Chapter 64

Chapter 64
## Chapter 64: Dimensional Slash

This implied the small creature was a legitimate heir to someone significant.

‘And what exactly is Dimensional Slash?’

That wasn’t the only mystery.

Dimensional Slash, of all names.

Did it truly possess the power to cleave through the fabric of dimensions?

He dismissed the thought with a shake of his head moments later.

The world was full of abilities with overblown titles.

Though he had to admit, nothing quite matched the sheer audacity of “Dimensional Slash…”

“Dimensional Slash.”

He decided that witnessing it was the only way to be sure.

Kyakya!

The moment the words left his mouth, the spirit lashed out with its scythe.

And then—

Snip!

…The spatial distortion maintained by ‘Will’ was sliced apart.

Kyakyakya!

Reveling in the sensation of that initial strike, the manic creature began to swing its blade in a frantic blur.

Rumble! Roooar!

《No Dungeon Master remains to stabilize the link.》

《All ‘dimensional connections’ upholding the dungeon have been severed.》

《The dungeon is entering a state of collapse.》

The entire structure was beginning to plummet.

Starting from its furthest reaches, the environment was being swallowed by a pitch-black emptiness—contracting like a crushed object.

The abyss.

Serengeti’s jaw dropped, her expression a mask of pure bewilderment.

“…The exit path was cut, so we’re trapped?”

“Hmm, looks like we’ll need to rely on the Teleport Book.”

He hadn’t anticipated that Dimensional Slash would manifest as the literal power to break warp links.

It was triggering the total destruction of the dungeon itself.

The technique was staggering—unlike anything he had ever encountered—but lingering there in shock would only result in them being consumed by the void.

Left with no alternatives, he recalled the spirit and produced the Teleport Book.

Fwaaah!

As the book unrolled and the magic was primed, the dark embers dancing around the creature’s frame transformed into a brilliant blue.

A sudden metamorphosis.

Did this entity share some inherent tie to the mechanics of warping?

“Do not sever this one.”

Kyakya.

The spirit gave a quick nod of understanding.

—

The Shadows were lying in wait at the dungeon’s threshold.

A Demigod Trait Dungeon.

Their plan was simple: the moment the target stepped out, they would strike with a lethal ambush.

He wouldn’t have a prayer of defending against such a coordinated hit.

At least, that was the assumption.

Rumble!

‘The dungeon is falling apart.’

‘So suddenly?’

Standard dungeons didn’t just vanish after being completed.

Trait Dungeons, in particular, were designed to remain open for endless waves of seekers.

And yet, this one was failing.

It wasn’t crumbling into rubble; it was being sucked downward by a rising, creeping ‘abyss.’

‘It’s the abyss!’

‘Retreat! The reality boundary is eroding!’

The void was encroaching fast.

It mirrored the fall of a city.

If every warp sustaining a city failed, the abyss would flood in and wipe the entire location off the map.

The Shadows made their move to flee.

Once the abyss took hold, the entire region—dungeon included—was forfeit.

But when they reached their escape point, they fell into a panic.

“The warp is unresponsive!”

“Check the alternate coordinates!”

“It’s the same! Nothing!”

“It was functional moments ago—how is this happening?!”

Every single gate had gone dark.

But why the sudden failure?

They had used these very paths to arrive just a short while ago.

“Teleport Books! Break out the Teleport Books!”

“Th-they aren’t working either. The magic won’t take.”

“That’s impossible!”

The leader of the Shadows ground his teeth.

Even portable teleportation failing? This was unheard of.

When warps died and the abyss began to claim an area, a single path to survival remained.

‘Eliminate the Abyss Ruler.’

They had to destroy the manifestation of the abyss and the entity governing it.

However, Abyss Rulers were notoriously monstrous in power.

‘If it’s a weaker one, we might stand a chance.’

The Shadows were elite combatants.

They were capable of taking down a standard Abyss Ruler, even if it cost them lives.

Suddenly, glowing text manifested before them.

The Shadows’ eyes shook with sheer terror.

Of all the legendary horrors of the abyss, it had to be the God-Skinned Hybrid!

‘We’re doomed…!!!’

—

[Announcement]

Tap, tap.

The Master sat in his high-backed chair, his brow furrowed as he drummed his fingers rhythmically against the wood.

There had been no communication from the Shadows, despite the passing hours.

An entire day had vanished without a single status update.

He had demanded daily check-ins—continued silence suggested a catastrophe.

“…Could he have actually eliminated the Shadows?”

It seemed far-fetched.

Regardless of the freakish milestones Randolph was hitting, there were physical caps to power.

By the time he finished Main Quest 6, he would be level 8 at the absolute highest.

Even if the Constellations had boosted his rewards, the gear available at this stage shouldn’t exceed Ancient-grade.

‘Could there be something higher?’

That was already the absolute peak of his projections.

And even that defied logic.

The Master himself had reached only level 7 by the time he cleared Main Quest 6.

Achieving that pace had required the most elite equipment and a mountain of resources.

Even if a top-tier player like Gracia spent every waking moment grinding, it would take that long.

Randolph, however, had only been active for three months.

To be blunt, reaching level 8 in ninety days was nothing short of a miracle.

Furthermore, focusing purely on levels usually meant neglected stats. Maximizing both in that timeframe?

It was impossible.

“He has an accomplice. Someone incredibly formidable…”

He re-evaluated the situation.

If Phantom wasn’t working alone.

If a warrior capable of slaughtering the Shadows was backing him, then it made sense.

The Master speculated that at least a 2-star Transcendent was involved.

2-star Transcendents were the elite of the elite among Players.

