The Battle of Transcendents (2)

The duel between Pakuta and Sun Wukong had begun.

Clang.

Clang.

Clang.

Barriers were sweeping around us in the blink of an eye, enclosing everything within a massive dome.

"We just passed 100,000 and… damn it. 70,000?"

And that was after we'd lost most of our combat troops.

Damn Pakuta. I have to catch him. Once I did, everything else would follow.

"Let's check my traits."

Traits were flowing in — seven random ones, earned by clearing a full 55 waves. Two piles of coins. Two enhancement tickets. And three Question Tickets.

Most of the seven traits were passives; the only active skill among them was Strike.

A trait that doubled my damage outright. On top of that, I'd picked up Fear Resistance, Poison Resistance, Curse Resistance, and the like.

"The Question Tickets can wait. What I can do right now — System! I'm using the Trait Evolution Ticket. Target: Overload."

Fwoooosh!

"I have eight Trait Enhancement Tickets. Pour them all in."

I immediately set the drones in motion.

My mind's perfectly fine — but according to them, coming down to the mortal plane left their power restricted.

So what I need to do right now is obvious, isn't it?

"Target: Rune. Overclock!"

He was right there before my eyes.

The enemy who had torn my parents apart.

"Ugh…!"

I had transcended before I could kill him. A descendant of his clan — the one I thought I'd wiped out completely — had survived. When I saw him charging at me, declaring himself the last of his line, I actually felt relief.

Because if I end him here, it's over.

Because now, at last, I can finish everything.

All that remained was to become a Transcendent once more, shackle myself in eternal servitude, and fight Pakuta. But now Pakuta had appeared here — in the mortal plane, of all places.

I didn't know why he'd descended, but I had to shave off even a sliver of his divinity. The more I stripped away, the better my odds in the battle between Transcendents that was sure to come.

I had already spent every trick I had. Something like this hardly counts as a stain on my name.

But look at my state right now.

"Damn it… was joining this fight a mistake?"

I had only just escaped Omnissiah's grasp. So why did these trials keep falling on me alone…!

Just as that thought crossed my mind—

Thump.

Thump.

Thump.

Thump.

Thump.

Thump.

"Ah… aah…"

In an instant.

The briefest of instants. Ten seconds, perhaps?

I knew. It couldn't compare to the full might of a Transcendent, but even so, it had risen to a level where comparison was at least possible.

"Moonlight Sword Style. Form 1. Twilight."

Shrinnng—

Whenever I unfolded this form, I remembered that day — myself wailing as I clutched my parents' corpses.

Because this was the sword I had trained beside their graves. A killing technique crafted by my father, a mere low-ranking knight, refined by me to heights he could never have imagined.

It was no longer the crimson aura of before. A gentle white light, like moonlight itself, washed over the blade and soaked it in silver.

Ahead of me, I could see that damned monkey spawn and that pig spawn, joking around and laughing together.

Flinch.

"You two-timing bitch!"

"Where do you think you're looking!"

Not even a single second had passed since I'd felt the surge of energy and reclaimed a fraction of my strength.

He was already upon me.

"What are you doing? You should have run."

My sword is a quick blade, after all.

Swish—

"Graaaaaagh!"

Pakuta's right arm came off at the shoulder.

He was possessing a body. And I was one native to the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠mortal plane.

A Transcendent had possessed it — meaning that flesh was a vessel steeped in divinity. Which meant that someone in the mortal plane had just severed that divinity — and that would deal a devastating blow to his accumulated karma.

"You… you two-timing bitch! How did you—!"

Vroooooom—

A deep, murky green — so dark it was nearly black. His divinity began to blaze with light.

"Fine! Come at me! I'll drag you straight down into divine ruin with me!"

"You're spouting nonsense! Do I look that stupid to you? Fight me yourself! I'll grant my blessing to your corpse in the afterlife!…Huh? Wait."

Sssss…

Pakuta began to dissolve away.

Click.

As expected — the bastard was infuriatingly good at running away.

As I stared after him, the monkey at my side spoke up.

"What a waste. And there I thought I'd get a taste of that divinity."

"Piss off. …Wait, you've grown weaker too, haven't you?"

"Heh heh… can't be helped, can it? You only came here yourself because your existence was fading, no?"

"…Go back. He's gone, so you should too."

Trrrkkk…

Sun Wukong's divine form melted away into the ground like ink running off a page.

"Damn it…!"

KWAAAAAAANG!

