Side Story 59
Outers.
Incomprehensible beings lurk outside the Tower, instilling terror in the 101 Administrators.
The Administrators had known of their existence for a long time.
And among them, some names struck even more fear into the administrators.
Beeh-
Bee-eeh-
In the Black Woods, she was present.
With the Name she carried, countless goats roamed the Black Woods, devouring any living being that crossed their path.
Her Name should have disappeared in the war ten years ago, but...
"Why...?”
Zap!
Chatogua, she, raised her hand over the head of the goat biting her shoulder.
"Why this Name...?”
Crunch~
The goat's head deformed. The power emanating from Chatogua's fingertips crushed and destroyed everything with her condensed Arcane Power.
Poof!
The goat's head exploded.
Hiss~
With its death, the goat's body dissipated into purple smoke.
Thus, one goat perished at the hands of Chatogua.
Bee-eeh-
Bee-eeeh-
Even though her companion's head had exploded, the other goats didn't flinch in the slightest.
On the contrary, the goats drooled, seeing her as an even more appetizing prey, and their hungry bleats intensified.
"Who was it? The other one who was there.”
Regardless of the answer, YuWon asked Chatogua who the other person was who had killed Vishnu.
YuWon was sure. He was sure there was at least one more person there.
And that person was not the Chatogua in front of him.
'The fact that he has a Name doesn't mean he's Shub-Niggurath. He still can't control the Name correctly.'
However, she was fixated on YuWon, who had introduced himself with the name Shub-Niggurath.
Her eyes spun rapidly. She counted the number of goats surrounding her.
'There are only about a hundred.'
A hundred.
The original Name representing Shub-Niggurath was "The Black Goat of the Woods with a Thousand Young."
A thousand.
The number of goats that had appeared now was only a tenth of that amount.
Should she say it's a blessing in disguise? Chatogua assessed her chances of victory internally.
'I don't know how Kim YuWon got those Names, but... I have to eliminate him here.'
She could have withdrawn for now and gathered more Administrators. However, seeing the existence in front of her, not knowing when or how it might grow, Chatogua decided to end it here.
"It would have been better if you had stayed hidden."
Kiiiiiiiing-
Arcane Power concentrated in Chatogua's fingertips.
"Don't you think? Kim YuWon."
It was an amount of Arcane Power capable of turning the area into a battlefield.
For her, who could control all the Arcane Power in the air as if it were hers, space and distance meant nothing.
However, YuWon didn't seem to care much about her technique.
"Do you remember already?"
"Yes, not everything, but why did I forget? Someone like you.”
Although some of her memories had returned, she still couldn't understand the reason. Thinking more about it could be dangerous, but they were in combat now. She could search for the reason later.
Before that...
"It's clear that I can't give you more time."
She initially intended to finish off YuWon's life in front of her first.
Beeh~
The surrounding goats bleated.
The pressure of an immense Arcane Power. There was an illusion that the sky was gradually approaching.
The goats knelt at the sensation that their bodies were being crushed.
Rankers of Deva, including Yama, stopped fighting with the illusion that a huge monster called the world was moving.
"What is this Arcane Power…?”
"Is it the work of that Administrator?”
"Vishnu-nim... with a guy like this…”
The Rankers were petrified by the immense Arcane Power emanating from the Administrator.
Yama also murmured as he watched Chatogua from afar.
"Does she really own all the Arcane Power of the World?”
He wasn't afraid of dying.
But for a Ranker who had understood Arcane Power and wielded it as part of his own body, he couldn't help but shudder at this power.
Yama, wielding the scythe, clenched his fists.
Now was not the time to stand still in fear.
“...Let's run.”
At first, it was a small voice.
When some nearby colleagues looked at him, Yama turned his head and shouted.
"As far away as possible…!”
Bang, bang!
As soon as those words left his mouth, the Rankers of Deva began to run in the opposite direction of Chatogua.
And at that instant, the place where they stood sank, and a huge tree branch broke and fell down.
Boom, boom!
The trees created by Vishnu exploded from the inside.
Some were crushed, while others exploded.
The irregular flow of Arcane Power made it impossible to discern in what form the power would manifest.
Crack!
The bodies of the goats were crushed.
The goats that bleated towards Chatogua scattered one by one, turning into purple smoke.
"How annoying."
YuWon muttered as he watched Chatogua.
"Although... if something like that explodes, it'll be a bit troublesome."
YuWon's gaze turned to the Deva Rankers fleeing in the distance.
'Still, they moved fast.'
They were all quite far away.
However, it seemed it would take them some time to reach a safe area.
'I really didn't want to use that Name...'
Among his many abilities and Names, it was the first that came to mind.
YuWon sighed as he recalled that Name.
"It would have been better if I had come alone."
His hesitation didn't last long.
Anyway, if he was going to use it, there was no reason to increase the damage out of pure stubbornness.
Sssssss.
A black aura sprouted from YuWon's feet.
At that moment of decision...
"Goodbye, Kim YuWon."
Kuoooo!
