Chapter 90
Chapter 90
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 90
Chapter Title: Facing the Godforsaken Creation
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“Cough, cough!”
The moment I came to, a cough escaped me first and foremost. My entire mouth was parched dry. I moved my tongue to roughly wipe my cheeks and gums before sitting up.
‘So that’s why the protagonist passed out and woke up after being dragged into the abyss in the game.’
It was an incredibly informative experience that let me understand exactly why that happened. Every inch of my body ached with no exceptions.
Being wrapped and pulled by the shadows didn’t mean it cradled me gently—not by a long shot. It was more like it brutishly grabbed my body and slammed me into the ground.
Everything around me was pitch black. Up, down, front, back. Everywhere my eyes could reach was dyed in darkness. If not for the abyss beneath my feet, I surely would have lost all sense of direction.
The ground was entirely covered in something that looked like black mud—the abyss—and just looking at it soured my mood. There wasn’t a speck of solid earth anywhere. The only substances making up this space were the abyss and shadows.
At least it wasn’t blocking rolls like the lowest floor of the Rune Dungeon. That was a small mercy.
‘The rune… it’s working properly, right? Since I’m still alive and not dead.’
I fiddled with the back of my left hand. The reason the ‘Repose in the Abyss’ rune was essential for the Godforsaken Creation boss fight—required for any creature abandoned by the gods—was precisely because of this space infested with abyss and shadows.
When you open the barrier gate for the boss fight without the rune equipped, the moment you’re engulfed by shadows, your player character’s bones crunch to dust with a sickening sound, leading to instant death.
Likewise, if you enter here with the rune equipped and then unequip it, the player character gets swallowed by shadows and instantly dies, with the corpse sinking into the abyss at your feet.
Either way, without the rune, your character dies on the spot. That was another factor ramping up the difficulty of the Godforsaken Creation boss fight.
—Come.
A faint voice calling me echoed from somewhere.
The owner of that voice was the DLC’s final boss, the Godforsaken Creation. This was its domain, so it would have instantly noticed someone entering.
Shing. I drew the bloodstained sword. The passage was straight ahead. As I slowly stepped forward, the shadows and abyss writhed and gathered to refill the space I’d just passed through.
‘If I could go straight to the boss room, that’d be great…’
Unfortunately, no such luck. After walking a bit down the passage, a trash mob appears to block the player. You had to deal with it no matter what.
Twitch. No sooner had the thought crossed my mind than the passage ahead was blocked from the floor up by rising shadows. A signal to prepare for battle.
I pressed my hand firmly against the shadow wall filling the passage. It had an insane elasticity, like rubber. The moment I pulled my hand away, it snapped back to its original shape with rebound force.
Soon after, something rose behind me with a sound. I turned around.
A bizarre-looking abyss monster was slowly approaching me. In vanilla, there was no shadow wall, so you could just run, but in DLC mod, that wasn’t an option. You had to fight no matter what.
—Splat!
Of course, it posed no problem for me. It wasn’t that tough anyway.
The abyss monster’s body toppled backward, and with a splat, it scattered into the shadows like water splashing everywhere. As the monster died, the shadow wall blocking the passage crumbled away.
‘That’s still there too.’
In the distance down the passage stood a lone, weathered statue. It was the checkpoint save statue, just like the one in the Rune Dungeon basement. I didn’t spare it a glance and walked right past.
Because it was a trap.
If you naively sat in front of it, the statue would transform into an abyss monster and chomp the player to bits. The damage itself was ordinary, but for me right now, it’d be instant death.
Everyone coming here for the first time—100 out of 100—falls for that statue and gets eaten once before starting over. First-time players had no choice but to get tricked; it was built that way.
What pissed people off even more was that after eating the player, it bolted, so you couldn’t even kill it. Plus, this was the only section in the entire vanilla DLC 4 that used a statue as a trap.
After walking a bit and glancing back at where the statue had been, it was gone. Tsk. I clicked my tongue once and kept moving.
