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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: FusionX
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“…Greed.”
His appearance was different.
But the aura emanating from him, his gaze…
…the intense avarice within them, told me it was Greed.
「Ah… I’ve been waiting for this moment.」
Greed trembled, his breath hot and ragged, his face flushed with excitement.
His gaze remained fixed on me.
His reversed eyes, glowing with a red light, oozed with a thick, viscous avarice.
It was a truly repulsive sight.
Arthur, watching from beside me, scowled.
“…Disgusting.”
The Fallen were repulsive enough as it was.
But Greed’s behavior, his every action, was so revolting that even Arthur, who usually remained silent during battles, couldn’t help but utter her disgust.
I wholeheartedly agreed.
‘Greed, you crazy bastard.’
Had his avarice intensified after his self-imposed gender transformation?
How could he act like this?
It was more than just creepy now, it was nauseating.
So, to calm myself, and Arthur…
…I equipped Aegis shields on all ten fingers.
I transferred the shields, transformed into their defensive form, to the area around Arthur, embedding them in the ground.
And I transformed Astra, currently in Atlas Armor form, into Thunderbolt.
Clank.
The missile ports on my shoulders retracted as Atlas Armor reverted to its original form.
And Thunderbolt materialized in my previously empty right hand.
「…Hmm?」
Greed tilted his head, a puzzled look on his face.
He stared at the gun in my hand.
It seemed he had used “Steal.”
But unfortunately for him, what I was holding was only Thunderbolt in appearance.
In reality, it was the Rank S weapon, Astra.
So, unlike before, “Steal” wouldn’t work.
「Sigh… Lee Yu-jin.」
Greed called my name in a slimy voice.
「Not only your existence, but everything you possess, is desirable.」
Wow… truly disgusting.
Greed’s gaze, filled with not just avarice, but obsession, made me scowl.
I couldn’t stand to look at him any longer.
I activated Live Focus.
Ding.
And then, Speed Limit Removal.
I attacked Greed with the most powerful combination I could currently muster.
Rumble, boom—!
A slow rumble of thunder echoed as the world turned blue.
A flash of lightning, originating from the gun’s muzzle, traced a path through the air.
Poof, poof!
The Aegis shields on my fingers began to disintegrate rapidly, one by one.
‘As expected of a Rank S weapon.’
Even though Astra was a transforming weapon, its base damage was so high that…
…the amount of damage being absorbed by Aegis was immense.
As I was replenishing the disintegrating Aegis shields with Transfer…
Crackle—!!
…the sound that should have accompanied the flash of lightning finally reached my ears.
I looked at Greed, expecting him to have vanished, his last remaining Death Avoidance item used.
But… somehow…
‘……?’
…he was still standing there, completely unharmed.
The blue trajectory of lightning had connected with him, but his Death Avoidance item hadn’t activated.
What? Why wasn’t he disintegrating?
Confused, I fired again.
The world, which had been returning to its original colors, flashed blue once more.
Another deafening rumble of thunder echoed slowly, and a new trajectory of lightning appeared beside the previous one.
‘…What is going on?’
But Greed remained unharmed.
The new trajectory of lightning connected with him, but he still wasn’t disintegrating.
Instead of firing again, I moved slightly to the side to get a better look at him.
And then I saw it.
The two trajectories of lightning weren’t piercing him, they were being absorbed into the crystal ball he was holding.
And even in this slowed world, he was clearly aware of me.
Step.
He moved normally, unaffected.
「Judging by your expression, you seem quite surprised.」
Greed chuckled, his voice dripping with mockery.
I ignored him and looked at Arthur.
‘…Slow?’
Arthur’s movements were slow, incredibly slow, as if moving frame by frame.
That meant Live Focus was still active.
But how was Greed moving normally?
I was puzzled by his ability to move freely, just like I could with Speed Limit Removal activated.
‘Did his abilities change along with his appearance?’
Or perhaps it was an ability of the body he had stolen?
‘…No, there are no superhumans or Fallen with time-related abilities who look like that.’
Then… there was only one possibility.
The Apostle.
