Chapter 399

Chapter 399
## Chapter 399: What He is Constructing

—

Hudson’s gaze wavered with intense agitation.

It was due to the utter collapse of the strategy he was certain would secure their triumph.

The strength of the Death God Cult and the Black King far exceeded his most daunting expectations.

He had reasoned that if the Star Guardians launched a surprise attack on the rear of the Death God Cult once they descended into the void, it would be sufficient to throw their ranks into chaos.

Furthermore, he had been convinced the Black King would be no obstacle for the White King, who had finally achieved the completion of Destruction King Mok.

…No, that was a grave error.

Every single assumption had been a blunder, a failure of logic.

“……The fault lies entirely with me.”

Tighten.

Crimson droplets leaked from Hudson’s squeezed knuckles.

The origin of this catastrophe was painfully evident.

He had no one to condemn but himself.

He had succumbed to the fantasy that both the Death God Cult and the Black King were pieces moving according to his design.

Hudson had set up intelligence networks across both Earth and Pangenia.

He had formed his conclusions after analyzing the data synthesized through those channels.

Because the Death God Cult and the Black King were high-priority threats, he had tracked them meticulously, eventually deciding—based on a mountain of evidence—that he could emerge victorious.

‘They were never foes to be taken lightly.’

Park Hyunmyeong had frequently manipulated the Death God Cult with effortless grace.

He had also halted the Black King’s momentum in the past, which made it easy to harbor the bias that they were not a truly formidable faction.

But.

‘All those triumphs were rooted in Sir Hyunmyeong.’

He had overlooked that fundamental reality.

That he himself was not Park Hyunmyeong.

That every instance of overturning an impossible fate began with the supernatural feats Park Hyunmyeong performed!

In truth, both the Death God Cult and the Black King were playing a game far above his level.

Park Hyunmyeong’s actions, which always defied conventional logic, had been the catalyst for every win.

Now that Park Hyunmyeong was absent, he shouldn’t have been praying for such a phenomenon to occur.

—Aaargh!

—Hold the line!

—Si, Sir White King!

The carnage, witnessed through the perspective of Hypnos, was catastrophic.

At this pace, the loss of the labyrinth seemed like an inevitable conclusion.

Their sheer destructive capability was overwhelming.

They were being systematically demolished.

To lose half of their combatants over a single tactical blunder.

It was a staggering cruelty.

“This does not rest on your shoulders alone.”

It was Abelov, the Vice-Commander of the Round Table.

He spoke while placing a steadying hand on Hudson’s frame.

The duty of the Knights of the Round Table was to safeguard the heart of this maze.

Their sacred purpose was to protect the ‘First Flame’ contained within.

“You aren’t required to carry the entire weight of this failure. No one desires that for you.”

“B, but… my flawed choice has led them straight into a slaughterhouse.”

“A slaughterhouse? Does the scene truly look like a death trap to you?”

“……?”

Confused by Abelov’s query, Hudson tilted his head and refocused his sight.

And then.

“……!”

He found it hard to trust the testimony of his own eyes.

Observing his shock, Abelov continued.

“Never forget, Hudson. Every soul here is committed to his protection. This burden belongs to all of us, not just you.”

Ruuuumble!

The severed form of the Giant of Evil Annihilation was driven into the dirt.

The disparity in raw power was total.

Regardless of his individual strength, he was no match for her—a being who had consumed an untold number of ‘gods’.

The same fate befell the remaining Star Guardians.

The Golden Fox thought it might be entertaining to slaughter them all and harvest their celestial essence.

However, she soon paused, her head cocking to the side.

“…I felt no spark of life extinguished.”

It was bizarre.

She had unmistakably sliced through him, and his body had collapsed, yet the sensation of a kill was absent.

Even though she had utilized the essence of the Outer Gods specifically to wipe out his very spirit.

He had survived.

The explanation revealed itself shortly.

Whoooosh!

…The two halves of the Giant of Evil Annihilation’s torso began to radiate a brilliant, auric luminescence.

In that moment, the conduct of the Star Guardians shifted drastically.

—Retreat, everyone!

—O, Giant of Evil Annihilation!

—Our Progenitor!

The Star Guardians scrambled to put distance between themselves and the center of the light.

They clearly understood the nature of the event currently unfolding.

Yet, one specific term caught the ear.

