Chapter 246

“The result says... zero percent. It virtually has no impact.”

Although the team leader didn’t show it on his face, he cursed under his breath. “Once he’s joined up with Sion Grace, any variables in the middle phase are practically zero anyway. It just means meeting earlier doesn’t count as a positive modifier. Don’t dwell on it. Focus on your work.”

He had held onto a small bit of hope, but this was the result he had expected. After the successful linkup with Sion Grace, nothing before the final chapter of the quest posed any real threat. The problem was that the final chapter itself had been tuned to brutal difficulty.

Please, I’m begging you. Everything’s riding on this... This is no joke.

They had poured every last bit of “Fate” resource they had accumulated into this project. If they won, both Do-Jin and the world would gain more than anyone could imagine. If they failed, losing what they had earned would be the least of their problems.

The decision had come from higher up, but being the one forced to watch it unfold made his stomach twist with stress.

***

Ever since teaming up with Sion, Do-Jin’s troubles had completely disappeared. She handled both the travel and the fights. Even when labyrinths or puzzle-type fields appeared, the Archmage solved everything with magic like it was nothing.

So this is what riding for free feels like, huh?

It felt like sitting in the first-class cabin of a high-speed train tearing through space. Even then, an easier time physically didn’t mean an easier time mentally. LOST wasn’t the kind of sane game that rewarded players with a smooth ride just because they suffered early on.

He had no idea what kind of messed up trials the World Devourer, a being made from countless fragments, was going to throw at them. There was no way he could feel relaxed.

Wonder what the damn thing even looks like.

In his previous life, he had only ever witnessed it inside LOST as a calamity. Lostania had collided with it, and the aftermath had torn open a rift so massive it erased entire portions of the world.

I guess I’ll find out when I see it.

Again and again, Sion’s overwhelming magic crushed the lingering memories of worlds that had failed to fade away. After enough time passed that Do-Jin started losing track of it, nothing remained to block their path. No matter how far they moved, nothing new appeared ahead of them.

Yeah... The next phase is probably about to start.

Do-Jin had a feeling that this was the final phase, too.

“This is on a completely different level than before,” Sion said, staring far into the distance. Then, her eyes widened so violently it looked like they might split apart.

“What’s—” He tried to ask what was wrong, but she was no longer listening.

“Anne!”

She had felt the presence of the friend she had been desperately searching for inside the massive thing far ahead. Every cell in Sion’s body lit up to manifest magic. Her entire form, a living network of Magic Circuits, folded space with everything she had. In an instant, the two of them crossed an unfathomable distance.

“Hah—!” The sudden movement forced the breath from Do-Jin’s lungs. He lifted his head, and his body froze.

That’s the World Devourer.

It looked like a black hole, except it was white. Each speck of light drifting around it resembled the glass shards he had seen countless times. They were fragments of broken worlds.

Just like a black hole devoured everything with overwhelming mass and gravity, that thing tore pieces away from other worlds using the mass and pull it had gathered from countless fragments. It was a celestial body of the Void Dimension, a monstrosity born to consume.

“Master, you shouldn’t go any closer!” Do-Jin shouted urgently.

The barrier Sion had cast was twisting completely out of shape. A mass formed from countless fragments was essentially a dungeon cluster containing countless fields. Right now, that thing was trying to drag both Do-Jin and Sion inside by force. If they got pulled into that celestial body without a plan, there was a real chance they would fall into a nightmare where clearing one field only opened another, endlessly.

“I should not have brought you here.”

Sion turned to look at Do-Jin. The moment he read something in her eyes, he tried to stop her, but the Archmage’s magic moved faster than words ever could.

“There is nothing for you to do here. Go,” she said, raising a wall between herself and Do-Jin.

The barrier that split space itself was enormous, leaving him unable to take even a single step forward.

“Master!”

He slammed his fist against the invisible wall and called out to her. Sion glanced at him once, then folded space again. Closing the distance with the World Devourer, she examined the entire entity through her Magic Eye.

“She is there, deep within.”

There was too much glass-like debris in the way. Entering and exiting each fragment one by one to erase them would take centuries, maybe millennia.

“All I need to do is destroy everything except the fragment that holds Anne.”

With that decision made, Sion began dismantling everything that stood in her path. Her magic tore through space and dimension alike, splitting and crushing the fragments. They were tough. As the fragments gathered together, each piece had shrunk in volume yet grown absurdly dense, making them difficult to break.

Yet Sion’s magic was powerful enough to accomplish the impossible, and that overwhelming force triggered the survival instinct of the countless shards that formed the World Devourer.

“So you won’t go down quietly.”

White, tentacle-like strands extended outward from every part of the World Devourer. They were formed by linking together long chains of glass fragments, and their number easily reached the hundreds. Then, all at once, the countless tendrils shifted direction and aimed straight at Sion.

Seeing that, she softly called her friend’s name. “Anne, I am coming to you.”

