Chapter 219
Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 219
Chapter Title: The Gauntlet of Choices
Three tombstones crashed down right in front of me. Each one bore four massive characters etched into its surface.
What the hell is this? As I stared at the inscriptions, the tombstones cracked open, revealing passages leading inside.
I stood there, gazing at the entrance, and grimaced.
"Pick one and go in, huh?"
Stepping inside would mean facing enemies, no doubt. Depending on which tombstone I chose, I'd have to fight under some kind of restriction.
"The hell I choose."
I'd bet anything these effects stack. It wouldn't just apply once—it'd carry over to every future stage.
I had to choose carefully. Who knew what options would come next?
Conditions could overlap, creating a pattern that guaranteed death.
Simple example: one that said I absolutely couldn't dodge. Another that forced me to dodge every enemy attack.
Stack those two, and it was game over. Can't dodge, can't not dodge—dead. The choices synergizing to force an unavoidable death.
"Everyone else must be at a crossroads like this."
A cackling voice echoed in my ears. So, failure didn't mean death.
To be precise, it was only true if not everyone gave up.
"They're handing us an out on purpose."
If someone else succeeded, I could live too. That condition made quitting tempting.
After endless choices, the restrictions would pile up until quitting looked like the best option.
I spun my spear lightly a few times and muttered,
"Jeong Oh-hoon, Han Sang-ah. Try giving up and see what happens."
They couldn't hear me, of course. But I said it coldly anyway.
I had no intention of teaming up with quitters in a situation like this. All the camaraderie we'd built? I'd trusted they'd never make that choice, and that's how our bonds formed.
If I was wrong about them, there was no bond to speak of. We didn't come this far for anyone to bail here.
When this gimmick ended, if Han Sang-ah and Jeong Oh-hoon weren't right there with me, I'd be deeply disappointed.
"First things first."
I pondered my options.
Sensory impairments felt risky. Humans don't have that many senses, especially combat-critical ones.
No telling how many choices lay ahead, but impairing a sense was never a good pick.
Strict order? Risky too.
"If I have to kill in sequence, but one needs to die first to even reach the next..."
It happened more often than you'd think. Mess up the order against those kinds of monsters, and you'd lose your mind.
Time limits sucked too—they cramped my fighting style. Nothing here appealed.
"Just like life."
You can't always pick what you want. After mulling it over, I stepped up to one tombstone.
Sensory Chaos. The one with sensory impairments. I stared at it, then slowly advanced.
My body got pulled inside.
"Hey there, scissorhands."
Monsters awaited. Hunched like Quasimodo, with long blade-like claws for hands.
Crocodile jaws split wide, purple tongues lolling out to lick the floor.
Arachnid eyes—eight yellow orbs—drooling as they roared.
A golden mark hovered clearly over one head. Start with that one, obviously.
Just as the fight kicked off, my vision shattered. Like playing a game on a monitor smashed by a hammer.
"Vision, huh?"
I grinned and ignited Paradox Flame.
"There ain't just one way to get stronger in this world."
If my sight was screwed, screw theirs too. No need to keep up—you could always drag them down to your level.
A dick move, sure, but fair game.
Vision glitch wouldn't ruin the sequence. If the impact sound or spear vibration felt off, kill someone else. Process of elimination.
Paradox Flame spread, burning their sight. And hey, just match the kill order.
"In other words."
Cripple their movement. Like a mosquito-torturing psycho, I charged in and dismantled their limbs one by one.
Fights with bullshit restrictions weren't rare.
Stacking was the problem, though. Once I'd mercy-killed the writhing torsos in order, another tombstone dropped from the sky.
Time for the next choice. As I scanned the options, something threw me off.
"Dice."
Rang a bell. Dice gimmick where my head's die matched the enemy's for hits to land.
Great Eight territory. Gripping my spear, I scratched my head.
"This has to be one of the Great Eight, right?"
