Chapter 128

Chapter 128

No, he wasn’t looking down at him. The bastard had its grotesque mouth—the one embedded in its belly—wide open, and it was reaching a hand toward Jeong Seojin. And Jeong Seojin, whether because of the injury at his waist that was gushing blood, couldn’t properly dodge the hand stretching blatantly toward him even as he saw it coming.

Jeong Seojin, unable to move due to his injury.

And the “Beggar Who Devours Memories,” mouth agape, reaching its hand toward that very Jeong Seojin.

Finally, me—too far away to run to where he was and save him directly.

I processed all of that in an instant, then chose the last option available to me without hesitation.

“‘Ruler’s Garden’!”

As always, there was light. *Hwaaaaah.* A light so bright it seemed to dye the entire world swallowed me, and the ground, and the grass and trees upon it, and finally the “Beggar Who Devours Memories” and Jeong Seojin far in the distance.

I felt the mana in the form of light sweep across everything within my perception range, and I thought quickly.

‘My skill won’t work on *that* thing.’

I had already experienced a situation like this in the “Mirage Dungeon.” My skills don’t work on things from the “outside,” or the “Forsaken One” that exist in the “outside,” like that bastard.

If that was the case, then there was only one target for my skill right now.

As if following the conclusion I’d reached, the light spreading from me veered toward the man on the opposite side of the “Beggar Who Devours Memories.”

“Catch it, Jeong Seojin!!”

The man, still slumped down clutching his bleeding side, stared back at me with bewildered eyes. *Hwaaaaah!* The light, spreading out in a pure white blaze, enveloped the man whose eyes met mine. I staggered from the mana being drained out in chunks, but I waited for that single moment when mana would connect and intertwine.

…But the moment I was hoping for never came.

Instead of that, what I felt was only a sense of severance, as if the flow of mana that had been connecting had been cut off in an instant.

I stared with wide eyes at the man, still clutching his injured spot, no different from just a moment ago.

“—Don’t interfere.”

Right on cue, a translucent blue window appeared before my eyes.

[Skill target, Jeong Seojin (S), has refused the request.]

“Just run away, Yoon Seohee!!”

The light that had been spreading as if to dye the entire world vanished in an instant. As the mana consumed in that flash brought with it a proportionate sense of emptiness, I twisted my expression into a scowl.

“Hey, you…!!”

Frustration at someone who wouldn’t follow my will in this urgent situation, and understanding that, when you really thought about it, that person’s choice was actually extremely rational—they mixed together chaotically, brewing anger and resentment.

I gritted my teeth to hold back the anger and resentment that felt like they were about to burst out of my throat. And instead, I immediately started running toward Jeong Seojin.

‘Fine, if that’s how you want it.’

The reasons Jeong Seojin would refuse my request were, frankly, overflowing. The fact that I was still someone he couldn’t trust from his perspective, and his distrust or suspicion of the “domination” I’d suddenly offered him. Yeah, from his standpoint, it was an offer he could fully refuse, or rather, had no choice but to refuse.

Then I just had to choose a different method.

As if on cue, *it*—which had paused briefly at the sudden light—began to move again. The massive hand of the “Beggar Who Devours Memories” reached right up to Jeong Seojin’s nose.

Jeong Seojin tried to rise from his spot, as if to put up some resistance, but the injury to his waist didn’t seem to allow it. He couldn’t even get up properly and slumped back down.

I urgently opened my Inventory, pulled out a bottle containing a familiar blue liquid, and uncapped it. Then, without hesitation, I shoved the contents into my mouth. *Hwareureuk.* The moment the empty mana refilled left a strange sensation, like swallowing fire.

The Beggar’s hand finally touched Jeong Seojin. Throughout all that time—as the massive black hand grabbed him, clenched him, and finally dragged him toward where the “mouth” was—Jeong Seojin gritted his teeth but didn’t let out a single scream.

So I screamed instead.

“Hey, you stupid human! Just stop trying to do everything alone! —Ruler’s Garden, activate!!”

The mana I’d barely managed to refill by drinking the mana potion began to drain out rapidly again. I didn’t stop the flow of mana draining out more than usual, as if it were going to empty my entire mana vessel completely. Instead, I encouraged it. And in its place, I reached out my hand.

‘Yeah, I’ll give you everything.’

So.

‘You give me something too.’

There was light.

A blinding light that seemed like it would consume the entire world.

‘If that monster can’t be dominated, and neither can Jeong Seojin.’

I knew the being who had once ruled this world, and I knew the method by which he had ruled it.

