Chapter 232
Chapter 232
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 231
Chapter Title: Fate's Selection
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“Of course I do, you idiots.”
But I smiled as I looked at them.
“I spent 1.3 trillion.”
It was time to show them the power of capitalism.
Clang!
Hyperion clashed against Hyperion. The advantage became clear in just a single exchange.
“Urk…!”
The floor shattered, and the Demonic Sword King’s skin split open, blood spraying. The veins bulging over his skin made his face look like that of a ferocious demon.
He deflected the force with astonishing skill, but even so, there was a limit.
A physical impact equivalent to a meteor strike.
The dimension-rending sword aura tore his muscles and twisted his bones.
“You brute… with raw power…!”
“Weaklings always say that.”
Crack!
Sword met sword, sword aura clashed against sword aura, and the space warped, unable to withstand the immense shock.
Any normal human—no, even a Gigas protected by special armor—couldn’t endure the aftermath, but the Demonic Sword King raised a protective aura to shield himself.
On the other hand, I took the hits directly with my body and emerged unscathed.
‘He’s no match after all.’
The Demonic Sword King was an absolute master with transcendent swordsmanship, but in a one-on-one, the spec gap between us was too vast.
If I were just some greenhorn relying on brute strength, he might exploit that opening and make me self-destruct… but even if my skills were rough, wasn’t I an absolute master too?
With every exchange of blows, the gains and losses snowballed.
He had no chance of victory, and no matter how desperately he held out, I could finish it in under twenty minutes.
That’s if he were alone.
“Gun—don’t falter!”
Shimgon charged in instantly and kicked me with a soccer-style strike. Its speed didn’t match its massive bulk, and its vast attack range made evasion impossible.
Craaack!
As I spun around and struck back in an instant, the Demonic Sword King retreated.
“Reconstruction.”
With the low voice of the Wraith Dragon Replie, the Demonic Sword King’s condition, which I’d battered so thoroughly, recovered in a flash.
And that wasn’t the only problem.
“Thunder of Ruin!”
–The Blesser speaks: Rash charges are worse than stillness.
Lightning struck my back, and a [Rule] bound me, preventing me from even reaching supersonic speeds, let alone lightspeed.
The crowning moment came when a horde of girls suddenly appeared out of nowhere.
“Squad, forward! Block the retreat!”
“Tanks up front! Buffs incoming!”
“Formation! Adamant Indestructibility!”
Girls with hair in every color—white, light green, blue, black, purple, and more—wielding swords, shields, staves, and even firearms, formed ranks at the boss room entrance.
Their power was far from negligible; each one was legendary-grade or higher.
Moreover, their abilities and traits were specialized, creating synergy among them.
‘Ah, I couldn’t tell what game they were from before.’
I let out a hollow laugh as I glanced at the antlered woman who had summoned them.
‘A beautiful girl collector RPG?’
If I had to describe it, it was like Dark Star mixed with a collectible card game, or CCG.
You’d collect beautiful girls with different traits and stats through gacha pulls or quests, form parties with them, and battle monsters or other players.
‘Escaping won’t be easy.’
Unlike boss monsters, these [summoned] girls could be resummoned endlessly after being defeated.
And that wasn’t the only issue.
“You’ve made a foolish choice…”
A woman in a pristine white dress, with jet-black wings contrasting sharply against it, spread her wings wide, blanketing the ground with immense holy power.
An action RPG, the final boss of [Heroic Mythos War]: Morríghan.
Even with most of her power sealed by setting, this goddess of war exerted an undeniable force without taking a single step from her spot.
“Kee hee! Kee hee hee!”
The Eye of Prophecy, Deep Eye, began its mental assault.
“Fine. Since it’s come to this, I’ll take some hits if I have to and end it.”
“The final conclusion lies in that place. Even slowed steps will reach it.”
“Slice off limbs and carve sealing rites—even if you can cross between here and reality, it won’t matter.”
The remaining special bosses ignited their killing intent and closed in.
‘Yeah, no wonder I didn’t get captured for nothing.’
Twelve identical monsters would be hopeless enough, but twelve mythic-grade monsters each with unique abilities? Without an [environment] like the 34th Earth, no one could handle them.
Yet I kicked off the ground without hesitation.
Boom!
Under the [Absolute Command: Speed Limit], which prevented even breaking the sound barrier, I gazed at my [enemies] in slow motion.
A battle that should have had no chance of victory felt entirely different to me now.
“Fate Selection.”
In that instant, my vision warped. No—more precisely, senses beyond mere vision dominated my mind.
Rumble—!
[Flows] of every color and texture enveloped the world. From the charging Shimgon’s roar came dozens, hundreds of [branches].
In my infinitely expanded consciousness, I examined each branch one by one.
Crashing tidal waves, swinging fists, death commands, echoing roars—all imprinted themselves in my brain.
Countless fates, countless possibilities.
I [chose] one of them.
And Shimgon moved accordingly.
Clang!
“Urk!? What the hell are you doing, Shimgon!?”
“Damn it! How…!”
