"Opportunity?"
The Curtain God snorted at me and asked, “Using a word like that...? Do you really mean to hunt me? That was kept by those children of the black curtain. Did you think I was unaware of that sword's existence?”
“You wouldn't have cared even if you knew. You figured you couldn't purify the sword anyway.”
“......”
I held up the Blood Oath Shortsword.
“I saw this sword's memories. The founding king who made it was a human with divine power too. He must've meant someone who defies the rules.”
“Hmm.”
“And in the virtual world, the rules here are the System, right? Which means... I'm probably outside that scope. You're a god making a dungeon to fight me, but even you can't break the System, so you can't understand what I'm saying.”
“Virtual...?”
The Curtain God's lips twitched as if to speak, but in that instant, it was like a barrier formed between us—no sound came through.
“......Hm?”
Omniscient's intervention confirmed.
Connector authority level is low.
In that moment, a red warning window popped up. It was the same as the one that had appeared when the Curtain God had interfered as I tried to use a locked memory fragment to create a new one.
But this was different—the warning was forcing even the Curtain God himself.
So... the thing that blocked me from making that memory fragment back then wasn't the Curtain God?
I stared at him with a hardened expression.
“Human, do you challenge a god?”
That was when it happened. The Curtain God spoke in a flat, emotionless voice, like an NPC reciting fixed lines.
Something exists above the gods.
The god's sudden change confirmed what I'd vaguely anticipated.
“I see...”
There were gods in my dreams, including the Curtain God. And everything in those dreams—NPCs, monsters, all of it—belonged to the game's framework somehow.
Which meant, to find the anomaly outside the game, I had to look for something that didn't exist in my dreams.
“The answer lies in the tower, after all.”
The final solution was there.
Shing—
“If even a god is just a monster in the game...”
The Blood Oath Shortsword began to hum.
“Then it's not impossible to catch. Yeomhwa-ryeong.”
Yes, Master!
“Tell me everything you know about the Curtain God.”
Ironically, with a god right in front of me, this felt more like playing the game than ever before.
All the inexplicable phenomena I'd experienced so far had blurred the lines between game, virtual, and reality. But at this moment of the takedown—the conquest—I could treat him purely as a game boss.
Among the three gods on the continent, the Curtain God's power matches his epithet Curtain: supreme concealment by closing the curtain and peeking by parting it.
“And?”
As you see, he's a nature god who commands shadow familiars.
“Shadows? That's the thing I killed, right?”
It's a type of watcher, but lower-class. Think of it like the spirits summoned by the watcher's earth roll.
I nodded at Yeomhwa-ryeong's words.
“Any other peculiarities?”
When the Curtain God's shadows explode, they scatter void dust. It's corrupted divine power—don't touch it!
Yeomhwa-ryeong's voice echoed through the forest like a raid briefing before battle.
“Hmm.”
Oh, right...! The number of shadows the Curtain God summons is...
“If you're curious, I'll show you myself.”
The Curtain God swung his staff.
Kugrrrggg...!!
Like the one-eyed giant's earth roll, the ground began to shake as he stirred with his staff. But this tremor was incomparably fiercer.
Shaaaak...!!!
The Curtain God summons shadows.
Cracks split the shaking ground as black smoke billowed up.
The surging black smoke slowly took form.
One, two, three, four...
The shadows the Curtain God summoned resembled flame soldiers but bore flickering black flames.
That's a filthy lot of them.
The shadows densely surrounded us, like a legion led by the Curtain God himself.
Is this okay? Doesn't look like a solo fight...
Hunting a god was final content, no question. For a level 50-something like me to challenge it was absurd by any logic.
“Don't worry. If it's a raid, we've got one too.”
But I had my reversal variable.
Get ready.
As if reading my thoughts, Black Eye drew his greatsword.
Shaaak...!
Yeomhwa-ryeong circled me and settled on the Blood Oath Shortsword.
Huasin Army!
Fwoosh—!!
Flames erupted from Yeomhwa-ryeong, enveloping the blade. The short sword blazed like a long sword.
Obey your lord's command!
Unlike when summoned alone, the soldiers infused with my divine power burned massively brighter at a glance.
