The moment I saw the Heaven-Piercing Sword Saint approaching—her, who had become an Outer God—I realized it instinctively.

「She’s not at the level of Zeus who descended upon the apocalypse region.」

Not all constellations classified as ‘myth-grade’ are equal. Just like how the ‘Demon King of Salvation’ who only just became myth-grade and the ‘Seat of Lightning’ aren’t on equal footing.

「But she’s also not an opponent I can face right now.」

Even if I use ‘Demon King of Salvation’ mode, my maximum output is late fable-grade. Late fable-grade and early myth-grade are only one step apart, but the scale of that difference is on another dimension.

When I looked to the side, Jung Heewon was standing still as if her feet had hardened.

「The primordial authority of ‘rank’.」

Just like how an ordinary human freezes when they face a wild beast, all existences below fable-grade have their fighting spirit crushed in front of a myth-grade constellation.

Of course, there are guys like Yoo Joonghyuk whose head is a little messed up, who charge in regardless of the opponent’s rank, but—

"Heewon! Snap out of it!"

Even at my shout, Jung Heewon didn’t budge. She seemed to have been overwhelmed by the rank of myth-grade and lost her mind.

Damn it.

The Heaven-Piercing Sword Saint was charging at us.

I raised my voice as I widened the rapidly closing distance.

"Nameless horror, reveal your name at once!"

I didn’t know what exactly that ‘thing’ wearing the Heaven-Piercing Sword Saint’s appearance was. To interpret horror, I first needed to find the root of that horror.

[Fable, ‘Friend of All Narratives,’ continues to sing.]

「All horrors shall reveal their name before the throne.」

Was it because I forcibly manifested the authority of the ‘King of Terror’? Along with a sensation like my whole body twisting, dizzying sparks began to circle through my veins.

The Heaven-Piercing Sword Saint’s pitch-black eyes stared at me.

【N A M E】

The one who asks for something’s name has the duty to bear the weight of that name.

[Constellation, ‘First Heavenly Demon,’ widens its eyes.]

[Constellation, ‘Emperor of Strength,’ lets out a groan at the Heaven-Piercing Sword Saint’s rank.]

[Multiple constellations point out the plausibility of the scenario!]

Constellations that belatedly confirmed the Heaven-Piercing Sword Saint’s rank flashed violent light in the air.

Tsutsutsutsutsut!

[The end-of-the-world-grade horror, ‘Impossible Chivalry,’ looks at you.]

Impossible Chivalry. That was the name of the horror the Heaven-Piercing Sword Saint had evolved into.

Facing that horror, I opened my mouth again.

"I am…!"

There are many ways to interpret horror when you face it. Assimilate into horror, understand horror.

"I didn’t come to harm you!"

Or [Agitate] horror.

[Exclusive skill, ‘Agitation Lv.???’, activates!]

"Heaven-Piercing Sword Saint! Come to your senses! Don’t you know who I am? It’s me! The Transcendent Alliance’s youngest, Kim Jongeon!"

I ranted like a madman toward the approaching horror.

"We fought together! In the last scenario of the 40th round—when the apocalypse region was destroyed, you were there too!"

Like a fish slipping through the gaps of a loose net, my words passed through her emptily.

In truth, the very idea of agitating a horror that reached ‘end-of-the-world-grade’ was nonsense. But there was no other way right now. Because I had to buy time, somehow.

Now, the distance between me and the Heaven-Piercing Sword Saint was less than ten steps. It was time to throw a gamble.

"If Kyrioos saw this, what would Kyrioos think!"

No matter how loose the net is, if you keep throwing it, something will eventually get caught.

"How pathetic—this is why people say the world has a paradox above heaven-breaking! Wouldn’t Kyrioos run its mouth like that!"

For the first time, something like emotion rose in her pitch-black eyes.

I didn’t miss the chance and kept ranting.

"Think of your disciple! That damned handsome bastard with the face that’s exactly your type! If he finds out you got eaten by a fable and ended up like this, what do you think he’ll say!"

Her steps that had been closing in stopped dead.

"Do you know why that guy comes looking for you every time the regressions repeat? Even after being betrayed so many times, why he believes in you alone, why he tells you all those tragedies only to you—"

The moment I said that far, pitch-black energy began to leak out of the Heaven-Piercing Sword Saint’s entire body.

【Y O O J O O N G H Y U K】

"Yes, that’s right. Yoo Joonghyuk! If you’ve come to your senses, then now go smack that damned disciple bastard’s ass—"

The moment I met the Heaven-Piercing Sword Saint’s gaze, I realized it.

