He was cut down.
The holy sword, which could take on any form, had been transformed into its most powerful form. A greatsword.
And it was swung precisely at the god of death.
– !!!!!!!!!!!
The bastard who always kept a shield for heroes around himself within the domain to block the hero’s attacks.
Had temporarily deactivated it to deal with Min-hyuk.
Creaaaaaaak!!
The holy sword’s attack struck the god of death cleanly.
“So a cycle like this actually came around.”
He was collapsing.
The god of death, who took the full brunt of that all-out strike, crumbled just like that.
However, even this attack wasn’t enough to completely kill the weakened god of death.
He needed to be executed completely within the domain, while he was still vulnerable.
– Ely…sia…
“So you knew my name. Not that it changes anything.”
– Ely…si…a…
It really seemed like the moment had come to finally end this wretched cycle of regressions.
As always, right after being executed,
The death god’s remaining soul would try to possess the body within the domain.
And just as I was delivering the final blow to the death god barely hanging onto life in the domain—
I was preparing to offer him my own body.
Let’s die together. Then it’ll really be over. I’ll land this last attack and then reveal this body’s true name—
Srrrrrk…
Watching the god of death begin to possess not the overwhelming hero’s body,
But Min-hyuk’s body,
I realized something.
“…Ha… seriously… I told you so many times not to remember.”
– Ku…kukuk…kugh…kugh…
The god of death, who peered into Min-hyuk’s memories…
Read the memories of a man who had succeeded in recalling my name.
And so…
“…After everything it took to get this far…”
– This is where it ends, Elysia.
The one and only chance I had,
As the hero on Earth, to destroy death—
“Hah…”
– No… Yuana
Snap—
Vanished.
“…I’m going crazy.”
The moment the true name of the body I was mimicking within the domain was called, I had no choice but to be expelled from its space.
At the same time, what I saw as I was forcibly pulled back into reality was…
Paaaassss…
“The monster is disintegrating!!”
“Did we get it?”
“You idiot! You shouldn’t say that out loud!!”
It was the scene of the incompletely manifested body of Death collapsing and sinking into Min-hyuk’s body.
Haaah… Things just got complicated. It should’ve possessed me instead.
Now, the only way to eliminate the god of death was to kill Min-hyuk.
Originally, I should’ve drawn my sword and immediately taken out the villain hunter…
Of all times, why now…
Because anyone whose true name had been revealed could no longer approach the god of death,
I could no longer inflict any kind of wound on his body.
To explain the current situation precisely… if someone whose true name had been exposed came within roughly 10 meters of the god of death,
Their body would immediately lose control and commit suicide.
So even though I wanted to at least provide cover fire from a distance…
That damn reflection ability… really.
Min-hyuk currently had the reflection ability.
If I got injured here and ended up regressing… everything I’d fought for to reach this point would vanish in vain.
Now that my true name had been exposed, all I could do was hope that someone else would kill Min-hyuk.
This is exactly why I planned to kill myself in the first place…
My original plan was as follows:
Because Death began to awaken two years earlier than originally expected, he was forced into an incomplete awakening.
And I, having already reached the peak of the power I could attain here,
was planning to defeat Death inside the domain two days later—
Right after he had nearly completed his manifestation on Earth and would be off guard.
Then, I would reveal my true name to the false god and induce the unconscious being to possess my body.
In that very moment, we would be purified together by the Blessing of Light.
“Huh…? Officer…? That guy’s the villain hunter.”
“What? He really is!”
Had it gone that way, my body on Earth would’ve died, letting me return to my original world which was perfect.
And the god of death would have been completely purified, even his final remaining fragment destroyed.
But now…
Now that this method had disappeared for good,
All I could do was stand by and watch, hoping someone would kill Min-hyuk before I regressed again…
That was the only thing I could do here.
Bzzzt—
Bzzzt—
Bzzzt—
Bzzzt—
“Hmm? What’s going on?”
“They say the Association just issued a mobilization order?”
Just in case, I pulled out the signal device I’d always kept ready—
And, using the authority of the Hero Association President,
I issued a single order to every hero currently registered with the Association.
“Target… the Villain Hunter..? What does that mean?”
“…Did the President really order us to kill the Villain Hunter..?”
To kill Min-hyuk.
To kill the Villain Hunter who’s currently at the headquarters of the Heavenly Will Cult.
“…I’m sorry, Min-hyuk.”
In order for the God of Death to possess a living being, two conditions had to be met.
First, the god had to know the target’s “true name”.
Second, the target had to be within the Land of Chaos…the “Domain”.
Of course, if someone was inside the Domain, Death could freely read their thoughts.
So even satisfying just the second condition allowed him to possess their body.
Thanks to those conditions, this cycle… might actually be the most perfect chance to truly kill the God of Death.
“I just… want to go home. I’m a little tired.”
No living beings remained who could set foot in the Domain anymore,
Which meant the God of Death couldn’t transfer to a new body.
So if—just if—someone could destroy that body before the God of Death fully accumulated his power within the Villain Hunter…
If someone could just do that…
“Then I wouldn’t have to regress anymore.”
I could finally end this tiresome life on Earth.
At last.
“How the hell are we supposed to kill the Villain Hun—”
Squelch—
“…Doo-shik?”
The God of Death, having taken over the Villain Hunter’s body, had begun a merciless massacre.
The heroes and police present all raised their weapons, trying to stop the brutal slaughterer.
…
“More hero reinforcements are on the way…!”
If anything, it was an unexpected situation.
The fact that the Villain Hunter hadn’t lost a single time in the continuous battle that had lasted for an hour…
Well, in a way, maybe it was the natural outcome.
