Ch.87Chapter 87 – Because It’s a Happy Ending (2)

“…Who dares disturb my deep slumber?”

The voice echoed like multiple voices overlapping. A form made of purplish bubbles seemed to writhe and rise up like a massive body.

A chill ran down my spine.

I shuddered at the sight of the bubble mass where eyes should be there were mouths, and all body parts seemed jumbled together.

This was different from Shub-Niggurath or Morgidian. Unlike them, who twisted their consciousness to change their appearance for human interaction, this one had no such pretense.

“Aren’t you the human who seduced my wife… What brings you here?”

The difference in spiritual rank was clear.

With each word Yog-Sothoth uttered, pain stabbed through my eyes and ears like needles heated in fire.

It seemed that even Verdandi’s Holy Armor, which normally provides absolute protection to its wearer, couldn’t shield against something not classified as an attack.

To Yog-Sothoth, I must look like a mayfly buzzing around. How could swatting away an annoyance with a few gestures be considered a malicious act?

“I’ve come to kill you.”

I gritted my teeth and raised my voice. I healed the pain with Azazel’s prayer and wrapped dozens of layers of mental barriers around my body.

The enemy before me had made Seol-hwa, my girlfriend in my past life, miserable, and ultimately drove her to make an extreme choice after separating us.

There was an emotion boiling deep inside me that wouldn’t let me accept defeat without a fight.

Bang! Crash!

Countless sword strikes and punches. I poured everything into Verdandi’s Holy Sword and various martial arts, trying to inflict even the slightest wound on Yog-Sothoth.

“Hmph, a worthless mortal hastening his own demise. Instead of rejoicing at being loved by an Outer God…”

But the Outer God merely exhaled a bored sigh and even mocked me. The purplish bubble mass undulated greatly, creating geometric patterns.

Inside the enormous bubble that seemed about 50 meters in diameter, my brief life was displayed.

Moments of following my respected brother and receiving my parents’ love, and then the domestic violence I suffered after my brother died were all vividly portrayed.

Past and present, present and future mixed like colors blending on a single canvas.

“…As a monster who devoured your own brother, did you really think you could live a truly happy life? Human arrogance isn’t even amusing.”

Yog-Sothoth was deliberately provoking me, trying to create an opening in my attacks. As if I actually had a way to hurt him.

“Shut up…!!”

I gripped Sieg-hardt’s sword of time in my other hand and thrust it down vertically. With a pop—! sound, one of the bubbles burst.

That revealed the moment when Seol-hwa and I promised to become novelists together. A boy and girl linking pinkies and smiling brightly.

“Useless struggling. You became a writer by luck, because you’re garbage without talent. This ending is fitting for you.”

Yog-Sothoth made a chuckling sound while watching that scene. It sounded similar to a beast’s low howl, setting off alarm bells in my mind.

“For someone so high and mighty, you tried to ruin a writer’s life just because your wife read some web novels…?”

This was a heavy punishment that started from mere jealousy. Just as they say, small beginnings can lead to great endings.

I didn’t like how he spoke with such a shameless attitude, treating me like an insect rather than apologizing.

I struck at Yog-Sothoth with my sword again. This time I mixed in kicks like I had during my sparring with Bi-wol.

‘Using Ice Thin Kick and Heavenly Demon Sovereign Step as my techniques to move my feet…’

I employed a technique using both a downward kick concentrating cold energy in my foot and footwork that could crush even space itself.

‘…I attempt to cut down my opponent using the Heavenly Demon Blood Calamity Slash, wielding different swords in each hand!’

I held Verdandi’s Holy Sword in my right hand and Sieg-hardt’s sword in my left, slashing at the same spot in a cross pattern.

Now I could use the principle of dual cultivation to manifest different martial arts or techniques simultaneously.

Crack, boom—! Slash!

The sound of ice walls breaking, space distorting, and explosive noise erupted from my feet as I shattered Yog-Sothoth’s bubbles.

“Have you never swatted away or tried to kill a mayfly buzzing before your eyes? What an absurd question.”

But the bubbles weren’t Yog-Sothoth’s main body. They gathered to form something like a large mouth and laughed.

“Shut up, you think that justifies anything…?!”

