Beyond the Eternity

How many accounts did he create? Never in my entire existence have I seen someone with that much dedication when it came to hating.

Hate. Only that word could describe that person and it still feels somewhat lacking. I can\'t count the number of hate comments I had to delete because of that person.

Reason? He thought I was a plagiarist that copied the Song of Nightmares and presented it as my own under a new title. Of course, he was wrong. But it was difficult to deal with such a situation. There was even a little resentment.

Even this person was one behind the username \'Dragonslayer99\'....

"What? Where did you hear that from? Ah, you must be one of those guys. Which one was it? TheFakeKing, InfiniteRegressor or the Ugliest King?"

No.888 didn\'t deny my words. Instead he started saying nonsense.TheFakeKing, InfiniteRegressor, Ugliest King... Were those words the usernames of my big supporters?

It seems there was a misunderstanding as he thought I must be one of those people. Does he really not know or was he pretending? In any case, I didn\'t deny his words.

"Why would I tell you that information?"

"Ah, you are no fun~ You must probably be a virgin with that attitude."

What? This Jerk...

Let\'s calm down. He was probably saying those words to get a reaction out from me. Was he trying to gauge my personality from this interaction? Perhaps he was looking for a certain weakness to exploit.

I asked calmly, "Are you the author of that book?"

"Hmm..." A confused expression appeared on No.888 face. "Why would you think I\'m the author of such a thing?"

"Are you saying you\'re not the author?"

"Of course not. Why would I write something like that? That thing is too tasteless for my liking. The writing is amateurish and the plot is cringe. In fact, the entire thing was filled with cliches from the beginning to the end. It almost feels like the book was written by a child."

My head tilted. What\'s up with this guy? If Song of Nightmares was really tasteless as he says, why did he spend all that time to harass me to begin with?

As if reading my thoughts, the lips of No. 888 subtly twisted.

"Haha! What\'s up with that expression? I already know what you are thinking. How can I be a follower of the prophecy if I dislike it? Well, it\'s really simple actually. It\'s like following a specific region and dislike alot of things about such religion.

You dislike it but it doesn\'t mean you will stop, isn\'t it? Or can\'t you understand where I\'m coming from?"

Of course not. What kind of twisted logic is that? If you dislike many aspects of a certain religion, why are you following it in the first place? Isn\'t that a contradiction?

I asked what was on my mind, "If you dislike the book so much, why did you harass the author of another?"

The lips of No.888 twisted into a frown, "There are many things that I hate in this world but I usually have five as my main. The first are stupid people, the second are b*tches, and the third are fucking plagiarists. Out of all those five, I hate plagiarists with all my passion.

Do you know how annoying it is to come up with something and then it gets stolen by a monkey who couldn\'t use their remaining brain cells to think of something significant. Hate. I hate such bastards. Those bastards are more scum than fucking murderers..."

My body shivered. It\'s almost scary how so much hate can be contained within a sentence. The more I continued to talk with him, the more I thought he was insane. Was he originally like this?

No. 888 calmed down and said, "In any case, it\'s my turn to ask a question. Do you know the author of the [Lost Realm]?"

"How would I know such a thing? I thought someone like you would know."

Laugher emerged, "It would be nice to be an omniscient reader, but I like a more manuel approach. Haven\'t you heard of stories where the protagonist is too OP? It\'s no fun if everything is too easy. There\'s beauty in the struggle, you know."

"Are you done spouting nonsense? What\'s stopping me from crushing your head?"

"Hey, now. Don\'t be like that. In fact, I have an amazing offer. Let\'s form an alliance."

"An alliance, you say? Why would I agree to such a thing?"

"Because it would be beneficial for you. I don\'t know where you dropped off but I have more information than you. I may have been overpowered in this round but this is just one of my puppet body."

Dropped off? Does he think I\'m like the other apostles? In any case, let\'s hear what he has to say.

"It depends. I heard you\'ve read the prophecy to the end. Is that true?"

"Of course."

"How do I know if you are lying right now?"

A sly smile formed on No. 888\'s face. "Don\'t you already know? Aren\'t you really Soo Jinyoung? Can\'t you use your Yellow Dragon Eyes to confirm my words? Or don\'t tell me you can\'t for some reason~"

This bastard. He knew I wasn\'t Soo Jinyoung yet he was mocking me like this. To be honest, I was paranoid because none of my skills will work on him.

[Exclusive skill \'Omniscient Wall\' has activated.]

[Exclusive skill \'Omniscient Wall\' has failed.]

The expected message appeared infront of me. Since I couldn\'t read the private information of this man, I shifted my approach and activated my hidden card.

[Exclusive skill \'Endless One\' has activated.]

[Exclusive skill \'Endless One\' cannot be used on this person.]

What?

I was surprised by that sentence. My hidden card was thrown out of the window just like that.

What was the meaning of this? Was there a reason for this? Was it because this body was just a puppet or was it because this person was a reader?

It was hard to gather my thoughts in the midst of this chaos. Two of my trump cards had been rendered useless by a single person. The feeling was similar to holding two nuclear bombs, only to realize the enemy had the launch codes all along.

My mind wandered for a few seconds, trying to come up with an excuse before I spoke. "I don\'t like dealing with people who have multiple faces. How can I form an alliance with someone I can\'t trust?"

