Oello, nor Praytion had any time to concern themselves with that.

“What… Space distortion? Who on earth…?”

Fragmented remains of Elohim, torn by the distorted space, rained down like droplets.

Emerging from that fissure was none other than one of the Seven Lords of Pandemonium.

Mephistopheles.