Chapter 358
“Hahahaha!”
I couldn’t stop laughing.
Looking at me like that, Ahb.o.o.boo asked while sulking.
“Are you mad?”
“As mad as a hatter, you ask?”
I laughed again.
Ahb.o.o.boo now spoke with a completely sarcastic voice.
“No matter how confident you are, isn’t that too much of an att.i.tude? You underestimate me too much.”
I’m sorry he felt that way.
At first, I laughed because it was ridiculous, but soon it became very pleasant.
It’s a confrontation with Ahb.o.o.boo in a state where divine power was sealed.
It was a thrill and tension that I had never felt after becoming a G.o.d.
There will be few opportunities to feel these feelings in the future.
Even if I face a G.o.d that is much stronger than me.
So, even if my odds of victory are really less than this fight, I won’t be able to feel this childish and trivial stimulation.
It felt like playing a fun sport for inspiration.
Okay.
I had been chasing this inspiration and burning myself.
In the end, I thought it didn’t matter if I ended up dead.
I was addicted to the stimulation that much.
Like someone addicted to alcohol, drugs, and gambling.
I was crazy about the hormones secreted during tension.
So, after retirement, I wasn’t interested in anything, and I was desperate.
Coming into the Tutorial.
Even when I realized the reality of that place.
I was afraid of the crisis of death, so I suffered from pain, while rejoicing.
About the stimulus that I found again after a long time.
I only knew I would die like that while living the life of an addict.
But I was able to find meaning in the end.
Now I can maintain my goals and life without stimulation.
When I became a G.o.d and escaped my body’s confines, I was not affected by hormones at all.
Only then could I be freed from the pleasures that had bound me for almost half of my life.
I could understand why my sister withdrew from me.
Why my father told me to quit being a pro gamer with its low probability of success.
My behavior when I was wrapped up in the name of pa.s.sion would have been nothing more than madness in my family’s eyes.
I got away from such stimulus.
That didn’t mean I started thinking negatively about the stimulus.
As always, the stimulus that I encountered again thanks to Ahb.o.o.boo was the best.
This stimulus was my foundation and source.
“Somehow you look like how you used to be. Is it because you became human?”
“Yes?”
My body trembled with joy.
It was an uncontrolled pleasure.
It was powerful but volatile.
It is a feeling of satisfaction that never lasts long.
It will take effort to keep this up for long.
“Gather together.”
A bunch of sand gathered in front of my open palm.
The sand turned into a long spear.
To start the battle, you must have a weapon first.
If sand is given a little moisture and magical power, it becomes a deadly weapon in itself.
“Would you be able to fight me with such a crude weapon? May I lend you a dagger?”
Ahb.o.o.boo asked, pulling out a small dagger that he was wearing behind his waist.
It’s a dagger.
It was really useful in the beginning.
When the Tutorial started, I had picked a dagger and a shield.
The reason was very disturbing.
At that time, I pa.s.sed the sword and the spear, concerned about my weak muscles, the difficulty of using them, and their range.
I reasoned that my odds weren’t high when facing an enemy faster, stronger, and more seasoned than me, if I used those difficult weapons.
Instead, I chose a dagger and a shield.
But in fact, even if I chose a dagger and shield, the odds were still not high against an enemy that was far stronger than me.
This is what I thought at the time.
Depending on the shield to somehow narrow the distance to the opponent.
Then, dig into the enemy’s vital spot with the dagger at close range.
In the process, there would be damage to me as well, but it was a mindset that if I was losing a battle, I’d die with my opponent anyway.
“b.a.s.t.a.r.d.”
When I recalled it, it was so ridiculous.
It was an idea that the owner of a convenience store, who only drank alcohol in the corner of the room, could think of.
It was a really pure dorkiness that made me laugh from the perspective of others.
“… If you keep doing that, I will feel a little offended, warrior.”
Ahb.o.o.boo grunted.
He thought I was cursing him.
That’s all I need to think about.
“Shall we start then?”
“… Yes. Well, don’t worry. I’ll finish it quickly.”
* * *
“Keuk!”
Ahb.o.o.boo rushed back, spurting a bucket of blood.
