Chapter 401: Episode 76 – Book of Revelation (3)
[Members from the same camp have clashed!]
[Current Chaos Points: 85]
We were left completely dazed at the same time after looking at those system messages.
“....Just who is it?”
Han Su-Yeong threw out that question after somehow squeezing it out of her lips. No one could answer her, however.
She asked again. “It can’t be the kids going around causing accidents, right?”
I retorted back. “You think they are like you?”
Even if they were still just kids, they wouldn’t do something so rash with our situation being what it was.
Sure, I was slightly worried about Gil-Yeong, but....
I looked at Anna Croft and addressed her. “Anna.”
“I’m still searching.”
Although the page of the future had been ripped away, the events leading up to its disappearance should still remain. Just like how a defective book would still need some time before it got destroyed.
[Chaos Points are increasing!]
“We can’t leisurely wait any longer.”
The first one to fly out of the room was Yu Jung-Hyeok.
Anna Croft’s forehead was soaked in sweatdrops as she endeavoured to find the pages of the future. In the end, both Han Su-Yeong and I decided to move, as well.
“Anna, once you find something, let me know through voice projection.”
We left her behind and flew out of the cabin. Our companions had gathered on the deck after sensing that something was wrong.
“Dok-Ja-ssi, what’s going on?”
I conveyed the situation in the simplest terms possible when Jeong Hui-Won asked me. “Some people are attacking their own camp.”
“Ehng? Why do something like that?” said Yi Ji-Hye, while frowning to show that she couldn’t understand it. “I thought everyone would die if those Chaos Points went up any higher? Isn’t that why Angels and Demon Kings went inside that thing....?”
“Can they be people with similar goals as our own?”
“If that was the case, then they wouldn’t have increased the Chaos Points at this point in time.”
I didn’t need to explain in detail, but my companions seemed to have arrived on their own answers.
“In that case, could it be...?”
I nodded my head. “No matter what happens, we must stop them. If we don’t, something really horrifying will occur.”
“What kinda crazy bastards would.... But, why??”
Why would anyone try to speed up the destruction of the world?
I found it hard to provide a proper answer to that. However, there was this one thing in the <Star Stream> that worked as the universal answer to every single indecipherable situation imaginable.
“.....There are truly a vast array of ‘Fables’ in this world, you know.”
It wasn’t only ‘Good and Evil’ that existed in this world. Just like <Kim Dok-Ja Company> that was neither good nor evil existed, there were people in this world chasing after those Fables we simply couldn’t relate to.
Some would live to prevent the end times, but some would only live for the apocalypse.
Tsu-chuchuchuchu....!
Probability was shifting unstably in the air; sparks erupted in several places on the battlefield.
Yu Jung-Hyeok standing on top of the figurehead seemed to have latched onto the location of the biggest arcs of sparks.
“There are five in total. Scatter, now.”
He finished giving orders, and his figure disappeared towards the north.
I quickly gave instructions to my companions. “Han Su-Yeong, you take the east. Yu-Seung-ee, Ji-Hye, and Gil-Yeong-ee, you guys take the south, please. Hui-Won-ssi, please remain on the battleship, since we don’t know what might happen.”
“What about you, Dok-Ja-ssi?”
“I’ll head west.”
Sparks were exploding in all directions. One by the north, one by the east, one by the west, and two by the south.
“We don’t know yet which camp started raising chaos. If it’s done by the members of the same camp as you, don’t fight them and call for other companions.”
The situation had flipped on its head now.
If we had increased the Chaos Points by fighting ‘Good’ with ‘Good’ and ‘Evil’ with ‘Evil’, then we needed to fight ‘Good’ with ‘Evil’ and vice versa. Only by sticking to the original rule of the ‘Great War of Saints and Demons’ could we prevent the increase in the Chaos Points.
“Damn it, I’m really annoyed that our situation has changed so suddenly like this. I get why the Constellations were so pissed off earlier.”
“We’re going ahead!”
Yi Ji-Hye and the kids departed first, and right afterwards, Han Su-Yeong and I also made our move.
Her figure, as she dashed forward while scattering black flames about, was filled with wounds, both large and small.
I spoke to her. “Be careful.”
She scowled ever so slightly and flew towards the east.
This punk, I was only worried about her, but even then....