‘Progenitor?’

What did they mean by calling him their Mother?

Weren’t these the sentinels tasked with guarding the Mother Star?

Why were these guardians addressing the Giant of Evil Annihilation by that title?

The split body of the Giant of Evil Annihilation pulled itself back together into a single entity.

The vertebrae realigned, while flesh and sinew knit themselves back into place.

“…I understand now why the ‘Mother Star’ never manifested in the physical realm.”

The Golden Fox whispered to herself.

Countless myths surrounded the Mother Star.

Yet, its presence had never been verified by any living witness.

Now, the truth was undeniable.

“You were the ‘Mother Star’ all along.”

The Giant of Evil Annihilation.

That creature was the ‘Mother Star’ itself.

A celestial body given motion.

Unlike the other guardians, it was a sovereign entity that felt no need to put others to the test.

The Giant of Evil Annihilation was now clad in a suit of radiant golden plates and a closed helm.

A divine warrior of the firmament.

—……

The Giant of Evil Annihilation offered no verbal reply.

Instead.

Swoooosh.

Vapor drifted from the gaps in its celestial plating.

Shwing.

Kraaaaaaaaack!

With a sudden burst of speed that seemed to collapse the distance instantly, the Giant of Evil Annihilation struck at the Golden Fox.

She reacted within a fraction of a second, pulling her sword to parry, but the weapon was pulverized into shards.

‘Where does this strength come from…!’

The Golden Fox’s expression was one of pure bewilderment.

She had assumed he could never match her in a test of pure force.

She was mistaken.

His power hadn’t been capped; it had simply been waiting to overflow.

He only needed to overwhelm her with a superior magnitude of energy.

Craaaack-!

The Golden Fox’s form was catapulted backward, tearing through the ranks of soldiers until she disappeared over the rim of the void.

A distance so vast the eye could no longer track her.

The surviving members of the Death God Cult who witnessed the strike shared a single thought.

…It seemed unlikely any of them would survive this encounter.

“……”

“……”

How much time had slipped away?

What was certain was that by the time the ‘Giant of Evil Annihilation’ had fully awakened, half of the Death God Cult’s army had been wiped out.

And it wasn’t limited to the common footmen.

“…Three of our leaders have been neutralized.”

The high-ranking officers of the Death God Cult had suffered as well.

The Fox, the Monkey, and the Rat had all been struck down.

The Monkey was on the verge of death, the Rat was confirmed deceased, and the Fox had vanished into the depths of the abyss.

Since she had yet to resurface, the Fox was presumed dead.

The Giant of Evil Annihilation had achieved this massacre entirely on his own.

A truly horrifying entity.

To demonstrate such overwhelming combat skill against the Death God Cult—who had grown powerful beyond measure by feasting on Outer Gods—was unthinkable.

A monster of this caliber had never been seen in the history of Pangenia.

Yet, the creature was not unscathed.

“We failed to slay the Giant of Evil Annihilation, but he won’t be interfering with our plans any further.”

The Golden Lion declared.

True to his word, the Giant of Evil Annihilation was also hovering at the edge of expiration.

He likely lacked the energy to move a single muscle.

However, they couldn’t risk a final blow.

To finish him off would have required the sacrifice of at least one more executive.

“…The Golden Rat has fallen.”

“Golden Mask. What is your command?”

Every eye turned toward the Golden Mask.

For the first time, one of their elite had been killed in action.

Though it was unprecedented, the protocol was already set.

“Burn the remains, and as for the ‘Orthodox’……”

—Kikikekeke!

—……

The Golden Mask’s Orthodox locked eyes with the Golden Rat’s Orthodox.

Their death gods had already begun to deviate from their original forms.

Their physical shapes remained, but their laughter and the hollow look in their eyes had twisted into something alien.

Then, the Golden Mask’s Orthodox unhinged its jaw.

Slurp!

…It consumed the Golden Rat’s Orthodox whole.

—Kikikikukukikekeke!!!

The Golden Mask’s Orthodox began to contort its frame, emitting sounds that defied description.

Its eyes rolled into its head, and its entire being vibrated with a violent tremor.

It was a state that bore no resemblance to sanity.

“We proceed to the labyrinth.”

There was no more time for hesitation.

At the Golden Mask’s signal, the survivors of the Death God Cult resumed their march toward the entrance.