“Heuk heuk, keugh.”
Blood and gastric juice were mixed.
I watched Ahb.o.o.boo vomit for a moment.
I didn’t want to attack him right now.
It wasn’t manners, he was just a little dirty.
After a while, Ahb.o.o.boo who had calmed down a little, wiped his mouth roughly and asked.
“… Wasn’t that poison a skill?”
Of course, it is a skill.
I got it as a reward for clearing the 12th floor.
I grew up through labor within the Tutorial.
By administering it to myself, I developed extreme poison tolerance.
As a result, a grotesque biochemical weapon was completed that would even look ridiculous by the standards of radioactive contamination.
This ability belongs to the Tutorial.
This is s.p.a.ce prepared by the G.o.d of Sky to destroy everything related to divine power.
The Tutorial was eventually made by the G.o.d of Order, the system, and the other G.o.ds of the Hundred G.o.ds Temple who were involved in the design.
“It was, but not anymore.”
How long has it been?
It was enough time to a.n.a.lyze the poisoning skills and make them completely mine.
Actually, what could be difficult about it?
It was all about poisoning the magical power.
Compared to dissecting power, which also symbolizes the ident.i.ty of G.o.d, it could be said to be a very basic skill.
“Ahhh!”
Ahb.o.o.boo hurriedly covered his arms and screamed.
The poison was making his skin crack like the ground of a wasteland.
“This is so absurd!”
“So what.”
Sorry, but I am very fond of irrational fights.
If I have the upper hand.
Ahb.o.o.boo wondered what was so unfair.
I was honestly surprised at the sight.
He was vomiting blood and his skin was burning, but considering the power of my poison, it was very minor damage.
It would be common for humans to turn into a handful of poison as soon as they come into contact with my poison.
“He’s definitely not an average human being.”
“Not an average human being? Haha, that’s a funny word.”
Ahb.o.o.boo said cheerfully.
But you won’t be able to endure the poison forever.
The ideal of the human body.
“What are you doing, will you stand still and die?”
“Then I’ll go again. As you wish.”
Ahb.o.o.boo said so and lifted the sword again.
Seeing it, I lifted my magical power.
He seems to be aiming the sword from a distance, but the story is different if the opponent is Ahb.o.o.boo.
As soon as the tip of Ahb.o.o.boo’s sword pointed at me, an invisible blow came.
I could recognize it at a glance.
A s.p.a.ce-warp.
It is Ahb.o.o.boo’s main technique.
It was not a skill at the level of catching floating clouds like a natural sword or a sword of the mind.
It was just a technique to shoot aura compressed to the limit with a sword as a medium.
The technique of mind slash was just a trick using auras that were invisible to the naked eye.
The problem was its power.
As the technique that became the birthplace of the zit pop I use, its power and cutting power were unmatched.
Kw.a.n.g!
My pre-deployed magic and the blow collided.
The blow broke my defenses, and it hit me exactly on my forehead.
The impact sent my head sharply back.
Fortunately, my head was not split by the attack, but my vision was shaken.
The sand raised by the blow filled the area.
I missed Ahb.o.o.boo’s appearance.
There was no need to spread my aura and find Ahb.o.o.boo’s location.
The action taken by Ahb.o.o.boo who was intoxicated was obvious.
The sand in front of me cracked and Ahb.o.o.boo popped out.
As long as I was waiting, I was able to blow away the sand dunes immediately.
Without delay, Ahb.o.o.boo shook his sword and cut off the sand spears.
And apart from the swinging of the sword, the attack was fired again.
I couldn’t get close.
I moved my body quickly and avoided it.
It was a little embarra.s.sing.
The strike was far beyond the power I a.s.sumed.
Ahb.o.o.boo, who came close, tried to stab deep.
I turned around and avoided it again.
The attack was shot again from the sword pa.s.sing by me.
It was the extreme of the sword.
It was like a new sword springing out of the sword.
I kept blocking and avoiding them, but the attacks continued without a break.
Bang!
I was struck again by the blow.
Again, my body did not split by the blow, but in return I had to lie on the wasteland for a long time.
“Wow, that’s very strong.”
