Chapter 272
Chapter 272
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 272
Chapter Title: Collapse
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This was an important ritual.
Not a single mistake could be allowed.
Grrrrumble—
The vibration echoing from that dark sky.
Mun Kyung-nam spoke.
"Ah, can you hear me? Great Origin, Ancient Voice, Origin of Pollution, Origin of Life. You who are the archetype of all things that walk, run, and fly upon this land."
Mun Kyung-nam swung the bizarre sword split into seven prongs, awakening the final living sacrifice.
Once more, this was a crucial step. The living sacrifice's life could not end prematurely, nor could it lose consciousness.
The pain, despair, and terror the living sacrifice would feel would become sustenance for the [Great Origin], like sweet nectar.
Boom— Booom— Boom!
Thunderous roars from somewhere in that sky. Yes, He was pleased as well.
"!?"
The living sacrifice had regained consciousness but couldn't move. The effect of the poison administered beforehand. Its face twisted in agony.
Mun Kyung-nam—no, the high priest of the [Ancient Voice]—sliced open the living sacrifice's chest and extracted what lay hidden inside.
Crimson lifeblood spurted out like a fountain. The priest wriggled with a horrific smile.
Even outside the body, the heart twitched, performing the familiar task it had repeated its entire life. Each time, blood gushed out in spurts.
Boom! Bang! KABOOM! Boom! RUMBLE!
And in response to the heart's beating came the great pulsations.
The entire underground cavern—no, the whole mountain—seemed to shudder at His descent.
The living sacrifice's expression contorted in terror.
The priest shook his head and brought the blade to the sacrifice's face. Ssshhk—slash—the sound of skin tearing.
Now the living sacrifice could never close its mouth again. The priest shoved the heart into its mouth. The still-vibrant crimson heart wriggled and squirmed.
Everything was perfect.
The priest decapitated the living sacrifice in one swift motion.
A ritual so brutal and horrific its meaning was incomprehensible. Repeated countless times, the altar floor was stained an indelible red that no amount of scrubbing could erase.
The headless, heartless body was tossed aside from the altar.
Mun Kyung-nam, holding the now-headless head, shouted grandly.
"This is the final sacrifice! Origin of all life! Origin of all pollution! You who shape every form that walks this land! Behold the infinite progeny flowing from His flesh! Accept the touch of He who is our father, our master, our savior! Soon the Great Origin shall open His eyes, rise, tread the earth, and head north!"
KABOOM!
Yes, soon the [Great Origin] would open His eyes.
His avatars, the [Origin of Pollution] and [Origin of Life], had already descended and awaited the [Great Origin]'s arrival.
The moment this great being, split into three, became one, the season of ignorance and darkness that had persisted until now would end.
The cosmic winter would conclude, and the cosmic spring would begin.
Crack—
That's when something odd caught Mun Kyung-nam's eye.
What was that?
Craaack—
A bizarre fissure in the ceiling of the cavern made of massive stones. Come to think of it, those earlier vibrations and impact sounds.
Was this supposed to happen?
RUMBLE! KABOOM!
Wasn't this a bit much?
Craaackle— CRASH!
Mun Kyung-nam's pupils dilated to extremes. Fissures racing across the ceiling at tremendous speed.
KABOOM!
KABOOOOOM!
KABOOOOOOOOM!
Explosions.
Earthquake.
Thunderous roars.
Ruptures.
Falling rocks.
Collapse. Pouring earth. Crumbling ceiling. Tumbling boulders. Boulders. Massive stones like the pillars of an underground labyrinth crashing down. Blasphemous, grotesque decorations that adorned the maze above rained down.
Crunch! KABOOM!
The massive door they'd passed through to enter this underground cavern collapsed.
"Aaahhh!"
Mun Kyung-nam's scream.
Collapse. Earthquake. Falling rocks. Falling rocks. Falling rocks. Chain reactions of destruction everywhere. Collisions. Shockwaves. The ancient, dilapidated underground cavern crumbled. The underground city crafted by the Elder Things and hidden deep beneath the earth was being destroyed.
A horrific scene like the world's end accelerated in fast-forward.