「This isn’t a kind of ‘horror’ I can persuade or agitate.」

The energy of D-coins wavering across her entire body. Coins made from my brother’s flesh and blood were interfering with my [Agitation] and strengthening the Heaven-Piercing Sword Saint.

「But no matter how much it’s Kim Dokja’s flesh and blood, is it possible to bestow such powerful authority on an incarnation?」

「Is it plausibly possible to transform a Transcendent into a myth-grade horror?」

Cold sweat ran down my spine.

"Dokja."

Right then, Jung Heewon, who had come to her senses, looked back at me. I lightly nodded to her, then stepped forward.

【D I S C I P L E ? A R E Y O U ?】

The Heaven-Piercing Sword Saint was raising her hand as she approached, spitting out incomprehensible words. In her hand, sword energy that looked easily tens of meters long was blooming.

【I ’ M S O R R Y】

If I get hit by that, I die. Even if it’s not the Demon King of Salvation but the Great Demon King of Salvation that descends, that can’t be blocked.

「That’s why this scenario’s difficulty is clearly abnormal.」

I called the ‘Unchanging One’.

"Unchanging One! Now!"

There was a reason I struggled to buy even a little time.

[Multiple constellations harbor doubts about the plausibility of the scenario.]

It was because I needed time to describe this absurd situation in a little more detail.

In the end, this world’s story moves by the stars’ plausibility.

All scenarios are adjusted by the constellations watching them.

[Constellation, ‘First Heavenly Demon,’ agrees with the unfairness of the scenario.]

[Constellation, ‘Emperor of Strength,’ agrees with the unfairness of the scenario.]

Of course, the reason those bastards were pointing out plausibility wasn’t simply because of the scenario’s difficulty.

[Constellation, ‘Almighty Sun,’ says there’s no way a mere human could reach myth.]

[Constellation, ‘Volcanic Blacksmith,’ shakes its head.]

[Constellation, ‘Divine King of Thunder,’ says how could a mere half-blood of the Giant race…….]

Those guys just couldn’t tolerate a mere mortal daring to emit a higher rank than them.

[Constellation, ‘Spear That Draws the Boundary of the Sea,’ reveals strong displeasure.]

In the next moment, sparks burst up in the air, and the record that gained the constellations’ agreement gained power.

At last, the plausibility of <Star Stream> began to move.

The ones who realize that plausibility are those who manage this world’s scenarios.

[Huuh, an appearance of a myth-grade Outer God! How did the Murim incarnations end up going through such a great trial?]

A dokkaebi.

[Simple, one-sided slaughter isn’t fun. Now, shall we add a few rules?]

Along with Bihyung’s voice that sounded delighted, a message rose in the air.

[A new sub scenario has been created!]

Asking the horror’s name, throwing questions to buy time, gathering the constellations, completing the record to persuade them.

All of that preparation was only to reach this moment.

[A sub scenario has arrived!]

+

<Sub Scenario – Horror Subjugation>
Classification: Main
Difficulty: ???
Clear Conditions: Subjugate the end-of-the-world-grade horror, ‘■■■■ ■■’.
Time Limit: ―
Reward: ???
Failure: Destruction of Murim

+

A scenario that came down like an emergency order.

The content was simple.

Subjugate the Heaven-Piercing Sword Saint who became an Outer God.

Looking at the scenario, it didn’t seem like the situation changed much, but from my standpoint it was a little different.

「Every scenario has a ‘strategy method’.」

The fact that ‘horror’ became a scenario meant that at least a realizable ‘strategy’ had been created.

As the Heaven-Piercing Sword Saint hesitated for a moment with the scenario’s creation, I exchanged looks with Jung Heewon.

‘Heewon.’

Then Jung Heewon answered.

‘Are we really doing it?’

I nodded.

And we started running as if it were a promise.

「No matter how much the Heaven-Piercing Sword Saint absorbed D-coins, there’s no way she could cross the boundary of ‘myth-grade’ this easily.」

This scenario is based on the record I delivered to the ‘Unchanging One’. In other words, this scenario exists to explain the Heaven-Piercing Sword Saint’s ‘unreasonable strength’.

The moment the Heaven-Piercing Sword Saint’s eyes slowly moving looked at me, I pointed into the air and shouted.

"It’s Yoo Joonghyuk!"

