Carras of the Crow’s Seat (4)
“It seems you think it’s over if you escape from here.”
Carras seemed to have realized that I was buying time.
Cawing, he sneered from the darkened sky.
“It’s no trouble at all to kill everyone before I make my exit from this place. I’m not affected by such a trivial stage right now.”
This is honestly dangerous.
I was already barely hanging on, but with him using that skill, it was too much for me to handle as I am now.
‘No, this is cheating. Why is he using a legacy skill?’
Carras’s legacy skill blocked out all light and boosted his stats overall.
Well, considering it’s about reclaiming his original identity as a silver bird, the boost is hardly surprising.
The fact that he looks like a crow signifies his fallen state.
‘At least it’s some comfort that it’s a lower constellation’s legacy skill.’
Moreover, not all sight was completely obscured, meaning it wasn’t fully manifested.
His skill and stats are nowhere near the original source, after all.
“Now just die.”
Boom!
Carras dived to the ground, colliding with the surface.
Like lightning striking from the sky.
Had it not been for Shadow Rush, I could never have avoided his incredible speed.
“Damn!”
With this speed, I wouldn’t be able to run around until the charges for Shadow Rush were restored.
The more I was wounded, the more anxious I got.
‘Is it still far off?’
I didn’t even have the leisure to check the entrance.
I was too busy avoiding his attacks.
“Huff, huff…”
I used noise suppression to hide myself.
Dressed in black attire, Carras should not easily find me.
‘I did consider that he might use his legacy skill,’
But I really hadn’t expected him to use it.
It must be due to some adjustments made because of the overall difficulty increase, but it wasn’t a welcome development.
“Still breathing, I see. I’m honestly impressed.”
As I took a quiet breath to calm myself, I heard Carras’s voice, edged with irritation.
“Not just an ordinary guy, are you? Did the system adjust for you? I don’t really care, either way.”
With that, Carras descended closely to the ground and flapped his wings sharply.
Even that simple action sent the debris around flying.
My hiding spot was no exception.
Now, it was just the gleaming Carras and I left standing in a space that had been cleared into an empty field.
“What an interesting fellow you are.”
He landed and slowly approached me.
“I was a little annoyed at first, but let me give you some credit. It’s an honor to be praised by me, Carras himself.”
“You speak as if you’re in some grand position.”
“Of course, I am in a grand position. My body is of a different caliber than mere mortals.”
He seemed to have regained his composure as he easily brushed off the sarcastic remark.
Given he had used his legacy skill, he didn’t seem to contemplate the possibility of losing at all.
“Anyway, you must realize it by now? You can’t waste any time anymore. Let’s finish this. I also need to kill those humans outside ASAP. It will be a hassle if they run away needlessly.”
“Is that so?”
“Yes. So just die quietly. Then I’ll special cancel the painful death I mentioned earlier.”
Carras tilted his elongated head toward me, indicating a gesture of mercy.
His chilling golden eyes curved like crescent moons, mocking me.
I, too, smiled back at him.
“Appreciate it.”
“You do?”
“Then let me say one last thing.”
As he approached close enough to my chest, I smirked at him.
“Don’t casually show off like you’ve already won.”
[All people existing in the amusement park have escaped!]
[You have cleared Main Quest 3!]
[No rewards will be given based on quest completion rate for this quest.]
[Clear rewards will be distributed shortly.]
[You may now purchase the 1st Cycle Succession Package.]
I bought the 1st Cycle Succession Package from the DLC store I had opened in advance.
Descriptions of the package appeared, but I quickly skipped through them.
I had already read them before.
[You have purchased the 1st Cycle Succession Package.]
[The 1st Cycle Succession Package allows you to inherit skills or items you acquired in the 1st cycle each time you clear a Main Quest.]
[Depending on the stage of the Main Quest, different skills or equipment can be acquired, and you can receive one skill or item without any grade restriction upon purchasing the package.]
When you purchase the package, the first inherited equipment or skill is given regardless of its grade.
