Ch.71Chapter 71 – Trying to Rewrite This Novel’s Ending (2)

# The Thousand-Year Ultimate Blood Treasure

“Yes, this is how things get interesting.”

Shub-Niggurath looked at the scene before her and smiled bitterly. The Ice Dragon Fate Sect had been transformed into a natural fortress with the help of Zhuge Hong and others.

She had only approached the perimeter of the building, yet she already realized she was losing her sense of direction and walking in circles around the same place.

‘Did they get help from the Zhuge Family? In the original story, people from that family were skilled in these formation techniques.’

Shub-Niggurath thought about the original novel, “Diamond Fist King,” as she slightly curved her lips upward. Unlike in the novel, the characters in this world had become passive with fewer opportunities to shine.

She was trying to figure out how Bing-yeon had persuaded Zhuge Hong and what kind of trap he was planning to set for her.

‘If it were me… I would probably use the terrain to defeat my opponent.’

There was even a joke about Cthulhu being defeated by ramming his head into a steamship—her opponent likely believed that even Outer Gods couldn’t defy nature.

A battle between the original author and the reader. Normally, Shub-Niggurath would be at a disadvantage since she didn’t know all the settings and plot points perfectly.

‘…And that girl Yoo Seol-hwa thinks the same way.’

Shub-Niggurath could peek into the memories of Yoo Seol-hwa, the co-author, which gave her some advantage.

‘Even in this state, you still resist me. You’re making my heart soft.’

Shub-Niggurath sighed, thinking of Yoo Seol-hwa who had blinked one eye in Morse code and secretly left a message on Bing-yeon’s back.

As Shub-Niggurath was known as the “Mother of All Things,” she felt pity for Yoo Seol-hwa, who had made an extreme choice after suffering from infertility and an incurable disease.

After all, the conception of life is the most beautiful thing, and death is the heaviest and saddest.

‘Don’t worry, child. Soon you’ll meet the man you’ve been longing for.’

Shub-Niggurath massaged her own arm to comfort Yoo Seol-hwa, whom she had imprisoned. She could have simply let them meet, but that would lack the plot twist she wanted.

Her opponent was a bad author who had discontinued the novel she enjoyed three times. To properly get revenge on such a person, she needed to rewrite the ending of this story.

To reach the happy ending that Yoo Seol-hwa wanted—where everyone was happy—several more preparatory steps were needed.

“…Bing-yeon’s disciples should know the truth too.”

Shub-Niggurath took a step forward, thinking about the final bosses from the original work—characters whom the original author Bing-yeon had placed in miserable circumstances without giving them proper closure.

“Children who were victims of the author’s tyranny, but now have come to love him.”

Since this world was no longer fiction but reality, it was time for him to atone for his past sins.

Whoosh—!

As Shub-Niggurath took a step forward, she suddenly saw the sky and ground flip before her eyes. The formation technique had deceived her senses, making a cliff appear as flat ground.

“What a petty trick…”

Crack—! Shub-Niggurath tried to create a foothold in mid-air using ice magic to jump back up.

“…!!!”

Thwack-thwack-thwack!

As if anticipating her move, swords flew from the side of the steep cliff and pierced her body.

‘Huh, they artificially created a mountain range?’

Shub-Niggurath, who had fallen to the ground, looked up. The Ice Dragon Fate Sect, which she had thought was on the same level ground, was actually situated on top of a high mountain range.

It was a strategy devised by Hyeon-hwa, the leader of Mount Hua Sect.

Thanks to the help of many people, Bing-yeon’s deep connections had allowed them to create a small mountain range in just a few days.

It wasn’t impossible.

‘…Did they even coat it with poison? Even so, since her former lover’s soul is inside, it won’t be a lethal dose.’

At that moment,

Shub-Niggurath pressed her hand to her forehead as her vision suddenly blurred. Something had been applied to the sword that had just pierced her.

It was a special poison created by the Poison Dragon of the Tang Clan of Sichuan—a toxin designed to specifically target only one person’s mind.

Since Seol-hwa and Shub-Niggurath were merely bound by a contract like Azazel and Morgidian,

This was Bing-yeon’s solution to drive out only Shub-Niggurath who had taken over her body.

