Chapter 62
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 62
Chapter Title: Plan B
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“Grwooooar!”
The Universe Designer wailed as it beheld the broken perpetual motion machine it had created.
Something utterly impossible in its own universe had come to pass.
If compared to a human, it was like visiting the fields during a bountiful harvest season, only to find a massive sinkhole swallowing everything up.
But there was no pity to feel. If it were truly an Absolute Being, it should have crafted a better world.
The arrogance of the Absolute lay in assuming its creations would forever act as predicted.
…
It crawled toward me through the universe.
With my body brimming with Star Force, I must look like a rice cooker to that Absolute Squid.
No, since I blew up Earth, I probably look more like a rice cooker thief.
I called it squid chowder earlier, but it was still a divine existence.
It might be chowder compared to the Wanderer, but to a human-born like me, it was no such thing.
Fuming with rage, it chased after me, so I bolted first.
“Grwooooar!”
“Stay back!”
Even in the vacuum of space, its roar reached me clearly. No idea how that worked. To avoid getting caught, I just ran blindly.
Fueled by Star Force, I fled, but the space squid was faster than expected.
A bizarre sight: it crawled through the cosmos in pursuit.
Every time its squid arms pulled at the universe, space folded like paper.
I recalled seeing something like this in a wuxia novel.
Shrinking the land?
You know, that technique where you grab the wrinkles in the earth to cover vast distances quickly.
Except here, it was folding the canvas of the universe itself—an eerie spectacle.
I fired spells at the steadily pursuing monster. I was a mage who could even nick the Wanderer's fingertip.
Yet I couldn't inflict major damage on the squid.
The difference from the Wanderer? The Wanderer ignored my attacks entirely, but the squid designer actively blocked them.
How?
Using those space-grabbing arms, it pulled the fabric of space in front of itself like a shield.
One thing was clear: it saw my attacks as a threat. If I could land a hit somehow, I'd deal real damage.
“It's getting closer, isn't it?”
I hadn't slowed down, nor had it sped up. But space itself felt like it was contracting.
The distance was shrinking.
Not an illusion—asteroids ahead rushed toward me faster than my flight speed.
For some reason, this universe was contracting instead of expanding.
Whoosh.
I barely dodged the squid's whip-like arm swing, silent and without warning.
We were still quite far apart, yet I'd already entered its attack range.
What now?
Those massive arms were the problem. Long tentacles manipulating space at will.
I attacked again, but space blocked it once more.
Force wouldn't win this. I was a created being; it was a god.
If I could lure just a moment of carelessness, I could handle those arms!
Think. Think!
Running gets me caught. Getting close gets me eaten. Where the hell do I even go in this universe?
Then, a flash of inspiration.
I sharply turned and charged straight at it. Incoming whip.
Not yet.
A massive arm blocked my retreat.
Not yet.
Arms curved in, sealing all directions—my only escape led right into its maw. Look at those teeth. Stay still, and I'd be a snack.
Just before its whip grazed me.
Now!
“Grwoooo?”
Moon Byul vanished.
The Universe Designer lost track of Moon Byul, infused with Star Force.
No trace of him anywhere—up, down, left, right, forward, back. Nothing.
Only his soul-bound Grimoire floated in the void.
Slash!
“Kieeeek!”
A sudden attack severed the space-manipulating arm.
As the squid thrashed in agony, I turned tail and fled again.
The plan worked!
I hunkered down inside the Grimoire, peeking out through its pages.
Waiting for a blind spot to strike its arm—its means of movement—then emerging to attack again.
Arm? Leg? Whatever. Without its mobility, the squid's speed plummeted.
Thus began a long, tedious chase.
It caught on and stopped falling for the trick.
My Star Force held out, but the distance closed again.
The universe's contraction was accelerating.
Then, a nagging doubt surfaced.
If this universe contracts to a single point...
Amusingly, beyond it lay another universe. The Wanderer's domain.
Whose territory was the space outside universes? The Wanderer's? Or some other Absolute in between?
I pondered briefly, then dropped it.
Asking for help from beyond-universe beings seemed unlikely. In the end, I might have to gamble.
***
“W-We survived!”
