Chapter 562
‘Chiik!’
A choking smoke billowed upward.
“……”
Ares stared blankly at his abdomen.
A clearly visible hole.
At a distance of less than a meter, even his absolute defense was pierced.
This was a body that had endured breath attacks bare-skinned even before activating his Unique Holy Spear…
Yet it couldn’t withstand a single bullet.
‘Cough!’
Blood surged up from his mouth.
His body lost balance and staggered heavily.
[Due to the effect of Unique Holy Spear, the wound rapidly heals!]
[‘Olympus’ Blessing’ increases healing power by 30%!]
The wounded area began to regenerate.
“Tch!”
He was surprised, but it wasn’t a fatal wound.
Ares quickly gathered mana at his fingertips.
The pain was unfamiliar and unpleasant.
But more than the pain, what really scraped at his nerves was…
…that he, a god, had felt fear—because of a mere human.
‘Grit!’
That was something he could never accept.
It wasn’t another Main God from a powerful faction.
No, it was a mere human, no matter how strong.
“I’ll cut you down in a single blow!”
His blade flared with intensity, writhing to devour its prey.
It was the very same strike that had gravely injured T-Bone and the Bone Dragon.
He looked straight into Jinhyuk’s eyes.
“This kind of thing…”
The blade targeted his neck.
Unlike before when it was a projectile strike, this time it was a full-force slash imbued entirely with power—far more deadly.
But Jinhyuk didn’t move an inch.
“There’s no need to dodge.”
Because there really wasn’t.
‘Clang!’
The tip of the pistol twisted the path of the blade perfectly.
With minimal effort, he completely diverted the opponent’s full power. A flawless counter in perfect timing.
And almost simultaneously—
‘Click!’
The pistol in his other hand was pressed against Ares’ chin.
“Your healing seemed impressive earlier. I wonder if you can regenerate a headshot.”
[Lv???? ‘Dimension Bullet’ activates.]
‘Bang!’
A mana-charged bullet fired.
“GRAAAAGH!”
The beam of light pierced his chin and took out his right eye.
There was no way to block it.
Because this wasn’t a bullet that could be blocked.
Jinhyuk stared down at the writhing Ares.
There wasn’t a trace of sympathy in his eyes.
Colder than ice. Deeper than the ocean.
His expression carried only one thing: the desire to inflict pain on the enemy who had harmed his loved ones.
“Was it this arm? The one you used to cut down T-Bone?”
‘Bang!’
“……!!!!????”
Ares’ one remaining pupil dilated rapidly.
A second later, the excruciating pain gnawed through every nerve in his body.
“Uwaaagh!”
This wasn’t just the pain of a wound piercing flesh.
The searing agony left in the bullet’s wake was unimaginable.
It was clearly imbued with a curse so potent that it even damaged Olympus’ divine power.
“Next, it must be this leg you dragged all the way here. I heard you smashed the Korean Gate—sounds like there were plenty of casualties.”
‘Bang! Bang!’
One bullet to each leg.
Both aimed squarely at the knees.
‘Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!’
Ares convulsed violently, swallowing his screams.
He was on the verge of begging to be killed.
“It’s far from over. This is just the beginning.”
Compared to the pain Alice endured, this wasn’t even one ten-thousandth of repayment.
But then—
‘Thunk!’
The weight of the gun suddenly increased by hundreds of times.
“……”
Jinhyuk let go of the gun.
There was no way he could hold it with one hand now.
‘Clang!’
The gun crashed to the ground, breaking through the floor and falling below.
‘Crash…crashcrashcrash!’
Lower and lower it fell.
Until even the sound vanished.
“Let’s put away that dangerous weapon for now.”
A voice came from right beside him.
That same unnatural discomfort…
It was the same as when he’d encountered the Sleeper Owl or Coffindance.
This guy was one of the [Administrators].
“Right. So there was one more who tormented Alice besides Ares.”
“I do apologize for that. But really, that young lady should’ve just obeyed.”
His other hand clenched the air.
Jinhyuk wanted nothing more than to blow that smug face apart.
But he held back.
He hadn’t heard the answer he wanted yet.
“You were the ones playing tricks, weren’t you? Why did you try to sever Alice’s contract?”
“Hahaha. Well, I’m not obligated to answer that… but since you already know we were after her, there’s no reason to hide it.”
25 Years On a Diet shrugged casually.
Then added an explanation as if it were nothing serious.
“It’s simple. We just wanted to scout Miss Alice to our side. The recruitment method may have been a bit extreme, though.”
“And what exactly were you planning to do after scouting her?”
“Oh, surely you’ve already figured that out. If you want to hunt the most difficult prey, you first need to acquire the most optimized hunting tool.”
Right. The only reason they would be so desperate for Alice…
The reason the other administrators turned against the Sleeper Owl…
What they aimed to achieve through all of it…
‘It’s all because they want to eliminate me.’
To them, he was the biggest obstacle.
A veteran who had seen the top of the Tower—he had to be removed.
Jinhyuk snapped his pistol toward him like lightning.
‘Bang!’
A dimension-piercing bullet shot straight at the Administrator’s heart.
“Now, now, did you really think I would forget your fighting style, Player Kang Jinhyuk?”
25 Years smiled thinly and waved his hand.
[Administrator’s Authority ‘Status Window Adjustment’ activates!]
In an instant, the bullet’s power rapidly weakened.
