Chapter 167
Chapter 167
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 167
Chapter Title: The Third Night (18)
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‘…Is this as far as it goes?’
Gula looked around him in utter despair.
The endless waves of the Legion of Death closing in.
They were already surrounded on all sides, with no path of retreat left.
Even the Arc Warriors, who had been pushing back the enemy with the might of a hundred men, had vanished without a trace.
…How had it come to this?
It had been an even fight, for sure.
“S-Spare me!”
“This isn’t war—it’s a slaughter!”
“No human can stand against that monster—Anubis!”
Those who had lost the will to fight were scrambling to flee.
When Anubis first appeared and the million-strong Legion of Death burst from the ground, it hadn’t felt this hopeless.
On the contrary, under Gula’s command, they had handled the Legion with skillful precision.
All the trials had been cleared swiftly, boosting their stats to the max.
Confidence had overflowed.
We can win.
Death! Anubis! Aheta!
They had all shouted in unison for victory.
With the balance restored, they believed that sheer willpower would carry them through.
But then.
‘Aheta, you bastard—have you no pride as a Creator…!’
The Lord of the Moon, Aheta, had intervened.
The mastermind behind the Third Night had forcibly shattered the hard-earned ‘balance.’
At the same moment, Anubis’s body swelled like a balloon, and the ‘Beast of Death’ descended.
A colossal frame at least ten meters tall.
Its entire body shrouded in thick black fur.
Twelve glowing red eyes and row upon row of countless fangs, jagged and rising like they could shred anything they touched.
‘Ah.’
He knew it instinctively.
That thing was no monster they could face.
No living being could stand before that Beast of Death.
Gula, already dead, managed to hold out, but the others fled in blind panic.
“Why can’t we escape?!”
“C-Coins aren’t working!”
“That crazy bastard Aheta!”
And not only that—Aheta had blocked even Coin-based escapes.
As if trying to cover up his shameful meddling.
Aheta’s will was clear: not a single soul would leave alive.
Kraaaaaargh!
Anubis let out a guttural roar.
In an instant, a gale like a typhoon swept across the ground.
Everyone within a one-kilometer radius turned to smoke the moment the roar hit them.
The Beast of Death had slain them with a single cry.
Even with their potential stats maxed out, they couldn’t endure it.
‘Anubis’s true form… That monster is the ultimate beast.’
Hideous and repulsive, yet overwhelmingly powerful.
Gula had served as a commander in the ‘Legion of Death’ for ages, but even he had never seen Anubis’s true body.
And perhaps that was why.
He couldn’t swing his sword.
Anubis’s roar had subdued him.
Aheta was trying to end the war as quickly as possible.
‘Aheta plans to conclude the Third Night before he clears the Legendary Quest.’
The reason was obvious.
He couldn’t risk losing the Temple of Death and this entire territory.
The man who had restored his god to him.
‘…Are you afraid of him, Aheta?’
Park Chan-woo!
And Aheta feared Park Chan-woo that much.
So desperately that he was committing acts unbecoming of a Creator.
Breaking the balance, pouring in massive Coins to bend the rules themselves.
Gula hadn’t expected him to go this far.
If he had, he would have prepared more thoroughly.
‘Just a little more time….’
He had to hold out.
Until Park Chan-woo conquered the Temple of Death.
“God of Light, Apheth! Grant me your power!”
Gula ignited his divine power.
He burned every last drop of energy to force his body to move.
He twisted and used even his final origin.
It meant permanent death, but he didn’t care.
He was dead anyway.
This was his chance to atone, even slightly, for his mistakes.
How many regrets had he harbored since falling for Anubis’s deception and joining the Legion of Death?
In the end, he had lost his memories and become a tool of death, swung about by others.
Craaaack!
It happened in that instant.
Something brushed past Gula.
‘Anubis’s jaws…!’
Too late to think.
He barely twisted away to avoid death, but by then, his right arm had been devoured.
‘When did it…?’
He couldn’t believe it.
Moments ago, Anubis had been at the temple entrance.
Yet now, its jaws had grazed him.
“…”
Gula froze.
He couldn’t even open his mouth.
…Because twelve red eyes were staring right at him.
That massive, grotesque beast had closed the distance in an instant, too fast for even Gula to perceive.
‘Is this all I amounted to…!’
Pathetic.
To meet his end like this.
But resistance was futile against the Beast of Death.
It was despair incarnate.
The Grim Reaper itself, craving only death and extinguishing all life.
Just as Anubis was about to grant him true death.
Without any warning.
Kuwaaaaaargh!
…A massive roar echoed from within the Temple of Death.
Rumble! Roooar!
The heavens and earth shook, the sky itself trembling.
And that wasn’t all.
Tremble!
Anubis.
The beast that was death incarnate was shuddering.
Its twelve eyes shook wildly, as if in terror.
As if something even more monstrous had appeared.
But that was impossible.
No beast more wicked than Anubis could exist.
Unless.
‘Fierce God.’
