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Chapter 484: Outer Celestial, Ubbo-Sathla (4)

...

Chang-Sun blanked out, unable to understand why Ubbo-Sathla would go to Korea.

‘What in the world does she want here? Is she going after Ye-Eun?’

Chang-Sun quickly spread his energy to scan all of Earth. Fortunately, he could easily locate Cha Ye-Eun. She seemed to be in the middle of a work-related discussion with Jin Seok-Tae, her hoobae.

—It’s been a long time since all Dungeons closed up. Why is my workload not getting any smaller?

—That’s because a lot of people are still out there trying to start trouble.

—Phew. I’m going to go insane.

—Stop with the nonsense and check this out already! Have you finished reading the material I gave you?

—Uhhh...

After checking the area around Ye-Eun several times, Chang-Sun covered his face with his hands and heaved a sigh of relief. She didn’t seem to be Ubbo-Sathla’s target.

[<Deus Ex Machina> frowns, unable to determine the unknown being’s goal.]

‘It doesn’t look like she headed to the place where the Mother Terra Celestial is sealed. What in the world does she want?’

While analyzing the situation, Chang-Sun recalled that a similar incident had already happened in the past.

“... I see. Things aren’t working out in her favor, so she changed her target,” Bel-Marduk grumbled as he stared into the distance, seemingly coming to the same conclusion as Chang-Sun.

Chang-Sun nodded as he turned in the same direction. “She’s likely going after R’lyeh.”

“I think so too. Had her goal been the <First Star’s Fragments>, she would have already started hunting us down. If that’s not what she’s here for, she has to be searching for a way to be free from this tiring <Punishment>.”

“And that is R’lyeh?”

Bel-Marduk nodded. “The body of <Dull Darkness> would give her a good chance of accomplishing that.”

Ubbo-Sathla could take over R’lyeh to become an Emperor or reach a similar level to free herself from the <Punishment>.

‘She can also wake up <Dull Darkness> from his long slumber and doom the entire universe,’ Chang-Sun thought.

Everything about this universe, including Eros and Nyx, was just <Dull Darkness>’s dream. <Supreme Light> merely expanded that dream and turned it into reality. Hence, if <Dull Darkness> woke up, everything would crumble.

Since the Great Universe of Eros wouldn’t be exempted from it, the line between Eros and Nyx would also fade away. Such an extinction would be incomparably more serious than the one that Chang-Sun had gone through. However, considering Ubbo-Sathla was already exhausted, there was a high chance that she would resort to simply getting destroyed with everyone else.

[<Deus Ex Machina> grumbles, feeling that something annoying will happen again!]

“I thought <Dull Darkness> is the Outer Celestials’ creator and the subject of their worship. How can she think about waking him up?” Bel-Marduk questioned.

“Ubbo-Sathla is an outsider among Outer Celestials. Since she wasn’t born from Nyx, she doesn’t respect <Dull Darkness> in the same way. In fact, she probably hates him,” Chang-Sun said.

“Then we need to open up a path to R’lyeh!”

Heoju had once used the ‘Mirror Maze of Myths’ to get to R’lyeh, but that had been shut down long ago. Hence, Chang-Sun thought that the only option they had left was to head straight to R’lyeh.

“Wait, I’m going to see R’lyeh?” Bel-Marduk laughed, dumbfounded. “I’m having way too many firsts in this attempt.”

He had been so busy staying under the radar of <Deus Ex Machina> and the other Emperors that getting to see the body of <Dull Darkness> sounded ridiculous to him now. Some <Horoscope> Star Signs had suggested going after R’lyeh as Heoju had done, but Bel-Marduk always stopped them, telling them that it wasn’t the right time yet.

Although unsure about this, Bel-Marduk had no reason to stop Chang-Sun. “Do it.”

Chang-Sun turned away and picked up his golden key again.

Click!

When he rotated the key, a huge metal gate showed up before them.

Oooooong...!

The gate of <Darkness>—no, the gate of pure <Abyss> exuded bizarre dark energy that sent a shiver down the spines of those who saw it. Completely different from the one he had opened to get to Perkwunos, it made even <Darkness> look opaque.

[Separating the space.]

[The gate to the Hidden Side, which <Deus Ex Machina> had hidden, has appeared!]

[Unable to open the gate!]

[Unable to open the gate!]

[You are not authorized to open the gate. Request the authorities to open it.]

...

[<Deus Ex Machina> springs to his feet due to the Hidden Side gate’s sudden appearance.]

[<Deus Ex Machina> is confused about how you found the gate without reaching the inner core.]

[<Deus Ex Machina> warns you that opening it is dangerous!]

...

Chang-Sun frowned. The gate before him wasn’t as easy to open as the others.

‘It’s stiff.’

He knew he used the right key, but the lock seemed to have rusted far too much for him to open it. Believing that getting rid of the rust would solve his problem, he infused as much divine power into the golden key as possible.

Woosh, woosh, woosh...!

Particles slowly floated out from the keyhole.

Noticing what Chang-Sun was trying to do, Bel-Marduk put his hand on Chang-Sun’s and infused his divine power into the key as well. Over time, the faint metal gate slowly became clearer. When the gate began to exude even darker energy, the world around Chang-Sun and Bel-Marduk distorted like an old television flipping through channels. At one moment, it reversed.

