Chapter 269 - Dokja’s Story (6)

[Baat! Baaat! Baaaaat!]

My cheeks hurt.

[

Baaaaat!]

There was a bit more pain. I felt something violently shaking in my arms. I opened my eyes at the exact moment the earth let out a tremendous ringing sound. I reflexively raised my head and could see brilliant flashes of light. The sparks of probability in the sky were falling like lightning strikes all over the Demon World.

“Dokja-ssi?”

I woke up the moment I heard Yoo Sangah’s voice. Like a disconnected current being reconnected, thoughts started to flow through my head.

There were broken incarnation bodies everywhere. No matter how I looked, this wasn’t the Mythical Battlefield. All the fallen bodies were living human beings. The industrial complex being torn apart by the Thunder Eating Bird could be seen.

“Did the constellations come?”

Yoo Sangah, who was about to say something, wiped her bloody cheeks and nodded. “...Yes.”

A system message was floating in the air while the party members were in tatters.

“The winner still hasn’t been announced.”

It was a situation I expected thanks to the last message of Yoo Jonghyuk in the library. However, I didn’t expect the situation to be so serious.

“Kuk...”

Lee Hyunsung suffered a serious injury on his side and staggered. I quickly got off Lee Hyunsung’s back and bought a few recovery items from the Dokkaebi Bag.

I gave the Great Return Pill to Lee Hyunsung and Yoo Sangah, who were the most seriously injured. Shin Yoosung had no wounds but her magic power was depleted, so I gave her an advanced magic power recovery medicine. Trauma medicine was given to Han Myungoh, Breaking the Sky Master and Jang Hayoung. It cost over 400,000 coins but now wasn’t the time to worry about that.

“Ahjussi...”

Shin Yoosung drank the potion and looked up at me while leaning against the rock. I looked at Shin Yoosung for a moment before saying, “You should rest here. By the way...”

In a distance place, the deafening roar of the constellations was shaking the earth. I could tell the number exceeded 12 just by the ‘status.’ At this moment, I had an ominous feeling.

...The constellations were gathered so how could the party members flee to here?

“Yoo Jonghyuk...”

None of the party members answered. I looked around the battlefield as an explosion occurred. Everyone except for Yoo Jonghyuk was here. In addition, someone was fighting the constellations.

[The ‘Fourth Wall’ is shaking faintly.]

“That stupid bastard...”

“Ahjussi! No!” Shin Yoosung clung to my waist when I tried to run forward. “Ahjussi will die. You’ll die there.”

She was an always straightforward and brave child. Fear was deeply permeated in the child’s eyes. Shin Yoosung burst into tears as I pulled away from her. In the saturated battlefield, the tears scattered like dust. Perhaps this child had seen it. It was the fear of a giant story that humans could never overcome.

“Please take care of Yoosung.”

I left Shin Yoosung to Jang Hayoung who was in a good condition and activated Way of the Wind. I heard a voice calling out to me from behind but had no time to turn around.

I moved forward and the pressure of the ‘status’ bursting from the centre of the battlefield became stronger. It was a fearsome storm of magic that I had never experienced before. The centre definitely contained Yoo Jonghyuk.

「 Kim Dokja thought: Is there a way? 」

The pages of Ways of Destruction flashed in my head.

「It isn’t possible. 」

「That method is too unreasonable. 」

I bit my lips. I predicted that this situation might happen. However, the time passed too quickly and I had been asleep for too long.

I was late. Yoo Jonghyuk was still far away and the wind wasn’t on my side. I could buy a new skill from the Dokkaebi Bag but I can’t guarantee its utilization.

In the end, I made a decision.

“I will invest three million coins into my strength, physique, agility and magic power.”

[Your total stats have grown abnormally!]

[The coins you invested have allowed you to cross the stats limit of the scenario.]

[A fuller probability will release some of the stat constraints for this scenario.]

[The growth of the stats value compared to the invested coins will be randomly adjusted.]

A tremendous amount of sparks jumped from my body. It felt like my muscles were tearing and growing bigger. There was the feeling of my bone density changing and a terrible pain came over me.

“Cough...”

I had put it off until now due to the poor cost to value ratio but there was no other way.

[Your mind can’t cope with your evolving incarnation body.]

[The exclusive skill ‘Fourth Wall’ is activated!]

[Your incarnation body is evolving to a new level!]

Since the early scenarios, the ‘overall stats’ didn’t have a big influence on combat. It was because stories, stigmas and skills had much more influence.

In addition, since the number of coins per level after level 100 was exponentially larger, it was more advantageous to buy a skill using the same amount of coins. Now the situation was different.

[All your stats have exceeded 200!]

[Your incarnation body can handle a bigger ‘status.’]

I needed a strong body, not a powerful skill.

[Your agility has reduced the air resistance.]

[Magic power is opening up the blocked bloodstream.]

A huge amount of coins was transforming my incarnation body.

[Your strength is causing an explosive change!]

The frequency of my footsteps and the speed at which the landscape passed in my vision changed drastically.

“Yoo Jonghyuk!”

Of course, it was impossible to surpass the constellations or transcendents. Still, it was enough to confront them for a while.

[Many constellations are envying your incarnation body.]

I crossed the wilderness at a tremendous speed and the centre of the battlefield finally entered my eyes. At the centre, I could see a dying person.

