Chapter 249

Chapter 249
## Rewards

The wrap-up of Main Quest 11!

Scanning the ‘Hunting List’ that materialized alongside the notification, I tilted my head in confusion.

‘Does this imply the traces of the journey endure?’

The Nullification of Outcomes.

The authentic power of the Eternal Lord wasn’t merely bypassing a specific law, but rather the total negation of the final result.

Yet, because it simply voided the conclusion without rewinding the clock, a certain level of the ‘process’ was destined to remain behind.

It appeared the consequences of that journey had been integrated into the Main Quest results.

‘It seems that if I emerged victorious in a Star Expedition, it counts as a successful hunt even if I didn’t actually slay them.’

I hadn’t personally finished off every participant.

However, hunting carries a dual definition.

The physical act of capturing creatures of the wild using specialized gear.

Or the primal cycle of a dominant predator claiming a lesser creature as its prize.

If the system recognized both interpretations as ‘hunting,’ then the ‘Hunting List’ displayed before me wasn’t entirely illogical.

And yet.

‘I definitely never hunted the Divine Skin Hybrid.’

I had never even laid eyes on the master of the island, that deity of the crossbreeds.

Furthermore, was it possible the Eternal Monk was actually the Eternal Lord?

Searching for clarity, I focused on the figure standing across from me.

“……You chose not to throw it away.”

He stood nearly two meters tall.

A man possessing a powerful physique and three distinct eyes.

Each eye held a unique essence: the right burned with flame, the left was locked in ice, and the eye centered on his brow was a void of absolute shadow.

This individual was the Eternal Lord.

The being who had shielded the Island of God from the forces of Destruction in an age long past.

“What exactly did I not throw away?”

“Your essence. Your destiny. Every single one of your potential futures.”

“Are you suggesting that you discarded yours?”

“Indeed, I let them go. I sacrificed them for a fleeting moment of perfection. Did you not encounter him, the Eternal Monk? My hollow shell who transformed into a wretched hybrid.”

“……The Eternal Monk was the ‘Divine Skin Hybrid’?”

The Eternal Lord gave a slow nod.

“To bypass the fate dictated by Destruction using my innate power, and to safeguard our sanctuary and kin from oblivion, I surrendered my self. I turned into a beast drunk on raw power. The temptation he offered you was likely the same path I took.”

Surrender.

The self.

The Divine Skin Hybrid had acted specifically toward that end.

“The ‘Divine Skin Hybrid’ was residing within your soul. He channeled all his influence to make you obsessed with ‘power.’ Consequently, you gained the strength to stand against the Masters of the Abyss and the ancient, primordial beings.”

The version of Randolph who abandoned himself had achieved immense strength.

But that implied the origin of that strength wasn’t just the act of self-sacrifice.

The Divine Skin Hybrid.

That entity had been fueling the fires within Randolph.

“Why would he seek such an outcome?”

“……Ultimately, it is an incomplete state. No matter the heights of power one reaches, even if one breaks through every ceiling, one is destined to fail when only half-whole. That monstrous form of the hybrid is the living evidence.”

The Eternal Lord shifted his head slightly.

It was the look of a man haunted by a past decision.

He had touched greatness for a heartbeat, but in the end, he was left with nothing but ghosts.

There was no true profit in losing one’s soul.

Even if a prize was won, what value did it hold?

The path concluded in total hopelessness.

Especially since the remaining half had lost its identity and warped into a hybrid.

‘…I see.’

So that was the reality of the situation.

The pieces were finally clicking into place.

I spoke up.

“So his attempt to hijack my physical form ended in failure.”

“Precisely. The hybrid dreamed of crowning himself king. However, you refused to abandon your identity. The ‘Divine Skin Hybrid,’ finding no anchor to hold onto, was erased. He vanished in place of Isabella.”

“……Wait? Saying he was erased instead of Isabella sounds wrong. I definitely offered the ‘Door’ as the equivalent exchange.”

“‘Truth’ is a fickle, playful thing.”

A faint smirk touched the Eternal Lord’s lips.

He seemed to perceive exactly how the events had been orchestrated.

“Your decision itself served as the fulfilled price. The simple fact that you stayed true to yourself. A feat I could not manage. A feat no other could claim.”

“Then the ‘Door’ is… still as it was?”