I had already decided what to receive when I saw this phrase.
“Proof of Transcendence.”
That was the name of the final quest I undertook in the 1st cycle.
It was also a skill granted as a reward for clearing the quest.
***
Proof of Transcendence is a skill I received as the final reward after clearing all quests.
But I hadn’t been able to use that skill even once.
Because I failed to meet the necessary condition for using it.
==
Proof of Transcendence (S) (Growth-Type)
All stats increase by 100 percent for 30 minutes when facing a constellation (星座).
Critical damage when attacking a constellation (星座).
??????
??????
*Cannot be used if you are a servant of a particular being.
*After use, can be reused after 30 days.
==
A particular being refers to an avatar of a god or a contractor with a demon.
Those who submit themselves to a higher power cannot use this skill.
‘In my past life, that’s why I couldn’t use it too.’
An S-grade skill, and it’s a ‘growth-type.’
In my previous life, I was unable to use it, and even if I could, there was no opportunity.
It ended with a bad ending, after all.
“What the…”
As expected, the quick-witted Carras tried to escape in haste, but I was faster.
Thud!
The spear that hadn’t penetrated a single feather of his before now pierced Carras’s body.
‘Damn, too shallow.’
If only I had been a bit stronger, I would have reached his heart.
I tried to push harder on the spear, but Carras spread his wings wide and soared into the sky, forcing me to back off.
“What are you really? How can a mere player exert such power?”
As he spoke, silver feathers began to spiral around him, slowly starting to grind the ground below.
“Begone like the insect you are!”
Silver feathers launched toward me. Rolling away, I launched them towards Carras, still flying in the sky.
“Madman! Do you think throwing that puny spear will hit me?”
“Yeah.”
I didn’t just carry the ‘Sure-Hit’ skill for no reason.
Whoosh!
“This is impossible…!”
It was true that Carras was flying at speeds that would be hard for a human eye to follow, but I had the Sure-Hit skill.
Thanks to ‘Proof of Transcendence,’ which increased my stats, and the Sure-Hit skill, I accurately pierced his right wing with the spear.
‘Was aiming for the body, too bad.’
I tutted briefly and charged towards Carras, who was now falling.
However, he wasn’t about to just be taken down easily.
“You bastard!”
The darkness filling the sky shattered.
And the fragments, now feathers, rained down to the ground.
Boom, boom, boom!
I took out a shield from my inventory and defended against the falling feathers.
Of course, since it was a basic shop-grade shield, I didn’t forget to coat it with variable Orichalcum.
“Cough!”
Even then, I couldn’t completely defend myself.
I gritted my teeth and pushed forward amidst feathers tearing through my arms and legs.
Breaking through, I saw Carras struggling to stand from where he had crashed onto the ground.
“Nowhere to run.”
I took out another throwing spear from my inventory and pierced his legs. Just as he was catching his balance, his body tilted once more.
“This bugger!”
Cursing, he glared at me. His gleaming golden eyes had turned red, emitting a menacing glow.
Fear, turmoil, humiliation, and rage were mixed in that look.
‘Right, it makes sense.’
He’s from a lower constellation, but still a constellation.
Even if his stats are lower, he isn’t someone destined to die at the hands of a player who’s just taking their first steps.
The actual conflict between constellations and humanity would happen much later.
However, I had no intention of following the same progression as my previous life.
From the bad ending of the last cycle, I clearly saw a new beginning.
Proof of Transcendence was exactly that proof.
Kaboom!
I ran towards Carras, who could hardly move properly with a spear through his leg.
I discarded the damaged shield, even coated in Orichalcum, and took out a sword to deflect the incoming feathers.
One, twice, thrice.
With each deflection, the blade’s edge chipped away. If not for the Orichalcum coating, I wouldn’t have been able to block even one of those feathers.
“It must be a bug. It has to be. How can someone like you just appear out of nowhere?”
After retrieving the variable Orichalcum, I tossed aside the broken blade.
