Chapter 1320

“...!”

Siegfried was surprised to know that he was resurrected once again. He had never imagined that he could come back to life again.

[Resurrection]

[An authority contained within the Siegfried’s Will Armor Set.]

[The Siegfried’s Will Armor Set contains the crafter’s powerful will of never allowing the wearer to die.]

[Should the wearer die, he will be instantly revived.]

[Human willpower is something that can make the impossible possible and create miracles.]

[As this armor set contains such will, the wearer will revive immediately upon death.]

[However, the armor set may be destroyed if the user keeps using this authority.]

The Siegfried’s Will Armor Set didn't grant true immortality.

No matter how many powerful abilities Yong Seol-Hwa packed into the armor set using her abilities as the Dragon Blacksmith and the Omnistone, there had to be a limit to them.

Now that he had revived twice, Siegfried decided to check the armor set’s remaining durability. To his surprise, the armor set was still intact and had plenty of durability left.

“It’s futile.”

However, the Creator seemed to deem Siegfried’s revival as insignificant.

Why?

Well, the Creator was powerful enough to kill Siegfried in a single strike. Being able to grip and snap Siegfried’s neck in an instant proved that the gap between them was far wider than the distance between heaven and earth.

‘Tsk... This guy is insanely strong. What should I do?’ Siegfried clicked his tongue as he looked at his opponent. He couldn’t think of a way to defeat—no, fight the Creator on equal footing.

The Creator’s movement speed, reflex, and power were in a completely different league compared to him. Even with the AI assistance of Invincible Spear Art, he still couldn’t react to the Creator’s movements.

The Creator was indeed the final boss—the pinnacle of all NPCs. Not even the AI assistance system of the Invincible Spear Art could help Siegfried match the Creator.

Yet even if he was facing an opponent who was designed to be invincible, Siegfried did not despair.

‘It’s not like I can’t touch him at all,’ he thought. The combination of Touch of Death infused into the fully cranked up Annihilation’s Grasp had pulled the Creator down from the state of invincibility.

In other words, the Creator was no longer an invincible god, making it possible to kill them with enough damage.

Of course, even if the Creator was no longer invincible, that did not mean Siegfried could easily defeat him.

The Creator said, “O foreigner from another world. The reason I have allowed you to survive until now... is because you are not one of my creations but a being who came from another world.”

“What are you trying to say?” Siegfried asked.

“I will no longer grant you any mercy.”

The one thousand wings sprouting from the Creator’s back surged toward Siegfried.

Shwiiiiik!

‘Damn it! I’m going to die again!’

Siegfried immediately cranked up Overclocking to the fifth stage. This was the first time he used the fifth stage of the Invincible Emperor’s self-buff skill. Overclocking massively boosted all of his stats for a short time, but it put an extreme strain on his body in return.

The drawback was so severe that Siegfried rarely used it beyond the third stage, but things were different this time.

‘I have to put everything on the line to have a chance against this bastard. My odds of winning aren't even one percent. I have to fight with death in mind.’ He decided not to hold back and fully place his trust in his armor set.

The Siegfried’s Will Armor Set was a notoriously broken item that basically destroyed the balance in the game. An item that resurrected the wearer upon death was practically unheard of before.

However, the Creator was even more broken.

Against an entity capable of killing the most powerful Adventurer in the world with a single word was basically absurd.

How would he or anyone else stand a chance against an opponent like that?

In a battle against the Creator, Siegfried’s Will Armor Set was not an item that guaranteed victory. At best, it was a prerequisite to have a sliver of a chance of winning against the Creator.

Why? It was all because facing the Creator without the ability to revive was basically an impossibility.

Otherwise, the Creator's omnipotent status would be for naught?

‘I have to endure!’

The moment Overclocking was cranked up to the fifth stage, an enormous amount of energy burst from Siegfried like a chain lightning storm.

And that was just the beginning...

Fwooooosh!

Shwaaaa!

He activated Discharge and unleashed Karma Flare and Embrace of Despair.

This was the classic strategy of the Invincible Emperor, which he would buff himself while debuffing his opponent.

‘Block the wings and...’

Siegfried spread the Annihilation’s Grasp cone into an umbrella-shaped shield and deflected the oncoming wings.

Fwoosh!

