With each step that he took, Eckhart showed great pain and agony through his gestures and behavior.
The overwhelming sense of nihilism that threatened to steal his mind and soul, the total loss of drive, reliving terrible humiliations of the past, unending languor that made him want to lay down and sleep… he was tormented every step of the way.
Sungchul who also knew of such agony relived those moments as he watched Eckhart reach the top of the stairs.
Eckhart reached the top and came across God and the God of Chaos that stayed by God’s side.
[And in the end, I obtained power. Unprecedented, almost limitless power.]
Eckhart’s voice changed.
His voice was filled with rage.
Eckhart who obtained power rapidly resolved all other calamities.
He then went about humbling the Seven Heroes who were now weaker than he. Desfort who was aloof bowed to Eckhart’s will and the Seven Heroes who mocked him no longer could.
Their positions were reversed. But there were some things that did not change. It was Vestiare. To the end, she only had eyes for Desfort.
Eckhart suddenly stopped.
Sungchul had a bad premonition.
It was because he detected unmistakable bloodlust from Eckhart who had frozen in place like some statue.
Creak
Eckhart’s neck rotated like some wooden puppet to stare at Vestiare as if longing for her.
[Why won’t you look at me? I have so much power now! I am so powerful now that I can squish things like Desfort like a fly!]
Despite his desperate cries, Vestiare continued to look only at Desfort.
Desfort disappeared and Vestiare was left alone.
Eckhart appeared before her and tried to speak to her. But Vestiare remained standing elegantly without looking at him.
A complete and utter rejection.
Eckhart who obtained power had once again let his head drop.
In the midst of sighs of regret and lamentation, Vestiare became rigid like a stone.
Eckhart’s remorseful monologue continued.
[Why did things turn out this way?]
Everything disappeared and darkness was complete.
A suffocating silence enveloped the world.
Eckhart at the center of this… no, a figure that resembled Eckhart began to become distorted into a bizarre shape.
It was a nightmarish scene to behold.
A perfectly normal human being suddenly transformed into a monster.
The neck turned all the way upside down, the eyes looking in different directions and spinning, the arms and legs becoming bent in impossible directions before starting to tremble and twitch as if having seizures.
The most notable change occurred in his groin.
Something expanded explosively from his nether regions from behind his worn out, cheap clothes.
It was far too large to be an anatomical change.
Rip
Something pierced through his clothes and emerged.
Something emerged from Eckhart’s groin.
It was a wooden doll in the shape of Eckhart.
Grin
The wooden doll gave a bone chilling grin towards Sungchul.
Sungchul took a step back.
Eckhart shaped wooden doll fell to the ground before it twisted and turned erratically to stand back up. The original body of Eckhart that gave birth to this monstrosity deflated like a balloon.
‘What is this? Is this what Eckhart intended to do?’
The doll was so full of malice and bloodlust that it seemed impossible for this thing to have been simply have been created as a story-telling aid.
As uncomfortable thoughts crossed his mind, Eckhart, or rather, the wooden doll in Eckhart’s likeness gave a bestial roar.
Eckhart who turned into a monster glared at the small figure of his wife and daughter in the corner using his twisted eyes.
[I never wanted to become the Overseer! If it wasn’t for that accursed wife and daughter! If it weren’t for those no-good burdens! I could have had all that I wanted!]
Eckhart reached out with his hands in the midst of his madness.
He was aiming at the silhouette of Vestiare who was leaning against Desfort’s shoulder.
But his hands did not reach her.
Crack.
Eckhart’s arms that reached their maximum range popped out of their sockets and fell to the ground.
The wooden hand that fell from the main body became enveloped in black flames.
[I should have listened to the God of Chaos! I shouldn’t have tried to act all high and mighty like some hypocrite!]
[I should have destroyed this miserable world the first chance I got!]
The wooden doll screamed out loud as if it lost its mind.
The surroundings became enveloped in impenetrable darkness and dozens of books appeared.
Sungchul felt genuine threat to his well being and took out his weapons from the Soul Storage.
Once Fal Garaz and the Hand of the Ascendent was on each hand, Sungchul’s Transcendent Senses activated.
[‘Scroll of Calamity’ Chief Overseer Unit]
[Eckhart Unit 1]
A creation that took on the form of Eckhart.
That was the identity of this wooden doll.
[Gya ha ha hah!]
The wooden doll let out a laughter while clattering its mouth and chin
[This worthless world!]
