He closed his eyes and opened them again.

Then the stars asked him.

-Who are you?

Jaehwan looked down at his sword. Who am I? He did not know the answer.

But he could still respond to it.

Jaehwan walked toward the light. The light looked at him. The sword moved.

It wasn't a stab, nor slash.

It was just a line.

Jaehwan followed the line. The stars were connected, and memories came back to its place. Jaehwan, as he traveled through stars, went through all of those memories. His memories, long forgotten with over a thousand years of stabs, were now coming back to him.

'This is me.'

Jaehwan opened his eyes again. He felt like he was full of energy.

'I've reached the next step.'

The 4th step.

His first step allowed him to find the faults of the system, the second allowed him to understand, and the third freed him from the system.

Then what was the fourth? He couldn't find the keyword that defined the 4th step yet. So, he didn't know what power it held. He just knew he had reached a new level.

'But I need to get out of here.'

It was apparent that 7th gate was finished as he couldn't find any more of himself. As the skill name suggested, however, there should've been the 8th gate. Jaehwan looked around and found a door in the corner of the room. There was another room.

'So, this is the 8th gate.'

He walked in. It was empty, other than a table in the center. On top of it was a book.

[Record of the Depth]

Jaehwan then realized the 8th gate wasn't a trial, but a place for a reward. He opened the book.

-This is a memory of my failure. I send my message to you who finished all the Gates of h.e.l.l.

Jaehwan thought, 'I guess it's the records of the [Nightmare] that created this skill.'

Jaehwan flipped through the pages. As he did so, he couldn't believe what he had read. The contents were unexpected to say the least.

-I still remember the day when the Depth Expedition Team first departed.

"This is…"

The book contained the records of the Depth Expedition Team, 900 years ago. Jaehwan flipped through the pages and turned to the end of the book. The author's name was at the bottom. As he stared at the name, he felt he was struck by a bolt of lightning. It was the name he had been looking for all this time. The being that had led him to .

-Mulack Armelt.

A sharp slash destroyed two Dead Men. Chunghuh cursed.

"…G.o.d dammit."

He had Jaehwan in one arm, and Sirwen on his back, tied to his waist as he flew up in the sky. He swung his sword yet again. Chunghuh then stepped on the head of the Dead Man he had just killed before it disappeared and jumped towards a high building nearby. Chunghuh broke into the window and placed Jaehwan and Sirwen on the floor.

"Kid! Wake up!"

It was obvious that the skill had been broken as Sirwen fell unconscious, but Jaehwan was not waking up.

"HEY! You!"

The [Nightmare] also didn't seem to want to wake up either. He had been carrying her just in case, but it seemed that both the caster and the target were unconscious.

'We don't have time!'

The situation was dire. There were multiple beings with powerful spirit energy already at the outer walls of Manticore.

'Palace of Reincarnation.'

He had already sent an emergency message to Gorgon. If they were caught in their ambush, it had to be an all-out war. And if they didn't need to worry about being found out, they could use the teleport station and it would allow them to come within a few hours. At least there should be a few more Awakeners to fight.

'Maybe we have a chance.'

Chunghuh tried to calm his mind, but the powers that were approaching were too great. As they got closer, Chunghuh found out that the power of the enemy was greater than he imagined.

'…Impossible.'

Lesser General? No. It wasn't the power of a mere Lesser General.

Chunghuh peeked out through the broken window. There were Generals moving in. And as he looked on, Chunghuh felt his body shake in fear.

'No… why is HE in ?'

There was a being that should not be there.

'It can't be! The Palace does not have a Greater General!'

A Greater General or higher was too important of an a.s.set to spend time in . They didn't die often and was given priority to be revived if they did. However, they were here.

The 2nd rank of three General ranks.

Even among them, he was one of the top as an 11th stage Adapter and a member of the Renowned Family Sameng.

Sameng Garam.

He, two other Greater Generals, and tens of Lesser Generals were flying towards Manticore. In the next moment, Garam found Chunghuh hiding within the building.

[There you are.]