No matter what had happened before, at this moment Muen was genuinely starting to suspect that the old woman, the Witch of Repentance, really did harbor some unspeakable designs on him. Otherwise, why would someone of her stature—a Crowned, one of the Salvation Society’s top figures—not be lurking behind the scenes plotting their grand scheme, and instead keep hounding a small fry like him over and over again?

What evil intentions did he have, anyway? He just wanted to uncover the truth of this city.

Couldn’t people be a little more reasonable, a little more normal, and send a few trash-tier villains after him first so he could at least farm some experience? What kind of game experience was this, running into the final boss the moment you stepped outside? Wouldn’t every critic alive rip it apart as the worst of the worst among garbage games?

Or was it really just to satisfy her own “personal desires?”

“If you’re that desperate, go find yourself some pretty boy at an underground host club. Black, white, fat, skinny, macho, pretty—take your pick. As for me... I’m a respectable married man. Not interested!”

Grinding his teeth, Muen met the oncoming danger with the grinding of bone, the swelling of muscle, and a surge of massive magic power as he instantly pushed the alchemy domain to its absolute maximum.

The world slowed once more, but the rate at which those cracks spread was still terrifying.

The ground in front of Muen split apart inch by inch at high speed, turning into nothingness like a drawing being erased by a rubber eraser. It felt as though if he lingered there for even one moment longer, he would become just like that dirt and stone—reduced to a mess of bloody, chaotic lines.

It could not be blocked. It could not be resisted.

The power of a Crowned was still just as awe-inspiring... and terrifying.

Muen did not dare slack off. Or rather, the moment he realized he had arrived in this [real royal capital], he had already been preparing to bolt at any second.

After what happened last time, he fully understood that this [real royal capital], now walking toward destruction, was far more dangerous to him than that [false royal capital], where the years still seemed peaceful and undisturbed.

So the instant the Witch of Repentance attacked, Muen was already in motion. With the benefit of last time’s experience, his response was faster this time, and he had left himself a little more margin for error in dodging.

That was why he even had enough attention left to observe the Witch of Repentance’s condition.

The first bit of good news was that, once again, the Witch of Repentance was not nearby.

She was very far away—maybe several blocks off, maybe on the other side of the city. In any case, her position was very, very far from Kore Church, where Muen was now.

And only because of that distance was there any room to maneuver. Otherwise, with the utterly unbridgeable gap in strength between Muen and the Witch of Repentance, if she got right up in his face again like she had in those last few seconds before, then no matter how slick his moves were, he would still end up slapped to death.

Because in the face of real stats, any so-called skill was bullshit.

“Looks like the Witch of Repentance can’t know in advance where I’ll appear. Otherwise, if she’d just camped my spawn, then no matter how fast my reaction was, I’d already be dead.”

“But...”

Muen frowned and muttered in confusion, “She doesn’t know where I’ll appear, but the second I do, she can lock onto me immediately? Am I really handsome enough to be spotted from six miles away at a glance?”

No, no, no. That obviously couldn’t be it.

Muen had a proper understanding of his own looks. At most, he was only the sort of handsome that could be noticed at a glance from a few hundred yards away... so there had to be some other reason.

And that reason... could it be that the ripple caused by crossing between the two true and false royal capitals made a much bigger disturbance than he had imagined, at the level of someone like the Witch of Repentance?

But he was not the only one crossing over at a time like this, was he? Those corpses were proof enough. So how had the Witch of Repentance singled him out from among so many ripples?

It wasn’t like she had some kind of “young master radar” the way An did, right?

“To let your mind wander at a time like this... I can’t help admiring your courage, Muen Campbell.”

That cold voice, thick with killing intent, came from an extreme distance away. But to Muen, it sounded as though it had been ✧ NоvеIight ✧ (Original source) spoken from somewhere close by. The sound curled through the wind without the slightest weakening.

And so the pressure had not weakened in the slightest with distance, either.

“I knew it. There’s no way that was possible. An would never actually want to kill me.”

Muen mocked himself with a bitter little laugh.

At the same time, Elizabeth left its sheath. Wrapped in the force of a hundredfold stacking power, the blade slashed toward the tiny cracks that appeared out of nowhere before him.

Boom!

It was only a blade colliding with a few thin cracks, yet it roared like heavenly thunder. Muen could clearly feel that what trembled was not just the space before him, but his arm as well.

Pain shot through him.

Blood flowed.

In that direct head-on clash, he predictably took a huge loss. His whole arm had nearly been shredded apart.

But fortunately, it bought him another sliver of breathing room.

“This won’t work...”

Muen grabbed his arm and activated the black flame, healing rapidly.

The immediate danger had passed, but he still could not relax, because he could clearly feel the Witch of Repentance closing in at a horrifying speed.

“Absolutely not...”

He had to find a way to shake her off.

Otherwise, no matter how much he struggled, all he would be doing was repeating what had happened last time.

No. It would not even count as repeating it, because... this time he definitely would not be lucky enough to return to the [false royal capital] at just the right moment and escape the Witch of Repentance’s pursuit.

She absolutely would not make the same mistake again.

The moment she truly got close... that would mean certain death!

“I need to think of something...”

Think of something...

But against a powerful Crowned, what kind of method could possibly let him escape from right under her nose again?

Muen wrung his brain dry, thinking at top speed, running possibility after possibility through his mind.

But no matter how he calculated, even if he factored in some rarely used hidden tricks, with his current self, completely shaking off the Witch of Repentance still seemed a little too impossible...

And in the space of his consciousness, no matter how many times Muen called for it, the Black Book continued playing dead as always, utterly unresponsive, as though in its view, the Witch of Repentance was not that big a deal of an enemy.

“Damn it. I knew I couldn’t count on you. Fine, I’ll do it myself!”

Muen drew a deep breath and finally made up his mind.

Whether it was possible or not, he had to try before he could know. Giving up hope before the outcome was decided was not his style. 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝚠𝚎𝚋𝗻𝗼𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝚘𝐦

“Fuck you, you old hag...”

Muen suddenly stopped and raised a hand, aiming his palm at the steadily approaching Witch of Repentance.

His eyes turned into an abyssal black.

A certain ancient, mysterious, inhuman aura gradually began to spill from his body.

Black fire edged in sacred white flames ignited beneath Muen’s feet, swiftly devouring everything it touched.

Earth, stone, brick walls, houses, vegetation... everything, all of it.

Then the black sun revolved, grinding all that it had devoured into incomparably pure power and pouring it into... the alchemy core.

Of the seven cores, five were already lit, and now they blazed and burned with a brilliance they had never shown before.

The phantom image of some kind of clock began to appear behind Muen...

“Fuck your... Crowned!”

Blood streamed uncontrollably from Muen’s eyes, ears, nose, and mouth, but he still stepped forward, nearly burning away everything he had in order to complete this final step he had never attempted before...

Against a Crowned.

Time froze.

One second.