I sprinted through the onslaught of feathers, pushing my body to the limit with ‘Regeneration’ and ‘Sky Killer Star’, and finally took out the Pile Bunker.
Now, the distance between me and Carras was just 5 meters.
As I reached out my arm forward, his eyes curved into a soft arc.
“Dieee!”
All the feathers he’d released so far.
They encircled me in a sphere and shot out toward me.
It must’ve been a last-ditch trap set for the moment I approached.
No matter if I raised a shield or swung a sword, I couldn’t block the number of feathers flying at me.
“Shadow Rush.”
Boom!
I passed through his shadow to move aside.
Realizing this, Carras hurriedly gathered feathers to form a wall.
The distance between him and me was only 1 meter.
Kabang!
The fired bunker pierced through the wall of feathers.
But the impact also shredded the Pile Bunker, destroying it.
Carras scoffed at me.
“Now, you’re bare-handed!”
I had used up all the throwing spears in my inventory, the sword was broken, and the Pile Bunker destroyed.
As Carras said, my hands were now empty.
“Not exactly.”
I plunged through the feathers, shredding my body, and reached out my hand.
Towards the spear I had stuck in his chest at the very start.
“I still have a weapon here.”
“…”
Carras’s pupils dilated.
He had only just realized the spear that was stuck in his chest.
His beak opened to shout something at me.
But I didn’t hear it.
Crunch!
Grasping the spear lodged in his chest, I mustered all my remaining strength and thrust it deeper.
Like driving a stake.
The spear pierced through the crow’s heart.
Proof of Transcendence completely destroyed the pierced heart.
It was an anomaly that no deity could have predicted.
***
Supreme Realm (超上界).
The operations of the universe. The core, often referred to as ‘the system’, is closest to this place.
The publishers who manage the entertainments of each dimension were also here.
“Damn it, should I report this or not?”
A man stood hesitating in front of a massive door.
His name was Acaterus.
He was a game master who had newly joined the launch of the game.
Acaterus’s role was to manage the server of Earth, specifically of South Korea.
‘Why are there problems from the very start of the service?’
Scratching at his horns that grew along his temple didn’t alleviate the throbbing headache.
‘Why did that crow brat have to die to a player?’
The game had not yet gone through major patches; it should have been only around the third Main Quest.
Therefore, Acaterus was not too attentive to game management.
Players were only expected to be advancing daily tasks, so there was no room for mishaps.
Then who would’ve thought, a constellation would die.
‘Darn it, I shouldn’t have let Carras off when he gave that 50,000 points.’
He could vividly remember Carras throwing a tantrum wanting to join in on the fun. Weak as he was, he’d still been part of the Crow constellation, so it seemed safe at that time.
Acaterus felt foolish now.
“Ugh.”
Moreover, several deities who witnessed Carras’s death kept inquiring.
Most inquiries were about whether this was a bug and why the constellation had been able to exert such power, questioning the game’s balancing.
But could there be a bug? This was a game flatly built on the laws of the universe.
And the reason for Carras using his legacy skill was also puzzling.
Surely by now, constellations shouldn’t have that much power in the game…
‘Thinking about it, was there some interference by the system that caused all this?’
The thought that even the system could face an issue it couldn’t understand made Acaterus wince further with discomfort.
This was the first time in his GM life that he’d been this vexed.
Unable to understand, he was at a loss for how to explain to his superiors.
‘…Maybe I should just not report it?’
If you think about it, Carras is an obscure constellation on Earth, with minimal notoriety.
He’s insignificant in divine ranking; hardly anyone would notice his disappearance.
Though he didn’t know exactly how that guy managed to kill Carras, he could just be more cautious going forward.
His server had the smallest population, so it was hardly noticeable.
‘Right, let’s just quietly brush it over.’
Just be more careful from now on.
Turning his back without hesitation after one last glance at the huge door, Acaterus walked away.
Of course, he was unaware.
This incident was just a precursor.
