Chapter 45
Chapter 45
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 45
Chapter Title: Fight, Win, Subjugate (3)
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"Let's see..."
After finishing my fight with Han Seok, I glanced back and saw everyone was incredibly busy.
First, there were Kang Hwa-yeong, Hwang Su-min, and Lee Eun-hye. They should have been fighting the three ordinary cultists assigned to them, but instead, I saw Hwang Su-min and Lee Eun-hye holding Kang Hwa-yeong back.
💥 CRITICAL HIT! 💥 - [Hwa-yeong's Rage]
Potential for friendly fire increased by 200%
"Ah! Let go of me!!!"
"Endure it!"
"If you just kill them out of the blue, we'll get in trouble!"
"Ugh!!"
I approached them.
"Hey, Kang Hwa-yeong. What are you doing?"
"No... Ah. I have to kill them. It's disgusting. I have to kill them."
"If anyone's going to kill them, it'll be me. Since we've caught them, just tie them up and keep watch."
"Hmph... But I want to kill them right now.."
I roughly calmed down Kang Hwa-yeong, who was showing a blind murderous intent toward the players on the side of the gods, and told Hwang Su-min to watch them carefully.
Then, I turned my head and saw the bald man sweating profusely, fighting with all his might.
He was simultaneously dealing with Kim Il-woo, Kim Min-jun, Ha Jin-sung, and Ha Jin-woo, yet he wasn't being pushed back at all.
In fact, he was even showing a slightly overwhelming presence.
'Fighting 4-on-1 and holding his own like that.'
He was certainly impressive, but he didn't seem any stronger than Han Seok, whom I had just captured.
Most importantly, the bald man lacked a decisive finishing blow.
He was durable, yes, but fighting like that, he'd eventually get crushed by the four of them.
Eventually, once all five of them had exhausted the mana needed to use their skills, the tedious battle of attrition continued.
"Ugh!!!!"
Seeing Han Seok, who had fallen into my hands, the bald man realized it would all be over if this continued and finally chose to flee.
He used up the last of his remaining mana on the four men closing in on him, bounced backward, and tried to jump out of the building.
Then, Ha Jin-woo blocked his path.
"You bastard!!! Die!"
The bald man let out a scream and threw a punch at Ha Jin-woo.
Ha Jin-woo, trying to dodge quickly, twisted his ankle from the accumulated fatigue of the battle and ended up taking the attack.
Crash!
Ha Jin-woo's nasal bone collapsed, his face caved in, and three or four of his teeth flew out.
Ha Jin-woo's body was sent flying backward, and Ha Jin-sung, seeing his brother rolling on the floor, bleeding profusely, let out a scream and lunged at the bald man.
Ha Jin-sung grabbed the bald man's lower body and brought him down.
The two rolled around, grappling with each other. Once it became a one-on-one fight, the bald man, with his higher stats, began a one-sided beating.
I couldn't just stand by and watch any longer, so I quickly approached and restrained the bald man with my tentacles.
Thus, the bald man's final struggle was thwarted by me. Bound limb and limb by the tentacles, the bald man hurled curses at me in a vicious voice.
However, I had no interest in listening to the bald bastard's curses, so I wrapped his face tightly with a tentacle and squeezed his body even harder to increase his pain.
His muscular physique bent like a bow, and the bald man screamed in what felt like deathly agony.
"Ughk! Guuuaaaa!!!!"
As the tentacles squeezed as if to tear his limbs off, the bald man's smooth head turned red as if it would burst. Furthermore, the blood vessels on his face bulged, on the verge of bursting.
'I was thinking of offering him as a sacrifice, but maybe I should just make him a slave?'
Even if his opponents were ordinary Awakened, he had the guts to hold his own against four of them. If I kept him alive, he could be useful.
But right now, I didn't have the time to torture him into submission.
I had to check on the other side, so I fitted the bald man with a suppression muzzle and threw him to the four who had been fighting him.
"Don't kill him."
"Yes, understood. Big bro."
Ha Jin-sung bowed at a 90-degree angle and greeted me.
His eyes were filled with hatred and anger toward the bald man. But he didn't show it, instead giving me a smile.
It was a twisted smile, fueled by anger at being beaten one-sidedly and a desire for revenge against the bald man who had smashed his brother's face.
Immediately, Kim Il-woo, Kim Min-jun, and Ha Jin-sung began mercilessly stomping on the fallen man, raining down an indiscriminate barrage of blows.
