Ch.73Chapter 73 – Trying to Rewrite This Novel’s Ending (4)

Kang Si-woo couldn’t understand why he was being overwhelmed by his opponents. He was barely managing to block Verdandi’s attacks with her holy sword.

The heroes Kang Si-woo had summoned were being completely wiped out by Bi-wol and the other disciples.

He firmly believed that he was the protagonist of this world and that the opponents before him were merely illusions from a game.

‘How dare these mere game characters…!’

His breath was coming in gasps, reaching all the way to his throat. No matter how many allies he summoned through his smartphone or what commands he issued, the enemies before him were breaking through everything with extraordinary skill.

What he had seen at the Dragon and Phoenix Tournament was just the tip of the iceberg. He couldn’t win against them when they were using the Heavenly Demon Divine Art, the Hero’s Holy Sword, and the power of Outer Gods without any restrictions.

“Senior Bi-wol! To your right!”

“I know…!”

“Sieg-hardt. Enemy three steps ahead.”

“Thanks…!”

With metallic clangs and splashes of blood, the original protagonists and final bosses moved in perfect unison, as if they were one body.

In this battlefield of metal sounds and flying blood, Kang Si-woo was the only one who couldn’t blend in. After all, he hadn’t done any training or made any effort since coming to this world.

“As expected, you’re garbage!”

Whoosh! Azazel’s fist broke through all defenses and struck Kang Si-woo’s temple. She needed to rescue her master as quickly as possible, but this man was still being manipulated by the Outer God without coming to his senses.

“Arghhhh…!”

Kang Si-woo rolled on the ground several times after being hit, grimacing in pain as he clutched his temple.

“In the end, you’re all just illusions! You were all born into this world thanks to Shub-Niggurath’s grace…!”

Gripping his smartphone tightly, Kang Si-woo spoke with a voice full of malice. He had been fed a somewhat distorted truth about this world by the Outer God.

Shub-Niggurath had told him that this world was created by her hands, and that he needed to defeat a man named Bing-yeon to live safely.

She had mixed truth and lies to deceive him.

“That’s a lie, isn’t it?”

Verdandi questioned this. Even though the speaker believed it was true, and thus it appeared as truth to her eyes…

“What…?”

“Exactly what I said. You’re being deceived!”

Verdandi saw through Kang Si-woo’s lies based solely on her own judgment. Everyone around was looking at her, impressed that she was no longer overconfident in her abilities.

“From my perspective, someone like you seems more like a fictional character! How could anyone believe and follow an Outer God’s words without proper resistance?”

“You bastard…, what do you know…”

“More than trash like you! Because I’m a Hero!”

With Verdandi’s statement, seeds of doubt began to sprout in Kang Si-woo’s mind. If everyone before him was truly fake, wouldn’t it be stranger if he himself wasn’t included in that category?

“That can’t be…! I came here from a different world! This isn’t reality…!”

Kang Si-woo began muttering to himself as if denying reality. Worry was creeping in—what if even his own hands that he could see were fake?

“You’re not the only one who came from another world.”

Bi-wol added a comment. She had already noticed that her master’s values and judgments were quite different from those of the martial arts world.

From Bing-yeon’s confession the previous day, Bi-wol had vaguely learned the truth about this world.

“Our master must have come from another world too.”

Bi-wol seemed to accept the truth calmly. She might have hated him if Bing-yeon had continued to hide this fact or lied to her.

“You’re saying a half-cripple who can barely control his own body is the protagonist of this world? That’s impossible…!”

“…It’s probably true. Master has been doing his best to save us.”

He had shown his willingness to sacrifice himself to save her and his disciples, trying to rescue everyone.

“Well, a man with traces of an Outer God on his back couldn’t be normal. I had my suspicions too.”

Azazel spoke after hearing Bi-wol’s statement. She didn’t seem surprised at all, instead glaring at Kang Si-woo as if to say, “You didn’t even know that?”

Although she had misunderstood Bing-yeon’s identity as Yog-Sothoth, in other words, she had come closest to the truth.

