God-Tier Enhancement: My Upgrades Never Fail-Chapter 274: Episode _Legend of the Demon World (7)

10.

That wasn’t all.

He desperately tried not to lose his focus, but the continuous stream of holograms was more than enough to throw off his concentration.

[1st Luck Awakening effects are now applied.]

[Enhancement success rate increases by 1%.]

[On Enhancement success, the chance to add a special option increases by 2%.]

[On Enhancement success, the chance for an Enhancement effect upgrade increases by 2%.]

[On Enhancement success, the chance for Evolution increases by 1%.]

[Magic required for Enhancement decreases by 5%.]

Every single one of them was an insane option.

Simin had already stacked up a lot of percentages, but these were still pure profit—sweet Enhancer options that could never be a loss.

Moreover, with his base enhancement success rate already increased by 15%, bringing him to 72%, that extra 1% was more welcome now than ever.

It also made him pause to appreciate how hard he had worked up to this point.

’If I didn’t have that 15% enhancement success bonus, I’d be sitting at 57% right now.’

Now it was 73%, but either way, if someone had told him to attempt this enhancement at a 57% success rate, he might honestly have considered just dying instead.

If he gave up, Epia might kill him once or twice for insolence and be done with it.

And if he died and somehow ended up back on the continent, that would be a massive win.

But if he went ahead with the enhancement and the weapon exploded...

Having his limbs torn apart would be the least of it. Even if he did make it back to the continent, Epia would invade it just to drag him—the man who had blown up the twin swords she believed contained the soul of her eternal love—into eternal torment.

He wasn’t particularly burdened by that kind of responsibility.

What he didn’t even want to imagine was the destruction of the Rich Territory and the soon-to-open Rich Casino that would come with it.

’Good thing I invested.’

The self-loathing he had felt over having to sink more than 700 Stat Points into such a seemingly useless stat had already transformed into the satisfaction of a worthwhile investment.

That was how the world worked.

He had only raised it by 1%, but his entire mood had changed.

It felt like that 1% would turn what might have been a failure into a success.

Anyone who had ever done an enhancement could relate.

And in practice, it was true.

At +14, there were people who would spend tens of thousands of dollars not for 1% but for a mere 0.1% increase.

Especially in 『Fantastic World』.

In this world where item prices were set higher than in reality, all the more so.

In this moment, with the god of Enhancement seemingly blessing him, Simin—who didn’t believe in any gods—rose to the occasion.

He returned to his roots for the final moment.

’Keep it simple. Don’t think about anything.’

A serious expression, one that seemed completely out of place on his face, settled over him.

With it, an utterly ordinary hammer strike came down lightly.

TANG.

[Enhancement succeeded.]

The real game had begun.

*

After long deliberation, the Heavenly King reached a conclusion.

“We will retrieve her.”

Though he was confused, the Heavenly King chose to trust Aria.

No, he wanted to trust her.

So, under the pretext of “retrieving” her, he assembled the Celestials who would head for the Demon World.

“We will not hesitate to go to all-out war, but Aria’s rescue is the top priority.”

Operation Aria Rescue!

The name gave off a strong sense of secrecy and special forces, but the reality was completely different.

A massive army!

Just as there had been tens of thousands of demons facing Epia, tens of thousands of Celestials gathered.

And that was after reducing the numbers, as this was not a full-scale war.

Unlike the Demon World, the Celestial Realm was an absolute monarchy centered on the Heavenly King, which made such a mobilization possible.

Given that more than half of the force was composed of mid-rank Celestials, their power was such that even if a true all-out war broke out, they would not be outmatched.

Even so, the Heavenly King’s demeanor was grave.

Their forces were overwhelming, but he knew the Demon World’s would be as well.

Moreover, the Demon World was the demons’ home turf.

Even a dog fights best in its own yard; the same was doubly true for demons.

In particular, when it came to invading the continent or defending their home, the demons’ unity was so strong it defied description.

They had to be thoroughly prepared for that.

The most important thing was secrecy.

“We must advance as deep as possible before they notice us.”

The Heavenly King, clad in divine armor and wielding divine weapons, moved.

*

There was only one way for the Celestial Realm to reach the Demon World.

The dimensional boundary.

They had to cross through it.

You could call it a national border.

No, to be more precise, it was a demilitarized zone.

Naturally, countless demons and Celestials guarded that place.

The moment one crossed the border and entered the DMZ, it was implicitly understood—an agreement forged over tens of thousands of years, perhaps more—that it was a declaration of war.

And now the Heavenly King intended to cross that very place.

Time was of the essence.

The success of the operation would depend on how quickly they could cross the DMZ.

Their objective was not to annihilate the demons, but to rescue Aria.

At the very least, they had to reach wherever Aria was and do something.

If they were discovered before that and the demons managed to stall them...

’The operation fails.’

To prevent that, they had come in secret.

The DMZ was so vast that demon surveillance didn’t reach all the way into Celestial territory, so they approached as close to the border as possible.

Then they ran.

“Ran” in name only; in reality, they flew at a speed too fast for the eye to follow.

WHOOSH.

At the same time, storms of Dark Magic raged down from the sky as attacks poured in.

Given that this was a DMZ, it was clear proof of the dirty tricks the demons had set up.

However, neither the Heavenly King nor any of the Celestials panicked.

More than half of them had surely never set foot on this land in their lives.

But they had been briefed.

And the Celestials had set up similar measures along their own border with the Demon World.

“Ignore it and go!”