The bald man's nose was broken, but fortunately, he wasn't dead. He was okay, holding his bleeding nose and waving at me. What a tough guy.
I turned my back on them and looked toward where the women's screams were erupting.
"Graah!!! Die!! Just die already!!!"
"Don't act so crazy!! You damned spawn of evil!"
There, the blonde woman who had shot a barrage of light at me without warning was being beaten up, unable to compose herself under the combined assault of Areum and A-ram.
A-ram took the forefront, blocking the blonde woman's attacks with her black gauntlet and crushing her with her entwiled black flames. In that gap, the swift Areum would charge in, swinging her shortsword.
The blonde woman was ultimately forced to focus only on defense.
The two sisters coordinated perfectly, pushing the blonde woman back, not giving her a single moment to use her skills, beating her relentlessly. The blonde woman, unable to compose herself, just screamed.
One strange thing was that despite being beaten so brutally by the two of them, she absolutely refused to collapse. Her durability was incredible, she was enduring so well it was almost admirable.
"Ugh!!"
"Damn it! Unnie!"
"I'm fine! Keep hitting her!"
Even then, whenever a momentary gap appeared, the blonde woman would swing the war hammer she was holding, launching dangerous attacks.
Because of that, the Han sisters couldn't afford to let their guard down for a second. The moment they got even a little lax, that tension-filled hammer would come swinging.
In fact, the blonde woman would twist her body just slightly to dodge or deflect all her vital points, minimizing the damage. Her combat sense was truly remarkable.
It was the very model of a tank's movements.
Of course, against the numerical advantage of two-on-one, she eventually knelt.
"Kraaaa!!!"
The blonde woman finally knelt on one knee, spitting out the blood that had pooled in her mouth, unable to compose herself. Han A-ram, seeing that moment, tried to bring her hammer down on the blonde woman's head to smash it, so I had to stop her in a hurry.
"Wait! Stop!!"
"What!?"
"I said stop! Don't kill her!"
Han A-ram, perhaps thinking that the prey she had worked so hard to capture was being snatched away from me, breathed heavily and looked at me with dissatisfied eyes.
However, she offered no further resistance. Han A-ram said nothing to me.
She seemed to have calculated that complaining to me, her master, would only earn her more displeasure. She immediately took a step back.
Then, she casually threw her blood-stained hammer on the floor, grabbed her knees with both hands, and caught her breath roughly.
By dropping her weapon, it seemed Han A-ram had gauged the atmosphere and realized the fight was mostly over.
In contrast, Han A-rum, who was pressing her shortsword against the neck of the kneeling blonde woman, asked me with a sharp voice.
"Don't tell me... are you trying to add another woman here?"
"Yes. If you have a problem, say it."
"Tch. Whatever. Do as you please. More importantly... what about my brother?"
"Han Tae-yang?"
"Yes. I don't see him... Don't tell me.."
Han A-rum asked me with slightly anxious eyes.
Her gaze was practically begging me to tell her he was hiding somewhere, alive.
"Hoo. Unfortunately, it seems that guy didn't make it back."
"Excuse me?"
Han A-rum asked back as if she couldn't believe it. I lied to her.
"I asked the guy earlier what happened to the patrol team... Hoo."
"Ah... That can't be.. That can't be..."
"I'm sorry. I didn't know these bastards would attack today."
"Ah... What do I do. What about my brother... What am I supposed to do. Ah. Huk.."
Shocked by the news that the brother she had relied on was dead, Han A-rum let out the tears she had been holding back, dropped the sword she was holding, and stomped her feet in distress.
"I'm sorry."
I naturally embraced her as she covered her face and wept.
Then, I gently stroked her back and comforted her for a moment.
Then, Han A-ram, who had been catching her breath, glared at me with an expression of utter disgust.
She had bitten her lower lip so hard that a trickle of blood ran from it.
Knowing the ins and outs of the incident, Han A-ram must be finding this pathetic play of mine utterly hateful.
"Shh."
I simply held my index finger to my lips, telling her to keep quiet.
Then, she turned her gaze away from me and started kicking the blonde woman, who was gasping for breath for no reason.
The blonde woman, who had been kicked in the chin out of nowhere, screamed something, but A-ram didn't hold back and kicked her.
Since she wasn't trying to kill her, just vent her frustration, I didn't bother stopping her.
This is the Apocalypse. The weak can have everything taken from them by the strong and not be able to say a thing.
Moreover, they struck first when I was just standing there, so this is getting off easy.
Tae-yang's death and the beaten blonde woman are all their own fault and their own mistake, aren't they?
