Chapter 573
Rumble!
The universe trembled.
The concepts of all things crumbled, then repeated the process of restoration.
It was literally like witnessing the End and the birth of the universe.
And at the center of it all was Earth.
“Fight!”
Someone shouted.
Blood splattered.
Worthless lives fell and died.
But they did not stop.
Gritting their teeth, they roared.
“We will be victorious!”
[Kyaaaaa!]
The monsters answered with shrieks.
Humans and the monsters of the Old Gods clashed.
[Uoooooo!]
A giant charged.
With every step it took, the earth crumbled and people were thrown aside.
An S-rank monster.
And among them, it was one of the single-digit ones.
People tried to widen the distance in terror.
But the giant, as if mocking them, closed the gap in an instant and raised its fist.
The moment it was about to bring it down,
a woman charged at the S-rank monster.
She swung her sword directly into the descending fist.
A deafening roar erupted.
[Uooo!]
And the one that went flying was the giant.
People cheered.
“Ooooo!”
“Ms. Taeyeon!”
Lee Taeyeon rushed toward the giant as it was flung backward.
Countless monsters tried to block her path.
There were easily hundreds of them.
Every single one was an A-rank monster.
Monsters that even Hard Mode Players could barely contend with even when going all out.
But Lee Taeyeon stepped forward.
Craaaack!
Hundreds of monsters were ripped apart all at once.
Lee Taeyeon poured strength into her sword.
Infusing it with Physical Force and Skills, she drove it into the monster’s chest.
Craaaack!
The monster was sent flying without even managing a scream.
Just like that, the S-rank monster fell.
Lee Taeyeon caught her breath.
She needed even a moment to recover after pouring out all her power.
But there was no time for that.
[Uweeeeer!]
The monsters charged again.
People were flung around like toys.
Lee Taeyeon gritted her teeth and threw herself forward.
Rumble!
The battle was ferocious.
And naturally, the side being pushed back was humanity.
[Kyaaaaa!]
[Kreeeeek!]
“They never end!”
Kim Hwiyeon shouted harshly as she swung her sword.
A-rank monsters were literally descending without end.
The number of S-rank monsters was not small either.
Powerhouses like Diana and Beldenkia were holding them back, but even they were nearing their limits.
People resisted desperately, but they were still falling one by one.
And above all else, amidst that chaos, there was a terrifying existence.
Squelch.
Just by moving, the ground corroded.
Everything melted away and vanished.
An existence the system window could not even explain.
An Apostle.
It moved toward the people.
People swallowed dryly.
Instinctively, they knew that simply being near that existence meant death.
And there was someone holding back that existence.
“Seriously. No time to rest.”
Lee Taeyeon, having finished off the S-rank monster, dashed over.
She swung her hand.
Hummmm!
[You have activated the Responsibility, Duty, and Right of Choice.]
The Divine Power of Maria, the God of Choice, activated.
In an instant, her rank rose.
She swung her sword.
It collided with the Apostle, and the sound of impact spread.
Craaaack!
The Apostle’s massive body was pushed back.
She landed and steadied her breathing.
“You did well.”
“I’m… gonna die.”
Amelia groaned as she retreated.
While Lee Taeyeon had been dealing with the other monsters, Amelia had been holding the line against the Apostle.
And that time had not been short.
For over an hour, Amelia had faced the Apostle alone.
Amelia had not even cleared the Labyrinth yet.
She was by no means at a level where she should have been able to face an Apostle.
But there were no major injuries on her body.
Lee Taeyeon muttered in amazement.
“The Boundary… really is a monstrous power.”
The reason it had been possible was precisely because of the Boundary.
As Taesan’s Apostles, Amelia and Kang Jun-hyuk had been allowed to use Boundary.
An anomaly that belonged neither to the concepts of the universe nor to the Old Gods.
By wielding it, they had endured against an opponent of a higher rank.
“You’ve worked hard.”
“Can I rest now?”
“You know there’s no time for that, right?”
“…Damn.”
“But I’ve sorted things out for now. I can help too.”
“Good. Let’s do it.”
Amelia gritted her teeth and drew out Boundary.
Smoldering Gray wrapped around her.
Kang Jun-hyuk was not yet at the level where he could hold his own against an Apostle.
The two of them had to keep the Apostle from reaching the people.
“Horrifying. Truly.”
Lee Taeyeon muttered.
The monsters attacking them were overwhelmingly numerous, and all of them were powerful.
It was a scale incomparable to the time Earth had been destroyed in her past life.
But they were holding on.
“Hold the line!”
“Maintain formation!”
Even with casualties, the people endured and kept formation.
Compared to her past life, the number of survivors was overwhelming.
There were hundreds of millions of them, and in terms of sheer numbers, they were not inferior to the monsters.
With those numbers, they endured sacrifices and maintained their battle lines.
And above all else, Taesan’s existence was significant.
The [Divinity], Elementals, Magi,
and the Divine Power of Physical Force he had granted to Earth’s Players.
Those had raised the people’s level by an entire step.
Current Hard Mode Players could now defeat A-rank monsters without much difficulty.
All of that was thanks to Taesan.
“We can endure.”
Lee Taeyeon tightened her grip on her sword.
The woman who once trembled in fear and only pretended to be calm was gone.
With steady eyes, she stepped toward the Apostle.
At that moment,
Hummmm!
Divine Power descended upon her.
Lee Taeyeon’s eyes widened like a rabbit’s.
“Huh?”
A mighty Divine Power, a rank, governed her.
It was a blessing on a level that could contend even with an Apostle.
“Lady Maria?”
Lee Taeyeon was flustered.
She was Maria’s Apostle.
Maria could bestow blessings upon her.
But she had not expected it.
Because even the Transcenders had no room to spare, being too busy dealing with the Old Gods.
