[Fable, ‘Me and the Pebble’ stops its story.]

I couldn’t hide any longer.

After leaving Yoo Joonghyuk to Anna, I ran toward Cheok Jun-gyeong.

Cheok Jun-gyeong’s eyes went wide when he spotted me, and then he gave a bitter smile. As if wounds like this were nothing, he pulled the spear out of his belly skin and reached a hand out toward me.

[Go!]

A gale that blew from his hand sent me flying away.

“Kim Dokja!”

Anna Croft’s shout.

At the same time, the hero-grade constellations of <Olympus> who spotted me were aghast and moved in.

[It’s a Kim Dokja fragment!]
[Retrieve that one too!]

<Olympus>’s goal wasn’t only the “King of Terror.” Since I, too, possessed a large number of “Kim Dokja fragments,” I was also one of their capture targets.

Activating [Wind’s Path], I pulled away from them and briefly relayed the situation to Anna Croft.

Anna Croft listened to my story with a grave expression, then nodded as if she’d made up her mind.

“So if you press that ‘button’, you can stop the war.”

“In theory, yes.”

The apocalypse region’s “reset button” was, literally, a button that rewound “everything” that happened in the apocalypse region. If we could just press that button, what happened here would return to “before the end.”

The problem was that we didn’t know what point in time “before the end” referred to.

“I’ll help.”

A barrage from the constellations grazed past us at point-blank range.

Spitting out acrid smoke, I asked.

“Can you use [Foresight]?”

“If it’s short. I can’t see too far into the future.”

“That’s enough.”

Even in the hopeless 40th round, we had somehow found a path. No matter how strong the constellations of <Olympus> were, if we combined our strength, we could definitely break through.

“Over there!”

If I flew by activating [Wind’s Path] at full power, it would be fast, but in a battle like this, I couldn’t do something that conspicuous.

“Turn right!”

Following Anna Croft’s directions, I moved calmly. Using [Wind’s Path] and [Baekcheong Qi], I shoved aside the hero-grade constellations rushing in, and whenever a threatening bombardment flew in, I flattened myself next to the incarnation bodies of dead constellations.

Kwakwakwakwakwa!

We ran through the thick smoke. We had to run even a little faster. We had to make precious use of the time the King of Terror and the captain-level Transcendents were buying for us.

Twokwang!

But even with [Foresight], we couldn’t read every single barrage. One stray shell came flying at our side, and Anna Croft and I instinctively threw our bodies in different directions.

When I pushed myself up coughing after getting covered in dust, I instinctively called Anna Croft.

“Anna.”

Fables were streaming down from her blood-soaked leg.

Anna answered calmly.

—Kim Dokja. Listen carefully. The constellations’ targets aren’t me and the Tyrant King anyway.

“But—”

—I’ll keep transmitting the route through [Voice Transmission]. Go, quickly.

Carrying Yoo Joonghyuk on her back, Anna Croft hid behind the corpse of an exploded Outer God.

I stared at Anna for a moment, then bit down hard on my lip and started running.

Between the pouring bombardments, Anna’s voice filled my ears.

—Watch out behind you!
—It’s coming from the left!
—Ahead! There’s a trap planted right ahead!
—Wait there for a moment! Count to five, then turn left and run!

Listening to her directions, I ran and ran without even thinking.

How much time passed like that?

At last, the exit of the “big house” began to come into view in the distance.

—From here on, it’s straight ahead.

Straight ahead?

—Yes. You have to go straight and break through.

I saw the hundreds of constellations blocking my path. It was a force <Olympus> had stationed in advance, knowing I would come toward the exit.

“How am I supposed to go straight?”

But Anna’s voice no longer came through. Had something happened? I hurriedly turned around, but I couldn’t see Anna anywhere.

Instead, what stood out was the myth-grade constellation of <Olympus>, the “Spear That Draws the Boundary of the Sea.”

Kugugugugu.

Poseidon was tapping the ground with Traiana. Every time the ground and the spear shaft collided, the air around it swirled and tore Outer Gods to pieces.

[Voice Transmission] was fundamentally a technique that carried sound on compressed air. If the air in the area was being controlled by Poseidon, it was only natural that Anna’s [Voice Transmission] wouldn’t get through.

[Seize him.]

At Poseidon’s order, hero-grade constellations including Jason and Achilles rushed at me.

Anna had said to break through them.

Then it meant I had a way to break through them. I felt like I knew what it was. The fables I’d built up through the series of incidents in the apocalypse region were telling me the way.

[Fable, ‘Friend of Horror’ begins its story.]

As the fable began its story, confidence welled up.

[There! Catch him!]

Taking advantage of the moment I hesitated, the spears and blades of the hero-grade constellations flew in.

Drawing in a breath, I thought.

This was the “big house” of the apocalypse region.

By the “King of Terror”’s authority, every kind of “horror” had gathered here now.

[Fable fragment, ‘Remote Signal Controller’ is used.]

Among them, of course, were horrors I had cleared.

[Disaster-grade horror, ‘Alien Traffic Light’ is activated!]

The traffic light’s glow that had been flickering far away changed, and with a roar, the constellations chasing from behind screamed.

[Kwaaaagh! What is this!]

Leaving behind the horrific crushing sounds pressing in from front and back, I started running.

[Constellation, ‘Spear That Draws the Boundary of the Sea’ expresses anger toward you!]

I felt a chilling gaze from behind, and then, along with a dizzying sensation, Traiana’s spear arc grazed past my side.

