Chapter 298
Chapter 298
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>Translator: Ryuma
>Chapter: 298
>Chapter Title: Worst-Case Scenario
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The worst conceivable situation unfolded.
They had barely subdued Branka, the most dangerous figure, thwarting his plan to seize Pandea through the power of Myriad Forms. But then the Curator of Myriad Forms awakened, declaring it would annihilate all life on the eighth floor.
At a glance, the Curator didn’t seem like someone who could be reasoned with. It was an emotionless machine, after all.
- And now we’re out of stamina too… Looks like we’re getting swept up in this. Things are escalating fast.
Both Jamad and Kang Seol were reeling from the aftermath of the alchemy. At best, they could muster one or two more attacks.
‘And the Curator…’
Even if they were in perfect condition, facing it head-on would be impossible.
In a way, it was like the god of this library. A deity that enforced order and dispensed punishment.
‘The Curator isn’t trying to fix things—it wants to erase everything like it never happened!’
Without thinking, Kang Seol turned his head and looked down below.
Branka had tumbled far down after Night Raven’s strike.
If he were still intact, he would have moved to stop the Curator’s rampage.
With Branka gone, it fell to Kang Seol’s group to halt the Curator’s plan.
‘It’s not over… not yet.’
The current situation was the worst they had anticipated.
Which meant they could have prepared for it in advance.
Kang Seol urgently called out to the two grand sorcerers.
“Jone! Santio!”
The response came immediately.
“We’re already preparing! Don’t distract us!”
Jone and Santio had distanced themselves from the trolls and were readying their spells.
The trolls’ attention was fully fixed on the Curator by now.
‘We need to buy Jone and Santio some time.’
Right then.
Ziiiiing…
Kwaaaaaaaa—!
Far off on the horizon, a beam of light descended vertically from the sky. It looked as if it encircled the world in a dome, steadily drawing closer to this snowy mountain.
- Eighth floor: Complete annihilation of life in progress.
Anyone touched by that light would vanish. The glacier jaws, the snowy mountain, and Kang Seol’s group—all of it.
‘We have to stop it!’
Before Kang Seol could move, others sprang into action.
The Glacier Fang trolls.
“Kill it!”
“Take down the machine!”
A massive horde of trolls charged out.
Each one was enormous, looking like they could inflict damage on the Curator alone.
“Kill!”
Kwaaaang!
Kwajik!
But that was just a superficial impression—the reality was quite different.
“Uwaaaak!”
“Keok…”
Kwaaang!
Trolls went flying from the Curator’s casual swing. All perished in a single blow.
Yet that didn’t inspire fear. The trolls rushed toward it as if born to die.
“Lord Branka is coming!”
“Hold the machine until then!”
It was as if their ferocity embodied the trolls’ life force.
No rational being could charge to their death. But savagery made it possible.
It accomplished what reason could not.
Kik… Kikik…
Trolls clinging crudely to its body.
“Protect the sorcerers!”
“Subdue it!”
Charging into this cold without protection would doom even the Glacier Fangs. Of course, combat was far more likely to kill them than the chill.
They knew that full well.
Approaching the Curator meant death.
But knowing that didn’t mean the Glacier Fangs could stop.
Kaaang!
Kaaaang!
“Die! Die!”
Puhwaaaaak—!
“Kuh… Keuuk…”
The Curator’s arm pierced a troll’s abdomen.
Eujik…
The troll, bereft of its guts, clung tightly to the arm even in that state.
Jeojeojeok…
Its blood and body froze, hindering the Curator’s movement.
The eyes of the watching trolls changed.
If the Curator had any life in it, that gaze might have deterred it from fighting.
“It’s showing an opening! Now!”
“Uwaaaaa!”
Trolls swarmed, desperately jamming their corpses into its frame.
Kang Seol and the two grand sorcerers finally understood how the Glacier Fangs dominated the polar regions.
These were beings blessed by savagery.
Kwajik!
Kwajijik!
