novelraw Chapter 77 : O-World (3)
Chapter 77 : O-World (3)
Chapter 77: O-World (3)
The Deadly Sin of Gluttony.
The most troublesome thing about that monster was how difficult it was to reach its main body through the countless arms surrounding it.
Most opponents were torn apart before even coming within a 30-meter radius.
‘Ragnar Lodbrok’s grand entrance and the overconfidence that monster holds.’
Those two things were the only opportunities to create an opening.
[‘Blood Spears’ has been activated!]
A vampire’s unique ability, triggered at close range.
Eleven spears shot toward Gluttony.
“To think you’d target me directly… how foolish.”
New arms burst out from Gluttony’s body.
Puh-puh-puhk!
The spears burrowed into its arms.
…Too shallow.
They hadn’t even managed to pierce through, let alone touch the main body.
However—
“I never thought that alone would work.”
Pzzzt…!
Crimson sparks flared simultaneously from each spear.
[‘Blood Burst’ has been activated!]
Puh-puh-puh-puhng!
Explosions erupted midair.
Thousands of blood droplets split apart, showering down on Gluttony.
“Reina!”
“Got it!”
At Kang Yohan’s call, Reina, who had been waiting in position, responded.
Creak…
The bowstring stretched to its limit.
It was a massive ballista, woven from seventy-seven layers of spider silk.
“Kiik!”
“Kkyuuu!”
Tiny spiders pulled the string back with all their strength.
Their many legs trembled violently.
[Reina activates her Unique Ability ‘Arcade World’ – ‘Shooting Star’!]
The target was Gluttony’s left eye.
A brilliant yellow star soared forward, trailing dazzling artifact fragments behind it.
Kwaaaang!
Gluttony’s head was thrown back.
Black blood splattered everywhere.
“Did you see that? You saw that, right!?”
Reina let out a triumphant cheer.
A perfect, flawless hit.
But right then—
Crunch!
Gluttony grabbed the star that had half-embedded itself in his left eye.
Creak…
And slowly began to pull it out.
“Pointless… such things… can never… harm me.”
The sound of tearing flesh made one’s skin crawl.
Drops of bodily fluid fell with a sickening sound.
Pain? Such a sensation was far too insignificant.
“It only… makes my hunger… even greater.”
“Yeah. You do look pretty famished. You look at least several times thinner than before, don’t you think?”
Yohan nodded as if understanding.
At those words, Gluttony’s movements stopped cold.
That perpetual, excruciating hunger that weighed on his entire being—
But then—
Thump!
Something felt wrong.
Suddenly, the hunger spiked to an impossible degree.
Unbearable. Truly unbearable.
[Item ‘Water of Longing’ seeps into the target!]
[Hunger Level increases tenfold for five minutes!]
A special item obtained from the sewers.
Reina had thoroughly soaked her entire ‘Shooting Star’ with the Water of Longing.
And now Gluttony, already tormented by chronic starvation, had absorbed it.
The result was beyond imagination.
“I… am hungry… so hungry… hungry.”
That was the beginning.
“Hungryhungryhungryhungryhungryhungry!!!!!”
[Gluttony enters ‘Berserk’ State!]
[The Sinful Magic of the Seven Deadly Sins begins consuming O-World!]
A series of crimson status windows appeared in succession.
Kwak kwak kwak kwak!
Countless arms that had burst forth from Gluttony’s body targeted everything in sight.
“Uwaaah… Th-that’s Gluttony-nim. It’s us. It’s us!”
“Please spare us. No. No!!”
It did not distinguish between foe and ally.
It simply devoured.
It chewed flesh.
It drank blood.
It swallowed marrow.
That alone had been the sole reason Gluttony existed in this world.
Kwaaang!
The Viking ship could not escape that storm either.
The vessel, its flank half-sundered, lurched violently.
“This is… Ragnarok!”
“An impossible monster. It’s like looking at Jörmungandr!”
The warriors aboard shouted as Gluttony kept growing larger.
