Chapter 565
The sentence “everything” was written there.
It meant exactly what it said.
If Taesan could handle it, he would literally be able to accept and drop everything.
Right away, he could feel the empty space inside him.
A massive void, a huge hole so vast you couldn’t see its end.
If he wanted, it felt like it could swallow even the universe.
But it wasn’t perfect.
The Bottomless Abyss’s true Authority was the Authority of infinity—an infinity with no bottom.
But the Bottomless Abyss Taesan had obtained had a bottom.
It was so deep and wide that it was hard to grasp its end, but it was a definite bottom.
‘Is it because I twisted it?’
It seemed to be because he had usurped it after damaging the Bottomless Abyss’s immutability.
In fact, even the proficiency had stopped at 99% instead of 100%.
That 1% would never close. The Bottomless Abyss had been completely erased.
Even so, the Authority’s value hadn’t dropped much.
The Bottomless Abyss was still vast and deep. What he could do with it didn’t change all that much.
What he could do with the Bottomless Abyss he’d just gained was absolute defense.
Swallow every attack aimed at him and store it inside himself.
It did say “to the extent the owner can handle,” but as Taesan was now, even a Transcender’s power—no, even an Old God’s Authority—could be swallowed without much trouble.
In the end, for an enemy to land an attack on Taesan, they would have to break through Boundary Negation, fill the Bottomless Abyss to the brim, and then exhaust all of Attack Nullification.
[Absolute defense, huh.]
“It’s not quite enough to call it that.”
[No, it’s absolutely enough to call it that……]
Bardray let out a hollow laugh.
He’d stayed quiet from shock until now, but he’d finally regained himself to some extent.
[You killed an Old God.]
An intact Old God.
The Bottomless Abyss had fallen by Taesan’s hand.
[Even if it’s not perfect, you usurped an Old God’s Authority itself. If someone wants to get past that and make their attack reach you…… I don’t know. I can’t even think of who could do that. No matter how I look at it, Soul Rank Usurpation is an absurd power.]
Perfectly usurping an Old God’s Authority.
Gaining an Old God’s Authority every time he brought one down—something like that shouldn’t exist.
[In the truest sense…… you really could end the war.]
“Maybe.”
Taesan still wasn’t sure.
The Usurper and the God of Fall still weren’t moving.
The two of them were clearly aiming for something.
‘And.’
Taesan had stepped into an Old God’s domain.
He had seen the warped space and the space dyed black with his own eyes, experienced it with his own body.
And from the moment he entered that domain until the moment he came back out—
There had been a gaze fixed on him the entire time.
At the time, he hadn’t realized it. He hadn’t even noticed there was a gaze at all.
There was only one reason.
The owner of that gaze was too immense.
As if it were the Old God’s domain itself, even Taesan couldn’t properly grasp it.
It was only after retracing, retracing again, the faint sense of dissonance he’d felt back then that he barely realized it.
That gaze’s owner hadn’t shown hostility toward Taesan.
The emotion within it was probably interest—and curiosity.
‘Just what kind of being it was.’
The Old Gods that had attacked the Boundary to invade the universe.
Even among them, that being hadn’t been seen.
Like an observer, it had only watched.
There were still too many unknowns.
Since he couldn’t be sure, he planned to grow his strength as much as possible.
What he gained from this battle wasn’t only the Bottomless Abyss.
In the process of placing Cycle into the Beast of Boundary, two skills also changed.
[Master of Boundary]
[A newly born ruler of Boundary. The Boundary that exists because of you has finally gained its own ego. It was born as a living being. Boundary follows your commands and shows hostility toward your enemies.]
[Transcendence: Boundary]
[Proficiency: 100%]
[A boundary line. Something that lies between the world and what lies beyond the world. It was born as a complete ego and a living being.]
The changes were exactly what Taesan had expected.
The part about Boundary becoming a living being had been added.
Boundary was placed into Cycle and was born as a complete living being.
He couldn’t say exactly what had changed, but in the process, Boundary’s very rank had been altered.
And it had been altered in a very powerful direction.
It possessed the Physical Force of life, cycled on its own to regenerate, and devoured the world.
Taesan recalled the Beast of Boundary from when he finished off the Bottomless Abyss.
The beast expanded its own domain and blew the Bottomless Abyss apart.
The important point was the expansion of the domain.
When the beast, having gained life, expanded its domain, something was different.
In the truest sense, it made all things its own.
In that moment, that place had become Boundary itself.
That could become another card.
Taesan stored that method away in his mind.
For the first time in a while, Taesan checked the community.
The players on the community were slowly preparing for the end.
Most Easy mode and Normal mode players had reached the 100th Floor.
Hard mode wasn’t much different.
The frontrunners had arrived in the late 90s, discussing how to clear the remaining floors and how to reduce casualties.
Just as Taesan had said before, they were delaying the clear as much as possible, but if they wanted to, they were in a state where they could return to Earth immediately.
After watching them for a moment, Taesan called the Solo mode players and asked.
[Kang Taesan (Solo): How far are you?]
[Kang Jun-hyuk (Solo): Ah, hyung. I’m on the 78th Floor right now.]
[Amelia Aerin (Solo): 85th Floor.]