Anyway, I slowly let A-ram out of my embrace. She couldn't cry forever.
"A-ram. The fight isn't over yet. Calm down for now."
"Hoo... Sob... Okay."
A-ram's tears and snot stained my chest, but it was already dirty with blood and soot, so I didn't care. There are plenty of clothes at the supermarket, so I can just throw them away without washing.
I just looked into A-ram's eyes, which glistened with venom and hatred. A-ram was seething with anger at the invaders of the supermarket.
If I told her that the Sinsen were behind all this, a fine Sinsen-hater would be born.
"These bastards... Shouldn't we just kill them all?"
"We need to kill the ones worth killing. And we need to take the ones worth taking. We have no choice."
"I understand... I'll endure it."
Suppressing her anger, A-ram bowed her head. I passed by her and grabbed the head of the woman who had been beaten by A-ram and was spitting out blood-tinged phlegm, lifting her up.
"Hey."
"Ugh... Just kill me cleanly... You damned Satanic bastard.. I won't submit. I will never do it."
She spoke to me with a hazy mind, as if she were drugged, saying she would never submit. She repeated it several times.
Ptui.
Then, the blonde woman resisted roughly, mocked me, and spat out blood-tinged saliva.
"You fucking bastard."
I slapped the cheek of the ill-mannered woman so hard it burst, and her cheek swelled up and she went limp.
How should I torture this crazy religious fanatic to make her submit to me?
Eun-ji and Ha-rin's side hadn't finished their fight yet. I had to go help them, so I couldn't afford to waste any more time.
"Hoo. Watch her carefully for now."
I tossed the blonde woman to the floor. Then, I approached the priest, whom Eun-ji and Ha-rin were pushing hard.
The fight here was also nearly over.
"Ugh..."
The man in the suit was spreading a barrier and barely holding on against Ha-rin's axe blows. The will was gradually fading from his eyes.
Feeling deep regret that he was the only one left among the supermarket invaders who had been defeated, he let out a deep sigh.
Soon, Ha-rin threw away her axe and began punching the barrier, causing it to crack. Seizing the gap in the crack, Eun-ji's shadow blade grazed the cheek of the suit man, who was in the middle of chanting his skill.
Then, the suit man let out a scream, writhing in abnormal pain.
From the looks of it, he was feeling the pain doubled by Pain Amplification.
As he rolled on the floor, the barrier finally shattered. Eun-ji, who had approached behind him at some point, grabbed his hair and hooked a sickle to his neck, and the battle was over.
The suit man quickly threw down the anchor-shaped cross he was holding and raised both hands, declaring his surrender.
"Haa... Damn it. How am I supposed to beat guys like this.."
He lamented and looked at me.
"I lost. I was defeated. Just let me live. I can use healing arts too. I can cast buffs. And you saw that barrier just now? It can probably block bullets too? So please, let me live. I'll definitely be useful."
⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙ [The opponent has surrendered to you.] He seemed to have lost all will, surrendering to me immediately. It seemed he didn't even want to be tortured.
I sneered at him and reached out to make the man my slave.
Then, Kashnax, who had been quietly watching the scene, made a request to me.
[He is a servant of the God of Order. Give him to me.]
"Excuse me?"
[Give him to me.]
Kashnax's request was reasonable. She had been suppressing her hunger quite a bit.
Having had both Han Tae-yang and Han Seok snatched away by Indicron, she was in a foul mood.
"Ah. Understood."
I decided to offer this suit man to her. After all, thanks to her advice, I was able to quickly capture the Holy Bomb. She helped me in many ways. I judged that offering this much would allow me to stay in her good graces for the future. It was better to raise her favorability and offer him in many ways.
"W-wait! Didn't I surrender!!"
"I'm sorry. My Master desires your flesh and soul. You shouldn't have messed with people who were just standing there."
"Ah, no!!"
I pulled out a ritual dagger and was about to stab it into his eye.
However, I had no choice but to stop my movement.
A momentary white light burst from his eyes, and he repelled me, Eun-ji, and Ha-rin.
The man, as if burning on a holy flame, emitted a white light from his mouth and eyes. An unstable halo formed above his head, and a divine aura rose from his back.
It was as if a god had descended into a human body.
A surprise attack from the Sinsen, whom we thought had all left the battlefield.
[You damned spawn of the Destructionists. How dare you. How dare you mock us?]
A moment later, a holy, solemn male voice, which the human mind could not resist, flowed from his mouth.
As that majestic voice was directed at me, I couldn't suppress the nausea, retching and vomiting blood.
