Chapter 28
The creature’s massive arm stretched out like a tentacle and aimed straight at me.
I pulled my body back, narrowly dodging its attack.
Boom!
When its hand struck the ground, everything it touched instantly disintegrated.
As expected, that thing was dangerous.
It was the fusion of the Frankenstein Family’s secret disintegration magic and its combining ability.
And it seemed to have that effect constantly active, even through physical attacks.
Then, a magic circle flared up beneath the creature’s hand that was touching the earth.
At the same time, the ground rippled—then flipped over in an instant.
Could it be that this was its plan all along?
The ground beneath me gave way, throwing my balance off.
Disintegrating and recombining the terrain… it could freely reshape the battlefield.
Even in the game, Frankenstein had never used his ability in such a way.
As my body staggered, the creature reached out its other hand.
I barely managed to kick off the crumbling ground and twist my body, but I couldn’t fully avoid its tentacle-like hand.
Its enormous hand grabbed hold of my upper body.
“I shall disassemble you and make you one with me.”
From the magic circle glowing on its hand, my armor began to wither away, being absorbed into its grasp.
I drove my sword into its hand and twisted it hard, slicing through its flesh.
The armor forged from the 【Dark Relic】 was completely torn off my upper body.
Though I could restore it with mana, I didn’t have much left.
Fighting an opponent like this—with both stamina and mana nearly depleted—was pushing my limits.
The severed hand of Frankenstein twitched violently and flew back to its master.
He picked up his hand and gazed at the disassembled fragments of the 【Dark Relic】.
“This dark substance… I felt it in our last battle too. Impressive.”
His energy began to manipulate the dark relic freely, and soon it started to merge with his hand.
The darkness fused with his flesh, forming a grotesque mixture of muscle and black matter.
“Thanks to you, I’ve gained something valuable. With your own power, I’ll pierce that heart of yours!”
His arm lashed like a whip, disintegrating everything it touched.
My sword met his hand midair as I tried to block the blow.
KWAANG!
“How long do you think that sword of yours can withstand my magic?”
Just as Frankenstein said—
A normal sword forged from the 【Dark Relic】 couldn’t withstand his disintegration magic for long.
The blade that had clashed with his attack was already dulled and eroded.
I cursed inwardly and widened the distance between us.
“Where do you think you’re running?”
He slammed his hand into the ground again, unwilling to let me go.
This time, the earth around us sprouted into sharp spikes.
Then, stomping the ground with brutal force, he charged at me in an instant.
“You will never die peacefully.”
Flames began to flicker inside his mouth.
That flame—I recognized it.
“That’s…”
The fire in his mouth was none other than the 【Flames of Gehenna】.
He had devoured countless monsters and even absorbed and disassembled the Flames of Gehenna to make it his own!
Then, from his mouth, the Flames of Gehenna erupted.
Whoosh!
Flames burst out at point-blank range.
Blocking it was impossible.
The Flames of Gehenna could never be extinguished once they took hold.
If I couldn’t avoid it, the best I could do was to minimize the area of contact.
Using the flat of my blade, I twisted my body to reduce the flame’s reach.
But soon, the Flames of Gehenna caught onto my left arm.
“Gaaaaahhh!”
Of all the pains a human could experience, they said burning agony was the greatest.
The searing pain from the flames was unbearable.
Even with my Hidden Stat of resistance, the agony was beyond anything ordinary—it tore a scream out of me.
Hearing my cries, the creature clicked its tongue and laughed mockingly.
“Is this your first time tasting your own attack?”
“Ghhhhh…”
Through the excruciating pain, my body moved on instinct.
I kicked him away, breaking free from his grasp, and immediately drew my sword.
Slice.
With a chilling cutting sound, my burning left arm was severed.
Only after cutting it off did the consuming pain begin to fade.
The creature’s eyes widened in disbelief.
“You actually cut off your own arm… You’ve surpassed human willpower.”
“Damn bastard… thanks for the compliment.”
The Flames of Gehenna spread in an instant—once ignited, they could never be extinguished.
If your body caught those flames, the only way to survive was to cut away the affected part.
It was a ruthless decision—but possible only because I possessed the power of 【Restoration】.
The creature looked at me like one would at a prey’s desperate struggle before death.
It was a filthy feeling—but the perfect chance to strike back.
Keep underestimating me.
I raised my sword.
Seeing the blade rise weakly, Frankenstein sneered.
“You know that sword is useless against me.”
Without a word, I turned the sword and drove it into my own body.
Puk.
A sharp pain exploded through me, and blood gushed from my mouth.
“Khuhk.”
The unexpected act left him stunned.
“Don’t tell me… you intend to kill yourself?”
He tapped me lightly, baffled.
My legs gave way, knees hitting the ground.
The pain was unbearable—each breath ragged and short.
Blood poured from my abdomen, and with my already broken body, my vision blurred.
It felt like walking a tightrope between life and death.
“To think your final act would be to flee into death… How disappointing.”
I let out a faint smirk at his words.
Flee into death?
What a joke.
This wasn’t surrender—
It was my struggle to live.
“Tch… I really didn’t want to do this because it’s embarrassing…”
Catching my ragged breath, I began the incantation.
“O lord who rules over the cruel hells of the south. Greedy creator of the Ten-Thousand Demon War who dared challenge the throne of God. I call upon you—open your vault and grant me aid, in exchange for my blood as an offering!”
The 【Dark Relic】—the demonic authority.
A power that consumes mana to create weapons formed from darkness.
But that was only a fraction of the true power of the 【Dark Relic】.