Carras of the Crow’s Seat (4)
“It seems you think it’s over if you escape from here.”
Carras seemed to have realized that I was buying time.
Cawing, he sneered from the darkened sky.
“It’s no trouble at all to kill everyone before I make my exit from this place. I’m not affected by such a trivial stage right now.”
This is honestly dangerous.
I was already barely hanging on, but with him using that skill, it was too much for me to handle as I am now.
‘No, this is cheating. Why is he using a legacy skill?’
Carras’s legacy skill blocked out all light and boosted his stats overall.
Well, considering it’s about reclaiming his original identity as a silver bird, the boost is hardly surprising.
The fact that he looks like a crow signifies his fallen state.
‘At least it’s some comfort that it’s a lower constellation’s legacy skill.’
Moreover, not all sight was completely obscured, meaning it wasn’t fully manifested.
His skill and stats are nowhere near the original source, after all.
“Now just die.”
Boom!
Carras dived to the ground, colliding with the surface.
Like lightning striking from the sky.
Had it not been for Shadow Rush, I could never have avoided his incredible speed.
“Damn!”
With this speed, I wouldn’t be able to run around until the charges for Shadow Rush were restored.
The more I was wounded, the more anxious I got.
‘Is it still far off?’
I didn’t even have the leisure to check the entrance.
I was too busy avoiding his attacks.
“Huff, huff…”
I used noise suppression to hide myself.
Dressed in black attire, Carras should not easily find me.
‘I did consider that he might use his legacy skill,’
But I really hadn’t expected him to use it.
It must be due to some adjustments made because of the overall difficulty increase, but it wasn’t a welcome development.
“Still breathing, I see. I’m honestly impressed.”
As I took a quiet breath to calm myself, I heard Carras’s voice, edged with irritation.
“Not just an ordinary guy, are you? Did the system adjust for you? I don’t really care, either way.”
With that, Carras descended closely to the ground and flapped his wings sharply.
Even that simple action sent the debris around flying.
My hiding spot was no exception.
Now, it was just the gleaming Carras and I left standing in a space that had been cleared into an empty field.
“What an interesting fellow you are.”
He landed and slowly approached me.
“I was a little annoyed at first, but let me give you some credit. It’s an honor to be praised by me, Carras himself.”
“You speak as if you’re in some grand position.”
“Of course, I am in a grand position. My body is of a different caliber than mere mortals.”
He seemed to have regained his composure as he easily brushed off the sarcastic remark.
Given he had used his legacy skill, he didn’t seem to contemplate the possibility of losing at all.
“Anyway, you must realize it by now? You can’t waste any time anymore. Let’s finish this. I also need to kill those humans outside ASAP. It will be a hassle if they run away needlessly.”
“Is that so?”
“Yes. So just die quietly. Then I’ll special cancel the painful death I mentioned earlier.”
Carras tilted his elongated head toward me, indicating a gesture of mercy.
His chilling golden eyes curved like crescent moons, mocking me.
I, too, smiled back at him.
“Appreciate it.”
“You do?”
“Then let me say one last thing.”
As he approached close enough to my chest, I smirked at him.
“Don’t casually show off like you’ve already won.”
[All people existing in the amusement park have escaped!]
[You have cleared Main Quest 3!]
[No rewards will be given based on quest completion rate for this quest.]
[Clear rewards will be distributed shortly.]
[You may now purchase the 1st Cycle Succession Package.]
I bought the 1st Cycle Succession Package from the DLC store I had opened in advance.
Descriptions of the package appeared, but I quickly skipped through them.
I had already read them before.
[You have purchased the 1st Cycle Succession Package.]
[The 1st Cycle Succession Package allows you to inherit skills or items you acquired in the 1st cycle each time you clear a Main Quest.]
[Depending on the stage of the Main Quest, different skills or equipment can be acquired, and you can receive one skill or item without any grade restriction upon purchasing the package.]
When you purchase the package, the first inherited equipment or skill is given regardless of its grade.