True Flame Sword activated!
Effect: Envelops your weapon in purifying flames. Depending on the power consumed (stamina/mana/divine power), it grants special effects to base abilities.
I raised the flaming Blood Oath Shortsword overhead.
“Fight.”
Flash—!!
Flames burst from the sword, scattering to the Huasin Army.
Exclusive Effect: Blazing Heaven Transfer activated!
—Flame Lord title exclusive skill. Enhances part of the Flame Lord's True Flame Sword abilities for your troops and infuses summoned flame soldiers with its power, increasing their numbers.
Caution: Unlike normal summons, infused with divine power, all flame soldier stats rise based on consumed divine power. They regenerate and persist as long as divine power remains.
“......?!!”
The Curtain God gripped his staff tighter without realizing it as the flame soldiers multiplied in an instant at my command.
Sizzle...!!
Dozens of flame soldiers raised their weapons toward the shadows, awaiting my order.
What a sight.
As Black Eye said, it was a clash of divine armies.
“Even your lowly creations prepare for calamity, yet gods like you ignore humanity instead of helping.”
I slowly raised the Blood Oath Shortsword, aiming at the god.
“You knew the god-slaying power needed to stop calamity could kill you too.”
“Die.”
That was when it happened. As the Curtain God commanded, the shadows charged us—
Fwoosh...!!
Flames spread from my feet like oil, forming a massive circular wall that shoved the shadows back.
Blazing Heaven Transfer reacts with your divine power.
Additional Effect: Flame Zone unlocked.
Unlock Condition: Divine Power.
The wall of fire spread at terrifying speed.
[Growl...! Grrowl...!!]
The shadows retreated, unable to approach the encroaching blaze.
Flame Zone activated!
All kin within 100m radius of caster: movement speed +20%.
All kin within 100m radius of caster: attack power +15%.
All kin within 100m radius of caster: mental attacks nullified.
Perfect.
The True Flame Sword I'd gained after the Flame Lord title wasn't just a generic fire ability. It adapted to my powers, and fusing with my divine power created a new exclusive skill.
This is...
Power surging!
Black Eye's excited voice rang out as his blue flames merged with the red ones on my greatsword.
Especially the final unlocked Flame Zone—not just flame soldiers, but kin like Black Eye and Yeomhwa-ryeong benefited too.
“Hoo...”
My divine power drained in a flash, parching my throat, but I didn't show it.
I have to end this in one go.
Dragging it out would only disadvantage me.
“You dare—with divine power, yet still trapped in human limits...!! With that half-divine body, how far can you go?!”
[Grrowl!!]
[Kaaak—!!!]
At the Curtain God's shout, the shadows howled and charged en masse.
Crush them!!
Black Eye raised his greatsword overhead. Infused with divine power, it stretched like a glaive.
Huaaaang—!!!
His sword swept horizontally with a roar that cleaved the wind.
Plop—! Boom!! Ploboom!!
Dozens exploded in one stroke, black smoke forming spore-like particles around them.
Watch out! Don't touch the dust!
Yeomhwa-ryeong flapped toward the flying spores.
Yeomhwa-ryeong uses Fire Command.
She circled the dust at eye-blurring speed, whipping up a vortex that drew it in with her wings.
Crackle...! Crackrack...!
The dust ignited in her flame whirlwind—BOOM—!
Whoooosh!!
Yeomhwa-ryeong inhaled the explosion's flames. Her tiny fairy wings grew falcon-like, blades slicing shadows in half.
Excellent, splendid!
The shadows contained the Curtain God's divine power. Absorbing them made Yeomhwa-ryeong's own surge—she cried out in delight.
Open the path.
At his shout, the Huasin Army—boosted by Flame Zone—pushed back the shadows.
Kwaaang—!!!
Black Eye charged, flame soldiers smashing shadows to his flanks, carving a path.
Make a stage for our lord.
Like the Red Sea parting, a fiery path tore through the shadow horde made by the Huasin Army.
At its end stood the Curtain God.
Thud—!
The stage for godslaying.
Black Eye planted his greatsword in the ground midway along the path from my feet and spoke in a low voice.