Chapter 561
Black paint swept through the air. A single Authority that devoured everything and stuffed it into its own belly.
Taesan drew out Gray.
A Boundary infused with Physical Force charged toward the black paint and collided with it.
But the black paint didn’t budge.
An Authority wielded directly by a complete Old God. Perhaps because of that overwhelming power, Taesan’s Boundary was swallowed whole by the paint. It vanished as if it had never existed.
The paint encroached on space itself, pressing down on Taesan. He stomped the ground and quickly widened the distance, slipping away from the spreading paint.
“So it eats Boundary too.”
An Authority wielded directly by a complete Old God.
Naturally, its rank and level were incomparable to anything he’d faced until now.
Boundary alone wouldn’t work.
Then what if he used an Old God’s Authority as well?
Taesan focused. Boundary manifested into the world, and the manifested Boundary gradually lost its color.
An Old God’s Authority. Worthless revealed itself.
It collided head-on with the bottomless Authority that devoured all things.
KRRRRAAANG!
Only then did a true clash occur. The black paint twisted, unable to properly swallow Worthless.
It works.
The moment Taesan confirmed it and tried to push his Authority higher—
Squelch.
The true body of the Bottomless Abyss moved. Massive lumps of flesh shuddered.
And the black paint expanded.
Worthless was swallowed instantly by the Bottomless Abyss’s Authority, then surged straight at Taesan.
“Urk!”
Taesan hurled himself aside in a flash, but the black paint brushed him.
KAGAGAGAK!
Boundary Negation flared around Taesan. It shook off the black paint trying to swallow him—and instead tried to swallow it back.
One of Boundary Negation’s traits: it can devour an enemy’s power that touches him and turn it into his own.
But this time, it was impossible.
There was nothing in the black paint. There was no “power” for Boundary Negation to consume, so Boundary Negation was depleted in an instant.
Taesan pulled out Boundary.
Then he compressed it into the shape of spheres.
KAGAGAGAK!
The sweeping black paint collided with Gray spheres. Their forces spread outward, waves blanketing the surroundings.
But the spheres couldn’t hold for long.
Before long, the black paint completely devoured the Boundary.
Taesan brought his arms together.
[You have activated Magic Stacking.]
A spell manifested, layered with hundreds of Boundaries.
A quality and quantity that could pulverize a planet and still leave an impact even on a galactic scale. Yet the moment it touched the paint, it was swallowed and vanished.
“Annoying.”
The Magician had said the Bottomless Abyss was an Old God Taesan could handle. But fighting it directly, it felt like the opposite.
The Bottomless Abyss was close to Taesan’s counter.
The Boundary he possessed was something that existed between the universe and what lay beyond it.
Because of that, he held a massive advantage in compatibility against both sides. If he fought head-on in a contest of force, Taesan likely had the upper hand.
That was why the Transcenders who fought Taesan had to respond to Boundary in all kinds of ways, and why Taesan could start battles with a certain degree of advantage.
But not the Bottomless Abyss.
The Bottomless Abyss was an empty existence.
There was no need to respond in the first place.
Even Boundary could simply be contained inside an empty space.
‘Would Soul Rank Usurpation be meaningless too?’
That was just an emptied-out space. It wasn’t a concept he could usurp.
Taesan’s gaze sank.
“Let’s test it.”
There was a power he’d gained from defeating Leviathan. The wrist guard on Taesan’s arm shone.
[You have activated World’s End Aggregate.]
The World’s End Aggregate contained within the wrist guard—an immense power that proclaimed the end of all things and delivered destruction to the universe.
Normally, it wouldn’t work on an Old God at all. Old Gods existed outside the concept of “all things.”
But Taesan infused World’s End Aggregate with Boundary.
He drew up even what was within his Treasure Chest and spread it out.
It was the end of everything.
An Authority manifested—one that bestowed an end upon all things, and beyond that, upon even what lay past the concept itself.
KWAGAGAGANG!
World’s End Aggregate exploded and swept across the area.
The black paint was blown away in an instant.
Taesan focused the surging World’s End Aggregate and swung it toward the Bottomless Abyss.
And Taesan himself charged forward. Enormous power condensed into his sword.
He would carve a path with World’s End Aggregate, then strike the Bottomless Abyss’s true body with Physical Force infused with Multiplication—that was the plan.
