The Fake Hero Is Too Strong

Chapter 190

Thud.

The place where I fell was a flat plain.

Right after drinking that filthy vial, I imagined this lava field turning into a plain.

And that imagination became reality.

Tap.

My companions, who had fallen with me, stepped onto the ground.

From above, Lisel’s voice echoed down.

– “Mr. Mide, did you succeed?”

“Yeah. You can come back now.”

– “Can you hear my voice?” “I can hear you fine, so just come back.”

– “Oh no. I guess he can’t hear me.”

No, you are the one who can’t hear me.

Neril gave a small laugh and spoke through the soul link.

[He says he can hear you fine, so come back now.]

[Ah, yes!]

The next moment, Lisel was beside us as if she had been there all along.

The instant she returned to her human form, she spoke.

“I can’t believe that disgusting… I mean, vial of Greed could even steal something like this.”

“I’m not sure.”

“Pardon?”

“I’m not sure if I really stole it or not.”

“But still, we are standing on solid ground like this.”

The moment she finished speaking, Aktion’s voice rang out.

“You noticed quickly. Was that your intuition again?”

“……”

“You’re right. There’s no way a power of the Demon King of Greed could completely steal my ability. At best, you could take it for only a few minutes.”

I looked down at the disgusting vial of Greed in my hand.

‘It’s completely dry.’

There should have been at least a sip or two left.

Normally, even a single drop of that liquid would refill the entire vial.

But now, the inside of the bottle was completely dry.

The core of the Demon King of Greed, the vial of Greed, had been destroyed.

It had always tasted foul, but thinking about how powerful it was made my stomach twist in regret.

And yet, it could only steal his power for a few minutes.

[Look on the bright side. For now, that special room belongs to you.]

I was about to agree when…

Tap.

A screen suddenly appeared out of nowhere.

‘What now? I don’t have time for this. I didn’t even ask to see anything.’

[Why is this happening?]

‘What do you mean?’

[The screen just appeared on its own. I didn’t do anything.]

What?

Then words began to appear.

< Ding! Your level has increased. >

< Level: Chosen by the World. >

What… what?

Why did my level go up all of a sudden?

And what’s with that title, Chosen by the World?

Lines of text kept scrolling.

< Congratulations! You have endured every hardship and gained great fame. >

< You have met the following conditions. >

< Fame 1,000,000 or higher – Achieved! >

< Succession from the predecessor – Achieved! >

< Resolve to abandon your most precious thing – Achieved! >

< As a reward, you have received “Complete Eye of Omniscience.” You can now freely view all grades of secrets without needing to know a target’s name. >

< As a reward, you have received “Complete Blood Script.” You can now view your own Blood Script. >

< As a reward, you may ‘add’ one Law of the World. However, you cannot add a law that harms humanity. >

My head spun, and nausea rose in my throat.

It felt like it would take a week just to process a single sentence of that.

What was happening? Where was I supposed to even begin?

Then Aktion’s voice reached me.

“What’s wrong with you?”

“……?”

“Oh, I see. Right. You stole my power, didn’t you?”

His tone sank low.

“So the world must have recognized that as a proper succession from me.”

How did he know that?

But he was right.

There were three conditions.

Fame of over a million. Succession from a predecessor. Resolve to abandon your most precious wish.

The first and third were already done. And the succession had just happened when I took his power.

“Click. Must feel awful, huh?”

“……”

“I get it. The burden you just put on your shoulders is far heavier than you can handle.”

“……”

“I will offer my condolences to you, who has now become, however briefly, a ‘slave of the world.’”

A slave of the world?

No, I didn’t have time to care about that.

I forced myself to stay focused and said to Trail,

‘Let’s check the secret, the one we failed to see before.’

[What? Now of all times?]

‘Exactly now. The power I stole from him won’t last long. When it returns to Aktion, I won’t be able to use the complete Eye of Omniscience anymore.’

[Then just use the power of this special room to kill Aktion first!]

Would that really be so easy?

‘Aktion has lived for fifty thousand years, switching from body to body. There is no way something like changing the terrain or climate could kill him.’

[Ugh…]

‘Hurry. Show me Aktion’s weakness.’

[Okay.]

Trail brought up a screen.

< Eye of Omniscience activated. >

< Current level: Omniscient. All secrets can be accessed. >

< Target: Secret related to Aktion Oscar’s weakness. >

< Secret grade: Top secret. Accessing. >

And at that moment, time stopped.

I clicked my tongue, seeing the frozen world I had grown familiar with.

‘Now that I think about it, I really don’t have time to sit around reading secrets.’

Before, only Velosian and I could move in this stopped world, but recently, Neril and Adwin, who had turned fame into power, could too.

Even Offense, Serein, and Lisel, who had broken the branches earlier, could probably move.

And someone like Aktion surely wouldn’t be frozen by this…

‘Hm?’

But he was.

Aktion stood upright like a doll, staring forward, unable even to blink.

My companions, Idria, and the fingers were all the same.

‘Ah… is it because it’s the complete Eye of Omniscience?’

‘Trail, what about you?’

I waited for a moment, but not even Trail’s voice answered back.

The complete Eye of Omniscience was a world that only I was allowed to see.

I steadied myself and looked at the screen.

An all-too-familiar face appeared there, Impelium.

Across from him lay a man I had never seen before, bleeding and collapsed on the ground.

Who was that?

As I wondered, a name appeared above the man’s head.