Then, he teleported right behind the Creator.

‘Go for the kill!’

He swung the Annihilation’s Grasp horizontally with all of his might.

Shwiiiik!

The secret technique of Sword Emperor Betelgeuse, Heaven and Earth Cleaving Blade, sliced across the Creator’s torso, but...

“T-That’s impossible...!” Siegfried gasped, horrified.

[Alert: 1 Damage!]

Even with Overclocking cranked up to the fifth stage, debuffs, and a clean hit with Heaven and Earth Cleaving Blade, he only dealt one point of damage. As expected, though he had stripped the Creator of invincibility, he could only deal a mere one damage against the omnipotent being.

“I have told you it’s futile.”

The Creator stretched out his hand and—

Boom!

—Siegfried’s left arm exploded, and fragments of it splashed all over the place.

“Aaaaagh!” Siegfried let out a bloodcurdling scream.

Wooong!

Despite having his arm blown off, he endured the unbearable pain and activated Transcendent Torrential Flower Rain.

Shwiiiik!

Hundreds of thousands of aura blades rained down from above, buying him time.

Wooong!

Siegfried’s Will Armor Set glowed faintly, and in the blink of an eye, Siegfried’s left arm regenerated. In addition to the ability to revive him instantly, it could also regenerate his wounds.

However, that was about it.

“I have already told you it’s futile.”

The Creator deflected all of the aura blades in under a minute and swung his wings at Siegfried once again.

“...!”

After seeing that the Transcendent Torrential Flower Rain was helpless against the Creator, Siegfried froze.

Shwiiiiiik!

Meanwhile, the wings rushed toward him, intent on ripping him to shreds.

“...Ah.”

Siegfried couldn’t even react to the wings. His abilities were not enough to stop them.

Shwiiiiik!

As a result, he was torn apart into countless pieces.

[Alert: Your HP has dropped to 0!]

[Alert: Your character has died!]

[Alert: You will be disconnected in 10 seconds!]

[Alert: 9... 8... 7...]

With that, Siegfried met his third death at the hands of the Creator.

***

Stripping the Creator of invincibility was merely the bare minimum required for a fight to even take place. In other words, all Siegfried had achieved by doing so was nothing more than stripping away a protective barrier.

Now that the Creator was vulnerable, Siegfried learned that the omnipotent being possessed ridiculously high Defense. It was so high that the Karma Flare barely made a difference even after Siegfried cranked it up to the absolute maximum.

“...This guy is insanely strong.” Siegfried, who had revived immediately yet again, couldn’t help but be shocked by the Creator’s absurd stats.

The Creator was, in the purest sense, an absolute monster.

At this point, Siegfried felt that even Touch of Death would be useless against the Creator.

If that was the case, there was only one thing he could do.

‘Increase power output.’ Siegfried told the weapon’s ego.

He judged that the only thing he could rely on in the current situation was the Universal-rated weapon, Annihilation’s Grasp.

"I can’t increase output any more than this."

‘I don’t care if I die. Just do as I say.’

"It’s not a matter of whether you’re prepared to die or not. I know you can die and revive, but that doesn’t mean you can handle the power I will unleash."

‘What do you mean by that?’

"You’ll die before even wielding me properly."

‘Is there no other way?’

"I’m afraid there isn’t. You need to become stronger in order to use more of my powers."

‘...Got it.’

Siegfried was forced to accept that he couldn’t draw out the true power of Annihilation’s Grasp at his current level. Just like what it said, he would only end up dead in a fraction of a second, even if he somehow managed to convince the weapon’s ego to unleash its true power.

In the end, Siegfried was forced to grit his teeth and get back up.

The Creator raised a brow and said in a coaxing manner, “How many times must you die before you give up? I have already told you it’s futile.”

Siegfried clenched his fists and replied, “Until I can’t come back to life ever again. I won’t give up as long as I’m alive. Never.”

With those words, he charged at the Creator.

He cranked up Overclocking to the fifth stage, amplified his debuffs with Discharge, and unleashed every single skill in his arsenal, all while drawing out as much power as he possibly could withstand from the Annihilation’s Grasp.

Unfortunately, the result remained the same.

[Alert: Your character has died!]

[Alert: Your character has died!]

[Alert: Your character has died!]