“No, it cannot remain unchanged, of course. ‘Eternal Lord Randolph’ was one of the legacies of this island. My specific authority voids all conventional compensations.”

“Then……”

“Park Hyunmyeong.”

“……”

I was stunned into silence for a second.

How could he state my true name with such precision?

It felt as though those three eyes were looking past my exterior and reading my very soul.

“The hybrid likely anticipated that Isabella would naturally turn her back on you. He probably assumed she would be consumed by fury upon discovering the truth. Perhaps you harbored that secret fear as well.”

“……”

“The outcome was the polar opposite. Isabella embraced her own fading for your sake, and you were prepared to surrender your most vital possession for her. Is it not a vision of true beauty?”

That simple concept known as a bond.

Nothing more exquisite exists within the world.

However, I found I couldn’t find the words to respond.

His gaze seemed to tell me to listen quietly.

As if our window of time was rapidly closing.

He pressed on.

“You do not stand in isolation. Your life is defined and completed by your threads of connection. That link holds a potency far beyond what you perceive.”

“The current version of you has forged a bond powerful enough to even shatter the amnesia imposed by the ‘Operator.’ The personas you have inhabited will start to regain fragments of memory concerning you, even without reaching transcendence.”

The Operator had masked their recollections while forging pacts with the inhabitants of Pangaea.

Divine Possession.

The affliction of being turned into a character controlled by an external player.

But he had suppressed the most critical detail—that the choice to participate belonged to the individuals themselves.

He had framed the players as ‘transgressors’ and forced them into conflict.

Initially, I had assumed it was a game played by the Goddesses.

‘Rhea, Pina. Those twin Goddesses aren’t responsible for this.’

There was no way those two would orchestrate a slaughter among humans.

It was likely the Designer.

The architect who built this entire framework.

The one known as the Operator.

The Eternal Lord spoke once more.

“Embrace it. Only through being linked will you finally find your equilibrium.”

Accept the ties that bind.

For only then could harmony between the real world and Pangaea be reached.

Following that, the Eternal Lord offered a cryptic piece of wisdom.

“Additionally, while the end results vanish, the journey remains. The Masters of the Abyss and the ancient ones will lose their specific memories of you. Yet, the emotional echoes regarding you will linger.”

“Harness those feelings.”

“Make use of the memories that still dwell within you.”

“And through that, rule.”

“For that is the genuine strength hidden within the authority of the Eternal Lord.”

“I may have stumbled… but if it is you, it can be done.”

*Rumble!*

Right then.

The obsidian sky began to fracture and collapse inward.

“Your time has run out.”

The Eternal Lord extended his palm.

In an instant, a different ‘Door’ materialized.

“I leave my bloodline and our ‘Sanctuary’ in your hands.”

*Whoosh!*

With those parting words, I was yanked into the gateway as if caught in a vacuum.

The world shifted.

Before I could blink, I was standing in the open air.

Not in the depths of the Abyss, but back in Pangaea.

‘It’s gone.’

The swirling, dark rift that led to the Abyss had already evaporated.

“…It looks like we were kicked out.”

Isabella was standing right there.

However, she wasn’t the ‘only’ thing there.

“What on earth is that?”

“I beg your pardon?”

Isabella blinked, looking confused.

Was she seriously not seeing this?

“The thing hovering right next to you.”

When I pointed it out more clearly, Isabella turned her head and jumped back in shock.

“W-what is this……?!”

There was something undeniably bizarre floating there.

—How degrading. Why have I been reduced to such a pathetic form!

A hybrid no larger than the size of a grown man’s fist.

A single, massive eyeball drifting through the sky.

No matter the angle, it was a miniature version of the ‘Divine Skin Hybrid.’

“Why is a creature like this following me……?”

Isabella’s complexion went pale.

She seemed to have a hunch about its identity.

—Why must I be tied to a woman like this, you cursed ‘Truth’!

“……”

Hadn’t he been destroyed to save Isabella?

It seemed even the Eternal Lord hadn’t foreseen this particular twist.

To think the ‘Divine Skin Hybrid’ would end up as Isabella’s companion.

Moreover, hearing him scream at ‘Truth,’ it appeared he had been forcibly bound to her instead of being erased.

‘So that’s what he meant by truth being coy.’

Is Truth not the force that delivers results no one can anticipate?

In that sense, it shared a resemblance with me.

