Chapter 380

For a moment, all thoughts came to a halt. He could only watch, spellbound, as the man’s footsteps echoed through the hollow void, sharp and clear.[1] The tap of his shoes rang like a bell in an otherwise empty world. Three steps away, two steps, and one. He stopped just before reaching the stairs.

Then, with a bang, a flash of pure white light came crashing down from somewhere above. It was Brionac, the light spear—one of the king’s weapons capable of annihilating everything it touched. A “Lost Item” grade weapon, usable only by one who had reached the absolute pinnacle of all things.

However, the hand that had thrown it was trembling. The King of the Dimensions felt fear, not consciously, but instinctively. It was a purely primal dread. His body reacted before his mind could catch up.

Afraid? Me?

The King of Dimensions couldn’t believe it.

He was the most powerful being across all dimensions. Eternal and immortal by default, capable of erasing entire planes of existence with a single thought. In essence, he was a god in all but name. Yet, he had flinched before a mere human. It was shameful.

Still, even he could see the truth: the man before him was a threat. They hadn’t even exchanged blows, yet he could already tell that the man’s attacks would land. There was no doubt. The energy radiating from Do-Jun’s body said everything.

Still, there’s no reason for me to worry.

Within this void, he possessed one of the king’s authorities: Erasure. He could simply delete the man’s power from existence itself. Even Ouroboros, bearer of mythic power, had chosen not to enter this space, likely because he feared that very authority.

You’ve dug your own grave, Ouroboros

, the King of Dimensions thought as his gaze shifted to the serpent coiled around the man’s wrist.

In order to walk the dimensional path, an adventurer needed both Keys and the power of Ouroboros. And there was only one place that road led: death. An adventurer could never defeat the King of the Dimensions.

Suddenly, the space around them began to fracture. One Fissure after another appeared in the pristine white void, sixteen in total. Do-Jun examined them silently, one by one, looking into the first floor of the Core all the way down to the Deep Realm.

“I’ve prepared a perfect stage for the finale. You should be grateful,” the king said.

Far below, people on the Core’s floors murmured to one another, pointing up at the massive dimensional gate now opened in the sky, but their voices couldn’t be heard.

Do-Jun’s eyes were fixed on the gate connected to the Deep Realm. Through it, Yong-Yong could be seen flying at full speed, wings flapping, only to bounce back after a loud

thump

, as if slamming into an invisible wall. He wasn’t the only one. Several top Rankers launched attacks and skills to try to break through the barrier surrounding Do-Jun and the King of the Dimensions, desperate to reach them.

“They really think you’ll win,” the king said. “These lesser creatures believe that if they handle the monsters, you’ll take care of the rest.”

So he decided to show them a deeper despair. He would let them watch as their “king” was broken. Let them see their beacon of hope unravel into helpless defeat. Let despair take root where hope had once bloomed.

“That said... why did they assume they’d handle the monsters so easily?” Even before he finished speaking, more Fissures split the air.

From those dimensional cracks poured monsters unlike any commonly seen in fields on Earth or in the Core. These were Trials, formidable beings born from the Deep Realm. Each was a terrifying force on its own, and now they emerged in numbers too great to count.

The environment around them shifted like a natural disaster in real time, and each monster revealed its own terrifying presence. Even the strongest Rankers would have to give it their all to take down a single Trial, yet here they were, flooding the dimension like an unending swarm.

“It’s over, King of Earth.” The King of the Dimensions raised his hand. Now, all he had to do was use Erasure to seal away the man’s power and make victory absolute.

He parted his lips and chanted a spell, “Erasure.”

Light gathered, forming a sphere that began to orbit around Do-Jun. With that, the man’s power should’ve been completely obliterated. His stats, his skills, everything he had built up should’ve been reset. Just like the adventurers who had entered the Core through the Encroachment, he should have been forced to abandon the powers he once wielded in his original world.

But then, he saw the system messages.

[You may not dare to invoke Authority against this target.]

[Due to the disparity in soul caliber, Authority has been nullified.]

***

“Why... why...?” the king mumbled in incredulity.

Do-Jun glanced at the King of the Dimensions, whose lips trembled, and eyes blinked in disbelief. He then shifted his focus to the “gates” the king had created across the Core. The structure prevented any interaction between the inside and the outside, working entirely in Do-Jun’s favor. Even better, the King of the Dimensions had graciously released all the monsters into this space.

“It might get a little rough, but... can you handle it?” Do-Jun said, gently running his fingers over Ouroboros’ head.

Ouroboros instantly understood what Do-Jun meant. He was referring to the third special effect, one that had never been used in battle before.

Status Window Snake (The One Who Devoured Ouroboros)

Special Effect 3: Transcends the limits of color.

Since ancient times, the Core had been known to restrict one’s true power. Instead, adventurers would receive a Status Window Snake through the tutorial, and a color-based limitation would be applied to them: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, navy, and purple. Ouroboros alone had the ability to surpass two tiers above that system, reaching what was called “black.” The power of black wasn’t just another step up; it existed on a completely different level from the so-called rainbow spectrum.

For most adventurers, this system was considered a blessing. But for Do-Jun alone, it had been anything but. Even though he wielded a black Status Window Snake through Ouroboros, to him, it was still a “limit.” Just another colored shackle imposed on his strength.