I had already decided what to receive when I saw this phrase.
“Proof of Transcendence.”
That was the name of the final quest I undertook in the 1st cycle.
It was also a skill granted as a reward for clearing the quest.
***
Proof of Transcendence is a skill I received as the final reward after clearing all quests.
But I hadn’t been able to use that skill even once.
Because I failed to meet the necessary condition for using it.
==
Proof of Transcendence (S) (Growth-Type)
All stats increase by 100 percent for 30 minutes when facing a constellation (星座).
Critical damage when attacking a constellation (星座).
??????
??????
*Cannot be used if you are a servant of a particular being.
*After use, can be reused after 30 days.
==
A particular being refers to an avatar of a god or a contractor with a demon.
Those who submit themselves to a higher power cannot use this skill.
‘In my past life, that’s why I couldn’t use it too.’
An S-grade skill, and it’s a ‘growth-type.’
In my previous life, I was unable to use it, and even if I could, there was no opportunity.
It ended with a bad ending, after all.
“What the…”
As expected, the quick-witted Carras tried to escape in haste, but I was faster.
Thud!
The spear that hadn’t penetrated a single feather of his before now pierced Carras’s body.
‘Damn, too shallow.’
If only I had been a bit stronger, I would have reached his heart.
I tried to push harder on the spear, but Carras spread his wings wide and soared into the sky, forcing me to back off.
“What are you really? How can a mere player exert such power?”
As he spoke, silver feathers began to spiral around him, slowly starting to grind the ground below.
“Begone like the insect you are!”
Silver feathers launched toward me. Rolling away, I launched them towards Carras, still flying in the sky.
“Madman! Do you think throwing that puny spear will hit me?”
“Yeah.”
I didn’t just carry the ‘Sure-Hit’ skill for no reason.
Whoosh!
“This is impossible…!”
It was true that Carras was flying at speeds that would be hard for a human eye to follow, but I had the Sure-Hit skill.
Thanks to ‘Proof of Transcendence,’ which increased my stats, and the Sure-Hit skill, I accurately pierced his right wing with the spear.
‘Was aiming for the body, too bad.’
I tutted briefly and charged towards Carras, who was now falling.
However, he wasn’t about to just be taken down easily.
“You bastard!”
The darkness filling the sky shattered.
And the fragments, now feathers, rained down to the ground.
Boom, boom, boom!
I took out a shield from my inventory and defended against the falling feathers.
Of course, since it was a basic shop-grade shield, I didn’t forget to coat it with variable Orichalcum.
“Cough!”
Even then, I couldn’t completely defend myself.
I gritted my teeth and pushed forward amidst feathers tearing through my arms and legs.
Breaking through, I saw Carras struggling to stand from where he had crashed onto the ground.
“Nowhere to run.”
I took out another throwing spear from my inventory and pierced his legs. Just as he was catching his balance, his body tilted once more.
“This bugger!”
Cursing, he glared at me. His gleaming golden eyes had turned red, emitting a menacing glow.
Fear, turmoil, humiliation, and rage were mixed in that look.
‘Right, it makes sense.’
He’s from a lower constellation, but still a constellation.
Even if his stats are lower, he isn’t someone destined to die at the hands of a player who’s just taking their first steps.
The actual conflict between constellations and humanity would happen much later.
However, I had no intention of following the same progression as my previous life.
From the bad ending of the last cycle, I clearly saw a new beginning.
Proof of Transcendence was exactly that proof.
Kaboom!
I ran towards Carras, who could hardly move properly with a spear through his leg.
I discarded the damaged shield, even coated in Orichalcum, and took out a sword to deflect the incoming feathers.
One, twice, thrice.
With each deflection, the blade’s edge chipped away. If not for the Orichalcum coating, I wouldn’t have been able to block even one of those feathers.
“It must be a bug. It has to be. How can someone like you just appear out of nowhere?”
After retrieving the variable Orichalcum, I tossed aside the broken blade.
