Chapter 494
Chapter 494
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 494
Chapter Title: The Primordial Language
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Amalgam's eyes registered surprise for the first time.
Transcendent Abyss.
This was a world for transcendents.
The laws governing this space were utterly different from those of the outer Abyss.
Here, a transcendent held near-absolute dominance within their own domain.
They could amplify their authority to near-infinite levels, and outsiders inevitably knelt before the overwhelming gap in their "rank."
Amalgam was especially unique among transcendents.
He was the transcendent of "Balance," which was synonymous with "Karma."
The overseer of all good and evil deeds, the flow of every cause and effect.
To set foot in his domain required a corresponding "qualification."
Only those whose total karma—the accumulated burden bestowed upon all beings in the Abyss—had reached a certain threshold, earning them a spot in the top ranks of the Hall of Fame, could finally qualify to face him.
Thus, Amalgam was the only transcendent who had ever communicated with Dragon God Sepiro.
Sepiro held first place in the Hall of Fame.
His vast karma was more than sufficient to reach Amalgam's domain.
But Park Chan-woo was different.
He had accumulated tremendous karma through the Interracial War and countless feats, yet he still fell short of Sepiro's level.
And yet, this fool had dared to deflect the Chains of Sin within his own domain?
A non-transcendent?
'Impossible.'
The Chains of Sin bound their victim more tightly the weaker their karma.
With Park Chan-woo's karma, his soul should have been torn to shreds the instant the chains touched him.
In other words...
In other words, it wasn't his karma value that had repelled the Chains of Sin.
That left only one possibility.
'Something even more transcendent. Something even more absolute.'
An unknown power beyond his perception, surpassing his own authority, had dwelled within that man.
In essence, this being's "rank" as a transcendent surpassed his own.
But that made no sense either.
Here, in the Transcendent Abyss. Within his own domain.
...No existence could possibly possess a higher rank than his.
Amalgam rose from his seat.
If a phenomenon defied understanding, he would test it until it shattered, then dissect its essence.
That was how he maintained balance.
Amalgam's right eye opened.
He extended his hand once more.
A shadow writhed from his fingertips, shooting toward Park Chan-woo.
Sssrrrrk...
The moment the shadow touched the ground, it slithered up like a snake, swelling into an identical form of Park Chan-woo.
Face, build, even the Baal's Sword in his hand.
Everything was perfectly replicated. Another Park Chan-woo was born.
The authority to duplicate causality.
It copied the target's every ability, memory, even unconscious habits.
Not to mention, the shadows kept multiplying.
New duplicates sprouted like dividing cells.
Two, four, eight. Park Chan-woo's forms increased exponentially.
Soon, the surroundings were filled with hundreds of Park Chan-woos.
All with the same face, they leveled their swords at the real Park Chan-woo.
Amalgam was certain of victory.
But Park Chan-woo's face showed no hint of dismay.
Instead, a mocking sneer curled at his lips, as if it were all laughable.
He had already returned from a far worse hell than this.
Tower of the Gods, 99th floor.
There, Park Chan-woo had clashed with Balmoong—not a mere duplicate, but a "future self" who had embraced all his failures and grown stronger.
Fighting a being that knew everything about him, he had realized one truth.
Defeating oneself wasn't about power, but "heart."
Let alone these shadows before him now.
'...They're fakes.'
In an instant.
Brrrrr!
The hundreds of duplicates encircling Park Chan-woo suddenly convulsed like they were having seizures.
This was only the beginning.
Their forms melted like hot wax, slumping and dissolving.
Eventually, they seeped into the floor and vanished.
Amalgam's eyes widened in shock.
His authority had failed.
No, it went beyond mere failure.
'The authority... can't keep up?'
His second authority as a transcendent.
This power to duplicate causality allowed him to perfectly "comprehend" and "analyze" his opponent.
Yet Park Chan-woo was far beyond his capacity to grasp.
Swoosh.
...Amalgam opened his final third eye.
And the moment all three eyes opened...
The transcendents' bodies, laid beneath the volcano, stirred to life all at once.
