Chapter 454
Chapter 454
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 454
Chapter Title: The Ruined World (1)
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The Tyrant Dragon Tyronax.
That savage beast, whose foul temperament caused flatland storms at every opportunity, was a symbol of terror and disaster in this world, nothing less.
Its enormous size reminiscent of a mountain peak, a matching pair of massive wings, sharp horns and spines protruding from its head and body alike.
The overwhelming physical force born from its mass could crush any target with ease, and its sensory perception, reaction speed, and other physical abilities reached transcendent levels, defying its lumbering bulk.
Its scales were composed of the hardest substance in the world, and its immense vitality and resistance were beyond measure.
Even wounds inflicted while facing it could not be healed by any means...
It was no wonder that countless heroes had set out to slay the Tyrant Dragon for the world's peace, only to perish in vain.
If it weren't for its intelligence being only slightly above that of a clever beast, challenging it would have been impossible from the start.
The apex predator sitting at the top of the food chain, plain and simple.
And right now, that Tyrant Dragon Tyronax was...
Kuwoong— Kwarrung!
...slamming into a mountainside, its body covered in wounds, triggering a massive landslide.
[Kraaaaa—!]
The Tyrant Dragon thrust its head out from the collapsed mound of earth and roared ferociously.
A cry filled with rage, pain, irritation, frustration, and more.
[Hoo? Enduring even this? As expected of your infamous reputation—you're different from the others before you. You'll make for excellent material. I thought this world was a bust too, but this is satisfactory enough.]
But Hans, facing the beast, could sense another emotion hidden within.
A vivid fear that even its feral ferocity couldn't conceal.
[Keuhuhut, stay still. I'll set you free even more. Your kin are already waiting ahead, so you won't be lonely.]
A blazing black sun rose above the hand he raised toward the sky.
The opposite of the true sun scattering light across the world—an artificial sun spreading darkness.
As its energy spread outward, every living creature in range withered and twisted in an instant.
And right after.
Kwaaaang—!
A massive pillar of black flame shot into the heavens, accompanied by a great earthquake that shook the surrounding land.
Destructive power on the level of vaporizing an entire mountain.
The resulting tremors afflicted distant cities, but Hans, fixated on the sturdy lifeform before him, had no attention left for such things.
[Still clinging to life after that? Impressive...]
He nodded slowly, his eyes gleaming.
Anticipation swelled at the thought of what masterpiece he could create by turning this monster—this dimension's specialty—into an undead.
[Krooo—!]
[Kyaaa—!]
In that moment, two massive dragon skulls burst from the shadows of the writhing Tyrant Dragon below and tore into its throat in one bite.
Three colossal bodies tangled and rolled across the ground in an instant.
And it didn't end there.
[Hunt it with minimal damage.]
[It's nearly dead. We can finish it quickly.]
The undead army's executives followed one by one, latching onto the Tyrant Dragon's body.
To cleanly sever its breath and turn it into their comrade.
Unlike dragonkin from other dimensions, it was little more than a mindless beast, so there was no need to feel any pangs of conscience.
According to the intel gathered through Olivia, it was a bomb-like creature that only caused trouble everywhere it went.
'Haven't had much worthwhile loot so far, so I might as well take this. Harley could use a good meal after so long too.'
It had been quite some time since leaving Diveor.
Hans had passed through two more dimensions, arriving at this fourth one, Milleria—but after the first, he hadn't found any traces suspicious enough to be the Oath of Reverse Heaven.
Compared to the previous worlds facing world-ending crises, all he'd encountered here were trivial headaches like this Tyrant Dragon.
'Well, thinking about it, this isn't a sealed dimension yet. I came here first because memory analysis flagged something suspicious.'
From the looks of things, it seemed he'd struck out again this time.
Transcendent beings often had gaps in their memories during mental barrier breaches, so it wasn't unusual.
Of course, this situation wasn't so bad.
It would have been far more troubling if every dimension he visited had preparations laid by the Reverse Heaven Lord.
Learning that his influence wasn't all-encompassing was harvest enough.
'Still, it's a bit off to keep drawing blanks when I've gone out of my way for intel gathering.'
It had been a reasonable decision, prioritizing worlds where operations were still ongoing over fully ended ones, expecting more traces.
But to achieve his goal, he might need to head to a dimension with higher odds next.
'Come to think of it, there's a perfectly timed sealed dimension left. From the gathered memories, the chance of external interference here is quite high...'
As Hans was lost in such thoughts.
Wooong—
A subtle vibration hummed from his pocket.
He glanced at his subordinates dismantling the Tyrant Dragon and collecting spoils, then pulled something out.
Wooong—
Now out in the open, it reacted even more intensely.
It was a pendant: a slender chain of rare metal ending in a single ornament.
Of course, anything Hans carried wasn't ordinary.
[Oh dear, still haven't come to your senses, have you?]
He lifted the pendant to his empty eye socket and shook his head with a small sigh.
Staring directly at the grotesque eyeball dangling from the chain with his glowing gaze.
Pajijijik—
Black lightning crackled at his fingertips.
Without hesitation, he pressed it against the wriggling eyeball and scorched it.
The eye spasmed repeatedly, struggling to escape his grasp, but it was futile resistance, as expected.
