Chapter 559
An Old God.
Not a part, not a fragment, not a piece, not a portion.
A single, complete, perfect Old God was his opponent.
But Taesan’s expression didn’t change.
“So that’s the Old God I need to deal with?”
“I thought it through. Which Old God is the most troublesome for us. And which Old God you can face. And in the end, it came down to one.”
The Bottomless Abyss. The Master of the Abyss. The warden of the bottomless hole.
Just hearing the name, he could roughly guess what kind of being it was, and what Authority it wielded.
Taesan nodded.
“Alright. I’ll accept it.”
[Quest accepted.]
A system window appeared. A faint sense of relief flickered across the Magician’s face.
“Good. I was worried about what I’d do if you refused.”
“I told you. I wasn’t going to refuse.”
“Still, you never know what people will do. Alright. Then I’m counting on you.”
The Magician clapped his hands. Space opened.
The Bottomless Abyss would be beyond it.
Taesan stepped into the opening. As Taesan crossed space, the Magician spoke.
“For the record, you won’t be fighting alone. I’m not that shameless. There’ll be someone to help you.”
With those words, Taesan arrived beyond the portal.
And Taesan felt it immediately.
Something was different.
Taesan raised his gaze.
And he could see it.
Black paint splashed across the world.
“What is this now.”
[……What is this?]
A part of the universe had been dyed black.
No other description was possible. It was, purely and literally, black.
Akasha murmured blankly.
[It looks like a painting.]
It looked like someone had taken a perfect landscape painting—so real it was indistinguishable from reality—and then smeared black paint across it, carelessly, the kind that swallowed every color.
There was no sense of space or reality to it.
That black paint was staining an enormous region.
It was wide enough to swallow dozens of planets and still have room left. Taesan slowly approached the black paint. From up close, he could grasp a few more things.
The black paint was spreading.
It was swelling, inch by inch, coloring the universe with its own color.
‘Is it a concept that simply covers things?’
No.
It was closer to swallowing and dropping them.
It was stuffing the universe into its own belly.
“So this is the kind of Old God it is.”
Taesan muttered. A twisted wave of power stirred within the black paint.
CRASH!
And from within the paint, a black existence burst out.
[#$#% appeared.]
It was an apostle.
A murky, dark-colored being revealed itself.
It had a shape like a rhombus.
The apostle charged at Taesan. Taesan flicked his finger lightly.
[You activated Frost Arrow.]
An arrow of cold streaked toward the apostle.
Even if it was beginner magic, the caster was Taesan—a Transcender. Within that Frost Arrow was power strong enough to shake a planet’s balance.
Frost Arrow met the apostle.
And the Frost Arrow sank into it and vanished.
There was no ripple, no collision of power.
Like it had fallen into a bottomless hole, it simply disappeared.
The apostle didn’t stop. It kept charging.
RUMMMMMBLE!
‘Is it dyeing it?’
Taesan thought as he evaded lightly.
Was it dyeing the world’s concepts into the Old God’s concept and erasing them?
‘……No, that’s not it?’
It didn’t feel like that.
Taesan activated Frost Arrow again.
The arrow of cold struck the apostle and sank in, vanishing as it was.
Rather than dyeing, it was just a concept of putting everything inside itself.
“I get it.”
The Bottomless Abyss. The warden of the bottomless hole.
It was exactly what it sounded like.
An Old God that swallowed everything and threw it into its hole like trash.
The black paint covering the world was likely the expansion of that hole.
That was enough to understand the basics.
Taesan didn’t dodge the apostle charging at him.
The rhombus-shaped figure pierced through Taesan.
Taesan grabbed it as it was.
“Go on. Drop this too.”
Boundary surged in Taesan’s hand.
It swallowed the apostle and pressed down on it.
The apostle activated the Authority it had been granted, trying to swallow all things and drop them away.
But it didn’t work.
Boundary didn’t fall in. Instead, it stained the apostle.
Only then did it seem to realize something was wrong, and it struggled desperately to escape—but it was impossible.
The apostle cracked apart.
CLAAANG!
[Your Soul Rank Usurpation has been activated. You obtained the Special Activation Skill [Deep Place].]
He usurped the apostle’s power.
[Special Activation Skill: Deep Place]
[Proficiency: 1%]
[A deep, deep abyss. It collapses and drops all things.]
It wasn’t an Authority—just a simple activation skill.
It wouldn’t be of much help right now. Since his opponent was the Bottomless Abyss itself, this apostle’s power was close to an inferior copy.
Still, it helped him understand the Old God’s power.
Taesan stored the skill away.
“You said there’d be someone waiting.”
But there was no one around.
Had everyone been erased while fighting the Old God?
There wasn’t even a trace left.
As Taesan paused to consider what to do next, he felt a presence within the black paint.
That was the Bottomless Abyss, which dropped all things away.
A presence shouldn’t have been something he could feel.
But there was a clear force and concept within the paint.
It meant the being was so vast that even an Old God’s Authority couldn’t swallow it.
The presence drew closer.
Then the paint burst open.
[Ahhhhh!]
An irritated voice rang out.
White skin was smeared here and there with black paint.
Even within a blackness like pitch, her black hair shone brilliantly.
The black paint rose, trying to swallow the being that had burst out. Grinding her teeth, she flicked her finger.