But he was familiar with all of them.

That left the hidden NPCs of Pangeniar.

‘Rumors place them in the Empire or the Yan Kingdom. I’ve never seen them.’

Both regions were largely inaccessible to the general Player base.

They were legends—unconfirmed by any reputable source.

The idea of them assisting Phantom?

It felt unlikely.

Perhaps the Shadows were simply pinned down—still fighting.

“M-Master! The Shadows have all been found dead…!”

“…”

The frantic report that burst into the room silenced him instantly.

It was confirmed. Even his smallest hope was gone.

He had dispatched scouts to the location where the Shadows had mobilized. If they perished while projecting themselves to ambush Randolph, their physical bodies would die as well.

And they had.

Every last one.

The Shadows were wiped out. Years of meticulous training and recruitment were gone.

Twenty percent of his tangible power in the real world had vanished in a heartbeat.

Once this news leaked, rival factions would tear into his territory.

“Damn it!”

Bam!

The Master struck the desk with such force it splintered down the middle.

“You absolute bastard!!!”

His fury refused to abate.

How could it?

The foundation of the empire he had spent years constructing was showing visible cracks.

—

Knight’s Garden.

Since returning to the city under Marquis Wyzer’s jurisdiction, I’d been in a state of ‘recovery.’

‘My mind feels completely at peace.’

I had dominated the encounter with Will, but the mental tax of fighting such an opponent was significant.

So, I rested.

Maintaining psychological balance was vital.

There were also numerous other matters to attend to.

Kyakya!

I observed the small entity darting around with the curiosity of a puppy.

A miniature reaper in appearance: the Heavenly Spirit.

Following its stunt of severing every link in the Demigod Trait Dungeon, it had undergone a transformation.

【Lv. 2】

【Heavenly Spirit】

【Legitimate Successor】

【Dimensional Slash (Lv. 2)】

It had leveled up.

And it hadn’t even participated in a hunt.

Its method of gaining experience clearly operated on a different logic than standard spirits.

‘A creature that breaks warps and drops cities into the abyss.’

To sever space at will and condemn entire civilizations to the void?

The mere concept was terrifying—what kind of monster was this?

I rubbed my chin, lost in thought.

What were warps, truly?

They were the only bridges between the various landmasses.

The floating continents in the firmament were the handiwork of the Sky Goddess Pina.

The Earth Goddess Rea, who originally forged the world, had been killed by Ruin, causing the land to shatter into 32 distinct stars.

As the world faced total destruction, Pina hoisted the fragments into the sky.

But these aerial continents were isolated.

That was the purpose of ‘warps.’

‘Without warps to bind them, the gaps are consumed by the abyss.’

Simply keeping them afloat wasn’t enough to save them.

No warps meant no world.

‘So this little guy is a product of the abyss?’

It felt like a creature designed specifically to neutralize warps.

From the abyss’s perspective, warps were irritants—barriers preventing total erosion.

It made sense the abyss would create something to shred those barriers.

The abyss was a well of endless, dark mysteries.

Kyakya?

The cat-like reaper, done with its exploring, patted its stomach.

“Are you hungry?”

Kyakya!

It seemed quite famished.

But how does a skeleton consume food?

Spirits usually sustained themselves on their master’s mana.

However, my mana had long since converted into holy power.

It didn’t seem to have an appetite for holy energy, though.

《‘???’ yearns for honor.》

Ah. It consumed honor.

That tracked—it had feasted on all the ‘tainted honor’ during its inception.

What if its diet had been based on sins?

‘Feeding it through evil deeds would have been a disaster.’

I’d have to commit crimes on a schedule just to keep it fed. I’d be the world’s most wanted man in a week.

I was relieved it preferred honor.

“Go ahead and eat.”

Kyakya!

Wearing a wide grin, it swung its scythe over my head.

I felt something ephemeral get sliced above me, and the spirit inhaled the floating particles.

《‘???’ consumes 30 honor.》

《Remaining honor: 746》

…Thirty points for one snack?

Thirty honor was the payout for two mid-tier quests.

I hoped it didn’t eat this much every single day.

Kyakyakyakya!

It nuzzled its face against my cheek affectionately before running off again.

It was a strange, lively little companion.

‘It needs a name.’

I couldn’t just keep thinking of it as ‘the creature.’

Naming was the foundational step for a deep bond.

After a moment of deliberation, I nodded.

“Hel.”

Kyak?

“Your name is ‘Hel.’”

It was inspired more by Wilhelm’s ‘Hel’ than the underworld itself.

Kyakyakya!

…The name seemed to be a hit.

I was glad it had such a sunny disposition.

《‘???’’s name is officially registered as ‘Hel.’》

《Bond with ‘Hel’ has increased.》

《Tip: A stronger bond allows a spirit to sense and execute your commands through intuition alone.》

Name: checked.

Now, for the main event.

‘Unboxing.’

It was time to claim the spoils.

The eleven reward choices from completing Main Quest 6.

《Peerless Gokushin Saber》, 《Radiant Robe of Honor》, 《Absolute Void》, 《Tainted King’s Armor》, 《Tainted King’s Crown》, 《Round Table of the Tainted Knights》, 《Starstrider》, 《Staff of Original Sin》, 《Shatyros’s Terror》, 《Demonic Spear of Impurity》, 《Labyrinth’s End》

I scrutinized the list.

Not a single item sounded common.

It began with the Peerless Gokushin Saber—only two steps away from the absolute peak—and every other item was of an elite tier.

‘I was in need of a bow. This is perfect.’

For the challenges in the next Main Quest, a long-range weapon was exactly what I required.