Like marionettes, they marched in perfect unison from the lava, lining up behind Amalgam.
His ultimate authority.
Manipulation of causality.
Amalgam's power extended even to the transcendents' flesh.
Not even the arrogant Dragon God Sepiro could claim victory before this legion.
Let alone some mortal.
Shiiiiek!
The transcendents charged at Park Chan-woo.
Each swing of their swords and spells was powerful enough to shatter the world's laws.
Countless typhoons raged, massive lightning bolts crashed endlessly.
They sliced through space itself or upheaved the earth with terrifying force.
A scene straight out of apocalypse.
But at the center of all that chaos...
"...".
Park Chan-woo was utterly serene.
He raised his sword.
And...
Slash!
...swung it.
Kwaaaaaang!
As Park Chan-woo's sword cleaved the air, every attack raining down on him shattered and scattered into nothingness.
He had erased them entirely.
It was only natural.
The current Park Chan-woo was incomparably stronger than before.
The Stigma of Strength added planet-shattering weight to his blade, the Stigma of Vitality forged his body into unbreakable steel, and the Stigma of Agility made his movements swifter than causality itself.
The Stigma of Intelligence pierced through the trajectories and weaknesses of every incoming assault, while the Stigma of Magic Power bound all those forces together, amplifying them into infinite energy.
In contrast, what of them?
At best, specialists transcendent in a single field.
And even that, only fully realized within their own domains—"half-measures."
Shieek!
Park Chan-woo didn't stop.
He leaped straight into the midst of the transcendents.
With every dance of his sword, one by one, they crumbled to dust.
Amalgam couldn't comprehend the scene unfolding before his eyes.
All stats pushed to perfect extremes, complementing weaknesses and maximizing strengths to create flawless "harmony."
A sight no ordinary transcendent could produce.
There was only one way this was possible.
Yet it still defied understanding.
Amalgam's cry bordered on a scream.
Park Chan-woo paused for a moment and turned to him.
And for the first time,
he gave Amalgam a faint smile.
An affirmation.
Amalgam's eyes wavered.
Tower of the Gods.
To transcendents, it was both an object of envy and a forbidden realm.
The greatest legacy of the Creator, possibly holding the only key to escape this prison called "transcendence."
All of them had coveted that tower.
But the tower's five masters—those arrogant, unyielding wills—never permitted transcendents entry.
Mortals, on the other hand?
They could challenge the tower, but never reach its pinnacle.
Conquering the Tower of the Gods was deemed impossible for mortals.
And yet.
This human standing before him had achieved the impossible.
Winning acknowledgment from all five masters—beings too arrogant to coexist by their calculations.
Amalgam finally understood the situation.
Allowing him to wield transcendent divinity throughout the entire Transcendent Abyss.
A new emotion flickered in Amalgam's eyes.
Vicious, burning "greed."
To be a transcendent was both glory and curse.
They wielded godlike power in their domains, but weakened drastically outside them.
Trapped prisoners in their own worlds, as the saying went.
Amalgam's eyes blazed with greed beyond measure.
The most vital "key" to fulfilling his wish had walked right to him!
"I refuse."
"I have no intention of bargaining with you. I'll subjugate you and carve my own path."
Amalgam burst into mad laughter.
Amalgam settled back onto his throne, gazing down at Park Chan-woo with leisure.
His words were true.
Erasing a transcendent in their own domain was impossible.
Flawless logic.
No matter how strong Park Chan-woo was, without killing Amalgam, he would be the one forced to kneel first, racing against time.
Yet Park Chan-woo quietly shook his head.
"What I achieved in the Tower of the Gods isn't just transcendence."
Park Chan-woo raised Baal's Sword.
Then, atop the blade, countless lines of light appeared—lines that had never been there before.
The light writhed like a living thing, etching a single pattern.
It resembled no language of the Abyss.
More primal than ancient runes, more fundamental than draconic tongue.
Soon.
Terror filled Amalgam's eyes.
"You recognize it."
A smile played on Park Chan-woo's lips.
The pinnacle of the Tower of the Gods.
Etched behind the five masters' thrones—the "Creator's language" was precisely this.