‘This must be it below.’
It wasn’t far to the real boss room entrance. I’d arrived at a sheer cliff dropping straight down. One jump from here, and it was straight to the boss room.
There was no reason to hesitate now. I gripped the bloodstained sword firmly with both hands and leaped downward.
Splash. My feet hit the ground with a sound like stepping in a puddle. Naturally, it wasn’t real water. It was just the abyss that had accumulated so much it turned liquid-like.
You couldn’t remove the rune here either. Do that, and you’d get sucked under the abyss forming the floor and die. It meant fighting with one rune slot unavailable.
—I sense it… that revolting stench…
From somewhere in the boss room, a voice that shook the entire space boomed out. It was the opening line of the cutscene signaling the start of the Godforsaken Creation boss fight.
Boom. The ground shook. Something was approaching from beyond the darkness-covered abyss.
—This smell… You must be, without a doubt, that damned god’s minion.
That line about the god’s minion only played if your character had invested 10 or more points in either Faith or Divine Power stats. Otherwise, it just asked if you’d come to die.
Well, it didn’t make the boss stronger or trigger any gimmick like that. The dialogue just changed.
—Perfect timing. Killing you will let me recover my power much faster.
Crash! That something took its final step. Even in this suffocating darkness, its form came into sharp view.
It was enormous. To see its head, I had to crane my neck way back. My head didn’t even reach its knee, let alone its leg.
Six jagged horns protruded from its head, and it had eight eyes. Its mouth, torn up to its ears, bristled with countless teeth.
Two pairs of massive wings sprouted from its back, and it had four arms. Between its legs, a grotesquely thick tail dragged along the ground.
‘Seeing it in person makes it even worse.’
Users always cursed it half-jokingly as the ‘ugly orphan abandoned by god,’ but facing it directly now, that didn’t feel like a joke at all.
—Die for me. Then you shall find eternal repose in the abyss.
“Eternal repose my ass.”
I chuckled and drew the holy catalyst from my waist. It was something I’d borrowed from Selene for the time being. You absolutely needed a catalyst to cast divine spells.
I brought the catalyst to the blade, focusing my senses as if infusing it with power. The catalyst began to shine brightly—golden light representing the sun god’s divine power.
The sun dwelled in my weapon.
Like a river of gold rippling, overflowing divine power enveloped the bloodstained sword’s blade. It emitted light so intensely that even my right hand gripping the hilt was obscured by the glow.
It was the effect of ‘Eclipse,’ a top-tier divine spell among weapon enchantments that bestowed blessings.
But I was unfazed. There was no blinding at all, and I could stare right at it. Naturally, since I was the one casting it.
—Pathetic wretch. Did you think such petty tricks could slay me?
It was the same for the boss. It faced the golden-white light—practically sunlight—head-on with an indifferent expression.
Even the pope’s direct divine power couldn’t pierce the abyss, so it wasn’t surprising. For the DLC’s final boss to flinch at an enchant animation would’ve been hilarious in its own way.
“Who knows. Why do you think I can’t kill you?”
I securely tucked the holy catalyst back into my waistband. With my current Divine Power stat, I couldn’t recast the enchant the moment it wore off.
It required some cooldown time.
“Of course, one hit won’t kill you. I never expected that to begin with. A huge brute like you dropping dead after a few hits would be more suspicious.”
I aimed the bloodstained sword. It seemed ready to start the fight in earnest too, gathering shadows into each of its four hands. The shadows coalesced into weapon shapes.
Flail. Mace. Hammer. Axe.
Those were the types of weapons in its hands. And every one was creepily massive.
Whether to intimidate me or just show off, it swung the weapons—each larger than an average human—through the air with gusto.
“But I don’t plan on hitting you just once.”
I focused my mind and assumed position. No need to fear that monstrous form. Bigger weapons meant clearer animations. Victory or defeat hinged not on its actions, but my concentration.
“I plan to beat you until you drop dead.”