It’s my greatest strength.
That I am good quality.
“Woohoo, how is it, you can’t win in close combat, right?”
It was definitely difficult.
This dimension was different in the first place.
Ahb.o.o.boo used the s.p.a.ce more three-dimensionally than I did, and endlessly intermingled attacks between attacks.
When I use one turn, my opponent is using three or four turns.
I had to admit it.
Ahb.o.o.boo had an upper hand over me.
However, the sword wasn’t everything.
If it is difficult to win with detailed techniques, you can just hit the opponent with destructive power.
“Light.”
Light was created in the air.
The light changed into the shape of a sword.
Light allows sight to see the world.
However, excessive light rather makes it impossible to see any aspect of the world.
In a world dyed completely white, I swung the sword of light.
“Lightsword.”
I didn’t even care about Ahb.o.o.boo’s location.
Wherever you are in the world, you will burn away.
* * *
“I didn’t expect this.”
The light faded.
It was a surprising result.
It was not the result I would have ever expected.
I expected that the light would burn Ahb.o.o.boo together with the world and would form a black hole, that the s.p.a.ce would collapse and return to where it was.
However, rather than burning the world, the light was sealed and disappearing.
“You must be ignorant too. What if I really died?”
One of the many Ahb.o.o.boo in front of me said.
Thousands of Ahb.o.o.boo stood on the wasteland burning by the heat.
No, tens of thousands… There were more than that.
No matter how much I count, there is no end to them.
It was an unrealistic sight.
“… Who is real.”
“All of us are real. All of us are fake too.”
Countless numbers of Ahb.o.o.boo said the same thing at the same time.
Even the cadence and pitch matched perfectly.
There wasn’t even a slight disharmony that appeared when several people spoke at the same time.
“How is this possible?”
I couldn’t help but ask.
How could beings who had not reached G.o.dhood maintain multiple selves?
It’s something I couldn’t do either.
On the 60th floor, I made Hochi, but Hochi was born and grew as a completely separate ent.i.ty from me.
“We’re the collection of Aubutz that existed in the tutorial stage and were recovered by the G.o.d of the Sky.”
“… What?”
I didn’t understand that for a moment.
Recovered Ahb.o.o.boo in the Tutorial and collected him here?
That couldn’t be the answer.
There are many Ahb.o.o.boo in the Tutorial, although they may be similar.
He wasn’t one thing.
Like Iddy, the boss mob on the 5th floor, was different from the Iddy with me.
“It’s simple. It is possible by combining once and then dividing again.”
“… Combined and then divided?”
In the Tutorial, all Ahb.o.o.boo who had different egos and experienced different times became one?
And then split back into multiple pieces?
“Oh, warrior, you don’t have to be so shocked because of me.”
Ahb.o.o.boo said, as if it were nothing special.
But it was a big deal.
Someone’s ego was like that of clay, and it was not something that could be shared.
“Shall we finish this? Do not worry. As I said before, I will return you to your home planet without any damage.”
Ahb.o.o.boo said so.
And he raised his power.
It is the power of countless Ahb.o.o.boo.
Surely its power will be transcendent.
I could be sure.
Ahb.o.o.boo would be the most powerful in all universes.
Among the beings who could not ascend to G.o.dhood.
I didn’t have that.
Take your breath slowly.
I asked the world.
“Stop.”
The flames that were swaying while burning the wasteland stopped like a scene in a photo.
The sand that had risen in a gust was captured in the air.
Ahb.o.o.boo who tried to overcome me by raising his strength was also trapped in a paused time and stopped.
It was definitely great.
This s.p.a.ce.
It blew away my divine power.
This s.p.a.ce that degraded a deity to a non-deity.
But there was one flaw.
“If you have lost your divinity and have been downgraded to a non-G.o.dly spirit, you will still be able to regain your G.o.dhood from the beginning.”
The basis of my G.o.dhood was, after all, my belief in myself.
That I will win.
As long as I have that belief and the subject of myself, I can again achieve G.o.dhood and attain divinity anytime, anywhere.
It didn’t take too long.
The time spent talking with Ahb.o.o.boo and babbling.
Just that time was enough.