The spear arc whipped up a gale and blew away the “Alien Traffic Light” in the area.

Damn it.

[Good! Chase him!]

The exit was still far. I wondered if I should just activate [Wind’s Path] and fly. Even if it drew their attention a bit, if I wanted to cover the shortest distance quickly, it would be better to fly here—

[Kwaaaagh!]
[What is this, this crazy—]

From ahead, I heard the sound of the constellations rushing at me being ground up. A sound like a shrimp caught between whales getting crushed.

When I blinked stupidly, there really was something that looked like a whale there.

【Oooooooo!】

A scream that tore at my ears.

It was a “horror” I knew.

[End-of-the-world-grade horror, ‘Tooth Fin’ roars!]

Tooth Fin.

The “shark head” I’d met at the entrance of the apocalypse region.

Every time it swished its tail once, five or six hero-grade constellations were sent flying.

“You... you became ‘end-of-the-world-grade’!”

When I shouted in delight, it flopped its fin once, as if telling me to climb on.

Without hesitating, I climbed onto its back. The streamlined giant body wriggled, and at the same time, the scenery around us began to be pushed back like an arrow flying off.

[Don’t let him get away.]

Poseidon drew a line across the ground with his spear again. The boundary of the sea split apart, and the wave blooming from the spear arc covered our rear like a tsunami.

But Poseidon’s choice was a mistake.

This thing was “Tooth Fin.” A horror that had ruled the seas of the apocalypse region.

Riding the swell of the sharply surging wave, Tooth Fin accelerated even more, and in an instant reached the exit of the big house.

Using its enormous body to block the exit, “Tooth Fin” held back the constellations chasing after me.

“Thank you.”

【Toothtoothtoothtoothtoothtooth】

Leaving my thanks to the guy chattering its teeth, I slid down the streamlined back and opened the door of the exit.

Once I stepped outside, I could see the “room of the time stratum” in complete disarray. I immediately shifted my gaze upward.

The top of the “room of the time stratum.”

[1863-99th round].

Next to the time stratum placard with that written on it, I could see a small button. It was the “reset button” I was looking for.

Kwadududeuk.

From inside the door of the big house, I heard something being crushed.

Then the horrific thunderclap that rang out after it.

There was no time.

I immediately used [Wind’s Path] and flew up into the air. Thankfully, since there was no constellation grabbing me, it didn’t take long to reach the top of the room.

At last, the button was right in front of me. If I pressed this button, I could stop this tragedy.

But at that moment.

—Are you really going to make “all of it” “something that never happened”?

A voice echoed in my head. It was a voice I knew well.

“Cheon Inho.”

—If you press that, the King of Terror can live. But the fables you’ve built up will all disappear.

I hesitated, then asked.

“How do you know that?”

—If you don’t want to believe it, you can just think of it as the nonsense of the ‘Evil Sophist’.

A fact suddenly came to mind.

Cheon Inho, the Evil Sophist. He was one of the few “Horror Recorders” of this “apocalypse region.” So even if he knew the secrets of this “apocalypse region,” it wasn’t particularly strange.

—As a recorder, I’ll advise you. If you press that button, all events here will return to the moment the ‘Transcendent Alliance’ was formed. All the fables you built after entering the ‘apocalypse region’ will disappear, and the reason you came in here will become meaningless. And most of all.

Cheon Inho gave a small snicker and added.

—If you press that button, I cannot guarantee your survival.

Zeus’s thunder was growing louder.

—The moment you press the button, all impurities that are unnecessary to the initial components of the ‘apocalypse region’ will be removed.

“I can’t trust what you’re saying.”

Regardless of whether Cheon Inho’s words were true or false, if I didn’t press this button, everyone in the big house would die. Kyrioos, the Heaven-Breaking Sword Saint, Cheok Jun-gyeong—everyone would die.

It was the moment I finally brought my hand to the button after taking a deep breath. With a hazy fragrance brushing my nose, someone grabbed my wrist.

Shining butterfly wings. It was the King of Terror.

His once-brilliant wings were more than half torn, and his body was filled with wounds where weapons had pierced him everywhere.

Flesh protruding grotesquely.

From his shoulder down to his waist were scorch marks where Zeus’s lightning had raked past, and below that were wounds carved by Poseidon’s waves. From his ragged feet, fables flowed like tears.

In that state, the King of Terror called me.

【■■.】

He was calling my name—one he had never once called.

【Don’t.】

Why was it? His voice sounded normal. Was it because we had maintained [Multispecies Communication] for so long?

[Exclusive skill, ‘Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint’ is in an activated state.]

Or was this also the authority of [Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint]?

His inner thoughts that had been stained with incomprehensibility suddenly came through clearly. Maybe it was because the apocalypse region was meeting its end.

Maybe it was proof that he was no longer “the King of Terror.”

【You can’t press the button.】

I shook my head and shouted.

If I didn’t press this button, you would die. The people of the Transcendent Alliance, the Outer Gods—everyone would die.

Everything you loved would turn to dust and disappear.

You would be torn to pieces by those damned stars that wanted “Kim Dokja fragments,” and shattered into fragments.

So the only way to protect the apocalypse region was this.

To return to before I ever came in and out of this apocalypse region, to before all the incidents happened.

Then the King of Terror said.

【No.】

Kim Dokja, who loved the story of this world more than anyone, smiled at me and said.

【Because I like your story too.】