Sungchul felt a presence behind him and lifted up Fal Garaz.
Clang!
A blade had been thrust towards him from behind.
The one to have attempted to stab him was a book that had the same form as Bertelgia.
The blade had come out from between the pages.
The book whose attack was foiled returned back to formation with the other books.
There were around 20 or so of them.
Although each of them looked visually identical to Bertelgia, they were slightly different from all the Bertelgias he had met until now.
If the others had given off a sense of free will, the books that orbited around him only gave off a feeling of emotionless blood lust.
They were, simply put, cold blooded combat units.
It reminded him of what Unit 55 had told him in the past.
‘So. This is the Combat versions?’
Unit 55 had told him, that Bertelgia type 31st until 54 were combat versions.
The number of books around Sungchul seemed about right.
“Target locked.”
“Destroying target.”
The Bertelgia sisters were all wanting nothing but the death of Sungchul.
‘I’m not sure what’s going on, but I guess I can’t help but fight.’
Sungchul thought as he glared at his opponents.
“I am! The god of this world!”
The wooden puppet said as it made a wide gesture with its arms.
The Bertelgias separated into two groups with his gesture.
One group backed off and began to chant incantations, whereas the others orbited around the first group to protect them.
The Wooden doll was one thing, the Bertelgias that were reciting incantations seemed quite problematic.
Sungchul who more or less knew almost all magic formations known to man recognized that they were casting a minimum of 5th circle of high-class spells.
Zzzt
A buzz of electricity ran through Sungchul’s finger tip.
‘I’ll drop them all with Chain Lightning.’
Sungchul stepped forward with such a thought.
But there was something seriously wrong with the floor.
The moment he took a step, the ground became mushy like quicksand and restricted his movement.
The environment itself was changing once again.
The wooden doll from the distance looked like it was giving off some bright light from its eyes.
The doll carrying Eckhart’s name was causing the environment to change according to its will.
The floor that soundlessly swallowed up Sungchul’s feet quickly hardened again to prevent him from escaping.
A magic-like power, yet not quite magic.
This was like Alchemy, or some higher version of it.
A word popped into his mind, called the Creationist.
‘Is it the power to change matter according to will without any process?’
If so, it was a power suitable for something lacking humility in the name like the Creationist.
It wasn’t time to be lost in admiration and thought.
Ten or so Bertelgias in the distance were completing their spells. Staying still meant he was going to be baptized in magic spells.
God-like power flowed through Sungchul’s body.
The moment Sungchul pressed down on the ground, Sungchul realized that this was a mistake and used his power to withdraw his feet once more.
The thing the wooden doll had transformed was not just the ground. It had created truly bottomless pit below the surface that could rightfully be called an abyss.
The more he struggled, the deeper he will fall.
Sungchul tried to use a different power instead.
‘1st Soul Stone, fly.’
A magic formation appeared above a Soul Stone under his coat which lifted him slightly into the air.
But the quicksand did not release him.
His 800 or so magic power was insufficient.
He needed more thrust.
While he was thinking that, his eyes caught a glimpse of a bad sign.
A bright and glistening spear of ice had appeared in front of one of the Bertelgias.
It was a Cryomancy’s 5th circle offensive spell, Crystal Lance.
It might be readily blocked with just the Hand of the Ascendent.
But there was more than one Bertelgia types here.
Sungchul noticed a shadow cast over his head.
He felt heat hot enough to singe his hair.
Sungchul looked up.
It was 5th circle Pyromancy spell Fire Rain.
His troubles weren’t over yet.
As the 10 Bertelgia types all finished their spells, there were danger from all directions, left right front back and above and below.
And not to mention that one of his feet was bound in place by the Wooden Doll’s quicksand.
‘The first strike is mine.’
He had already finished preparations for his spell.
Sungchul unleashed his Chain Lightning towards his enemies.
He didn’t know how much durability these battle type Bertelgias had, but this attack would both serve as a Lydian stone as well as keep them at bay to a certain extent.
But as soon as his spell activated, the half of the Bertelgias that were orbiting the spell casting Bertelgias suddenly teleported forward in front of their sisters.
Clang clang!
And hidden spears came flying out from between their pages and aimed downwards.
Chain lightning reached one of them.
Bzzt!
It definitely landed on one.
But then something happened that made Sungchul doubt his eyes.
