Chapter 177

It was a location that appeared and disappeared in an obvious manner.

No.

However, what unfolded before me was far from predictable.

What is this…?

I opened my mouth lightly and tried speaking a few words, but the sound failed to propagate through the air. This was because ‘air’ did not exist here.

Is this… space?

To be precise, it was a satellite without an atmosphere. If we take Earth as an example, one could liken it to the moon.

Wait… The scale has suddenly become…

As I raised my head towards the sky, an enormous world stretched out before me. It was incomparable to small worlds like Ardenia; indeed, it couldn’t even be compared to Earth itself.

Ah… insane…

I stood on the grayish ground, gazing blankly at the world before me.

If I were an ordinary human, I would have simply thought, There’s a planet over there. But my superhuman perception allowed me to roughly grasp the scale of that world and its distance from this place.

It’s too big…

Indeed. The [planet] visible in the distance was colossal—far larger than even our own [sun].

[Intruder!]

At that moment, a heavy psychic force pierced my consciousness. Turning around, I saw a skull clad in gray attire—a myth-ranked Elder Skeleton (Mythic).

So it finally showed up.

A common monster of Mythical rank. As soon as I drew Hyperion, it started making noise.

Her words were true; it didn’t look particularly impressive. The creature stood at only about 170 centimeters tall and was unarmed. Its clothing was nothing more than tattered rags.

And yet…

Pop.

I failed to even register its attack.

Koooom!

A soundless shockwave kicked up dust from the ground. I hadn’t been hit directly. The creature’s assault was so swift that my agility couldn’t process it in time, but thanks to my inexplicable combat foresight ability, I managed to evade the strike.

Zing! Zong! Zoong!

In an instant, dozens of blows exchanged between us. Despite its unimpressive appearance and seemingly crude fighting style, this enemy proved far from easy to deal with.

Even rotted, it’s still mythic rank…!

Incredibly, the creature was swinging its left arm like a club. It was a foolish fighting style that completely exposed its left side, but the speed and power were extraordinary, leaving no openings for me to exploit.

If this level of monster invaded Ardenia, even five of them would annihilate our Mythical-Rank Palace in an instant.

But… they’re stupid.

For example, their combat patterns were too simple.

Thud!

With a heavy sound, bone met blade.

I pushed my body forward, keeping Hyperion close to my chest.

The key thing is posture.

Despite their strength being inexplicably amplified, mine was no small feat either. In that moment, I used its arm as a fulcrum and Hyperion as my force point, easily pushing aside bone with my blade and driving it deep inside.

As the elder skeleton leaned back, it abandoned defense entirely, grabbing onto me instead. This caused the dark energy swirling around its body to adhere to my skin.

It was attempting to tear me apart… but how could it hope to do so when my physique is more robust than even the exoskeleton of a cosmic warship?

Ultimately, its desperate struggle only exposed a gaping vulnerability. Seizing the opportunity, I exerted tremendous force against its skull.

Crack.

The pommel of Hyperion shattered the creature’s head.

“Whoa! One hit!”

In an instant, a massive influx of experience points entered my system, finally raising my level after it had been stagnant for some time. As someone who had anticipated this process to be significantly longer due to the mythic rank of the enemy, I couldn’t help but chuckle at the unexpected ease.

However, my expression hardened as soon as I saw the item that dropped.

“What the hell?” The expletive slipped out involuntarily. After using Hyperion, with its five layers of golden overlays, to take down this creature, how dare it drop something so utterly useless? While it did yield 78,000 gold—quite a haul in itself—the sheer abundance of gold rendered it practically meaningless.

Still, it was easier than I thought. More importantly… I managed to kill it with just one hit without relying on Jian Gang or Heavenly Sword. That’s encouraging.

As expected from its reputation, the drop rate was abysmal. But that could be mitigated by simply defeating more enemies. And when hunting elite or boss-level adversaries…

It happened then.

As if sensing the imminent battle, elder skeletons swarmed from all directions. I remained composed; this was both an anticipated and awaited situation.

“Log out.”

