Chapter 196

A pitch-black crack stretched long across the space between the Black Goat and Taewoon’s party. The crack continued to emit an eerie energy, making the surrounding space shake unstabley.

For the first time, the Black Goat reacted. Its blurred form began to flicker frantically, struggling to find stability as it fluctuated between reality and a second dimension.

“One more time!”

At Taewoon’s shout, Seoyoon swung her sword once more. A second crack intersected with the first, carving a cross-shaped scar into the space.

Finally, there was a sound of something breaking. Like a deep-sea fish forcibly dragged to the surface, the Black Goat’s existence was completely severed from the second dimension and flung into the real world.

Its form was no longer blurred. As a complete entity that absorbed all light, its overwhelming presence crushed the entire basin.

In an instant, its pupils began to split in all directions, expressing extreme displeasure.

The previous void-like chaos vanished, replaced by a burning rage and murderous intent directed toward all existence.

At that moment, Taewoon could not hide his astonishment.

‘This is…’

The total amount of power emanating from the goat, now forcibly fixed in reality—the density of its presence—far exceeded the level Taewoon had initially imagined.

The intimidation was of the same nature as what he had felt during his life-and-death struggle with The Nameless Head, but it possessed a far more complex and diverse quality.

The power held by the goat before him felt more threatening than any of the powerful Aberrations he had hunted so far.

‘What happened? Was it originally an Aberration this powerful…?’

Taewoon’s transcendent senses scanned the opponent thoroughly. However, no matter how much he analyzed and sensed it, he didn’t feel that the goat’s inherent rank was superior to that of The Nameless Head or the Cloud with a Thousand Eyes.

But the key lay in the ‘amount of power’ it possessed.

Those facts meant only one thing. A hypothesis flashed through Taewoon’s mind like a bolt of lightning.

‘End of Dawn…’

Indeed. As the end of the world approached, the boundary between reality and unreality was collapsing.

Because of this, the power those sinister beings could exert in this world was becoming increasingly potent.

“…”

Come to think of it, he had felt the same way during the battle with The Nameless Head. In the final moments, Taewoon had sensed that the creature was transforming into a more complete existence.

‘If that’s the case… does it mean the Aberrations I’ve hunted until now were also in a state where they couldn’t exert a hundred percent of their power?’

The moment a suspicion turned into certainty, a chilling sensation ran down Taewoon’s spine.

If this hypothesis were true, the situation was more desperate than he had imagined.

‘If those things grow stronger as time passes, how on earth are we supposed to stop the End of Dawn from arriving?’

However, before pondering that, he had to focus on the reality before him. The rage-filled goat finally began its first move.

The goat struck the ground once with its heavy hoof. Instead of a physical shockwave, strange black and white bubbles surged up, completely enveloping Taewoon’s party.

The bubbles floated gracefully like living creatures, their surfaces creating strange patterns as pitch-black darkness and dazzling light mixed together.

“What… what kind of attack is this?”

Valen, one of the Bishops, muttered in a voice full of caution. The bubbles weren’t exploding or rushing toward them, but he couldn’t shake an ominous feeling.

Taewoon immediately drew upon The Red Man’s Authority and swung his spear at a bubble approaching him. However, the moment Taewoon’s strike connected, the bubble simply scattered like smoke before returning to its original form.

‘Neither physical interference nor magical interference works.’

At that moment, Taewoon felt something slipping away from within him.

Something far more fundamental than magical power or life force. It felt as if a fragment of an old memory had been copied and contained within it.

“Gasp!”

“What is this…”

“Everyone, stay alert! Do not be caught in its Magic Technique!”

The followers of the Apocalypse Society, who experienced the same thing as Taewoon, were startled and heightened their guard.

While they were flustered, the bubbles swelled slightly more and began to contain faint images within them.

They were images of memories, shaking and breaking like old projector film. Taewoon narrowed his eyes and thought deeply as he looked at the scenery inside the bubble floating before him.

‘Is that… my memory?’

They were the numerous moments of agony Taewoon had experienced. Crossroads where he had to abandon countless other possibilities to make a single choice.

Right then, the goat’s inscrutable will flowed directly into Taewoon’s mind.

The voice could not be expressed in any language, but its meaning was clearly perceived.

‘Choose? What on earth is this…’

Taewoon’s brow furrowed. He could have ignored this uncertain proposal and attacked the goat’s main body immediately, but for some reason, an ominous intuition enveloped his entire body, telling him that he must not do so.

