Chapter 47
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 47
Chapter Title: The End of Blood and Greed.
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To be clear, Rimon agreed with Li Chingwei's opinion that there was a need to be wary of the constellations.
But he was holding off on any judgment about the existence of the constellations themselves.
What their purpose was.
Whether they would bring harm to the world in the future.
Whether all constellations were part of the same faction.
Whether there was any need to exterminate them down to the very last one.
He knew too little about the constellations to blindly treat them as enemies without knowing any of that.
Back in the Heroes' Age.
He had encountered countless monsters and madmen who had defined others as 'evil' based purely on their own biases—whether they were citizens of enemy nations, followed different religions, or had different skin colors—and carried out massacres while firmly believing themselves to be righteous.
That was why he had no choice but to be even more cautious.
But at this moment.
Any other constellation might be one thing.
But about the Serpent Connecting Ends, he could say it with certainty.
This snake bastard was a harmful snake bastard.
It wasn't just because it had mocked Yuna Kyung's death—and might even have been the mastermind that induced that death itself.
'A guy who turns humans into this can't possibly be harmless.'
Park Hyeon-gun looked exactly the same as before.
But that was only from a normal person's perspective.
The sight Rimon saw now, with the black glow lingering in his eyes, was entirely different.
Black scales covering his entire body.
A head transformed into the shape of a serpent.
A tongue dangling all the way to the floor.
Even tentacles sprouting in place of arms.
Ever since he gained the ability to see the true forms of constellations, Rimon had observed all sorts of players.
But this serpent's form was fundamentally different.
Unlike the other constellations that merely seemed to parasitize or fuse with players, this one made it nearly impossible to find any trace of the human original.
Above all, between the serpent's gaping maw.
The real Park Hyeon-gun's head, half-melted and screaming in agony within, made it clear.
The being currently possessing his body was this snake bastard.
And this serpent was the true body of a constellation—on an entirely different level from the mere shadows Rimon had seen before.
"I've had a ton of questions I wanted to ask when I finally met one of you constellations..."
Rimon gripped his sword slightly.
Then, charging at the serpent wearing Park Hyeon-gun's skin like lightning, he roared fiercely.
"But for now, just die, you snake bastard!"
Slash!
It was truly a flash of light.
Not so much a charge as a super-high-speed leap, like a missile launched from a silo.
Especially at the peak of that speed, the thrust sword—by the time it seemed to connect, it had already pierced clean through the target.
There was just one problem.
The serpent he had slashed vanished like an illusion.
Instead, from behind Rimon came a mocking voice that sounded like a tongue flicking.
"『Eight Directions Absolute Barrier』."
The moment eight barriers layered around Rimon.
The serpent, its mouth stretched wide in a sneer, raised one hand as if to show off to Rimon—and flicked the tentacle-tail sprouting in place of an arm.
"Boom."
Kaboom!
At the same time, from within the barriers erupted a vortex of lightning, flames, ice, curses, blades, deadly poison, crushing pressure, explosive force, and more.
Even though it burst from inside the barriers, it had enough power to demolish Infinity Guild's headquarters and wipe out several kilometers around it.
Fortunately, Rimon was the one trapped inside those barriers.
Thanks to him slicing through every skill with a single sword stroke and breaking free, the city center wasn't obliterated in a massive disaster.
But that was merely the beginning.
Bang! Boom! Kaboom!
'This snake bastard...?'
As if that first strike had been mere greeting.
Rimon furrowed his brow while slashing down the serpent's barrage of countless skills one by one.
It wasn't just because the serpent was spamming massive-scale skills that could cause enormous damage at any moment, like taking hostages among the populace.
It felt strangely familiar.
The way it anticipated his attacks, leaping through space to evade them. The way it combined hundreds or thousands of skills to maximize their power.
It was only natural.
It was the exact combat style of Infinite Monarch Lee Cheongi that Rimon had faced just yesterday—after activating 【Overlord】.
"...So that's what it was."
In that instant, Rimon understood.
Why the serpent had chosen this moment of all times to seize Park Hyeon-gun's body and appear before him.
"You thought right now—when that dimwit stole the monarch's power and you can use it—is the perfect chance to take my life?"
The serpent didn't answer.