In this airless world, my words couldn’t spread, but it didn’t matter. It was enough that I could speak.

Whoosh!

Back in my one-room apartment, I formed hand seals. After casting a few spells, I began circulating my inner force.

Murmur of energy.

Within the great vessel, fifteen years’ worth of inner force surged forth. Though still modest in quantity, it didn’t matter. The power of Muwong had transformed mana from the status window into inner force, amplifying my strength.

“What should I name it…? Since it’s a simple yet lethal strike encompassing everything, let’s call it ‘One Heart’.”

The unique sword presence of Han Jaeyeon. Ilshim (Oneness) begins without holding a sword.

I sit cross-legged on my bed for 30 minutes, practicing breathing exercises.

After specializing all available inner strength into Go Yuseok’s technique, I meditate for another 10 minutes to refine this energy.

In that state…

“Login.”

I enter Ardenia. Then, among the two hundred elder skeletons swarming towards me, I charge at the one in front.

Whack!

Once again, an undetectably swift strike lands. Anticipating it would cleave my head off,

“Ganggi (Fierce Energy).”

I activate the myth skill.

Late Bloomer. Go Yuseok’s technique.

Ilshim (Oneness).

…And then I pour all my remaining inner strength into it!

After activating my class skill:

Cold. Light. Wood. Wind. Fire. Earth. Poison. Thunder.

The Xian Monastery. The Open Sect.

Attribute Attack. Eight Overlays.

I even channeled my chakra.

It was a crazy combo that took an hour and twenty minutes to prepare—a strike where I poured in every ability I possessed!

Thud!

As the elder skeleton’s left arm struck me like a club, Hyperion smashed its skull.

Ugh…!

My head rang with the force of the mythical-rank enemy’s attack. Despite being caught completely off guard, my brain, fortified with a life force intensity of 999, easily endured the tremendous blow.

Crack!

The same couldn’t be said for the elder skeleton’s skull.

“It’s over!”

I shouted, but the result was unexpected.

Crash!

A hundred skeletons tumbled to the ground. The problem was, only one had been struck by my sword. And not just that one, but also the one right behind it—both their heads split open, dropping items. The remaining 98 elder skeletons remained unscathed.

Of course, the blow wasn’t entirely ineffective; I could see cracks in the skulls of those who had fallen. But the real issue was that these creatures hadn’t died, so Cheonji Sword’s damage propagation effect failed to trigger.

And beyond those fallen elder skeletons…

An even greater number of enemies approached.

No, why?

Stunned, I carefully gathered up the Elder Skeleton’s Upper Arm Bone (Legendary) from the ground. No sooner had I put it into my inventory than the enemy attacks began pouring down on me.

Thwack! Crunch! Crack!

I struck, parried, grappled, and smashed. The elder skeletons’ combat techniques were crude, but despite having no muscles, they possessed incredible strength. It was the dark energy swirling around their bones that granted them superhuman power!

However, the biggest problem was speed.

Whoosh!

Even with my precognition ability, which allowed me to clearly see all incoming attacks, it was still a struggle to deal with them. After all, handling multiple opponents with one hand has always been a challenge since ancient times.

I managed to destroy three more elder skeletons, but in return, I took quite a beating from them as well.

“Logout! Haah… Hoo… Ugh!”

Whenever I grew weary, I returned to Earth for some rest.

Having completed my extreme physique enhancement, my physical strength was truly superhuman. Yet even this wasn’t enough to sustain the incredible energy drain of my transcendent powers. Without my login/logout ability, I might not have lasted ten minutes before succumbing to exhaustion and ending up as a mere club-wielding skeleton myself.

“What is going on here…? They’re just too powerful!”

In one-on-one combat, victory had come relatively easily, but facing multiple opponents at once completely changed the game. Most significantly, neither White Man Spear nor Heaven Earth Sword seemed to be effective against these adversaries.

“It doesn’t seem like they aren’t working entirely…”

Indeed, out of a hundred elder skeletons, around ten had their heads struck and toppled over. The problem was that unlike the first one who died instantly or the second whose damage was transferred to another, the remaining ninety-eight merely received blows yet remained unharmed.

