Chapter 230

Chapter 230
## Chapter 230

Aftermath (2)

When the Immortal King’s devastating counterblow struck him following his aborted opening strike, Geos truly believed his life had reached its conclusion.

The jagged spikes that skewered his physical frame, tearing through vital internal organs, alongside the malevolent energy coursing through his veins like a deadly contagion… it simply was not a trial any mortal body could survive.

Yet, the vital essence that had been channeled directly into his crimson life-aura managed to anchor his consciousness, even as his outer shell crumbled toward ruin.

Furthermore, the sacred influence of the Saintess, which manifested immediately afterward, proved sufficient to temporarily tether him to existence.

Saintess Liesta was single-handedly anchoring the protective barrier, mending the flesh of the wounded, fortifying her frontline allies, and simultaneously expending her dwindling reserves to stabilize Geos—all while enduring the merciless onslaught of both the Bone Dragon and the Immortal King.

‘If you continue to squander your strength on someone like me… the others will surely perish.’

Understanding that her desperate attempts were ultimately a waste of precious energy, Geos forced his shattered frame into a sitting posture, tuning out her frantic protests…

And sucked in a sharp breath at the sight of Heinrich engaged in mortal combat with the Immortal King.

‘Ah…’

Even across the distance of the battlefield, the reckless, unyielding resolve radiating from the young man was palpable.

Heinrich showed no signs of faltering, completely unconcerned that his own body was being systematically torn apart.

He was driven by a singular, unshakeable urge to grasp an objective that seemed utterly beyond reach.

Lifting his heavy spear, Geos offered up a silent petition.

‘Main God, I am well aware that the role of the protagonist was never meant for me…’

He would gladly incinerate whatever remained of his life force to pave a path for the hero.

It was a conclusion that felt entirely right for his journey.

‘Please direct this meaningless existence so that it may serve as his stepping stone.’

Mustering every shred of residual vitality, he unleashed his absolute final strike.

His heart sank into despair when the Immortal King turned the attack aside with effortless nonchalance.

Yet right then, as though the heavens had answered his final plea, a jolt of sheer awe ran through him as a radiant, dawn-like illumination completely enveloped Heinrich.

And the moment the hero’s holy sword drove directly into the heart of the Immortal King—the incarnation of absolute malice he had deemed completely insurmountable—a sudden clarity washed over Geos.

‘Ah, now I understand.’

This was the predetermined destiny orchestrated for this realm.

Even if their efforts had fallen short against the Immortal King in this specific clash, the ultimate resolution of this world would remain unchanged.

He could perceive it with absolute certainty.

That unavoidable conclusion.

“Sir Geos! Please, open your eyes!”

“Geos!”

“Saintess, over here, quickly…!”

As these profound realizations drifted through his mind, he became aware that he had slipped into unconsciousness amidst a chorus of panicked voices.

Had the entire spectacle been nothing more than a delusion?

He could not be certain.

“Sir Geos.”

Parting his heavy eyelids with immense effort, he found the hero hovering over him, his features tight with anxiety.

Saint Heinrich, the beacon of hope for this reality, the savior destined to restore illumination to the entire continent.

“Ugh, I brought a little present for you, big brother.”

Harley materialised in the vicinity, hauling a heavy burden along the ground behind him.

His customarily skimpy attire was in even greater tatters now, his defensive gear reduced to ruined scraps.

“Ah…! That creature… it is…”

Geos lacked the physical strength to form coherent sentences, but Harley took it upon himself to proudly clarify that the bound monster was indeed the commander of the cabal responsible for tearing open the abyss.

It was a thoroughly appropriate offering.

Nevertheless, Geos could do nothing but observe passively as the life was snuffed out of the creature right before him.

…In truth, the desire for retribution had entirely faded from his heart.

He wasn’t sure if his long crusade against the dark mages had simply left him numb to violence, or if it was a byproduct of the profound cosmic truth he had just glimpsed.

‘I can safely entrust everything else to their hands. Their capabilities far exceed my own.’

His only remaining wish was to seek oblivion.

The distant murmurs of Liesta, Isea, and Lydia drifted toward him like a fading echo.

As his awareness began to submerge into a gentle, enveloping heat, a voice as pure as a ringing bell reached his ears.

“Rest well, Sir Geos. May your visions be peaceful.”