The lightning that reached one Bertelgia jumped to the next Bertelgia with a spear, and progressed until it reached a Bertelgia whose spear was touching the ground. The lightning was dispersed into the ground.
A small portion of the dispersed Lightning came and gave Sungchul a bit of a shock.
‘Goodness.’
It was a style of battle he hadn’t seen before.
Meanwhile, the spell casting Bertelgias finished their incantations as Sungchul’s first strike was nullified. They were ready to attack from every which direction.
The first to come flying towards Sungchul was the spear of ice. At the same time, rain of fire began to fall from above. A concentration of air began to form below him, as if it was going to explode.
Sungchul’s face went rigid for a moment.
It was too late to cast defensive spells or escape from the mire.
He was completely cornered.
As the many magic spells were about come envelop him, Sungchul used his god-like power to kick the ground as hard as he can.
His body became deeply embedded into the ground.
Sungchul repeatedly kicked the ground below him.
Each time his feet slammed the ground with his god-like strength, his body became more and more embedded into the ground.
From below the mysterious white material of the floor, Sungchul felt something cold pass over his head.
It must have been the Crystal Lance.
It was followed by an intense heat.
This must be rain of fire.
But this heat could only give Sungchul a vague sense of warmth, it couldn’t do any harm to him.
He had taken advantage of his situation.
He had used the material the Wooden Doll used to trap him to instead shield himself from harm.
With Sungchul’s impromptu reaction, all of the attack of the Bertelgia combat types became nullified.
In fact, the only damage Sungchul took was from his own Chain Lightning when Bertelgias had defended it by redirecting the lightning to the ground.
The problem was what to do from this point forward.
He had used his circumstance to his advantage once, but how does he escape?
Of course, there was a method he had thought of ahead of time.
Sungchul gave an order to all 8 Soul Stones at once.
The Soul Stones containing souls of the Carbuncle responded to his will and began their incantations.
1st Soul Stone Wind Shield
2nd Soul Stone Wind Shield
3rd Soul Stone Wind Shield
4th Soul Stone Wind Shield
5th Soul Stone Wind Shield
6th Soul Stone Wind Shield
7th Soul Stone Wind Shield
8th Soul Stone Wind Shield
‘Eight consecutive Wind Shields’
Wind Shield used air pressure to stop enemies’ attacks. This would create the explosive thrust Sungchul needed.
The incantation was completed nearly instantly.
Sungchul cast fly himself as he commanded the Soul Stones.
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
From the tip of his hand, there was a series of explosions that gave the impression of a rocket during take off.
The rebound from that small place strongly pushed Sungchul up.
Though the power of the push was nowhere close to his god-like strength, each explosion was enough to push Sungchul smoothly out of the ground.
[You cannot escape!]
The Wooden doll said with a clattering sound with his jaws from outside the mire, giving off a terrible glint with its eyes.
Sungchul who had been rising rapidly was suddenly halted in his tracks.
The mire suddenly hardened like stone. The power of creation once again changed the nature of the environment.
Even the propulsion from Wind Shield was meaningless in the face of such a rigid bondage.
The Wooden Doll standing above the surface gave a crazed, mad grin.
But it had overlooked one fact.
That Sungchul, too, had stood before the true god.
The wooden doll, still with its crazed grin, suddenly lost balance.
The surface had begun to shook.
Something was about to happen.
The ground split open and a black figure erupted from within.
In the midst of the fragments flying every which direction, the Wooden Doll could see a black figure giving off light from its eyes.
It was Sungchul, the Destroyer.
The eyes of the Wooden Doll became large with surprise.
[Stop him!]
The Wooden Doll gestured with his hands.
Dozens of Bertelgias moved in formation like a school of fish to protect the wooden doll.
Sungchul swung Fal Garaz from in the air.
The hammer said to have been made from the fragments of the sky smacked a nearby fragment.
The fragment was shattered into pieces, flying towards the wooden doll like shot gun pellets.
A cloud of fragments propelled by god-like power came into impact with the defending Bertelgias.
Bertelgia types quickly tried to cast defensive barriers to protect themselves and their master, but the attack had taken place so suddenly that they took on massive damage.
One Bertelgia in particular was ripped to shreds and fell to the ground.
And at that moment, Sungchul’s Transcendent Senses reacted to something.
[Sorry, unnies.]
With its final thoughts, the fallen book went up in flames and was consumed.
Sungchul looked horrified.
‘…Wait, are they alive?’