"—"

Pakuta's last descendant, who had been right in front of me, was shredded to pieces in that instant.

"Huk…!"

A subordinate rushed to her side — her body, which had briefly recovered its martial prowess through Overclock.

"Rune!"

Far off in the distance, I could see Pitasha hurrying toward us.

And behind her, her master — Kim Hyunwoo.

'I'm going out of my mind… just what the hell are you?'

Ssss…

"Phew… thank goodness, everything's fine! The medics confirmed everyone's okay!"

Pitasha said, sounding genuinely relieved. Her words put me at ease too — though her face had gone bright red.

Maybe it was because her skin was naturally fair and thin, but the blush was intense.

"We'll hear Rune's side of the story from her later. Hey — what was that thing just now?"

"…What?"

The moment those words ended, a message surfaced before my eyes.

And it was no ordinary message.

"Bloody Screw, huh… one of Omnissiah's subordinates?"

"Refused. The whole reason I contracted with Sun Wukong was to break free of Omnissiah's influence in the first place."

"Go ahead. Try me. A unique trait can only ever belong ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠to one person. Sure, you might be able to transfer a sponsor contract to someone else, but a god can't exactly contract with just anybody either, can he?"

Which meant that whoever came knocking would probably be one of Omnissiah's underlings, like this Bloody Screw. And once they'd contracted, they'd probably come to kill me.

But no one else possesses the same power I do right now. How exactly do they plan to manage that?

"Go ahead. If you can, that is."

…

No further messages appeared after that.

The reason I'd contracted with that damned monkey in the first place was to escape Omnissiah's influence — to make sure nothing touched my commanders or my Machine Legion. And then the old fool goes and runs wild of his own accord, exposing me to Omnissiah after all.

"Hey. A Transcendent broke his contract. What happens now?"

"Oh, you son of a… answer me! You startled me."

"Excellent!"

At this rate, that was a total win.

A Transcendent, of all beings, ought to know how sacred a contract is…

Maybe it has something to do with karma? Sun Wukong is clearly no fool, yet this is a little hard to understand. Not that he's the type to do me favors out of the goodness of his heart.

"Master! Shall we start with the Question Tickets?"

"Ah, sure. Let's take care of that first."

Something I'd been dying to know for ages.

"Listen carefully. This land we're defending right now — what's this planet called? The place where I'm standing?"

"Then that means this place was abandoned. The planet has to be enormous. The All-One Planet… and we're the ones holding its ground for it, aren't we? Then here's another question."

Thump.

Thump.

"All of this — defending the land, earning the demon stones, receiving the watered-down versions of divine authorities. Who benefits from all of it?"

"…Thought so."

If even Transcendents hold karma sacred, how could anything harm Earth when Earth stands to gain nothing but benefit from all this? So the one who governs this world — the cosmos, everything — must have judged that this would be a tremendous boon to Earth.

That must be why it was permitted.

"Pitasha. Leave Rune with the medics — let's go inspect the battlefield."

I'd already recorded every last detail of the previous waves with my drones. For the record, I no longer posted to the community anymore.

I mean, the only person still climbing the waves solo was me. Hwang Jinhyeok had decided to team up with his old comrades who'd just been summoned into the Abyss.

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

Apparently, if you join people on lower waves than your own, your wave count doesn't reset — you stay where you are. In exchange, the monster spawn rate drops a bit.

Either way, I'd still record information like this, but since hardly anyone needed it, I'd decided there was no point posting it.

"The community's lively as ever…"

I'd been dead on my feet moments ago, but browsing the community just made me laugh.

Sure, they were climbing easily thanks to my supply drops. But even as they said all that, they were deliberately holding some enemies back and dueling goblins one-on-one to hone their combat skills.

Well, drones don't work that well past wave 10, after all. Even with the drones mopping up continuously, there are just too many goblins to handle everything.

Then a post caught my eye.

It had only been up a short while, yet it was already drowning in upvotes. I clicked into it.

"So you just crack it open and it works, huh…"

Tap.

"Huh?"

BANG!

"…Damn it."

The Return Stone wouldn't break even under a gun. In the end, I had to bring down a Heavy Weapons Unit's monstrous strength on it — and the Return Stone split clean in two.

That gave me two stones worth about 25 days each.

"Break them up more."

Crack.

And just like that, I had three Return Stones worth roughly 12 days apiece.

Though what really amazed me was that not even a speck of powder came off them.