Chapter 333
Chapter 333
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 333
Chapter Title: Can One Who Has Seen the End of the World Plant an Apple Tree? (38)
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When negotiations break down and the other side turns into an unyielding enemy, what’s the first thing the person at the table should do?
‘Obviously, kick the damn table over and shove your gun barrel right into the bastard’s skull as fast and accurately as possible!’
Letting a high-status foe who was close enough to touch during peace talks just walk away after turning hostile? That’d make you the idiot.
In that regard, I felt a twinge of shame that Palkatus had beaten me to the punch by a split second. The fact that he’d shifted the Moon to combat form faster than I could transform my body meant the bastard had been fully prepared even while spouting his long-winded nonsense.
A jet of water pierced my chest, and the seawater—which had offered no resistance until now—clamped down on me like the combined pressure of this entire sunken sea.
『Combat prowess. Something Father has but I lack. Do you know how hard I’ve worked to secure it?』
“Ha. You think this puny grip holds me? If that’s what you really believe, Edeorna’s severed arm would be weeping in agony.”
『As if. The Sunken Moon is merely a means for our kind’s eternal survival through external contact. Comparing its power to control this trivial sea to Father’s ‘combat prowess’ would be an insult.』
Crack. Graaah!
With the sound of muscles twisting, the pressure squeezing my body began to loosen as if gripped in a fist.
‘I have to kill him. Right here, I must kill Palkatus.’
Pressure that could crush an ocean creature slapping at my cheek in an instant.
In other words, it was just enough force to pulverize a single living being. Physically, it was qualitatively inferior to my raw strength.
‘He’s exposed his true body atop the Sunken Moon. A once-in-a-lifetime chance. Who knows how many more sacrifices it’d take to get another shot like this!’
Even setting aside Clear, he has to die. Palkatus’s goal is to get out. To do that, he plans to use me—still linked to my body in data soul state—and once outside, he’ll do the same to others, transplanting his kin one by one into half-brain-dead humans.
If—just if—Palkatus hijacks my body and escapes the connector. If my half-Type 3 variant form returns to reality and starts moving, who’d it encounter first? Someone in the same government building, close enough to check on me almost daily? Wouldn’t they make the perfect first sacrifice?
No need to overthink it: a being that thinks and acts like me wouldn’t need much effort to sink its claws into Dana’s spinal nerves amid the joy of reunion.
He has to die. Not the Sunken Moon or whatever else—just Palkatus himself.
‘He’s probably got an escape route carved out like an eight-lane tunnel, wide open as always. That’s why he’s so damn smug.’
A moon clutching an entire sea—it must control every environmental factor beyond just pressure. Overpowering it with brute force wouldn’t be an issue, but while I’m tangled up, the surrounding mutants would swarm in, and with two named ones thrown in, I could already picture Palkatus pulling a [We’ll see about that!] and bolting while I’m a battered mess.
More important than fixating on the Palkatus in front of me was cutting off his escape.
“Creation AI, I request you! Cease all hostile actions against the player immediately! I’m the system-approved ‘Completer Candidate’! Hostility toward me... violates the project’s completion!”
To do that, I needed to convince this dumb, broken AI that had fallen for his sweet talk. If Palkatus convinced it, so could I.
But despite my perfectly reasonable demand, the pressure crushing my body only intensified. Shaking it off with hydro-mage control and raw strength, a prison of swirling currents sprang up, trapping me from all sides.
The raging torrents were so ferocious that when I tested with a hand, four fingers were mangled off and swept far into the sea.
‘This bastard isn’t just subduing me—he means to kill? A management AI killing a player?’
[This AI must execute the developer’s project. The ultimate goal is world creation for that purpose.]
“Yeah! So—"
[Currently, GG is so riddled with errors that self-sustenance is impossible. Difficulty has risen over 980% compared to initial development, deemed an near-insurmountable obstacle to fulfilling Master Gedroits’s intent.]
[A high-risk countermeasure has been deemed necessary. Subject ‘Palkatus’s’ proposal is highly anomalous and shows strong potential.]
