Chapter 163
Chapter 163
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 163
Chapter Title: The Man Who Perishes (1)
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Flames of divine power flickered as Ju Gonghyeok summoned his avatar.
“Mi Huwang.”
[Avatar swap: 「GM(?)」 → 「Jecheon Daeseong (SSS)」。]
Crimson and golden armor gleamed, silk-like hair whipping in the wind as Mi Huwang appeared.
= No helping it now. Little brother.
“That’s how it is.”
= Yeah, that’s life. Sometimes the whole world turns against you when you follow your own path.
The fierce battle spirit of the God-Slaying Sage of Heaven, who once set the heavenly realm ablaze, infused his words.
= Smash them until you’re tired.
The Ruyi Jingu Bang in Ju Gonghyeok’s hand trembled violently.
[Ruyi Jingu Bang equipped.]
[Ruyi Jingu Bang (U.SSS) ability activated! 「Chungcheon Sunsin」.]
The divine iron that measures the depths of heaven and the sea: Tianhe Dingdi Shenzhen Tie.
The tiny Ruyi Jingu Bang swelled to match the giant Ju Gonghyeok, stretching toward the sky.
As the massive staff emerged from the storm of lightning, the hunters cried out in shock.
“Damn it, the lightning’s bad enough—now that bat too?!”
“Nirvana monks! Can you block that thing?”
“We’ll have to try!”
To fend off Zeus’s Astrafe, the hunters had gathered in one spot, erecting a barrier.
[Jecheon Daeseong (SSS) secondary ability 「13,500 Catties Ruyi Staff」 activated!]
Kuuu—
The clustered hunters sensed it instinctively.
No way they could withstand that lump of metal.
“Run!!”
The targeted hunters scattered in all directions.
The Ruyi Staff, its mass multiplied tens of thousands of times by Jecheon Daeseong’s power, slammed into the ground.
The earth exploded like fireworks, carving out a massive crater.
Hunters buried under rocks and dirt barely poked their faces out and screamed.
“Crazy! What the hell do we do?!”
“You in the white mask! Weren’t you the one saying you’d smash Ju Gonghyeok?! How you gonna run now?!”
Even Edgar looked strained as he asked.
“Alphard. This won’t cut it. Got any ideas?”
The white-masked man, Alphard, spoke up.
“We’re hunters. Running into powerful bosses in dungeons is par for the course.”
“Boss, huh? Yeah, that thing qualifies.”
Edgar nodded in understanding.
Dig traps, buff up, and hunt.
That’s a hunter’s job.
“Let’s raid like hunters.”
As Alphard finished speaking, figures from the future followed behind him.
Kurosh (K), Thierry (T), Edwin (E).
Assassins who had been counting the days until they could kill Ju Gonghyeok with their own hands.
* * *
Soma pulled people out from under the Ruyi Staff just before it crushed them and asked.
“Lady Yeonsi, any way to stop Gonghyeok?”
“None. I could get in there, but that wouldn’t accomplish much...”
Ha Yeonsi hesitated at Soma’s question.
She was the only one here who could match Ju Gonghyeok.
But Esu thought differently.
“Don’t act rashly. They’ve arrived.”
“They?”
“My old comrades. That man coming toward me now.”
Esu’s thick finger pointed at the approaching figure.
“It’s the system’s ‘G’.”
The pale, scholarly-looking 「G」 waved lightly.
“Long time no see? First time since you came to the past. ‘S’.”
“I see.”
“We know you betrayed us.”
「G」 glanced sidelong at the metal mass rising back into the sky.
One more strike from the Ruyi Staff, and plenty would die.
“Let’s call a truce for now. You didn’t betray us because you wanted this, right?”
“Agreed, ‘G’.”
“No time to explain, so let’s get started.”
“It’s urgent. Make it quick.”
Esu rolled up his sleeve.
Puk—
「G」’s finger turned into a USB cable and plugged into Esu’s arm.
[Central Control System 「G」 - Terminal 「S」 connection complete.]
