The Eye of Truth
The essence of the Cyclops King has been devoured.
Essence Grade: Ancient
Absorption Rate: 100%
Perfect absorption of one species' essence completed.
Death Beam
Grade: ★★★
Type: Active
Concentrates mana in the pupil and fires a beam toward the direction of your gaze.
Death Beam. It was exactly the signature ray attack that defined the Cyclops race.
“I can, but the efficiency sucks.”
Death Beam demanded a considerable amount of focus. Considering how sensitive the eyes were, that was only natural. While the speed at which the beam reached its target after activation was impressive, its power was lacking compared to the mana and concentration it consumed. It wasn’t quite suitable as a main skill. Still, it could be useful for catching an enemy off guard in unexpected situations.
“I’ve got a better use for this.”
I closed my eyes gently and turned my gaze inward. The essence of the Cyclops King and the synergistic Thousand Eyes that had merged with it. I had taken the eye that could read a thousand mana patterns and grafted the Cyclops King’s essence onto it.
Two essences that shared the same body part—the eye. Their natures were different, so they didn’t create a natural synergy. However, I was already well-versed in disassembling, reassembling, and attaching essences however I wanted. How much had I suffered before my regression just to find the optimal combinations?
Having even stepped into the realm of transcendence with the Rainbow Radiance Stone, linking two essences that shared the same concept wasn’t difficult. I made the Thousand Eyes the base and subordinated the Cyclops King’s essence as a lower concept.
Thousand Eyes has accepted the properties of Death Beam.
The concepts of intent bestowal and emission have permeated Thousand Eyes.
Thousand Eyes has evolved into Truth Eyes.
Truth Eyes
Grade: ★★★★
Type: Passive
Sees through the essence of all things and intervenes in them.
“Heh heh heh. This is exactly what I wanted.”
“You just don’t get it.”
Truth Eyes was a mystic eye that dramatically enhanced the mana-reading function originally granted by Thousand Eyes. Seeing through the essence of things meant it could dismantle any attack. It wasn’t about brute-force cancellation through raw power. It could deflect attacks or target the concentrated core of energy to nullify them entirely.
“It depends on who’s using it.”
I jabbed my thumb into my own chest. I already had more than enough offensive options besides Death Beam. Memorized spells, Seon Magic that I could cast even in the middle of intense movement, and the various essences stored in Dragon’s Wings. Wasting focus just to use Death Beam would be a shame when I had all these other skills I’d worked so hard to acquire.
“Wow, Goddess. Have you been studying?”
“Impressive as always.”
The Cyclops King’s body had already turned to dust.
You have defeated the boss monster of the Giant's Descendant gate.
The gate will now close.
As a clear reward, the Giant's Crown has been granted.
◈ Type: Helmet
◈ Durability: 1,527/2,000
◈ An item symbolizing the king of a race. It amplifies command ability and elevates the dignity of a monarch.
◈ *Charisma +200
◈ *Command-type skill effect increased by 100%.
◈ *Contains the skill: Desperate Charge.
Desperate Charge
Grade: ★★★
Type: Active
Increases all stats of commanded troops by 100%, but decreases defense-related skills and defense power by 80%.
“The built-in skill basically tells you to risk your life using it.”
The effect of increasing all stats by 100% was incredible. But in exchange, it came with an extreme risk that lowered the efficiency of armor, stats, and defensive skills. The defensive skills mentioned here even included magic shields.
“Well, isn’t it worth trying when things get dangerous?”
That’s a bit harsh, don’t you think?
“I only fight battles I can win.”
I answered lightly and tossed the crown to Hyung-nim.
“Why are you giving this to me?”
“It’s an artifact specialized in command. You should use it, Hyung-nim.”
“B-but it’s Legend grade?!”
“Even if I used it, it wouldn’t have much effect. Why would I bother?”
“Guild Master!”
Hyung-nim replied in a choked voice thick with emotion.
A month had passed since Dreistrega joined the guild.
At first, we cleared the high-risk gates that had appeared in Germany one by one. Among the A-rank and higher gates, we only periodically reduced the number of monsters in the especially difficult ones. They hadn’t even dared to attempt a proper conquest.
“You managed to hold on surprisingly well.”
“Originally, we were planning to request help from Arme Rouge.”
“Didn’t they only operate in France?”
“Yes. Then suddenly…”
Guild Master Stephan shook his head.