“Because he doesn’t just have one or two abilities.”
Min-hyuk’s body currently contained over a dozen supernatural abilities.
And among them were overwhelmingly powerful ones, like speech manipulation and physical regeneration.
It was only natural that ordinary ability users would struggle to deal with him.
On top of that, Min-hyuk’s abilities had a strange property—
The more abilities he acquired, the stronger each one became.
“The military unit is on its way here.”
To be honest, among all the ability users currently existing in South Korea…
It was questionable whether anyone could actually overcome the Villain Hunter’s regenerative powers and take him down.
“Haa… haa… haa…”
At the familiar voice coming from behind, I turned my head.
There stood Min-hyuk’s teammates.
“You got here fast.”
“…What is going on…? Why is Min-hyuk oppa… why is he killing people…?”
“That’s not Go Min-hyuk.”
“…Then who is it?”
“That’s Go Min-hyuk, whose body was taken over by the cult god of the Heavenly Will Cult.”
“…What are you talking about?”
Since they had arrived earlier than expected, I gave them a rough explanation of what had happened to Min-hyuk.
That he had fought the cult god but lost, and as a result, his body had been taken.
“How can we bring him back?”
In that situation, the women asked if there was a way to return Min-hyuk to his original self, but…
“It’s too late.”
“…What?”
It was already too late.
“Let’s see… we have to kill him before 37 hours pass.”
“What do you mean?”
“Once 37 hours pass, even if it’s an incomplete awakening, an awakening is still an awakening.
Min-hyuk’s body will be completely transformed into the false god’s body.”
“…What?”
“We have to kill him while he’s still human, or we won’t even be able to recover his corpse.”
The moment I gave a realistic answer,
A woman grabbed me by the collar and lifted me up without hesitation.
“…Speak clearly. What were you doing until things got to this point?”
But…
I also felt deeply wronged about this entire situation.
“I clearly told him not to do anything. I warned him, but he ignored me and acted on his own out of anger when his mother’s urn disappeared. He brought this on himself.”
I simply stated my position honestly.
“…….”
The woman, who had been glaring at me in silence, eventually started walking toward Min-hyuk, with a ball of flame forming in her hand.
However—
Squeeze—
“Let go.”
I wasn’t the type to stand by and watch someone get killed.
So I grabbed the arms of the telekinetic and the fire-wielding ability users who were trying to approach Min-hyuk, stopping them in their tracks.
“It’s better if you don’t go.”
“Why?”
“The false god has already read all of Min-hyuk’s thoughts.”
“So what?”
“I’m telling you. If Min-hyuk knows your names, just stepping within ten meters of him would be suicide.”
At that moment—
Whoosh—
“That’s simple.”
“…I’m telling you, you’ll die.”
“Min-hyuk doesn’t know my name.”
“…You’ll still die. Do you really think you can stop villain hunter in that state?”
“Yeah.”
With a flick of her arm, the woman knocked my hand away and, after throwing out those final words, started running straight toward the villain hunter.
“As long as we don’t get close, right?”
The telekinetic also began to assist her from a distance.
“…I wish you’d at least question why I’m not attacking from range.”
“It’s probably because you’re too weak.”
“…How about considering the fact that Min-hyuk’s reflection ability is beyond imagination?”
“If you’re weak, then just stand back and watch.”
“I gave a clear warning.”
Watching the woman ignore my warning—
“Can you heal, by any chance?”
“…What?”
“Can you or can’t you?”
“…I can… kind of.”
“Then start by getting ready to heal her.”
I told her to treat the telekinetic first.
And the moment those words left my mouth—
Crack—
The telekinetic ability user showed her right arm bending in a direction it clearly shouldn’t—
“…What are you doing?”
“…I’m in the middle… of subduing him… don’t… talk to me…”
“…Your right arm’s broken. Stop.”
“Don’t… worry about it…!”
An ability user who doesn’t care whether her bones break or not…
He sure had some food women around him.
I’ve never been one to enjoy watching tragedy unfold up close…
“Haah… there’s only one possible way.”
“…What is it?”
“If the last remaining ability suppressor on Min-hyuk’s ankle breaks, he’ll enter a zone we can’t perceive.”
“…And then?”
“If, in there… by some miracle, Min-hyuk manages to defeat that false god… and at the same time, the number of abilities in his body drops to under ten… then he might survive.”
Even as I explained this zero-percent miracle, I let out a scoff—
Crunch—!
“Unnie..!”
Judging by the way the telekinetic’s right ankle broke…
It looked like she had just poured everything she had into trying to destroy the suppressor on Min-hyuk’s ankle.
But… unfortunately…
‘…It didn’t break.’
The miracle didn’t happen—
Whoosh—
Just then, a fireball hurled by the fire ability user struck Min-hyuk’s ankle.
Because the suppressor on Min-hyuk’s ankle had already been partially damaged by the telekinetic’s full-force attack…
Crack—
The fireball began to wedge itself into the damaged gap in the suppressor.
And the moment there was even the slightest space in the ring-shaped device—
Click— Click— Click—
The villain hunter’s movements began to stutter, sharply and unnaturally—
Thunk—
And finally, we watched as the suppressor on Min-hyuk’s ankle broke apart.
…What the hell? Is there actually a god on Earth?
The shock of such an impossible miracle was brief.
“We need an ability treatment inject—”
I tried to say we needed a treatment injection right away…
“…Why don’t they ever listen? I thought people were supposed to hear you out to the end in Korea.”
Before my words were even finished, the telekinetic woman launched herself straight at Min-hyuk.
…She’ll need to reduce his active abilities by at least three within a minute… Does she really believe a miracle like that will happen…?
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