With Chatogua as the center, the world turned white.
---------------
The entire view turned white.
Colorless Arcane Power particles devoured the atmosphere.
The Arcane Power possessing colossal power engulfed everything it touched.
"Ha... ha..."
Amidst those pure white Arcane Power particles, Chatogua breathed with difficulty.
Her whole body screamed with pain.
It was the first time in a long time that she moved so much Arcane Power at once.
"I overdid it a bit."
It seemed she would need to sleep for at least a few months to recover.
By then, Jotakua, who would have already recovered, would probably be mocking her.
Piiik.
"Still, fortunately, I eliminated the root of the problem..."
Sssssss.
At that moment...
In the midst of the white particles, a new color manifested.
A black flow devouring Arcane Power.
What started as a small dot grew rapidly.
"What is this?"
Hwaaa!
The black flow collided with the Arcane Power particles, preventing the Arcane Power from spreading further.
No...
It wasn't just stopping it...
"It's absorbing everything. All the Arcane Power in this world."
A power of a devouring nature for Arcane Power.
Such a power was not common. Above all, there was no skill in her knowledge that surpassed the power of the Administrators.
Soon, Chatogua's eyes widened as she confirmed the identity of that black flow.
"It can't be..."
["Foolish Chaos" is devouring the Arcane Power of "Chatogua."]
"Foolish Chaos?"
Foolish Chaos.
The Name of Nyarlathotep, the one closest to Azathoth. That was definitely a Name that should have disappeared from this world.
No...
Unlike other Names, it was a Name that couldn't be used by those who weren't authorized.
That meant...
Swish.~
The headache in her returned.
Slowly, very slowly.
The memories of who Kim YuWon was became clearer.
And at that moment...
Chichichichi!
In the midst of the black flow.
YuWon, controlling the Name of Foolish Chaos, held a long spear in his hand.
"How... Gungnir should...!"
She belatedly realized that what YuWon held in his hand was not Gungnir. First of all, that spear was in the hands of Thor, Odin's son.
Flash!
A giant spear pierced Chatogua's chest and abdomen. A large hole that went through her body. The spear that pierced her body was infused with the dark energy of Chaos.
Nir.
An item opposed to light, created by imitating Gungnir.
Surely, that item should have been in the hands of the Goblins.
"Panting... groaning..."
Chatogua, with a large hole in her body, weakened and sat on the ground. The technique she created disappeared as it was absorbed by Chaos, leaving only the Chaos energy around.
For a common Ranker, those wounds would be fatal.
But being a named Administrator, she fought to somehow regain her body.
Thud, thud-thud.
Blood dripped onto the ground. In the gradually blurred consciousness, Chatogua felt YuWon approaching.
'It's not that he couldn't handle the Name of Shub-Niggurath.'
A vast darkness surrounded her surroundings.
If YuWon wished, it would envelop her at the same time, turning her into food to increase Chaos.
It couldn't be that someone capable of handling the Name of Chaos couldn't handle the name of Shub-Niggurath.
Moreover...
'Not just the Names. In addition to our power, the Golden Cinder Eyes, Heavenly Demon Spirit, and Nir.'
Chatogua, raising her head with difficulty, looked at YuWon, who had approached unnoticed.
'Perfect.'
It seemed as if someone had sculpted him only for that day.
A perfect Player without weaknesses.
An entity created by combining the strengths of various Rankers who dominated the Tower, such as Odin, The Great Sage, Heaven's Equal, and Zeus.
On the brink of death, Chatogua remembered.
"He has resurrected."
On that day, more than a decade ago, when the Administrators gathered, they mentioned a Name they had forgotten for a long time.
"Azathoth."
The moment that Name was mentioned, the Administrators fixated on one person.
The Tutorial Administrator.
The one who had the Egg containing the name of Azathoth.
"Where the hell did you get it?"
She remembered.
Everything.
"...He hadn't disappeared."
Kim YuWon.
He had obtained the Egg.
He had hatched the Egg containing the true Name of Azathoth, gaining the Name and also the memories of Azathoth that were in Pandora.
In that way, he became Azathoth.
"It seems you now remember everything."
Swoosh.
As YuWon knelt to her level, Chatugua shrank her head.
She couldn't bear to look him in the eyes.
Although she had lost her Name now, he was undoubtedly Azathoth.
The one who knows the secrets of this world.
And also, the one who was the owner of all the Names.
It was natural for an Administrator like her to feel fear before such a being.
YuWon stared at Chatugua, who had her head bowed, with his golden eyes burning.
"The one on the 100th floor, is that guy I know?"
Sob~
Chatugua's shoulders trembled.
She couldn't answer. She knew who the "guy" YuWon was asking about was, but she couldn't utter the words.
Tremor, tremor~
'I have to tell him.'
Her gaze, lowered, vacillated.
'I have to tell everyone.'
After the war ended, the Administrators decided to overthrow the Grand Guilds that dominated the Tower and let everyone know who the true owner of this world was.
But they didn't know...
'That this guy is alive.'
Whom they had forgotten.
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