Chapter 440: The Beginning of Change (1)
Chapter 440: The Beginning of Change (1)
The battle with Avatar Geuk continues.
It remains a neck-and-neck struggle.
However, it isn't just a mindless exchange of blows. With every clash, I gather more information about my opponent.
All to reach the path to victory.
First.
For reasons unknown, Geuk hardly ever initiates an attack.
He occasionally thrusts a hand out, but most of those moves feel like feints designed to create an opening rather than strikes intended to land. It feels as though he has almost no intent to actually harm me.
Second.
Geuk is weak.
I don't mean he’s weak for an Avatar.
I mean he is just plain weak.
Compared to Avatar Dam—who remained unfazed even after taking a barrage of full-power hits and only became a fair match after I received Zess’s power—Geuk is pathetic.
He is significantly weaker than even the Magic Kingdom Guard, who were said to be on par with average Avatars.
In my personal estimation, I suspect Geuk might even lose in a fight against Al’shel.
Of course, his abilities would likely prevent that from happening.
Third.
I haven't fully grasped the extent of his powers yet, but I think I see the general direction.
The negation of phenomena.
In other words, he seems to possess a nature similar to the GM.
However, several questions remain.
One is that the time it takes for negation to kick in is often pointlessly long.
Just as the memory of the negated result was a week long when I first blew his head off, there are cases where an unnervingly long stretch of time remains in his memory.
That said, it usually ranges from five to ten minutes, not a full week.
Considering other negations take only a few seconds, I can't find any consistency in the timing.
Fourth.
If I group Geuk’s abilities by similarity, they seem to fall into two categories.
Skipping the process to reach a result.
And negating a result to manifest a phenomenon entirely different from the process.
The former isn't particularly significant in combat.
Even if he skips the process, it doesn't mean an attack that should have hit misses, or that an enemy's attack hits me unilaterally. It simply makes the perception of his actions confusing, causing a slight delay in my reactions.
The problem is the latter ability.
Even if I land a massive blow or drive home an attack that should definitely finish him, that result is negated.
This ability is so effective in combat that it allows the incredibly weak Geuk to keep up with me.
But one major question remains.
Why doesn't he use this ability constantly?
The frequency of its use is low enough for me to wonder.
I can think of two beings with similar powers: the GM and Quilp.
For those two, their abilities are practically always active, giving them priority in almost every action they take during combat.
In contrast, Geuk hardly uses his power.
Even when damage accumulates and his hand is blown off, he continues to fight at a disadvantage without negating the result.
Even when struck by a blow powerful enough to sever an entire arm, Geuk carries on without negating it.
In this long battle, Geuk has used that ability only nine times.
Only when he was hit by an attack that guaranteed defeat within a move or two, or when he faced instant death.
He does seem capable of negating the wounds on his own body, as the injured areas return to normal the moment I look away for a second.
But even wound negation isn't used frequently; more often than not, his body is covered in scars.
I can't understand it.
Why fight so inefficiently when he possesses such an ability?
Are there specific conditions for its activation that limit its use?
Just why is he fighting like this?
Amidst these questions.
Just as I began to think I couldn't extract any more information.
"Your thoughts have concluded."
Geuk suddenly spoke.
Only then did I realize it.
That he had been keeping his mouth shut.
I only noticed the fact that the man who had been talking incessantly had gone silent after he spoke again.
...Does he have more abilities?
As I began to sink into a new set of worries.
"Cease. Your intellect cannot reach the answer."
Geuk continued to speak.
"Everyone loathes a meaningless treadmill. Myself included."
Geuk’s voice echoed once more across the silent battlefield.
"I closed my mouth to grant you time to think. So that you might understand."
In the infinitely repeating exchange of blows, the process of combat was skipped and vanished, leaving only Geuk’s voice.
"Monologue is a means of gathering information and establishing an ideology. By permitting it, you have grasped all the information your intellect and observation could provide."
Through this internal dialogue, Geuk cut through my thoughts.
"With this, the ritual of opening the battle is over. You, standing there now, no longer have any value."
With those words, Geuk reached out a hand.
In a very polite gesture.
The moment I saw his action, my thoughts ground to a halt.
I knew exactly what that gesture meant, but I couldn't understand why he was doing it here.
Looking at his opponent while erasing all hostility, he extended a wide-open hand.
The posture for a handshake.
To clasp each other's hands.
"Why do you merely stare? You hold everything you can possibly achieve here. Even if you continue the treadmill, you will gain nothing more. Thus, I bring this act to a close."
I couldn't fathom what this Avatar was thinking.
He carries on the fight as he pleases, heals as he pleases, resurrects as he pleases, and now he’s asking for a handshake as he pleases.
What the hell does he want from me?
Did I even have another choice to begin with?
Defeat The Enemy before me and stop the army pouring out of the Pillar of Light.
Is there any other option for us right now?
Therefore, I intended to ignore the handshake and swing my hammer immediately, but...
...Wait, a handshake?
An idea flashed through my mind like a bolt of lightning.
It wasn't a masterstroke that could overturn the situation instantly, but it was an idea good enough to screw him over.
A handshake? Fine. I'll give you one.
Having made up my mind, I reached out.
As if satisfied with my action, Geuk responded to the handshake with a human-like smile rather than his usual jagged grin.
Our hands met.
After our clasped hands moved slowly up and down.
"Good. Then, I shall see you next time."
Geuk said as he tried to let go.
"Like I'd let go, you dumbass."
I smiled, gripping Geuk’s hand tightly and refusing to release it.
I caught him.
I would never let go of the right hand I had seized in that handshake.
Boom!
I immediately summoned The Hammer in my left hand and slammed it into Geuk.
It connected.
Boom!
I struck him again.
