Chapter 171

               

《The ‘Legendary Quest’ has been cleared.》

《A ‘Unique Achievement’ has been attained!》

《The entire domain of ‘The Third Night’ is imbued with an eternal blessing, and the stamina of participants who witnessed the legend is partially restored.》

As soon as the messages appeared.

“Unique Achievement!”

“Another Unique Achievement?”

“Could it be Lee Hyuk-soo again?”

People were ecstatic.

This was because during the second night, after Lee Hyuk-soo attained the ‘Unique Achievement’, everyone had gained a full one thousand contribution points.

However, it wasn’t just ‘contribution points’ they received.

“Thank you, thank you!”

“We believe in you!”

People clasped their hands together.

They bowed their heads repeatedly, expressing their sincere gratitude.

《Gratitude has been conveyed to the ‘Unique Achievement’ attainer.》

《One additional ‘Death Box’ is granted.》

《Stamina has been partially restored.》

The stamina consumed in the war against the Army of Death was partially restored.

But ‘The Third Night’ was still not over.

Lee Hyuk-soo looked up at the sky and clenched his fist tightly.

‘He’s completely lost his mind.’

Ahetta’s eye, revealed upon the Super Blue Moon.

Tears of blood were flowing from it.

With a gaze full of rage and madness, he was seeking out the remaining humans one by one, commanding Anubis and the Army of Death.

Guoooooooo!

The cry of Anubis echoed from not far away.

The berserk Anubis was truly a monster that heralded death.

Had it not been for the sacrifices of the paladins, including Gula, the participating humans would have surely been annihilated.

“……Two days remain.”

“Can we hold out?”

Hearing the voice, Lee Hyuk-soo turned to look behind him.

Without him realizing, a considerable number of people had gathered behind him.

Those who had completed their rearmament with the help of the demon merchant Dagon.

They were the last desperate force gathered from all factions.

Among them were also many members of the ‘Abyss Safety Bureau’.

‘Can we hold out?’

Lee Hyuk-soo shook his head inwardly.

The Master of the Moon, Ahetta, was desperately trying to exterminate them.

Using normal methods, they wouldn’t last a day, let alone two days.

Part of him wanted to run away too.

The scene of Anubis slaughtering humans was so horrifying it was nauseating.

If they faced it head-on, they’d be torn limb from limb while still alive.

‘This is the last chance.’

But if they didn’t unite here and now, there would be no second chance.

As long as that ‘eye’ was in the sky above, there was simply no place for them to run within the territory of ‘The Third Night’.

Even if they die, fighting back buys time.

Anyway, unlike them, the ‘Army of Death’ was scattered about.

Their final strategy was to defeat them individually and focus their fire on Anubis as much as possible.

‘Anubis still hasn’t left the entrance of the temple.’

He was probably waiting for someone who had completed the quest inside the temple to appear.

‘……Is the Prophet inside the temple?’

He couldn’t think of anyone other than the ‘Prophet’ who could achieve both the Legendary Quest and the Unique Achievement.

And if Anubis didn’t participate directly in the war, there was a chance.

……So.

“We have to hold out.”

Srrung!

Looking at the ‘Army of Death’ approaching from afar.

Lee Hyuk-soo fiercely contorted his eyes and gripped the Greatsword of the Immortal King.

* * *

“Damn it! How on earth did he deal with the Eternal Outer God……!!!”

Ahetta’s entire body trembled with rage.

Dark energy swept through the surroundings and began to run wild.

Because it simply made no sense.

The freed Eternal Outer God wouldn’t just stand there and grant wishes, and furthermore, ‘Outer God hunting’ was something one couldn’t even dream of.

Because it wasn’t an existence a mere mortal could contend with.

Even if the ‘Archmage’ was an incarnation of a Demon God, or even an incarnation of one of the more exalted Great Nine Lords, it was the same.

“Without the ‘weapon’ of one of the Great Nine Lords, destroying an Outer God should be impossible!”

The colossal transdimensional monsters within the Great Rift.
Only the ‘Great Great Nine Lords’ could oppose them.

That is why the Abyss absolutely believes in and follows the ‘Great Great Nine Lords’.
Even the Outer Gods of the Great Rift fear them alone.

However, there were no chance the Great Nine Lords would lend their weapons for the sake of a mere incarnation.

Naturally, the ‘Archmage’ should have died in there.

If that were the case.

‘He killed the Outer God, dominated the entire territory, and even attained a Unique Achievement.’

The attainment of the Unique Achievement meant the Eternal Outer God had been destroyed.

Ahetta had set it to be achieved the moment the Outer God perished, so he was certain.

But, how?

What absurd method did he use to make the impossible possible again?

That was something even Ahetta couldn’t do.

……If he just stood by like this, bankruptcy was certain.

Launching the Super Blue Moon was a gamble.

An expression of his confidence in absolute victory.

Thanks to that, millions of humans had flocked in.

‘…Millions of Death Boxes are being released.’

But that choice was now tightening around his own neck.

Just by conveying gratitude, one could obtain a ‘Death Box’.

Death Boxes were originally bestowed only upon those who achieved a certain rank or fulfilled special conditions.

If he scattered them about indiscriminately, no matter how vast Ahetta’s treasure vault was, it couldn’t possibly hold out.

Moreover.

‘……Archmage. It means the Death Boxes allocated to him alone number in the millions.’