'Impressive. Even after its original ego was thoroughly crushed, it resists to the end. Residual thoughts from its true body, perhaps.'
As befitting a being lofty enough to be called a Great Demon.
Its fierce attachment to life at the final moment must have shaped it thus.
'I've benefited plenty from it too. Without that, I couldn't have made such an item.'
Hans nodded in satisfaction, clutching the now-docile pendant.
Wasn't it thanks to this special item that he could lend McCarthy the powers of the 'Infinite Great Demon'?
He was a necromancer and the pinnacle of black magic.
Given the right materials and conditions, conjuring spirits, demon contracts, and crafting magic tools to create 'demon-infused artifacts' wasn't so difficult.
'Of course, without the coincidences and luck aligning, making something with this much preserved authority would have been impossible.'
Regardless, the Infinite Great Demon was a semi-divine existence.
Diveor lacked true gods—perhaps due to the Main God's evil nature—and its demons, each governing a 'concept,' held god-like positions.
Preserving such a being's full authority in an item wasn't easy, unless it was a degraded version.
'If I hadn't gotten the demon's true body—comatose after a direct Death Sentence without fully perishing—I wouldn't have even thought to use it.'
Even after the arduous process to complete it, the immense strain prevented multiples.
Even Hans could only maintain this one.
'Can't make more anyway without materials.'
Still, the know-how gained this time would make repeats easier.
The first was pure chance, but success paves the way for seconds.
Further research might even solve the one-use limit.
'If that happens...'
As Hans examined the pendant.
[My liege... all has been sorted...]
[Mm.]
He calmly surveyed the surroundings at the voice from nearby.
The landscape had changed beyond recognition.
Chaos everywhere was secondary; a deep crater now gaped where a massive mountain once stood—what more was there to say?
'...With time and rain, that could become a lake. It was getting stuffy with mountains everywhere—a nice open lake would be perfect.'
Of course, Hans didn't care much.
He brazenly rationalized it, ignoring the site of ruthless environmental destruction.
'Alright, time to move on. With the Tyrant Dragon as the finale, I've gathered plenty of usable materials.'
No matter how harmful, he couldn't arbitrarily extinct an outsider like himself.
Having collected enough to satisfy, lingering was just a waste of time.
Thus, the otherworld visitor vanished as quietly as he came.
To his preset next destination—a world long sealed like Diveor.
'Koshyas.'
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ After the outsider departed.
The anomaly from the forbidden zone only reached the world after a long delay.
The Tyrant Dragon's infamy was such that no one dared approach the obvious pillar of fire and earthquake.
People learned late: an unheard-of lake now sat where a mountain had been, unrecorded in ages.
And several infamous dragonkin, including the Tyrant Dragon, had vanished at once.
That tale became Milleria's legend and mystery, passed down generations.
Along with the name 'Dragon Lake'.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ [...Huh?]
The moment he crossed the dimensional gate.
Hans's first emotion was bewilderment.
'What is this place?'
He even wondered if he'd gone astray.
It was that different.
This place didn't match his memories of the intended dimension at all.
The Koshyas dimension belonged to the so-called 'Civilization Realm.'
Science akin to Earth's, but magitech had woven overtechnology into daily life.
Yet the scene before him was...
[...A dead world already.]
'Ruins' didn't suffice.
The ground brimmed with shattered concrete, scrap metal; massive cracks split the earth like drought-parched fields, bottomless.
Unmistakable land, yet practically an island.
'Even the magma's cooling.'
He shook his head after peering into the cracks with 'Eyes of the Abyss.'
Then he soared high, taking in the world.
'Sea levels too low. And all rotten.'
If the cradle of life was like that, no living things remained.
Toxic atmosphere replacing scant oxygen, direct radiation, a cooling planet.
Using his specialty for detecting the living, he extended his senses fully—but confirmed total extinction, from animals and plants to microbes.
[No mana anywhere in the space.]
Earth, a mystic barren, came to mind... no, far worse.
Unlike innate void, this world had been squeezed dry, appearing wretchedly withered to his eyes.
Even amid the dying world, no 'energy of death'—unbelievable.
Flying swiftly, scanning the surface, Hans halted midair.
Slowly, he lifted his gaze to the sky.
'This world is already over.'
A shattered, broken sky.
Beyond it lay no universe.
Nothingness.
Pure void devouring the entire ruined world.
'No saving this world. Not that there's a single survivor anyway.'
This was a 'ruined world'—nothing more, nothing less.
That word alone would define Koshyas henceforth.
Then, a realization struck.
The system message that always appeared on entry hadn't this time.
'Even the Main God, world manager, and the Akasha System, encompassing all dimensions, have abandoned this place.'
He scanned the world anew, slicing through the air.
The Reverse Heaven Lord surely caused this.
To get even a clue per original goal, he had to find something.
No telling when he'd visit another like it.
Then, at one point.
His body froze as he spread his senses wide.
[This is...]
Confirming again—no mistake.
Faint life force.
And this reaction was definitely...
'Human? A human survived in this hell? How?'
He, being undead, didn't care—but even system-protected Awakeners wouldn't last long here.
Yet a survivor in this apocalypse...
Hans shot forward like lightning.
Toward the sole survivor in this ruined world.