“You idiot! What are you doing?”

In front of Surya’s radiant light, Yoo Jonghyuk was dying. I didn’t know where his left arm had gone and steam was rising from his charred body. Even so, Yoo Jonghyuk was gripping the Black Demon Sword without moving an inch. Yoo Jonghyuk’s head moved slowly towards me. His voice wasn’t heard, as if he had no strength to open his lips.

[The ‘Fourth Wall’ is greatly shaken.]

The words of the Mass Production Maker came to mind. The constellations were also just part of this great story. They were also lonely and had to do these things.

...Bullshit.

[Get lost!]

The Founder of Humanity stood in front of me and wielded the Primitive Spear.

[The exclusive skill ‘Electrification’ Lv. 12 (+2) has been activated.]

White lightning exploded from my fist and the battlefield filled with a blue light.

[Kuaaack!]

The confused constellations supported the thrown back Manu and raised their status. The magic power poured towards me like a tsunami. My strengthened body withstood the mighty power of the constellations.

The flesh of my fist cracked and blood flowed down but it was still bearable. The constellations blinked as the dust settled down. They didn’t know I had this much power and were shocked.

[Stop him!]

A blue-white energy flew towards the constellations. In an instant, there were abrasions on my back and thighs as well as a long stab in my side.

“Yoo Jonghyuk!”

My cry didn’t reach him properly. Yoo Jonghyuk had fallen to his knees and his life was now flickering. No magic power could be felt from him. Yoo Jonghyuk was dying.

I held my breath and then shouted with the greatest true voice possible. [Asmodeus!]

The true voice burst out and the constellations blocked their ears for a moment. The great-grade constellations couldn’t stop and tears poured from my eyes. I shouted again.

[If you are a demon king, keep your promise!]

The situation was so big that I didn’t expect much. He was a shrewd guy and should know how dangerous it was to take my side right now. However, it was Asmodeus...

As if waiting, one star in the sky flashed. There was a storm coming in and something was descending.

[The Demon King of Lust and Fury has appeared in this world!]

A tremendous probability was flowing and a colossal presence was manifesting before my eyes as an incarnation body. A little girl surrounded by a dark aura raised her head.

It was the king of the Demon World who immediately subdued the transcendent Yoo Jonghyuk. Later, he would join one of the worst organizations in the world, ‘ the Seekers of the End.’

[D-Demon king!]

The 32nd demon king, Asmodeus started running wild.

[Ahahahahahat!]

He laughed and a huge rake appeared at the fingers of the demon king. Asmodeus’ ‘Bloody Grip’ scraped through the area and tore at the constellations.

[Kuaaaack!]

[The mad demon king!]

[What the hell is this?]

The constellations turned their gaze towards me and I triggered Way of the Wind to snatch Yoo Jonghyuk.

[Chase him!]

The constellations started running but my strengthened incarnation body was a bit faster than them. I ran with all my strength while carrying Yoo Jonghyuk on my shoulder. “Wake up please.”

Yoo Jonghyuk was barely breathing. The weight of his body was lighter than usual. He had suffered such severe pain that even the skeleton of his body seemed changed. I listened to his gradually fading heart beat and cried out, “Hey, don’t mess around! You can recover! Do something!”

However, Yoo Jonghyuk didn’t move. I called out to Biyoo and bought a few more Great Return Pills. My left hand supported his body while my right hand poured the pills into Yoo Jonghyuk’s mouth.

No effect was visible. He didn’t have the strength to swallow it. His breathing slowed and became distant. The tips of Yoo Jonghyuk’s toes were breaking and his body was disappearing.

I used Way of the Wind to wrap around the debris and prevent them from escaping. Even so, I couldn’t prevent the dim light from emerging from his heart.

I was well aware of this phenomenon. I had read the scene a few hundred times and had to know what it was.

「 Yoo Jonghyuk had a thought. 」

“Don’t think about it.”

「 This life ends here. 」

“Dammit! Don’t think about it!”

Story fragments were falling from Yoo Jonghyuk’s cheeks. I was scared of this story and slapped his cheek before crying out to the air.

“Shit! Don’t go back! You jerk, leave him alone!”

[The sponsor of incarnation ‘Yoo Jonghyuk’ is looking at you.]

“You can still survive! This round isn’t over! You can fight back against this guy! I can save you!”

Yoo Jonghyuk’s sponsor was silent. This guy always did the same thing. He watched Yoo Jonghyuk suffering from death. He placed the soul of a hopelessly broken man back into the world line of the past.

[The stigma ‘Regression Lv. 3’ has been activated!]

It was cruel. Was this really how it ended? How did I get here? Would Yoo Jonghyuk really die here?

Then a single line emerged.

[Incarnation ‘Yoo Jonghyuk’ is looking at his sponsor.]

“...Yoo Jonghyuk?”

Yoo Jonghyuk, who became so ragged that his shape couldn’t be recognized, stared at his sponsor with a single bloody eye. Sparks appeared around his disappearing body.

[Incarnation ‘Yoo Jonghyuk’ is resisting his sponsor.]

[All of the stories of incarnation ‘Yoo Jonghyuk’ is resisting death.]

This was something I had never seen in any round.

[The incarnation ‘Yoo Jonghyuk’ has refused to regress.]