Upon entering the Ender section, I gained the ability to inhibit the activation of traits. For instance, Forerunner increased Agility to the next level with the highest probability when the user exerted powerful damage on the target. However, the problem was that it was activated regardless of whether I wanted it to or not even when I was dealing with weak monsters, and its cooldown time was pretty long.
For this reason, I used up all of my traits except for Man who Overcomes Adversity and Passion during the battle against the Declan Corps. This left me with limited choices when facing Doom Dejire.
However, I no longer had to struggle as I had entered the Ender section.
“What are you doing? Why don’t you say that again?”
Right in front of its very eyes, the tip of my spear was right at the Guide’s tiny face. When the stems spread out like spider webs from the point of impact, the Guide’s protective barrier vibrated frantically and cracked.
A tingling sensation overwhelmed my hands, and the Guide flew off into the distance.
[You have significantly damaged the opponent.]
I activated the two traits, Forerunner and Sensitive, that I had saved for this moment. As they had a high chance of activation, they were effective immediately. This also clearly demonstrated that even the great Old One couldn’t control the System that it had created. If it was possible, then I would have failed to activate my traits despite their low failure probability.
Watch carefully, you stupid Old One.
If it was going to throw us into a petty piece of the game, then it should have at least presented a vision. Wait, no. I shouldn’t expect anything from the guy who was going to boil the hounds after the hunt was over.
Do you understand? That will end up ruining you, you jerk.
It would never beat Doom Kaos like that.
[Forerunner has been activated.]
[Sensitive has been activated.]
Anyway, there was an ‘Ender’ after the Challenger section. After Ender, there was the ‘Overload’ section, which meant the Awakened would become a transcendental being. It was the realm where the Awakened could defeat Doom Dejire.
In the past, only the First Evil had reached the Ender section, also known as SS-class in the previous system, but even he hadn’t been able to enter the transcendent section. By activating Forerunner and Sensitive, my Agility and Sense had reached a transcendent level without the help of the Man who Overcomes Adversity.
At that moment, I heard a voice asking me to get him out, but it wasn’t an actual voice. I felt like the trait Gifted, which was linked to the activation of other traits, was telling me to activate it as well.
I saw no reason to refuse as it was the perfect opportunity to seek retribution against the Guide who had mocked and made fun of me.
[Gifted has been activated.]
[The Proficiency of all traits has changed.
Change: LV.8 → LV. 9]
[Passion (Trait)
Effect: Reinforces the user’s offensive skills in nine levels that activate in proportion to combat time.
Level One. One hour from the start of the battle.
Level Two. One hour after Level One activates.
Level Three. One hour after Level Two activates.
Level Four. One hour after Level Three activates.
Level Five. One hour after Level Four activates.
Level Six. One hour after Level Five activates.
Level Seven. One hour after Level Six activates.
Level Eight. One hour after Level Seven activates.
Level Nine. One hour after Level Eight activates.
Class: S
Proficiency: LV.9 (12.29%) - when Gifted is activated]
[The existing effects change due to the alteration in the Proficiency level of Passion.]
[Change: Significantly -> Maximum extent]
[Remaining time until the next Level (Level Seven): 21 minutes 30 seconds]
[Strongman (Trait)
Effect: Reflects physical damage back to the attacker without any conditions.
Class: S
Proficiency: LV.9 (0.34%) - when Gifted is activated
Duration: 1 hour
Cooldown time: 24 hours]
It was like a machine being run by geared wheels. Once the initial trait was triggered, all other traits were activated simultaneously.
Sheeeeek-
It took just a few seconds for me to chase after the Guide that was flying away. It landed on the ground, but it still couldn’t shake me off as I threw myself back toward it. The conceited guy had bragged that it was the only one left among forty-five thousand spirits and that the entire power of the Stage of Advent was concentrated on it, but its combat abilities were laughable to me. Only its eyes were able to follow my movement.
Oh well, it should have confronted Doom Dejire on its own if it had the ability to enter the realm of transcendence! It flapped its wings slowly, and it was shabby.
I felt a crack in the time and space where the Guide had bounced off. Although it could make pockets in the air and cross into them freely, it no longer looked like it was moving at a breakneck speed to me. To be exact, I had surpassed its speed. I knew the Guide had a knack for reading thoughts from people’s minds, but it wouldn’t be able to do that faster than I could act.
Its body was slowly changing direction while it crouched its head, which was the size of a thumbnail, towards its chest. However, the tip of my spear stabbed it first before it finished making a defensive posture.
The mischievousness on its face vanished, and I landed back on the ground. The recoil made it fly away uncontrollably. In order to prevent my people from being swept into the battle, I needed to move the spot as far as possible to the boundary of the Absolute Warzone. Therefore, I let it run away as it dug a temporary pocket in the air.
I mocked.
- Yes. Go ahead and run away as far as you can go.
[Don’t make me angry.]