As if the ability itself had been downgraded.
At first, Jinhyuk thought it was just mass or gravity control when the gun grew heavy…
But it wasn’t that petty.
“You can manipulate… the status window?”
The power to reduce the grade of a skill or ability entirely.
It was an ability on a whole different level than normal gods.
‘So this is what sets administrators apart.’
“Sharp as always. That’s right. I am an administrator, after all. Wouldn’t be right if I couldn’t do at least this much.”
A long ice spear appeared at 25 Years’ fingertips.
[Ability is being upgraded.]
[Ability is being upgraded.]
[Ability is bein—]
The freezing aura grew more intense.
Even the spear’s form grew increasingly ornate.
“Well? Don’t think even you can withstand this one.”
25 Years shrugged triumphantly.
He wore the expression of someone confident in their victory.
Yet, Jinhyuk’s face remained unchanged.
“If you’ve been watching me, then you should know better than anyone.”
Arrogantly, naturally.
And as always—
“That’s nowhere near enough.”
Status manipulation was indeed a terrifying power.
However—
If that was enough to ensure victory, they wouldn’t have gone through all this trouble.
No matter the conditions.
No matter the situation or variables.
Victory would be his—because that’s who Jinhyuk was.
‘Bang!’
His gun fired once more.
“Do you have no learning capability? The same trick—”
25 Years tried to weaken the bullet’s power.
But Jinhyuk had already vanished from his position.
‘Step.’
‘Crash!’
“If I just stop that hand from moving, there’s plenty of ways to deal with you.”
To manipulate a status window, he had to point with that hand.
No matter how strong the power—
If there was no chance to activate it, it was useless.
‘Slash-slash-slash-slash!’
Jinhyuk swung his two blades like a madman.
“Tch!”
25 Years did his best to block with the spear.
All while looking for a moment to use his authority.
But Jinhyuk, knowing full well what he wanted, didn’t allow even that opening.
‘Shhhhk-shhhhk-shhhhk!’
[‘Napoleon’s Coronation’ – A Midsummer Night’s Memoir activates!]
A dreamlike memory of the past—
An ability that recalled his strongest self unfolded.
‘Patzzt!’
Blue sparks roared in every direction.
[Crimson Lotus changes form.]
[Barnard changes form.]
The twin daggers split into hundreds of blades.
They danced in a chaotic flurry, like a twin-bladed storm.
“Gwaaaagh!”
25 Years screamed.
There was no way a single spear could block them all.
He couldn’t even predict their trajectory.
Nor use his administrator powers as he wished.
‘I have to escape. Unless multiple administrators intervene, I have no chance to use my authority freely.’
Jinhyuk’s power far exceeded expectations.
It was hard to grasp when just observing.
But now, as an enemy, he realized it—down to the bone.
That this man was a monster beyond imagination.
As he searched for an escape route rather than fight back—
‘Now…!’
A faint opening appeared.
If he was willing to sacrifice an arm, he might escape from here.
Unfortunately, even that was part of Jinhyuk’s design.
[Unique Ability ‘Seven Bullets’ activates!]
50th Floor of the Tower of Trials.
The very ability that took down an ancient being.
A blinding purple light flared from the gun barrel.
“W-Wait!”
25 Years shouted more desperately than ever before.
‘Kukukukukuku!’
Next to the Signiel tower, another purple pillar formed.
—
At the same time—
While his clone fought outside the Tower, Jinhyuk’s real body was still caught up in the game hosted by ‘N’.
‘Looks like things are wrapping up well over there… the problem is this side.’
The Korean traditional game “Mugunghwa Flower Has Bloomed.”
Normally, you just had to avoid the seeker’s eyes and move at the right time.
But on the 34th Floor, it required far more skill.
“Mugunghwa flower has…”
‘Pop-pop-pop!’
“…bloomed!”
The speed of finishing the phrase was less than one second.
Sometimes slow, sometimes fast—
The timing tricks were borderline cheating.
And with many more games to come, it was only going to get worse.
Even with the strategy in hand, it consumed too much time.
At best, it was a zero-sum game.
The best way to deal with ‘N’s games was to not get involved in the first place.
“Ji-Jinhyuk!”
“What are we supposed to do here?!”
Teresa and Andrea struggled to maintain their balance.
For them, unfamiliar with this game, it was even harder.
Damn it.
If only there was another way…
Just as he was thinking that—
“Mugunghwa flower has… huh?”
‘Crack!’
The barrier controlling the squid game shattered.
And from the broken fragments appeared a man holding a sword—
[Chun Yoosung].
“Yoosung!”
Jinhyuk called out in joy.
As expected, this leech-like guy was the most reliable in moments like these.
“While I was out suffering against Guardians, you were playing games, huh?”
…Never mind. Take back everything I just said.
He always had to ruin a good moment.
“Hiiieek… M-My playground… who are—”
“No need to know. Just disappear.”
‘N’s primary ability was reality materialization.
Since his core strength was weak, he couldn’t withstand Chun Yoosung’s sword empowered with sword energy.
N tried to flee in a panic.
‘Slash!’
And with his back exposed, Chun Yoosung struck.
“Gyaaaah…”
His body split and fell in opposite directions.
Just like that—
[The game has been forcibly terminated.]
The blue status window disappeared, and their vision returned to normal.
(T/N: Woooooohooooo! Satisfaction levels are off the roof! I fucking love this chapter.)