Was this how the world's destruction happened? Was this the descent? Really? Something felt off.
"Hahaha! Eat this!"
Kim Shin-hwa's shout from somewhere.
"No way? No waaay? This can't be!"
Mun Kyung-nam swinging his sword with all his might. No! Nooo! His screams. Kim Shin-hwa's voice echoing from afar again.
"Everything's getting smashed to
* * *
bits!"
What was that just now?
Did that guy stop time for a moment?
Pouring rocks and earth. Massive statues bursting through the stones. Grotesque异種族 from the underground ruins, living wretched lives, plummeting down.
Everything shattered, slammed, bounced, cracked, split, and headed downward.
"If I stay dazed like this, I'll die too."
[L-Grade Robe 'Wings of the Night Veil' unique function, 'Wings of the Heavenly Demon' activates.
// Wings of the Heavenly Demon: Automatically casts 'Flight' spell.]
Whoosh—
The pitch-black robe, so dark the edges were invisible, billowed in the wind, making a sound like a bird flapping its wings.
I dodged the falling debris and lethal hazards, flying upward—higher upward—like a bat or raven.
* * *
"Huh?"
The positions of the rocks I'd just seen had shifted slightly.
A bizarre sensation like the continuity of time breaking. Did he stop time again just now?
"Yeah, keep struggling."
A tekeli-li! screech from afar.
Splaash—splat! Bang! Rumble! Slide! Boom! Tumble!
Shoggoth, perhaps not fully recovered from its bug, shuddered and convulsed grotesquely as it fell.
"This can't be! It can't!"
Mun Kyung-nam's continued wails.
Flashes, lightning, and flames unleashed toward the ceiling and the Shoggoth.
[The cultists' magic...]
Thunderous roars. Explosions. Flapping wing sounds.
"Kreeee!"
A familiar cry.
"Red! You're alive!"
"Uwaaah!"
Mun Kyung-nam's scream.
Bang! KABOOM! Craaackle!
Magic spells detonating in chains from afar.
A massive fragment flew in.
I urgently changed direction, heading toward Red.
[Mind check... success].
"People called me delusional, but I predicted all this. Because I'm a clone made by an evil megacorp harvesting genes from abyssal beings. Coca— you know? The cola company? Anyway, the fighter jet they sent to rescue me is dropping cola. Did you know the cola we drink has nanomachines inserted? My body has those nanomachines too. That's why I drink two bottles of cola a day."
Craaash!!
Huh?
That sounded ominous.
A massive fragment struck the altar prepared for the [Great Origin]'s descent.
Rumble!
The colossal structure was collapsing. Heads pouring from the sky.
"I perfectly succeeded in ruining the ritual."
"What does that mean?" "We're all gonna die now!" "How do we escape this?" "The whole ruin looks like it's gonna completely collapse."
"Yeah, this event is impossible to escape without spatial teleportation."
This game's developer is a total nutcase.
To punish players who skip the maze by breaking walls—this ruin is packed with [pillars that cause the entire structure to collapse if destroyed].
And what I destroyed were exactly those pillars.
This is an instant-death trap you can't escape normally.
"So we're dying too?" "We chose death over preventing doom?" "I don't like that! Sacrifice the world and save me!"
"Ah, shut up everyone. Didn't I say earlier I have someone who can help?"
"Who?" "The U.S. President you mentioned?" "Master assassin?" "Russian spy?" "Cola company?"
What nonsense is this?
"Are you guys insane? What are you talking about?"
"Wow—this guy's driving me nuts!"
"Calm down. Looks like you don't remember what I said earlier."
Rumble! KABOOOOOM!
Pouring fragments.
"Everyone, stop yapping through my mouth! No time!"
Amid it all, a human shadow. That's him! Mun Kyung-nam!
I nimbly flew between Red, incoming fragments, and collapsing boulders—
"Red!"
"Kreeee!"
High-pressure seawater burst from Red's mouth.
Sploosh!
Slipping through the fragments Red pushed away—I closed in on the falling Mun Kyung-nam.
Flutterflutter—
The noise from the robe's hem.
"Hey! Mun Kyung-nam, Director!"