Of course, Yoo Joonghyuk wasn’t there. Thankfully, the Heaven-Piercing Sword Saint, whose intelligence had decreased a bit, blankly stared into the air following my finger.

「The Heaven-Piercing Sword Saint is probably exerting myth-grade power under a few constraints.」

I stared at the pitch-black thicket where the Heaven-Piercing Sword Saint first revealed herself.

"That way!"

「In other words, the Heaven-Piercing Sword Saint’s strength is only valid inside this ‘forest’.」

Somewhere deep inside this forest, something that made the ‘myth-grade Heaven-Piercing Sword Saint’ exist would be hidden.

And naturally, the place it’s hidden is—

「A place guarded by ‘Impossible Chivalry’.」

The Heaven-Piercing Sword Saint’s sword moved. A strike that truly looked like it would shatter the sky, reminiscent of Zeus’s or Odin’s lightning.

"Now!"

At the moment the thunderbolt fell, we threw ourselves into the pitch-black thicket by a hair’s breadth.

With pain like my body was being crushed, we staggered and got back up.

"It’s not over. She’ll catch up soon."

Before the Heaven-Piercing Sword Saint finds us, we had to reach the interpretation of this forest first.

[You have entered ‘Bright Mirror Eye’.]

But the moment we faced the spectacle spread out before our eyes, both Jung Heewon and I lost ourselves for a moment.

Bright Mirror Eye.

It was a term referring to the Giant race’s ability to read another person’s emotions. But what was spread out before us wasn’t an eye.

What was spread out before us was—

「How wide can one person’s universe become?」

A great tree whose size couldn’t even be guessed.

"Ah…."

A tree stretching out toward a distant galaxy split into dozens of branches and covered the sky.

The moment I reached out a hand toward the tree’s trunk, fables spoke to me.

「“You’re truly a handsome bastard. What’s your name?”」

「“Do you want to learn the sword from me now?”」

Only then did I understand what this great tree was. This tree was the Heaven-Piercing Sword Saint’s rings. The totality of the history she accumulated while reigning as the god of Murim.

Jung Heewon couldn’t hide her awe as she muttered.

"So this… was Master."

"No. It’s not the Heaven-Piercing Sword Saint we know."

"What?"

No matter how long she reigned as the god of Murim, how could one person’s fables be this vast?

「The reason she could become an ‘end-of-the-world-grade horror’.」

I raised my head to the sky. Then memories hanging from the ends of the branches spoke to me.

「That was the Heaven-Piercing Sword Saint’s first death.」

On each branch that reached the sky, her deaths were engraved.

「“Run away, Joonghyuk.”」

Some Heaven-Piercing Sword Saints died after being attacked in a joint assault by returnees.

「“I’m sorry I couldn’t keep the promise.”」

Some Heaven-Piercing Sword Saints died fighting the constellations to protect Yoo Joonghyuk.

「“You can become stronger.”」

The Heaven-Piercing Sword Saint wasn’t a regressor or a reincarnator. There was no way the Heaven-Piercing Sword Saint, living the life of a single person, could experience so many deaths.

「All these deaths are deaths ‘recorded’ within Yoo Joonghyuk’s memories.」

Memories of thousands—or tens of thousands—of years written on the tree were sparkling white like stars.

「“Master, I came to see you.”」

Each time he visited Murim, Yoo Joonghyuk came looking for her and reported what had happened in the rounds so far.

No, to be precise, he didn’t even need to report it. Just by releasing his mental barrier, the Heaven-Piercing Sword ◆ Nоvеlіgһt ◆ (Only on Nоvеlіgһt) Saint could reach Yoo Joonghyuk’s history through [Bright Mirror Eye].

「Only the regressor remembers everything.」

Maybe that statement is a lie.

At least, there was one person—one tree—that endured his years together with him.

「The person who became Yoo Joonghyuk’s companion in all those rounds.」

The master Yoo Joonghyuk trusted more than anyone, and relied on more than anyone.

「“Someday, a day will come when I have nothing left to teach you.”」

Each time Yoo Joonghyuk regressed, this tree would have kept growing. Listening to his tragedy, remembering death.

「“Without my help, you will become a Transcendent, and a day will definitely come when you no longer need me, disciple.”」

It would have stacked rings.

「“But even if that day comes, come to Murim once again. In this forest, to me, who still won’t be able to remember anything—”」

A person who listened to his story, grieving over the disciple’s fate of having to fight the world’s destruction alone.

「“Tell me your story again.”」

From now on, I had to cut her down.