“Randolph-nim. What could this possibly be?”

I couldn’t help but let out a dry laugh.

“That is the ‘Divine Skin Hybrid.’”

“……? This little insect has quite a grand name.”

“Haha!”

An insect.

Who else in existence would call the ‘Divine Skin Hybrid’ a common bug?

Only Isabella would have the nerve.

Incidentally, seeing as she didn’t recognize the name of the ‘Divine Skin Hybrid,’ it confirmed that Isabella had indeed lost her memories.

Every memory she had recovered concerning my true identity.

But it didn’t really matter.

Memories are things that can be reconstructed piece by piece.

—This brat, she’s putting on an act like she’s forgotten everything.

“……?!”

—Are you feeling shy?

“……!!!”

—Hehe, you dim-witted girl. I can see right through you. I know it all. So, bow down to me……

“Be quiet.”

—……Gack?!

What was this ridiculous comedy routine?

The hybrid’s voice was instantly silenced by a single command from Isabella.

It was a dynamic that made it very clear who held the leash.

But wasn’t the ‘Divine Skin Hybrid’ essentially the other half of the Eternal Lord?

‘He talks like a common street thug.’

It was almost impossible to associate his mannerisms with the dignity of the Eternal Lord.

No matter how far he had fallen or how much he had changed, it just didn’t fit.

But there was a detail that nagged at me even more.

“Did she…… actually keep her memories?”

“……”

Isabella kept her lips pressed tight.

However, looking at her flustered state, it was obvious.

She remembered everything.

I had been certain she would lose them.

How on earth had she managed to retain them?

‘Is this another joke played by Truth?’

Or perhaps it was the doing of that bug…… no, the Divine Skin Hybrid.

And if those memories were still there.

—I shall yearn for you for all time, Park Hyunmyeong.

What was the weight behind those words?

Yearning.

To want something with every fiber of one’s being, forever.

If she hadn’t said those things, I might never have found my way back.

I wanted to ask for an explanation, but the question felt heavy on my tongue.

“That’s a relief.”

“……Yes.”

A period of silence stretched between us.

It was a far more comfortable quiet than I would have expected.

I rolled my shoulders and decided to make use of this downtime.

‘Status Window.’

First, I had to verify something.

The Eternal Lord had told me.

That I hadn’t lost the Hidden Trait of Eternal Lord Randolph.

But he also said it wouldn’t stay under the name ‘Eternal Lord Randolph.’

If it had evolved, I needed to see what its new title was.

There were bound to be other changes as well.

“……”

As I stared at the status window.

I was momentarily paralyzed.

I didn’t feel the urge to scream or gasp in shock, nor did I immediately think I was the luckiest person alive or that the situation was madness.

It was a result that clearly shattered all expectations and went beyond anything I had imagined.

The information displayed was just too far out of left field.

But before I could even process my feelings.

《The calculations for ‘Main Quest 11 – Abyss Monster Hunt’ are complete.》

《Final Tally: 10,000 points.》

《To you who has crossed into the territory of the ultimate enigma, moving past the incomprehensible.》

《This is the domain of ‘0’ probability, a feat no challenger has reached until this moment.》

《‘0’ is the digit that signifies both the infinite and the Absolute Void.》

《We offer our highest praise for your peerless accomplishment.》

《The hidden prize, the Hidden Piece ‘Achiever of 0,’ is now active.》

《10 ‘Perfect Golden Rules,’ the prize for this Hidden Piece, are bestowed.》

《You have earned 10,000 achievement points and 10,000 hours of ‘Fragments of the Broken Golden Rule.’》

《The standard reward for Main Quest 11, the ‘Talisman Cube,’ has evolved based on your performance.》

《You have obtained the ‘Infinite Talisman Cube (Hidden).’》

《You are now the master of the ‘Island of God.’》

《You have obtained the ‘Holy Star.’》

《The Hall of Fame standings are shifting.》

《You have seized the ‘Angel of Blessing.’》

《Please choose a vessel for the ‘Angel of Blessing’ to inhabit. The choice of vessel will determine the strength of the blessing bestowed.》

……

《Due to your unprecedented score, you may choose one of the ‘Talismans’ listed below.》

《‘Unique Lord’ Talisman》, 《‘Heavenly Demon’ Talisman》, 《‘Unborn Being’ Talisman》……