But Taesan couldn’t move as planned.
Squelch.
The Bottomless Abyss’s body shifted.
Bloated flesh expanded in an instant, swelling to several times its size.
And the swollen flesh touched World’s End Aggregate.
World’s End Aggregate sank into the flesh and disappeared.
It left behind no aftershock, no distortion—nothing.
Only then did Taesan realize.
That mass of flesh was, in the truest sense, the Bottomless Abyss itself.
And the black paint it swung around was merely a fragment.
[You have activated Teleport [Boundary].]
Tap.
He widened the distance by about a planet’s span.
Through the series of exchanges, Taesan could roughly grasp what the Bottomless Abyss was.
The black paint was part of the Authority the Bottomless Abyss wielded. It dyed and devoured everything it touched—Boundary included.
And it had no visible bottom.
Hundreds of spells that could scar a galaxy—paint the size of wallpaper devoured them all.
Needless to say, the Bottomless Abyss’s lump of flesh was even worse.
It was a single concept. The Bottomless Abyss’s body itself was its Authority.
‘A monster.’
He’d spent quite a lot, yet he couldn’t land even a scratch.
This was a complete Old God.
Just pushing through the paint to enter already consumed considerable strength, and even if he got in, the Old God’s body devoured everything.
‘What do I do?’
What did he have to do to win against an Old God?
To deal damage, he needed to strike the Old God’s true body.
But that true body itself was an Authority.
After a brief hesitation, Taesan made his decision.
“Let’s go simple.”
Boundary wrapped his entire body, and he launched forward.
The Bottomless Abyss’s mass of flesh trembled. Black paint spread like ink, staining the world.
Taesan didn’t dodge.
At the fastest speed he could produce, he charged straight at the Bottomless Abyss.
Sensing that movement, the Bottomless Abyss understood. Taesan had staked a great deal on this single blow.
He meant to strike it directly.
And because it understood that, the Bottomless Abyss scoffed.
It was the one who embraced all things.
With the bottomless abyss that was itself, it could swallow and drop all creation. No matter how strong the opponent, no matter how alien the power—it was the same. If it wished, it could contain the entire universe within itself and still have room to spare.
Taesan’s power meant nothing to it.
Black paint poured over Taesan. It slipped through his Boundary and reached him.
Boundary Negation was consumed at a rapid pace. In an instant, Taesan’s bare body was exposed, and his Attack Nullification was spent.
But Taesan didn’t stop.
He advanced and advanced. Pushing forward like that, Taesan arrived right before the Bottomless Abyss.
The Bottomless Abyss spread itself out. A brazen posture, as if to say, Go on. Try it.
Taesan stepped forward.
He advanced even more—until his arm could reach the Bottomless Abyss.
And he still didn’t stop.
[Wait!]
[M-Master?]
Taesan’s body entered the Bottomless Abyss.
The Bottomless Abyss was startled. It hadn’t expected Taesan to fall into it of his own accord.
But soon, the Bottomless Abyss shook with delight.
Its Authority was a bottomless abyss.
Once you fell in, you never returned.
Even if you were an Old God.
So that’s it. The Bottomless Abyss thought. It’s over.
It erased Taesan’s existence from its mind.
And there was another who dared to brandish vulgar power within its domain.
The Demon God.
Next, it would swallow that as well.
The Bottomless Abyss moved its heavy body.
The Demon God sensed it too. Taesan’s presence had vanished, and the Bottomless Abyss was approaching.
Confusion surfaced on the Demon God’s face.
KUUUUNG.
The Bottomless Abyss arrived before the Demon God.
The Demon God let out a bitter smile and brought her hands together.
[…I did anticipate this possibility, at least.]
An Old God was strong.
Strong enough that Taesan losing wouldn’t be strange. This outcome wasn’t unlikely.
[At the very least… I should try for revenge.]
The Demon God murmured and gathered her hands.
Darkness gathered. But compared to the Authority she once wielded, it was pitifully small and weak. She had already spent far too much.
The Bottomless Abyss sneered at her.
The black paint was about to sweep down—
Then the Bottomless Abyss stopped moving.
[…Huh?]
The Demon God, who’d been preparing to respond, froze as well. The Bottomless Abyss had abruptly stopped, like it had been struck by lightning.
Gurgle.
The Bottomless Abyss’s body twisted.
