Episode 239: Life or Death (6)
Luca's words, conveyed from the scene along with those of the God of Storms, caused a greater stir than expected.
This was because he was not claiming a baseless conspiracy theory or making absurd, unreasonable demands.
There was clear evidence.
After all, Luca, who was unaware that he was being observed by someone, would not lie.
Of course, there was one being who recognized the gravity of the situation: the Eye of Calamity.
As the Divine Throne of the Dimensional Order, he was able to view the video shared by the God of Storms.
“I’m screwed.”
Realizing the situation, the Eye of Calamity frowned, muttering a curse that a human would typically utter. He
never imagined the game would be set up this way.
It was as if his plan had been figured out from the very beginning, and too much had been revealed.
How on earth had this happened?
Everything had proceeded secretly, and the Mediator had been subdued before the truth could be revealed.
That is why he was able to command the Black Royal Guard as he pleased, and he was on the verge of capturing the Model Student Constellation.
There was absolutely no way for secrets to leak out, yet his plan had been exposed to the whole world.
Luca was not the problem.
He had merely served to confirm the known facts; he was not the culprit behind the revelation of the secret.
Cognitive dissonance.
The Eye of Calamity felt it for the first time. All the Constellations had come to know a secret that was utterly unknowable.
It was a truly preposterous thought, but could it be that someone had somehow regressed in time to deliver news from the future?
Unless such a calculation occurred, the current situation made no sense no matter how much he thought about it.
“Then…”
The Eye of Calamity’s mind became a jumble. Since the Constellations and Divine Thrones had already figured out his plan,
he had no choice but to pray that Luca would kill the Upper Moon and shatter the balance of good and evil.
Only then could he grant rank to the Demonic Spirits and Evil Spirits who were eagerly awaiting to become Constellations.
If he could just bring them up to the Dimensional Platform, overturning the current situation would be entirely possible.
There was still a clever tactic for a counterattack.
However, the one thing that had changed was that the time limit was now on him, not them.
“Contractor, kill him immediately. There is no time.”
The Eye of Disaster urged Luca on.
The picture changed.
Many things became urgent.
* * *
Meanwhile, Sanghyun, having confirmed the atmosphere within the Dimensional Order through the Goddess of Fortune, felt that the time had finally come.
[We have done our best now. I will gather all my strength to pray for your safety.]
The words the Goddess of Fortune spoke pierced Sanghyun's mind like pearls.
He could feel her earnest wish and her apology. She felt indebted to Sanghyun for many things.
Wasn't that true? To think
that the fate of the Dimensional Order could be changed not by constellations or divine thrones, but by the life and death of a single human.
For the sake of the Dimensional Order, Sanghyun had to survive at all costs, and at the same time, he had to kill Luca.
'To survive, I must kill. I will think simply. I am going to make a decisive move now.'
Sanghyun spoke to her plainly. There was nothing complicated to think about.
If he made the decisive move and succeeded, he would live; if he failed, he would die. There was no third option.
Now that the news had reached him, Luca must have realized that the situation within the Dimensional Order was serious.
If he approached Luca again, he would have to face the consequences. There was no next time, nothing else.
Life or death. This was the only choice they could share.
He had already drawn up a plan in his head to execute a finishing combo. All that remained was whether Luca would play along with his plan.
"Illusion Mediation."
He sent an illusion to Luca.
However, Luca, who realized it was an illusion from the very beginning, paid no attention to it whatsoever.
It was a quick, perfectly normal, and problem-free decision.
The problem was that "Illusion Mediation" was different from a standard skill.
"Mediation Activated."
Whoosh!
The caster could instantly teleport to the location of the illusion. The Upper Moon's position instantly shifted in front of Luca.
"…!"
Luca was flustered.
However, since Luca was preparing for his next attack, his response came naturally.
The fact that he had been preparing an attack targeting the Upper Moon actually served as the catalyst for his immediate reaction.
So, without hesitation, Luca unleashed his skill upon the Upper Rank appearing right in front of him. It was flames.
Whoosh!
『Another World』
“……Ah?”
Although the flames were powerful enough to melt steel, they futilely sliced through the air at the Upper Rank’s response. The flames
could not touch the Upper Rank in the slightest, as he had returned from being isolated in a subspace via Another World.
Now, it was the Upper Rank’s turn.
『Undead』
■ Skill Level: Tier 1 (10.0%)
■ Skill Introduction: When this skill is used, you cannot die in any form. 10 seconds of complete invincibility are activated.
There is no cooldown, but the skill disappears immediately after exhausting a total of 2 uses. Undead,
a skill I had used once before in the Seize raid. I used the skill providing 10 seconds of complete invincibility.
Two of the three uses remained, and I had now used the second opportunity.
『Sword of Destruction』
Upper Moon’s choice was a finishing move he had steadfastly held back from using, despite his hands itching to use it for a long time .
Sword of Destruction, with every single strike being destructive, was also the skill Upper Moon trusted the most.
Of course, if he had only used Sword of Destruction here, Luca’s response would have been easy. He could simply dodge.
Therefore, Upper Moon also threw a decisive move—a move he had been waiting for an opportunity to use even more than Sword of Destruction.
