Ranker Who Lives Twice

『Cha Jeong-woo.』Allforone narrowed his eyes, looking at Cha Jeong-woo’s vestige body in front of him.

Cha Jeong-woo couldn’t properly see Allforone’s face because of the light, but he could guess as to what kind of expression he was making.

『Fragile child, move. This place isn’t somewhere where you should be.』Allforone’s voice was firm, but there was a certain affection to it. With Thousand Li Eyes, Allforone could see all the events in the Tower from where he was. He knew how difficult a path Cha Jeong-woo had walked and the pain he felt after repeating the same dream over and over again. He didn’t want to hurt Cha Jeong-woo, if possible.

Although Cha Jeong-woo’s vestige body was nothing more than a ghost who refused to follow the laws of nature, Allforone knew how futile the attempt was, so he didn’t feel the need to stop him. That vestige body would disappear after today, anyway. Forcibly maintaining that kind of body meant Cha Jeong-woo was continuing to use the limited vestiges.

『You’re the same as you were in the past, Vivasvat, speaking that bullshit.』However, Cha Jeong-woo thought Allforone’s gaze was pathetic. There had been a time when he once admired him and wanted to unravel his secrets to become like him. Now, he realized that he had just been pulled toward an illusion of Allforone, and that it was all fake.

No. Now, Alllforone was technically Cha Jeong-woo’s enemy. He put Kronos, who jumped into the Tower to save his child, through trials, and he put Yeon-woo, who wanted to find his little brother, through hardships. He was the enemy who split up a family that wanted nothing more than peace.

Furthermore, there were countless beings like the Vampiric Lord who weren’t able to return to their family and had spent ages waiting. No matter how great Allforone’s ideals were, or how great his purpose was, he couldn’t be left alone any longer.

Of course, Jeong-woo knew he couldn’t defeat Allforone. He had made several attempts to exuviate in a few of his dreams. Since he would eventually be surrounded by traitors no matter what he did, he tried to gain divinity in an attempt to escape them. But he had failed every time. Once, he was so frustrated that he even fought a war against Allforone, but he had been horribly defeated. He wasn’t in his original condition right now, so if he stepped up, he’d most definitely be defeated again.

『So, please stop with that bullshit. It’s annoying. Mirne!』

『I’ve been waiting for you to call me.』

Cha Jeong-woo decided to face Allforone head-on, and Nemesis immediately responded to his shout, appearing in the sky and disappearing within emptiness again.

Whoosh! “Dreams” expanded. A dark glittering aurora covered the world of Allforone and octagonal shapes began to click together. It was the Illusory Barrier Cha Jeong-woo and Nemesis often materialized together, called Dream World. It was the ultimate skill that quickly took care of Jeong-woo’s opponent and worked in harmony with his Perfect Adaptability.

But Allforone just tilted his head.『You must know this can’t do anything.』When Allforone took a step forward, the expansion of Dream World stopped, and his second step forward already cracked its surface. Using such skills was a waste of strength in the seventy-seventh floor, which was nearly Allforone’s holy territory.

『I know. But I need this for me to step forward in the slightest.』Cha Jeong-woo simply smirked.

『Are you…?』Allforone halted his steps.

『You. You hate exuviation and transcendence, don’t you? You talk bullshit about how it’s going against the laws of nature and whatnot, but you’re just telling people not to act up. You want worms to continue to live like worms… Hearing someone born with a diamond spoon like you saying that just makes me wanna barf.』

Swish! For a moment, Cha Jeong-woo’s transparent vestige body became focused, as if he had gained a real body. Although it was only for a short while, he had restored the peak of his strength from when he was living through Dream World. His soul was matured enough to attempt exuviation.

『So I’ll do the thing you hate right now. I bet no one did something like this with you right in front of them.』As soon as he was done talking, intense whirlwinds spun around Jeong-woo and lights flashed behind him to push away the light from Allforone.

Through exuviation, Cha Jeong-woo was attempting to escape the unstable vestige body and become whole. In that moment, he was divine. He already had more than enough achievements for them to become legends. He repeated many trials in his dreams, and he gained achievements through them. They had become a firm castle that wouldn’t come breaking down. He was confident he didn’t lack anything compared to any other divine being.

『I failed in my dreams, but things are gonna be different from now.』Cha Jeong-woo’s determination to stand against Allforone alone became his identity and established his ability, and he had already obtained holiness after becoming Yeon-woo’s familiar.

