Chapter 230 - Episode 30. Lone World (5)
Chapter 230: Episode 30. Lone World (5)
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“W-what is this little brat?”
A golden boy raced naked across the battlefield.
With his appearance, the war at the Seventh Site shifted once again. Everyone in his path had their clothes torn apart, forced into a state of complete disarmament.
So this was how Jaehwan felt.
Runald realized anew how much stronger he had become. He had not undergone transcendent training in the Forest of Madness like Jaehwan, but Runald had not spent all that time idling either. At least while using his innate Setting, 「Naked」, Runald could display power that rivaled any powerhouse in the 《Abyss》.
“Aah! My clothes!”
“Graaah!”
“That damned brat!”
The Awakened Ones being stripped at random screamed.
Even the Great Lords locked in bloody combat with Nameless stared at Runald as though wondering what kind of horrifying hybrid he was.
“What kind of Setting is th...”
Riiip!
Riiippp!
“Kill him! Kill that bastard! This is no time to cover yourselves!”
Kwang!
“Aaagh!”
“Damn it!”
The naked Vicegerents hurriedly tried to cover themselves, only to be struck down by Sirwen’s Gigantes.
Even Sirwen’s face brightened at the unexpected success.
“Good job, brat! Strip them all!”
Things could not keep going that well.
Runald’s elusive rampage finally got under Great Lord Varkant’s skin.
[You damned little punk.]
Inside a Gigantes, Varkant swung a fist toward the ground, powered by amplified World Force.
Old Heaven Shiyu and Leader Eoduksi had barely escaped 「Dragon’s Dignity」. They released their World Force to oppose Varkant, but they had never been a match to begin with.
“Kh, khraaagh!”
A massive wave of World Force exploded through the Gigantes’s circuits. Billions of World Force blasted out, shattering the ground into pieces.
Fortunately, Runald had already darted far beyond the affected area.
[You are quick for a child. But this is as far as you go.]
Runald’s lips twitched.
Great Lords did not practice cool lines, apparently.
They were Great Lords in name, but their dialogue sounded no different from third-rate villains. Thinking about it, most of Runald’s enemies had spoken alike. Maybe every adult who survived long enough in this world became the same.
They said the same things, hurled the same insults, lived the same days, and ultimately upheld the same world.
Runald hated adults.
Perhaps that was why he had chosen Andersen, the god with the Naked World. Why he had become a Follower of Jaehwan, who rejected the existing System. Maybe it was simply Runald’s fate.
Kwang!
The Gigantes’s fist collided head-on with Runald’s.
The blast nearly knocked Runald unconscious. They had exchanged barely a dozen blows, yet it felt as though every bone in his body had been broken down to the molecular level. Something surged up his throat, and silver fragments scattered from his torn thigh.
“Runald!”
Sirwen cried out.
Runald knew it too. Another hit would be dangerous. Their World Force levels were far too different.
If he took one more proper blow like this...
[It is over.]
The Gigantes’s fist flew toward Runald’s abdomen.
Sirwen’s Gigantes were too far away. The Leader and the Companions lay sprawled on the ground. There was not a single adult here who could help the boy.
“Pweee-yoooook, Pong.”
He thought there was no one.
At the strange voice from somewhere, Varkant hesitated. Runald narrowly avoided the fist.
“Over here! Pweee-yoooook, Pong!”
Yoonhwan stood there, waving one hand while leaning on a crutch.
His innate Setting, 「Pweee-yoooook, Pong」, had the power to draw everyone’s attention.
World Force gathered in Varkant’s clenched fists as their expression twisted.
[Annoying. You reckless brats.]
Varkant leaped in one motion, launching into the air as though they meant to crush Yoonhwan.
Time slowed.
Yoonhwan watched Varkant’s fist rush toward him.
I will die.
It was not an attack Yoonhwan, only a third-stage Awakened One, could block or evade. His injuries had not even healed yet.
A bitter smile touched Yoonhwan’s lips.
Ever since following Jaehwan, he had thought a moment like this might come quickly. Still, was this not too soon?
At least his sacrifice could save Jaehwan’s Vicegerent.
Having accepted everything, Yoonhwan slowly closed his eyes.
Yet not everyone had closed their eyes.