“Then let me give you an easier comparison. If an ant could speak human language, understand and comprehend human speech…”

Yog-Sothoth wasn’t putting us on the same level. He continued to pour out insulting words and wouldn’t stop mocking me.

“…Could you accept that ant as human? Could you dismiss it as nothing special if the woman you love showed interest in it? Truly a foolish question.”

In a way, it was natural for Yog-Sothoth to think of me like this. The other Outer Gods I’d met until now had been unusually friendly toward humans.

“Still, you could have given me a chance.”

I spoke while catching my ragged breath. No matter what, he shouldn’t have committed such evil as to kill someone.

“To you, who had no talent, effort, or perseverance, and discontinued three works?”

“If Seol-hwa had been there, I could have…”

“Can achievements made with others’ help truly be called your own? I also gave you a chance to stand on your own.”

“……”

My heart sank as I heard those words. Though it had been a long time since I’d given up writing, the memories of writing out of habit remained.

No talent. Lacking writing skills. With this level of ability, you’ll never become a writer.

Countless words that had tormented me in my past life stabbed my heart like daggers, making me realize my place.

“But I’ve lived pretty well in this life, haven’t I?”

I smiled faintly as I took my stance again to deliver another blow to Yog-Sothoth.

Now I had disciples who believed in me and extended helping hands, a lover I cherished, and lives I had saved.

If there’s anything I’ve learned from living with a terminal illness, it’s that life is like a candle.

It burns so quickly you don’t even notice when your wick is gone, and in the end, it seems to disappear without a trace.

“…But I am Bing-yeon, Master of the Ice Dragon Fate Sect and the terminal teacher of final bosses.”

Yet the warmth it leaves behind remains, continuing to the next generation as an unextinguished wildfire.

With hope in my pounding heart, I thought of the people who would be wishing for my victory even at this moment.

Unlike my past life, I now had so many things I was responsible for.

I couldn’t fall here.

‘If I deploy a mental world like when I fought Bi-wol’s Inner Demon…’

I thought that with everyone’s power, I could draw the opponent into a favorable space to fight the Outer God.

I pulled up all the internal energy in my body and firmly planted my feet to try to dominate the space, but…

“A human who doesn’t know his place. Begone.”

At that moment, Yog-Sothoth’s incantation rang out, and with just air pressure, I was slammed against an invisible wall in the distance.

“…Kuhak!”

I hit the transparent wall and rolled once on the floor, and warm blood and tingling sensations began to soak my entire body.

All the bones in my body were broken, and I couldn’t move properly. I couldn’t even breathe properly, leaving me unable to scream.

‘This can’t be happening…’

Like an overturned insect, I tried to get up by forcing strength into my immobile limbs, but I kept failing.

‘Is this the end? So pathetically?’

My vision was darkening, my eyes slowly closing as I was losing consciousness.

Perhaps because I had recklessly used martial arts by drawing up internal energy without considering my terminal condition, all the meridians in my body were twisted.

– [Ring ring♬. New companions have arrived!]

At that moment, Kang Si-woo’s smartphone in my sleeve began to vibrate and ring a cheerful bell sound.

‘This is exactly like the gacha animation setting I put in the idle game…’

But now I couldn’t summon companions from the smartphone.

My opponent was Yog-Sothoth, the leader of the Outer Gods. Who would willingly come running, disregarding the difference in status?

“…So you’re the man who saved the original heroine in another world.”

But in my fading consciousness, I began to hear voices that were familiar yet different.

“It would be strange to call you master like my other self. Now I am a Demon King, not a hero.”

“Saving the world isn’t everyone’s selfishness but one person’s hope… I never thought my past self would offer such a prayer.”

They were the voices of Bi-wol, Verdandi, and Azazel, but with tones and speech patterns somewhat different from what I remembered.

‘Could it be…’

I had only imagined these figures in my mind before. The endings of the original novels that I had only written in my notes before discontinuing my series.

The Star of Heavenly Murder, Heavenly Demon Bi-wol.

Verdandi, the Hero of Justice who became a fallen Demon King.

And Azazel, the Whore of Babylon, an Outer God’s Saintess who reset the world by turning back time.

‘…The final bosses from the original works I couldn’t finish.’

Those who would have appeared in the desperate latter parts of the original stories were all gathered here now.