Chapter 47: The End of Blood and Greed

To be honest, Limon agreed with Li Ching-wei’s opinion that they needed to be wary of the Constellations.

However, he had been withholding judgment on the nature of the Constellations themselves.

What was their purpose?

Would they become a scourge to the world in the future?

Were all Constellations part of the same faction?

Was it truly necessary to exterminate every last one of them?

He knew far too little about them to blindly treat them as enemies.

Back in the Age of Heroes, he had encountered countless monsters and madmen who committed massacres while believing they were righteous.

They defined ‘evil’ based purely on their own subjective views—whether it was because someone was a citizen of an enemy nation, had a different religion, or a different skin color.

Having dealt with them, Limon couldn’t help but be cautious.

But at this moment, he could be certain about one thing.

He might not know about the others, but as for ‘The Snake that Links Ends’…

This snake was a harmful bastard.

It wasn’t just because it had mocked Yuna Kyong’s death, or because it might have been the very culprit who orchestrated it.

‘A thing that turns a human into this can’t possibly be harmless.’

To an ordinary person, Park Hyun-gun looked the same as before.

But Limon’s vision, now imbued with a black radiance, saw something entirely different.

Black scales covered the man’s entire body.

His head had transformed into that of a serpent, with a tongue that trailed long against the floor.

Tentacles sprouted where his arms should have been.

Since gaining the ability to see the forms of Constellations, Limon had seen many Players.

But this snake was fundamentally different.

Unlike other Constellations that appeared to be merely parasitizing or merging with a Player, it was difficult to find even a trace of the original human form here.

Above all, between the gaping jaws of the snake, the real Park Hyun-gun’s head was melting away, screaming in agony.

It was clear that the entity occupying the body was this snake bastard.

And this snake was the true body of a Constellation—an entity on a completely different level from the shadows Limon had seen until now.

“I had so many things I wanted to ask you Constellations when I met you…”

Limon pulled back his sword slightly.

Then, rushing like a bolt of lightning toward the snake wearing Park Hyun-gun’s skin, he roared fiercely.

“But for now, just die, you snake bastard!”

*Slash!*

It was a veritable flash of light.

Rather than a dash, it was a high-speed leap that looked like a missile being fired from a launcher.

At the moment his speed reached its peak, the sword he thrust forward had already pierced through the target the instant it touched.

There was only one problem.

The form of the snake he had cut vanished like an illusion. Instead, a mocking voice, accompanied by a flickering tongue, drifted from behind Limon.

“EIGHT-SIDED BARRIER.”

In an instant, eight walls surrounded Limon in layers.

The snake, its mouth split wide in a sneer, raised a hand as if to show off and flicked a tentacle-tail that had grown in place of its arm.

*Boom!*

*Krak-boom!*

At that moment, a vortex of lightning, flames, ice, curses, blades, poison, pressure, and explosions erupted within the barrier.

Even though it exploded inside the walls, it was a storm of calamity powerful enough to not only demolish the Infinity headquarters but also wipe out the surrounding several kilometers entirely.

Fortunately, the one trapped in that barrier was Limon.

Because he cut through all the skills with a single strike and escaped the barrier, a catastrophe that would have leveled half the city was averted.

But that was only the beginning.

*Pop! Crash! Kaboom!*

‘Is this snake bastard…?’

As if the previous blow had been nothing more than a greeting, Limon frowned as he cut down the numerous skills the snake poured out in succession.

It wasn’t just because of the snake’s behavior—indiscriminately firing large-scale skills that would cause massive damage, as if holding the citizens hostage.

It was because the combat style felt strangely familiar.

The movement of reading his attacks in advance and dodging by flitting through space, and the way the snake combined hundreds or thousands of skills to maximize their power—it was recognizable.

It made sense.

It was the same combat style used by the Infinite Monarch, Lee Cheon-gi, whom Limon had faced yesterday—specifically, when he had activated [Overload].

“…I see. Was it because of this?”

In that moment, Limon understood.

He realized why the snake had appeared before him now, even going so far as to hijack Park Hyun-gun’s body.

‘Does it think that now, while it can use the Monarch’s power stolen by that idiot, is the perfect chance to take my life?’

The snake did not answer.

It merely flicked its tongue and wore a hideous grin.

That alone was enough for Limon to know his guess was correct.

