Ch.117Ep.117: The World of Transcendents

“This is…”

“This is the most important place for our Bureau. If this place collapses, the Bureau is finished.”

“Can’t we just rebuild it?”

“Just creating this took an enormous amount of time. Designing an efficient system and implementing it. And exploring every universe wasn’t exactly easy.”

Once the Bureau collapses, everything ends.

They could try to rebuild it, but by then, too much time would have passed.

It would be too late.

“In the past, even if it was destroyed, things wouldn’t have gone too far off track, but now it’s different.”

“Why is that?”

“The universe has branched out too much. There’s a limit to how much we can cover.”

They say several worlds have appeared that can’t even be observed.

Radios realized the situation was more serious than he thought.

He’d heard that if the Bureau were absent, wars between multiverses could break out.

He felt respect for Lillia, who sacrificed herself to maintain peace in the universe.

“Originally, the Bureau started with just three people—me, my master, and Luniel.”

Then they hired the Sword God as a new employee.

From the moment they discovered the Hero, the multiverse began branching uncontrollably.

To the point where if the Bureau collapsed, balance could never be restored.

“You could call it a staffing shortage… but it’s not something that can be solved just by having more people.”

“Pardon?”

“Honestly, I’d like to have about three more people in the management team. But Noah was a special case who could join the team—the others don’t have the ability to manage.”

Radios couldn’t understand what Lillia was saying.

How could there be a staffing shortage yet they couldn’t assign work to people?

Honestly, it didn’t make much sense, but Lillia was reading all of his thoughts.

“That’s why I checked.”

“What?”

“Whether you qualify to work on the management team.”

“…Wait, you’re not suggesting…”

Lillia just smiled at Radios’s question without giving any answer.

Looking at her blankly, Radios could only let out a deep sigh.

From what he’d heard from the Sword God about the management team…

The Hero Noah Whitlein who worked there hadn’t been able to go home for about 5 years already.

She wanted him to work in a place with such extreme working conditions?

Even if the workload was divided, it would still be an insane environment where he couldn’t go home for 2.5 years?

When Radios looked at Lillia as if she were out of her mind, she just shrugged.

“Didn’t you say you wanted to save your precious people?”

“..!”

“I’ll help you keep your power. In exchange, work here. What do you think?”

“…”

Radios fell into contemplation upon hearing Lillia’s offer.

He was willing to do anything if there was a way to save them.

However, the issue was whether he needed to join this place when there was a way to save them even after losing all his power.

If they would be revived either way, was there any need to maintain his power and suffer?

Moreover, having reached multiverse level, he couldn’t even die at will.

It wouldn’t be appealing to work not just until death but for eternity.

The problem was…

‘She’s the only one who knows how to save them.’

What good was a method that would cost him his power?

When the person who could tell him was saying she would help if he worked for this company.

Radios was in a situation where he had no choice but to accept the offer.

“If you tell me how to save them, I’ll join the company or do whatever is needed.”

“You’ll do it?”

“Yes.”

“Then let’s begin.”

Snap!

As Lillia snapped her fingers, the surroundings changed once again, and they were transported to a barren plain.

He couldn’t feel any flow of magic, yet she could change space.

Indeed, to be called the strongest in the universe, one would need at least this much power.

“You said you wanted to save them even if it took years, right?”

“Yes.”

“Then… would it be okay if those years exceeded hundreds of millions?”

“..!”

Lillia’s expression was dead serious as she casually mentioned hundreds of millions.

Hundreds of millions of years.

Honestly, it was such an absurd number that he wondered if anyone could live that long.

But for the people in this Multiverse Management Bureau who had all lived that long…

To Lillia, hundreds of millions of years was just like 10 years to ordinary humans.

Then how would this time feel to Radios?

Even if he combined all the time he had experienced, it wouldn’t exceed 500 years.

He thought that was a long time, but could he endure hundreds of millions of years?

That’s what Lillia was asking.

“Answer me straight. I don’t want to lose talent either.”