– You be careful, instead. Idiot.
The [Midday Tryst] arriving a beat later made me feel a bit strange. Was I overthinking it when I found both Yu Jung-Hyeok and Han Su-Yeong had changed a lot?
[Chaos Points are increasing!]
[Current Chaos Points: 86]
I activated [Way of the Wind] and dashed across the air.
As I was in the middle of [Demon King Transformation], the skill’s accelerative force had become truly astonishing. I crossed the sky in an instant and arrived at the origin of the sparks. I began to closely scan the vicinity.
....In hiding, was it?
Corpses of Reincarnators were strewn about on the battlefield. And there were a handful of terrified survivors that had fallen on their butts, looking at all the dead bodies.
Without a doubt, someone went on to massacre the people from the same side here.
[Exclusive skill, ‘Reading Comprehension’, is activating!]
[Attribute, ‘Scenario Interpreter’, is activating!]
[Your insight that analyses the situation by collecting circumstantial evidence of the incident has increased!]
I quickly read the fragments of Fables scattered about. I was right about a massacre taking place here. However, I couldn’t spot any traces of the culprit running away.
“S-save us, Demon King-nim!”
Six remaining Reincarnators knelt down and began prostrating before me. I carefully observed them; most of the six were wounded gravely, blood and Fables continuously pouring out from their bodies.
Except for this one guy, whose Fable happened to be exceptionally stable.
“You.”
The eyes of the man slowly raising his head up were filled with a certain evil leer. I spoke while meeting those eyes straight-on. “You, are you a ‘Seeker of the End’?”
At that moment, the man desperately lunged at me. But I was already ready for him and easily evaded his attack, before grabbing his neck.
“Keok, keo-heok....!”
[Exclusive skill, ‘Character List’, is activating!]
As I thought, he was the culprit I was searching for – a Demon King’s subordinate. There was no real need to peer deeply into his Attribute Window anymore.
“You’ve begun your actions already? But, it shouldn’t be the right time yet?”
The man with his neck grabbed by me formed a disgusting grin.
“T-the great apocalypse will soon come. All scenarios are already set in stone. The noble and absolute Fable will come to reality!”
I recoiled just a little bit after looking at his eyes glaring like a religious fanatic.
Right, most of the ‘Seekers of the End’ were like this guy back in the original story, weren’t they.
They believed that there was only one ‘Absolute Fable’ that supported this world, and that every scenario was merely the will of that Fable coming to fruition.
⸢Ke kekeke.⸥
I heard [the 4th Wall]’s mocking cackle resound in my head.
Without a doubt, these ‘Seekers of the End’ had no idea that the Fable they thought they knew was actually a novel that I had read already.
⸢It’s tr ue that a ll are des tined to be des troy ed.⸥
‘There’s no such thing as destiny.’
I recalled the countless regression turns Yu Jung-Hyeok had lived. The ‘Great War of Saints and Demons’ repeated for hundreds of times, and their conclusions were largely the same.
However, that was only during the ‘original story’.
“Speak. How many of you have infiltrated this ‘Great War of Saints and Demons’?”
Geu-reuk, geu-reuruek....
Foams bubbled up on the man’s mouth.
“Do you wish to free the Apocalypse Dragon? You do that, and everything will come to an end. Rather than reaching the end of the Fable you’ve been chasing after, the Fable itself will be over, instead.”
The man didn’t reply and simply cackled on.
I sighed out. “Looks like you don’t want to answer.”
[Demon King, ‘Demon King of Salvation’, has unleashed his Status!]
The Reincarnators around us screamed at the ripples of the Status and quickly backed away. The man who received the brunt of my Status head-on shuddered greatly, before blood oozed out from all seven of his orifices.
I spoke without opening my lips. [Recite the list of your friends that are participating in this battle.]
Even under the threat of the imposing Status, the man didn’t fall into the clutches of fear. No, it was quite the opposite, actually.
“De, mon King, of, Sal, vation....”
He began forming an expression of sheer rapturous ecstasy. As blood continued to leak out of his lips, he began speaking in a voice of someone being saved.
“Kill me! Hurry!! Please kill meeee!”
I couldn’t figure out what the hell was wrong with this guy’s head. In any case, I couldn’t waste any more time here. If I couldn’t extract the list from this guy, then I’d have to personally search around.