…It would deserve to be called a ‘Fierce God.’
“Baal’s Roar…!”
Aheta recognized the roar emanating from the Temple of Death.
It was unmistakably the Fierce God Baal’s cry.
Only the Fierce God Baal could make Anubis—the embodiment of death—tremble.
‘Baal’s Belt is in there.’
Now it was certain.
The Archmage. That bastard was inside!
But it was puzzling.
Baal’s Roar was resounding not just through the Temple of Death, but across the entire ‘Third Night.’
Even as Baal’s authority, it was just inscribed on a mere belt.
Aheta knew its range and power well.
Yet this felt like the real Baal bellowing.
‘The Archmage amplified the authority on the belt.’
What a crafty bastard.
To think he’d enhanced Baal’s power in that short time.
But actually, this worked in his favor.
That authority was one-use only.
It had a cooldown for reuse, so it couldn’t be spammed.
If he’d already used it, he was in dire straits.
‘Still, I’ve won.’
Aheta regained his composure.
It had been an unwinnable fight from the start.
No human could defeat the full might of the Lord of the Moon.
The arrogance of thinking he could liberate the ‘Temple of Death’ that Aheta had so meticulously built.
“Anubis. Move.”
Click!
He invested Coins.
To erase Anubis’s emotions.
Soon, ‘Anubis’ forgot all fear.
Freed from Baal’s Roar, Anubis resumed its slaughter.
…Aheta had burned through thousands of Coins for victory.
And he didn’t regret a single one.
The Archmage.
If he could kill that bastard and reclaim Baal’s Belt.
‘Conquering the temple in this short time is impossible.’
Conquest was a pipe dream.
Even left alone, the ‘Archmage’ would die inside, but for a sure win, Aheta hurried to end the ‘Third Night.’
But he couldn’t.
Suddenly.
Right before his eyes.
Ding!
…Messages popped up.
“…What?”
He couldn’t believe his eyes.
Only a little over a day had passed.
The war was about to end soon.
Yet he had outmaneuvered him again, clearing the Legendary Quest at a speed beyond imagination.
“What… is this…?”
He couldn’t comprehend it.
Didn’t want to accept it.
The Lord of the Moon, himself, on the verge of defeat in the First Night, Second Night, and now the Third!
‘…One remains.’
…No, wait.
Aheta pulled himself together.
His final bastion still stood.
‘The ultimate lifeform.’
The wish he had asked of the Outer God first.
Yes.
The Outer God would be reborn as the ultimate lifeform.
A freed Outer God had no reason to grant wishes to the ‘Archmage.’
No reason to hand over the Eternal Temple and territory that were now his.
…This was better.
Better than the Archmage winning and taking everything.
The awakened Outer God would kill the Archmage.
And once the Outer God emerged, the worst beast, Anubis, would deal with it.
The ‘ultimate lifeform’ wasn’t complete yet. An Outer God unaccustomed to its new body couldn’t defeat death incarnate, Anubis.
‘You’ll regret awakening it, Archmage.’
After using the Fierce God’s Roar to drive off the Reapers and leaping over Zone 4 via a shortcut.
He faced the ‘Outer God,’ the Outer Being.
“You’re an intriguing human.”
“…You’re the Outer God?”
Park Chan-woo spoke with skepticism.
The Outer God that appeared after purifying Zone 4 looked different from what he’d imagined.
A child’s body with two red horns.
“Regrettably, this body is still immature, but I am undoubtedly the ‘God of Eternity.’ Some call me the ‘God of Wishes,’ of course.”
Seemed legit.
Park Chan-woo nodded.
‘That’s the ultimate lifeform Aheta tried to create.’
The Outer God had possessed the ultimate lifeform.
Taking its flesh and acting freely.
“You’ve freed me, so I’ll grant you a wish. Ah, no need to answer. I’ll just read your deepest desire. Let’s see… Hm? Archmage?”
“…”
“Haha! Dreaming of mastering mere magic? Fine. I’ll gift you ten thousand spells. How’s that?”
“No need.”
“Hm? Really? Then… Oho, Savior? But humanity’s salvation is just an excuse—your true desire is the ambition to reach the pinnacle. You crave great power to stir the Abyss?”
“No need.”
“Well. If you need neither magic nor such power, what then? The desires I sense from you are just that. Even a god like me finds them excessive—what do you truly want?”
The Outer God tilted its head.
…It was impressive, alright.
It had read his desires perfectly.
But magic and power? He’d achieve those himself.
The wish Park Chan-woo wanted now was the same as when he first entered.
“Remove the ‘death’ eating away at me.”
“Immortality? You want to become an immortal? That’s doable, but—”
“I mean, erase the abnormal status ‘Limited Lifespan.’”
“Abnormal status? Oh ho.”
The Outer God stroked its chin and nodded.
Then, as if it were no big deal, with utmost nonchalance, it spoke again.
“That’s easy enough. Got it. I’ll erase your ‘Limited Lifespan.’”