It merely flicked its tongue and let out an ugly laugh.
That was more than enough for Rimon to confirm his guess was spot on.
It seemed like a foolish judgment at first glance.
After all, no one other than Park Hyeon-gun himself had proven that merely stealing and using the monarch's power wasn't enough to defeat Rimon.
But there was one crucial difference between Park Hyeon-gun and the serpent.
It was a constellation.
And that difference produced massive results.
Unlike Park Hyeon-gun, who had self-destructed from failing to handle even a few dozen skills, the serpent unleashed hundreds or thousands without hesitation.
Even with enhanced power beyond what Lee Cheongi had originally used.
In the end, the limit of power a mere human like Park Hyeon-gun could digest was fundamentally different from that of a constellation like the serpent.
Since it wasn't Lee Cheongi himself, the technical finesse in skill combinations fell short, but the overwhelming output made up for it.
But the difference between human and constellation wasn't just digestive capacity.
Flash! Fwhoosh!
He slashed, thrust, and smashed.
But no matter how many times his sword connected, it melted away like an illusion each time, only to reappear elsewhere and unleash more skills.
Skills used from the front came flying from behind. Even when he lunged forward, his body somehow shifted sideways.
As if space itself was twisted.
Or like chasing a serpent through its burrow.
Rimon, unable to cope with these bizarre tricks he'd never even encountered against Lee Cheongi, found himself on the defensive.
It was only natural.
This was the serpent's innate power—not Lee Cheongi's or Park Hyeon-gun's.
It was the great authority of a constellation, incomparable to any skills humans could wield.
That was why the serpent had deliberately accepted the imperfect vessel, renewed the contract, and descended into Park Hyeon-gun's body to confront Rimon.
Humanity's Guardian Deity. Sword Master. Whatever titles he held, he was still human in the end.
He had been the sole human worth their caution, the only one who could oppose them.
But that also meant the rewards for defeating him would be immense.
Just that accomplishment alone would propel it beyond its current status, straight into the ranks of lord-class constellations.
If it failed to defeat him?
It could simply retreat.
A worthless tool like Park Hyeon-gun, whose use had run out, meant nothing to the serpent either way.
Low risk, high return.
The danger was minimal, but the payoff enormous—there was no reason for the serpent not to seize this chance.
Recalling that meticulous, cunning calculus, the serpent relentlessly cornered Rimon.
Or so it thought.
"Serpent Connecting Ends... was it?"
Rimon had been merely swinging at empty air.
Unable to land a single strike.
Until he quietly opened his mouth.
"I think I've got a good grasp on your true nature now."
The serpent didn't know.
That Rimon chasing it around and swinging at empty air wasn't simply falling for its tricks.
That all this time, Rimon had been carefully observing the serpent and recalling the sensations transmitted through his sword.
That his eyes resembled not a swordsman locked in deadly combat, but a hunter blocking a snake hole to prevent escape and digging out its lair.
"It looks like space manipulation, but that's just camouflage. Your real power is falsehood and deception—turning fakes into real and swapping real with fake."
"...!"
The Serpent Connecting Ends flinched.
As Rimon said, the "ends" in its name didn't refer to spaces connecting spaces.
True and false.
Truth and lies.
Illusion and reality.
Its title stemmed from the authority linking those polar opposites.
It simply hid that power to maximize it, masquerading as a constellation that manipulated space to deceive players.
Watching the serpent falter at having its essence seen through so quickly, Rimon sneered coldly.
"You stupid snake bastard."
Whether from inherent stupidity.
Or blinded by greed.
He mocked its foolishness in lunging at prey before its eyes, heedless of throwing not just its contractor but itself into the flames.
"To think you'd dare show up before me relying on parlor tricks like a three-card monte scam. That much guts is at least praiseworthy."
Did those insulting words enrage it?
Its eyes bulging, the serpent bellowed a savage roar and prepared to unleash a strike stacking hundreds, thousands of skills.
But before the serpent could even move.
Rimon had already stepped forward.
One step, beyond the distortion.
Two steps, closing the gap.
Three steps, swinging his sword.
In just three steps, he traversed the labyrinth of twisted space. Even as the serpent watched him swing toward it, it felt anger but not panic.