I was about to smash the man’s head in without hesitation, but then, a message suddenly floated up.
[Members from the same camp have....]
[Current Chaos Points: 87]
Damn it, I forgot that he was also ‘Evil’.
Just as I let go of his neck, the Fable leaking out of his seven orifices suddenly increased in volume and his body began rapidly expanding. And then, he began smiling in a bizarre manner.
.... Self-detonation sequence, was it?
It was too late to dodge.
But then, right afterwards, a streak of light flew in from somewhere and penetrated the man’s body in a straight line.
Kwa-jijijijik!
It was a spear made out of light so bright that it must’ve come from the sun itself.
Inside this bright ray of light, the ‘Seeker of the End’ shuddered as if he was being electrocuted. The explosive power expanding outwardly was now being absorbed into the spear of light.
He lost all signs of vitality in an instant, and died after turning into jet-black ash.
I studied the Fable of light being scattered all around me.
....Wait, didn’t I know that Fable already?
[You’ve forgotten to call for me on such a grand celebration. I’m disappointed, oh, Demon King of Salvation.]
The moment I heard that true voice, I figured out who it was.
“Surya!”
It was the ‘Supreme God of Light’ Surya.
He used to be a Constellation of <Vedas> once upon a time, but after the Olympus battle, ended up sharing a ‘Great Fable’ with us, instead.
[You’ve achieved an amazing level of Status since the last time I saw you. I heard that you have defeated Indra.]
“I simply got lucky.”
[True, the absent-minded Indra might come across as a neighbourhood dummy sometimes, but still, he’s not someone you can defeat by relying on luck.]
Perhaps because he had left <Vedas>, Surya didn’t seem all that perturbed while talking about Indra’s fate. He scanned the fragments of the ‘Seeker of the End’ he ended just now, and spoke.
[I was wondering why the Great Fable’s state felt off, but now I see that ‘Seekers of the End’ have shown up in this place.]
“Were you aware of them?”
[These bastards had infiltrated <Vedas> once before.]
....Even <Vedas>?
Now that I thought about it, I heard somewhere that there was an internal conflict taking place in Vedas before. Maybe the ‘Seekers of the End’ were responsible for that?
Tsu-chut, tsu-chuchut!
Sparks dancing around in all corners of the battlefield began subsiding at a visible pace. It was likely that my companions had successfully managed to suppress the situation.
“....It seems that it’s been taken care of, more or less. Maybe, there weren’t that many who managed to infiltrate this battlefield in the first place.”
Even though the ‘Seekers of the End’ had made their entrance, this was a rather tame conclusion.
But, then...
[Members from the same camp have clashed!]
[Current Chaos Points: 88]
....What??
I hurriedly scanned the battlefield, but couldn’t see a single spark exploding anywhere. Forget about the same camp this and that, there was no battle taking place at all.
[Members from the same camp have clashed!]
[Current Chaos Points: 89]
Even then, the Chaos Points continued to climb higher. A chilling sensation crept down my spine.
Hang on, could this be....?
[It’s not on the surface.]
I heard Surya’s words and reflexively looked up into the sky.
More correctly, at the grey-coloured sphere floating up there. Archangels and Demon Kings should be having a conference within it, yet it was rocking viciously to and fro while an incredible amount of sparks exploded from it.
....A ‘Seeker of the End’ was in there, too?
[Members from the same camp have clashed!]
[Current Chaos Points: 90]
The Chaos Points would climb only when those in the same side fought against each other. But, if such a thing was happening inside that sphere....
[Atmosphere of the great battlefield is beginning to change!]
Clouds gathered in the sky began spinning into a massive whirlpool.
[Aura of Calamity at the hottest place in Hell is opening its eyes!]
....God damn it.
Ku-gugugugu!!
Even Surya’s expression had hardened noticeably.
[It seems that I’ve come seeking my own grave today.]
Right then, a message I really didn’t want to see floated up.
[Chaos Points have exceeded 90!]
[Great Fable of Apocalypse is beginning to stir.]
[Great Fable, ‘Final Dragon of the Book of Revelation’, is getting ready to tell its story!]
An earthquake erupted throughout the entire great battlefield.
The indescribable despair I felt during the 95th scenario was reviving again.
<Episode 76: Book of Revelation (3)> Fin.