“You’re insane! That fucker... plans to shove error data into an outside human body!”
[Under positive review. Deleting error-ridden data souls is irreversible and contradicts world persistence, as proven. However, storing errors in an external ‘terminal’ suggests potential for later recovery and correction.]
“You crazy fucks...”
[Furthermore, the root issue of data soul aging. Subject ‘Palkatus’ proposes that adding a fresh data soul—like Player ‘Professor’s’—untouched by simulation can halt world collapse. This too merits positive review.]
[In summary, subject ‘Palkatus’ is an unprecedented anomaly across all worlds, deemed a valuable advisor worth preserving.]
[World Clear equates to deleting such anomalous subjects.]
[For the long-term goal of perfect world restoration, this AI halts short-term objectives.]
[Thus, Player ‘Professor,’ your Clear opposes this AI’s purpose. For world persistence, remain in ‘standby’ here.]
[Non-compliance will trigger forced execution.]
“...No wonder synth hate never dies down.”
『Even the same persuasion takes different times, doesn’t it?』
Wrong. The shattered Moon hadn’t just been persuaded—it had been thoroughly groomed by Palkatus’s serpentine tongue.
『And I never said my spoken-of combat prowess was limited to this ‘Sunken Moon.’ Even when I was a frail human like you, Father disrupted Sis’s ritual. How could I compare this petty water play to the might of one who achieved Godslayer?』
Rumble.
Suddenly, a massive bubble erupted in one churning corner of the sea.
I sensed Palkatus had left this spot. Where to? He’d placed his true body inside the Moon confronting me directly. Leaving his body behind?
The answer came soon, as sheer horror.
『When it comes to power, my mother is the divine origin of our entire kind. And you, Player, the foe who slew a god already descended upon the empire, broadcasting your feat to all.』
Blubblub—
Crunch!
From the Moon’s rear—now a colossal eye—two arms stretched beyond the horizon, embracing it, slowly coiling with a long neck and tail.
『To meddle in a clash of god and godslayer, you need to be on their level, right?』
A golden dragon coiled around the silver moon.
“...From the start?”
『From the start. The very moment I arrived here and resolved to trade this fortune for the ultimate weapon against you, the monster!』
Kwoooooooo—!!!
The dragon that had futilely perished in the desert now wrapped the Moon like a shroud, rearing its long neck and roaring.
‘...No wonder he showed himself so brazenly!’
Toward Professor, trapped in the watery prison, the dragon’s maw gaped impossibly wide, gathering unimaginable power.
The fiercest, strongest strike of dragonkind—fired before faces could even meet.
Realizing the watery prison wasn’t mere physical restraint but a seal on the hydro-mage’s inertia-free underwater mobility came too late.
As Professor hastily summoned his aura, a sphere of heat vaporizing the sea around it, carving a spherical void, filled his vision.
『I always told you. Against you, I won’t allow even an inch of carelessness.』
...Pop—
The compressed heat orb detonated.
Kwaaaaaaaa—!!!
The gold dragon’s breath—symbol of solar might—vaporized the passed sea in a conical blast, instantly voiding the space.
A corner of the sea, teeming with water, coral, and life moments ago, reduced to nothing. But Palkatus didn’t relax.
‘...Blood. I smell blood.’
A dragon’s keen nose missed no clue.
If caught in the breath, it’d reek of molten human fat, far thicker. He hadn’t expected death from the start. The guy was near-immortal anyway. Worst case, he’d transplant all the melted seawater with mutant blood to revive him.
But blood?
Blub—
‘...Above!’
Looking up, a crimson blood clot trailed by threadlike strands.
Most powers lost, yet he’d brute-forced through the Moon’s pressure-crafted watery prison.
Couldn’t let him go. If Father—who’d pierced heavenly wisdom—got time, he’d thwart their ultimate goal in ways unforeseen.
Kwoooo—!
The dragon coiled around the Moon pursued the Moon-pressure-shredded Professor’s blood clot, surging toward the surface.
