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853 chapter - Ten Evils (7)

Omniscient Reader’S Viewpoint (Web Novel Kr) — novelight.net · All chapters

853 chapter - Ten Evils (7)

"Cheon Inho! That’s it! Use Staging!"
Belatedly, it seemed the Ten Evils had reached the same realization as Yoo Joonghyuk.
"Surely you have myths you gained from taking those bastards down!"
I do.
Myths so terrible that I’m afraid to even trace my memory back to them—those myths were definitely inside me.
[Myth, ‘Destroyer of the Underworld’ writhes inside you.]
[Myth, ‘Clown of the Hell Scroll’ awaits your choice.]
[Myth, ‘Star-Mocking Banquet’ awaits your mockery.]
Every one of them was a myth made by piling up horrifying evil deeds.
Myths remember. They remember the incarnations who died in the process of being made.
[The myths await your reenactment.]
I hesitated. Would it really be okay to reenact those myths here?
While I was wavering, Oedipus’s order came down.
[Kill everyone except the Tyrant King.]
The incarnations holding Yoo Joonghyuk’s flanks began pouring out a full-scale offensive.
Under Lee Jihye’s and Kim Namwoon’s consecutive strikes, Yoo Joonghyuk’s entire body was shredded, and each time Lee Hyunsung’s [Taesan Breaker] landed in the gaps they opened, Yoo Joonghyuk’s complexion went pale.
And on top of that, Gong Pildu’s [Magic Cannon] kept raining down without pause.
[So that’s it.]
From behind the towering armed fortress, the four Constellations were watching us.
Honestly, it was a slightly disappointing sight. Fine, Apollo and Artemis, sure—but Athena is a goddess of justice… damn it, they came to judge the Ten Evils, so maybe it isn’t that strange.
But isn’t it a little weird that Dionysus is here? I didn’t think he was the kind of Constellation to get involved in something like this.
Looking closer, Dionysus’s eyes were dull, like he’d lost interest. With empty eyes, he kept drinking the liquor in his left hand.
Come to think of it, not every Dionysus could be like the 1,864th round. He must have been through a lot, too, on the way to the final scenario.
Apollo added in an indifferent voice.
[Leave the heads of the ones that look useful.]
Maybe the fight with the Blood Demon had taken a toll, because the Constellations, Apollo included, looked a little tired.
If so, we still have a chance.
I turned to the Ten Evils and said.
"I won’t use Staging."
"What?"
I continued, looking over the terrified faces of the Ten Evils one by one.
"We have to show that we can win without borrowing the power of the stage."
If the Ten Evils don’t surpass the Kim Dokja Company to begin with, we can’t see the end of the 40th round.
In other words, it means we need to be able to defeat opponents like these even without using Staging, to have the right to see the final chapter of the scenario.
[The owner of the ‘time rift’ is very interested in your judgment.]
[The ‘King of Terror’ agrees with your decision.]
As if my decision was absurd, the Ten Evils stood there with their mouths hanging open.
Even Yoo Joonghyuk, in the middle of fighting, glanced this way, and Anna Croft—who had been continuing to mutter prophecies one by one—also stared at me with strange eyes.
The two of them seemed surprised by my decision, but in slightly different ways.
The Sage of the Horizon shouted as if frustrated.
"No, there’s an easy path—why are we taking the long way around?"
Her question was valid.
But.
"Because the easy path isn’t always the right path."
I can’t use Staging. How should I put it—on a fundamental level, I didn’t want to reenact the stage of those myths.
With a thud, Yoo Joonghyuk was shoved back and ended up standing beside me.
"What are you plotting?"
As if he’d read what I was thinking, his eyes were blazing.
"If you’re worried about me, cut it out. I’ve already been through my companions’ deaths dozens of times."
"Of course you have."
Certainly, pain like this would be familiar to Yoo Joonghyuk.
But even so—does that mean it’s okay to say it isn’t pain?
"I just don’t want to use it. If we win too easily, it’s not fun."
Dodging the spear blades flying in, I smiled faintly.
Maybe the Cheon Inho of the 40th round used Staging. And maybe that’s what the Sophist of Evil wants, too.
But I had no intention of following the rules of the 40th round unconditionally.
I tell the story my way.
Even if we lose here, I won’t use a method that carves out Yoo Joonghyuk’s scars.
As if he understood the situation, Ye Hyeonwoo nodded and spoke.
"All right. I’m disappearing now."
"Ye Hyeonwoo."
I grabbed his arm and asked him.
"Don’t you want to see the end of the scenario?"
"That kind of—"
"How long are you going to do nothing but ‘disappear’? If I die here, do you think you’ll be safe, when you came back through [Summon the Dead]?"
"But we can’t win against those bastards. We’re not on the same level."
"The same level? Are you really going to run because of something like that?"