[<Deus Ex Machina> yells that forcing the gate open is dangerous—]

Pzzzz―!

All the message windows disappeared.

[The gate to the Hidden Side has opened!]

[The path to R’lyeh has appeared.]

The metal gate slightly opened. Looking like it would close soon because of its weight, Chang-Sun and Bel-Marduk hurriedly entered.

* * *

Barely holding onto her consciousness, Ubbo-Sathla slowly opened her eyes, finding herself in a world filled with <Nihill> and <Darkness>. Since the place—known as the <Abyss>—was at the bottom of Eros and Nyx, no one else but the Emperors was known to have reached this place.

He. Here.

She stood in front of a gate so enormous it made her look like a small dot. Although she had left most of herself in her divine ground to trick her enemies, she was still bigger than most Great Celestials. This huge difference in size seemed to serve as proof that the person slumbering beyond the gate was extraordinary. Considering he was the root of roots that led to the creation of Eros and Nyx, he had to be.

Luminous River Divine Steel Ruyi Golden Shackle Gate.[1]

The gate’s name was engraved in primordial letters that almost no one remembered.

Dull. Father. I. Wake. You. End. This. Cycle.

Ubbo-Sathla stared at the gate, her eyes filled with both love and hatred.

Rummmmble―!

However, just before she could put all her might into opening the gate, a red lightning bolt suddenly slid down its surface.

Quickly realizing that not even she could take the attack lightly, Ubbo-Sathla quickly created some distance. She then turned around and gritted her teeth.

“Why don’t you stop right there?”

Chang-Sun and Bel-Marduk—people who had stopped her several times already—were standing behind her.

You. Two. Til. End.

“You sound as if you’re sick of us. Well, we feel the same way,” Bel-Marduk grumbled as he walked toward her. “Let’s finish this already.”

Pzzz, pzzz, pzzz!

Golden lightning sparks, which were very different from Chang-Sun’s, flew up from him.

Vermin. Fine. If. You. Continue. Interfere.

Paah―!

Crack, craaack!

Ubbo-Sathla quickly compressed her bizarre-looking cells to transform into a woman with long hair.

“Killing you two would only trigger Rollback and force me to go through all this again.” For the first time since they had started fighting, Ubbo-Sathla spoke with an actual voice. “I’ll eat or permanently seal you instead.”

Paah―!

Ubbo-Sathla unleashed her tentacles and turned them into two swords. She then flew toward Chang-Sun and Bel-Marduk.

Boom, boom! Boom!

Thuuuud!

Rád?us lightning bolts repeatedly fell on Ubbo-Sathla, but they couldn’t even slow her down for a second. Without so much as a blink, she easily parried the attacks upward. She didn’t even seem shocked or in pain.

“Perkwunos... Your Original,” Ubbo-Sathla murmured. She was right in front of Bel-Marduk now.

Paah!

Glancing at Chang-Sun, she continued, “You’ve learned a neat little trick, but it’s meaningless.”

“You sure talk a lot!” Bel-Marduk shouted as he thrust his lightning spear toward her.

[The Celestial ‘Taurus’ has activated the Authority ‘Asaruludu’!]

Booooom―!

The impact of the clash catapulted Bel-Marduk away. Despite leaving most of herself behind, Ubbo-Sathla was still physically stronger than him.

She closed in on him even further and tried to cut his head off with her right sword.

Rumble!

A sunset-colored lightning bolt suddenly struck down right in front of her, forcing her to change the course of her attack. Although she considered taking the hit head-on, she decided against underestimating Perkwunos’ ultimate technique. When the Rád?us lightning bolt dissipated, a searing gale spread and clouds of dust rose, dulling her senses a little.

Paah―!

Skillfully using her blind spot, Chang-Sun thrust [Gungnir] toward her as hard as he could.

Staaab!

The moment he successfully pierced it into her waist, he activated his [Wordwielding].

“Howl.”

Oooooong!

Swooosh―!

Aiming for her neck, Chang-Sun swung the [Yuchang Sword], which was letting out its clearest reverberation yet. Ubbo-Sathla quickly held up her swords to block the attack, but he still managed to cut through her arms and neck.

Splaaaaash!

Ubbo-Sathla’s head flew up in the air, causing a fountain of blood to spurt out from her body. However, Chang-Sun knew better than to assume such a mortal wound would be enough to kill her. That was why his main goal in this battle had always been to imbue her with his lightning energy.

Soon, he saw lightning sparks flying up little by little from the wounds that he had inflicted using [Gungnir] and the [Yuchang Sword].

Pzz, pzzzz!

“Explode,” Chang-Sun commanded.

Booooooom!

Rummmble―!

Thuuud, thuud, booom!

Sparks flew up and engulfed Ubbo-Sathla with powerful explosions.

“Create more explosions.” Through repeated use of [Worldwielding], Chang-Sun continued burying her in seemingly endless explosions. “Explode endlessly.”

Rummmmble―!

Swoosh, swish, woosh...!

1. "The name of this gate consists of Ruyi Jingu Bang, Sun Wukong\'s weapon, and an alternative name for it that roughly translates to Milky Way Divine Iron Pillar. Some alternative translations were used to fit the concepts of this novel. ☜