At first glance, it seemed like a foolish decision.

Park Hyun-gun himself had proven that simply stealing and using a Monarch’s power wasn’t enough to defeat Limon.

However, there was one decisive difference between Park Hyun-gun and the snake.

The fact that it was a Constellation.

The result of that difference was significant.

Unlike Park Hyun-gun, who had self-destructed because he couldn’t handle even dozens of skills, the snake was pouring out hundreds and thousands without hesitation.

It was even using them with more power than Lee Cheon-gi had originally possessed.

Ultimately, the limit of the power they could digest was fundamentally different for the human Park Hyun-gun and the Constellation snake.

Since it wasn’t Lee Cheon-gi himself, the snake lacked technical finesse in combining the skills, but its overwhelming output more than made up for that deficiency.

Moreover, the difference between a human and a Constellation wasn’t just their capacity.

*Flash! Swish-swish-swish!*

Limon cut, thrust, and crushed.

But no matter how many times his sword landed, the snake dissolved like an illusion and reappeared elsewhere to pour out more skills.

Even more strangely, a skill used in front of him would fly in from behind, and when he lunged forward, his body would somehow shift to the side.

It was as if space itself was warped.

It was like chasing a snake through its den.

Limon, unable to cope with the bizarre tricks he hadn’t even experienced when fighting Lee Cheon-gi, was pushed into a one-sided defensive position.

It was natural.

This was the snake’s inherent power, not Lee Cheon-gi’s or Park Hyun-gun’s.

It was the authority of a great Constellation, something that couldn’t even be compared to the skills used by humans.

That was why the snake had accepted an incomplete incarnation and updated its contract to descend into Park Hyun-gun’s body and appear before Limon.

No matter if he was called the guardian deity of humanity or a Sword Master, he was still just a human.

He was a target of wariness because he was the only human capable of opposing them, but that also meant the reward for defeating him was enormous.

With that achievement alone, the snake could transcend its current rank and immediately rise to the status of a Monarch-grade Constellation.

And if it couldn’t defeat him?

It could simply withdraw.

The snake didn’t care what happened to a trivial tool like Park Hyun-gun, whose usefulness had already run out.

Low risk, high return.

Since the risk was extremely low while the reward was massive, the snake had no reason to pass up this opportunity.

Recalling its meticulous and cunning calculations, the snake cold-bloodedly backed Limon into a corner.

Or rather, it thought it was backing him into a corner.

“The Snake that Links Ends… was it?”

Limon had been merely swinging his sword at empty air.

He spoke in a low voice before he could even land a single blow.

“I think I understand now. Your essence.”

The snake didn’t know.

It didn’t know that Limon hadn’t been swinging blindly because he was being toyed with.

It didn’t know that all this time, Limon had been observing the snake, carefully feeling the sensations transmitted through his sword.

The look in Limon’s eyes was less like that of a swordsman in a life-or-death struggle and more like a snake catcher blocking the holes and digging out the den so the prey couldn’t escape.

“You make it look like you’re manipulating space, but that’s just a disguise. Making the fake real and swapping the real for the fake… falsehood and deception are your true abilities.”

“…!”

The Snake that Links Ends flinched.

Just as Limon said, the ‘ends’ in its name did not refer to spatial points.

Real and fake.

Truth and lies.

Illusion and reality.

Its throne name was derived from the authority to link those two extremes.

Since its power was maximized the more it remained hidden, it had simply been deceiving Players by masquerading as a Constellation that manipulated space.

Watching the snake waver as its essence was seen through so quickly, Limon wore a cold sneer.

“You stupid snake bastard.”

He laughed at its stupidity—whether it was naturally dim-witted or simply blinded by greed.

He mocked its folly of being so eager to pounce on the prey before it that it threw its contractors, and even itself, into the fire.

“To think you showed up before me relying on such cheap parlor tricks… I suppose I should praise your audacity.”

Was it enraged by those insulting words?

The snake glared with wide eyes and let out a savage shriek, attempting to unleash a strike layered with hundreds and thousands of skills.

But before the snake could even move, Limon was already taking a step.

One step, moving past the distortion.

Two steps, closing the distance.

Three steps, swinging the sword.

The snake saw Limon cross the maze of twisted space in just three steps and swing his sword.

It was furious, but it didn’t panic.

The snake’s authority was falsehood and deception.