I sprinted through the onslaught of feathers, pushing my body to the limit with ‘Regeneration’ and ‘Sky Killer Star’, and finally took out the Pile Bunker.
Now, the distance between me and Carras was just 5 meters.
As I reached out my arm forward, his eyes curved into a soft arc.
“Dieee!”
All the feathers he’d released so far.
They encircled me in a sphere and shot out toward me.
It must’ve been a last-ditch trap set for the moment I approached.
No matter if I raised a shield or swung a sword, I couldn’t block the number of feathers flying at me.
“Shadow Rush.”
Boom!
I passed through his shadow to move aside.
Realizing this, Carras hurriedly gathered feathers to form a wall.
The distance between him and me was only 1 meter.
Kabang!
The fired bunker pierced through the wall of feathers.
But the impact also shredded the Pile Bunker, destroying it.
Carras scoffed at me.
“Now, you’re bare-handed!”
I had used up all the throwing spears in my inventory, the sword was broken, and the Pile Bunker destroyed.
As Carras said, my hands were now empty.
“Not exactly.”
I plunged through the feathers, shredding my body, and reached out my hand.
Towards the spear I had stuck in his chest at the very start.
“I still have a weapon here.”
“…”
Carras’s pupils dilated.
He had only just realized the spear that was stuck in his chest.
His beak opened to shout something at me.
But I didn’t hear it.
Crunch!
Grasping the spear lodged in his chest, I mustered all my remaining strength and thrust it deeper.
Like driving a stake.
The spear pierced through the crow’s heart.
Proof of Transcendence completely destroyed the pierced heart.
It was an anomaly that no deity could have predicted.
***
Supreme Realm (超上界).
The operations of the universe. The core, often referred to as ‘the system’, is closest to this place.
The publishers who manage the entertainments of each dimension were also here.
“Damn it, should I report this or not?”
A man stood hesitating in front of a massive door.
His name was Acaterus.
He was a game master who had newly joined the launch of the game.
Acaterus’s role was to manage the server of Earth, specifically of South Korea.
‘Why are there problems from the very start of the service?’
Scratching at his horns that grew along his temple didn’t alleviate the throbbing headache.
‘Why did that crow brat have to die to a player?’
The game had not yet gone through major patches; it should have been only around the third Main Quest.
Therefore, Acaterus was not too attentive to game management.
Players were only expected to be advancing daily tasks, so there was no room for mishaps.
Then who would’ve thought, a constellation would die.
‘Darn it, I shouldn’t have let Carras off when he gave that 50,000 points.’
He could vividly remember Carras throwing a tantrum wanting to join in on the fun. Weak as he was, he’d still been part of the Crow constellation, so it seemed safe at that time.
Acaterus felt foolish now.
“Ugh.”
Moreover, several deities who witnessed Carras’s death kept inquiring.
Most inquiries were about whether this was a bug and why the constellation had been able to exert such power, questioning the game’s balancing.
But could there be a bug? This was a game flatly built on the laws of the universe.
And the reason for Carras using his legacy skill was also puzzling.
Surely by now, constellations shouldn’t have that much power in the game…
‘Thinking about it, was there some interference by the system that caused all this?’
The thought that even the system could face an issue it couldn’t understand made Acaterus wince further with discomfort.
This was the first time in his GM life that he’d been this vexed.
Unable to understand, he was at a loss for how to explain to his superiors.
‘…Maybe I should just not report it?’
If you think about it, Carras is an obscure constellation on Earth, with minimal notoriety.
He’s insignificant in divine ranking; hardly anyone would notice his disappearance.
Though he didn’t know exactly how that guy managed to kill Carras, he could just be more cautious going forward.
His server had the smallest population, so it was hardly noticeable.
‘Right, let’s just quietly brush it over.’
Just be more careful from now on.
Turning his back without hesitation after one last glance at the huge door, Acaterus walked away.
Of course, he was unaware.
This incident was just a precursor.
