Chapter 132 : The Creator
Chapter 132: The Creator
Though smaller in size than when used with full preparation, a [Black Hole] was still a [Black Hole].
The singularity that ignored defenses and the force that pulled in surrounding existence remained the same, so if he tried to block it carelessly, a large hole would be drilled through his torso.
“…!”
Was his crisis detection ability also excellent, befitting an existence created in Baek Woohyun’s image?
The Doppelganger twisted the direction of the fist he was about to thrust at Baek Woohyun. The fist that had been meant to carve even the charging force into his opponent struck the ground hard according to that intent.
Since the law of action-reaction was fairly well applied even in ‘Reverse Planet’, the Doppelganger’s body that struck the immovable ground was pushed back in the opposite direction.
The Doppelganger who retreated to a range where the [Black Hole]‘s gravitational pull didn’t reach glared at Baek Woohyun with eyes containing the color of the Otherworld.
Even without properly knowing what technique Baek Woohyun had used, it was clear he’d realized he could suffer great damage or possibly even die.
It was like the feeling of being startled when an enemy thought to be easily killed suddenly pulled out a terrifying weapon.
‘He couldn’t copy aspects like quick judgment.’
Baek Woohyun certainly thought that was inevitable.
The ability to assess opponents naturally arose from experience gained through directly experiencing things with one’s own body.
It would rather be strange if the Doppelganger, created with only his combat data, possessed abilities that didn’t fall under that category.
“……”
“……”
A brief standoff continued in silence.
Soon Baek Woohyun and the Doppelganger who had been staring at each other moved simultaneously as if on cue, and fist and telekinesis collided, causing a tremendous explosive sound to ring out.
It was such a fierce collision that the fairly spacious room was completely swept up by just the aftershocks emanating from them.
Kwadeuk! Kwaaang!
However, Baek Woohyun and the Doppelganger seemed not to care at all what happened to their surroundings. No, more precisely, it was closer to being unable to care.
Because they knew well that if they left any energy to spare to keep their surroundings intact, the opponent’s fangs would bite through their throat in an instant.
Now was simply a time when they had to concentrate all their minds on killing the enemy.
Pasak!
The Doppelganger, who trampled the skull that had once been used as a chair substitute, rushed forward at tremendous speed. It was a speed that seemed to reach right in front of one’s nose in the blink of an eye.
Surely an ordinary person would have been hit without even properly reacting to this. Just as the users who faced Baek Woohyun’s Superhuman build in PVP had.
Because opposing speed that momentarily felt like teleportation was not such an easy thing.
‘Where do you think you’re going!’
However, unfortunately for the Doppelganger, his opponent was Baek Woohyun.
To Baek Woohyun, who had traversed battlefields at speeds far faster than the Doppelganger, the Doppelganger’s charge was merely at a level he could respond to quite easily.
Baek Woohyun, who had been waiting while clearly recognizing the Doppelganger approaching him, twisted him with telekinesis the instant he entered the space he wanted.
“…!”
The Doppelganger, who had suddenly become one who rushed into [Distortion] with his own feet, widened his eyes.
Because he immediately realized how fatal Baek Woohyun’s counterattack, executed at an exquisite moment while waiting for an opportunity, was to him.
If he failed to respond, at minimum one of his limbs—an arm or leg—would be completely twisted and rendered unusable.
The problem was that even as a Doppelganger, no particular method was visible.
Since his center of gravity was tilted forward, it was difficult to retreat backward, and the range of [Distortion] was too wide to dodge sideways.
The Superhuman build fundamentally carried the penalty of being unable to use supernatural ability techniques, so blocking with a defensive technique was also impossible.
Taat!
Therefore, there was only one remaining option.
The Doppelganger clenched his teeth, raised his arm to cover only his head, and kicked the ground even harder.
Udeuk!
The Doppelganger’s left arm twisted with a chilling sound of bones crushing!
If it had been a typical ranged build, his entire body might have been twisted by this attack, but the Doppelganger managed to endure by sacrificing just one arm.
