The sky was changing in real time. Pitch-black, then pure white, thunder cracking, then rain falling.

Beyond the erratic weather anomalies, past the heaving Void Veil, supreme beings were shaking the universe.

What on earth was happening over there.

Had Yu Joonghyuk really shown up and was he beating the hell out of the constellations?

—Oh, youngest. A tale-grade one is dropping over there.

The head of the 41st round’s Yu Joonghyuk, slung limply over my shoulder, bobbed weakly.

I truly had no way of knowing what was going on.

If the existence beyond that side was really Yu Joonghyuk, then why hadn’t he appeared here in a possession form like Shin Yuseung? Just as Shin Yuseung had used herself of the 41st round, that guy could use himself of the 41st round too.

—What nonsense. If that bastard comes here, we’re in deep trouble.

“Why. If Yu Joonghyuk comes, he can wipe everything out.”

—Why do you assume Yu Joonghyuk will help us?

For a moment the back of my head tingled. I’d been thinking only of the Shin Yuseung case and briefly forgot what <Kim Dokja Company>’s original goal was.

According to Han Sooyoung’s memory, <Kim Dokja Company>’s purpose was to retrieve Kim Dokja.

To them, my existence might even be an obstacle.

—We’ll be lucky if Earth doesn’t get blown up as it is.

“No, but still, to that extent…”

I always think this, but Kim Dokja’s Yu Joonghyuk frame was a bit warped. No matter how Yu Joonghyuk he was, there was no way he’d go that far.

Even so, it was true that I was worried on the other hand.

If, like Han Sooyoung, Yu Joonghyuk also tried to retrieve Kim Dokja by “destroying this world quickly”…

—By the way, aren’t you going to run?

Right. Now wasn’t the time to be idly thinking like that.

Because right now, even as we spoke, the incarnation bodies of the great nebulae were chasing me in real time.

“Rip off his legs!”

“Tear off his limbs!”

Why on earth were they yelling things like that as they ran at me. Do you become bad-tempered just by entering a great nebula?

Anyway, all I could think was that I absolutely mustn’t get caught. But my breath was soon rising to my throat.

—You need to exercise.

“Hearing that from someone whose base stat is Stamina 1 is… refreshing.”

—No good. Lend it to me one more time.

[Exclusive Skill, “Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint” “Stage 3” is forcefully activated!]

Just as I felt Kim Dokja overlapping a shade more strongly, [Path of Wind] wrapped around my toes and in an instant I traversed a hundred meters.

If this were reality and I ran in the Olympics, I’d set a new record at once, but even this wasn’t enough now.

[Character ‘Alexandros Mihailidis’ activates his exclusive skill ‘High-speed Run Lv.6’!]
[Character ‘Layla Al Hassan’ activates her exclusive skill ‘Rampage Lv.8’!]

Truly tenacious ◆ Nоvеlіgһt ◆ (Only on Nоvеlіgһt) bastards.

“Backer! Behind! Behind!”

A dizzying sensation at the back of my head. Kim Dokja, reflexively twisting his head, let a razor-thin streak of light graze his earlobe.

An arrow? Or a spear?

Either way, if I’d been even a little late, there’d be a hole in the back of my head.

“Left!”

The moment I hastily changed direction, an arrow exploiting my blind spot slammed into my thigh. Thankfully, it wasn’t me who hurt, but Kim Dokja.

—You said left? It came from the right!

“Looks like it came from the right too!”

Kim Dokja yanked the arrow out as-is, then spun his body once and flung the broken shaft back over his shoulder.

I heard the sound of an arrow laden with [Path of Wind] piercing something, and a scream rang out.

But neither Kim Dokja nor I looked back.

—Youngest. That.

I confirmed the ladder hanging across the vault of the sky.

“Star Ladder.”

It was the path to the “eighth scenario” I’d checked as soon as we arrived in the Washington Dome area.

“You said not to use that, didn’t you?”

—We shouldn’t, but surviving comes first right now.

“How do we use it?”

Instead of answering, Kim Dokja thrust my right hand high and shouted,

“I call upon the Star Ladder!”

Simple, I thought—

[‘Star Ladder’ does not respond to you.]

Damn it, of course.