Hundreds of Magic Circles unfolded behind her, and blazing light filled the darkness.

***

Even from this far away, Do-Jin could tell the fight had turned into absolute chaos.

Massive bursts of mana detonated dozens of times every second, and waves of blinding light and shockwaves slammed against the barrier Sion had thrown up before leaving. And that wasn’t all. Streaks of light, like meteors breaking apart, scattered from the distant World Devourer and drifted across the Void.

What the hell kind of battle was even happening over there?

“Fuck me!”

Frustration boiled over, and Do-Jin drove his fist into the invisible wall again. What pissed him off even more was the fact that, even if this wall vanished, he still wouldn’t be able to do a thing. He knew that better than anyone, and that truth made him want to yell at the sky and ask what the hell he was supposed to do after being dragged all the way here.

Right then, as if answering the storm of thoughts running through his head, the system message that had stayed silent until now finally chimed.

[Quest Information Updated]

The battle between Sion Grace and the approaching threat to Lostania, the World Devourer, has begun. If the fight continues at this pace, Sion Grace will inevitably face defeat. This outcome is a predetermined fate and future. A variable capable of changing that fate is now required. Find a way to become that variable.

Special Hint: A path that can pass through the barrier will appear shortly.

The message was filled with the usual obvious drivel, but the last line was different.

A path? What kind of path are they talking about? Is something going to punch a hole through the barrier...?

Though it didn’t matter, as long as a way opened. The moment that thought crossed his mind, a massive explosion erupted ahead. A heartbeat later, a storm of fragments slammed into the barrier Sion had left behind.

Those are fragments from the World Devourer!

Some of them pierced halfway through the barrier and stopped there. The moment Do-Jin saw that, he realized what the system meant by a path.

So that’s the way through. It wants me to pass through there.

The shards of glass jammed into the wall still carried the field of broken worlds, and that field was the only bridge he had. The system was basically telling him to push through using those fragments as a path.

Without wasting even a second, Do-Jin bolted straight toward the shard that had punched through the barrier.

***

“Zeta’s moving! He’s entered the field at high speed and is already clashing with the monsters!”

“I can fucking see that!” The team leader felt his mouth go dry as hell. No matter how much water he drank, he just couldn’t quench the thirst. “What about the messages?”

“We provided too much information with the last one. We only have space for a single line now.”

“You’ve gotta be kidding me. That was basic, obvious shit, and you’re telling me it counted as too much info? What a load of bullshit.”

No one answered right away.

“Damn it... At least we still have one line left. Save it for the final moment. Draft it ahead of time while monitoring the simulations in real time.”

“Yes, sir.”

Even while they spoke, Do-Jin was fighting like hell. The way he moved was enough to make anyone stare in disbelief. Who would look at that and think he was a mage?

“Zeta has been exposed to critical damage. Consecutive hits confirmed. Three death penalties triggered. Three hours deducted.”

“Fuck.”

Even someone as monstrous as Do-Jin was getting shredded. The difficulty felt downright vicious.

If I had to be out there myself, I would just bite my damn tongue and call it quits.

“User Zeta has cleared the first field! Only three fields remain!”

Despite everything, Do-Jin kept pushing through. He stumbled at times. He dropped to one knee more than once, yet he never gave up. Every second, he chose the best possible option available to him and crawled, walked, or ran forward no matter what.

At some point, silence settled over the monitoring room. It wasn’t just because their updates had turned into meaningless briefings but because Do-Jin had done something that shut everyone up.

“Cut the bullshit.” The words came out between ragged breaths. “If I was gonna quit over something like this, I would have never started this fight.”

He was speaking to the obstacle blocking his path, and to himself. Do-Jin overwhelmed everyone watching him.

“User Zeta, no, Do-Jin. Four fields cleared. Barrier breach condition fulfilled. Entering the main stage.”

And then, finally, he crossed the wall. The team leader swallowed down the surge of emotion and turned toward the employee handling the messages.

“Is it ready?” His voice came out almost like a shout.

The employee’s face looked terrible. Pale wouldn’t even begin to describe it. “We cannot calculate anything beyond the point where Sion Grace collapses from exhaustion. If this continues, we will not be able to provide a hint.”

The fate calculation formula had to produce a viable strategy before they could send guidance, but now, it had stopped completely.

“He made it through the barrier, but he is still far from the main battle zone! Even a few seconds of projection would be enough!”

“The calculation has completely stopped. It will not run!”

The team leader squeezed his eyes shut. He wasn’t the only one. Several team members lowered their heads or let out quiet sighs. Had they really reached a dead end? Had they been clinging to something impossible from the start? That thought began spreading through the room.

“All we can do now is trust him.” The team leader spoke quietly. “Use the final message to relay the situation as clearly as possible. After that...”

After that, all they could do was watch. The team leader looked at Do-Jin again. Exhaustion weighed on him, yet Do-Jin’s eyes still burned like they refused to go out.