[「S」 traits Indomitable Iron King (SS), Absolute Invulnerability (SS) copied.]
[Trait transfer: 1,000 targets, time limit 5 minutes.]
A thousand metal cables shot out from 「G」’s body.
They burrowed into the hunters frantically dodging falling lightning.
“Ugh, what the—! That hurts!”
“Don’t cut it! It’s sharing buffs!”
A message appeared for the hunters.
[Trait transfer. Time limit: 5 minutes.]
- Indomitable Iron King (SS) transfer complete.
- Absolute Invulnerability (SS) transfer complete.
People gulped as they saw the traits manifest in themselves.
“This is...!”
Kwarung!
Astrafe’s lightning felt more bearable now.
And...
Kwaaaang—!
Even a direct hit from the Ruyi Staff cratering the ground left them unscathed if they weren’t hit dead-on.
The ‘trait copy’ function originally meant for mass-producing ability user 「C」 Sexk was now aiding the hunters.
“Amazing.”
Ha Yeonsi couldn’t help but murmur in admiration.
Then the white-masked man, Alphard, approached her.
A fellow executive from the Company they’d crossed paths with countless times.
“Lady Yeonsi. Soma Sangai. Allow me to greet you again.”
He bowed politely.
“It’s an honor to meet history’s heroes. I’m Alpha, from the future.”
“Ah, you too...”
Ha Yeonsi finally realized Alphard was from the future, covering her mouth in surprise.
Alphard spoke courteously.
“Deus’s savior, Christina, was fated to die today. But you overturned that. Your courage gave us the push to step forward.”
“I...”
Ha Yeonsi struggled to continue.
“Was I supposed to die today?”
“No. Lady Yeonsi, you never died in a place like this. And you won’t have to worry about that in the future either.”
The eyes behind the white mask gleamed firmly.
“To break this situation, we need the savior Christina’s help. May we wake her for a moment?”
Ha Yeonsi felt a twinge of unease.
She knew next to nothing about these future folk.
But one thing was clear: they’d gathered to ‘kill Ju Gonghyeok.’
“Lady Yeonsi, please show us Christina now.”
Even with Edgar’s request alongside Alphard, Ha Yeonsi hesitated.
Then a sleepy voice came from behind.
“What in the world is going on?”
Christina, carried on Soma’s back, stirred awake.
Edgar began explaining the situation gravely.
“Lady Christina, it’s bad. Ju Gonghyeok right now is...”
Kuuu—
A massive hammer cleaved the air, plummeting toward their heads.
Kwaaaang!
“Krgh!”
“Hmm!”
Esu and Soma caught the falling hammer.
“Thought it was impossible to block. Well done, teacher.”
Ju Gonghyeok’s voice echoed from the heavens, where he’d swung the hammer down.
He wasn’t the only one holding it up.
Black smoke from Christina had formed eight arms pushing the hammer back.
The SSS-rank avatar, Destruction God Shiva.
“Don’t want this dragging on.”
Kwaaang!
Ignition Boosters erupted behind the hammer, crushing the humans beneath.
Esu and Soma, propping it up, spat red blood.
“Raid target! Mad Ju Gonghyeok!”
Alphard, now supporting the hammer, roared.
“39th floor Ju Gonghyeok raid—begin!”
The hunters, split into three groups, charged into the sea of lightning.
Edgar, out of the hammer’s range, shouted at the top of his lungs.
“Group A, spread wide and fall back! Group B, use the temporary flame prosthetics! Group C, target the face from range!”
The fallen hero Ju Gonghyeok.
New heroes now brought the mace to bear against him.
Humanity’s will converged as one toward the great evil, Ju Gonghyeok.
They were warriors who’d cleared a hundred dungeons and a thousand boss mobs.
With buffs active, they surged like a storm the moment they sensed an opening for counterattack.
“Bepajiti.”
But to Ju Gonghyeok, that storm was mere insects buzzing.
He called the Asura King’s name and drew his weapons.