To think that the power of a demon could only create some makeshift weapon.
For an SS-rank skill, it was absurdly underwhelming.
Then, the jet-black sword impaled in my abdomen began greedily sucking in my blood.
The blood that had soaked my clothes and the floor vanished without a trace.
At the same time, the sword began to radiate an ominous darkness, transforming.
The plain longsword took on color, its blade inscribed with words and intricate decorations.
The true ability of the 【Dark Relic】—the power to connect to the vaults of demons.
But the stronger the artifact retrieved, the greater the price that must be paid.
The price I offered was my blood—and the arm I had severed.
And in exchange, the demon granted me a weapon worthy of that sacrifice.
The sword that had been radiating darkness took on a complete form.
A straight, slender double-edged blade.
On its surface were engraved ancient characters.
파산검破山劍 — the Mountain-Cleaving Sword.
The Mountain-Cleaving Sword slid slowly out from my abdomen, like an ego sword with its own will.
“What… what kind of accursed thing are you doing now!?”
Sensing danger, the creature began absorbing even the mansion’s foundation, growing larger and larger.
In moments, it had become as huge as the mansion itself, swinging its rock-like fist toward me.
“You cockroach-like pest, die!”
I swung my sword toward the oncoming massive fist.
A weak, powerless swing—one that carried almost no strength.
But the Mountain-Cleaving Sword, true to its name, could cleave through mountains with a single strike.
Though it was just one attack, the sword divided the flow of time into near-infinite fragments, drew them out, and compressed them again—turning a single strike into one condensed with an eternity’s worth of power.
Such a blow could destroy even a great mountain.
A fierce light burst forth from the Mountain-Cleaving Sword.
Everything along the path of my swing was annihilated.
Not only was the giant creature’s fist split in two, but Frankenstein’s massive body vanished completely from my sight.
As if it had never existed in the first place.
Not even a final word was left behind.
For all the grandeur of his “second phase,” the end was pitifully anticlimactic.
Having spent the last of my strength, I collapsed onto the spot.
“I really feel like I’m about to die.”
I wanted to use the power of 【Restoration】, but my mana was completely drained.
Then, I heard footsteps approaching.
“What the—where did you disappear to until now?”
It was Lia, who had vanished without a trace earlier.
When she reappeared, she somehow looked… different.
Looking around at the desolation left by the battle, she asked,
“…Is he dead?”
“Yeah.”
“I see… thank you.”
She knelt beside me, her large hand gently brushing against my hair.
“You’re badly hurt.”
“Because someone didn’t bother to help.”
“I’m sorry I couldn’t. But… I couldn’t harm him.”
As she said that, she ran her hand along my wounds.
Then, Lia bit her own hand, letting her blood flow over my injuries.
My wounds began to close rapidly.
Once more, she stroked my face.
“So this is what you look like… your eyes are beautiful.”
For some reason, her gaze looked unbearably sorrowful.
“So who are you, really? You don’t seem like the Lia I know.”
“His Bride.”
“His Bride?”
“The bride of the man you killed.”
“I already knew that.”
She shook her head.
“No—you don’t.”
Then she lightly tapped my forehead.
And suddenly, her memories began to flow into me.
“This space is just a kind of simulation, recreated by the book. I’m the administrator of this simulation.”
I read the memories pouring in.
She was the bride created by Frankenstein.
“The real me… never met someone like you.”
She had been created to fill Frankenstein’s loneliness—called a bride, but really, a caged pet.
She had longed to escape from Frankenstein’s grasp.
She had desperately wished to break free from his oppression and control.
“There was one time I escaped his grasp and ran to a nearby village. It was my first time meeting humans. And… well, you can guess what happened next.”
She had almost been killed by humans.
The Frankenstein Family’s destruction by the Nameless One was already infamous.
To the eyes of the villagers, she was no different from that monster.
“And so, I had no choice but to return to him. It was a fate I could never escape.”
As the transfer of memories ended, she gave me a sorrowful smile.
“For a long time, countless challengers have come to this dungeon. Many have slain that monster. But you… you’re the first to have defeated him in his complete form. Thank you—for granting me freedom.”
“You’re saying I gave you freedom? Isn’t it just that you wanted to be free yourself?”
“So you knew everything after all.”
This dungeon had been strange from the very beginning.
Especially after Lia appeared, everything started deviating from the game’s original progression.
In the game, the Bride never appeared directly.
Frankenstein never personally gathered his own heart either.
It was as if the dungeon itself had been urging me to hurry up and kill that monster.
“That’s right. I interfered with your challenge in many ways. I wanted to be free—even one day sooner. And you… you seemed strong enough to defeat him completely.”
She reached into the air and pulled out something.
A gem pulsing with a mysterious light.
It was the Nameless One’s complete heart.
“It’s his heart. It’s also the core that’s maintained this space until now. It’s yours now.”
“If I take this, then you…”
“I’ll vanish. Unlike what I gave other challengers, that one is real.”
With that, she handed me the heart.
I accepted it.
Then, a blue window blinked before my eyes.
【The Nameless One’s Complete Heart.
– The heart of a creation born from human hands.
– Contains the secret magic of a great mage family.
– Increases magic power by 10% when using spells.
– Capable of absorption, storage, and release.
– Magic power +3.】
I had finally obtained the Nameless One’s heart.
Yet, for some reason, my eyes lingered on her.
It wasn’t merely pity.
Yes—I had come here for the Nameless One’s Complete Heart… but this variable, she could become useful for the future.
I reached out my hand to her.
“If it’s alright with you… would you come with me?”
At my words, her eyes trembled violently.