"Y-You! You mad bastard! You did this! You! The altar! The altar! The ritual was almost complete! Because of you, the sacrifices of countless people are all meaningless!"
Grrrumble—
The collapse and earthquake continued.
KABOOM!
"Uwaaak!"
Mun Kyung-nam flailed, clutching the [Sword of Flesh] in one hand.
He tried to gather mana, but in this chaos, he lacked the focus to complete a spell.
"I'll save you, so stop flailing!"
I shouted as I charged at him.
"W-What? Save? You're saving me?!"
"Not you!"
Without slowing my flight, I kicked him square in the chest.
Thwack!
Ow, did I break my ankle? Yeah, this is the kind of stunt only tough guys pull.
Whoosh—
The [Sword of Flesh] slipped from Mun Kyung-nam's hand, spinning in the air.
I reached out with my left hand—ugh. Three fingers got sliced off earlier.
The [Rapid Recovery] trait healed the wounds, but it couldn't regenerate lost fingers.
In the end, I extended my right hand and grabbed the sword.
"Got it!"
I immediately activated the power of the [Sword of Flesh].
[L-Grade Weapon 'Sword of Flesh' unique function, 'Time Stop' activates.
// Time Stop: Time stops. Duration proportional to mental strength.]
Why go through all those long chants, sword swings, and dances for something this simple?
[Time Stop]
Creeeak—
* * *
A sensation of the entire world freezing.
Rocks, debris, fragments, severed heads, blood droplets halted midair, Mun Kyung-nam frozen in the distance.
Just like the game cutscene.
Everything lost color through a gray filter, turning black and white.
'So this is Time Stop.'
I tried speaking aloud... but no voice came out.
Truthfully, stopping time changes nothing. But there's something I can do only here.
'This guy Mun Kyung-nam. Can't even grasp the sword's meaning, just swinging it around idiotically.'
Time had stopped.
More precisely, I'd severed the flow of time, escaping the shared timeline with others for a moment.
'I don't know why I thought this would work—'
A conclusion reached beyond understanding or logic.
'Can I use magic?'
I'd nearly glitched just watching Mun Kyung-nam's spells. Me using them myself? Insane? Impossible? Unavoidable horrific glitch. But, but, but—
'This madness isn't mine.'
It's artificial insanity injected from outside. If I cast magic while time is stopped—maybe I can delay the glitch until time resumes!?
Proof: Even now, thinking of casting magic myself, I feel no mental block or resistance. Not even the other personalities chattering in my head.
'Yeah, this stopped time belongs only to me.'
Just once anyway.
The warning that using magic would drive me mad—means I can use it exactly once, right?
Then this spell!
I focused my mind and cast the spell.
[Perception]
Ziiing—
This magic held no power to kill or destroy. It existed solely to interpret the world's structure and laws.
Golden mana poured from my four eyes into the frozen black-and-white world.
Where is it? It has to be here somewhere.
Where? This way? No, further left?
Ziiing—
'Ughhh. Feels like I'm dying.'
Normally used on limited targets. Trying it in such a vast space... The influx of info is splitting my head.
Sizzle—
Brain-boiling displeasure. Maybe not an illusion. My brain really feels like it's burning.
It has to be here somewhere.
Left side here.
There. There. There on the left. I see it.
Gazing at me from a direction unobservable in normal time flow—
"①."
A voice in stopped time.
Impressive. That human can even speak here? A superhuman outside all specs in every way.
"②."
No. I can do even more!
I activated the [Sword of Flesh]'s second ability, slicing through the wall between [here] and [there].
"③."
Doesn't matter, come out now!
I shoved my hand into the new fissure on the left end, forcibly yanking out what I grasped. Pulled it.
"④."
Limit reached. But I did it.
I released [Perception], and at the same time, time—
* * *
—began to move.
KABOOM!
Explosion.
Rocks, debris, fragments, severed heads, blood droplets pouring from all sides. Mun Kyung-nam plummeting into the darkness with a despairing expression.
And...
Tick—tock—
A large clock floating where a head should be.
"You crazy bastard!"
The time traveler, Kong Isu, shouted at me.