Chapter 216
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 216
Chapter Title: Archangel of Selection
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As the guardian divine beast, representative of the beastkin, spoke those words, the Dragon God nodded.
"Then I'll head in this way."
The Dragon God opened the gateway engraved with a hammer.
Light poured out from the open door, and the Dragon God’s figure vanished.
Gonghyeok whistled as he grabbed the handle of the gateway.
What the gateway’s scales signified was the Archangel of Selection, Remiel.
Passing Remiel’s trial would grant him the supreme angelic authority 『Selection』.
‘The authority of Selection can only be obtained by beastkin under Remiel’s domain.’
For those of the human race, even entering Remiel’s gateway was impossible.
He’d dealt with Cluesti using Azazel’s 『Battlefield』.
Michael’s 『Sun』 packed immense power, but there was Ra-Djehuty as a substitute.
What Ju Gonghyeok needed was 『Selection』.
Cluesti’s next target had been decided.
Immortal and unchanging.
An absolute defensive authority that could never die, could not be wounded by anything, and rejected all curses or status ailments.
『Imperishability』
To kill the undying Bindcliffe, Ju Gonghyeok had infiltrated the beastkin race.
‘Customer. Don’t forget our promise, okay?’
A succubus’s whisper echoed in his ear.
It was a voice sent by Lilianne, located in the human territory.
- Look at that, look at that tail-wagging thing. It’s all flushed and desperate for no reason.
Nathanael spoke in a pathetic tone.
Ju Gonghyeok had received two quests from Lilianne.
Quests on a completely different level from the previous ones—things the demons craved like mad.
In other words, acts that would make the angels recoil in horror.
“You okay with this?”
Ju Gonghyeok asked the angel perched on his head.
“You’re gonna hate these back-to-back.”
- ……Not okay at all. I wanna run away right now.
Nathanael sighed and shrugged his shoulders.
- But what can I do? I bet on you. No backing out now. Show me that skill where you took down five demon kings.
“Six times. Extended version not for elders—over 99 might get a heart attack, so watch out, granny.”
- You’re great at pointless banter……
The light from the open gateway swallowed Ju Gonghyeok and Nathanael.
* * *
Beneath a clear blue sky stood a massive scale.
The balance, once revered in ancient times as a symbol of law, had its two pans perfectly level, weighing sin and justice.
This was the world created by the Archangel of Selection, Remiel.
“Human, why have you come here?”
Remiel asked with a face like she’d bitten into a bug.
“Sorry, mixed up the races.”
Ju Gonghyeok apologized sincerely.
A vein bulged on the angel’s forehead.
“Don’t lie. Human. I’ve been watching you stir up trouble after sneaking into the beastkin.”
“You knew, so why ask?”
“Ha!”
Remiel pressed her forehead and shook her head at Gonghyeok’s attitude.
“Azazel bungled into the wrong shithole. She shouldn’t have granted rewards to trash like you. Poor Nathanael, serving a vile maggot wriggling with filth.”
Under Remiel’s gaze, Nathanael awkwardly scratched his cheek.
- Hey, Senior Remiel. You’re right about everything, but don’t look at me with those pitying eyes…… It hurts……
“Tsk tsk, poor thing.”
- She’s even clicking her tongue!?
For once, a friendly exchange passed between the two angels.
Ju Gonghyeok hopped on, grinning widely.
“Haha, Archangel. The trial……”
“Get lost.”
His smile was cut short.
Remiel’s eyes brimmed with disgust.
“I prepared the trial with such care. For a non-beastkin worm to crawl in? Your scheming repulses me.”
She shooed him away with her hand.
“You’re disqualified. Scram and bring Hogoan or something.”
“Archangel!”
Ju Gonghyeok prostrated himself flat on the ground.
“I was arrogant! Please, grant me a chance at the trial!”
“You want to be cast out by my Selection? You’re disqualified……”
Crackle—
A flash.
Gonghyeok’s arm vanished for an instant.
No, it was so blindingly fast it felt that way.
Thunderous roar.
The blade drawn from its sheath tore through space.
Clang.
Still seated, Ju Gonghyeok sheathed his sword.
“Oops, didn’t land.”
A composite technique of Zeus and the Great Sage Equal to Heaven.