“Kuhaha! Why are you all so shriveled and timid? If the enemy is strong, it will grant me a more splendid death! Didn’t you all live for this day?”
Rodbrock stood on the prow, axes in both hands.
“That’s true!”
“To Valhalla once more!”
“The resting place of warriors is open to all!”
“Blow the horn. Set sail!”
Even while everyone else fled, he alone had made the insane choice to charge.
“Is this— Is this right? Shouldn’t we have killed it with that earlier?”
Reina cried out as she dodged the arms that came down like a torrential shower.
“No way that would work.”
Johan had swept his hand as if in disgust.
One arrow had felled the Seven Sin Bell?
If it had been that easy, they would not be suffering now.
The first reason they had driven Gluttony into a rampage was to secure its trait.
[‘The Apostate’s Finger’ pointed to its target.]
An item taken from Kain Belmire on the train bound for Daejeon.
Because the flow of mana had to be clearly visible to use it, they had intentionally induced that kind of situation.
Now. Where was it?
Where had it been hidden away?
The Apostate’s Finger moved.
From Gluttony’s left heart to its right flank. Then to the left leg….
After a few repetitions, its speed and pattern had become visible little by little.
‘I know where to aim now.’
They had achieved one objective with that.
What came next was the truly important part….
Pufff!
Ribs fired by Gluttony turned the ground into a wasteland.
“Kyaaaah!”
Reina shut her eyes tight, one hand gripping the spider’s nape.
Kwang!
Kwak kwak kwak kwang!
Ribs kept flying.
Walls became rags.
All the lampposts toppled.
This was the power of one of the Seven Deadly Sins.
They were painfully aware of just how overwhelming a monster with a higher divine rank could be.
“O-oh, it actually went berserk and became stronger. At this rate we can’t even approach it.”
“Indeed, now we can’t touch it at all.”
“What’s with that tone as if you predicted it. No way… Was the goal to make it stronger?”
Right. That was the second reason.
They absolutely could not kill that monster by ordinary means.
So they had to manufacture variables meticulously.
By the way. Having set this stage up, it was about time someone showed up.
If they delayed any longer, this side would become dangerous too.
At that moment.
The ribs flying through the air and the arms surging from the ground slowed as if buffering.
Patsuts.
A golden gate opened before Johan and Reina.
Sbak.
What had manifested was a dog-shaped beastman — an Inukami.
The mid-level administrator overseeing this episode had appeared.
“This is… woof.”
The Inukami scratched its chin.
Then it exhaled a deep sigh full of stress.
“Woof woof. Really, you people are out of your minds. What on earth were you thinking to pull a stunt like that?”
To the Inukami’s words, Johan shrugged his shoulders and answered.
“Is placing such a monster in only the second episode not the problem?”
“Oh? Are you raising an issue of fairness now? The essence of this episode was to experience despair from the start.”
“I think ‘tasting a little of future despair’ and ‘drowning in despair and dying entirely’ are completely different stories.”
“Huh? What a sophistry…. If you had quietly left the boss monster alone and survived thirty days, there would have been no problem. You haven’t forgotten, have you? That this episode doesn’t have only one攻略法.”
“No. With the Requiem Cult interfering and deciding to massacre across Daejeon, the premise of enduring thirty days was impossible.”
Balance had already collapsed.
He must have known that and had manifested himself to intervene directly.
At this rate, no one would survive the second episode.
When Johan continued speaking boldly, the Inukami bared its teeth.
“You are in a position to lie flat before me and beg for your lives, unless you’re mad to want to die.”
A threat based on an obvious fact.
There was only one lifeline here.
True, that statement wasn’t entirely wrong.
“What I want is a bargain. I’m not particularly interested in one-sided pity or mercy.”
“A bargain?”
“Give me something that will at least restore some balance. If you do that, I will provide usable information in return.”
“Woof woof woof! How absurd. Do you think I would have information you people need?”
Well. They would have to hear it to know.