A faint, serene expression touched his lips as he allowed himself to sink completely into the dark.

He silently wished that his slumber would bring him images of the family he had lost.

—

Slide—

Pushing the window pane aside, he allowed a crisp, rejuvenating draft to brush against his skin.

Resting his forearms against the wooden sill, his gaze drifted downward toward the courtyard.

The grounds below were bursting with natural vitality, blending seamlessly with the chilly atmosphere.

This personal sanctuary had been meticulously crafted by Harris, the High Elf, utilizing the technique known as “Individual Projection”.

Its aesthetic appeal easily eclipsed that of any garden tended by conventional masters.

“Heh.”

A bitter, self-deprecating laugh escaped him as the sheer cynicism of his situation hit home.

Here he was, idly appreciating the aesthetics of a manicured landscape immediately after a companion had met their demise as a direct consequence of his choices.

‘I am thoroughly twisted.’

He shut his eyes tightly, gripped by a sudden wave of intense self-disgust.

‘Geos…’

He had recognized the truth from the very beginning.

That Geos welcomed the prospect of death with the same fervor—perhaps even greater fervor—as he pursued his vengeance.

A vanguard unit like the hero’s party, infamous for its catastrophic mortality rate, was realistically the ultimate destination for someone seeking an end.

His intention had been to quietly facilitate the man’s revenge and eventually steer him toward a peaceful retirement, yet…

‘I never anticipated it would culminate in a tragedy like this.’

He exhaled a weary breath, a grimace forming on his face.

Hans had been operating with a genuine, unadulterated intent to slaughter every single one of them.

Had Geos not thrown his life into the breach, Heinrich would have failed to achieve his transcendent awakening in time, his primary consciousness would have remained dormant, and their entire group would likely have been wiped out.

In fact, Heinrich hadn’t even grasped the true lethality of their predicament until Hans directed his murderous malice squarely at Geos.

‘…Is this what passes for a positive outcome?’

The realization that he felt a sense of relief because a companion had laid down his life was sickening.

He recognized the moral depravity of the thought, yet it remained an undeniable fact that this scenario was preferable to total annihilation.

‘…I will personally ensure his killers pay the ultimate price.’

Baltheon represented the final major instigator left on the board.

While minor remnants might still linger across the southern territories, the indigenous clans who had endured their tyranny for so long would undoubtedly hunt them down.

‘It would be wise to station Harley in that sector for the time being to oversee the transition. The real dilemma is the Revolutionary, the true puppet master.’

He had attempted to extract intelligence regarding this individual from Siana, but the strategist had covered his tracks with such meticulous care that she possessed no actionable data.

The only definitive conclusion he could draw was that the mastermind was attempting to unseal an ancient entity confined within the depths of the abyss.

‘Yet the true nature of that entity remains a complete mystery.’

It was highly probable that the threat surpassed mere mortality or psychological corruption.

Perhaps it was a malevolent deity intent on erasing the entire world.

‘Hold on, didn’t Siana mention that malevolent deities fell strictly under the administration of the underworld, her native realm?’

Regardless, so long as he continued to systematically dismantle the coordinator’s operations, the Revolutionary would eventually be forced out of the shadows, providing the perfect window to terminate him permanently.

Unsealing his eyes, he directed his attention back out toward the foliage.

His internal state remained turbulent, even after establishing a definitive course of action.

…While Hans’s final psychotic break could be largely attributed to psychic degradation, his preceding betrayals could not be excused by madness alone.

‘I experienced those identical darker impulses constantly.’

The accumulation of Karma could be accelerated to an immense degree if he simply discarded his ethical boundaries and empathy.

Yet he had consciously restrained those dark desires, desperately holding onto his moral center… Whereas Hans had willingly leaped across that precipice.

‘I did manage to intercept the legions deploying southward from the Immortal Fortress before they could clear the mountain passes…’

Even so, the sheer devastation visited upon the populace by the Immortal Army was already astronomical.

And despite that, he found himself compartmentalizing the tragedy, whispering comforting lies like, ‘It was unavoidable, I never desired this outcome…’

“Haha, ha…”

Another hollow, mocking chuckle slipped past his lips.

He was truly beyond redemption.

Strangely, embracing his own underlying pragmatism caused the fog in his mind to dissipate.