A barrage of blows followed—strikes where the process vanished, leaving only the result of the impact. Geuk began to fall apart under The Hammer, taking enough damage that I thought, He’ll definitely negate this.
Since it was obvious a negation would occur, I swung The Hammer like a madman just to enjoy the moment.
Boom!
Boom!
Boom!
No matter how many times I struck him, the negation of the result did not happen.
Why?
Geuk continued to negate the damage to his body to block the attacks.
But he did not negate the fact that I had seized his hand.
He desperately tried to twist his right hand to break the handshake, while constantly regenerating his left hand, which was being mangled as it tried to interfere.
"Tsk. You damn bastards."
For the first time, normal speech leaked from Geuk’s mouth.
As if he lacked the strength to maintain his usual tone, he spoke like an ordinary person spitting out curses at another.
Clicking his tongue and swearing, he negated only his own wounds.
This situation was clearly bizarre.
If Geuk intended to negate a result, he would accept an attack with a smile rather than defending against it. Perhaps because the result would be negated anyway, he hadn't defended this desperately when his head was blown off earlier.
But look at the situation now.
Geuk was showing desperate movements for the first time.
Unable to negate the result of the handshake, he was busy trying to block The Hammer strikes I kept raining down.
Even though it was a situation bordering on checkmate, he wasn't exercising his power.
Was it because our bodies were in contact?
I considered that hypothesis for a moment but quickly dismissed it.
Zess and the GM had been unable to use their powers properly while in contact, so I had used that knowledge for the fifth kill by climbing onto Geuk’s shoulders and snapping his neck.
Back then, Geuk had negated even that death, yet he couldn't negate this handshake.
"Tsk."
A special situation had suddenly unfolded, one that made even Geuk click his tongue in flustered annoyance.
I didn't know what conditions had been met to successfully seal his negation.
But I poured on the attacks.
With the determination to never let go of Geuk’s right hand.
With the resolve to beat him to death, whether he was immortal or not.
I mercilessly hammered Geuk, who was fluttering like a rag in my grip.
Amidst the chaos, Geuk spoke.
"I possess no immortality."
Information spat out by Geuk himself.
"I am the one who brings the curtain down on the stage as a fitting end. For a justified conclusion that everyone can accept, I descend to the same level as the world's primary Sentient Beings."
I had suspected as much, but this guy really can read my thoughts.
Just like how he spoke up earlier when I was organizing my thoughts.
Seeing how he answered immediately as soon as I thought about immortality.
But what mattered now was that Geuk wasn't immortal.
Which meant.
"This result has been accepted. So that you may defeat me."
It meant I could beat him to death.
Now, only one thing remained.
Either I would collapse from exhaustion, or Geuk would.
A simple battle of endurance.
The mutual pummeling began.
Geuk must have realized he couldn't escape this situation without attacking me, as he abandoned his purely defensive stance and began to strike back.
In the process, he even tried to sever his own right arm to break the handshake.
"I see everything, you prick."
I yanked his hand hard, forcing his attempt at self-mutilation to fail.
I’d allow him to blow his own head off if he wanted.
But I refused to let him break this handshake.
The Enemy’s melee combat skills were mediocre.
He was at a level I could handle at my leisure.
If his physical abilities were inferior to mine and his close-combat techniques were lacking.
What I held in my hand wasn't an Avatar.
It was just a convenient punching bag.
So I beat him.
I simply beat him.
I didn't even dodge his attacks.
What did it matter if a precise, razor-sharp thrust pierced my stomach?
A mere palm strike.
I just had to heal.
Just as you negate my attacks.
I would simply shrug off your attacks with my will and turn you into minced meat.
As the brutal slugfest continued.
During an exchange where we must have traded hundreds of blows.
In one specific moment.
I saw it.
The perfect timing to crush The Enemy’s skull.
Geuk’s left hand was blown away, and his neck was twisted so far that he could no longer dodge or resist—the perfect timing.
I brought The Hammer down.
Power gathered, and Geuk stared blankly at my attack.
His expression held a sense of absurdity.
A remarkably human expression.
How can this be...
If he could have spoken his last words, that’s likely what he would have said.
I gave a bitter smile at that expression.
"It makes perfect sense, you prick."
And then I swung The Hammer.
I did not let go of the right hand I held.
I felt the impact.
The sensation of a skull shattering.
Until the very end, Geuk tried to resist.
Twisting his waist and neck, thrusting forward his left hand that was now nothing but a wrist, perhaps to buy time for his hand to regenerate.
That desperate resistance was, in my eyes, a sign that he truly could not negate this result.
Pop.
A blood balloon burst, and flesh splattered.
Geuk’s left hand regenerated at the last possible second.
But there was nothing he could do about his half-shattered skull.
It was crushed along with his head, becoming nothing more than a lump of meat.
It was over.
"Hahahaha!"
I laughed.
With overflowing strength.
I had defeated the arrogant, overconfident, and annoying Geuk.
I didn't know what had happened to seal his ability.
But Geuk had fallen.
However.
I did not let go of his right hand.
Because everything might be negated the moment I let go.
So, dragging the corpse by its right hand, I ran across the ground.
To defend against The Enemy army pouring out of the Pillar of Light.
I sprinted across the earth.
To boost the morale of my allies.
Shouting the news of victory.
"Resurrection check value 255, modifier -65535. Dice 20. 3. Success."
Along with that inorganic voice that triggered my trauma.
"Whoa. He really died. What a lunatic. Does this even make sense?"
A playful voice reached my ears.
I turned my head toward it.
Two beings stood there.
An incredibly frail-looking Nautilus Head.
And, for the first time in my life.
A Pink Bat, so fluffy it could be mistaken for a stuffed toy.
"Restraint release check value 757, modifier -1951. Dice 20. 19. Success."
Between the two of them.
The liberated Geuk began to bloom.