Chapter 279: Countermeasure Mechanism
"It failed."
Caelum sighed softly.
This situation was within his expectations.
As expected, the hostile system was still a system that dominated one side of the infinite story worlds. There was no reason it would be so easy to trace back to its source and destroy in one stroke.
The moment he climbed along the connection, the hostile system sensed his intention.
Because of that, it did not let Javier return to the world he came from.
Instead, after reviving him, it threw him into this unknown world.
"Owl?"
Javier felt that the situation had gone far beyond what he could imagine.
Had he not just died?
By all reason, he should have exited the game and returned to his own world by now.
Why had Owl chased him out of Legend of the Empire and all the way here?
And from one system’s territory into another system’s territory, no less.
The more he thought about it, the colder it felt.
Javier stepped back on instinct, his face tense.
Was the enemy faction’s system really this powerful?
It should not be.
"What exactly is going on?"
Caelum ignored Javier completely.
His value ended here.
The hostile system had temporarily severed its connection with Javier, so Caelum could no longer use him to trace the system back to its source.
What came next would be a great battle.
"Fine. Let me see how much strength you actually have."
As he spoke, Caelum drew Cloudrend from his waist and sent it into the void of the infinite story worlds.
In the blink of an eye, it vanished without a trace, flying off to some unknown place.
A faint hum spread.
Ripples rose through the void.
One towering body after another tore through world barriers and appeared, standing upon the endless emptiness. Every newcomer was a collective of infinite concepts.
Dozens of Infinite Concept Transcendents stood in every direction, their pressure boundless.
Javier suffered a disaster for no reason.
The instant that pressure descended, he was erased completely.
If the hostile system did not revive him afterward, then his life had probably ended here.
Caelum looked around at the towering figures.
"Quite the solid foundation."
Since the hostile system had detected his tracking and lured him here, laying a trap in this place was only natural.
Nothing strange about that.
Only, trying to deal with him using this handful of trash was underestimating him a little too much.
Caelum’s gaze sharpened.
With a thought, though he did not visibly move, the entire surrounding void suddenly collapsed.
An ultimate destructive force swept dozens of Infinite Concept Transcendents into it.
Matter, space, time, and even all concepts themselves were compressed by an irresistible extreme force into an infinitely small origin point.
Then, Caelum brought his palms together.
Clap.
He crushed that infinitely small point between his hands.
In a single exchange, dozens of Infinite Concept Transcendents were wiped out.
Yet then came a crack.
What happened next was unexpected.
Dense cracks silently spread across Caelum’s body, and the power of infinite concepts began leaking out beyond control.
The surrounding void churned and trembled.
Caelum understood.
Without question, this was the hostile system’s method.
Although it had lasted only an instant, he had still detected the trace of an attack launched against him by the hostile system.
It was a strike descending from somewhere unseen, one that stood above Infinite Concept Transcendence.
There was no avoiding it.
It contained no emotion, no feeling, no will.
Only the pure force of the system’s countermeasure mechanism.
This also meant that the hostile system most likely did not possess thought or self will.
It was simply a structure running according to some kind of mechanism.
By the same logic, the game system was probably the same.
From the unseen again, the hostile system’s countermeasure attack descended.
Caelum gave up resisting.
Or rather, he had no ability to resist such an attack at all.
But he had understood one thing.
Infinite Concept Transcendence was already the ceiling of the infinite story worlds.
There was no doubt about that.
No matter how much he raised his Realm, he could not break through further.
The hostile system, however, could stand above Infinite Concept Transcendence.
It was like an administrator of this world.
It might not possess overwhelming power in itself, but this kind of attack that erased anything was more like a form of authority.
And the only thing that could deal with authority was authority.
The only thing that could deal with a system was another system.
Conveniently, Caelum had a system on him.
The cracks across his body grew denser and denser.
Caelum’s body approached collapse.
He looked deep into the dark void, his words carrying another meaning.
"This time, consider yourself lucky."
Then endless conceptual power erupted.
Caelum’s body collapsed completely.
The terrifying force spread in an instant across thousands upon thousands of story worlds and erased them in one sweep.
From that point on, this stretch of void became an absolute death zone.
Just as Caelum had thought, only a system could deal with a system.
This special ability was not powerful enough, which was why he said the hostile system had been lucky.
If there was a next time, the hostile system might not escape.
After all, even Caelum himself did not know what his next special ability would be, or how powerful it could become.
The game system could not restrict the special ability system.
Caelum did not believe the hostile system could do anything about his special ability either.
In terms of authority, his side seemed to be higher.
In short.
They would see.
The world of Legend of the Empire.
A streak of light cut across the sky.
Cloudrend tore open the world barrier and descended again.
Just as it was about to land, a hand reached out from the air and caught it.
Caelum appeared from nothing and placed Cloudrend back at his waist.
He was not stupid.
Knowing there was a trap, how could he not leave himself a way out?
The consequences of dying in a world not controlled by the game system were still unknown.
He had no desire to test them.
Those consequences might not be something he could bear.
If he ended up falling under the hostile system’s control because of it, that would be terrible.
As for the world of Legend of the Empire.
Forget it.
There was no longer any need to destroy it.
Caelum did not remain there any longer.
He decisively exited the world.
This time, he was not swallowed by a white vortex.
He chose to leave the game himself.
White light flashed.
Caelum returned to the real world.
New Kirk.
Inside his apartment.
As Caelum returned to reality, the Interference Value he had accumulated in the world of Legend of the Empire began multiplying his strength.
The result was exactly as expected.
Nothing happened.
Infinity multiplied by ten, a hundred, or a thousand was still infinity.
Simply multiplying Caelum’s power on a quantitative level no longer held any meaning.
Caelum was not disappointed.
Although this trip to Legend of the Empire had not brought him more strength, it had given him extremely important information.
For example, the existence of the hostile system.
For example, the method to contend with it.
These two points were crucial.
His wisest choice had been not acting rashly against the game system.
Otherwise, the consequences would have been unimaginable.
Caelum waited.
He waited for a special ability powerful enough to appear.
When that time came, perhaps he could take care of the hostile system and the game system together.