It was possible because the Superhuman build had particularly high supernatural ability resistance even among melee builds.
However, the choice to endure [Distortion] with his body didn’t have only disadvantages.
Even if one arm was completely shattered, he’d succeeded in closing the distance as originally intended.
And basically in fights between melee builds and ranged builds, once you reached a distance where attacks could land, the advantageous side was always the former.
Huuk-!
The expressionless Doppelganger thrust his fist as if feeling no pain.
The straight punch executed with near-perfect form shattered the telekinesis barrier Baek Woohyun had laid down like breaking a glass window.
It was truly an act of violence that could be shown because of a body containing overwhelming power.
The telekinesis barrier merely made the Doppelganger’s attack trajectory go slightly off course, that was all.
At a glance, it seemed the telekinesis barrier laid down during the time created by [Distortion] was of no use whatsoever, but in reality, that wasn’t the case at all.
Because while one second might be one where someone could do nothing, for someone else it could be the beginning of a counterattack.
Saaaa-!
A heavy flow gathered toward the tip of Baek Woohyun’s index finger thrust forward as if to show off. It was the manifestation of gravitational pull where the surrounding space itself rippled and converged.
The Doppelganger flinched at the clear precursor to [Black Hole], but he didn’t stop. Because he knew well that he must not retreat.
If he stopped his attack again like this and retreated, it would become impossible to ever regain the initiative.
Rather than abandoning the distance barely closed at the sacrifice of one arm, it would be better to die while continuing the attack here.
“─!”
Moreover, the fact that the [Black Hole] seen earlier took quite some time to generate occupied a considerable share in the Doppelganger’s choice.
For the Doppelganger who imitated the monster called Baek Woohyun and wielded the violence called the Superhuman build, that much time was enough to turn a person into pulp.
‘Ah, right. You saw it once.’
A faint smile spread across Baek Woohyun’s lips as he watched the Doppelganger’s response. Because the opponent’s lack of experience was felt far too clearly.
He might have somehow copied instantaneous situational judgment or crisis detection ability, but it would have been difficult to obtain even responses that came from experience.
So wasn’t it a mistake that he didn’t suspect at all even though Baek Woohyun pulled out the [Black Hole] again that had been blocked once?
‘What truly one-dimensional thinking.’
[Black Hole] was originally the extreme of gravitational pull created by converging telekinesis to a single point to the utmost limit.
While it truly required tremendous concentration and considerable casting time, it possessed power that ignored even ordinary defenses and made evasion difficult up close.
But that is to say, if one gave up some power, it also meant the required concentration and casting time could be reduced.
Kwaaaa─!
“…?!”
An ‘inadequate’ gravitational pull that couldn’t become a [Black Hole] pulled in the Doppelganger’s fist that had been thrust out.
Before a force that wasn’t as overwhelming as [Black Hole] level but was sufficient to disturb balance and make trajectories go off course, the Doppelganger was helpless.
The Doppelganger’s fist, thrust with essentially full power, became a miss with just one pointing gesture from Baek Woohyun.
“Got you.”
Therefore, there was no way Baek Woohyun would miss the opening that was revealed.
With a fierce smile, he placed his hand on the Doppelganger’s chest that was clearly exposed.
The Doppelganger, whose instincts belatedly rang alarm bells, tried to turn his torso and strike with the fist that had missed, but─
Kwadeuk!
“Kahak!”
─Baek Woohyun’s [Distortion] was a step faster.
No matter how much [Distortion] was treated like a basic attack, if it was driven into a vital point revealed in such a defenseless state, the story changed.
The Doppelganger, who received a shock as if his internal organs were being shaken up, coughed blood and fell away.
“Hmm.”
Baek Woohyun lightly brushed off his hand while looking down at the fallen Doppelganger. It was a gaze clearly filled with disappointment about the opponent’s level.
That was disappointment toward the Doppelganger who had fallen in a mere battle of wits like this while being a copy of none other than himself.
Indeed, if he really wanted to claim to be a copy of a ‘Superhuman’, shouldn’t he at least be at a level where he could inflict a wound or so on him who used the Annihilation build?