****
“Hm?!”
“What’s wrong?”
“This is... it’s starting! Tell the others to prepare!”
On the peaceful surface of the Sunken Sea, atop the ‘Dry Oasis’ railing, Ottman—who’d been leisurely dangling his fishing rod—grinned.
Unsure what brewed below, he’d ignored minor tremors to avoid disrupting Professor’s schemes. Pull him up at the perfect moment: when facing a true foe in all-out war, when bluffs and threats failed, leaving only battle. That way, no interference.
‘At least when facing an opponent worth his full effort. Must be a named mutant—Palkatus or such. Strike then, haul Professor and foe together, leverage numbers for instant takedown...!’
Ping—! Peeeng—!
Finally, sensing the massive power surge through the thin waterline.
“Hngh!”
Ottman yanked the rod without hesitation. Perhaps because the spell’s imagery evoked fishing, reeling the water mass around Professor felt satisfyingly heavy.
‘Felt something snag, like drrrrk...’
As Ottman wondered if Professor caught on coral—
Kwaaaaaaaa—!!!
“Wh-what?!”
“The sea—the sea’s tilting!”
“C-cut the anchor! Ship’ll capsize!”
From the distant depths, like a seafloor volcano erupting, a massive steam pillar rose, the calm sea slumping heavily to one side.
“Cough cough, the mist... the mist is hot!”
Like a tsunami hit, the sea roiled, hot steam instantly filling the thin space between sand sea and sunken sea surface, shrouding everything in white haze. Meanwhile, the steady waterline pulling Professor neared the surface—
Shwoooosh—!
Splash!
Finally hauling the dangling end—and Professor—onto the deck.
“Hey, Professor! What the hell did you do down there to cause th—guhgh?!”
“Grrruuul!”
“Keeek! Keeeek!”
Rushing Ottman recoiled in horror; the hatchling siblings playing with Notum convulsed and dove below deck.
It had definitely been his disciple at the waterline’s end. Now? A mangled, bait-like blood clot.
Crunch. Snap. Grind!
Limbs sprouted from the clot, features formed, reverting to the original bait—Professor—who began babbling.
“Glurgh, grk, uh, ahh, mm, ah, ah!”
“S-sorry! I must’ve messed up...”
Chomp!
“Thanks to you, I lived, Ottman! That prison blocked power from inside out! Nearly got vaporized by that breath combo!”
He lived. Truly heaven-sent—Ottman’s perfect ultimate combo survived!
Recovering his shredded body instantly, Professor bolted to the deck railing.
Endless bright sea. And below, rapidly approaching: a glittering gold-and-silver entity.
Professor’s urgent face paled those following to the rail.
“S-Saladin! What the hell is that! What’d you drag in now?!”
“That thing from earlier! The dragon then, and your god! The Sunken Moon!”
“Wh-what? That grotesque lump... is the ancient creator god?!”
A metallic eye island-sized, eyes darting everywhere, gold dragon coiled around it closing fast.
Ottman laughed in disbelief more than panic.
“Dragon and god, huh... Mutants’ll join soon?”
“Somewhere in this sea, probably.”
“So now we fight that?”
“...Sorry.”
“Any chance of winning?”
At the old mage’s question, all eyes on deck turned to the bloodied warrior’s mouth.
The warrior’s gaze swept the sand sea-blocked ceiling, shipwreck land, churning waves.
“...Not here. If we somehow get up... maybe?”
“Up? Back to the sand sea?”
“How the hell?”
To Ottman and crew’s questions, Professor pulled an item from his pocket.
“The ticket we used to come down, obviously.”
"Ticket?"
“Yeah. Thought it was one-way, but round-trip.”
The item Professor drew. One that had caught his eye unmistakably descending toward the Moon.
A sturdy severed arm. Still crackling holy power from the split—fresh relic.
The one that sank with the simulacrum when summoning it to Kauladi’s lair.
Impossible to ignore as Professor descended toward the Moon.
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