The serpent's authority was falsehood and deception.
A serpent crossing reality and illusion could turn even a slash into a fake, rendering it illusory.
That was the power of a constellation.
The transcendent authority that trampled the laws of the world to manifest miracles—something no mere human could ever touch.
Sching.
"?!?!?!"
That was why, in the next moment.
The serpent could only goggle in shock.
Rimon's sword had slashed its illusion, conjured by its own authority.
Yet as that illusion's arms split apart, its own real arms dropped to the ground with the pain of bone and flesh being severed.
Why?
He slashed the illusion?
Why did that sword reach my real body?
"What are you so shocked about, you moron?"
It was as if the serpent were dreaming a nightmare with eyes wide open.
Even with its reptilian head, it clearly showed confusion and bewilderment. Rimon chuckled.
Using his blade as a mirror to reflect the serpent's form, he said coldly.
"If you can turn truth into falsehood, you should've anticipated that slashing the illusion alone could cleave the real body as well."
"...!!!"
The serpent was aghast.
Not because it couldn't understand Rimon's words.
Precisely because it could understand, the shock was enough to make it bite its own tongue.
Slicing the real through illusion.
That meant cleaving the moon in the sky by slashing its reflection on the water's surface.
A power not even permitted to a constellation of falsehood and deception like itself.
Yet a human had achieved it? With mere swordsmanship?
Unbelievable.
No, it refused to believe.
It wanted to think it was a lie, a deception, some trick played on itself.
But it couldn't.
Its severed arms, refusing to regenerate.
The pain surging from the stumps.
Above all, Rimon's coldly settled gaze told the constellation of falsehood and deception the truth.
This was no lie, no deception—it was fact.
At the same time, the serpent understood.
Why it had singled out this one among worthless humans as a cautionary target—why even lord-class constellations merely monitored him without acting directly.
Humanity's Guardian Deity.
The being who had defended the world alone.
Conversely, a monster who could destroy the world alone.
Thud.
The moment it realized that.
The serpent acted immediately.
It vomited up Park Hyeon-gun's flesh, which it had swallowed.
Abandoning the body sprawled like rotten driftwood, the serpent fled skyward in haste.
The excessive possession followed by frantic ejection had caused significant loss of karma.
Potentially dropping it from marquis-class, maybe even to earl-class.
But the serpent didn't care.
Its serpentine cunning.
Its beastly instincts.
Above all, the surging terror.
All drove the serpent to abandon any thought of gains or losses and flee this place at once.
"What a truly stupid bastard."
But in the next moment.
The serpent froze.
"Not even an avatar—you showed up in your true body, and you thought you could escape now?"
Rimon was staring straight at it—having shed the flesh in the blink of an eye and fled to a distant sky.
How?
There's no way a human can see me.
The answer to that doubt came as the serpent beheld the black glow staining Rimon's eyes.
And it recoiled in horror.
Separate from that swordsmanship—it was a power no human should possess.
"Remember this as a parting gift on your way to the afterlife."
Whoooosh!
But whether the serpent recoiled or not.
Rimon paid it no mind.
From the distant heavens far above the ground.
In just three steps, pursuing the serpent. There, above the sky where it tried to flee into the night, he dropped down, gripping his sword.
"I am a Sword Master."
The final master of the Sword Tower.
Humanity's Last Sword Master.
Rimon Asfelder flipped in midair, assuming a sword stance.
"No one in this world can escape me, and even beyond this world, nothing exists that I cannot cut."
Instinctive judgment?
Or primal action?
Instead of fleeing, the serpent gaped its maw and lunged at Rimon.
As if it knew killing Rimon now was its only path to survival.
But before its fangs could reach.
Rimon swung his sword down.
And thus, using the sky as his canvas, the moment Rimon's sword arced with unparalleled grace.
"《Demon-Dragon Slaying Sword Absolute Art》
"《斬魔龍殺劍 絶藝》
"I cleave the moon on the water's surface, and flowers bloom with fragrance
"《切水月開花香》"
⟨ Moonlit Blossom Severance ⟩
[■■■■■■―!]
The West Sea split in half.
A horrific scream shook the world.
And one star that had shone brilliantly in the night sky vanished.