Divine status, legends, divine ability, holiness, and divine spirit… When the five conditions that were required to become a god were met, Cha Jeong-woo’s vestige body was able to “break out” of its shell and have a complete body.

[The data of the deleted player ‘Cha Jeong-woo’ has been restored!]

[Through exuviation, ‘Cha Jeong-woo’s’ status has been changed to ‘Demigod!’]

[The spring of time blesses you.]

[The spring of death blesses you.]

[An unidentifiable power cheers for you.]

[Exuviation is in progress!]

The real fight was about to begin. Crash!

* * *

It was a world where everything was destroyed. It had been a place where the legends of Kronos existed, but now, only void filled its place.

[The ‘Spring of Time’ has paused.]

[The ‘Spring of Time’ has paused.]

System messages continued to pop up. Under normal circumstances, they should’ve been gone too, but the fact that messages were continuing to appear meant the system was still working.

[Error.]

[Error.]

…

[The source of the error is being searched for.]

[The output was incorrect.]

[The output is being fixed.]

[Not ‘all’ of Kronos’ legends were destroyed.]

[It has been confirmed that the countdown still exists.]

[The current remaining time is two minutes, six seconds, and four milliseconds.]

[A very small part of Kronos’ legends has survived and is attempting to restore itself.]

[It has failed.]

[It has failed.]

[The damage to the data is too severe for restoration. There isn’t enough energy to attempt restoration.]

…

[An unidentifiable power attempts to hack the console system. An attempt to restore the data is made.]

[Kronos’ paused legends begin to play again.]

Tick. Tock. The sound of needles moving began to ring out again.

[The ‘Spring of Time’ is moving at a very slow speed!]

Whoosh! The collapsed world began to squirm. Broken pieces found their places one by one and started to be fixed.

Just as how Yeon-woo destroyed his legends and reassembled them to finish Yin Spirit, Kronos’ legends were being newly organized. The broken parts were connected, and the damaged parts were fixed. The fragmented parts were reshaped and put back into their positions… Kronos’ legends were not only restored, but they were becoming strengthened from what they had been.

[An unidentifiable power is restoring the spring of the clock.]

[The destroyed thirteenth cogwheel has been exchanged.]

[The damaged twenty-first cogwheel’s cog has been fixed.]

…

[The 1,921th cogwheel has successfully been fixed.]

[All the needles of the clock have been fixed.]

[The speed of the needles slowly increases.]

[The time limit has increased.]

[It is applied to the countdown.]

[00:03:41_32]

[00:03:41_33]

…

It wasn’t easy to restore the broken legends. If something went wrong, they could all be damaged. That was why Gaia’s Curse had been an object of fear to countless gods. The balance of the legends couldn’t be fully restored if they were broken.

Even the leader of the Day, Uranus, and the king of gods, Kronos, hadn’t been free from Gaia’s Curse. The Martial King, who had reached “emperor” status, had faced it as well.

However, Yeon-woo was released from Gaia’s Curse with Hades’ help, and he had gained resistance to it. He had even reassembled his legends and changed the properties of his body with Yin Spirit. He had opened his own heart with a scalpel without being under anesthesia, and he was done recovering from it.

Thus, it wasn’t that difficult for Yeon-woo to fix Kronos’ heart as well. Since he already had experience, he was faster at it too. At the time, he hadn’t had any consciousness, but he was fully aware now. He even had the great legends of “awaking the Black King and gaining the title of being his shadow,” so anything was possible.

[The minute hand has been restored.]

His domain began to function normally.

[The hour hand has been restored.]

All the parts that Kronos didn’t think Yeon-woo could fix because they were too damaged were fixed as well.

[The domains are activating.]

[The domains are complete. The lost functions of the spring have been fully recovered.]

[An unidentifiable power forcibly activates the springs. Fuel is input.]

[The needles of the clock spin.]

[The minute hand spins.]

[The hour hand spins.]

[The spring of time is functioning normally!]

[The ‘Small Wheel’ begins to roll again.]

[The overload is ignored.]

…

[The spring of death and the spring of time are connected for maximum efficiency!]

The two springs were finally connected after being separated for so long. The two domains resonated together, as if happy to see each other.

[The owner of the legends, ‘Kronos,’ has been restored.]

[Resurrection is taking place!]

[A new line is added to the legends of ‘Kronos.’ Self Resuscitation!’]

[The abuser, ###, opens his eyes!]