Chapter 302

Lord.

The first God, the parent of countless Gods, and a singular being who surpassed even higher Gods.

Nothing was known of His Authorities, nor was there a temple that worshiped Him.

Killian frowned.

The Lord had personally intervened when He sealed Killian, then known as the Godslayer, in the past. Yet since his reincarnation, Killian had never once seen Him.

All he knew, through the memories of a few Gods, was that the Lord moved in secret.

And then.

He had entered Damian's Mind Image World and glimpsed the Monster Lord's memories.

‘The Lord created the Monster Lord.’

The Lord had brought the Anomaly into the Continent.

It could not have been a false memory.

The present Killian Eurasia was a variant who possessed a 9-Star Mana Heart and a Hollyheart no less formidable.

He was not so foolish as to fall victim to a mental attack.

‘Then why?’

The pieces in his mind's puzzle began to fall into place, one by one.

He inferred the sparsely empty places in the puzzle from memories and experience.

‘The Gods are hostile to the Anomaly.’

Although it was an existence that possessed a Presence of Transcendence like their own, they instinctively loathed the Anomaly.

It was a reaction unlike the way they regarded Mortals as insignificant.

Silvana considered being fused with an Anomaly shameful, while Styx and Murus were preventing the Anomaly from entering the Continent.

‘Cronis did not react positively, either.’

Other than the Lord, Neptune alone was not hostile to the Anomaly.

He had even conducted an experiment on his own body, combining Radiance and Divine Power.

Despite seeing ‘something’ beyond the Boundary, he had shown the boldness not to cast it out.

‘I will learn the rest of the puzzle once I open the gate to the divine realm.’

For now, he needed to focus on solving the puzzle before him.

[You appear to have much on your mind.]

The Monster Lord's red eyes stared directly at him.

[Why did the Lord create me?]

With his eyes half-open, the Monster Lord continued.

[Did He intend to raise the King of Monsters even by bringing in an existence from beyond the Boundary, one the Gods are hostile to? Is that what you are thinking?]

"……"

It was exact.

He had seen through Killian's thoughts perfectly.

"Insight. It is not a power a monster should be able to use."

[Do you think I used Insight?]

‘What a petty play on words.’

Tsk.

Without realizing it, he clicked his tongue at words meant to cloud his thoughts.

It seemed he could not avoid a rough fight with Damian after all.

But the Monster Lord appeared to have other thoughts.

[There is no need to hurry. Is this not a reunion after a long time?]

"You are generous toward someone who cut your head off five times."

[It is unexpected to hear such words from you. Has not the one sealed inside a blade for thousands of years now joined hands with the Gods?]

Unable to suppress his laughter, he shook with it.

Then his red eyes suddenly fixed on Killian.

[You came back even using the Authority of Time. There must be something you wish to change.]

Rumble.

The surrounding space, where purple Evil Energy and white Mana interwove without forming a distinct shape, trembled.

Radiance gave off a faint glow around Damian.

[Did you think you were the only one who had gone against time while retaining your memories?]

He knew that Killian had turned back two years in exchange for opening the gate to the divine realm.

It was a different response from that of the Extermination Squad.

[I was somewhat taken aback.]

"……"

[I thought you could do no more than look into an incomplete future. To think that you would use an Authority that even the Pope could not use to this extent.]

Damian's eyes narrowed.

[But there is no way that using such an Authority comes without restrictions. If it were possible, you would have done so long ago. Which means.]

His voice carried certainty.

[It means that turning back time is no longer possible.]

He was not peering into Killian's memories. He was voicing an inference of his own.

It was not enough for him to imitate humans; now, after taking their bodies, he was following their patterns of thought as well.

"Anyone watching would think you were a real human."

Killian calmly assessed the current Monster Lord.

[Not a bad assessment.]

The Monster Lord seemed to be enjoying their conversation.

Killian had found this Mind Image World to save Damian.

Yet the Monster Lord treated Killian, with whom he clearly shared a bitter history, like an old friend paying a visit.

Killian still did not understand the Monster Lord well enough.

[Do you wish to understand me?]

To separate the Monster Lord completely from Damian, Killian needed a firmer grasp of his desires.

[Only Styx could understand without going through that process.]

Killian did not deny it.

"I will ask you. Why Damian?"

Even in his original body, he had been a being that surpassed 9-Star.

"You grew stronger with every reincarnation."

In truth, the Monster Lord Killian faced in the Mind Image World was not inferior to Killian in level.

In contrast, Damian Eurasia's actual body was no more than that of a 7-Star Knight.

Even if he wielded both Radiance and Evil Energy, his danger did not exceed that of an 8-Star Knight.

‘A host whose losses outweigh the gains.’

That was all Damian would be to the Monster Lord.

"There was no need to bind your own potential."

Even so, he had voluntarily taken a human body and allowed his level to fall.

"Was it to gain the upper hand in the laws of the world?"

Killian voiced the question he had reached after his deductions.

[Why?]

The Monster Lord tilted his head for a moment.

[Are you truly asking because you do not know?]

"……"

At his silence, the smile on the Monster Lord's lips vanished.

He spoke as though the answer were obvious.

[Because he is Eurasia.]

‘…….’

[Did you not see my memories?]

He referred to their long-standing ill-fated connection.

Five Waves raised over more than a thousand years.

The heroes who ended the Great War had always held a single Magic Sword in their hands.

[The fifth death.]

He moved a finger.