And I had the power to replicate that method exactly.

‘Then I just need to rule this world.’

If that was the case, there was no reason I couldn’t do the same thing he had done now.

The white light that flooded the world carried the same dominion as the one who had called himself the Garden Ruler.

The white light, made of mana, caressed all things in the world equally.

The light that spread from me carried the authority of dominion within itself.

Therefore.

Everywhere my dominion reached was rightfully my land, my possession, and.

─Ding!

[Skill, ‘Ruler’s Garden’ is activated.]

[Status Window is updated.]

[Awakened Skill: Ruler’s Garden (S)]

▼

[Awakened Skill: Ruler’s Garden (S++)]

<Skill Description>

Ruler’s Garden (S++)

You are the Ruler, and this world is the Ruler’s Garden.

Therefore, those who belong to the Garden shall rightfully pledge their loyalty to the Ruler.

Yet he who wears the crown must bear its weight.

O young king, who has placed the thousand-gold crown upon your head but has not yet held the coronation.

Your power has not yet surpassed the weight of that thousand gold.

※The higher the intelligence of a lifeform, the greater the difficulty of the domination condition.

It was my Garden.

* * *

Upon the ground, utterly torn apart and collapsed, a pure white foot touched down.

─Ah, ah… ah.

In the place where the pure white light that had dyed the entire world vanished, a woman stood alone, a golden crown atop her head and a black garment trimmed with gold adorning her body. Bathed in the midday sunlight, her radiant figure was as noble as a statue of a revered one left alone among the ruined remains.

Even as ‘it’ failed to think properly in its ravenous hunger, it recognized the value of ‘that thing’ that had suddenly appeared before it.

A king of a world. An Administrator. A Guardian. One who cultivates, one who tends. One who leads. And.

The Ruler of the finite.

“Hey.”

The woman raised her calloused white hand. As her hand moved, golden mana crumbled into fine particles.

The Ruler commanded.

“Let go of that hand, you bastard.”

The first to respond to her command was the ground beneath her feet.

─Thwack!

From the earth where she stepped, a massive spike-shaped rock suddenly shot up. The rock, easily the size of a building, faithfully carried out the command of the Garden’s master. The sharp spike pierced the Beggar’s wrist in an instant.

─Kii, yah, aah!!

The monster, its hand pierced without warning, screamed and stumbled back a step. But it didn’t end there. The small black-clad woman standing before it now held absolute priority over everything within the environment surrounding them.

The woman’s hand swept through the air again. This time, what lay beneath the ground responded to her command. Huge tree roots suddenly erupted from the earth, coiling around the Beggar—specifically, around its arm.

─Guard■, Admin■trator!

“You picked the wrong person.”

Once more, the woman swept her hand. Following the ground beneath her feet and the tree roots sleeping underground, this time the air itself responded. What had been flowing gently through the air along the golden mana particles she scattered instantly turned into sharp blades, targeting the arm of the Beggar Who Devours Memories.

“I never took on that kind of job.”

With the repeated injuries and restraints, the Beggar Who Devours Memories finally lost its strength, and the man’s body slipped from its grip like sand through fingers. The woman watching him, Yoon Seohee, swept her hand through the air once more. As golden mana particles scattered through the air, the ground beneath her feet rose up again.

This time, what rose from the earth was wide on both sides, as if shaped like a palm. After confirming that the man had safely fallen onto the broad hand of earth, Yoon Seohee took another step toward the monster.

The same was true for the giant Beggar across from her. As if saying it had only let this happen out of a moment of carelessness, it tore at the tree roots wrapped around it.

─Again, again, interference, interference…!

“‘Again’? I’ve never met you before.”

Yoon Seohee spoke calmly, stirring her hand through the air once more. This time, it wasn’t to activate her ‘ability.’ When her hand swept from left to right, a golden sword gleaming with brilliant light had already appeared in her grasp.

“Caliburn.”

At Yoon Seohee’s call, the light lingering on the golden sword flickered once.

“Congratulations. Looks like the moment you’ll finally be put to proper use has come.”

The woman’s face as she said this was utterly expressionless for someone offering congratulations. Perhaps that was why the sword she called ‘Caliburn’ didn’t respond to her half-hearted congratulations. Instead, it was the man she had just saved who reacted to her words.

“Yoon Seohee, didn’t I clearly tell you to run…!”

“Whether Mr. Jeong Seojin tells me to run or to stay here, that’s Mr. Jeong Seojin’s freedom. But.”