Chapter 114: Ultimate Telekinesis

To evolve Advanced Telekinesis into Ultimate Telekinesis, you must raise all five Telekinesis-related skills to Advanced level.

[Telekinesis: Pressure]

[Telekinesis: Release]

[Telekinesis: Wave]

[Skill: Telekinesis – Gravity]

[Skill: Telekinesis – Strength]

Once you’ve brought all five to Advanced, only then are the conditions for evolution into the highest skill, Ultimate Telekinesis, fulfilled.

Telekinesis was known as a skill with no weaknesses, precisely because its evolution requirements were among the most demanding of any top-tier skill.

Long range, wide area, and even the destructive power—once a disadvantage—soared drastically upon evolution. Its offense-to-defense conversion was among the fastest of all top-tier skills.

If you could just reach the highest level, it truly became an all-purpose skill.

Sirbert worked tirelessly for this.

First, he evolved his signature Telekinesis skill up to Advanced Telekinesis.

[Advanced Telekinesis: Pressure, Advanced Telekinesis: Release, Advanced Telekinesis: Wave, Advanced Telekinesis – Gravity.]

Four out of five, now all at Advanced.

One remains.

Only ‘Skill: Telekinesis – Strength’ was left, and soon, once they were all combined, he would be able to evolve to Ultimate Telekinesis.

If that happened, perhaps his strength would rival even Daphne, who wielded the Divine Bow Rafflesia.

He had hoped for that.

Maybe that’s why—

He felt this regret so keenly.

Interest.

“So I told you, bro. If you’d just dropped the Telekinesis obsession and raised something else, you could’ve had at least one top-tier skill by now.”

“Stop wasting time talking nonsense and use your skills one more time.”

“…Let’s just log out, bro.”

Kemen and Sirbert’s gazes turned forward at the same time.

“We really are at a terrible disadvantage here.”

Long black hair, a slender frame.

He couldn’t bring himself to look up to the face, but the boss monster’s beauty was striking.

It was distinctly different from any Abyss Monster they’d faced so far.

“That thing… it’s thinking.”

Unlike the others, who only howled and charged on instinct, every step it took was calm and unhurried.

It must know.

That there’s no one here who could threaten it.

It’s chasing them only because they’re the strongest in this area.

‘Was there ever a monster like this?’

A monster, yet it forced you to avert your eyes.

‘The way it walked, graceful and composed—was this really a monster?’

No, he’d never heard of a monster with such an appearance to begin with.

So then—

“Let’s just log out.”

Kemen spoke gently to Sirbert, as if to soothe someone he’d adventured with since the days when this was still just a game.

But the response was firm.

“Log out and call Daphne or whoever you want. If we can just get past that damned plant, we’ll be fine.”

“You want to keep fighting that freak?”

Finally, Sirbert turned to him.

“So what, we just keep logging out forever? Where will that get us? Get it together, Woobin. Variables will keep cropping up, and sooner or later something even worse than that thing will appear.”

“…But there’s no way around this.”

“We have to find one somehow.”

Unlike the awakened ones outside who played power games or got drunk on fame, they were different.

Those people wouldn’t know.

Even Kwon Woobin, who’d been at Sirbert’s side for ages, had quit Ventair Online midway through.

He might understand with his head, but he didn’t truly fear the future.

But from Rank 1 to Rank 5—the so-called top-rankers—they were different.

They were the ones who fought desperately to the very end, even as the game reached its conclusion.

They knew how terrible destruction could be, how massive their foes would become, and the thought of that becoming reality sent shivers down their spines.

“If we don’t push forward, we’ll just be left behind. And what’s at the end of that? It’s obvious.”

Everyone above Sirbert probably thought the same.

That’s why they tried so hard.

Sirbert, Daphne, too.

Airlights… they were dead, but the two above them must have known the same dreadful future—so they tried just as desperately.

“So log out and call for backup. I’ll handle that monster here, no matter what.”

With those words, he activated his skill.

[Skill – ‘Advanced Telekinesis – Gravity’ has been activated.]

Fwoooom!

Telekinesis crashed down on the head of the Abyss boss monster, the Most Noble Elf.

It was like gravity itself—the entire area within range grew heavy, and anything fragile simply crumbled to dust.

Yet even within this domain, where even the air was crushed, the boss monster’s—no, the Most Noble Elf’s—steps did not falter. The grace clinging to it never faded.

Even the plants blooming with every step were completely unaffected.

“Damn…!”