“Hahaha!! This is fun, truly fun, child!”

Recognizing such thoroughness, she raised the corner of her mouth.

The original author and the reader who had read the original work were trying to predict each other’s settings and developments, trying to figure out each other’s moves.

As a devoted fan who loved a novel, this was an experience she would never have again.

“…Then I have no choice but to show my ‘true self.'”

Shub-Niggurath brought her hands together in front of her chest. It was a preparatory motion to summon her divine body here.

The sky, which had been bright until just now, darkened as if night had fallen, and a massive mass of flesh composed of the legs of a black goat and tentacles appeared, seeming to devour everything.

***

“Brother, that moment is coming soon.”

Azazel bit her lower lip as she watched Shub-Niggurath blocking the sky. Everything had happened exactly as she had foreseen countless times, but…

“…The future where we all lose?”

The moment that thing—which was difficult to even describe as “that”—Shub-Niggurath’s true form came into view, there was no way to change the fact that everyone would be reduced to nothing.

“Yes, you really need to make a decision now. Will you save that girl, Bing-seol-hwa?”

Among them, Bing-yeon would be the first to be devoured by Shub-Niggurath. Azazel bit her nails as she had glimpsed his future—being chewed from the head and transformed into a terrible state.

“…I must save her.”

Despite Azazel’s countless warnings and tearful pleas, Bing-yeon’s plan remained unchanged.

He had to use the Zhuge Family’s formation techniques and Mount Hua Sect’s terrain to deceive the opponent’s senses, and with the help of the Namgung Family and Tang Clan of Sichuan, attack only Shub-Niggurath’s mind to make the Outer God abandon the body.

“We’ve succeeded in separating Shub-Niggurath from Seol-hwa, so…”

Even if rushing there to save her meant walking straight into the maw of the Outer God.

Living with a terminal illness, Bing-yeon had come to feel how truly light the weight of life could be.

A weak and fragile candle that could be extinguished by a mere breeze.

With such a life, he could only think of saving his lover before dying.

“…Master, please be careful. Your disciple and the others will follow soon.”

Bi-wol slowly looked at Bing-yeon’s face and spoke.

After Bing-yeon rescued Bing-seol-hwa, her task was to operate the device that would trigger a landslide to strike the Outer God.

That was what Bing-yeon had earnestly asked her to do—to kill the Outer God once its weakness was exposed.

***

“It’s been a while, child.”

Seeing Bing-yeon who had finally appeared, Shub-Niggurath smiled bitterly as old memories came to mind.

The unfortunate author who had posted discontinuation notices, lamenting his lack of talent and skill. As a devoted reader, she knew very well how sincere he had been about his novels.

“…Can we really say it’s been a while between us?”

“Well, we were once reader and author.”

He had gone all the way to Haeundae Beach in Busan to shout that he wanted to become a novelist, and had secretly cried in the bathroom with the water running because of a discontinued work.

“So, you’ve come to save your past life’s lover. I didn’t expect you to use methods that even Seol-hwa doesn’t know about…”

Seol-hwa’s body was currently captured by Shub-Niggurath’s tentacles. She even showed the leisure to provoke him deliberately.

“Why don’t you shut that mouth?”

“My, isn’t that too harsh for someone who saved your lover? She would have been a corpse you couldn’t even recover otherwise.”

Shub-Niggurath chuckled with her enormous mouth. Although it had become a messy drama with tangled family trees, wasn’t it better than never seeing each other again?

“…I said shut up!”

Watching Shub-Niggurath, Bing-yeon concentrated cold energy in his right foot and used a martial art that allowed him to kick off the ground and soar into the sky.

It was an application of the Ice-White Divine Art, Ice Killing Kick.

As soon as it touched Shub-Niggurath’s tentacles, they began to freeze from the point of contact.

Not missing this opening, Bing-yeon used the Ice Breaking Fist to shatter the frozen tentacles and attempted to rescue Seol-hwa.

“…How would your disciples react if they knew your true identity? Han Do-hyeon.”

As she swallowed Bing-yeon, who had barely managed to embrace and save Seol-hwa, Shub-Niggurath uttered meaningful words.