The Bottomless Abyss’s body was itself an Authority—a bottomless abyss.
Everything that was swallowed could never flow out again.
And yet, a clear wave of power was felt from within. It was impossible. Even the Bottomless Abyss was shaken. It had swallowed more than ten Transcenders so far, but none of them had ever escaped from within.
“…Taesan?”
The Demon God muttered.
*
*
[Hey! You! What kind of insane stunt is this?!]
[Ah, ahhh… Master.]
Bardray roared, and Akasha panicked.
Taesan was inside the Bottomless Abyss’s Authority—within the bottomless abyss.
He couldn’t see anything.
There was only an endless, pitch-black cliff.
“It really has no end.”
Taesan muttered. “No bottom” wasn’t a lie.
This place was, quite literally, [infinite].
He swung his sword, but it struck nothing and vanished. Magic, black magic—anything. The moment it was produced, it disappeared somewhere.
Even Taesan’s existence was the same. His very being was falling away and vanishing somewhere.
At this rate, even if he lasted long, it would be a day at most. It wasn’t much different from being exposed bare to an Old God’s Authority.
He wouldn’t last.
So he intended to finish it before then.
[Wh-what… what are you going to do? This is insane…]
“Either way, I don’t have good odds in a frontal fight.”
It took no small amount of strength just to break through the black paint. Then he’d have to break through and strike the Bottomless Abyss directly, but with its devouring nature, even that was impossible.
So instead, he entered from the start.
He would blow it up from the inside.
[N-no. I mean, that sounds nice, but with what…?]
“I’ve got something in mind. Something that’s paid off for me plenty of times.”
[What, exactly…?]
“The Bottomless Abyss’s black paint completely devoured my magic. But… it couldn’t do that to Boundary infused with World’s End Aggregate.”
It was infinite, but there was a limit to what it could “eat,” and at what rank.
“That limit is absurdly high, though.”
Unlike the black paint, it had likely swallowed countless Transcenders and stored them inside itself from the start. In other words, with normal means, you couldn’t reach that limit.
“But I can.”
Taesan could break through that limit.
Only then did Bardray realize what Taesan was doing.
[Wait. You—]
“It’s a gamble, but the odds are more than good.”
[You have activated Conversion.]
70,338.
[You have activated Addition.]
140,676.
[You have activated Blade of Fighting Spirit.]
422,028.
[You have activated Critical Point Designation.]
844,056.
[You have activated Strong Strike.]
[You have activated Replication.]
KUUUUUUNG!
Physical Force revealed itself within the Bottomless Abyss.
He infused it with Boundary.
Boundary and Physical Force intermingled, and something else manifested.
Even the Bottomless Abyss, which dragged all things down and made them fall, couldn’t devour Boundary infused with Physical Force.
His attack power was higher than before. The damage was over seventy billion—on a completely different level than before.
But it still wasn’t enough.
Designated Skill Reset wasn’t available. He couldn’t stack Multiplication.
But now, he had the Authority of Physical Force.
Taesan controlled the Authority of Physical Force that he possessed.
He stored the seventy-billion damage inside his sword without swinging it.
And in that state, he reset everything.
[You have activated Cycle.]
He cycled all the skills he had used.
Then he activated them again.
[You have activated Conversion.]
[You have activated Addition.]
[You have activated Blade of Fighting Spirit.]
[You have activated Critical Point Designation.]
[You have activated Strong Strike.]
[You have activated Replication.]
Damage exceeding seventy billion was packed into the sword once more.
Bardray groaned.
[W-wait…]
“Hold out.”
[No, it’s not that—this feels like it’s going to snap.]
“Hold out.”
[Ah…]
Taesan focused and controlled Physical Force.
Even he, who governed Physical Force itself, found it difficult to endure.
But it wasn’t over.
[You have activated Ring of Distorted Regret. Multiplication’s cooldown has been reset.]
One more time.
He stacked skills with no cooldown—like Addition and Multiplication.
And one more time.
[You have activated Cycle.]
KUGUGUGUK.
Physical Force, built from four rounds of Multiplication, condensed within Bardray.
[U-ughk.]
Bardray retched.
It was enormous Gray Physical Force.
A towering Authority that shone purely even within infinity.
The inside of the Bottomless Abyss warped and broke apart.
Taesan swung his sword. The blade met empty air.
And infinity began to shatter.