The Fourth Apostle, the one who had trapped me in the illusion, the one who was fighting the Martial God in the Dimensional Rift.
He must have done something to Greed.
「Heehee, I can hear your brain working all the way over here.」
Greed smirked, revealing his sharp teeth.
I activated the Potion Injector containing mana potions and pulled the trigger.
Rumble, boom—!
Another slow rumble of thunder, and a flash of lightning shot towards him.
But once again, the lightning only traced a path through the air, being absorbed into the crystal ball.
I clicked my tongue.
Well… I hadn’t expected it to work.
The crystal ball Greed was holding was a Rank S item called “Void.”
Once a month, it could absorb all damage within a 10-kilometer radius for 10 minutes.
Players, including myself, often referred to it as the “Peace Orb.”
「Oh dear, don’t get so worked up.」
He flinched theatrically.
But his face was filled with mockery, his actions contradicting his expression.
‘…What is he planning?’
Why was he using Void from the start, without even trying to fight?
He must have known that attacking me would be futile.
「Heehee.」
I glared at Greed, who was stroking the crystal ball and chuckling.
Then, I sighed and deactivated Live Focus.
The slowed world returned to its normal speed.
Ding.
Speed Limit Removal [ON / OFF]
I deactivated the cheat as well.
With Live Focus deactivated, I couldn’t move while firing, so there was no need to keep the cheat active.
And there was also the matter of Greed’s Void being active.
「Huh? Giving up already?」
Greed tilted his head.
「Why aren’t you using your time ability anymore?」
…Seriously, what was going on?
Greed’s incomprehensible behavior made my head spin.
The time ability, or rather, Live Focus, which accelerated my cognitive functions.
Why was he encouraging me to use it?
And what had the Fourth Apostle done to him?
‘Sigh… I don’t understand.’
No matter how much I racked my brain, I couldn’t find the answer.
Instead, more questions piled up, clouding my mind like a thick fog.
‘…Then I’ll worry about the answers later.’
I would deal with the less complicated matters first.
‘Since we can’t damage each other while Void is active…’
…I decided to search for the core, which should be somewhere in this alternate world.
As I was about to activate Clairvoyance…
「Oh, Lee Yu-jin. If you’re planning on searching for the core, don’t bother.」
“…What?”
Greed suddenly brought up the core, as if he knew what I was thinking.
「Oh, were you really going to do that?」
He chuckled.
I sighed deeply.
Then, I aimed Thunderbolt at him and asked,
“Why shouldn’t I bother?”
Greed placed his hand on his chest and said,
「Because I am the core that sustains this alternate world.」
“Oh, really?”
「Yes, so you don’t have to go through the trouble of searching for… 」
Yeah, I don’t believe you.
No, even if it’s true, I still don’t believe you.
I ignored him and activated Clairvoyance.
My vision expanded, and the landscape of this alternate world came into view.
‘There’s nothing here.’
No mountains, rivers, rocks, or any signs of life.
It was a barren wasteland, unlike any themed alternate world I had encountered before.
As if it wasn’t naturally formed, but artificially created.
‘…Seriously, there’s nothing.’
As Greed had said, there was no sign of either a sub-core or a main core.
Was it hidden somewhere?
As soon as I thought that, I dismissed the idea.
‘The core isn’t small.’
Even if it was small, there was nowhere to hide it in this wide-open wasteland.
And as I was having that thought, Terra’s voice reached my ears.
– Perhaps it’s hidden underground?
‘There are alternate worlds like that, but this definitely isn’t one of them.’
My assertive tone seemed to surprise Terra, and she paused for a moment.
Then, she asked for the reason.
– Why not?
I explained.
‘There’s no demonic energy.’
– Ah… right.
Unlike ordinary alternate worlds…
…the core of an alternate world influenced by a Fallen always contained demonic energy.
And it emitted demonic energy to accelerate the process of opening Rifts to Earth.
It emitted such a vast amount of demonic energy that it could be detected even if the core was buried underground.
But this alternate world, where Greed had brought us, had no trace of demonic energy, or even mana, even after I scanned the entire area with Clairvoyance…
‘…Wait a minute.’