「Super-Electron Acceleration Draw」
Remiel, who had twisted her neck to dodge, looked down at Gonghyeok with cold eyes.
“That all? Human.”
Remiel’s hair fluttered.
- Eek!
Nathanael quickly hid inside the armor.
- Senior’s really pissed now?
“I can tell.”
Sparks flew from Remiel’s hand, manifesting a white sword.
Her authority and beloved blade, 「Judgment」.
“To think a reward-crazed human would try to kill the gateway’s master and steal the prize.”
“To conquer Bindcliffe, I need your authority no matter what.”
Ju Gonghyeok slowly rose.
“Sorry, but die for me.”
“Ha, how brazenly you say it. Filth.”
[Archangel Authority - 『Selection』 activated!]
Crack—
As Remiel’s palm faced Ju Gonghyeok, the surrounding space shattered like a broken mirror.
She sneered in disbelief.
“You planned to kill me from the start and take it, right?”
“You figured it out quick.”
Six wings fluttered open on Ju Gonghyeok’s back.
[Sephirot Stage 6: Geburah unlocked!]
[All stats have already reached SS rank.]
[Dimensional Leap Magic 「Herald of Dominion」 manifested!]
Zzzap!
The space where Ju Gonghyeok vanished crumpled like paper, turning into a void hole.
Once space began to fracture, escaping by normal movement was near impossible.
He had to dimensional leap out before it fully severed.
“Whew. How’d you know?”
Kwang—!
Remiel casually blocked the strike flying at her from behind.
“For a reward-obsessed human like you, it’s obvious. If you need my authority, killing me yields more profit than the trial. Right, human?”
“Correct. Angel.”
Boom!
Gonghyeok’s metal prosthetic arm glowed white after taking Zeus’s lightning.
Sheaths made of lightning floated up.
[Abilities 「Eight Hands Mutual Combat」, 「Art of the Cloud Ladder」, 「Astrape (Αστραπη)」 activated!]
[Tri-God Synthesis!]
[「Super-Electron Acceleration Draw Eightfold Barrage」]
Eight streaks of light pierced Remiel’s body amid deafening booms.
As the smoke cleared, her eyes gleamed sharply between the raised sword.
“Faster than your stats suggest. Human.”
Ju Gonghyeok scratched his head.
The composite skill that could slice a heavenly knight in one strike hadn’t landed properly even once.
‘Not letting her guard down at all.’
She was a combat angel like Azazel.
Inferior to Cluesti, but no slouch in battle technique.
Remiel’s agility was SS rank like his, but exactly 99 points higher.
The gaps in other stats were even wider, if anything.
Pure stats-wise, the archangel outclassed Ju Gonghyeok.
Crack—
He’d lingered too long in one spot.
Space fractured, pressing in on Ju Gonghyeok.
“Old maid’s got some bite. Time to bail.”
Gonghyeok’s shadow vanished.
As Ju Gonghyeok fled via dimensional leap, Remiel’s gaze turned.
“There you are.”
Kwachik!
Remiel pinpointed his arrival spot perfectly.
The destination space was ‘selected’ and peeled away.
Gonghyeok barely escaped to another point and caught his breath.
“Cut me some slack?”
“Shut your mouth. Human.”
“Shut my mouth? Woof! Woof! That’s shut my mouth, woof!”
“Ha. Too childish to watch.”
She spread both hands.
[『Selection』 continuous deployment!]
[64 dimensional leap prediction points, dimensional plane decomposition.]
Crack crack crack—
One face of the dimension spiderwebbed with cracks.
“Whoa.”
- Focus.
Nathanael gulped.
- One slip and you’re dead. No clones or decoys?
“If a clone gets Selected, I won’t even be able to escape after.”
Clones couldn’t be used recklessly against Remiel.
If one got Selected, its stats and avatars would be hurled to another dimension wholesale.
Losing stats or avatars in this situation meant he couldn’t hold out.
“Guess I’ll use this instead.”
Click.
Pressing the clasp on his cloak summoned vivid red circuits on the fabric.