[Alert: Your character has died!]

(omitted...)

[Alert: Your character has died!]

[Alert: Your character has died!]

He died, died, and died again. He revived and charged at the Creator every single time, but the outcome was still the same. Even after using every single thing at his disposal, he couldn’t deal any significant damage to the Creator.

He tried using Touch of Death once again after it came off cooldown, but it dealt a mere one thousand five hundred points of damage to the Creator.

Siegfried tried to use Four Steps to Invincibility once again, hoping that it would work against the Creator now. Unfortunately, it did not work at all. Now, all he could do was repeatedly try, die, and revive.

This was the very definition of throwing eggs at a rock.

[ImDeokSun: How many times has he died now...?]

[Napoleon: Ah... Is this the end?]

[17yearsoldmeatpie: He’s still not giving up though.]

Hundreds of millions of viewers around the world watched Siegfried’s heartbreaking struggle with pity.

[Chester4856: How are you even supposed to clear this? Is it even possible to clear?]

[EronicaMarquez: Ah...]

[ekaghkrhdqbdtls: I think this is it...]

[BigTentacleKing: He can’t win. It’s hopeless.]

[AlAghnifi: It’s over... This is the end...]

Everyone watching the battle between Siegfried and the Creator reached the same conclusion—even Siegfried couldn’t defeat the Creator.

Despite being a pseudo-immortal with the cooldown-free resurrection effect of his armor set, clearing the Void would be impossible as long as he couldn’t deal any proper damage to the Creator.

Everyone knew that there was only one inevitable outcome waiting for them.

The Fantasy Server of BNW would be shut down before even reaching its tenth year in service.

Unless the final boss, the Creator, was stopped, the destruction of the world was inevitable.

***

[Alert: Your character has been resurrected!]

Siegfried could no longer remember how many times he had revived. He had fought and died so many times that he had lost count of it, and he had also lost all sense of time by now.

He had died countless times, revived countless times, and charged in countless times.

Despite all that, the result remained the same.

However, one thing changed during this seemingly endless repetitive cycle.

C-Crack... Crack...!

Siegfried’s Will Armor Set started crumbling, as if it were reaching the limits of its durability. The repeated resurrections had clearly overloaded the item, causing it to lose most of its durability.

[Alert: Siegfried’s Will Armor Set blesses you!]

[Alert: Prayer of Nuri has activated!]

[Alert: HP has been restored to 30%!]

[Alert: Stamina has been restored to 30%!]

[Alert: Primordial Force has been restored to 30%!]

The fact that the buffs had noticeably weakened was another proof.

How much more could he revive? Ten more times? Or perhaps five? Judging by the state of the item, he probably had three or four more revives at best. Once Siegfried’s Will Armor Set was no longer around, he would no longer be able to revive.

Even so, Siegfried refused to give up like this. For him, giving up was not an option.

‘One more time...!’

He gritted his teeth and charged at the Creator.

Whoosh!

He jumped into the air and swung the Annihilation’s Grasp with all of his strength, but—

Crunch!

—The Creator caught him by the neck, hand clamped around it.

“Kuheok!”

“It seems you have no intention of giving up.”

“I-I don’t... know what giving up is...”

“Do you not know of despair?”

“I... try until... I fail... why would... I give... up...”

“I acknowledge your persistence and grit. But your will is weaker than that of the one who forged that armor.”

“W-What do... you mean...?”

“The one who crafted that armor and those who aided in it. Their will was strong enough to resist my command. But what about you? Your willpower cannot defy mine, and your countless failures until now prove it.”

‘Will...? My willpower can’t defy this guy’s will? My willpower is too weak? In what way? How?’

Countless questions and doubts flashed through Siegfried’s mind.

While those thoughts swirled in his mind, Deus’ teachings suddenly popped up.

“The willpower of sentient creatures is the strongest energy source in existence.”

This was something Deus stressed repeatedly. He had been emphasizing how important unyielding grit, perseverance that knew no despair, and boundless willpower were.

From the moment Siegfried became the Debuff Master until now, as the Invincible Emperor, this was something carved into his very being.

‘The power of my will. My willpower. My thoughts. My beliefs...’

Once the puzzle pieces were connected in his mind—

Flash!

—he attained enlightenment.