Still, Ouroboros knew the truth. His master’s power had long since transcended such boundaries. Only the Core’s ecosystem, the system itself, had forcibly kept that power suppressed. And so, for the past month, Ouroboros had been steadily conditioning himself, preparing to withstand the true force of his master.

Kyuu!

It gave a confident cry as if to tell Do-Jun that it was indeed ready.

Do-Jun smiled and channeled the Heavenly Demon Cultivation Art. A star shimmered on Ouroboros’ forehead, and a cascade of multicolored light began to swirl. The pain was unbearable, like its body would tear apart. It nearly lost consciousness but forced itself to endure through sheer willpower.

Do-Jun drew one of his two keys—the Cosmos. It was the weapon he had long called the Heavenly Demon Sword.

He infused a portion of his gathered energy into the blade. With a resonant hum, a dark, refined energy surged along the sword’s edge, intangible yet razor-sharp. It manifested in waves, forming a fierce, cutting aura that the martial world called sword force. However, this wasn’t mere sword force. What gathered around the blade felt far beyond the scope of that term.

Do-Jun swung the sword forward in a single, clean motion.

“What...?”

There was no explosion, no sound of air being ripped apart. In fact, it was completely, utterly silent.

“What the hell...?” The King of the Dimensions stood frozen in place because everything that had existed just moments ago, every Trial, had vanished in a single flash.

Not just defeated. They were erased.

In the blink of an eye, without time to react or even comprehend, every monster had simply ceased to be. Even Brionac, the massive spear of light that had blocked Do-Jun’s path, was gone.

***

No one said a word as they watched the final battle unfold through the dimensional gate.

At first, when the gate appeared and Do-Jun stood facing the man presumed to be the King of the Dimensions, tension filled the air. They had cheered Do-Jun on with bated breath. As wave after wave of Trials poured out, panic set in. Desperate to help, they tried everything to break through the gate and join him. But no matter how many powerful skills they used, they couldn’t even make a dent in the gates.

Eventually, they were forced to accept that they could only watch, just as the King of the Dimensions had wanted. And that helplessness turned into despair. Frustration at not being able to fight alongside Do-Jun, and fear that he might really die, mounted. That was when Do-Jun acted.

“What... was that?” Imfelheim muttered blankly.

Do-Jun had swung his sword just once. With one single motion, every Trial vanished, gone without a trace, as if they had been erased from existence altogether.

𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝐰𝚎𝕓𝐧𝚘𝘃𝗲𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝕞

These weren’t goblins or orcs. These were the Trials of the Deep Realm—monsters of immense power. Among them had been Malanuh, a giant, godlike being that Imfelheim had barely defeated after days of relentless combat.

If Do-Jun had been evenly matched, or even just moderately overpowered them, the watching adventurers in the Core would’ve erupted into cheers once he actually defeated the monsters. They would have embraced each other and said, “Just as we’d expected! The King of Earth is so strong.”

That’s how it should’ve gone.

“What just happened...?”

***

“How is this... even possible?” the King of the Dimensions mumbled.

He had landed on the ground after the stairs he’d been standing on had vanished in the wake of Do-Jun’s attack. Trying to calm his trembling hand, he clenched his fist tightly.

He understood something at that moment. If he had taken that strike head-on, he might have actually died. His body was immortal, yes. But the certainty he once had was gone.

“How can a mere human like you possess such power?!” he shouted in fury and disbelief.

For the first time in his life, the King of the Dimensions had run into a wall. He tried to invoke his authority again and again, but the light could no longer bind Do-Jun.

Instead, the system kept repeating the same message:

[You may not dare to invoke Authority against this target.]

[You may not dare to invoke Authority against this target.]

His teeth ground audibly as he clenched his jaw. He hated it. He hated everything. But most of all, he hated that look in Do-Jun’s eyes.

It wasn’t arrogance. It wasn’t disdain. He wasn’t even looking down on him. No, Do-Jun looked at him as one might glance at a random monster, as if he were just another obstacle in his path.

And the King of the Dimensions knew, better than anyone, that such a look was justified. That’s what made it even more unbearable.

“How... how are you wielding that kind of power in my domain, King of Earth?!” It was more a scream than a question.

Do-Jun watched him silently for a moment before responding in a calm, low voice, “Your domain... can become my domain, can’t it?”

“What the hell are you talking about...?”

What happened next was beyond anything the King of the Dimensions could believe possible. His world, the realm of nothingness, the pure, pristine, and white void, was being... overwritten. Just as night swallows day, creeping darkness began to consume the whiteness around him.

Within that darkness, he felt his very existence was starting to fade. The light around him dimmed completely, yet the King of the Dimensions himself still glowed faintly. But the brilliance was dwindling, flickering like a flame nearing its end.

He looked up, almost instinctively. “Ah... ahhh...”

High above in the night sky were seven stars—beautiful, radiant, arranged like a constellation. Each star had a color he recognized immediately: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, navy, and purple. In the haze of his fading consciousness, the King of the Dimensions looked once more at Do-Jun.

Do-Jun watched him quietly, then turned and walked out of the domain. As his figure disappeared beyond the boundary, the seven soul swords lit up, forming a constellation.

Then, the King of the Dimensions felt his presence slipping away.

1. Do not ask why there is sound in the void. I can’t stop rolling my eyes. ☜