[Kang Taesan (Solo): Faster than I expected.]
Taesan was surprised.
In the last return, Kang Jun-hyuk had been on the 69th Floor, and Amelia had been on the 76th.
Those were the deep layers of the Labyrinth.
And in the deep layers, breaking through a single floor took a very long time.
He thought five floors at most would be the limit, but both of them exceeded Taesan’s expectations.
At Taesan’s words, Amelia spoke as if it were ridiculous.
[Amelia Aerin (Solo): You’re saying that? It’s all because of you.]
Taesan realized what Amelia meant.
[Kang Taesan (Solo): So it’s pretty usable.]
Taesan could be seen as a Transcender who ruled over intact concepts.
And Earth’s players were his believers.
Taesan had bestowed the Authority of Physical Force to them.
Among them, Amelia and Kang Jun-hyuk were Taesan’s apostles.
They were directly under him.
That was why Taesan could bestow Boundary to the two of them directly.
Taesan didn’t know how they would handle it, but it seemed they were using it better than expected.
[Kang Jun-hyuk (Solo): It’s not just usable.]
[Amelia Aerin (Solo): Honestly, we can’t even use it properly. We’re handling it in a pathetic way—literally just picking it up and swinging it around. But…… even that is strong enough.]
Boundary stood above all compatibility.
Just swinging it could shatter both an enemy’s offense and defense.
In the first place, Boundary was something that couldn’t even be countered unless you were at the level of a Transcender or an Old God.
Even in the deep layers, it was a balance breaker.
[Amelia Aerin (Solo): It feels like we’re relying on it too much, like we’re freeloading.]
[Kang Taesan (Solo): That’s still your power, in the end. There’s no problem.]
[Amelia Aerin (Solo): I know, but it feels strange.]
From Taesan’s perspective, it wasn’t a bad thing to hear.
It meant that if they were his apostles, they could use Boundary without much trouble.
[Kang Taesan (Solo): What about Lee Taeyeon?]
[Lee Taeyeon (Solo): 90th Floor.]
Lee Taeyeon was also quite fast.
She had gained the Authority of Physical Force, and as Maria’s apostle, she also possessed Authority related to that.
She was far beyond a normal adventurer.
[Lee Taeyeon (Solo): Taesan. What about you?]
[Kang Taesan (Solo): 99th Floor now.]
[Amelia Aerin (Solo): ……Damn.]
[Lee Taeyeon (Solo): So it’s really the end now.]
[Kang Taesan (Solo): I don’t know how long it’ll take from here.]
But it could be very short.
After talking briefly, Taesan closed the community.
He closed his eyes and rested.
He inspected his body’s condition and eased his fatigue.
Once he had recovered enough, Taesan went down the stairs.
He arrived on the 99th Floor, and there was nothing there.
It was just empty.
Not even a System window appeared.
It meant he couldn’t proceed with the 99th Floor right now.
It would probably stay like this until the Magician returned.
And Taesan had no intention of waiting quietly.
He seized space.
“I’m leaving on my own, but…… he’ll understand.”
Muttering softly, he pulled space toward himself.
And he thrust his body into it.
Taesan disappeared from the Labyrinth.
*
*
KUGUGUGUGUGUNG!
The universe tore.
Not a metaphor or an exaggeration—literally.
The universe itself was being ripped apart.
And the one causing that phenomenon was enormous.
A humanoid monster on a scale that shook and shattered the universe itself.
And there were those who opposed that being.
[Damn World Slayer!]
A curse was spat out.
It was a handsome man. He swung his hand roughly.
[Bind him.]
SHRAAAAK!
Chains burst forth.
They were the universe’s concept—the Authority of Restraint.
The man was the God of Restraint.
Using his concept, he tried to bind the World Slayer.
KUGUGUGUGUNG!
But it didn’t work.
As if annoyed, the World Slayer lightly shook his body.
With that alone, the universe trembled.
The Authority of Restraint collided with Immutable Self and shattered. The God of Restraint ground his teeth.
[It doesn’t work.]
WOOOOOONG!
The World Slayer raised his fist.
That action alone twisted and broke the universe’s concepts.
The fist swung.
That massive body moved to strike the God of Restraint.
It was the moment the God of Restraint tried to respond.
KIIIIIIING!
A sword descended.
A colossal sword, large enough to split a planet itself.
It was the very concept of a sword. The God of Restraint muttered.
[Ehilliye.]
The God of Sword. Ehilliye.
KAGAGAK!
The sword blocked the World Slayer’s fist.
And a formless force seized the World Slayer’s fist.
It was the Authority of control, which governed and suppressed everything in the universe.
It didn’t end there. Another Authority descended.
[Crush!]
With a rough voice, something compressed pressed down on the fist.
It was the Authority of Compression, which compressed and compressed all things.
The God of Restraint also didn’t stand still.
He wielded his Authority to stop the fist.
Four gods who wielded intact concepts.
Their Authorities combined.
A collection of Authorities that could literally shake the universe.
CRRRAAACK.
But it broke.
Immutable Self wrapped around the World Slayer shattered and rejected the world’s concepts.
KWA-AAAAANG!
The Authorities were blown apart.
Freed, the World Slayer swung his fist.
The universe screamed as it tore apart.