The accident involving Yoo Seol-hwa, which started all these events, began with Yog-Sothoth’s atrocity of turning back time out of jealousy for the novel that Shub-Niggurath cherished.

“Was I the only one who didn’t know? He is incredibly handsome, as if from another world…”

Verdandi looked at the faces of those around her with an expression of continued confusion. From her perspective, everything in this world felt too real to be fake.

“More precisely, our birth is likely connected to my brother. Even with the ability to see the future, it would be impossible for him to know everything as he does.”

“…Ah, I understand now!”

Azazel explained it more simply to Verdandi, as if talking to a child, and finally she nodded and smiled brightly.

“Kim Hyul, Sieg-hardt…! Do you believe this nonsense and side with them?! You traitors!!”

Kang Si-woo still couldn’t accept reality and shouted at them on the opposing side.

He had already summoned most of the allies he could, and was at a numerical disadvantage.

The only variable that could turn this around would be if Kim Hyul and Sieg-hardt betrayed the women.

“Don’t you want to save your families?! If it becomes known that you betrayed Lady Shub, they will die—”

At that moment,

Swish! The sound of a sword cutting through the air rang out, and a thin line of blood appeared on Kang Si-woo’s cheek.

“…I don’t want to hear such words from trash like you who sold your soul for a woman.”

The person who had created and thrown the sword was Sieg-hardt, who had been listening to everyone’s conversation until just now. It didn’t matter to him if this world was all fake.

Having lived in a world where he had lost his sight and could no longer see anything, his salvation had come from his sister.

All that mattered was that his family remained safe.

“That’s right, we ultimately sided with them to save our families.”

Kim Hyul also took a step forward. They needed to defeat this guy to confront the Outer God who was holding their families hostage.

“W-wait…! Are you really planning to fight Lady Shub…! She’s an Outer God…!”

As everyone gradually closed in on Kang Si-woo, he made a last desperate attempt to turn his opponents into his heroes by raising his smartphone.

This method would only work if the target had a certain level of affection for him. Kang Si-woo was hoping that Azazel might still have some feelings left for him.

However,

“Your moves are already read. How ugly of you to refuse to accept reality until the very end.”

Azazel smirked at the smartphone and knocked it to the ground with her tentacle. All that remained was an empty game screen with no more heroes to summon.

“C-can’t we talk this out…?”

His last trump card had failed, and he had been stripped of his weapon. Verdandi had caught the smartphone that had been knocked away.

Kang Si-woo knelt before his opponents and begged for mercy. He thought that no matter how bad their relationship had become, Azazel was still a Saintess. She wouldn’t kill someone who had surrendered.

“…Yes, let’s have an iron dialogue. If you’re about to die, I’ll heal you with holy power.”

As if seeing through Kang Si-woo’s expectations, Azazel slightly raised the corner of her mouth while looking at him.

“I’ll just beat you to within an inch of your life.”

“Aaaaargh…!!!”

Crack! Kang Si-woo could only scream as Azazel twisted his hand. The memory of receiving her incredibly powerful punch at the Dragon and Phoenix Tournament was being refreshed in his body.

***

“Now that we’ve dealt with the nuisance, let’s go rescue Master.”

Bi-wol spoke to her companions while looking at Shub-Niggurath floating in the sky. The Outer God was just hovering in the air without any movement.

“Is it okay to go in without any preparation? After all, we’re facing an Outer God.”

“Yes, I think some of us should stay behind to pull out those who go in.”

Azazel and Sieg-hardt offered their opinions while looking at the being. Even Bing-yeon, who was considered the strongest among them, had gone silent after entering that mouth.

“We’ll stay. Sieg-hardt.”

“I was thinking the same thing even without you saying it.”

“They probably want to save Bing-yeon more than we do.”

Kim Hyul patted Sieg-hardt’s shoulder and suggested they remain behind. The disciples’ affection for Bing-yeon was obvious to anyone, showing how close their relationship was.

“Thank you, everyone.”

“Thank you…!”

“I’ll definitely repay this debt later.”

Bi-wol and the disciples each thanked Kim Hyul and Sieg-hardt, then jumped into Shub-Niggurath’s mouth to rescue their master, Bing-yeon.