“Hundreds of millions of years… I can’t even comprehend it. How could I…”

“Can you endure it or not? Just say it. If you don’t even have that resolve, trying would be a waste.”

To save his precious ones, he would have to dedicate hundreds of millions of years.

And if he didn’t use that time, he couldn’t save them.

Of course he wanted to save them. He wanted to save them by any means necessary.

But if the price was dedicating 100 million years… could he really do it?

‘Is it possible to endure that time alone…’

The people at the Bureau had endured far longer than that.

But until just a few days ago, Radios was just a strong human.

He had just grown rapidly like an unbridled colt.

His case was very different from the people at the Bureau who had grown stronger step by step.

He had only trained for about 189 years.

While their training had exceeded 1,000 years at minimum.

Under the pressure of time, Radios was wavering.

“I can see it in your eyes. You don’t think you can do it? Then let’s forget about it.”

“Wait!”

As Lillia was about to give up her expectations, Radios grabbed her.

He didn’t know how strong the pressure of time would be.

However, he didn’t want to give up out of fear without even trying.

Radios had already crossed numerous lines between life and death.

He had pushed through with sheer force to defeat Azathoth, who had seemed untouchable.

And now he was going to back down out of fear?

His pride wouldn’t allow it.

“I’ll do it. Even if it takes 100 million years, even if it takes 1 billion years… I want to save them.”

They are all precious people.

If he had to sacrifice himself to save them… he would gladly do so.

Without them, he wouldn’t have been able to defeat Azathoth.

And Lillia, pleased with Radios’s answer, gave a faint smile.

“Okay, you pass. With this mindset, you’ll be fine.”

“What…?”

“The 100 million years thing was a lie. I said it to test your resolve… but you really didn’t break, huh?”

“Um… that was a test?”

“You were almost consumed by the fear of 100 million years. I wasn’t wrong, was I?”

“Well, that’s true, but…”

“Why are you dragging this out? I have nothing to tell you, so think about it yourself.”

With those words, Lillia turned around.

Radios, who had been listening in a daze, suddenly came to his senses and grabbed her arm.

“Wait, you need to tell me. How to save them…”

“You already have that. Don’t look for it in others, find it in yourself.”

“What…?”

“I’ve marked you, so you’ll be able to communicate with the Bureau. Now go back.”

“W-wait—”

Whoosh!

As Lillia snapped her fingers again, Radios felt like he was being sucked somewhere and was ejected from the Bureau.

It felt like someone had opened their palm and sent him off.

It happened so quickly that Radios was dumbfounded.

Somehow, he had returned to the moment when he had bisected Azathoth.

“What is this…”

[Master! You finally did it! Hahaha! I believed in you!!]

While Radios was staring blankly at the disappearing Azathoth…

Namgung Ihyun, who had been watching this battle to the end, approached him.

As Radios’s subordinate, she should have known where he was and what he was doing.

But judging by her attitude, she didn’t seem to have any idea what had happened at the Multiverse Management Bureau.

‘I see. It was a place only those of multiverse level could enter…’

There was no way Namgung Ihyun, who hadn’t even awakened to Ascended Order, let alone multiverse level, could perceive the Multiverse Management Bureau.

Radios didn’t bother to show that he had been to such a place.

It felt almost like he had dreamed it all.

But the fact that he remembered it so vividly meant it definitely wasn’t a dream.

[Master. But I think we should celebrate later. Those two are in terrible condition.]

“Why didn’t you stop them?”

[You know I couldn’t do anything about it. How could I stop her when she insisted on watching her boyfriend win?]

“Sigh… anyway, that’s not the urgent matter right now.”

[Huh? There’s something more urgent than your girlfriend?]

“Of course.”

If we’re talking about urgency, this would be the most urgent.

If we delay even a little, everything will end.

“I’ll resurrect Azathoth through Subduing Dead.”

He had no intention of letting him rest comfortably until he paid for all the crimes he had committed.