I'd thought it differed from Gon Sal-ok, but this inscription felt fundamentally distinct.
Great Eight had no hierarchy, but maybe specialized roles.
Musing on possibilities, I picked the familiar dice game.
"Hearing this time?"
No ambient sounds, just piercing tinnitus. Fair's fair—plug theirs too.
Deafened brawl with the monsters.
The grotesque freaks split and merged, resisting my rampage, but it meant nothing.
"Stronger than the last batch."
They'd keep getting tougher. Clearly designed to grind me down inside here.
Still manageable without gear or big skills. A bit of Paradox Flame now and then sufficed.
And so, I kept choosing tombstones and pushing forward.
Restrictions multiplied, monsters leveled up from small fry.
Walls sprouted red laser emitters, plus a no-attacking-for-seconds-after-a-hit rule.
Can't have both feet on the ground at once. No attacking foes within 1m. Or beyond 5m.
Can't stare at one enemy too long. Floor tiles? Only step on colors matching the light under my foot.
The gimmicks piled on, giving me a headache. Already over 13 conditions hobbling me.
"How long is this gonna go?!"
After slaying a 15m E. coli lookalike, I caught my breath.
Thirteen. Thirteen! Most folks couldn't even remember that many on their body. And it wasn't just memorizing—you had to fight by them.
"Fuck it, kill me then. Do it."
Another tombstone thudded down. Scowling hard, I tilted my head.
"This one."
Only one sound. Unlike the previous thirteen. Beyond the cracked stone pulsed immense power. Enemies were stronger, sure.
But this felt on another plane entirely.
"Erosion Core's nucleus?"
That thought in mind, I approached slowly. My body got sucked in.
I stood on a massive plate webbed in spider silk. One pan of a giant scale, precisely.
Opposite pan: a woman. Golden dress on her upper body, glossy spider abdomen below—five colors gleaming.
The female monster sported eight eyes.
As she spoke, her legs clacked on the plate. Abdomen swelling and deflating.
"So, how was my little game? Decent time-killer, right?"
She eyed me. Not the core, then. What the hell was this?
"Got it. How about a mask at least? You're ugly as sin."
Eight eyes. Hard to look at. She didn't seem pissed, though.
"What, you want raw pork belly from the fridge to call you pretty?"
That level of regard, huh. Like the last ones—arrogant bunch.
She stroked one spider leg with a human hand.
"Awfully chill. Did I miss something?"
She replied flatly.
"We've finished our business here. You call it the Shady Club, right? No Erosion Core nucleus left."
She eyed me after speaking.
"Shady Club's done its job. You lot are too late."
She looked smug. A little prodding might loosen more.
"Late doesn't mean we can't catch up."
Sympathy crossed her face.
"I don't care to chat long with folks from a godless world."
Godless world. Took me back. The old world had gods, yeah.
Devout prayers summoned descents granting wishes; priests wielded divine shards.
"We've done fine without 'em. Who needs gods?"
Having lived both, I preferred godless.
Rain? Pray. Sun? Pray. Hungry? Pray. People turned spineless.
"You? Who gives a shit about you?"
She scoffed, incredulous.
"You're not worth worrying over. Your world... yeah, like an egg."
"What kinda bullshit is that?"
She let out a hollow "Ahaha."
"Read Demian?"
"Despise us a second ago, now digging our art?"
"Damn right. It's crucial."
Undeterred, she continued.
"The bird fights its way out of the egg. The egg is the world. Whoever wants to be born must destroy a world."
Beating around the bush.
"Spit it out, ugly spider."
"This world's an egg. Everything here exists to birth something greater."
An egg appeared in her hand. It smashed on the floor, yolk and white spilling.
"Yolk and white? Just nutrients for the chick to devour breaking free. Like you."
She stepped forward slightly.
"We're no demons. Angels descending for our ordained task. Demons are you insolent lot, defying roles and obstructing us."