[That was an outcome even the Lord did not anticipate.]

A perfected level capable of using the Lord's Authority, the assistance of the Anomaly, and the aid of several Gods, including Neptune.

In comparison, Edan Eurasia had shone alone.

An Empire that had ruled as the Continent's dominant power for a long time.

The king of hundreds of mountain ranges.

The transcendent existence known as the Anomaly, which had crossed over from beyond the Boundary.

It was impossible for Edan Eurasia to contend with all of them. He had only one body, and those around him did not measure up to him.

Even so.

[I was defeated.]

"Palantir."

[Palantir.]

He could not accept it, even in the moment of death.

He could not understand.

[It should not have happened.]

He should not have fallen to a single sword strike.

It was an unjust ending for one chosen by the first God, a being who had reached the limits of Mortals and stood before transcendence.

The sixth life continued.

It was different from before.

He had inherited his memories in full, but his power was incomplete.

Even the rulers of the mountain ranges, who should have reacted the moment he opened his eyes, failed to recognize his birth.

The effect by which the birth of a king raised the levels of monsters was absent as well.

That was why humans, Killian included, had not noticed.

[It must be the consequence of his abandoning me.]

He must have meant the Lord.

[Compared to my previous bodies, this one was wretched, but my ability to travel among the mountain ranges remained.]

He moved through the mountain ranges and adapted to a world that had advanced by centuries.

[Only then did I understand that even His Authority could not be perfect within the laws of the world.]

The fifth had been the last.

[In my sixth reincarnation, I did not possess a 9-Star level.]

At most, he was 7-Star.

If he had revealed himself to humans at that level, he risked being hunted down.

"……"

It was impossible to understand.

In the memory Killian had seen, the Monster Lord had already attained a 9-Star level.

Even now, he was emitting the presence of a 9-Star being.

His Existence Force was no less than it had been in Edan's era.

One year from now, he would ultimately help bring down the Kingdom Alliance.

And yet he spoke as though he were not 9-Star now.

"That is quite a joke."

[Do you think I am lying?]

"If your memories are intact, you should know. One year from now, you will succeed in destroying Eurasia. What you are saying is the answer to my question……"

In that instant, Killian stopped speaking.

Damian's lips twitched.

[It appears that you did not see the complete memories, either.]

Damian died in the Monster Lord's Wave.

Celot Cornelia, Gasli de Bellium, and Serena Constantine—the core of the subjugation force apart from Lan—died as well.

That was only information he had glimpsed through one priest's memory.

"……"

[I destroyed Eurasia with this hand.]

He caressed the hand of a well-trained knight.

"Why?"

There would have been many humans he could have used as a host, even if not Damian.

Why had he used Damian as a host to recover his former level?

The Monster Lord did not seem to intend to hide anything.

[Did I not tell you? Because he is Eurasia.]

The King of Monsters continued as though speaking to himself.

[What I realized over six reincarnations.]

What he had realized was that those called heroes could not be allowed to wield Adamas.

[At first, I thought the hero had merely used you.]

That was not so.

Adamas had the power to turn heroes into even greater heroes.

Therefore.

[A new hero could not be allowed to wield Adamas.]

The solution to keeping another from wielding Adamas was simple.

[I only need to wield it myself.]

Because he had been born without the perfect body he once possessed, he needed to find a new body.

In a way, his incomplete reincarnation had been fortunate.

Neither humans nor monsters had recognized that a king had been born.

He remained quiet and hidden, watching for a long time.

In that process, he learned that Adamas was in the northern frontier.

Between the Boundary and the Barrier.

The sword that had cut him down five times slept there.

And in every mountain range, there remained a dungeon that his former self had created.

Just then, the Barrier had weakened enough for him to approach the sword.

When he drew near, the Anomaly spoke to him.

The Anomaly told him to take the sword.

The Anomaly assured him that he could shatter Edan's soul if he did.

He could only laugh.

The one who had cut him down and the one who had joined hands with that man were imprisoned together inside the sword.

A powerful human named Simon Eurasia had been born, but he was at war with the Empire.

Humans were still greedy and still shedding blood.

The situation was worth attempting.

If he accepted every one of the Anomaly's curses left in the sword, he could regain his former power.

To do so, he needed to absorb Edan Eurasia, who was trapped within the sword.

He needed the body of a direct descendant of Eurasia.

Simon Eurasia was too powerful.

Fian Eurasia and Julian Eurasia were in the middle of battlefields across the Continent, and their bodies were too frail to serve as vessels.

Damian Eurasia, who possessed a Superhuman's Mana Heart, was the perfect candidate.

Thus, he swallowed Damian, who had been searching for his dungeon.

He drew out Adamas and accepted the fragment of the Anomaly that had gone mad and failed to escape. Then he joined hands with it and subdued Edan Eurasia.

He recovered the level he had lost and was able to reign once again as the King of Monsters.

Then, to fulfill the duty he had put off, he raised a Wave and advanced.

The Magic Sword in Damian Eurasia's hand was stained with the blood of countless humans.

Unable to withstand the pressure, Eurasia fell, and word arrived that Simon Eurasia had finally been defeated by Krusty Heinrich.

Now, only a war between races remained: the King of Monsters against the emperor of the human world.

Only his opponent had changed—from Eurasia to Heinrich.

In the end, the one who would reach transcendence would be the sole person who devoured everything.

Then.

The one who had not appeared in the sixth life.

[The Lord appeared.]