Since it existed between reality and illusion, even after being cut, it could simply turn that reality into a lie and make it an illusion.

That was the power of a Constellation.

It was a transcendent authority that crushed the laws of the world and manifested miracles—something a mere human could never reach.

*Squelch.*

“?!?!?!”

In the next moment, the snake’s eyes nearly bulged out of its head.

The thing Limon’s sword had cut was clearly an illusion created by its authority.

Yet, as the illusion’s arms were split, the snake’s own real arms fell to the ground with the sound of flesh and bone being severed and a burst of agonizing pain.

Why?

He cut the illusion.

Why did the blade reach the real me?

“What are you so surprised about, you moron?”

Limon chuckled as he watched the snake, whose reptilian head clearly displayed confusion and shock as if it were having a nightmare while wide awake.

Reflecting the snake’s form in the mirror of his blade, he spoke coldly.

“If you can make truth into a lie, you should have expected that someone could also cut the reality by simply cutting the illusion.”

“!!!”

The snake was horrified.

It wasn’t because it couldn’t understand Limon’s words.

2On the contrary, it was because it *could* understand that it received a shock so great it nearly bit off its own tongue.

Cutting the reality through an illusion?

That meant one could cut the moon in the sky just by cutting its reflection on the water.

Even for the Constellation of Falsehood and Deception, such a power was not permitted.

And a human had achieved it?

With nothing but swordsmanship?

It couldn’t believe it.

No, it didn’t want to believe it.

It wanted to think it was a lie, a deceptive statement, or some kind of trick.

But it couldn’t.

Its severed arms were not regenerating.

The pain rising from the stumps and, above all, Limon’s cold, sunken eyes told the Snake of Falsehood and Deception the truth.

This was neither a lie nor a deception.

It was a fact.

At the same time, the snake understood.

It realized why, among all the humans who had not even reached the level of a Marquis, the Monarch-grade Constellations were wary of only this man and refrained from touching him, merely observing from a distance.

The guardian deity of humanity.

The being who had protected the world alone.

To put it another way, he was a monster with the power to destroy the world by himself.

*Thud.*

The moment it realized that fact, the snake acted immediately.

It spat out Park Hyun-gun’s body.

Leaving Park Hyun-gun’s body to sprawl like a piece of rotten wood, the snake hurriedly fled toward the sky.

Because it had cast off its physical form so desperately following an forced incarnation, it suffered a significant loss of Karma—enough to potentially drop its rank to Marquis or even Count.

But the snake didn’t care.

Its characteristic cunning, its animalistic instincts, and above all, its surging terror forced it to abandon all calculations and flee the scene immediately.

“Truly a stupid bastard.”

But in the next moment, the snake froze.

“You showed up before me with your true body, not a clone. Did you really think you could run away now?”

Limon was looking straight at the snake, which had abandoned its body and fled a vast distance in the blink of an eye.

How?

A human shouldn’t be able to see it.

The snake realized the answer for itself when it saw the black radiance staining Limon’s eyes.

It was horrified.

Aside from his swordsmanship, that was a power a human absolutely should not possess.

“Keep this as a gift for your journey to the afterlife.”

*Whoosh!*

Limon didn’t care whether the snake was horrified or not.

High in the sky, far from the ground, he had caught up to the snake in just three steps.

Falling from above the snake that was trying to escape into the night sky, he gripped his sword.

“I am the Sword Master.”

The last master of the Sword Tower.

The final Sword Master of humanity.

Limon Asphelther flipped his body in the air and took a stance to swing his sword.

“There is no one in this world who can escape me, and there is nothing outside this world I cannot cut.”

Was it an unconscious judgment?

Or an instinctive action?

Instead of fleeing, the snake opened its maw and lunged at Limon.

It was as if it knew that killing Limon was the only way it could survive.

But before the snake’s fangs could even touch him, Limon’s sword was already descending.

Using the sky as a canvas to paint a wild orchid, Limon’s sword swung with supreme elegance.

**[Secret Art of the Demon-Slaying Dragon-Killing Sword]**

**[Severing the Moon on the Water, the Fragrance of Blooming Flowers]**

The moon on the water is cut to bloom a flower, and the West Sea is split in two.

A horrific shriek echoed through the world.

And a single star that had been shining brilliantly in the night sky was extinguished.