I looked toward the four incarnations fighting Yoo Joonghyuk viciously.
"If you want to run, you can run. But you’ve run plenty already, haven’t you?"
I continued, speaking to Kang Ilhun, Lee Hansu, and the Sage of the Horizon, who were watching us.
"Are you going to do that even in the final scenario?"
Some people are born as villains and die as villains. Because there was no room for them to change. Because the author didn’t leave them sentences meant for them. In the main story, it couldn’t be helped.
But what about in this worldline?
The three of them looked at each other, as if thinking about something. Their wavering gazes crossed.
The first to speak was Lee Hansu.
"What do you want from us?"
"Even if you die again, I’ll revive you as many times as it takes. So you, too, save me this one time."
Through [Group Chat], I explained the plan. Like the Ten Evils ❀ Nоvеlігht ❀ (Don’t copy, read here) they were, they understood it quickly.
—As expected. A plan worthy of the Sophist of Evil.
Once again, boom—[Taesan Breaker] exploded. Yoo Joonghyuk, now truly at his limit, was being pushed back.
The moment Lee Hyunsung tried to activate [Taesan Breaker] again without missing the opening—
"Kang Ilhun."
At my signal, Kang Ilhun charged straight at Lee Hyunsung.
"Waaaah! Why is Zeus in a place like that!"
[Character ‘Kang Ilhun’ activates exclusive skill ‘False Rumor Lv.???’!]
For an instant, the startled incarnations turned around. Of course, there was nothing there.
Furious, Lee Hyunsung twisted his body and tore Kang Ilhun’s head off.
Kang Ilhun’s head, flying through the air, shouted.
"Now!"
The moment Lee Hyunsung realized too late that something was wrong and looked around, a voice came from below.
"Too late, Steel Sword Emperor."
Dozens of “traps” set up in the sliver of time we’d stolen.
Originally, traps don’t have much effect on the dead. But if it isn’t one trap, and it’s dozens, the story changes.
A suffocating gas trap burst out around Lee Hyunsung. Having stepped on more than ten traps in a single moment, Lee Hyunsung’s body began petrifying rapidly.
"Hahahah! A trap made from Medusa’s myth! No matter if you’re the Steel Sword Emperor, you won’t be able to move for five minutes with this—"
Kudududuk—along with that sound, Lee Hyunsung stretched out his right arm with the last of his strength. Caught off guard, Lee Hansu was helplessly pierced through the chest.
"Kuh."
To subdue just Lee Hyunsung, two of the Ten Evils died.
But there was no time to hesitate. We still had three enemies left.
"N-no. I’m different from the others. I can’t fight those guys. Absolutely not!"
The Sage of the Horizon, instinctively recognizing a “strong one,” staggered back with shaking legs. Lee Jihye and Kim Namwoon were approaching, blasting out rough killing intent.
The Sage of the Horizon’s judgment was right. If she fought now, her head would immediately come off to Lee Jihye’s [Instant Kill].
But what about this, then?
"Sage of the Horizon."
[Exclusive skill, ‘Incitement Lv.???’ activates!]
"From now on, ‘Lee Jihye’ and ‘Kim Namwoon’ are weaker than you."
Ferocious sparks erupted right in front of my eyes. [Incitement], made even stronger through [Sentence Enhancement].
The Sage of the Horizon let out a groan, like she was in pain.
Changing the applied target of [Bug Slaughter] through [Incitement].
If you do something like that to a myth—when it isn’t even a skill—you could twist the myth and make your body explode.
Even so, the Sage of the Horizon accepted my [Incitement].
[Myth, ‘Bug Slaughter’ is being tainted!]
[An abnormal deviation is occurring in the myth!]
Amid the bright probability sparks, the Sage of the Horizon smiled.
"Somehow, I feel like I became the protagonist."
The Sage of the Horizon shot out like an arrow and engaged Lee Jihye and Kim Namwoon in close combat.
Her bare fist slammed into Lee Jihye’s side, and her whipping kicks lashed Kim Namwoon’s belly.
A mere Ten Evil was fighting a one-versus-two battle against the “Admiral of the Sea” and the “Delusional Evil Spirit.”
Of course, it was only a momentary stalling tactic, since the pressure had been forced up through a cheap trick—but what we needed was exactly that instant.
[Tyrant King! Where did the Tyrant King go?]
Quick-witted, Oedipus shouted. A shadow of anxiety flickered in his eyes. Then he pointed at me and screamed at the top of his lungs.
[Kill him! Kill the Sophist of Evil first! If he dies, it’s over!]
Gong Pildu’s [Magic Cannon] targeted me. Oedipus’s 판단 was truly accurate.
In the end, everyone here had been revived by my [Summon the Dead].
The moment I died, they, too, would rapidly lose vitality.
But here’s the thing.
"That goes for you, too."