There was no way a scenario with Kim Dokja would go that smoothly.

What was absurd was that, except for us, all the other incarnation bodies were crossing into the next scenario through the “Star Ladder.”

“Run! If we get swept up in this for nothing, we die!”

“I call upon the Star Ladder!”

In the scrum of great nebulae, incarnation bodies were fleeing to the next scenario through the “Star Ladder.”

Each ladder’s shape, size, and degree of damage differed, but in any case a ladder descended for every one of those guys except us.

“Why is our ladder the only one not coming down?”

Maybe Kim Dokja was in the middle of checking as well; faintly, a conversation message with Bihyung echoed through my head.

—Constellation-nim. So right now… the authority…

Authority?

[Constellations who possess ‘Star Ladder’ usage authority do not respond to you.]
[‘Star Ladder’ usage authority is limited to certain constellations who contributed to the creation of the ‘Recycling Center’.]

I didn’t know exactly what that meant, but apparently you couldn’t just drop a ladder for anyone.

[Constellation, ‘Prisoner of the Golden Coil’, furrows his brow asking what the hell that’s supposed to mean.]
[Constellation, ‘Black Flame Dragon of the Abyss’, asks what this ‘Recycling Center’ is supposed to be.]
[Constellation, ‘Demonic Judge of Fire’, grumbles that the ‘Star Stream system’ seems to have gotten more complicated lately.]

Thank god I wasn’t the only fool.

Without much expectation, I asked Kim Dokja,

“Backer. You don’t have ladder authority?”

—Would I?

“Any friends you can ask for a favor?”

—Would I?

“Then what now?”

—Just wait a little.

“They’ve all chased us down, though.”

Before I knew it, the incarnation bodies had formed a circle and were tightening the encirclement.

<Olympus>, <Guiok>, <Tree of Guardians>, and <Veda>’s incarnations.

“We’ve got him! Close in slowly!”

Judging by the feel, none of them had a tale-grade backer constellation.

All were the incarnation bodies of great-figure constellations.

Every last one of them had cranked their synchronization to the limit.

This scenario obeyed the rule of the “Scale.” If, as such, the number of constellations with synchronization cranked to the limit had increased, then naturally the balance of the scale should have collapsed.

“At this level, shouldn’t someone on our side be coming to help?”

Like Yu Joonghyuk. No, he was off-limits earlier, so at least another member of <Kim Dokja Company>.

Failing that, even Han Myeongo.

—Do a hundred bugs weigh the same as a lion?

I was struck anew by how tremendous <Kim Dokja Company> had become.

Bugs, he says. They’re constellations too, in their way.

—The great nebulae aren’t idiots. They’re sending them out after calculating plausibility. The fact that there isn’t a single tale-grade backer despite so many incarnation bodies is the proof.

So they were sending them out after adjusting plausibility on their side too.

I let out a light sigh and counted their numbers. At a glance there were easily over thirty.

By contrast, we were at our limit.

My body, strengthened with the “Dragon Heart,” had turned to rags as soon as I borrowed Cheok Jun-gyeong’s power, and [Bookmark]’s time limit was up.

If that what’s-his-name of Thebes merely pricked me with his spearpoint, I’d keel right over.

All I could trust now was Kim Dokja.

—Youngest.

“Yes.”

—Say anything and stall for a bit.

“…What?”

[Exclusive Skill, “Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint” “Stage 3” has been released.]

I was dumbfounded.

No, if you throw me and go like this, what am I supposed to do.

I hastily grasped “thoughts about almost everything” and racked my brain.

What usable item do I have right now?

The “Deadly Poison Bomb” was already spent, so no; should I use the “Ever-changing Stealth Suit” and try hiding?

Or should I at least use [Agitation]?

Luckily, the incarnation bodies that had been closing the distance stopped with about ten meters to spare.

Looking closely, they were checking one another as well.

One incarnation body, exuding a threatening killing intent with me in the middle, spoke up first.

“<Olympus>. You haven’t forgotten the agreement, have you?”

Judging by the Halloween-party-like outfit, an incarnation body belonging to <Guiok>. The one who answered him was <Olympus>’s “Gatekeeper of Thebes.”

“Don’t worry. We’ll share your portion as well. The myth-grade constellations have just concluded their accord.”