“Wooooah!”
That was humanity's initial reaction.
Most of those arriving in the vast wasteland cheered at being alive.
How thrilling to escape doom and death for a new life?
But the joy didn't last.
“Humans, always the same.”
Alex watched as, not even twenty minutes later, complaints erupted over missing food and shelter.
Humans are sensitive to discomfort. Thrust from a world of hot water, refrigerators, and beds into a Stone Age equivalent—the inconvenience was indescribable.
Unless you'd lain bedridden in a hospital for years, most couldn't grasp their survival.
The thrill of cheating death fades quickly, after all.
Survive a near-fatal jaywalking accident once, and you might swear it off—but hear a mere honk without incident, and old habits die hard.
To humans, life is always a premise, never the conclusion.
The Alliance gathered at the prearranged spot.
Reconstruction began immediately.
“Alex, use this to communicate with humanity until the network's up.”
A small cube from my pocket.
Moon Byul handed it over after the transfer.
It even showed Gate locations worldwide. Damn useful.
Moon Byul's consideration for a world without traffic or comms.
Gates allowed instant travel to sites by nation.
“Isn't this better than Earth?”
The convenience sparked that thought.
No clue what he did, but humanity skipped bodily needs for a while.
No hunger, no bathroom breaks.
Though illusions of thirst and hunger lingered.
Reconstruction progressed faster than expected.
A special Gate near the Alliance base piled Earth goods mountain-high.
Like unsorted trash heaps, Awakeners shuttled back and forth to retrieve items.
“Couldn't sort this better?”
“You slacker think we had spare time?”
“What are you, a monk?”
Kahn brushed off grumblers lightly.
[Hang in there a bit longer, everyone! Reconstruction continues.]
Broadcasts via cube reached all humanity.
Low-rank Climbers patrolled Gates for security.
“Fewer issues than thought?”
Alex figured society would rebound soon.
By month's end, food and shelter stabilized most places.
Not Earth-level, but plenty of civilization's remnants survived intact.
Moon Byul said swallow the candy if things went south—seemed unlikely now.
One unease: he hadn't returned.
“I'll come back once external business wraps. Alex, go go fighting!”
Meant his off-world tasks lingered.
So tension remained.
“How'll we know if it goes south? You won't pop in to warn us.”
“Hmm... it'd be obvious, like 'Oh shit, we're screwed!'”
We joked, but no smiles exchanged.
Then, on the second month's mark.
“Wh-What?!”
“Aaaah!”
Screams echoed everywhere.
Stepping from the tent, chaos reigned: people fleeing wildly, others frozen in shock.
All stared skyward in terror.
“Fuck, please no.”
Instinct screamed doom awaited above. I steeled myself and looked up.
A massive vortex swirled in the sky, enormous tentacles emerging.
“...Well, shit.”
The tentacles slowly reached for the moon.
Overwhelming scale—a creature larger than planets. Unimaginably vast.
Even after ages, no end to the tentacles; finally, its colossal body emerged.
“...Motherfucker.”
Exclamations spilled uncontrollably.
Those moon-swallowing tentacles? To a human, mere elongated whiskers.
Not its torso, lower body, or arms.
Realizing they were whiskers made the monster feel ten times huger than imagined.
Wait, what I thought was its lower half was whiskers? Get it?
…
A head poked through the vortex, followed by a grotesquely shaped finger.
Maybe not a finger either.
Alex, prime pusher for Earth evacuation, had endlessly questioned the plan's righteousness.
Seeing this beast firsthand? He understood.
No human could win against that, even regressing a thousand times.
Conquer the Tower, and it'd block the endgame?
Knew ahead, he'd have ditched the regressor life.
In that sense, Moon Byul's game-changing choice felt right.
Was Moon Byul dead? Plan already derailed?
...Doubt it. This wasn't normal space—it was inside a Grimoire world. If true to his word, even that divine being couldn't enter without permission.
Its appearance here wasn't failure—still within margin of error.
He sent it our way because he couldn't kill it.
Ultimately, the message: We're fucked.
Time for Plan B, as discussed.
The candy moment arrived.
Crunch.
In the already-doomed universe, time rewound.