Kemen, agitated, ruffled his hair.

“Who the hell am I supposed to call, and how long would it take?”

“Logging out?”

“Not doing it! I’m not!”

He shouted, throwing out both hands.

[Skill – ‘Blade Rain’ has been activated.]

A dozen blades formed and shot toward the monster.

These weren’t just ordinary blades.

Solid blades forged by skill.

They could even clash with a knight’s aura—those dozen blades rained down on the monster as it walked.

Clang!

The result was as expected.

“Shit… I told you it wouldn’t work.”

“Just keep trying!”

[Skill – ‘Advanced Telekinesis – Gravity’ has been activated.]

[Skill – ‘Advanced Telekinesis: Pressure’ has been activated.]

The air compressed, the ground caved in.

Of course, no attack made a difference.

“Sigh… All because I met you, bro.”

Kemen sighed and grumbled at once.

His whole body, hands and feet included, was tightly wrapped in thick vines.

“Fucking hell. I can’t believe I’m gonna die here.”

Even without the vines, the result would have been the same.

His fingertips and toes had already turned to stone—he felt nothing anymore.

If he met its gaze, he thought he’d turn into a statue instantly.

It was a mistake born from lack of information.

‘Didn’t the system blare a warning the moment it appeared?’

“Mental attack detected,” it said.

Since he’d looked into its eyes right at the start, turning to stone was only a matter of time.

This was a kind of mental attack.

And yet, it also had this monstrous power to harden the body.

It was a fight they could never win from the start.

“I told you we should have just logged out. Look at us now.”

Next to Kemen, Sirbert was similarly covered in plants.

Both of their faces barely exposed.

“…Sorry.”

‘How could Sirbert have predicted this?’

Of course he valued his own life.

He was going to try until the end, and if nothing worked, he planned to run.

He just hated the thought of running away without giving it his all—he knew that way, he’d never improve.

But who could have known his hands and feet would suddenly turn to stone at an unexpected moment?

To log out, you needed to move your hands.

If you couldn’t use your hands, then your feet; if not your feet, then your face—you had to touch the log-out window one way or another for it to work.

But by the time he realized his hands and feet were stone, his movements were already restricted, and that brief hesitation was an eternity for the enemy.

Crack—by the time he came to, his whole body was tangled in vines.

And these vines, as they tightened around him, sucked the mana from his body.

His mana plummeted, his strength drained away.

It was all over in an instant.

He couldn’t even use the log-out option.

The moment he realized it, he also knew he was truly about to die.

“Bro, you don’t have to apologize. In the end, I’m the one who stayed…”

“…I guess it was just stubbornness. I thought I might at least grow a bit in a crisis.”

“Sigh… I told you not to read so many web novels. We just got lucky playing a game and got powers—we’re not special or anything.”

“True enough.”

They’d given up now, numb from the neck down.

Sirbert could see Kemen’s neck turning to stone, the skin gradually hardening.

“Ah, my mom’s waiting. I should have listened when she told me to quit this dangerous stuff…”

Kemen’s face stiffened.

His forehead, then his eyes, turned gray stone.

“I don’t want to die…”

That was the last thing Kemen said before he became a complete statue.

Sirbert could only give a bitter smile.

Even as he saw the monster quietly approach.

It was humiliating not to even look at its eyes, but he could do nothing.

He, too, was stone from the neck down.

He could only stare blankly at the sky, waiting for death to come.

He recalled days past as his body gradually hardened…

“Huh? What’s that?”

Something gold and tiny flickered past Sirbert’s eyes as he stared helplessly at the sky.

What had been faint grew in an instant, filling the sky.

Suddenly, it surrounded the whole area.

A warm, soothing light.

He should have been startled, but Sirbert’s eyes remained fixed to the sky, as if nailed in place.

No wonder—he’d been staring up from the start, so he saw it all.

The faint figure of a goddess glimpsed between clouds.

And from her, a golden touch.

‘Was it a goddess’s miracle?’

And as the golden light fell, the constant noise abruptly ceased.

The cries of Abyss Monsters, near and far, which had never stopped—

They vanished in an instant.

‘Had they melted away in the golden touch of the goddess?’

Lowering his gaze in confusion, he was startled yet again.

From its entrance to the end, the boss monster had been all calm and composure.

But now, the so-called Most Noble Elf was clutching its head in agony.

No more grace, no more dignity—now it was writhing, desperate not to die in the face of overwhelming power.

The miracle didn’t end there.

The petrification also stopped.