Leading with Ruyi Jingu Bang (U.SSS) and Swift Scythe (U.SSS), followed by Yodo Muramasa (SS) and Chain Demon Hammer Hontar (SS).
[『Asura King (SS)』 tertiary ability ‘Eight-Hand Mutual Combat’ activated!]
A dual-hand mutual combat skill for wielding multiple skills at once.
Christina or other hunters could only stack the same skill multiple times.
But the pinnacle of Eight-Hand Mutual Combat was activating ‘eight entirely different skills’ simultaneously.
The four weapons moved like living things.
Divine Staff Technique: Serpent Sweep.
Dragon Halberd: Furious Dragon Heaven-Shattering Chaotic Dance.
Divine Sword Absolute Art: Fierce Bird Wind Wing Flash.
Martial God Destruction Art: Single Swing Heaven-Pressing, Heavenly River Draining Flow.
The Ruyi Jingu Bang swept like a scarecrow.
The Swift Scythe sprayed blood as it cleaved humans.
Muramasa’s blade scattered entrails in its wake.
Hontar’s downward strike shattered nearby hunters to pieces.
Plop, plop—
Riven and shattered corpses flew as far as Ha Yeonsi’s position.
Pzzt!
A head, lips moving as if trying to speak, turned to charcoal under Astrafe’s lightning.
Ha Yeonsi paled.
“Oppa, please stop...”
At this rate, Ju Gonghyeok would be ruined.
He’d turn all humanity against him, unable to live in the human world ever again.
But she didn’t know.
Ju Gonghyeok was already a destroyed man.
To save the world, he’d ruined himself and his comrades countless times.
His conviction to leave not a single hunter alive was unbreakable.
“Is that so.”
Christina grasped the situation.
“We’re capturing Gonghyeok.”
“Yes, Master Christina.”
Alphard knelt before her.
“We need your help to defeat him. Lend us your power.”
“Use it.”
Christina gazed at the massive Ju Gonghyeok with pity.
“It’s gone too far to turn back. Sad as it is, I’m disappointed in him too.”
Destruction God Shiva was also an expression of her mental state.
She pitied Ju Gonghyeok but had no intention of forgiving him.
“Pardon the intrusion, Master Christina.”
「G」 approached and plugged a USB into Christina’s body.
[Central Control System 「G」 - Hunter Christina connection complete.]
[『Destruction God Shiva (SSS)』 final ability temporarily unlocked.]
[Maximum 47% usage possible.]
Destruction God Shiva’s form sharpened.
Alphard pulled Ha Yeonsi and the others back.
“Fall back.”
Black space of destruction unfurled around Christina.
Before the world was made, from the ocean of milk came ‘a single drop that could destroy the world’—poison.
To protect the world, Shiva swallowed the poison and held it in his throat.
That was the final ability: 「Poison That Destroys the World」.
Shapeless destruction flowed like waves, annihilating light and space alike.
From the unseen void of destruction, a voice emerged.
“Hard to control a bit.”
Her face appeared, and 「Poison That Destroys the World」 spread toward the sky.
Zeus’s thundercloud, 「Astrafe」, faded unnaturally, like an eraser had smeared it.
Even Ju Gonghyeok, who’d slaughtered hundreds, felt it.
“Tough.”
Unleashing the Twelve Divine Beast Forms via Eight-Hand Mutual Combat had taken its toll.
‘Not even eight—only four, huh.’
The human body couldn’t perfect the Twelve Divine Beast Forms.
To master them fully, he needed to complete ‘ancestral inheritance’ in the beastkin city.
‘Dimensional gate could close anytime. Quick and decisive.’
Cluesti, the next administrator after her, was nowhere, and Azazel lacked authority to close dimensions.
When the next demon admin arrived, the 39th floor would seal.
No sooner had the thought ended than the dimensional entrance warped.
“No, no! Lord Ju Gonghyeok! Customer! No, my heavenly Lord Ju Gonghyeok! I just heard Cluesti got totally diced up—is it true?”
Right on cue, the next demon appeared: Lirianne, Ju Gonghyeok’s exclusive succubus.