Ah.

It felt like his thoughts had frozen solid.

His hands and feet trembled uncontrollably.

Death Boxes exert a greater effect the more one collects.

If the scale reached millions, the ‘Hidden Treasure Vault’ might reopen.

Not only that.

‘…He might have even more.’

That couldn’t be all.

The greedy Archmage would never be satisfied with just that much.

He must have surely obtained massive additional rewards afterward.

Ahetta’s mind grew frantic.

The Rights of the Night?

Such a thing was utterly unimportant now.

His disqualification as a ‘Manager of the Night’ was already certain.

Because the Creators wouldn’t accept him remaining as a manager.

Now, he had only two choices left.

‘Bankruptcy or not.’

If he went bankrupt, it was over.

With the immense debt he would shoulder, it wouldn’t be strange if he vanished entirely.

Even now, if he gathered ‘big players’ and received investments, he might sustain it, but in this situation, there was no high-ranking Creator who would invest additionally in Ahetta.

Just looking at the immediate situation proved that.

Numerous Creators were not moving their ‘Incarnations’.

Even the investors weren’t lifting a finger.

They needed to sow chaos among the humans to eliminate even one more person quickly, yet they were just standing by, watching.

Didn’t that mean even they were convinced of defeat in this war?

And they probably thought there was no point in helping Ahetta.

Therefore.

“Anubis! We must kill him. No matter what, by any means necessary!”

There was no other way but to kill the Archmage.

No other method came to mind.

Ahetta poured in coins with all his might.

Strengthening Anubis to kill the Archmage, who was about to appear, was his last means of survival.

And, before long.

“…At last, you show yourself, Archmage!”

Finally, the Archmage revealed himself from within the Eternal Temple.

Ahetta focused all his senses solely on the temple entrance.

Because this was the first time he was properly facing him.

Until now, he had hidden his existence and never revealed himself!

Only now could he see.

What kind of human was the one who had obstructed him countless times.

Soon after.

Seeing the man who appeared at the temple entrance, Ahetta’s pupils shook violently.

He found himself staring at the items the man was equipped with.

Baal’s Belt, the Staff of the World Tree, the Star of Arrogance and True Satyrus Boots he had seen in the Tome of Mysteries – all of them were like precious jewels, but.

“……The Immortal Emblem?”

What surprised Ahetta was the ‘Immortal Emblem’.

It was the proof of getting into the Hall of Fame that even Ahetta had never obtained.

Though he possessed numerous treasures and mysteries, that one alone had eluded his grasp.

And to be adorned with the Immortal Emblem meant.

“He’s not… an Incarnation?”

……It meant he wasn’t someone’s Incarnation.

An Incarnation of a Lord could never become in the Hall of Fame.

Because a puppet controlled by someone else couldn’t possibly discuss honor.

He had firmly believed the Archmage was an incarnation of one of the ‘Great Great Nine Lords’.

If that wasn’t the case, then it meant he had obtained those resplendent equipments alone.

It meant he had achieved all the great feats accomplished so far entirely by himself.

Ding!

《The territory of ‘The Third Night’ is beginning to be consumed by the ‘Divine Beast Cygnus’!》

《In 1 hour, the ‘Divine Beast Cygnus’ will devour the entire ‘Eternal Land’ along with the ‘Super Blue Moon’.》

…The surprises didn’t end there.

As the Archmage revealed himself, he could detect the presence of the ‘Divine Beast Cygnus’ in the domain of the ‘True Sky’.

Moreover, the Divine Beast began to devour this entire territory as its sustenance.

‘It’s even devouring the Super Blue Moon.’

The remaining time was still 47 hours.

But if it devoured both the territory and the Super Blue Moon completely, ‘The Third Night’ would be forcibly terminated.

And it would conclude with humanity’s victory.

He couldn’t let that happen.

Ahetta shouted with all his might.

“Anubis! What are you doing! Kill him now!”

Anubis was still there.

The Supreme Commander of Death.

He who is Death itself!

……Yet, for some reason, Anubis wasn’t moving.

He wasn’t obeying Ahetta’s absolute command.

Even though all emotions should have been removed, leaving only the desire for destruction.

He was trembling, looking at something.

“Anubis! Are you refusing my order!”

Grrind!

Ahetta gnashed his teeth.

Time was of the essence, but Anubis seemed to have malfunctioned.

Was it because he had poured in too many coins?

But he soon realized that wasn’t the reason.

Ahetta moved the Moon’s eye to look closely at the temple entrance.

…And simultaneously saw it.

The reason Anubis couldn’t move.

Between the Archmage and Anubis, there was something.

There was an entity resembling Anubis in form but much smaller, blooming with a brilliant flower of life, not death, as it approached.

It felt like the very source of life living eternally.

Ahetta immediately recognized what that body was composed of.

‘It’s something that has absorbed the factors of both the Eternal God and the Supreme Species.’

……It was absurd.

How could one simultaneously absorb the factors of a divine rank and the supreme life form.

But it was reality.

That was an Anubis of life, the opposite of death.

“What is that……”

Staring at its form, even Ahetta could only mutter, dumbfounded.

The Immortal Emblem and the Divine Beast were both astonishing in their own right, but.

“That preposterous life form……”

……Even combined, all those surprises couldn’t compare to that single life form.