Beyond the Eternity

"That's natural. The corruption process started a while ago. But I didn't think It would reach this level though."

Once the grade 4 Faceless One starts the De-terraforming process, It was impossible to stop unless the monster which was also Impossible at this stage. But It shouldn't have spread this fast.

Something had accelerated the corruption.

"I see. Is that it? Tch!"

I clicked my tongue.

Park Joonhyuk, who was besides me, asked. "What's wrong? Did you figure something out?"

"Yeah. I think the cause of this mess us the Disaster of Storms. To be precise, his presence is the cause."

"What?"

"Don't you know? Some would assume he's called the Disaster of Storms because of his control over Antimatter, but the main power of his attribute is the control over Monsters."

Park Joonhyuk's eyes widened as he processed my words. "You're saying the Disaster of Storms is controlling these things?"

"Indirectly. Controlling a grade 4 Faceless One is impossible at this stage, even for the Disaster. However, he can influence its movement by inputting thoughts into its head like 'go this way' or 'go that way'. As such, he can speed up the de-terraforming process."

"Oh, I get it. Since he can't attack, he's using the monsters to do his dirty work. Is that right?"

Park Joonhyuk gritted his teeth. For some reason, he had become irritated.

World Corruption

It was a major event that would bring the world to destruction upon infection. First, it starts with a monster invasion, and then a candidate for the World Corruption will be chosen.

The 5th Fable was originally meant to battle the Grade 4 Faceless One, which was the cause of the corruption. But at this point, that seems far beyond our reach.

Even so, the rest of the world wasn't faring much better.

Park Joonhyuk said, "There are monsters ahead of us."

"Huh? How did you..."

"I created a few puppets beforehand and sent them to scout the surroundings. It seems the Faceless One is controlling the fallen people."

"Hmm. That's troublesome. Let's take the high road."

We quickly moved towards high ground. The land was plagued by living corpses and the stench of rotting monsters. The corrupted people shuffled with hollow eyes. Behind them, mutated creatures fought over scraps of flesh.

Damn, Park Joonhyuk was right. Those things were everywhere. There was no route in sight that we could use to escape.

I frowned. "The corruption is spreading much faster than I expected."

"Yeah. It's reminds me of a video game I used to play as a kid."

"This world is similar to a dark fantasy story so that can't be helped. But if we don't stop this, these things will spread to other cities as well "

"You think we can stop this?"

"It's not a matter of 'if.' It's 'how.' Right now, we're up against the clock. The Disaster of Ruin is fueling this, intentionally or not. As long as he's here, the corruption will only spread."

"But we can't kill him. I mean, before we kill him, we'll have to find him. Yes? And fighting against the Faceless one is out of the question."

"We don't necessarily need to kill those things."

"What do you mean?"

Park Joonhyuk looked like he did not understand my words. I looked at him and explained.

"As I said, we don't need to kill him or the Faceless One. That creature likely has something like a 'core' around here. Destroying it won't completely stop the spread, but it will slow it down and keep it from spreading to other areas."

"But wouldn't something like that be surrounded by monsters?"

"Obviously. But it's our best shot. It should buy us enough time before the nightmare scenario begins."

"And where do you think this core is hiding?"

"The core would probably be placed somewhere in the heart of the district. Now I wonder where that would be?"

"Wait, you don't mean..."

Park Joonhyuk's eyes widened and turned elsewhere.

There was only one place that was known as the heart of Songpa-gu. It was the 555 metres tall Lotte World Tower that had turned into a Horror Tower. Instead of a normal structure, the building was covered by massive chunks of crimson flesh. Needless to say, that thing was not a pleasure sight.

"Of course, It would be there." He muttered bitterly as if he was unimpressed. "So we're basically walking into the lion's den."

"Wouldn't be the first time."

"You... Are you still upset about that time?"

"Considering I was almost blown into bits, then I would say I'm still pretty upset."

"I thought you agreed to let bygones be bygomes?"

"Hmph. When did I agree to that? we agreed to team up temporarily and signed a contract to reinforce that fact. But It doesn't mean I've forgiven or forgotten what you did."

"T-That..."

Park Joonhyuk rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. Of course, It was difficult to forget the past considering this person tried to kill me not once, but three times— the time with the Death Warden, the time where I nearly escaped from the explosion and the time where he stabbed in the back during the King's War.

However,

"Even so, there's a way where I can forgive you."

"Is that so? What is it?"

"I will hit you."

"Eh?"

Park Joonhyuk looked as if he was in a gaze. He hurriedly opened his mouth. "Hold on now, you're not planning on killing me, right? Have you forgotten about the contract?"

"I haven't forgotten about the contract."

"Then..."

"I haven't forgotten. But..." I smiled gently. "I'll hit you once. I'll do it gently, so please accept my love. Okay?"

Of course, I couldn't harm Park Joonhyuk because of the contract. But that didn't mean I couldn't harm him in the future.

After all, the contract is only valid until the end of the Nightmare scenario.

"Cough— Cough—"

Park Joonhyuk coughed to change the direction of the conservation. "By the way, Isn't that she heavy? I can create a clone for you, you know."