The eyes of No. 888 opened slightly.

"Well, I understand your concern. As for your question, yes, I have read the ancient texts thoroughly. So, what do you think of my offer? You would gain a lot from this agreement."

I nodded. "Your offer does sound tempting."

"Then?"

"However, I have one question."

"A question? Alright, what is it?"

"Is your name really Kim Suwon?"

"Yes, you can call me that if you wish."

"Alright then, Kim Suwon. Are you talking this much to distract me?"

"What?"

No. 888\'s expression stiffened. For the first time, a smug smile crossed my face as I asserted my dominance.

"You\'re trying to keep us here while you attack our base. It\'s a clever tactic. Did you attack the other bases as well? Perhaps this was your plan from the start, not the stupid false rumors you spread around. The meteorites can generate good items. However, doesn\'t a grimorie sound too good to be true?

Don\'t you know the value of those old books? Even if those books were placed in the shop, not even ten million coins would be able to purchase them."

"Tck! Tck! You\'re one sharp bastard, you know."

No. 888 clicked his tongue rather displeasingly. Then, there was the scene of him slowly realising something.

"Wait a minute, why are you calm in such a situation? Aren\'t you going to return to your base?"

"There\'s no need. You see, I\'ve gathered alot of capable individuals so even if you attack, my base can function without me. You think I wasn\'t prepared for an ambush?"

"Maybe so. But don\'t you think it\'s too early to celebrate."

"What?"

As I became confused by his words, the expression of No. 888 twisted into an exaggerated smile. There was the familiar sense of premonition.

No. 888 continued, "I wonder what\'s the source of that arrogance of yours. Is it because you managed to gather a few strong pieces like the Giant Soldier, Infinite Builder and the Mad Berserker? Do you really think those people cannot be defeated?"

What? He knew about those guys as well. Was he watching me this entire time from the beginning? No, that\'s impossible.

That can\'t be right. Let\'s calm down. Even if he was watching me, it was almost impossible to penetrate Kim Hyunwoo\'s defences. And even if there was a scenario where Kim Hyunwoo\'s defences were somehow penetrated, there was still Lee Jongho and Jung Donghyun. If those three were put in the same place, it was impossible for that place to be raided.

However, this person was still confident. Why? What was the source of his confidence? Even if he knew my pieces, how was he going to penetrate my defence?

"Wait, it can\'t be..."

My eyes widened in realisation. Naturally, it was impossible to penetrate the base from the outside. But could the same be said for the inside?

The person in front of me was the holder of the Devil card—meaning, he was the \'Devil\'. The power associated with the Devil card was the Puppet Master ability, which allowed the user to create and control multiple puppets from a safe distance.

The Devil class was similar to the \'cloning\' skill but possessed no weakness of \'memory loss\' and offered the user a wider range of control. In addition, each one of those puppets could take the form of someone else if the user willed it.

Was it possible that this person, immediately after the first nightmarish scenario, made use of the Devil card to its maximum potential and spread his puppets throughout Seoul?

No, that didn\'t make any sense. The mythical cards were only obtained during the start of the 4th nightmare trail. He couldn\'t have used the Devil card that early.

Was it the duplicate skill at first? Was that how he was able to appear at multiple places simultaneously? Did he discard that skill after obtaining the Devil card?

More importantly, did one of those clones manage to find its way into my group without my knowledge?

Boom! Rumble—

Suddenly, the ground of the platform trembled along with a distant sound of an explosion. Not only that, sound sensitivity picked up several sounds of explosions in the distance.

A series of explosions? Meanwhile, the party members looked dumbfounded.

"What the hell was that?"

"An explosion?"

"Shit, which bastard is fighting and making a rockus?"

That explosion, could it be... The feeling of unease skyrocketed as a familiar \'something\' appeared infront of me.

[The pawn \'Lee Yejin\' has been killed.]

[The pawn \'Han Youngjin\' has been killed.]

[The pawn \'Kang Nari\' has been killed.]

[The pawn \'Jung Yoona\' has been killed.]

[The pawn \'Lee Eunwoo\' has been killed.]

[The pawn... ]

[....]

It was a steam of messages. Usually, those type of messages would either be reward messages or the sponsorship messages of the constellations but it was different this time.

Those messages carried a bad \'omen\'. My pieces were getting slaughtered one by one. Somebody gasped and the party members became pale upon seeing the messages.

A chilling laugh echoed through the air. No. 888 sneered and his eyes glinted with twisted delight. "Haha! Just look at you now! Didn\'t I warn you this would happen?"

"This bastard...."

His laughter grew louder, more menacing, as if feeding off my despair. "You should have taken my offer when you had the chance," he hissed. "Now, because of your arrogance, your entire group is marching to their deaths. How does it feel? To be responsible for their demise? Or are you too paralyzed with fear to even move?

You\'re still standing here… aren\'t you going to save them? Or are you just going to watch as your precious group members die one by one? What will you do, Soo Jinyoung~"

Kwajik!

My foot moved and what followed afterwards was the sound of the \'head\' being crushed.

The man on the receiving end wouldn\'t die because it was a puppet. Even so, he must suffered some sort of psychological damage.

"Tck!"

I quickly moved past the group members and headed for the exit. With a sense of urgency, the party members followed behind me. They moved without me saying anything.

The warehouse was under attack by the King of Apostles.