After ten minutes, Song was waiting on the mountain of his enemy's corpse when he was suddenly hit by a barrage of exploding beams of light that descended from the sky.

As Song teleported from his position to counter the surrounding attacks, a spatial portal opened behind him, and a swordsman tried to strike him from behind. But Song jumped onto his head and avoided the attack.

Then someone placed a time nullification ring on him midair while a barbarian slammed him into the rubble.

A woman raised her sword and unleashed a silver stellar strike upon him.

Ten different elites had surrounded him. They were from the Apex Alliance.

All of them were close to breaking into Youscence 3.

Their tiers ranged from 25 to 28.

"Is he dead?"

The Astral woman spoke while standing beside the others.

But their hope quickly shattered.

Song stood up wearing a half turtleneck, blood dripping from his body, his killing intent overwhelming.

"How did you survive my stellar explosion?"

Song removed his hands from his pockets.

"Is that blood?"

He touched the blood on his body.

Hmmm, of course fools like them would not manage to make me bleed. It seems my guard was slowed; that is why some blood from the corpse had gotten onto me.

But this is a surprise. For the Apex Alliance to go all in against someone random like me.

It seems this really was a trap to catch me.

But I had not expected an Astral, a temporal manipulator, a spatial manipulator, and a barbarian.

Song raised his thumb and the next finger to his chin as he asked, "I thought they would send a dragon or a phoenix so I could add them to my collection of the dead."

But an Astral and a barbarian would not be bad.

"You bastard!"

The Astral woman, Salina, lunged madly at Song.

Song ignored her as he avoided her attack with a smooth circular rotation. He put both hands in his pockets while his gaze was already analyzing everything around him.

"There are ten of you, and this is all?"

There were also five others who had not yet moved.

They seemed to be observing and analyzing his movements.

Song, who had been calm, began to feel irritated as he turned serious, with his tone changing.

"Ten seconds."

"Ten seconds is all I can spare you."

"Here I am offering my most precious time to all of you, but you all wasted it by running around."

"Play time is over."

He twisted his neck and flexed his arm muscles.

With incredible speed, he grabbed the Astral woman and drove his knee into her stomach. Then he hit her with a taekwondo rotation kick using his own physical strength. After that, he formed a magic circle in his hand that burned her face completely, then kicked her toward the time user.

The time user tried to catch her but could not use time magic since he could only apply it to one target.

Two copies of Song appeared.

One moved toward the spatial controller.

But as the spatial copy began teleporting, it was revealed to be bait.

Song swapped places with the woman he had thrown.

In an instant, a dagger appeared in his hand as the puzzle pieces vanished.

The time user's eyes widened in disbelief.

"How did he bypass my time lock...?"

Song beheaded him, placed his hand on his head, and absorbed all his experiences and energy circulation patterns.

The entire sequence took only a moment and planted terror in those who remained.

In less than a minute, Song had killed one and defeated another.

The remaining seven mages launched their attack.

Light beams surged toward him, tearing through the air and melting the surrounding stone.

While the barbarian charged from the front.

Twenty golems appeared, summoned by three mages who had been standing still.

They had summoned twenty Youscence 2 golems, consuming massive amounts of mana.

They had taken time to eliminate the flaws before forming attack circles.

The two remaining mages formed shadows beneath Song, using assassination techniques.

What they did not expect was that Song canceled his other copy.

The spatial mage realized what Song intended.

He activated spatial magic to relocate the circles, but Song was faster.

He modified the magic circles by swapping space and adding time nullification properties he had simulated.

Their chance of escape dropped to zero.

They ended up striking each other.

Song slowly raised two fingers.

"Let me show you what real despair looks like."

Soul Mirror

Puzzle World First Realm

Expand

Everything around them turned into black puzzle pieces. Then his hair and the puzzle pieces turned reddish black crimson as his strength and everything else were boosted.

Song placed his right hand into his pocket and wrapped his left hand around his cursed energy dagger.

In a fraction of a second, spatial barriers shattered.

Everyone around him was dead.

The Soul Mirror domain absorbed all the puzzle pieces.

He simulated their special attacks, experiences, and energy circulation methods.

This was one of his abilities, the Mimicked Puzzle.

An ability that steals others' experiences and mimics their powers, sometimes stripping them entirely.

Song also used another ability known as Illusion Assimilation.

Each enemy saw him under a different illusion, and their senses slowed.

He ensured no one recorded the events by embedding puzzle fragments into the trees and the surroundings.

Song put a hand in his pocket and ate a cola-flavored lollipop. Then he put both hands into his pockets and walked away.

The lollipop and the clothes were all made under his supervision. He had already made a fortune using his knowledge from his original world.

Behind him, a massive magic circle formed and released a stellar explosion that vaporized everything.

Yes, he had managed to simulate the Astral's strongest attack, which is the static explosion.

Song walked until he reached a forested area.

A white horse carriage awaited him, with a servant bowing deeply.

"Are the others finished?"

"I believe not, Lord Song."

"It does not matter."

"Let us leave."

The servant did not dare breathe.

He knew Song was angry.

Song only became angry when he used more than twenty percent of his base power.

No one dared provoke him.

In such a state, he could kill anyone in front of him.

Song was not merely talented.

He was born as the peak of humanity.

He represented the pinnacle humans strive toward.

Originally, Song was not from this world but from the Hunter World.

Several major hunter families conspired to eliminate him because his talent was enough to destabilize the balance of their world.

He escaped, and not only that, he killed three A rank hunters and critically injured two others without having any blessing or alliance.

Though he suffered countless bruises, the Child of Paradox had survived.

And turned into a child of catastrophe to all who opposed him.

After some time passed, Song took a cold bath in his palace and wore clothes tailored specifically for him.

He poured himself a glass of aged red wine and drank while sitting with one leg crossed over the other.

There was little time left before the seals of the worlds opened.

Then the real game would begin.

First the Hunter World, then the Celestials. Once I finish there, I will start my attack on the large board. Wait for me, Immortal World.

These Celestials dared to try to assassinate me when I was a kid. I hope they still have this confidence.

I had already destroyed my system, so they think I am dead.

A calm and amused smile appeared on Song as he generated a puzzle piece and rotated it around his finger.

The world is just some puzzle pieces. Once they connect, they will form the real image, and my mission is to connect them.

For those who do not know who Song is:

He is not strong because of reincarnation, a system, future knowledge, resources, a bloodline, a strong teacher, or being driven by some mad revenge.

He is strong because he was born that way.

He is talented because he was born to dominate others.

He is bound to nothing except his own ultimate goal.

He sees life as a massive number of puzzle pieces, and once they connect, they will form his own chessboard.

And he does not want to be a pawn.

He wants to be a player.

And on this board, every other existence is nothing more than a piece waiting to be removed.

That was his real character and mentality.

Yup, that was the Lord of the Broken Puzzle Pieces, also known as the Peak Song Yeok.