Upon reaching the gateway.

“…It appears the White King and the Black King had their confrontation.”

“Neither remains. Did the battle conclude without a victor?”

They found a battlefield where the remains of shadowy beasts and monsters were indistinguishable.

A literal peak of corpses.

But the two kings who had clashed were nowhere to be found.

Where had they gone?

As they delved deeper into the maze, the evidence of their struggle became more violent.

When they arrived at the level designated as 7Lv.

“The Dark Elf Lord……”

“Is he gone as well?”

They stumbled upon the corpse of the Dark Elf Lord.

The body was in a state of utter ruin.

It looked as though it had been put through a shredder made of infinite razors.

The dark elves had been wiped out to the last man, yet the entity responsible for the carnage was absent.

‘This is becoming more difficult than I anticipated…’

The Golden Mask furrowed his brow.

Taking control of this labyrinth was proving to be a far more arduous task than he had planned.

The Star Guardians and the Giant of Evil Annihilation were merely the opening act.

He couldn’t fathom what else might be lurking if the Dark Elf Lord could be slain and the Black King could be pushed to his limits.

One thing was certain.

Ruuuumble!

The environment shifted.

The remains of the dark elves and their Lord were swallowed by the floor.

It was a phenomenon they had encountered several times during their ascent.

The architecture was rearranging itself at will.

It was as if the labyrinth was a singular, sentient organism.

Once the tremors subsided and the terrain locked into place.

“…A Dragon God?”

The Golden Mask stared at the figure before them, tilting his head in confusion.

The aura radiating from the opponent was unmistakably that of a ‘Dragon God’.

But why would a deity of dragons be dwelling within this maze?

Furthermore, that specific form….

“…It was you who tore the Dark Elf Lord apart.”

Judging by the presence of those innumerable ‘blades’, there was no room for doubt.

The wounds on the Lord’s body matched the energy of this being perfectly.

Blade Dragon God Hana!

This was not the hollow ‘imitation’ pulled from the Tower of the War God.

“Our deity demands your extinction.”

…This was the ‘authentic’ one.

The one who was supposed to be anchored to Earth’s ‘Dragon Vein’.

Having stripped away all her limitations, she had finally stood her ground against the Death God Cult.

✺✺✺

…What is that fool constructing?

A massive ‘Eye’ was fixed on Park Hyunmyeong as he tirelessly worked on a barrier.

He was manually reshaping the very essence of his Hidden Trait.

However, after once again tearing down the wall he had just built, he began creating something entirely different.

It was something that could no longer be classified as a wall.

He even scavenged materials from other shattered fortifications to continue his work.

For someone who believed himself to be dead, he was remarkably productive.

The issue was that none of this followed the rules of reality.

A Hidden Trait was the term for the manifestation of a primal power belonging to a dead civilization.

One could refine it or bring it to completion, but fundamentally changing its nature was supposed to be impossible.

It was an attempt to rewrite one’s own origin.

If attempted recklessly, the backlash would be catastrophic.

An immortal would lose their eternity; a mortal would lose their life.

But because the man believed he was already a ghost, he was performing this act without a hint of doubt.

…It was a first.

Everything taking place in this moment was unprecedented.

What exactly was Park Hyunmyeong trying to build?

Randolph had been finalized as ‘The End’.

He had defined his own being by evolving the keys he held.

In contrast, Park Hyunmyeong was still a blank slate.

Even though he had been granted thirteen new keys, he seemed oblivious to what his final form should be.

He hadn’t become a beacon of light like Wilhelm, nor a void of darkness like Randolph.

He was an undefined entity.

Was that the reason?

‘He is constructing.’

He was forging something.

The terrain he intended to inhabit.

He was obliterating every existing concept to cultivate a brand-new territory.

It was a spectacle of wonder.

Even if he seemed unaware of the magnitude of his own actions.

The observing ‘Eye’ was finally able to discern the nature of Park Hyunmyeong’s project.

It was preposterous.

This was not an achievement a human could reach.

Even a deity would find it beyond their grasp.

A primary god—no, something even more ancient.

This was the work of a primordial creator.

It was quite literally a task reserved for the highest tier of existence.

In this moment, Park Hyunmyeong was.

Gathering every part of his being,

Into a place where he could simply exist.

—……

…constructing a ‘home’.