Against the storm of Dark Magic, a storm of Divine Power roared.

They blocked only the minimum necessary of the attacks raining down from above and did not slow their flight.

As expected of the Celestials—and their king!

In an instant, they had already crossed half of the vast DMZ.

From that point on, they began to appear.

The demons.

The demons materialized out of the gloom, their shock plain to see as they took in the sheer number of Celestials swarming toward them.

It was only natural.

There were far more of them than anyone could have anticipated.

The demons’ role was to buy time, however little, until news of the Celestial incursion reached the Demon King.

But against a force this large, they wouldn’t be buying time; they would be crushed before they could even act.

Even so, in that fleeting instant, the demons steeled their resolve.

They would carry out their mission, even if it cost them their lives.

With that resolve, the demons charged. A few dozen souls against tens of thousands.

More demons were still rushing to join them, but that vanguard was swallowed by the oncoming mass.

And then—

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

The demons’ sacrifices began as they threw themselves into the fray, desperate to buy even a single second.

*

Word reached Epia.

“Demon King, we’ve received a report. The Celestials, including the Heavenly King, have entered the Demon World.”

“Looks like they came to rescue that Celestial wench, hmm?”

“That appears to be the case. Their numbers are said to exceed ten thousand.”

“Hm.”

The news was certainly surprising.

It was astonishing that the Celestial Realm, which normally wanted nothing to do with the Demon World, would suddenly invade—with the Heavenly King himself leading the charge.

“They must value that Celestial quite a bit.”

Epia’s intrigued gaze shifted to Aria, who stood with her arms crossed, glaring sulkily at Han Simin as she had been all day.

For a Celestial—an upper-rank one at that—she showed surprisingly little aversion to the human enhancing the Demon King’s weapon.

From a demon’s perspective, that alone was enough to make her seem like no Celestial at all.

’If the Heavenly King were to see her like this, what kind of face would he make?’

Epia found herself curious.

Aria herself would surely deny it.

Even now, bound by some contract, she was watching Han Simin with undisguised disapproval, nagging him endlessly.

But that was the extent of it.

If she were a true Celestial—a thoroughly conditioned, upper-rank Celestial—she would have charged him, ready to die.

So Epia laughed.

It was a relaxed smile.

“Let them know where we are. Tell them this is where their little Celestial wench is.”

“Yes, Demon King.”

“But just telling them would be boring. Let them have a proper little tour of the Demon World on their way here.”

“I understand perfectly.”

Her composure was matched only by her malice.

In her hands, she held her twin swords, which radiated the deep, light-green aura of a +14 Enhancement.

Epia glanced at the solitary anvil, then lifted her eyes to the sky.

Her gaze, fixed on the empty air, was filled with longing.

“Hurry back. I want to see you.”

Just one last step. One final stair to climb, and the end of her centuries-long wait would finally be in sight.

In her heart, she wanted to embrace that certainty now, to pour out all the longing she had held back, but she couldn’t.

It was a desperate yearning, all the more poignant for having struck less than ten minutes after Simin had left, promising to be back after a day’s rest.

11.

He could have gone straight for +15.

Han Simin, however, did not.

“Wow. Fuck. I’m losing my mind.”

He couldn’t sleep, so he had gone out for the first time in a long while.

The February air bit at him without mercy, but the warm clothes encasing the body of a man now worth tens of millions of dollars transformed the biting cold into something almost refreshing.

He had been given twenty-four hours of rest.

He could have taken more if he’d wanted, but he had no intention of dragging things out.

He hadn’t slept properly in over two weeks, so the sensible choice would have been to collapse into bed. Instead, he’d headed for the Han River.

He wanted to sleep, but sleep wouldn’t come.

The tremor and tension from the +14 Enhancement still had every nerve in his body humming.

’So this is why people get addicted to gambling.’

The items hadn’t even been his, yet he had been more nervous than ever before.

It was on a completely different level from when he had attempted +15 with a success rate of over ninety percent.

Seventy-three percent.

Even if he took comfort in the increased odds, there was no way he wouldn’t be shaking.

In the world of Enhancement, where items routinely shattered at a 0.3% failure rate, twenty-seven percent was a number so high that if it failed on the first try, you’d have no recourse.

And he had done it not once, but twice in a row.

It had taken time to move to a new lucky spot, set up the offerings, and perform the ritual, but he had endured that tension twice in succession and, ultimately, succeeded.

“Phew.”

An icy winter wind blew along the river.

The collaboration of cold air on his exposed face and warm air trapped inside his clothes was perfect.

His head cleared in an instant.

“Simin!”

A bright voice cut through the quiet.

Kang Yeseul came running over, holding two cups of instant ramen.

“Aren’t you sleepy?”

“I am. But how could I let you come to the Han River alone?”

She fell silent.

“Ramen is a must at the Han River.”

“It’s freezing out here.”

“Exactly. Since it’s cold, we can drink some hot ramen broth and then go rest over there for a bit before heading back, don’t you think?”

Though the dark circles under her eyes nearly reached her chin, Yeseul feigned energy as she pointed toward the roadside.

There was nothing that looked remotely like a place to rest, but her words carried the subtle suggestion of one.

Han Simin shook his head.

“You’ll never get married at this rate.”

“It’s fine. I’m going to marry you anyway.”

For some reason, it felt like he shouldn’t be eating this ramen, either.

At the same time, a small laugh escaped him.

“You’re cute.”

Even with dark circles and not a trace of makeup, the blend of cuteness and beauty she exuded was a charm few men could easily refuse.