Destruction’s all-seeing eyes, and Runald, Destruction’s Follower, were watching.
No.
Runald did not know Yoonhwan well. All he knew was that Yoonhwan was one of Jaehwan’s close friends.
Yet that man had thrown his life away for someone he barely knew.
In Yoonhwan’s actions, Runald saw a familiar vision: his first god, Andersen.
「Runald.」
Runald remembered Andersen’s words, and his thoughts quietly accelerated.
「Gods create worlds, but Followers protect them.」
The memories and beliefs Runald had gathered until now mixed together like a storm.
The battlefield around him slowed.
Runald walked through that slowed battlefield.
「Runald.」
His steps quickly became faster. When he came to his senses, Runald was running.
「Protect his world.」
Golden World Force shimmered along the boy’s path. Wherever his footsteps passed, a world bloomed.
Localized Sanctuary Manifestation.
「The World After the Fall」.
Even where there was no god, a Sanctuary could bloom.
It was a very small Sanctuary, but it still held enough power to threaten.
[What?]
Startled, Varkant quickly turned and blocked Runald’s attack. Runald’s World Force had become much heavier than before, forcing Varkant to take a step back for the first time since the battle began.
Runald swung his fist at Varkant again and again.
“Aaaaaaah!”
World Force flowed into him through his Unique World, and Runald’s psyche rapidly expanded.
Hatred for the world and rage toward the System consumed the boy’s mind.
But there were things rage alone could not solve.
Kwaaaang!
They exchanged another blow, and Runald’s right shoulder twisted badly. He hurriedly forced the dislocated shoulder back into place, then evaded Varkant’s next attack.
Not enough.
The enemy before Runald was not an ordinary adult.
Varkant had ruled the 《Great Realm》 for tens of thousands of years. They were a Vicegerent of the System, Great Lord Varkant.
It was nowhere near enough.
Even with 「Naked」 and the World Force drawn from his Unique World, Runald remained outmatched.
Naturally.
Varkant had gathered more than several billion World Force over tens of thousands of years. Runald could not gather even five hundred million, even after pulling together all his World Force.
It would not have been strange if he had already been reduced to dust. The fact that Runald could still trade blows like this was a miracle, entirely thanks to the 「Naked」 Setting Andersen had left behind.
[You are amusing, child. Such splendid spirit.]
The Gigantes’s merciless fists struck Runald all over his body as Varkant laughed.
[You are far better than those pathetic Eight Heavens over there.]
Silver fragments flying from Runald’s small body painted the air.
The Gigantes controlled by Sirwen threw themselves forward and blocked Varkant’s attacks.
Runald barely escaped their range, then staggered to his feet. A ringing dizziness swept through him, making the world sway.
Hardly any of the Seventh Site’s forces remained. Nameless and Yu Seolha were still occupied, and an endless army of Awakened Ones remained.
And there was Great Lord Varkant.
The tide of battle had already turned.
Is this the end?
Something rose between Runald’s tightly clenched lips. Self-consolation and self-loathing crashed over him at once.
A heavy impact drove his knees to the ground.
Varkant approached and lifted Runald’s small head.
[You did well enough.]
Was it really all right for it to end like this? After coming so far. What had he survived all this time for?
Could everything end here?
[Now go.]
No. It could not.
Just a little more. If only he had a little more strength.
That was when Runald heard a voice by his ear.
「If you become stronger, you will no longer be a child.」
It sounded like the last remaining line of prayer in a ruined world.
「You are trying to become nothing more than an adult.」
Runald doubted his ears.
The voice continued.
Then it became voices.
「You will not be able to get bread just by opening your eyes wide.」
「You will not be able to cry and cling to Sirwen.」
「You will not be able to whine or act spoiled.」
「When climbing a mountain, you will not be able to swing a stick around for no reason.」
The dizziness grew worse.
It was like one person playing several roles.
Even in his confusion, Runald gave a small laugh. He thought he knew who the voices were.
「You will become embarrassed to be naked.」
That is fine.
It was fine if he could no longer act spoiled. Fine if he could no longer use the fact that he was a child. Fine if he became embarrassed to be naked.
It was fine if he became an adult.
As long as he could protect them.