Not falling away after charging in thinking he’d completely grasped everything from just one prior attack like this.
‘Well, this must be the limit of a fake.’
Baek Woohyun shrugged his shoulders and lit up his ash-gray eyes while wrapped in transparent flames.
He’d completely grasped the fake’s level and confirmed the fact that it wasn’t very threatening, so now he intended to finish this.
While thinking he should also find out why such a fake was made, he tried to instantly twist the space around the Doppelganger.
…If only the Doppelganger who had been lying down hadn’t suddenly stood up, he surely would have.
‘What-‘
Kiing.
While Baek Woohyun was on guard at the unexpected situation, the Doppelganger’s purple pupils moved bizarrely over the blue whites of his eyes.
Not satisfied with rolling around in all directions, they even went around to the back, or the pupils themselves grew larger and smaller, then spun around.
It was as if adjusting the viewpoint that had gone off course through proper adjustment.
Then soon a wing-like pattern floated up over the purple pupils that stopped abruptly. The clearly changed momentum was a bonus.
The Doppelganger─no, something wearing the Doppelganger’s mask gazed at Baek Woohyun with changed eyes.
It spoke.
“I propose dialogue.”
“…Dialogue?”
Baek Woohyun blinked at the sudden proposal.
Because beings of the Otherworld were generally tribes one couldn’t dialogue with, he had guessed the Doppelganger created through collaboration between the Otherworld and the research facility would be the same.
In fact, hadn’t it been the Doppelganger’s side that attempted an attack as soon as their eyes met?
“I intend to escape this place in order not to lose this body, and for that I need time.”
“……”
“Furthermore, it is speculated that you consider the information I possess more important than this body’s life.”
“……”
“Therefore, there is ample room for dialogue to be established between you and me.”
Baek Woohyun watched with subtle eyes the Doppelganger claiming that reaching a point of agreement called dialogue was the best way for each to achieve their purposes.
Should he consider it nonsense spewed because he was in mortal danger and ignore it? Or was it right to really try having a dialogue?
Countless thoughts passed through his complexly tangled mind, and in the end what he chose was the former option.
“I ask, and you answer. If it’s that form, I’ll accept dialogue.”
“Understood.”
“Good, then here’s the first question. Who are you?”
“Abrasax. A god of the Otherworld. For now.”
“…A god of the Otherworld? You?”
“That is correct.”
At the sight of the self-proclaimed god of the Otherworld, Abrasax, nodding, Baek Woohyun narrowed his eyes.
It was a reaction that came out because he couldn’t possibly believe the fact that not even an Otherworld Lord but a god of the Otherworld had suddenly popped out.
What’s more, didn’t he attach conditions saying he was a god of the Otherworld “for now,” and propose having dialogue because he wanted to buy time?
When all he’d done was act in ways that made “This kind of thing… a god?” naturally pop out, how could he believe it at face value?
‘A god of the Otherworld.’
Actually, Baek Woohyun had thought the existence that took over the Doppelganger’s body might perhaps be an existence connected to the secret of ‘Reverse Planet’.
It was a plausible speculation since a Doppelganger he’d never seen or heard of on ‘that side’ had suddenly appeared, and as soon as he killed it, something had taken over its body.
But a god of the Otherworld? Naturally, he couldn’t help but be deflated.
Of course, if it had been ‘that side’, his reaction would have been different.
Because the dimensional war with the Otherworld wasn’t such a distant story even to him who merely lived as a contract worker while taking revenge on the research facility and Corporate Alliance.
However, since this was merely inside the virtual reality game called ‘Reverse Planet’, it was natural his reaction was lukewarm.
“What do you mean by being a god of the Otherworld ‘for now’?”
“It means exactly that. The current me has been given the role of a god of the Otherworld.”
“Just who gave you such a role?”
“The Creator.”
Abrasax answered in a voice where no emotion could be felt at all.
Saying that the existence who assigned him the role of Abrasax, god of the Otherworld, was none other than the ‘Creator’.