But the Curator was on another level.
Without Branka, it was a monster that could annihilate the Glacier Fangs with raw physical power alone.
- Complete annihilation in progress, 20%…
As the battle raged, one-fifth of the eighth floor’s world had already vanished.
Kwaaaaaaaa—!
With each sweep of the light, dark remnants lingered nearby.
Kang Seol’s Foresight revealed their nature instantly.
‘Letters…’
- The polar landscape is whiter than anywhere else…
The world dissolving into letters.
Kang Seol had thought this was inevitable, but experiencing it stirred an inexplicable emotion.
The light pushed back the darkness from the edges, but it was neither warm nor gentle. It simply carried out its task.
Peueok!
Peueoeok!
The Glacier Fangs turning into piles of corpses.
Deulkeok…
The Curator, swinging its limbs freely until now, paused briefly. It turned toward what had caused the hesitation.
“Stop.”
Night Raven gripped one of its arms.
Kwajiiik!
He smashed its abdomen with his fist.
Pushiiii…
It worked to some degree, but it wouldn’t halt the Curator.
Huwoooooung—!
“Keuk…”
Night Raven was flung away.
He rolled across the snow and stood again.
‘Damn it… Jone, Santio! Hurry!’
Could the two grand sorcerers complete their spell before the light reached them?
- Complete annihilation in progress, 50%…
Half the world was already gone.
The light was approaching the snowy mountain.
The Glacier Fangs cried out.
“This can’t be…”
“Everything ending like this!”
“Where is Branka!”
Pat—!
Night Raven moved again.
They had to do everything they could.
Kwajik—!
Once more, he latched onto the Curator’s arm.
Kang Seol wasn’t controlling Night Raven now—Jamad was.
Eudeuddeuk…
The Curator raised its opposite arm to strike.
But…
Eumchil…
Cheolkeok… Cheolkeok…
The other arm wouldn’t move.
Night Raven glanced over, thinking Glacier Fangs had swarmed it.
But only one troll clung to that arm.
Branka, who had finally crawled back up the snowy mountain.
“Haa… haa… Jamad. If I, Branka, had lived in the same era as you… would our fates have changed even a little?”
“Who knows… Maybe I’d have made you my right-hand man?”
“Puh… Kuhahaha!”
“And right now, this idle chatter… Keuuk!”
Kwajik—! Kwajik—!
The Curator slammed its arms into the ground to shake off Branka and Night Raven.
Glacier Fang tribesmen swarmed again to stop it.
“Branka!”
“Protect the great chieftain!”
Yet the two endured the impact.
Branka spoke in a voice growing faint.
“End it with my death alone.”
“…What?”
“The remaining tribesmen… they’re not part of my plan. Let them live.”
“…….”
“I beg you.”
His voice rang so clearly that one of the tribal warriors heard and angrily demanded,
“Branka! Are you planning to die? Without you, what reason do we have to live!”
“Don’t run!”
“Give us a reason to fight! What for… what…”
Jamad answered.
“…I’ll try.”
“Then… I’ll bet on you.”
Paaaak!
Night Raven was flung off by the shock.
With one hand free, the Curator seized Branka’s leg.
Dark remnants floated up.
- The great Glacier Fang chieftain Branka. His legendary traits…
His leg began turning to letters and vanishing into the air.
“Puhehe… This isn’t running. It’s clearing a path.”
“Branka!”
“Fight for the future. Trolls.”
Branka’s eyes blazed with blue flames.
Hwioooo—!
[Branka uses Forbidden Sorcery: Ice Tomb.]
[Ice Tomb inflicts massive cold damage in a narrow area.]
[Applies status ailment: Freeze to the nearest enemy, proportional to damage.]
[The caster also falls under status ailment: Freeze.]
[Cold penetration applies to damage.]
[The caster is immune to Ice Tomb’s damage.]
[Forbidden Sorcery uses the caster’s life force as sacrifice.]
Jjeojeojeojeojeok—!