「This is troubling.」
「Do you truly want this?」
「Child, do you understand what that means?」
It did not matter if he went mad like this.
Runald was prepared to offer everything he had.
「Such resolve.」
「Do we all agree? That one is still a child.」
「That is why the qualification is sufficient.」
After a moment, the voices began to fade one by one.
「Only a ‘child’ is qualified to use this power.」
A dark aura began to envelop Runald’s entire body.
「But be prepared, child. The price of power gained without effort is never light.」
The ominous aura seemed to use hatred itself as fuel.
If only there had been more strength.
More time.
Greater potential.
Varkant saw Runald’s body darkening to black and tightened their grip in surprise.
But then...
[Kh?]
The heat grew intense enough to melt the Gigantes’s glove. Varkant reflexively released Runald’s soul.
Sirwen’s expression changed the moment she saw Runald’s transformation from afar. She sensed that something was wrong.
“Runald, no! Stop!”
Nameless, fighting amid the chaos at the center of the battlefield, also witnessed the sight.
That was...
Nameless had lived in the 《Abyss》 for over a hundred thousand years. They knew what change was taking place in Runald’s body.
It was the symptom of the 《Abyss》’s most famous illness.
God Complex.
Nameless had once written books about God Complex, including 『Hymn to the God Complex』, so they recognized Runald’s symptoms at once.
The black aura raging around his soul was one of the most common symptoms of God Complex.
But Nameless could not understand why a disease that rarely afflicted gods in their second year after entering the 《Abyss》 was appearing in that young Follower.
God Complex. And a supreme-grade God Complex at that.
Most gods considered God Complex the recklessness of youth, or a kind of mental illness. Gods afflicted by it were that unbearable to look at.
Why else would it be called an illness?
Nameless, though, thought somewhat differently from other gods.
「God Complex is the only ‘answer’ capable of resisting the 《System》.」
Not Settings mass-produced for efficiency and popularity, but Settings that were extremely inefficient and exaggerated.
Only the spirit of God Complex, the desire to build something unique to oneself, could be the hope that saved existence in this stubborn, hopeless world.
Most people with God Complex fell into ruin beneath the mockery of other gods. But...
Nameless watched Runald stride toward Varkant and felt something strange.
That God Complex was different.
A faint ring swirled within the boy’s eyes as he slowly opened them.
「Ouroboros.」
The boy who had entered the adults’ war stood there.
The boy was Jaehwan’s Vicegerent.
And a Vicegerent was someone who could stand in for a god where no god was present.
Nameless realized it.
They were witnessing the possibility of another world.
A sentence Nameless had written at the beginning of 『Hymn to the God Complex』 suddenly came back to them.
「God Complex begins with ‘imitation.’」
Runald held Solitary Child, the longsword Jaehwan had given him, in his right hand.
The solitary child cried out toward the world, just as Dokbul had.
Feeling the density of World Force contained within the boy’s world, Nameless was seized by both deep admiration and sorrow.
That boy had wagered everything.
Not only his past and present, but his future self as well. An explosive evolution gained when a soul with limitless future growth used all of its potential for growth as a sacrifice.
Runald-style Inferior Version.
「Cognitive Dissonance」.
Runald’s World Force surged in an instant and struck Varkant’s Gigantes.
As Varkant cried out in alarm, Runald’s retinas blazed with pure gold.
The realizations Jaehwan had gained were reaching Runald as well through their shared Unique World.
In the ecstasy that felt as though his soul would burst, Runald swung his fist again and again. Even sensing that this might be the final battle of his life, he did not stop.
To protect what mattered.
To protect his world.
The Gigantes’s armor shattered apart.
Sirwen’s urgent voice reached him.
Jaehwan, please give me strength.
Pain raced through Runald as though every joint in his body were melting away. His mind burned as though it had been scorched.
Varkant was visible inside the broken cockpit.
Runald poured all his potential into his right fist. World Force condensed to its limit and shone brightly.
He drove that fist into the Gigantes’s cockpit.
Runald-style Inferior Version.
「Fall」.
Pitch-black power of Fall burrowed into the Gigantes’s interior, and a massive explosion swallowed the battlefield.
Varkant’s tearing scream faintly echoed from the center of that blast.
Footnotes:
Chapter discussion