Johan whispered something into the ear of the cute Welsh Corgi.
At that, Inukami’s pupils began to tremble violently.
“Y-you… how did you know that?”
“Are you going to do it or not? Just answer that.”
“…You’re not lying, are you?”
“I’m not stupid enough to lie about something you can verify in seconds.”
Under normal circumstances, no matter how tempting the information was, an Administrator would never interfere in an episode.
But if it was a special situation in which they bore partial responsibility, the story changed a little.
Especially since Inukami was one of the most ambitious ones among the Administrators.
The dice had been thrown.
Gulp.
Reina, standing beside him, swallowed dryly.
A few seconds passed.
“…I’ll give you a chance.”
Inukami broke the silence.
Thud!
What fell to the ground was a small hope—one that could overturn the situation.
＊＊＊
[You have acquired the Sacred Relic ‘Fragment of the Star’.]
A single-use consumable item.
It possessed a fraudulent effect that increased attack power and cutting power by a massive +150.
It also had a special ability to ignore up to 90% of physical defense.
Of course, it could only be activated by those whose class was related to swords—like a swordsman or knight.
‘So, it’s basically a one-shot bullet.’
If it failed, that would be the end.
But if it succeeded, it would serve as a trump card capable of slicing through that monster’s tough shell.
“This is as much as I can do. Let’s see how hard you struggle. Woof!”
“Of course. I’ll resist as desperately as I can.”
Inukami, wearing an expression of displeasure, vanished into the gate.
At the same time—
Time returned to its normal flow.
Kwak kwak kwak kwang!
Kwaaaang!
Without even a moment to regroup, Gluttony’s attacks came pouring in.
“Hungryhungryhungryhungryhungryhungryhungry!!!!”
Damn it.
If he had known it would be like this, he should’ve asked them to release it somewhere safer.
“Give it to me. I’ll try.”
The Fragment of the Star would probably work fine if rubbed on his Yoyo.
Even the Yoyo World Champion wouldn’t stand a chance against that.
But no—he needed to hand it over to someone who could draw out this item’s full potential.
Someone capable of unleashing the ultimate strike.
Just then—
Slash!
All the approaching arms were severed in a single motion.
“Even if I fall 1,000 times, the 1,001st sunrise will still shine upon me tomorrow.”
A familiar voice rang out through the spurting veins of blood.
Yes.
He hadn’t realized how much he had missed hearing that cringeworthy chuunibyou line.
A man who held a sword in one hand—
And a book of famous quotes in the other.
The bumbling protagonist who had defeated the Apostles in the East, North, and Center.
“Seo Changhee!”
“You’ve all done well. From here on out, I’ll take—Gyaaah!”
Kwaaaang!
Seo Changhee was sent flying through the wall and into the souvenir shop.
Ah, right.
He was a troll.
He’d completely ruined the world in brilliant ways during every one of his 999 runs—how could Johan forget?
‘Am I the unluckiest one for having to entrust the future to a guy like this?’
But now, there was no other choice.
Johan immediately dashed toward where Seo Changhee had fallen.
“No pain, no gain. Hmph! With this, I’ve grown yet another step.”
“Forget about growing. Here, take this.”
“Hm?”
Seo Changhee widened his eyes as he took the vial filled with shining powder.
Wooooong!
Even before it was unsealed, an extraordinary aura could be felt.
His innate spiritual instinct must have been telling him—
—that he absolutely had to use it.
“You’re just giving this to me? An item of this caliber?”
“I trust and value you that much. And with your personality—one that values honor—you’ll repay a favor twice over.”
He omitted the part about it being a single-use consumable.
After all, once Seo Changhee slashed Gluttony, the durability of his sword would completely run out and snap in two.
He would never find out the truth.
‘This might even be a good chance for him to upgrade to a new sword, right?’
It wasn’t a scam or deception—
No, absolutely not!
It was purely an act of goodwill, born from the sincere hope that Seo Changhee’s spiritual power would grow even further.