It was as if I’d drawn it in ink—Shimgon’s attack flowed past me to strike the one beside it. Considering they were transcendents, it was an utterly impossible feat of skill, but since it was the attack I had [chosen], it was only natural.
–The Blesser speaks: All stood in place, heeding His words.
“[Absolute Command: No Movement].”
But that too was something I had induced.
Great Vessel Late Bloom. Empty Slash.
“Ugh…!?”
Morríghan’s right wing was severed. Normally, she wouldn’t have taken it. The divine power flowing through her body would have defended against it.
But she had made the wrong [choice] to lower her guard for an attack, and paid the price.
If she knew that choice had been mine, not hers, would she feel less wronged?
“Be careful! He’s using precognition!”
“No way—he’s precogging on transcendents… Not even big flows, but such minute and precise predictions!?”
Whether the mythic-grade monsters panicked or not, I kept moving and thinking.
‘…I see.’
The flow of fate I was seeing now was completely different from [Combat Foresight].
Paradoxically, gaining true [precognition] made me realize the alien nature of my combat foresight.
‘It wasn’t precognition.’
Precognition is the ability to observe flows of fate. From the world’s smallest to its grandest, nothing escapes this immense current-reading power.
But my combat foresight was different.
The [Mysterious] prefix wasn’t just for its excellence or level—it was that alien.
Like a [view from outside the stage], peering into the stage.
‘In other words… [Her] perspective.’
A being on par with the Creator God, who is the universe itself—an existence beyond even outer gods, as they’re commonly called.
‘Maybe she’s watching this battle right now… even my life.’
Terrifying. A situation anyone would fear. The entity called [Her] was cosmic horror incarnate.
“Hmph.”
But I brushed it off with a snort. My life wasn’t so leisurely that a mere gaze would make me tremble.
Crack! Split!
We clashed. I parried and smashed down.
The mythic-grade monsters tried to overwhelm me with combined force, but their attacks kept tangling and interfering with each other. Their momentary combos kept misaligning, every choice and judgment read perfectly.
Crunch!
“You bastard—!”
With a gruesome snap, Shimgon’s ankle broke. It roared and summoned waves. I created an ice sheet, surfed over them, then unleashed a full-power sword aura swing.
Slash!
Finally, its skin split, and its Achilles tendon snapped.
The mythic-grade monsters’ atmosphere turned grave.
“It’s not just precog! Something’s off!”
“Our attacks are being lured! Probability manipulation?”
“What the…!”
As transcendents with perfect grasp of their own abilities, they felt the severity all the more clearly.
The tempo subtly twisted.
The breathing subtly off-kilter.
From their perspective, the battle unfolded in the [most frustrating] way possible.
‘But this isn’t enough.’
The effect of the transcendent weapon, [Fate Selection], was immense, but even so, it had limits against transcendents.
If the battle level were lower, things would be different. The variables Fate Selection created would massively sway the fight.
For example, if a mage coincidentally failed a spell cast?
If a warrior in fierce combat tripped over a random stone?
Such worst-case [coincidences] could instantly collapse the battle with fatal results.
But transcendents?
The odds of an archmage failing a cast mid-battle?
‘Zero percent.’
The odds of an absolute master tripping by mistake?
‘Zero percent.’
That was the situation. The battle level was so high that ambiguous variables had no room to intervene. Fate Selection observed and chose existing fates—it didn’t fabricate impossible falsehoods.
Variables within this small world had limits.
‘I need fate from outside.’
In other words, external variables.
“Fate Selection.”
I looked [outside]. Worlds connected to this place were sensed. Connected worlds shared connected fates.
Countless fates, countless variables, countless possibilities…
I chose one of them.
Whoosh!
Fate Selection’s power, bloated from devouring items, diminished, and the alien-looking monster that had been supporting our battle from behind convulsed.
“Kieek…!?”
The transcendents’ expressions hardened in the tense atmosphere.
“This madman. Don’t tell me again…”
“Kak!”
With a screech, the dimension tore open, and the monster leaped inside.
Information displayed over the dimensional rift.
[Game Name: Space Monster: Isolation.]
“A horror game, huh.”
I defended briefly while observing. I’d waited for a game clear message, but disappointingly, things didn’t flow that smoothly. The boss monsters returned before it resolved.
“This is…”
“Troubling…”
But it didn’t matter. The tide had fully turned.
“This won’t do! Our world’s connection has started too. At this rate…”
“I have to protect my world. If I’m gone, the base fully deactivates!”
The transcendent-grade monsters grew restless. Having seen the Dark Messiah vanish helplessly, it was natural.
“No choice. We can’t guard here forever.”
“Grrr… Sorry about this.”
“Sorry.”
The transcendent-grade monsters began vanishing one by one.
“…Staying now is pointless.”
“Yeah. Not with our numbers cut like this.”
Even the ones who’d been spectating felt the same.
“…This is problematic.”
In the end, it came down to one-on-one.
“If I surrender, will you accept?”
I laughed at the feeble voice from the massive Wraith Dragon, unfit for its size.
And answered.
“No.”
And shortly after.
[Game Clear! The game has been cleared!]
**[Game Name: Revenge.]**
**[ID: Han Jaeyeon.]**
Another world cleared.