[「Divine Artifact: Cluesti Cloak (SSS)」 special function 「Lightning Teleport (SS)」 activated]
[『Asura King (SS)』 third ability ‘Eight Hands Mutual Combat’ activated]
[「Herald of Dominion」 - 8 overlapping activations]
The red cloak’s shadows darted through space as Remiel’s Selection continuously carved out their paths.
Remiel’s senses detected multiple spatial leaps.
‘Eight leap signatures?’
One right behind her.
Remiel thrust her sword at the leap signature without hesitation.
Stab!
“Guhk!”
The sensation of piercing flesh.
The foe impaled on her beloved blade, Judgment, let out a feeble scream.
Half its body shredded by Selection, it wailed.
“Kaaaaagh! My body! It won’t regenerate! Why not!?”
“You?”
It was Ju Gonghyeok’s summon, Guard Sand.
Without enhanced stats, it would’ve died instantly from the stab.
‘Felt the dimensional leap, but a decoy? Then……’
A powerful aura poured from above.
“Die.”
Gonghyeok in the sky, flanked by five avatars, descended upon the archangel.
= Remiel……
The black orb, the Progenitor, rolled its enormous eye with uncharacteristic hostility.
The Progenitor harbored hatred for the angel who had abandoned its world, Drakenshtein.
[Avatar simultaneous summon 4/6.]
[『Asura King (SS)』 ultimate ability 「Asura Field」 activated!]
[Thunder God Zeus (SS++) ultimate ability 「Astrape」 activated!]
[Great Sage Equal to Heaven Six-Eared Macaque (SSS) third ability 「15,000-Jin Ruyi Jingu Bang」 activated!]
[Ra-Djehuty (SSS) fourth ability 「Black Hole Explosion」 activated!]
[Progenitor Seed (SS----) second ability 「Lord of Darkness」 activated!]
Asura King’s Asura Field amplified all forms of destruction, and within it, the four gods unleashed their destructive might.
[Five-God Synthesis!]
[「Revelation 8, Day of Judgment」]
Kwaaaaa—!
Remiel’s space filled with flames of annihilation.
The sky warped from the intense heat as the apocalypse inscribed in Revelation unfolded.
But……
Crack—
Sky and earth. The space between split apart.
No matter how the heavens burned, not a single ember fell to the ground.
Remiel’s eyes glowed blue.
A wide-area Selection that cleaved the world in two.
Wooong—
Remiel’s divine artifact, Mishkal (מִשְׁקָל).
The scale’s pans emanated holy radiance, aiding her.
‘Not holding back, full power.’
The scale’s pans floating like mirrors behind Remiel’s wings was proof she was going all out.
Gonghyeok swaggered exaggeratedly.
“Wow~ How long you been an old maid to get this hysterical? Nathanael! Worse than you said! Won’t even introduce you to a guy? What’ve you been doing?”
- ……What nonsense out of nowhere? Don’t woof this time. Makes me wanna punch you.
No matter what Ju Gonghyeok blabbered, Remiel didn’t twitch an eyebrow.
He called out to the utterly unresponsive Remiel.
“Wow~ Used to flip out so much. Guess old maid talk’s chronic now?”
“Human, since your ears are filthy, I’ll say this.”
She replied with an icy gaze.
“I won’t fall for your provocations.”
Ju Gonghyeok chuckled.
He knew it was provocation.
It hadn’t worked at all.
“Whoa, scary.”
“Human, the Cluesti you killed was a demon who erased two archangels in the war against angels.”
A fact Ju Gonghyeok knew well.
Remiel continued.
“When Cluesti fell to you, I was shocked. She wasn’t one to die to a punk who hadn’t even climbed half of Babel.”
“She let her guard down. Got lucky.”
“Guard down? Ha!”
Remiel scoffed.
“Guard down, traps, Azazel, Asura King, stat debuffs, authority weakening—none of it mattered. Even accounting for everything, Cluesti was several times stronger than you. You were the worst possible condition for Cluesti’s very existence.”
She let out an incredulous laugh.
“And yet you killed Cluesti. Bridging an impossible gap.”
“…….”
“That gap back then dwarfs the one between you and me now. For the one who slew great demon Cluesti to claim I’m letting my guard down? Absurd.”
Her presence sharpened further.
From the moment Ju Gonghyeok entered the gateway, Remiel had observed him calmly, unswayed by emotion.