Branka froze alongside the Curator.
The rampaging Curator was immobilized, encased in ice.
The encroaching light halted momentarily.
“Branka…”
But.
Jjeok…
Kwajik—!
Despite Branka’s sacrifice, one of the Curator’s arms remained unfrozen.
- Partial freeze detected. Attempting normalization.
“Kekeke… That’s not how you use alchemy.”
Just as despair loomed again, the grand sorcerers shouted.
“Now! We’re ready!”
Night Raven smiled.
“You did well, regardless. I’ll handle the finish… Begin!”
Buuuuung…
Several magic circles floated around Santio.
Hwiooooo…
They spun and aligned in a straight line before him.
Santio’s two heads swelled massively.
[Santio uses Ultimate: Celestial Alignment.]
[Magic penetration dramatically increases.]
[Ignores magic immunity.]
“One more!”
Ziiiiiiing—!
[Santio uses Ultimate: Languid Haze.]
[Drastically lowers target’s magic resistance.]
[Affected by magic penetration.]
[Ignores magic immunity.]
Hwiooooooo…
The Curator was enveloped in a blizzard of brilliant light.
“Here goes!”
Jone’s cloak billowed fiercely.
[Jone uses Ultimate: Scorpio Gate.]
[Teleports the target.]
[Forms a pathway linked to a marker.]
[Success rate affected by target’s volume and magic resistance.]
A scorpion formed of constellations struck the ground where the Curator stood with its tail.
Kwaaaaaang—!
“Success!”
Kang Seol had anticipated a clash with the Curator since reaching the fourth floor.
From his first meeting with Jone, he’d considered one way to counter it.
- How about teleporting that giant with transfer magic to another floor?
- That size? Impossible.
- Why?
- To transfer something that big, you need a marker. It designates a pre-set space for transfer. It’s an unbreakable magical ritual.
Inspired, Kang Seol stopped Jone before leaving the fourth floor.
- Mr. Jone.
- Y-Yeah? What is it?
- Could you leave a transfer marker here?
Jone accepted after hearing him out.
- Hm… Makes sense. No harm in being cautious. Wait a moment.
As a result, a portal to the fourth floor of the Myriad Forms Library now opened beneath the Curator’s feet.
“Got it! The bastard… Oh no!”
Jone screamed at something.
Jjeojeok—!
Pajik!
The Curator stepped out of the gate with one foot.
The Ice Tomb’s effect seemed to have worn off.
Kang Seol charged toward the Curator.
“Enough already… Keheok…”
Puhwaaak—!
The Curator’s arm burst through Kang Seol’s body.
“No!”
But soon, the impaled body dissolved into smoke.
His true form emerged from the black mist.
Ujijijik—!
His enlarged arm.
“Get off!”
Kwaaaaaaaa—!
The Curator’s body tilted backward.
Hwiing…
Kwaaaaaaaa—!
It plummeted through the Scorpio Gate to the fourth floor. It writhed, as if about to rise immediately.
Kang Seol approached the gate and rummaged in his bosom.
The book he pulled out was one he’d picked up from the fourth floor.
Author: Jone Priya.
- So opening the prologue of this book summons the most powerful frost mage in human history?
- Spot on. What do you think?
Kang Seol thrust his hand into the Scorpio Gate and opened the book.
Feeling something flow out, he tossed the book away and withdrew his arm.
Then shouted.
“Close the gate!”
[You have violated the usage rules.]
[The story in Chapter 1 of ‘Zodiac’s Prosperity and Glory’ unfolds.]
[- Azlan! The frost mage who freezes even death! When he appears, all shall freeze…]
[Warning! You have committed a grave error within the Myriad Forms Library!]
[Your foolish actions are reported to the Library’s Curator.]
Kuuuung—!
The Scorpio Gate closed…
“Wh-what happened….”
Jjeojeojeojeok—!
The closed gate began to freeze.
And a message appeared.
[The position of Curator of the Myriad Forms Library is now vacant.]
……