The various nations bound together under one roof called the European Union. The prominent guilds of each country crossed borders to clear high-risk gates. Rene Davis, known as Europe’s strongest player, and the Arme Rouge under his command were no different.
“They must have had their own circumstances.”
“Anyway, thanks to Guild Master Yu, we can breathe easier now.”
Stephan let out a sigh of relief. From my perspective, knowing the real reason behind Rene Davis’s inactivity, I could only smile. It meant the damage he’d suffered in the Sahara Blood Battle had been that severe. With his right-hand woman, Nadia Cassel, also dead, his insides must have been burning.
“If he’s only moving within France, he’s definitely plotting something.”
“His methods are obvious anyway.”
Gaagshebla. Or the Harab Serapel sect. Those were the Qliphoth forces Rene could mobilize. The future was changing from what I remembered before my regression, but some things remained the same. One of those constants was the Qliphoth’s method of invasion.
Pushing beings from the other side through the gates wasn’t something that could be done whenever they wanted. The timing had to align with the resonance between the gate and the world. Enormous mana. And finally, a sacrifice.
“All the conditions have to be met before they can send their followers.”
“Those two sects are always the vanguard of the invasion.”
Gaagshebla, which offered the highest efficiency in human sacrifice. And Harab Serapel, which created dimensional conversion phenomena by installing formation arrays on the ground. Those two sects had always acted as the spearhead of the Qliphoth.
“Beyond the sixtieth floor.”
Around the time we had cleared most of the conquest requests that had come to Dreistrega, new requests started arriving from countries bordering Germany, such as Austria and Poland.
“We can handle them within our own capacity.”
“No, it’s fine.”
I accepted every single one of those requests. There was no reason to refuse when they were giving me a legitimate excuse to remain in Europe.
Ellen grumbled.
“There’s too many. Just traveling between them will take days.”
“We’ll split the conquest teams.”
Yellow Storm, Mugeuk, Golden Circle, and the rest of the guild members. It was a powerful force that wouldn’t lose to any team in the world. In fact, having this many top players moving around together to clear gates had been inefficient from the start.
“I had to run around pretty busily.”
“Yeah, yeah. I’ll do as you command.”
I occasionally made time to contact the Black Network. The person in charge of communication was Young, who had assisted me back in Korea.
“What is Arme Rouge’s movement?”
“They are clearing gates that have opened in the outskirts of France.”
“The outskirts, huh.”
I stroked my chin. While recalling memories from my previous life, I remembered that the precursor to a certain event closely resembled Arme Rouge’s current movements.
The France Collapse. But that event was supposed to happen in 2034.
That’s true. There’s no point in worrying about the timeline anymore.
It was the preparatory phase for the event that would turn all of France into another dimension—the so-called France Collapse.
I wrote something on a note and handed it to Young.
“Deliver this to Madam.”
“This is…?”
“Wait a second. Let me see.”
I opened the map app on my phone. On the map showing all of France, I marked X’s in various locations.
“Tell her to draw that magic circle at these positions.”
“Director, at a glance there must be over a hundred. All of them?”
“Yeah. That’s the minimum number. Anything less would be problematic.”
“I will deliver the message.”
“Oh, and we need to place mana stones at the center of each circle. At least mid-grade ones.”
A single mid-grade mana stone cost hundreds of millions of won. With over a hundred circles, this operation would consume at least ten billion won. And that wasn’t all. To draw the circles while avoiding Arme Rouge’s eyes, operatives skilled in stealth would have to be deployed. It was a plan that consumed massive human and material resources. No organization below the level of Gold Moon or the Black Network could even attempt it.
Good thing I built a connection with John Doe.
“Insurance. Just in case.”
The anti-Qliphoth magic circles I had drawn by wringing out every last memory from my previous life. Even though I had mobilized over ten billion won and the manpower of the Black Network, I secretly hoped the situation where I would need to use them wouldn’t arise.
“It’s been a month of stirring things up, yet it’s still quiet.”
“Yeah. He must know I intervened in the Sahara Blood Battle.”
“What’s with that reaction?”
For a moment, I was at a loss for words. The Goddess really knew how to hit where it hurt sometimes.
“You’re right. Being led around by the enemy doesn’t suit me at all.”
If Rene wasn’t going to come out of France, then I would drag him out myself.
Following the Goddess’s advice, I began formulating a plan to pull Rene onto the stage.