Chapter 170
Chapter 170
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 170
Chapter Title: The Third Night (21)
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Outer God of Eternity.
His stature was supreme, and his authority even more flawless.
He granted countless desires under the name of "wishes."
He had given an emperor immortality, turning him into an "undying" being, and resurrected a younger brother at the plea of a grieving sibling.
There were no limits to the wishes he could fulfill.
Moreover, the price for granting them was negligible.
All one had to do was procure the necessary materials themselves.
For instance, to achieve "immortality" for one person, the lives of ten million others were required.
To revive the dead, one had to slaughter everyone connected by blood to the deceased and offer up their hearts.
It wasn't easy, but if they managed it, the Outer God of Eternity duly made the wish come true.
'Lord of the Moon Aheta desired to create the strongest lifeform.'
That was why he had renamed the Eternal Temple as the Temple of Death.
Originally, this temple belonged not to Aheta, but to the Outer God of Eternity.
Yet to fulfill Aheta's wish, he had changed both its name and purpose.
—Bring forth the strongest race, surpassing the Twelve Races.
—To birth the strongest race, specimens from all races connected to the Abyss are required. Along with one hundred million souls.
Afterward, Aheta waged war across countless worlds, gathering souls.
Whenever he brought them to the Temple of Death, the Outer God would personally blend them to forge the "strongest race."
Thus, his authority to bestow immortality, resurrect the dead, and create new races rivaled that of the Creators themselves.
An absolute power no one could touch!
'Of course, fulfilling a wish doesn't bring happiness.'
The emperor gained immortality, but his empire fell.
He became the enemy of the world and was eternally sealed away.
And the brother who revived his sibling?
After collecting the hearts of their bloodline and ultimately dying himself to complete the wish, the resurrected brother despised his kin-slaying kin and took his own life.
Aheta's wish fared no differently.
The strongest race was created, but its master was not Aheta—it was the Outer God.
...Wishes are granted.
But never with a happy ending.
Instead, they lead to the worst possible conclusion.
Because the materials required to fulfill the wish are precisely what make the wisher most miserable.
A form of "equivalent exchange."
No wish was impossible, but the greater the wish, the steeper the price.
Seek happiness, and misfortune follows in its place.
'Three times without such materials. Instant wish fulfillment.'
But not every time required a price.
The Outer God of Eternity could grant wishes without conditions—three times only.
This was his greatest authority.
He could set the price as he pleased, so he planned to remove the abnormal status "countdown," claim the seal imprisoning that soul and Baekkyung Charpam, and use the "strongest race's" body to drag the Abyss into ruin.
'Even if it's the final third use, it's still a profit.'
Especially if he could control "Dimensional Wanderer, Baekkyung Charpam"—it alone was worth expending all his wishes.
Though the seal seemed to have damaged its memories, Baekkyung Charpam was a being that inspired terror even within the Great Rift.
A colossal body capable of devouring an entire world.
It wielded the mystery of traversing dimensions at will, and its "absolute domain" alone could freeze surrounding worlds solid upon deployment.
But that wasn't the most terrifying aspect of Baekkyung.
'God Predator!'
It was a god that devoured gods.
Baekkyung was one of the beings they feared most.
Which raised the question.
How had Baekkyung been sealed?
Did a seal capable of binding it even exist?
'Removing the abnormal status will reveal it.'
It was merely an abnormal status, after all.
A countdown. Set to kill after a fixed time.
'A curse?'
That seemed likely.
To seek him out over something as trivial as a curse.
Still, if even Baekkyung couldn't consume it, it must be a high-dimensional curse.
It didn't matter much.
There was no wish his authority couldn't fulfill.
......But.
'......It won't remove?'
The wish failed.
Despite using his final authority, when there should be no limits to achievable wishes.
If it had simply been "nullified," he wouldn't feel this absurd.
The authority's activation was confirmed, yet it vanished without effect.
This was a first.
"'Death's Reaper'......?"
Moreover, the "reaper" appearing above the human defied understanding.
It had unquestionably introduced itself as death.
Yet there was no "Death's Reaper."
Reapers embodied the god of death themselves.
No need for the extra "death" label.
Reapers existed to regulate the Abyss's balance in the first place.
Like rules incarnate, few possessed egos beyond the highest echelons.
Above all, no reaper could discuss "death" outside the rules!
Laughable?
Beyond possessing an ego, it even had emotions.
Had there ever been a reaper of such stature?
"...Why is a reaper like you possessing a mere human body?"
The true nature of the abnormal status "countdown" was that reaper.
The Outer God tensed.
A phenomenon even he couldn't comprehend.
A reaper of unfathomable hierarchy had embedded itself to kill a single human.
Even nullifying his own "wish" in the process.
But that was impossible.
The concept of death didn't apply to wishes.
You couldn't kill a wish before it manifested, without form.
Yet it had died.
Permanently extinguished.
What did that even mean?
Confirm the human's death?
As if some catastrophe would unfold if he didn't die?
What could this human possibly be, to seal Baekkyung Charpam and attract such a reaper?
It was at that moment.
Rumble!
The world sank.
'Where is this?'
He looked around.
Before he knew it, the Outer God of Eternity stood beyond the threshold.
The "door" before him was coated in countless teeth, smacking its lips.
The Outer God couldn't help but grimace.
He instantly grasped what this door signified.
'It brought death to me?'
He was an immortal.
A being sustained not by life, but by stature.
Naturally, he shouldn't die.
The concept of death shouldn't apply to him.
And yet.
That reaper had brought death to one who could not die.
Now he understood.
'I touched something I shouldn't have...!'
How idiotic his choice had been.
This wasn't mere death—it was the concept of death itself.
True death, bringing an end to all things.
Yet it still puzzled him.
Why would such a mighty reaper wait to kill a single human?
It could kill him in an instant if it wished.
Or could it not?
Was it waiting because it couldn't kill him?
Because this human's stature surpassed even that of the "Death's Reaper"?
'Impossible!'
Such a thing couldn't be.
No such existence was possible.
But this human defied normality in every way.
Creak!
Moment by moment, beyond the threshold, the "door" drew nearer.
He couldn't move.
His entire body froze under the unfamiliar concept of "death."
The wish he'd invoked was rebounding upon him.
He'd sought to erase death, only to embrace it himself.
"Ah...!"
Thoughts flashed through his mind like a montage.
He perceived. He comprehended.
What that reaper was. Why it sought to kill him.
Because he'd tried to remove the countdown to save the human.
That absolute death existed solely for this human's demise.
In other words.
"Who are you? Who implanted a reaper of your caliber into a human body? Who wished for this human's absolute death...!"
Someone had made a wish and embedded it.
The scale of that wish dwarfed anything the Outer God of Eternity could grant.
It eradicated anything interfering with the human's death—or attempting to remove the "countdown"—with the concept of "death" itself.
......But who?
Who would make such an "ultimate wish" for the death of a mere human?
He couldn't fathom the price paid to implant a "Death's Reaper" for that wish.
Soon, "death" spoke.
That was the end.
Gulp!