Black blood poured endlessly from my mouth, my vision swayed, and the fear of death crushed me.
"T-this is..."
The light emanating from him constructed an unbreakable barrier, isolating me from the outside world.
Inside this barrier, only he and I remained. Eun-ji and Ha-rin were frantically striking the barrier to save me, but it didn't budge.
[Your very existence is a scourge to the universe. Die, worm.]
Soon, a scepter of light was generated in his hand.
It was swung to shatter my head.
⚠️ CRITICAL WARNING ⚠️ [Dimension Distortion!]
[Causality is swirling due to the intervention of excessive divinity!]
[The Adversary of the Lord of Order, Kephones, has obtained causality and descended upon this place!!!]
Writhe.
An indescribable, thick malice.
A slimy cluster of tentacles began to overflow, crawling up from beneath my feet and wrapping around my body.
As I was wrapped by the tentacles, I felt a warm, yet violent, and above all, affectionate mother's touch.
A tentacle caressed my cheek.
In that boundlessly warm embrace, I snuggled in like a newborn fetus that had just awakened.
I had never felt a mother's embrace as warm as this.
I gently nestled in, feeling the warmth and smelling a pungent but, above all, comforting scent. I could feel the peace of having returned to the womb.
As I was lost in this bliss, the mass of tentacles that had spewed out soon gathered and took on a human form.
However, perhaps unable to perfectly replicate a human form yet, it was just a mass of tentacles mimicking a human shape.
I was satisfied with just that. In fact, the external appearance didn't matter.
I was just grateful for the will to protect me from anything in the world.
It was moving that the master of Chaos, who was gloomy, sometimes brutal, and above all, cruel, was holding me and protecting my dirty, defiled flesh from the divine light.
I was in awe of her existence itself, holding me tightly in her embrace and receiving the scepter of the God of Order.
In this harsh world, the sense of stability I had never truly felt before, I was now feeling it in the embrace of an evil god.
Then, the master of Chaos, Kashnax, who had caught the falling hammer with one hand, quietly recited to the Adversary before her.
"[This is cheating now. You don't want to be kicked out of the game, do you?]" A voice full of fury.
It was not the voice I had always heard, filled with hunger and starvation, which seemed somewhat blunt.
Nor was it the voice that, while appearing evil, would sometimes playfully tell me to offer humans.
She was genuinely angry.
As her fury grew, the surrounding air was crushed, making a noise.
In the sinking atmosphere, the light spewing from the suit man's eyes and mouth gradually died down.
The divine aura floating behind him went out, and his halo wavered and shattered.
"[Disgraceful. Accept the result. Your subordinate was simply weak. My child was simply stronger. How can you cling on so disgracefully?]" "[Accept the result? Can you still say that after seeing the flow of causality you poured into that tiny human body!]" "[We didn't meddle with this. This was also just this child's fate. Especially you lot, didn't you like it? That damned fatalism.]" At Kashnax's wry laugh, the God of Order ground his teeth and spoke.
"[Destruction will never happen. We will surely...]"
However, Kashnax cut him off before he could even finish his sentence.
Then, she conveyed her will strongly.
"[I will surely finish off your unstable maintenance myself. Now, get lost. You loser.]"
In the end, Kephones, who had descended first and tried to strike me, suffering a massive loss of causality, was driven out of the suit man's body, and the commotion subsided.
The suit man's body, which had been strained by a being too great to handle entering and leaving, crumbled into a pile of ash.
Only after seeing the God of Order completely disappear did the atmosphere slowly loosen, and Kashnax spoke to me in a very strained voice.
"[Hoo. I'm tired and hungry. Offer me a lot of sacrifices.]"
"Ah. Yes."
Soon, Kashnax also released the human form she had been forcibly maintaining, turning back into a writhing mass of tentacles, and crawled into a rift in spacetime she had created.
"Hah... Hah..."
As the damned gods disappeared, I sat on the floor and gasped for breath.
Two gods had clashed, and I was caught in the middle, almost having my soul crushed.
It's like a shrimp's back getting crushed in a whale fight, but I felt my soul truly being squashed in the gods' power struggle.
If Kashnax hadn't offset the burden coming to me, I would have died with blood pouring from all seven of my orifices.
"Oppa!!!"
"Master.. Are you okay?"
As the barrier shattered, Eun-ji ran over and hugged me.
I told the anxious Ha-rin that I was okay with some difficulty and then lay down on the floor in a daze.
I was incredibly tired.
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