—Aktion Oscar.

‘So it really shows all the secrets of the world…’

When I wondered who he was, the eye simply told me like that. It was strange, but amazing.

Then Impelium spoke.

“Aktion. Who are you?”

“Kh… cough… What a strange question. You can’t even recognize your own party member?”

A woman’s voice came from behind Impelium.

I knew that voice, it was Serad, the one who had once offered the finest feast at the Banquet.

“You’re not Aktion. You’re some kind of trash that stole his body.”

“Phew. I knew you had a sharp tongue, but you never disappoint. Impelium, you must have a hard time dealing with her.”

“Shut up. Give us back our comrade. Bring back the real Aktion Oscar!”

As Serad’s sharp voice rang out, I realized something.

‘Right, Aktion said he had survived by taking over one body after another for fifty thousand years.’

I checked the top-right corner of the screen

– 10,000 years ago.

So just like how he now possessed Batore’s body, back then he had taken over one of Impelium’s party members.

Impelium spoke again.

“I will ask one more time. Who are you?”

“Aktion Oscar.”

“……”

“Hey, don’t get mad. I’m not joking. That’s really my name.”

He spat out a mouthful of blood and continued.

“I have taken over many bodies over the years, but I never bothered to change my name.”

“Then that means… from the moment we first met…?”

“Yeah. The real owner of this body was already eaten by me long before you met him. And since then, I have always introduced myself as Aktion.”

“……”

“So technically, I never lied. Right?”

Impelium’s face hardened.

“Then let me change the question. What do you want? Why did you side with Velosian?”

“Why ask me? Just use your ‘Eye of Omniscience’ and find out.”

“……That’s…”

“Heh. Guess you couldn’t. You must not have a complete Eye of Omniscience yet.”

“A complete eye?”

“Yeah, there’s such a thing. Anyway, I lost. So go ahead and kill me.”

I almost shouted at the screen.

‘Don’t kill him! It’s a trap!’

By now, Velosian must have already tampered with the world’s laws.

If Impelium killed Aktion now, he would suffer the consequences.

But, of course, my voice didn’t reach him.

Shh…

He raised his sword.

“I’m no judge, and I have no right to play one. But there is one thing I can say with confidence.”

“……”

“Humanity would gladly agree to your death.”

Slash…

Impelium’s sword cut cleanly through Aktion’s neck.

Even to my trained eye, it was an incredible strike.

Thud.

The head rolled onto the ground.

Serad placed a hand on Impelium’s shoulder, her face troubled.

“Are you okay?”

“No. I just feel bitter.”

“Impelium…”

“I knew through the Blood script that Aktion had wronged us somehow. But the Eye of Omniscience couldn’t show it, it was too high of a secret.”

He let out a long sigh.

“So I turned away. I convinced myself that my comrade couldn’t have done anything bad… with no proof at all. A hero shouldn’t have done that.”

“It’s not your fault. And it’s not too late. You found the traitor before the final battle with Velosian.”

Serad comforted him gently and pulled him into an embrace.

After a while, Impelium seemed to regain his strength.

“You’re right. I can’t mope around. The fight is not over yet.”

“That’s right.”

“Phew. So it’s just the two of us now. Even Adin has joined Velosian’s side.”

“I never liked him anyway.”

“Heh. I’m glad the one I can trust to the end is you.”

Serad blushed faintly and smiled.

“Me too.”

“Thanks for everything, Serad.”

“Don’t mention it.”

“Alright, let’s get going.”

They held hands tightly and walked off together.

The screen flickered black.

When it lit up again, the scene had completely changed.

The hero Impelium and the heroine Serad stood facing the Demon King of Lies, Velosian, and the traitor Adin.

No, they weren’t standing. They were a bloody mess.

‘Huh.’

Seeing Velosian in that state… just how powerful had Impelium been?

Then the dying Velosian spoke.

“Cough… I might really die at this rate.”

“Velosian! Do something! We trusted you all the way here…”

“Adin, you’re truly the worst partner. Even now you want to scold me?”

“S-shut up!”

Impelium glared sharply at Adin.

“I never thought you would choose the Great Plain of Kiar as the final battleground, Adin.”

“Wh-what…”

“This was the place where we first met, wasn’t it? You were preparing to become a Spirit King here.”

Adin’s lips trembled.

Impelium’s voice turned cold.

“I have known for a long time that you were hiding something. Unlike Aktion, your secrets were easy to see.”

“My secrets? What do you mean?”

“But I let you live. Do you know why?”

Adin instinctively shook his head.

Impelium smirked.

“Because I thought I could use you to uncover Velosian’s secrets.”

“……!”

“I wanted you to spend as much time with him as possible. When secrets formed between you two, they would become valuable information for me.”

Adin’s face turned deathly pale.

Velosian looked at his partner in weary disbelief.

“So I teamed up with a complete dud, huh.”

“Shut up! I was wrong, okay? Just forgive me once!”

“You sure flip sides fast.”

“I said shut up!”

“Then let me flip things one last time for you.”

Velosian’s final words carried a strange weight.

Serad glared at him.

“What nonsense are you spouting?”

“I’m just letting Adin know that his choice was the right one.”

“……?”

“In other words, I’m about to kill Impelium right here.”

“Hah. You can barely stand, and you think you can do that?”

Honestly, I had thought about it before, but Serad’s temper reminded me a bit of Neril’s.

Then Velosian said,

“Well then, I will show you my hidden card.”

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