No mana?
‘No way… Greed, you bastard.’
Using Void from the start…
Encouraging me to use my abilities…
Was he waiting for my mana to deplete?
Because mana couldn’t be replenished in this alternate world?
Terra added to my suspicion.
– I believe stamina and health regeneration are also affected.
Ah, right.
That too.
‘But… that doesn’t apply to me, does it?’
My stamina was infinite thanks to the cheat.
I could replenish my mana with mana potions.
And my health with health potions.
And if I got hungry, I could drink elixir juice.
Of course, except for the stamina part, the same applied to Arthur.
‘And Arthur can manage her stamina just fine.’
With that thought…
‘…Greed, you idiot.’
…I couldn’t help but think he was an idiot.
But that was assuming my suspicions were correct.
I deactivated Clairvoyance, doubting that a high-ranking Fallen, a Named Fallen at that, would come up with such a plan.
And Greed, who had approached me unnoticed and was tanking Arthur’s attacks without flinching, smirked and said,
「Do you believe me now?」
“Yeah, there’s no core, just like you said.”
I said, stopping Arthur.
“Arthur, attacking him is pointless while that item is active, so stop.”
“…So that’s it.”
Arthur, who had been attacking Greed’s vital points at an incredible speed, frowned slightly and backed away.
“It’s because of that item, isn’t it?”
She pointed at the crystal ball in Greed’s hand, and I nodded.
Arthur sighed briefly and withdrew the mana she had channeled into her sword.
“Lee Yu-jin, what should we do?”
She asked, looking at me for a solution.
I reverted Astra, currently in Thunderbolt form, to its default form and said,
“We just need to wait for about ten minutes, no, six minutes now, until that crystal ball deactivates. Then we can attack.”
“Six minutes… Fortunately, it’s not that long.”
Arthur said, embedding Excalibur in the ground.
She placed her hands on the pommel of Excalibur and kept her eyes on Greed.
I followed her gaze.
「…Lee Yu-jin.」
The smirk on Greed’s face faltered slightly.
「How do you know how long that item lasts?」
“Do you think that’s all I know?”
I voiced the suspicion I had while using Clairvoyance.
“I also know that you were trying to deplete as much of my and Arthur’s mana as possible while that item was active.”
The last vestiges of the smirk on Greed’s face vanished.
「…You noticed?」
Seriously?
I stared at Greed, appalled by his idiotic plan.
“You actually thought that would work?”
「…….」
He closed his mouth at my mockery.
But only for a moment.
「…If it doesn’t work, I’ll just have to make it work.」
He said, pushing off the ground.
He put distance between himself and us, floating in the air and spreading his arms wide.
Rumble…
The ground shook as if an earthquake had struck.
The ground beneath Greed churned, and then…
Boom, crash! Bang!
…holes erupted in the ground, accompanied by deafening roars.
And from those holes…
– Screech!
– Shriek!
– Kree, kree!
…a massive number of monsters emerged.
But despite their appearance, I looked at Greed with an indifferent expression.
“Hey, since attacks are nullified while that crystal ball is active, why the monsters?”
I asked mockingly, and…
「Don’t worry about that.」
…Greed opened his mouth wide, wider than any human could. He placed the crystal ball in his gaping maw.
And he closed his mouth.
Gulp.
He swallowed the crystal ball.
I was momentarily stunned by his grotesque action, but…
…I chuckled, activated Speed Limit Removal, and fired.
Rumble, boom—!
A deafening rumble of thunder, and a flash of lightning shot towards him.
And this time, it would definitely deplete his Death Avoidance item…
Crackle—!!
Whoosh!
…or not.
As soon as he swallowed the crystal ball, I had assumed he would be defenseless, but…
“…When did he get those?”
…he had deployed hundreds of defensive items around himself.
“He really came prepared.”
As far as I knew, Greed didn’t collect defensive items.
Having this many meant he had been farming items (killing superhumans) to capture me.
“Sigh… you crazy bastard.”
I was reminded once again…
…that Greed was truly a disgusting creature.
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