『Control』
It was none other than Control.
■ Skill Introduction: Consumes 10 Mana per second to block all skill usage by the designated target.
The 'Control' debuff is permanently applied to the designated target and cannot be removed in any way.
It can only be removed by the caster interrupting their casting or by a lack of focus caused by interference.
To escape the Control state, one must disrupt the focus of the target using Control.
However, Upper Moon, in his Over Psychedelic state, possessed better focus than ever. It was the best.
Consequently, Control worked almost instantly, and disaster struck Luca.
“Huh…?”
Even though Upper Moon’s razor-sharp Nameless Sword was flying at him from the front, he was unable to use a single defensive skill.
Luca was unaware that the Control debuff itself existed in the player world.
This meant he was unaware that he was currently in a situation where he could not properly use his skills.
If he had at least realized it, he might have dodged it by throwing himself in front of it, but he couldn't even do that.
Thud!
“Argh!”
If there was a silver lining in this misfortune, it was that the artifact he was wearing had absorbed one of the Nameless Sword's attacks. Just
as Upper Rank possessed an invincibility skill akin to the Undead, Luca also had an artifact capable of nullifying a single attack.
When the attack was nullified, Luca should have cleverly disengaged. He would have done so if he had known the situation.
However, Luca, unaware of the control state, instead saw this as a golden opportunity to counterattack Upper Rank.
So, intending to burn Upper Rank alive, he unleashed a finishing fire skill.
Ignition of Death. It was a skill that inflicted a flame of mana that would never go out unless the target died.
“Huh…?”
The moment the skill was blocked during the casting phase, Luca realized, in colloquial terms, that he was completely screwed.
And then.
Pow! Pow! Pow! Pow!
He ended up giving his body the bare brunt of Upper Rank’s Sword of Destruction, which came in relentlessly in succession.
The nullification guaranteed by the artifact was only for one hit, and this time, he had to take the attack directly with his body.
“Ugh! Ugh! Cough! Ugh!”
A groan spewed out.
Even in that state, he displayed an astonishing amount of willpower and ran to get away from the Upper Rank, but…
『Death Touch』 .
Caught in the Death Touch’s complete summon option, he was unsightly dragged straight in front of the Upper Rank.
Thud!
The Sword of Destruction was thrust in again as a bonus.
“Aaaargh!”
Luca screamed.
His chest was riddled with bullets from the Sword of Destruction, leaving him in no normal state.
Only then did Luca realize he had been afflicted with a control debuff.
It was an absurd debuff.
Even if it was conditional, to be completely unable to use skills while being focused on like this?
Although he possessed quite a few skills, he didn't even have a skill that could mimic such an attack.
He needed to buy time.
Even in his agony, Luca threw the ring on his finger at the Upper Rank, hoping for a turnaround.
The Artifact’s 'Self-Destruct'.
It was a sort of artifact bomb, conceived from the fact that all artifacts hold mana.
He thought that using this would allow him to push Sanghyeon away and simultaneously wash away this wretched debuff.
However… as soon as the 10-second duration of the existing Undead skill expired, Sanghyeon, the
"Undead," used his remaining opportunity without hesitation. Another 10 seconds of complete invincibility. Bang! Bang bang! Bang! The rings Luca tossed in front of Sanghyeon exploded one after another, but they failed to leave even a small scratch. Because of that, the control state was released for a very brief moment, and Luca unleashed his Ignition and Oxidation skills with all his might, but… Whoosh! Whoosh!
The invincible aura surrounding Sanghyeon's body rendered both ignition and oxidation futile.
The skills melted and burned nothing but formless air; they failed to touch even a single strand of Sanghyeon's hair.
Control was applied again.
At that moment, Luca instinctively knew the situation had gone completely awry.
'Awakening,' Luca's ultimate skill that he had kept in mind as a backup plan while constantly debating whether to use it or not.
If he utilized this skill, he could face Sanghyeon with far greater firepower and movement than he was currently capable of.
The problem was that, being a skill, it was blocked by Control. In other words, he absolutely could not use it right now.
Sanghyeon charged at him again.
Luca's mind went blank as he faced the absurd, worst-case scenario of a mage player being unable to use skills.
The distance was too close.
Running away would only result in being dragged in, and any attack was meaningless due to the invincible force field surrounding his body.
"Fuck…"
The only thing escaping his lips was a curse spoken in half-resignation. Right now, there was nothing else he could do.
*Thud!
* "Ugh!"
Upper Moon's Nameless Sword pierced Luca's heart. Neither
his arrogant level, nor his artifact, nor the power of the Constellation, nor his skills could protect Luca at this moment.
“…….”
Luca stared at Upper Moon with a look of utter despair.
Meanwhile, Upper Moon sensed his death the moment the sword pierced him.
Thus, with the sword still lodged in his chest, he clearly watched Luca’s breath fade away with his own eyes.
[Hidden Quest Completed!]
[Successfully eliminated the player who contracted with the Divine Throne 'Eye of Calamity' and bound the contract with him!]
The End.
It was the moment Upper Moon witnessed the greatest happy ending he could create.