[Get lost.]
Darkness gathered.
Not the Old God’s blackness, but pure darkness of the universe.
A jet-black night that covered the world and stained it.
That condensed darkness collided with the Old God’s Authority, canceling each other out.
A massive wave shook the universe.
But the black paint didn’t yield easily. It crawled forward, trying to grab its opponent no matter what.
And swallow her whole.
Her expression hardened.
[Bite it off.]
And in that moment, Taesan moved.
The beast that obeyed his command surged up.
It pounced like a flash, tearing off and grinding apart all the paint that had latched on.
Then it spat it out and burst it.
KABOOOM!
A huge shockwave spread.
The black paint that was eating into the universe was pushed back—only a little, but unmistakably.
With the opening gained, the woman finally took in Taesan.
[……You are.]
Her ebony hair had lost its color.
Her catlike, sharp eyes were full of irritation.
Her long black dress was torn, revealing patches of bare skin.
“It’s been a while, Demon God.”
Taesan offered his respects.
—
The Demon God. Lucifer.
She was one of the Transcenders who favored Taesan.
No—if anything, it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say she was the one who favored him most.
After confirming Taesan, the Demon God smiled softly.
[They said support was coming. So it was you?]
“Looks like it.”
The Demon God tried to say something, but the black paint spreading out between them cut her off.
[Tsk.]
“Are we going in right away?”
[That’s what I want to say, but…… I’m not in perfect condition either.]
The Demon God clicked her tongue.
Half of her was painted over with black.
Her rank was swaying heavily.
It was the first time he had ever seen a complete Transcender—someone who had reached such heights—shaken like this.
[For now, I think I need some rest. Let’s open some distance.]
“Are you sure you’ll be alright?”
[I made some scars of my own. I’ll recover before long, but it’ll buy time.]
“In that case.”
Taesan moved with the Demon God to another place in the universe.
After putting enough distance between them and the Old God’s sphere of influence, the Demon God frowned.
[That damned contamination. It’s annoying.]
The black paint staining her was shaking her rank.
Taesan watched for a moment, then held out his hand.
“May I take care of it?”
[……Hoh.]
The Demon God grinned.
[Go ahead. Try it.]
She took Taesan’s hand.
Taesan focused.
‘Come out. Eat it.’
He gave the beast its command.
The beast of the Boundary obeyed.
[Ugh.]
The Demon God let out a short groan.
A strange sensation swept over her.
KRAK-KK!
The black paint staining her was swallowed into the Boundary and vanished.
Before long, the Demon God returned to her original state.
[Hoh.]
After checking herself, the Demon God looked surprised.
The Old God’s contamination was completely gone.
[If I’d tried to remove it myself, it would’ve taken quite a while. And I would’ve lost a lot too.]
The Demon God’s condition couldn’t be called good.
To remove the Old God’s contamination, she would have had to cut away her own domain. Power loss was inevitable.
But Taesan had removed only the Old God’s contamination—perfectly.
[Now that I’ve experienced it, I’m sure. It’s impressive. If you’re here, we could truly end this war.]
“Are you fully recovered?”
[I want to say yes, but not quite. I still need a bit of rest.]
“Then please rest.”
Taesan spoke evenly.
From the far end of the universe, distorted beings were charging in.
All of them were apostles of the Bottomless Abyss.
“I’ll take care of the annoying ones.”
At the same time, Boundary covered the universe.
The apostles charging in vanished without being able to do anything.
At that sight, the Demon God let out a small laugh.
[I’m counting on you.]
The Demon God recovered herself slowly.
Apostles kept charging in the entire time, but Taesan dealt with them without any issue.
As he did, Taesan asked the Demon God something he was curious about.
“I thought you’d be fighting the former Demon God.”
The Old God that had once ruled the Demon Realm—the former Demon God.
Taesan had encountered it before.
Since it was the Demon God’s opposing existence, he expected she would fight it.
[I planned to, but that bastard was dead set on avoiding me. I could chase it, but I didn’t have the luxury. That’s why I came here.]
The Demon God opened her eyes.
The gaze she turned on Taesan held amusement.
[Back then, I was disappointed because I thought I wouldn’t get to tear it apart and kill it…… but thinking about it now, it was fortunate.]
“Why?”
[Because it let me fight with you.]
The Demon God chuckled.
[I wanted to fight alongside you, once. Well. Not like this, but still. I’ll take the supporting role.]
“Supporting me?”
[Because you’re the one who can kill an Old God.]
No matter what she did, the Demon God couldn’t kill an Old God.
Her concept couldn’t damage an Old God’s fundamental nature.
But Taesan was different.
Taesan could kill an Old God.
[And…… you might even be stronger than me.]
“Too humble.”
[No. I mean it.]
There wasn’t a hint of wavering in the Demon God’s voice.
Her attitude was as if she were stating a simple fact.
[You became strong, wholly and entirely, on your own. You overcame our trials and proved your worth to reach this place.]
To the point where he could meaningfully take part in the battle that decided the universe’s survival—
Between the Old Gods and the gods.
It had taken an absurdly short time.
To Transcenders, it was practically an instant.
From a weak mortal, to a lofty seat.
[You’ve come a long way.]
The Demon God murmured as if it struck her anew.