Though his skin had turned to stone up to his chin, it went no further.

His first thought was of those who’d already become statues.

‘Had they, by some miracle, come back to life?’

He rolled his eyes to the side in hope.

But those already turned to stone did not return to human form.

That miracle didn’t happen.

‘What happened… The monsters? Are they all dead?’

He hadn’t known being unable to move would be this frustrating.

All he could do was guess.

Brilliant, holy gold—the very epitome of splendor and sanctity.

One thing was certain: this had an effect on Abyss Monsters.

The other monsters’ cries had disappeared in a flash, and the monstrous boss was now suffering right in front of him.

There seemed to be other effects as well.

The anxiety and agitation he’d felt before death had now faded into an unbelievable peace.

‘But who could have performed such a miracle?’

He couldn’t think of anyone.

The Holy Kingdom’s pope? No, not powerful enough, and wouldn’t be here.

The newly born Holy Maiden? Cardinal Herald? Or perhaps another possessed person he didn’t know about?

Thoughts flashed by swiftly, perhaps thanks to his newfound tranquility, but none were convincing.

The answer to his doubts soon arrived.

“What a dreadful sight.”

A voice came from behind him.

Footsteps approached—calm, confident.

“So a boss-level one appeared here of all places.”

As the voice drew nearer, Sirbert’s eyes widened in disbelief.

He recognized the owner of the voice.

It was unbelievable, yet it made sense—this contradiction was itself unsettling.

The footsteps came closer still.

When they stopped right next to Sirbert, he let out a hollow laugh.

A familiar, flamboyantly dressed figure stood before him.

Hio Pavlenko.

The number one ranked Jijoncheonma.

The very one who had caused this divine miracle.

“Resisting the heavens, are you? This is a first.”

He seemed perfectly at home, standing unperturbed in a world washed gold.

But he was clearly letting his guard down.

The monster, clutching its head in agony, suddenly whipped around and glared at Hio.

Sirbert called out urgently.

“Don’t look it in the eyes!”

Hio’s response to the warning was—

“Hmm?”

Completely calm.

He looked straight at those jet-black eyes, at that enchanting woman’s face, with no reaction at all.

More than that—

“Sirbert. Still alive? Or already dead?”

He addressed Sirbert like nothing was wrong.

The whole situation was so natural, Sirbert wondered if he’d made a fuss over nothing.

If not for the area filled with living statues, he might have let his guard down for a second.

“…I’m about to die. But more importantly, be careful. That’s a boss-level monster.”

“Monster… Yeah, monster.”

“It’s a type I’ve never seen before. Name’s the Most Noble Elf. The guy beside me found that out with his life.”

Sirbert glanced at Kemen’s statue as he continued.

“It controls plants, and if you meet its gaze even once, petrification begins. It counts as a mental attack. And once these vines grab you, they drain your mana, and its basic stats seem way above normal…”

He tried to share all he knew, but Hio was already not listening.

He was focused on the name.

“The Most Noble Elf, huh…”

Hio turned his gaze.

The monster still writhed in pain before him.

“I see.”

Sirbert still couldn’t understand.

Wasn’t this an Abyss Monster of overwhelming strength?

Wasn’t this a monster unlike anything they’d ever seen?

But then—

“Isidore is carrying on your role just fine…”

‘What was Hio saying, as if he pitied the monster?’

It’s not like the monster could understand him.

It still writhed in golden agony.

“It’s all right.”

Hio stood before the suffering monster.

He looked down at the Most Noble Elf and reached out his hand.

The golden area, once vast, contracted.

Concentrated holiness gathered here.

“You’ve worked hard.”

Those were his final words.

The monster’s struggles ceased. It raised its head—not a monster, but once, the Most Noble Elf.

Eyes black as the Abyss fixed on Hio for a fleeting moment.

Then—

It simply crumpled.

Like a puppet whose strings were cut.

Like a person whose soul had left their body.

Hio looked on wordlessly at the collapsed monster.

He just stood there, lost in thought.

‘What was he thinking?’

Sirbert, not knowing, just left him be.

He seemed deeply lost in thought.

***

One minute passed.

Then two, then three…

‘…Isn’t he taking too long?’

Even though the boss was dead, Sirbert’s petrified body wasn’t returning to normal, and he was growing anxious.

Finally, unable to hold it in, Sirbert carefully spoke.

“Um… You haven’t forgotten about me, right?”

Hio turned to him and let out a short exclamation.

“Ah, right.”