When the “Gatekeeper of Thebes” answered, the <Guiok> incarnation bodies smacked their lips at me.

“Then we’ll divide and eat everything fairly.”

Eat? Eat what?

Ask my opinion too, you bastards.

Watching them come one step at a time, I steeled my mind once more.

It struck me anew that I’d relied too much on the backer constellation all this time.

Now I should make some plays too.

“I am Kim Dokja.”

Curling my lips slightly, I opened my mouth.

“Quite the crowd. But are you doing this knowing what happened inside ‘Ginnungagap’?”

“Don’t listen. He’s just trying to stall. Immediately—”

“Aren’t you curious? Why ‘Daughter of the Valkyrie’ ended up in that state.”

“At most he handled a single great-figure…”

As expected, these bastards don’t really know.

Smiling faintly, I snapped my fingers at the air. Of course, there was no need to snap, I just did it.

“Here you go, <Star Stream>’s first-ever. A full public release of the inside of ‘Ginnungagap.’”

[A yet-unnamed tale begins to tell its story!]

My tale, which was still without a name, began to tell its story. Right on cue, the constellations’ messages came.

[Constellation, ‘Prisoner of the Golden Coil’, browses the tale!]
[Constellation, ‘Black Flame Dragon of the Abyss’, browses the tale!]
[Constellation, ‘Commander of the Red Cosmos’, browses the tale!]
[A small number of constellations browse your tale and are shocked!]

Originally, “Ginnungagap” was a stage where no record of any tale remained.

But thanks to the effect of “The Chronicler of Vanished Things,” I was able to leave the tale safely.

[Nebula, <Asgard>’s constellations are aghast.]
[Nebula, <Asgard> requests the Administration Bureau to restrict record access!]

The truth of “Ginnungagap” spread like ripples in all directions.

<Asgard>’s disgrace, made just to catch me, was spreading across the entirety of the <Star Stream> in an instant.

Though <Asgard> belatedly moved to block it, the constellations had already read the tale in bits and pieces.

“Gatekeeper of Thebes. Is that true?”

One incarnation body of <Tree of Guardians>, who had been silent all along, asked.

“That guy took care of ten great-figure constellations in a semi-divine descent?”

“Impossible… there’s no way that could be.”

“Wasn’t ‘Daughter of the Valkyrie’ the only one who went out?”

As some of the incarnation bodies backed away, a hole opened in the circular encirclement.

I could feel the constellations’ agitation prickling against my skin.

Not missing the chance, I took one more step forward and spoke.

[Exclusive Skill, “Agitation Lv.10” is activated.]

“Now you understand who you’re about to pick a fight with.”

Startled, the incarnation bodies retreated in succession.

Realizing the mood was turning ominous, the “Gatekeeper of Thebes” shouted,

“Nonsense! Don’t be fooled! Even if that tale is true, he already exhausted all his power inside ‘Ginnungagap’. If we strike together now and kill—”

I burst into loud laughter. At that mad laughter, the Gatekeeper of Thebes unconsciously shut his mouth.

“I gave you a chance, and you still didn’t get it.”

“You bastard, what—”

“I killed ten great-figure constellations in the seventh scenario. And the tale I’ve stacked still doesn’t have a ‘name.’ You don’t know what that means?”

I saw a few quick-witted incarnation bodies roll their eyes.

A tale without a name.

In other words, my tale still wasn’t “complete.”

“If you help me here, you’ll get to share in the tale stakes I obtain.”

[A tiny number of constellations are surprised at the ‘Demon King of Salvation’s’ proposal.]
[Constellation, ‘Dragon Who Lies Down’, admires your tongue.]
[Constellation, ‘Prisoner of the Golden Coil’, shows interest in your words.]

A confused silence fell among the constellations who had been in an uproar.

They had come here to combine forces to eliminate the “Demon King of Salvation” and obtain the “Kim Dokja Fragments.”

But judging by their expressions, most here still didn’t even precisely understand what “Kim Dokja Fragments” were.

“Choose. Attack me like idiots, get nothing for your trouble, and get ejected from the scenario.”

For them, a different option had just appeared.

“Or take my hand and split a guaranteed ‘legend-grade’ tale or higher.”