- I’m going to give you three seconds. Three… Two… One…
[Ha, you are funny. Doom Man’s three seconds go by really fast, so you better count down based on human’s time.]
It disappeared into the air pocket.
Sure, let’s see how long you can stay frivolous like that.
***
Even if the Guide broke through time and space and escaped, traces were bound to remain. Any Awakened in the challenger section could notice small cracks.
The Guide attempted to wipe out its tracks, but its traces were connected to the edge of the boundary surrounding the battlefield as I had intended. It was scratching the boundary, but even during a fierce battle against Doom Dejire, the boundary didn’t break.
The Old One had given me this boundary, just as it had given the Guide the power to manage the Stage of Advent. It definitely wanted me to frantically fight and die with Doom Dejire. Such a nice place was ‘Odin’s Absolute Warzone.’
I smiled at the Guide’s anxious back. Then, I deliberately made a noise to make it listen to me. Although I couldn’t put up a stupid emoji, I could laugh as loud as I wanted and ridicule it.
“Hehe.”
[You have used Devi’s Sword.]
It was a sword that had eventually cut through Doom Dejire’s throat, but I didn’t need a knife that could slay a cow in order to catch a chicken. The same was true for the method of drawing trajectories. I just blew it away without drawing a huge orbit.
When I swung Devi’s Sword, my spine ached because the lingering memory of my death still remained in my body. The sword that brutally cut through Doom Dejire from top to bottom was now hurtling towards the Guide.
Sheak-
I made eye contact with its bewildered tiny eyes. I crossed my arms as if I was tightly hugging the Thunder Spear.
I sneered.
- You better appreciate that it’s Devi’s Sword. I don’t want to make you explode all at once.
The trajectory of Devi’s Sword began to be drawn when it reached the Guide. It was a three-dimensional sphere-shaped orbit that revolved around the Guide. It rolled its eyes, then dug into a pocket in the center. Thus, only Devi’s Sword was spinning along its original trajectory.
The blade was whirling fast, and the wind pressure derived from the orbit was intense. The Guide poked out its head, then hurriedly closed the pocket and disappeared. That was its limit. I had already figured out its ability to dig rabbit holes and calculated the sword’s trajectory based on the Guide’s emergency movement range.
I continued.
- It’s no fun if you hide like that. I will give you three seconds. 3… 2… 1…
It pulled itself completely out of the hole. At that time, the blade was rotating in a curve, passing quite a distance from its face.
[That’s unfair! Lumah-le can’t even go outside.]
I suggested.
- It’s possible if you skip the space twice quickly.
[The blade is going to thrust into me as soon as I try. Do you think I’m a fool like you guys? But is this fun? Nope, this is ridiculous. You are so immature.]
I grinned maliciously.
- Well, the fun starts now.
A quick look at .com will leave you more fulfilled.
I stamped the ground with the spear. The stalk of lightning that soared up and flew toward the Guide resembled a lightning dragon at first glance. The tendrils of lightning that extended along the flying trajectory formed the body and tail of the dragon, and the ones swaying up and down in front created its wide-open jaw. They flew to the prison made by the blade and surrounded it. The dragon’s jaws were tightly shut, and sparks flickered in the fierce wind.
Whoosh- Zing! Zing!
- You should have tried before this happened. Then, you might have lost just one wing. You now have to give up on your limbs.
[Close your mouth and eat this. (ﾉ*OωO*)ﾉ彡┻┻[2]]
Ah, this asshole didn’t even wish for the majestic death. I had been willing to kill it quickly without any pain, but that was before it had sent the last rude message.
I said cruelly.
- Don’t you guys like games? Think of it as a quest and try to get out of there. There is no reward, though.
[You are making me really mad. You have Doom Kaos’s blessing, but what about the others? If you make me angry or hurt me, none of the other Awakened can go back home. Can you handle my rage? I’m the only Guide, Lumah-le.]
I barked out a laugh.
- Is that what you should say to the man who killed Doom Dejire? That’s not helping your case at all. You’ll die here, but I’m not going to just kill you. I’m going to play around for a long time, then finally slit your throat.
- Go ahead. If you succeed in getting out of the trajectory, I will give you the next quest.
[I’m not going to do that. All I have to do is hide in here. You should go have fun by yourself, Doom Man.]
I sneered.
- Ah, you must not know yet. This is a linked quest that you cannot cancel.
[Doom Kaos’s guy is indeed amazing. So it doesn’t matter if humans cannot return to the mainland, right? Do you really want to start this? Hehe.]
I shrugged.
- My corps members will return through the gate. It’s not the way you guys planned, but that doesn’t matter.
[Oh… I see. Then, the game ends here because Lumah-le is very angry.]
- Okay, let’s do this.
[Lumah-le is very mad! ٩(๑`н´๑)۶ ]
1. Resists someone trying to control you (using authority) ☜
2. The Guide is giving Seon two middle fingers. ☜