With his conscience momentarily quieted, his focus shifted toward the tangible gains of his recent ordeals.

A tremor of genuine anticipation rippled through him; after all, an extraordinary sequence of catastrophic events had transpired in rapid succession.

“What?”

The displayed metrics surpassed his wildest calculations.

His slumber had spanned a mere forty-eight hours according to the timeline of Earth…

Which translated to just over three weeks within the temporal flow of Auterica…

『Karma Shop』

『Unique Skill Enhancement (1,200,000)』

『Status Enhancement – View Details』

『Karma Owned – 9,999,627』

An unprecedented, staggering mountain of accumulated Karma points…

…lay arrayed before him.

“…Unbelievable.”

The gasp escaped his throat completely unbidden.

‘I am a hair’s breadth away from eight figures.’

Up to this point, he had funneled an aggregate of 6.3 million Karma exclusively into upgrading his unique skills.

If he calculated the sums invested into elevating his raw attributes on top of that… the figure would likely double.

In essence, this single windfall had fully reimbursed the entirety of his historical expenditures.

‘What was my remaining balance prior to losing consciousness? It was practically depleted…’

Karma rewards were never disbursed solely as a single lump sum following a crisis; a secondary stream consistently materialized over time as the long-term repercussions of the event rippled outward.

This monumental total was undoubtedly the convergence of all those distinct variables peaking simultaneously.

‘Even taking that into account, ten million…’

The continental civilization, which had been precariously maintaining a semblance of order throughout the monster madness crisis, had suffered a total systemic collapse under the weight of Hans’s unrestricted offensive.

The various domains were forced to pivot to an emergency wartime footing to defend against the unpredictable movements of the Immortal Army alongside the existing monster threat, causing Hans’s infamy to reach mythological proportions.

‘Furthermore, preventing the assassination of Riley within the borders of Jeron must have yielded a massive payout.’

Princess Riley, leveraging the authority of the crown, had initiated an uncompromising campaign of internal investigations and political executions alongside her loyalists.

Her agents had ultimately exposed the architect of the treason: the Hermanheart ducal lineage, one of the four pillar families of the Empire, the bloodline of the Crown Prince, and the house of the reigning Empress.

‘She is withholding the information from the public domain for now, but an open civil war is mathematically inevitable.’

The factions were executing their moves with extreme discipline only because the overarching threat of human extinction loomed over everyone.

It was an institutional catastrophe capable of fracturing the empire from within.

He was privy to these classified state secrets exclusively because Riley had taken to visiting Hesperon on a daily basis to vent her frustrations.

‘Yet the most impactful achievement undoubtedly stems from repelling the Lycanthropes and safeguarding the World Tree within Enamel.’

The precise operational specifics remained opaque, given that Harris had been reduced to a vegetative, vegetative-like state following the conclusion of that crisis.

Nevertheless, preserving the World Tree—the physical manifestation of divinity—and preventing the continental shelf from fracturing into the ocean was a cosmic milestone.

‘And finally… the subjugation of the southern insurgents and the downfall of the Immortal King.’

To cap it all off, Harley, Harris, and Heinrich had each shattered their limits to achieve transcendence during these confrontations.

The resulting pool of Karma was nothing short of staggering.

‘What sort of power can I purchase with an ocean of points like this?’

The existential anxieties that had been weighing heavily on his shoulders evaporated instantly when confronted with this monumental compensation.

His mind instantly transitioned into an analytical mode, pondering a singular objective: the optimal allocation of his wealth!

Meanwhile, the numerical counter for his Karma continued to tick upward at a brisk pace.

Aided by the temporal variance between the worlds, the tally, which had been hovering just beneath the ten-million threshold, rapidly bridged the gap.

And then—the primary digit shifted.

Simultaneously…

《Feat Recognized! Your unspent Karma reserves have surpassed ten million points.》

《The tribulations and adversities that failed to break your spirit have served to fortify your essence. You are granted the entitlement “Karma Shop Ver.2 Update” as a celebratory milestone.》

《You have accomplished an existential milestone that permanently accelerates your Karma acquisition rate.》

A cascade of luminous notifications materialized directly across his field of vision.

‘…A system upgrade? At this specific juncture?’

It appeared as though the Akasha System…

…was aggressively encouraging him to go on a spending spree.