This was a kind of law and a Ritual. The act of ignoring it might itself be the path to falling into the creature’s trap.

Taewoon made his decision. He slowly raised his hand and reached toward the white bubble containing a part of his memory.

The moment Taewoon’s finger touched the white bubble, the black bubble that paired with it burst with a ‘pop’.

The burst black bubble turned into pitch-black particles, writhing like a living snake as they were sucked into the goat’s mouth.

Some of the party members, watching Taewoon’s choice, began to reach out and select one of the bubbles placed before them.

Without hesitation, Seoyoon drew her sword and slashed through a bubble of a past she did not remember. The white bubble she chose contained the moment she swore loyalty as the Cult Leader’s guard.

The unchosen bubbles burst in a chain reaction, and the regrets, lingering attachments, and discarded possibilities contained within them were all absorbed by the goat.

The goat’s body swelled massively after devouring the countless memories. Between its pitch-black fur, the absorbed bubbles began to mix in grotesque forms, creating new shapes.

Eventually, the goat vomited out new bubbles in human form. Bubble humans modeled after Taewoon’s party, created from precariously clumped black and white bubbles.

And when one of them appeared before Taewoon, he could easily discern its identity.

‘I see… so this is the form of its ability?’

It was another version of himself—the form he would have reached if he had made different choices during those moments of agony.

The bubble human before him had the same face as Taewoon, but at the same time, it was not Taewoon.

‘Unbelievable.’

To simply call it a fake would be an understatement; the Aura emanating from the bubble human was formidable.

Though not currently in use, Taewoon could sense the faint energy of The Red Man and the Artifacts he possessed coming from somewhere within it.

The bubble human reached toward Taewoon with jerky movements, and the Divine Spear Barata began to manifest from its fingertips.

“…”

Surprisingly, it possessed a mystery nearly equal to the Barata Taewoon held.

It was different from a typical copy. It had literally torn out and materialized a fragment of another reality—the one created by the choices Taewoon had discarded.

It was certainly a special and bizarre ability, befitting the immense power of the Tormented Goat.

Without time to think, Taewoon instinctively activated his Cinema Skill.

【Condition Fulfilled】

▶【Cinema Skill: Final Rampart】

【Creating a Level 6 Equivalent Semi-Automatic Protective Zone targeting a 100m radius area!】

Sturdy fortress walls surged from the ground, and a golden barrier enveloped Taewoon. But almost simultaneously, the bubble human opposite him took the same stance and placed its hand on the ground.

Fortress walls of the exact same form as Taewoon’s rose up and collided. The two golden barriers clashed violently, sparking with intensity.

As Taewoon glanced around, similar events were happening everywhere.

Seoyoon was clashing swords fiercely with a bubble human wielding a mysterious axe, and the Bishops of the Apocalypse Society were also engaged in decisive battles against their own alternate versions.

The basin was instantly divided into independent battlefields, like a giant chessboard.

“…”

When Taewoon summoned Keshatus and struck down with red lightning, the bubble human also summoned the same spear from the air to counter it. Two streaks of Lightning of Destruction collided in mid-air, creating a massive explosion.

【Condition Fulfilled】

【Cinema Skill: The Red Man】

Taewoon aimed for the bubble human’s rear using The Red Man’s movement technique that warped reality.

However, the bubble human also warped space with the same movement to evade Taewoon’s attack, and simultaneously launched a fierce counterattack using a Technique of the Soul-Chasing Eight Ghost Spear.

The sound of spear clashing against spear echoed incessantly. From movements and techniques to the operation of magical power, the bubble human was mimicking everything about Taewoon to near perfection, like a reflection in a mirror.

But the result was, naturally, Taewoon’s superiority.

‘…As expected, it couldn’t bridge the fundamental difference.’

The bubble human had merely stolen Taewoon’s possibilities; it could not manifest the weight of the numerous mysteries and karma contained within him.

It was a great ability, but not enough to face the current Taewoon.

Crucially, unlike Taewoon, the creature did not seem able to enter the Apostle Transformation State using The Red Man’s power.

As Taewoon donned the Wax Mask and entered the second Apostle Transformation State, the tide of battle shifted abruptly.

Taewoon’s movements, shrouded in Crimson Mist, far transcended the bubble human’s perception, piercing through its openings.