"That's odd. I distinctly remember you saying you wanted nothing to do with Soo Jinyoung a few moments ago."

"Haha! Did I say that?"

"Yes. You did."

"That is that and this is this. Let me carry her, okay."

Park Joonhyuk created a puppet to carry Soo Jinyoung from my back and we continued to move. We fully entered Songpa-gu and and the density of the strange masses of flesh that covered the surroundings increased.

Songpa-gu was already partially consumed by a terrible creature from another wolrd. Even so, we couldn't afford to stop after coming this far.

Every now and then, Park Joonhyuk would create puppets and send them away, then those puppets would send a mental transmission containing information about the nearby monsters to Park Joonhyuk. As expected, the puppets were extremely useful.

The Devil Arcana was good but the Fool Arcana also had its own benefits as well. In fact, I think I would have chosen the Fool's path even if I had the option to choose the Devil's path.

But as we neared the Lotte World Tower, things became more complicated.

The corrupted grew in numbers and seemed more aggressive than the ones prior. To be precise, they seemed to looking for something as they entered here and there.

"What the hell is wrong with these guys?"

"I don't know but It seems a direct confrontation is impossible."

"We don't need to do anything. I'll handle it."

Park Joonhyuk created several more puppets which jumped towards the monster horde.

"Hey, look at me!"

"Hehe! You can't catch me!"

"What are you looking at? I bet your feet smells!"

"Rrrraaaahhh!"

"Grrr-aaa-rrrhh!"

The mutated creatures snapped their heads toward the puppets. Wasting no time, they lunged at once, but the puppets darted away and lured them toward a different direction.

Just like that, the path that was originally blocked was now clear of monsters.

We came out from our hiding spots and looked at the direction where the monsters disappeared to. I couldn't help but mumble. "Those puppets are really good, huh?"

"I chose the Devil Arcane for a reason, you know. In any case, that won't distract them for long."

"Yeah. Let's use this time to move before they come.... back?"

I stopped talking as I noticed something ahead. It was a group of black silhouettes were running this way. More monsters? No, that was wrong.

As I looked closer, I immediately noticed that the black silhouettes heading this way was not monsters.

"Wait... those are people."

"What? There are still survivors in this district?"

"Looks like It. But It doesn't seem like they belong to any group."

I narrowed my eyes.

The people were getting closer and closer. Their clothes were torn, and stained with blood and dirt. They carried crude weapons that seemed more for defense than offense, and their eyes darted wildly as if they were fleeing from something.

I heard the voice of someone within the approaching crowd.

"Help... please... they're coming!"

It couldn't have been a king.

These people looked like they were barely hanging on, let alone part of any powerful group and they were disorganised in their movement. The agitated people gasped for breath when they reached us.

"Q-Quickly! Run to the Bridge! Aaaaaack!!"

Something slammed into the man and consumed the top of his head in one go. It was a mutated creature with huge jaws and some part on Its skin were torn revealing the bone.

Impossible. Those things...

"Advancers?! Why are those guys appearing now? And there are more of them too!"

"Tch!"

I cursed. Advanced mutated monsters were already appearing. Considering the circumstances, It made perfect sense. But still...

"Damnit! Run away!"

It was too late. It was impossible to escape the flood of monsters even If we turned around and ran in a straight line. Worst case scenario, we would be overwhelmed before we even reached the Jamsil Bridge.

"Damnit all!"

As we were about to retreat, something suddenly slammed into the middle of the approaching monsters and annihilated them at once.

Swish!

A gigantic, jagged sword cleaved through the air with enough force to part the very air and swept through the horde of monsters in one swift arc, incinerating them instantly in a blaze of searing flames, leaving not even ashes behind to mark their existence.

Park Joonhyuk's eyes widened. At the same time, he subconsciously took a step back as if he had seen a ghost.

"What the hell is this?"

I did not answer immediately. I was busy looking at the giant sword.

[Exclusive skill, 𝕺𝖒𝖓𝖎𝖘𝖈𝖎𝖊𝖓𝖙 𝖂𝖆𝖑𝖑 has activated.]

The following words oozed its way into my head.

「 Sul-sagana: The Purifying Dawn of the Seas

A sword blade of pure fire possessed by the war god Zababa.

The sword possesses the concept of 'horizon' at the end of the sky and sea, the peak of 'the territory in which they melt and mix'.

A furnace that melts everything in its path when dawn breaks.

A flame of purification that could even burn down even a myriad of seas and make all into one continually spring up from it. 」

Tap! Tap! Tap!

The sound of footsteps was heard. Within the inferno, a black silhouette was approaching this way. It was a woman wearing a plain white shirt tucked into sleek black pants.

The woman freely manipulated the giant flame sword with a flick of her head and swept away the monsters in an instant.

It was a form of power that couldn't be rivaled with stats and skills which proved she was not a original human.

[The information of this person cannot be read by the Omniscient Wall.]

[Information regarding this person is currently being gathered.]

Also, her information can't be read?

... No way.

When that woman got closer, the reason why the skill failed made perfect skill. It was because the woman was someone I knew before the tragedy.

"Angelica...?"

Angelica Thompson. I haven't seen her in a while but she has undergone a massive transformation.