I moved after a short break to find out why.

“Login.”

“Logout.”

“Login.”

I continued fighting while moving between Earth and Ardenia. In the process, I defeated three additional elder skeletons, but…

I also took many hits.

Shunk.

“Sigh…”

A direct hit on my arm bone broke my nose and made me bleed.

Crunch.

Of course, the injuries were only temporary. Soon, the broken bones realigned themselves, and the blood that had flowed out flew back up in reverse, being sucked into my nose as if time was rewinding.

“Now I understand.”

I took out Hyperion from my inventory.

Even upon closer inspection, the item descriptions remained impressive. Two Epic-grade attributes and five sockets—truly remarkable.

“Ah, but there was a catch.”

Indeed, there was more to the story. The problem lay in…

“The fine print. You see, these coefficients… they didn’t apply to Baekin Cham or Cheongeon.”

In this context, “coefficients” referred to constants multiplied by variables in equations. In simpler terms, a physical coefficient of 6.2 meant that any physical damage would be amplified sixfold.

I had recited my chakra incantation, performed circulation exercises for half an hour, and even invoked the Mythical rank skill Gumgang…

All of it utterly pointless. A futile display of machismo.

My transcendent strength should have been 6.2 times greater. No, thanks to the power of Shin-Ken-Hap-il, it had actually doubled—to a staggering 12.4 times!

“No, it’s just… just hitting them is more effective?”

It was absurd, yet true. My martial arts skills had not reached transcendental levels; despite being astonishing organs that could manipulate the atmosphere, they had only increased my inner force by fifteen years at most.

The eight-fold attribute attack was indeed a splendid and remarkable technique, but ultimately, it remained within the realm of Xian Monastery. Thus, it was merely a Master-level attack after all.

When I simply got up close and bashed an Elder Skeleton’s head with a form strike, its skull shattered not because mythical creatures had soft heads… but because the physical strength amplified by 12.4 times was terrifyingly powerful.

In this game, even increasing damage output by 12% would be enough to change one’s job class. Yet here I was dealing with not 12%, but 12 times the damage… It was truly insane.

If this is how it’s going to be, I’ll have to rethink my combat strategy.

Of course, relying solely on physical attacks would be disastrous. Some enemies might have high physical resistance or even immunity.

“Login.”

I transitioned into Ardenia.

Bam! Crack! Crunch!

I engaged more aggressively, using my body in the fight. It was a savage battle of striking, counterattacking, grabbing, and crushing. The satisfying struggle pushed me to my limits, but unfortunately, I couldn’t continue indefinitely.

“Ah, enough…”

The number of elder skeletons kept increasing steadily. They were arriving far faster than I could defeat them, resulting in hundreds of mythical rank monsters accumulating rapidly!

That wasn’t all.

Elite monsters like Luna Death Knight (Mythical Rank) Namgung Hyunah and Demon Rich (Mythical Rank) Saruman began emerging.

No matter how high my vitality or recovery ability was, even with my login/logout power… if I continued enduring here, death would be inevitable.

“Ha.”

I turned slightly to gaze at the enormous planet visible in the distance.

Ideally, I wanted to know what that place was for… but it seemed unlikely I could leave this satellite with my current abilities.

There was no need to leap up and try.

I could sense that the dimensions of this satellite and the distant planet were clearly distinct.

It seemed that if I wanted to go there, I would have to conquer this satellite somehow.

Now only one question remained: the most important one.

Boom!

I reached into my inventory while avoiding mythical monsters charging towards me from all directions. And with that…

Whoosh!

I arrived at the Earthly Realm. I breathed a sigh of relief.

“Phew. I was worried it might not work, so I’m glad.”

“Oh! It’s been ages since someone used a teleportation scroll here… Eep! Your Imperial Majesty!”

“The Emperor is here!”

“Your Majesty! Ohh… To see you so close…”

Startled citizens bowed their heads, and I waved briefly before leaping up to the Guild Tower in a single bound.

Just then, it happened: