Chapter 47: The End of Blood and Avarice

For the record, Limon was in agreement with Li Chingwei that it was necessary to be cautious about the Constellations. But he was still withholding any verdicts on their existence.

What were their intentions?

Would they become evil in the future?

Were all the Constellations on the same side?

Was it necessary to extinguish every last one of them?

He knew too little about them to be blindly hostile towards them.

Back in the Heroes’ Age, Limon had seen countless monsters and madmen who believed they were righteous when they determined ‘evil’ with abject subjectivity and massacred people for being a citizen of an enemy nation, having a different religion, or the color of their skin.

But at this very moment, he knew that he could be certain about the ‘Snake that Connects Ends’.

This jackass snake was a dangerous jackass.

Not just because it had laughed at Yoo Na-kyung’s death, and might even be the very culprit behind that.

‘There’s no way that bastard isn’t dangerous after making a human look like that.’

Park had looked the same as he did before.

Well, from a normal person’s perspective.

But with the black glow in Limon’s eyes, the scene in front of him was entirely different.

Black scales covered Park’s entire body.

His head was morphed into that of a snake’s/

Its tongue was stretched to the floor.

His arms were replaced with tentacles.

After getting the ability to see Constellations, Limon had seen all kinds of forms in players.

But that snake’s form was different in nature compared to everything else.

Unlike the other Constellations who were at most fused onto the players, this time, it was hard to distinguish the original human body.

And most notable, was what was in the snake’s gaping mouth.

Inside was Park’s head, melting down as he screamed.

Meaning: that jackass snake was the one possessing his body.

And that this very snake was on a completely different dimension compared to the mere shadows Limon had seen thus far.

What stood in front of him was the Constellation’s true form.

“I have a lot of questions for you Constellations…”

Limon tightened the grip on his sword.

And like a lightning bolt, he charged at the snake wearing Park’s face.

“But first, I’m going to kill you off, you fucking snake!”

Slash—!

There was only a flash of light, hypersonic to the point it was more like a missile than a charging human.

It created afterimages, even light struggling to catch up.

Before it looked like the sword even made contact, it had already cut through.

But there was only one problem.

The pierced snake disappeared like it was just some illusion.

A mocking laugh with the sound of hissing could be heard behind Limon’s back.

“「o c t a g o n a l b a r r i e r」”

The snake split open its mouth into a wide jeer.

As if to show off, it raised one hand and flicked its tentacle as soon as the eight barriers circled Limon.

“B o o m.”

Ka-boom boom boom boom!

A vortex of lightning, fire, ice, curses, blades, venom, pressure, and explosions blasted in the barrier.

Although it was set off inside the barrier, it was more than powerful enough to not only demolish the headquarters of 『Infinity Guild』, but destroy all of its surroundings up to several kilometers away.

It was extremely fortunate, then, that Limon was the one trapped within those confines.

In one swing, he slashed through all the casted skills and escaped the barrier, stopping the city from getting nuked.

But that was only the beginning.

Pow! Boom! Ka bang bang bang!

‘Oh you slithery motherfucker…’

As if the first attack was just an introduction, the snake continued to hurl countless skills.

Limon’s brows furrowed as he cut through every single one of them.

It wasn’t because it was blindly spamming skills powerful enough to bring colossal damage to the city, as if it were holding the city itself hostage.

It was because for some reason, it was familiar to him.

The way it read ahead of his attacks and teleported accordingly to dodge them.

The way it combined hundreds of thousands of skills to increase their power.

Of course it would be familiar.

This was Lee Chun-gi’s tactics after activating Overlord.

“…I see. Was that why?”

Limon understood.

He understood why, out of all other times, the snake had chosen to take over Park’s body now.

“Because you thought this was your opportune moment to kill me, now that you can use the Monarch’s powers?”

Flicking its tongue with a grotesque grin, the snake did not mutter an answer.

But that alone was enough for Limon to know he made the right guess.

At a glance, this was foolish of the snake.

Limon couldn’t be beaten by only using the stolen skills of a Monarch.

Park himself had made that crystal clear.

But there was one definitive difference between Park and the snake:

One of them was a Constellation.

And the outcome of that difference was enormous.

While Park had self-destructed from merely a few dozen skills, the snake was freely throwing hundreds and thousands of skills.

And with a lot more power than Lee Chun-gi, at that.

Conclusively, the limit of power human Park and the snake Constellation could handle was different by magnitudes.

While it lacked in terms of technicality as it couldn’t combine skills as efficiently as Lee Chun-gi, it made up for that with the sheer number of skills it launched.

That wasn’t the only difference between humans and Constellations, either.

Zap, z-z-z-z-z-zap!

Limon slashed. He impaled. He crushed.

But no matter how many times his blade hit its mark, the snake would fade away, reappearing in a random spot to puke out even more skills.

A skill that was shot in front of him came flying from the back, and he moved sideways when he lunged forward.

It was like the space itself changed, like he was in the snake’s domain now.

It was a peculiar stratagem that Limon hadn’t seen, even while fighting Lee Chun-gi.

He was forced to go on the defense.

Of course he’d fail to handle it.

This wasn’t Lee Chun-gi or Park. It was a Constellation he was fighting.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

A great being that was incomparable to a human.

The Guardian of Humanity and Swordmaster was at the end of the day, only human.

The snake had placed Limon as a priority target as he was the only human who could stand up against it.

But inversely, that meant that the benefits of taking Limon down would be that much greater as well.

And so, the snake risked the unstable possession, going as far as to renew a contract to possess Park to face Limon.

That feat alone would put it on the same level as the Monarch-rank Constellations.

If it fails to take Limon down, it could easily retreat.

Park was just a measly tool who fulfilled its purpose.

Whatever happened to him, the snake didn’t care.

Low risk, high returns.

As such, there was no reason for the snake to let go of such an opportunity.

Meticulous and cunning, the snake ruthlessly drove Limon into a corner.

Or at least, that’s what it thought it was doing.

That was, until Limon, whose sword had only been hitting air up to that point, sluggishly opened his mouth.

“The Snake that Connects Ends… Yeah?”

“I think I’m getting the hang of your nature.”

***

***

The snake thought that it was the one playing Limon.

It never considered that it would be the one getting played.

That he’d been eyeing the snake this entire time, studying the feelings passed on through his sword.

That his eyes were not of a swordsmen fighting for his life, but of a hunter making the snake’s domain his.

“It may look like you’re manipulating space, but that’s just a facade. Your true ability is making fiction into reality and reality into fiction.”

“……!”

‘The Snake that Connects Ends’.

Limon was right.

Connecting ends did not mean connecting spaces.

Reality and fiction.

Truth and lies.

Illusion and realism.

It was a title that was derived from its ability to connect the antitheses.

They had only been cheating the players, under the facade that it manipulated space because their powers grew stronger the less it was known.

Limon coldly jeered seeing the snake falter from getting its true nature exposed so quickly.

“Motherfucking troglodyte.”

Were they blinded by avarice, or were they just fucking stupid?

In a hurry to lunge at the prey in front of it, it not only put its host on the line, but also thrown themselves into the fire.

Limon laughed at the idiocy.

“It's commendable you stand in front of me believing in your little barbarian magic tricks.”

Enraged by the ridicule, the snake widened its snakes as it prepared to unleash a barrage of skills again.

But before the snake could move, Limon was already stepping forward.

One step over the distortion.

Two to narrow the space between them.

And three to swing his blade.

In just three steps, he’d just passed through the maze of ‘warped’ space.

The snake was outraged, but it was not taken aback.

Its power was falsehood and deceit, after all.

Able to go back and forth between illusions, it could just make Limon’s attack fake, even after getting cut.

That was the power of the Constellations.

To tyrannize the world’s natural order, and create miracles.

A transcendental might that mere humans couldn’t dare approach.

Slash—.

“?!?!?!”

And so, in the next moment, the snake could only widen its eyes further.

Surely it had used its powers to turn Limon’s attack into falsehood.

But its illusionary arms had just fallen to the ground, accompanied by the pain of flesh and bone getting ripped apart.

How?

Surely, that bastard had only cut an illusion!

How did his sword touch me?

“You seem rather shocked, troglodyte.”

It looked like it had just experienced a nightmare.

Confusion and bewilderment was clear on its reptilian head.

Limon smirked. He looked to the snake’s reflection on his sword.d

“If you can turn reality into fiction and fiction into reality, you really ought to know that I can cut reality through your illusions,” he stated coldly.

“……!”

The snake was appalled.

Not because it couldn’t understand Limon, no. The opposite, rather.

It could only bite its tongue after the shock of realization.

Using an illusion to pierce reality was like using the reflection of the moon in water to cut the actual moon in the sky.

It wasn’t even a power the Constellation of falsehood and deceit could have.

But a mere human?

With nothing but a sword?

It couldn’t believe it.

It refused to believe it.

That Limon was just trying to deceive it.

That this was some sort of trick.

But it couldn’t.

Its arms that did not regenerate.

The pain surging from the wounds.

Limon’s cold, settled eyes.

It all told him the truth.

This was neither falsehood nor deceit.

And the snake understood.

Why this man was the only subject of alert among all the other measly humans.

Why even the Monarch-rank Constellations themselves would only watch him from afar without intervening themselves.

Humanity’s Guardian, the man who single-handedly protected the world.

It also meant that he was a monster with the power to single-handedly destroy the world.

Glop.

The instant the realization struck it, the snake immediately went into action.

It puked out a decaying, rotting Park Hyun-gun on the floor, and rushed into the sky.

Following the possession that took quite the toll, then hastily abandoning said possession, there was considerable stress put on the Constellation.

It could be downgraded into a marquis. Heck, even an earl rank if they weren’t careful.

But the snake did not care.

The unique guile of a snake.

The instinct of an animal.

The surging terror.

It made the snake throw away everything to run away.

“This fuck’s an actual troglodyte.”

“…!”

“Did you think you could run from me when you came to me first?”

The snake had ditched its physical body to escape in the blink of an eye.

But Limon was staring right at them.

But how?

It wasn’t possible for a human to be able to see it!

Then, the snake realized the answer as it saw the black glow in Limon’s eyes.

And it was appalled.

Aside from his swordsmanship, that was not a power a human was allowed to have.

“Remember this as my gift to you on your way down to hell.”

Wooosh—!

Limon paid no heed to the snake’s astonished reaction.

In just three steps, he’d caught up to the snake flying high up in the heavens.

“I am a Swordmaster.”

Limon Asphelder, the last lord of the sword tower and humanity’s last Swordmaster.

He got in stance to swing his sword midair.

“There is no one in this world who can run from me, and there is nothing I cannot cut. Even if it is outside of this world.”

Was it subconscious or instinctive?

The snake stopped running and charged straight at Limon with its jaws wide open.

It was as if they knew the only way they could get out of this alive was to kill Limon right then and there.

But before its fangs could touch Limon, he was already pulling down his sword.

With the utmost elegance, Limon drew an orchid, the heavens his canvas.

“〈Caliber of the Demon Slaying Sword

Part of the Waters - Moon Blossoms. 〉”

“「@%^$#^%@!$#^%@$—!」”

A petrifying howl shook the world as the west seas split in two.

And the light of a shining star disappeared from the night sky.

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