[Unexpectedly, I have some room to breathe.]
Maria’s voice, divine words, echoed in her mind.
[The number of Old Gods is fewer than expected.]
“…Fewer?”
[Yes. Clearly fewer. A fortunate thing. For us, that is.]
But Maria’s voice was not bright.
It was confused, as if she had been caught off guard.
[I heard it from Arilnan… but I never thought Usurpation could be done by multiple beings.]
“No way.”
Lee Taeyeon looked up at the sky.
The universe was distorting.
And there, visible within it, was the Rift in the sky.
A violent wave was flowing out of it.
A thick, deep wave of collision that could be felt even from outside.
A clash of power so intense that, if it had erupted outside, it could have shattered the universe.
Taesan was there.
Fighting their greatest enemy.
[It may be more dangerous than we thought. Perhaps he…]
“No.”
Lee Taeyeon shook her head.
As an Apostle, she was denying the words of her God.
It should have been impossible.
But her face was filled with certainty.
“He will win.”
There had been countless impossible situations.
Situations where anyone and everyone had thought victory was impossible, situations that seemed beyond even Taesan’s abilities.
But every single time, Taesan had seized victory.
“I believe.”
An immutable truth engraved in her heart.
Taesan never loses.
“So win and come back, Taesan.”
With a quiet voice, Lee Taeyeon charged toward the Apostle.
Divine Powers intertwined.
The Divine Powers of Descent, of Alone and Whole, and of unknown Old Gods.
They mixed, fused, and became one.
Their rank and concept transformed once again into something abnormal.
Rumble.
The body of the Usurper, which had been nothing, began to take shape.
“How many have you devoured?”
[How many do you think?]
The Usurper answered with a laugh.
Taesan clicked his tongue.
‘At least three.’
Maybe more.
That many Old Gods dwelled within the Usurper.
Its pure rank itself was higher than Taesan’s.
And significantly so.
[I will no longer resort to deception and the like. In a direct clash, I will make both your spirit and your entire body submit. Only then will it truly have meaning.]
A calm voice echoed out.
The Usurper’s body gradually transformed into a physical form.
[Shapeshifter. An existence that can change into all things. Compared to me, it is merely a crude imitation of form… but it has its uses.]
Rumble.
That abnormal rank began to compress.
The Usurper’s distorted form, which belonged neither to this world nor to what lay beyond, gradually took on a proper shape.
At last, the Usurper’s form stabilized.
Taesan sneered at the result.
“Ridiculous.”
The Usurper had taken the form of a human.
A completely ordinary, commonplace face.
Its build was the same.
It was precisely the sort of appearance one would imagine for a being whose every aspect was average.
[So this is the feeling.]
The Usurper repeatedly clenched and unclenched its fist.
[So this is a human body.]
“What are you trying to do?”
[I will devour you.]
As if it were an immutable truth, there was not the slightest doubt in the Usurper’s voice.
It carried a firm conviction that it would absolutely happen.
[By devouring you, I can become complete in the truest sense. I can belong to the universe. Should I not then take on a form worthy of that?]
“So that’s the form you chose.”
An utterly ordinary, commonplace human appearance.
The Usurper intended to make that appearance its own fixed form.
The Usurper opened its hand.
Black Descent condensed there.
Hummmm.
Soon, it took the shape of a sword.
A pitch-black sword was now in the Usurper’s grasp.
And the Usurper moved.
Faster than before, so fast it was hard to follow with the eye.
Taesan swiftly swung his sword.
Craaaack!
The pitch-black sword and Bardray collided.
A massive shockwave spread.
The Beast of Boundary and Physical Force.
Even the sword containing all of that could not push back the pitch-black sword.
Instead, the Usurper exerted force.
Taesan’s body was thrown backward.
He was being overpowered by sheer strength.
The Usurper immediately pressed the attack.
It roughly swung the writhing pitch-black sword.
Craaaack!
Cutting through the Usurper’s Domain, it aimed for Taesan’s body.
Taesan widened the distance and swung Boundary.
A wave of Gray shot toward the Usurper.
The Usurper unleashed a sword strike.
The wave was cut apart without accomplishing anything.
Taesan raised his sword.
Craaaack!
The sound of collision rang out, and the impact spread through Taesan’s body.
The Usurper flicked its finger in the same motion.
The Divine Powers of the Old Gods it had devoured mixed together and assaulted Taesan.
Boom!
He barely escaped by wrapping the Beast of Boundary around his body.
Taesan immediately turned defense into offense.
“Charge.”
The Beast of Boundary roared and charged at the Usurper.
The Beast of Boundary was the embodiment of the Domain of Boundary itself.
Its rank was above even the black Descent.
But the Usurper, grasping a single sword, swung it.
Craaaack!
The Beast of Boundary and the pitch-black sword collided.
And the Beast was pushed back.
Its rank and Domain began to suffer damage.
Taesan clicked his tongue and recalled the Beast.
Simple.
But strong, and fast.
Its rank was also above Taesan’s.
In the purest sense, it was an opponent stronger than Taesan.
What should he do?
After a brief moment of thought, Taesan reached an answer.
The opponent was stronger than he was.
More than anything, it was also wielding a similar concept.
Swinging massive force and pressing down on space the way he had before was meaningless.
Magic, Magi, mixing Boundary and wielding it that way—none of it would work on this opponent.
So he focused.
On the sword.
On that one thing alone.
“In the end, it comes down to simplicity, huh.”
Not as a Transcender who had reached a great realm.
Not as a distorted being wielding anomalies.
But like an ordinary swordsman.
“Bardray.”
[Got it.]
Bardray answered calmly.
“Gather.”
He poured everything into the sword.
All the power he possessed.
Everything he had built up until now.
All of it gathered into a single blade.