The moment Oedipus, eyes wide, turned around, Yoo Joonghyuk and Ye Hyeonwoo—the “one who disappears”—were there.
Yoo Joonghyuk’s Yellow Heaven Moon Halberd, imbued with terrifying transcendent power, shone.
Heaven-Shattering Sword Path.
Ultimate killing secret.
A secret art of the Heaven-Shattering Sword Path rearranged for spear technique.
One-Point Heaven-Shattering.
With Oedipus’s scream, a storm of blade-force swept across the entire platform.
I lay flat on the floor and waited for the backlash to pass. Not long after, a message sounded in my ears.
[Constellation, ‘The One Who Gouged Out His Own Eyes’ has exited the scenario.]
Oedipus, who had taken a catastrophic hit, had ultimately exited the scenario.
Then, with creaking sounds, Yoo Joonghyuk’s companions who had been summoned by [Summon the Dead] began to drop to their knees one by one. The souls that had been forcibly injected were leaving their bodies.
Gong Pildu’s armed fortress collapsed, and next, Kim Namwoon—the Delusional Evil Spirit—fell. Lee Jihye and Lee Hyunsung, without falling to the end, were staring somewhere.
At the end of their gaze stood a man.
"Rest. I’ll confirm the end of this world."
Only after hearing Yoo Joonghyuk’s words did the two of them close their eyes, as if reassured.
"Did we… win?"
Ye Hyeonwoo, standing beside me, muttered, and nearby, the Sage of the Horizon—who had slumped onto the dusty floor—shouted.
"Uahahahaha! Uahahahahat! How is it? This is the Ten Evils, you bastards!"
And then applause came from somewhere. Beyond the collapsed armed fortress, four stars were walking toward us.
[It was a story sufficient to contain in the Ark as a ‘myth’.]
It was the four Constellations, with Apollo at their head.
At the same time, a bright light flashed, and Yoo Joonghyuk shouted.
"Watch out!"
Yoo Joonghyuk charged and swung his spear at the beam of light flying in, but the beam slipped past his spear at a strange angle.
I recognized whose technique it was.
“Mystical Tracking Arrow.”
It was the specialty of Artemis, one of the Twelve gods of <Olympus>. Of the three arrows that flew in, one struck the Sage of the Horizon, who had been catching her breath, and another struck Ye Hyeonwoo at my side.
And the last one—
Pshuk.
Holding back a scream, I collapsed onto the floor. From my pierced thigh, blood-stained myth flowed out.
As if pleased by the sight of us like that, Apollo spoke.
[But every story has an end.]
Even after seeing Yoo Joonghyuk’s divinity as he killed Oedipus in a single strike, they showed no sign of being intimidated.
No matter how strong Yoo Joonghyuk was, the other side was four Twelve-god-class Constellations. And unlike before, there was no 「Darkness That Eats Starlight」 suppressing the Constellations.
[Kill the Tyrant King.]
At the signal, the four Constellations disappeared from view. Almost simultaneously, Yoo Joonghyuk’s figure also vanished. A harsh tearing sound tore through the air, and a magic shockwave that felt like it would rip my ears apart exploded.
Sometimes, fragments of myth would patter down onto the floor. Proof that a fierce battle was unfolding out of sight.
[Tyrant King! Is this all you’ve got? Kahahahah! Entertain us more!]
Yoo Joonghyuk has 「Curse of the Stars」 on him. But even if his pressure increases against Constellations, his opponents were four myth-grade Constellations.
In my head, I recalled the way Cheon Inho fought.
Can I do it like he did? If I move now, can I subdue those Constellations together with Yoo Joonghyuk?
"Cheon Inho. If it’s now, you can run."
Ye Hyeonwoo, clutching his perforated stomach, put a hand on my shoulder.
"Abandon the Tyrant King. If even you die, humanity is finished."
[You cannot win.]
Had he been eavesdropping on our conversation? In the brightly blinking light, Apollo’s oracle rang out.
[Even if you run, it’s the same. There are myth-grade Constellations in the Ark! Now neither the ‘Last Dragon’ nor the ‘Outer God’s divinity’ can help you! No matter what you do, there is no way for you to face them!]
Myth-grade Constellations. The moment I heard that name, my chest sank like lead. What was blocking us right now were, at most, myth-grade Constellations.
If myth-grade is like this, how are we supposed to face myth-grade?
[With the history you’ve piled up, you can never reach ‘the end of the scenario’. You got lucky and dropped a few stars—did you think that made you gods or something?]
I could see Yoo Joonghyuk’s figure falling out of the air.
A seething Apollo was staring at me.
[Last humanity of a small planet. You fought well enough.]
Maybe Cheon Inho’s 40th round ended here.
"But."
Maybe he died in front of the Ark without ever seeing the end.
"If so, what is the meaning of ‘rewriting’ this story?"
It was then that Anna Croft’s voice came from behind.
"Head."
Without thinking, I turned my head, and Anna Croft’s eyes were fixed somewhere.
There, the Blood Demon’s dead head was lying on the floor.
A strange thought suddenly came to me. Why did the Blood Demon come all the way here? If he was going to lose to the Constellations anyway, if he knew he was destined to die—
"Why did he come, specifically, all the way to me, and die in front of me?"
I suddenly raised my head and looked around the warehouse. According to my memory, the Blood Demon had spent his whole life collecting the treasures of this warehouse.
But.
"Isn’t this warehouse… kind of small?"
I picked up the Blood Demon’s head from the floor. And then it felt like the Blood Demon’s head was speaking to me.
Think. That there was a reason I came to find you and die here.
Landing on the ground, Yoo Joonghyuk leaped with a beast-like roar. The glance he cut toward me was saying it. He can barely hold on anymore.
[You who live, at most, a hundred years—how dare you covet the sky of the stars!]
A being that lives, at most, a hundred years.
At that moment, a voice surfaced. The Blood Demon’s voice.
"If a being that lives, at most, a hundred years wants to topple the stars, what do you think it has to do?"
My head throbbed with pain.
"Very many humans would have to combine their strength."
"Like that could ever be possible, Sophist of Evil."
"Then couldn’t you do it?"
I replayed the conversation flowing through my head and thought.
"Living humans don’t necessarily have to be the ones to combine their strength."
If my hypothesis is right—
"Yoo Joonghyuk. Hold on just a little longer."
As if he’d heard me, a boom echoed from far away in the air.
Dragging my injured leg, clutching the Blood Demon’s head, I walked toward somewhere.
As if she sensed something strange, Artemis fired an arrow at me. Behind me, I heard the sound of someone taking the arrow in my place.
Without turning around, I kept walking toward the end of the warehouse.
There, a small safe sat. A safe with a dull, grimy color. It had been bothering me for a while, but I couldn’t find a way to open it.
When I slumped down in front of the safe, a bright light flowed out from it.
[Confirming the myth imprinted in the retina.]
I brought the Blood Demon’s head close. Then, as if the dead Blood Demon’s head had come back to life, it snapped its eyes open.
[Confirmed the owner’s myth.]
A subspace portal opened in front of my eyes.
Instinctively, I understood.
So that’s it. This portal is—
"Cheon Inho. Take the prophet."
Ye Hyeonwoo, with two holes punched through his upper body by Artemis’s arrows, shoved Anna—who still couldn’t move well—toward me.
As Anna toppled unsteadily, my body began getting sucked into the portal with her.
As if he thought this was the last time, Ye Hyeonwoo looked at me for a moment. Then, for the first time, he gave me a faint smile.
"Thanks for bringing us this far."
The moment I tried to call his name, Apollo’s flash exploded.
The sound of something burning. Screams ringing out cruelly.
The subspace swallowed all of that tragedy, and the portal closed.
Gasping, I pushed myself up, and the feel of a cold floor came under my hands.
"Anna Croft. Is it here?"
At my voice, Anna Croft groaned and nodded.
"The Blood Demon’s hidden warehouse."
The moment I reached a hand into the air, a bright light came on in the ceiling. Almost at the same time, lightning struck in my head.
"Cheon Inho."
It was the last day of the <Underworld>.
A conversation Cheon Inho and the Blood Demon had exchanged.
"Even if you use my ‘myth’, you can’t turn every human into a corpse soldier."
"Hm? Is that so?"
Listening to the conversation flowing through my head, I slowly looked around the warehouse.
A space about the size of a domed stadium.
"In some bodies, the obsession embedded in them is too strong, so I can’t revive them with my ‘King of the Dead’. Especially the ones you mentioned—"
All around that warehouse, thousands of heads and torsos treated with [Preservation] were hanging.
"Hm. That’s fine. Collect them, to prepare for the future."
A tremor rose from my toes. I sped up, looking over the heads. Before long, one familiar face after another appeared.
"Someday, they might make up their minds and save the world."
I stopped in front of heads that were far too familiar.
The heads of transcendent ones the Blood Demon couldn’t turn into corpse soldiers were displayed there.
Some heads were far too small, and some heads were far too big. There were also heads that still held the savage expressions they’d had in life.
I felt like I might cry, but I forced it back. Because I thought of the people who might be watching me from somewhere.
"Are you watching?"
With trembling hands, I reached toward a head hanging on the wall.
"If you’re watching."
I don’t know whether this is the correct way to resolve this terror or not.
Still, this was the way I chose.
A way to save Yoo Joonghyuk “properly.”
A way to safely see the end of the 40th round, and protect the Horror Zone.
Holding the heads of Cheok Jun-gyeong and Kirios in my arms, I muttered.
And at that moment.
"Masters. Please, help me."
The last sentence of this world began to be written inside my head.